What are we reading?

Started by Martok, March 05, 2012, 01:13:59 PM

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OJsDad

Quote from: Pinetree on January 09, 2013, 02:23:40 AM
Quote from: OJsDad on January 08, 2013, 05:46:30 PM
I read this awhile ago.  The concepts where good, but the writing was awlful. 

Interesting, I thought the writing was excellent; the story just seemed to flow nicely, all the characters seemed to react to events realistically, dialogue was great and there was lots of moral ambiguity.What didn't you like? I may be biased as the book feels like a combination of my favourite scifi setting (2300AD RPG ) and one of my favourite wargames (Attack Vector:Tactical, one of the most realistic starship combat games out there). I loved it.

It's been awhile since I read it, but scanning it, here is an example.

Quote
Before he departed Boulder, Neil and his friends, Rand, Cade, and Carlos Encinias, a junior still a year away from his commission, had hit the bars in Denver for what Rand called "a proper drunkening."  It was a blur in Neil's memory.  Rand the extrovert cracked jokes and spent money and talked up the women, with Neil in his usual role as wingman.  Cade, normally brittle in social situations, drank enough to relax and enjoy himself.  Neil sobered up early to herd everyone to the train back to campus.  It was a futile effort:  The train had broken down again, and they were forced to stay the night in the city.  Rand picked up the hotel tab.

This is a paragraph from page 50.  I really cannot figure out what it has to do with the story being told as a whole.  On top of that, in my opinion, it reads like it was written for a sixth grader.

Like I said, I like the concept for the book, and if there is a sequel, I'll get it.  But it needs a good editor. 
'Here at NASA we all pee the same color.'  Al Harrison from the movie Hidden Figures.

Longdan

digni enim sunt interdicunt

Toonces

So, I'm pretty excited.

I read A LOT.  But my biggest problem is that, like with computer games, I have real issues with actually finishing a book.  Just like I enjoy playing monster wargames, so I also enjoy reading really long books (meaning greater than 400 pages).  And, I'm usually reading more than one at a time, something I picked up from grad school where I had to split my time among multiple subjects.  Now I have a lot of trouble sticking with one book through its duration.

So, I have a lot of books I've read half of and then moved on, and when I pick them back up I feel compelled to start from the beginning again...and again...and again.  Therefore, when I actually get to the true end of a book, I feel a sense of accomplishment, and I get really excited to move to a completely new book guilt free.

I'm there now, just finishing up The Deluge (Volume 2 of 2) by Henryk Sienkiewicz.  In print the two volumes clock in at over 1800 pages, and added to the first book of the trilogy, With Fire and Sword, we're talking more than 2500 pages!  I'm within 100 pages of finishing vol 2 and I can move on to a new book...whew!

I'm sort of torn because I have several I'd like to get into and I want to pick the right one.  I have previously started The Three Musketeers, which I've never read and I feel like I should read once.  I also have Ivanhoe in the queue.  I read one of Scott's books previously (The Talisman) and I loved it until the last 50 pages or so, when the ending just completely fell apart.  So I'm a bit leery of going down the Scott route again.

Finally, Sienkiewicz has a different book not related to his famous trilogy called Knights of the Cross, about the Teutonic Knights.  I've been grooving to start a Teutonic Knights book to go along with my Real Warfare gaming, so I'm leaning towards it.  Also, so far Sienkiewicz has been a real winner with me.  I don't know what it is, but his books just hit a sweet spot. 

At any rate, I'm in a good place with a lot of interesting options.  And, all of these books are available for FREE on the Kindle through Amazon, so it's win-win.

