Originally posted by cranlsnBeing a Stephen King fan I was of course gifted his latest, 11/22/63, and I'm just starting it. Seems to be on par with some of his better stuff so far.
I am really enjoying it. Really cool take on the time travel genre. Kind of Back to the Future meets Groundhog Day.
RE: The New DC 52 - Let me also add that the Superman group of books are VERY good post-relaunch. Now, I'm biased and I enjoyed that group of books before the relaunch, but afterwards they're stellar. My biggest disappointment is that George Perez apparently isn't staying on Superman for many more issues. His Superman is actually the best of the bunch (sorry Grant Morrison fans - I also felt that way with his Batman Inc. vs. Tony Daniel's Batman pre-relaunch). I'm actually enjoying Morrison's Action Comics very much, but enjoying Superman that much more.
Supergirl started slow and has improved over the four issues I've read and Superboy has done the same. Some intriguing stuff there and fans of some of the old Wildstorm books should be checking out Superboy for sure as one character who I heard nothing about in the relaunch hoopla has already shown up and I expect some of the others to be making appearances eventually. (being intentionally vague so as not to ruin any surprises for people not reading or who haven't had the chance to read them yet).
"You are going to get a certain amount of snarkiness on the Internet no matter what, and my rule is that you don't post anything that you wouldn't say to someone's face." Marc Andreyko (Writer of DC Comic's "Manhunter")
A friend lent me all 18 issues of Kurt Busiek's DC Comics series The Power Company. I'm on Issue 17 now, and it's been a pretty good story so far. I don't know much about the publication history so I am going to assume it was planned as an ongoing and got the cancellation notice somewhere around issue 14. The book has a nice mix of new characters with tons of references to other DC stuff as well as normal cameos by JLA folks. I probably wouldn't recommend owning it, but it's a good read if a friend or a library has it.
Lloyd: When I met Mary, I got that old fashioned romantic feeling, where I'd do anything to bone her. Harry: That's a special feeling.
Originally posted by cranlsnBeing a Stephen King fan I was of course gifted his latest, 11/22/63, and I'm just starting it. Seems to be on par with some of his better stuff so far.
I also got a Kindle...but no $$ at the moment, so I'm looking at few free things as well as whatever's available through the library (nothing yet). I kind of like that resorting to free and/or what's available is making me look at a few things that I normally woudln't have.
This just came up in my suggestions and I couldn't pass it up, so I'm starting it tonight. I'm not much of a Stephen King fan, being squeamish and all, but the Kennedy assassination has always been kind of fascinating so I'll give it a shot.
Doesn't the Kindle have some sort of lending program through friends via email address? I only have two books on my Kindle right now besides 11/22/63, but I got an Amazon gift card with the Kindle for Christmas so I'll be stocking up soon. Feel free to PM me - I'm not against loaning if the books have loaning enabled.
I am reading The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner and am loving it!
It's an NPR reporter's account of traveling to different countries in search of the happiest place. He has a very humorous writing style. Bill Bryson used to be my favorite travel writer-not anymore.
Originally posted by samoflangeA friend lent me all 18 issues of Kurt Busiek's DC Comics series The Power Company. I'm on Issue 17 now, and it's been a pretty good story so far. I don't know much about the publication history so I am going to assume it was planned as an ongoing and got the cancellation notice somewhere around issue 14. The book has a nice mix of new characters with tons of references to other DC stuff as well as normal cameos by JLA folks. I probably wouldn't recommend owning it, but it's a good read if a friend or a library has it.
If you like some of kurt's lesser known works, check out shockrockets and arrowsmith if youve not read them before.
I've been working my way through the A Song of Ice and Fire books on and off since the Game of Thrones season ended - I've finally made it to A Dance With Dragons, although I'm not far enough into it to have much of an opinion one way or the other. (I HATED the first 3/4 of A Feast For Crows, but I've loved everything else in the series.)
Also, I am a HUGE Stephen King fan - I think I've read everything he's ever written (or at least BEGUN everything he's ever written - if you can get through Duma Key or From A Buick 8, you're a better man than I.) So it is not a statement I make lightly that, with the possible (POSSIBLE) exception of The Stand, 11/22/63 is the best thing he's ever written.
FURTHER (relatively) RECENT RECOMMENDATIONS: -Horns, by Joe Hill - Stephen King's son, actually. This one seemed kind of hokey early on (it's about a man who, while blackout drunk a year or so prior, may or may not have killed his girlfriend and later got off on a technicality who wakes up one morning having grown devil horns which somehow compel everyone he encounters to tell them their innermost desires and immediately gives him access to anyone he makes physical contact with's memories), but I reached one of many shocking revelations while at work (retail, this was a slow day) and I had to fight back tears while in public. A goddamned masterpiece, and it's only his second novel. (His first, Heart Shaped Box is also a worthwhile read and legit scary to boot. And, while you're at it, his short story collection 20th Century Ghosts certainly has it's moments. The story "My Father's Masks" is also legitimately terrifying.)
-Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline - a distopian future sci-fi/comedy, this one taking place almost entirely within the world of an all-encompassing MMORPG and loaded with nerd-culture references. Major plot-points hinge around Monty Python, They Might Be Giants, WarGames and old Infocom text adventures.
Spoiler Below: Highlight text to read
Seriously, when he wanders into THE FUCKING WHITE CABIN FROM ZORK, I don't think I've ever been more nerdily blissful in a long, long time.
Since the birth of my second child a year ago (giving us "two under two"), I haven't read more than a book or two, but that hasn't stopped me from buying enough to have a reasonably long queue. Â So this is more, "what will you be reading when you have time to read again?"
