JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
Oooh, I bought that same edition of Cat's Cradle at Gatwick. Three weeks later my bag got stole with it inside, before I started reading it. 
Which Book Are You Reading Now? Volume XII
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yung.carl.jung
Hey Bird! I'm Morose & Lugubrious
I met a guy at work who is an American Lit major, roughly 10 years older than I am and now takes my orders in the kitchen. Very weird feeling. We're both equally obsessed with Thomas Pynchon and German Idealism so I think we'll have a great time.
yung.carl.jung
Hey Bird! I'm Morose & Lugubrious
neither, however my opinion (and another co-workers) was what ended up getting him employed.
JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
I hope this Jorge Fernández Díaz has nothing to do with the Catalan PP politician of the same name...
SS-18 ICBM
Oscillator
Are the margins in-universe or real-life? Political, economic, or social?
Obviously not, and if you want to read La herida you'd better read El puñal first. And Mamá.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
I finally finished reading Peter F. Hamilton's Judas Unchained, which is the sequel to Pandora's Star. It's essentially about a star that disappears from the skies, which astronomers notice.. the main story arc is about the investigation (a starship is sent, etc.) and the ensuing aftermath.
I was going to abandon this universe and move on to a different author, but I really liked the way Pandora's Star wrapped everything up.. For the most part. Essentially the story (the 2 books) has an incredibly intriguing premise and a very satisfactory wrap-up.. But there's a lot of stuff in between that was just not necessary, IMO. It seems like the author created a whole plethora of characters who were just not needed. A lot of them it seems like are simply nods to the author's own life (and friends). The main characters in the book are researchers/geeks who end up being more or less super rich sex gods. *eyeroll*. There's an engineer who ends up playing a very prominent role in the story, but for large parts of it just does.. nothing. It reads like the character is simply a reference to the author's life - probably mirrored on a friend of the author. "You get a character, and you get a character, and..."
The author is not great at writing about political drama and intrigue, but large parts of these books deal with these subjects. It does to some degree create a richer "tapestry" for the rest of the story to fall into, but there is just.. too much of it. Frank Herbert could have pulled this off... Hamilton did an okay job. It would have been fine if he cut down on the political intrigue and drama by 50%. Like I said there were just too many characters doing too many things and in the end just too much noise that detracts from the overall story. It went on far too long, but like I said the ending was very satisfactory. There was one thing I did not like about the ending (IMO a big part of the reveal wasn't really explained and is a bit contradictory), but overall I felt like the ending did the story justice.
There is a book set in the same universe by the same author - it takes 1,000 years or so later than these 2 books. The Dreaming Void. It's sort of a continuation of the story. I started reading it a couple days ago, and I am already knee deep in the story, and am enjoying the characters more than in the first 2 books. So far so good. There are 2 more books in this series, and the premise is equally intriguing for me, so hopefully the author learned his lessons from those first 2 books wrt to character development and realistic political drama.
At this stage it really feels like the first 2 books were written to set up the context for this series of books. Since I took the time to read through all that, I might as well stick with the story, especially since (so far) it's very engaging.
I was going to abandon this universe and move on to a different author, but I really liked the way Pandora's Star wrapped everything up.. For the most part. Essentially the story (the 2 books) has an incredibly intriguing premise and a very satisfactory wrap-up.. But there's a lot of stuff in between that was just not necessary, IMO. It seems like the author created a whole plethora of characters who were just not needed. A lot of them it seems like are simply nods to the author's own life (and friends). The main characters in the book are researchers/geeks who end up being more or less super rich sex gods. *eyeroll*. There's an engineer who ends up playing a very prominent role in the story, but for large parts of it just does.. nothing. It reads like the character is simply a reference to the author's life - probably mirrored on a friend of the author. "You get a character, and you get a character, and..."
The author is not great at writing about political drama and intrigue, but large parts of these books deal with these subjects. It does to some degree create a richer "tapestry" for the rest of the story to fall into, but there is just.. too much of it. Frank Herbert could have pulled this off... Hamilton did an okay job. It would have been fine if he cut down on the political intrigue and drama by 50%. Like I said there were just too many characters doing too many things and in the end just too much noise that detracts from the overall story. It went on far too long, but like I said the ending was very satisfactory. There was one thing I did not like about the ending (IMO a big part of the reveal wasn't really explained and is a bit contradictory), but overall I felt like the ending did the story justice.
There is a book set in the same universe by the same author - it takes 1,000 years or so later than these 2 books. The Dreaming Void. It's sort of a continuation of the story. I started reading it a couple days ago, and I am already knee deep in the story, and am enjoying the characters more than in the first 2 books. So far so good. There are 2 more books in this series, and the premise is equally intriguing for me, so hopefully the author learned his lessons from those first 2 books wrt to character development and realistic political drama.
At this stage it really feels like the first 2 books were written to set up the context for this series of books. Since I took the time to read through all that, I might as well stick with the story, especially since (so far) it's very engaging.
Leifmk
Deity
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Badass.
Lexicus
Deity
Does listening to Lotr audiobook count? I listened to some of my favorite chapters with the window open and rain falling two weekend ago.
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
I am currently reading George R. R. Martin's "A Knight if the Seven Kingdoms."
Next up after that is Larry Niven's and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye."
Next up after that is Larry Niven's and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye."
Lillefix
I'm serious. You can.
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I loved that one. One of the first science fiction books I ever read. Read it on the recommendation of Brian Reynolds:
https://www.spacegamejunkie.com/docs/Alpha_Centauri_-_Manual_-_PC.pdf
See page 229.
edit:
And I'm reading about bees
A bit weird. But quite nice.
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Leifmk
Deity
Man; I've read that some unknown double-digit number of times over the years but for some reason only in Norwegian translation (the great one from the 80s, not the not-so-great one from the 70s). Maybe I should do something about that.
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