Linky to Knights: http://www.amazon.com/knights-cross-Krzyzacy-Henryk-Sienkiewicz/dp/B00085CF0A/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358313269&sr=1-3&keywords=the+teutonic+knights+henryk+sienkiewicz

"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

Longdan

I do not think this has been brought up for discussion:

http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/the-long-ships/

If you can find this it is a great adventure novel and hard to believe it was written
in 1954.  The style is fresh and really "feels" like a Viking story.
Note the review by Michael Chabon a well known modern author.
digni enim sunt interdicunt

Staggerwing

^Longships is on my Kindle waiting behind at least two other e-books (Mongoliad being one) and three p-books.
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Gusington

Toonces read Ivanhoe. Staggerwing I have the Mongoliad in my queue but when I get to it depends on how quickly I finish some other books and clear the deck for some space sci fi reading to go along with the release of Aliens: Colonial Marines.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

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Bison

The Three Musketeers is an awesome book.  Highly recommend reading this one straight away Toonces.

besilarius

Bison, I'm curious did you ever see the two parter movie starring Michael York?  Three Musketeers and Four Musketeers.
Really enjoyed that, and ended up thinking it was better than the novel itself.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072281/
"Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out until too late that he's been playing with two queens all along".  Terry Pratchett.

During filming of Airplane, Leslie Nielsen used a whoopee cushion to keep the cast off-balance. Hays said that Nielsen "played that thing like a maestro"

Tallulah Bankhead: "I'll come and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late, start without me."

"When all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman." — Abraham Lincoln.

"I have enjoyed very warm relations with my two husbands."
"With your eyes closed?"
"That helped."  Lauren Bacall

Master Chiefs are sneaky, dastardly, and snarky miscreants who thrive on the tears of Ensigns and belly dancers.   Admiral Gerry Bogan.

Bison

I've seen the Three Musketeer movie.

Martok

Quote from: Bison on January 16, 2013, 06:47:47 PM
The Three Musketeers is an awesome book.  Highly recommend reading this one straight away Toonces.
I enjoyed that one as well.  I do love me some Dumas!  He's probably my favorite 19th century author, even more than Edgar Allen Poe and Mark Twain. 


I also recommend The Count of Monte Cristo.  It's absolutely the best revenge tale I've ever read. 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Shelldrake

Quote from: Martok on January 17, 2013, 04:04:27 PM
I also recommend The Count of Monte Cristo.  It's absolutely the best revenge tale I've ever read.

I thought that the movie was quite enjoyable too.
"Just because something is beyond your comprehension doesn't mean it is scientific."

Dean Edell

Longdan

Ivanhoe is the grandaddy of the modern historical romance.  Heroes, sword fights, villains, racism, lascivious leers, mustache twirling,
hidden kings and all sorts of other stuff.
digni enim sunt interdicunt

Martok

Quote from: Shelldrake on January 17, 2013, 04:44:56 PM
Quote from: Martok on January 17, 2013, 04:04:27 PM
I also recommend The Count of Monte Cristo.  It's absolutely the best revenge tale I've ever read.

I thought that the movie was quite enjoyable too.
It is; I own it.  :) 





Quote from: Longdan on January 17, 2013, 09:09:56 PM
Ivanhoe is the grandaddy of the modern historical romance.  Heroes, sword fights, villains, racism, lascivious leers, mustache twirling,
hidden kings and all sorts of other stuff.
You know, I never have read it.  I may need to rectify that. 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Toonces

I'm trying to get through The Three Musketeers, but that is some hard reading.  I remember thinking the same thing the last time I attempted it.

I'm going to stick with it a bit longer, but man, I just don't see me going the distance with this one.  I mean, it's a classic and everyone says it's great, so I'm trying to use that as motivation to keep going.  But Ugh... ::)
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

besilarius

Toonces, try the Michael York, Three Musketeers movie.  It is a scream and if anything can make you want to read the whole novel, the movie isgreat.
"Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out until too late that he's been playing with two queens all along".  Terry Pratchett.

During filming of Airplane, Leslie Nielsen used a whoopee cushion to keep the cast off-balance. Hays said that Nielsen "played that thing like a maestro"

Tallulah Bankhead: "I'll come and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late, start without me."

"When all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman." — Abraham Lincoln.

"I have enjoyed very warm relations with my two husbands."
"With your eyes closed?"
"That helped."  Lauren Bacall

Master Chiefs are sneaky, dastardly, and snarky miscreants who thrive on the tears of Ensigns and belly dancers.   Admiral Gerry Bogan.