Eoin Colfer's addition to the Hitchhiker series, "And Another Thing". Â I don't have very high hopes, although I've heard he's an entertaining writer; I figure he deserves a chance.
William Gibson's "Spook Country". Â I really enjoyed "Pattern Recognition" (and I actually wanted to go back and read that again before tackling this one). Â Over the course of his oeuvre, Gibson's timeline has been moving closer to ours rather than farther away and he's now writing almost in our present. Â I have enjoyed everything I've read by him and don't expect this to be any different.
Terry Pratchett's "Snuff". Â It's a Discworld book, and one featuring Sam Vimes; how bad could it be?
Neal Stephenson's "REAMDE". Â I loved his last one, "Anathem" and expect to love this one. Â This is another book written in our timeline from an author who's known for future (and past) timelines. Â Some people figure him for a smug smartypants but I believe he's a guy who just loves to learn stuff and share what he's learned through fiction. Â And I quite enjoy his writing style. Â I don't know too many geeks who have read Stephenson who don't like his work.
I did manage to get through "A Dance With Dragons" despite my lack of time/lack of sleep situation and had no complaints. Â It satisfied my need for more Westeros and left me wondering what's going to happen next. Â I hope the next one doesn't take 6 more years, but if it's of the same quality, I'm willing to wait.
During a nice break between jobs last year I watched Babylon 5 on the advice of some friends. It was decent enough for a sci-fi TV show, a genre I usually avoid due to bad production quality and cheesy dialogue.
Anyway, around that time I picked up a Babylon 5 novel from the thrift store called Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps. That particular part of the TV series was one of my favorites, so I figured it might be a fun thing to read someday when I really had nothing better to do. That someday finally came earlier this week when a bout of rain led me to take the bus rather than cycle to work. I wanted a book I could finish by the weekend, and this was the right length.
My point is that this book was absolutely at the bottom of my shelf and I just decided to read it on a whim.
However, it was awesome! AWESOME!! The story was compelling from the start, and written from various perspectives throughout, so it never got tiresome. The story spans a long chunk of time and a lot of things happen "off-camera," a device I've really come to like since reading so much Arthur C. Clarke recently. It's about much more than just the Psi Corps as an organization, and I would say that anybody who's a fan of sci-fi could pick this up as not very much of the Babylon 5 series is in it. There are references here and there and some thing are slightly more interesting since you know some of the future events, but they are mostly easter egg type things, not thing that impact the overall story.
If you've seen Babylon 5, Dark Genesis gets the highest recommendation. If you haven't it's still probably a B+ or A- book.
(edited by samoflange on 14.1.12 0928) Lloyd: When I met Mary, I got that old fashioned romantic feeling, where I'd do anything to bone her. Harry: That's a special feeling.
Originally posted by samoflange Anyway, around that time I picked up a Babylon 5 novel from the thrift store called Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps.
Have you read Fallen Heroes (The W at Amazon)? That is, after all these years, the only DS9 novel that I remember. Although I was surprised that it was not Odo and Quark on the cover, since they have such big parts.
It's a very morbid, grim book which jumps back and forth from the present to three days in the future. But there is also a tense comedic effect occurring between Odo and Quark. My favorite part (spoilers, though I won't explain why it happens):
Spoiler Below: Highlight text to read
When the floor beneath Odo is so hot that bits of him start to stick to the floor, forever separating from him.
I would like to say the PSI Corp books get better, but they really don't. Even the last book is a Mien Kumpf for Bester. The best altogether trilogy for B5 is the Centauri one. By far, it is the one I would love to see on TV, but sadly, the loss of cast members will prevent that. I really wish WB would just let them do the PSI Corp War while they are still around instead of the bullshit reboot that was very very close to happening.
The Wee Baby Sheamus.
Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.
I'm halfway through Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. It's a superhero novel told from two POVs: A super criminal named Dr. Impossible and a female cyborg named Fatale. The narrative plays with the established tropes of superheroes but provides some very keen and interesting insight into what it might be like to be a brilliant super criminal coping with always being defeated, or what it's like when 46% of your body is crushed by a truck and you wake up with a machine body you never asked for. The core theme seems to be trauma, an idea actually inherent in any superhero story but rarely tackled head on (even Batman never really deals with his childhood trauma, instead doing the insane thing and becoming a bat who fights crime.) The two POV narrations are exceptional, though the novel suffers a bit in depicting the myriad other super characters. I find the dialogue for most of the other characters to be a bit stilted. But overall, I'm enjoying this.
Eoin Colfer's addition to the Hitchhiker series, "And Another Thing". Â I don't have very high hopes, although I've heard he's an entertaining writer; I figure he deserves a chance.
This started out as a disaster, but it found it's footing. If you're going in with low hopes/standards, you might be ok.
Eoin Colfer's addition to the Hitchhiker series, "And Another Thing". Â I don't have very high hopes, although I've heard he's an entertaining writer; I figure he deserves a chance.
This started out as a disaster, but it found it's footing. If you're going in with low hopes/standards, you might be ok.
Good to know. I have this sitting in my "to read" too. Been meaning to pick up his non-YA book that came out last year too.
London Fields by Martin Amis. Good stuff, the power triangle (not to go too in depth: rich, educated man who is constrained by his job and society versus poor, thuggish man who has the freedom to do what he will but no brains or means with the femme fataleish character manipulating both to her own ends).
The guy, Amis, has a vocabulary that is unheralded. Can be a bit gloomy, but I'm enjoying it.
from pjfarmer.com: February 25th: Philip José Farmer passed away peacefully in his sleep this morning. He will be missed greatly by his wife Bette, his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends and countless fans around the world.