📚 The book lovers thread
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Hell, just two weeks ago on The Walking Dead, someone died because a zombie bit him on the bare arm. If I were in a zombie apocalypse one of the first things I'd do is get a jean or leather jacket and put on a nice pair of jeans.
The Walking Dead is even worse than most. I only watched the first season, but they had a group of people who had been hanging out at a rock quarry for months, and not ONCE did they think to build any sort of wall or fort around their trailers/RVs. WTF were they doing all day?!
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Well it really broke my suspension of disbelief, in the first goddamned episode. "Seriously? These people NEVER build a wall or any sort? They're surrounded by perfectly good lumber!"
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Like half of all modern SF ends in cliffhangers, or at least sequel series hooks.
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Like
half ofall modernSFbooks ends in cliffhangers, or at least sequel series hooks.FTFY.
:-P
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Harry Turtledove's Worldwar
That series was an endless well of disappointment, just like most other alternative history novels.
Currently reading "Safehold" series by David Weber. The guy has good ideas and technical knowledge, but is a terrible writer. Read the first 10 pages to get the most out of the great idea. The rest is only for military sci-fi/history fans like me.
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There's a certain degree of 'necessary idiocy' in a lot of zombie media, as writers don't seem to be able to come up with plausible reasons why zombies are a continuing threat to people who are capable of learning from experience.
Actually, early Season 4 of TWD does manage to come up with something [spoiler]super-zombie-flu[/spoiler], but there is still an aspect of background idiocy involved. [spoiler]You people live in a prison, where any dead person will rise under any circumstance. You should at least be closing the cell doors at night, even if you don't want to lock them... [/spoiler]
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I love Safehold. But I'm a military/history nerd.
That said, god help you when you get to the continental standup warfare. It's like "and suddenly there are characters! Doing significant things! And you've never heard of them before! From places you've never heard of! And they die!"
Over and over again. It's as if entire books of character development and exposition got edited out of the series.
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I love Safehold. But I'm a military/history nerd.
That said, god help you when you get to the continental standup warfare. It's like "and suddenly there are characters! Doing significant things! And you've never heard of them before! From places you've never heard of! And they die!"
Over and over again. It's as if entire books of character development and exposition got edited out of the series.
I can hardly get through the religion crap as it stands. Oh, and all the Charis POV characters are perfect brilliant angels and happen to have all the same ideologies the author has. UGH!
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That's pretty standard for much of the milsf author pool from what I've seen.
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WTF were they doing all day?!
They're idiots.
I don't think, though, that they could've been there for months. How long can a person who was in a coma hang around after the power goes out and not be so malnourished he can't stand up/covered in his own filth/etc? Unless the comics have more information I can't imagine that it was more than a couple of days after Shane left Rick behind that Rick woke up.
But yes, they are specifically a pile of idiots who are just really really fucking lucky they aren't dead, because they're as dumb, if not dumber, than teenage girls in slasher movies. The current episodes have to be at least two entire years after the apocalypse and they don't even take basic precautions about getting bitten.
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"Seriously? These people NEVER build a wall or any sort? They're surrounded by perfectly good lumber!"
Apparently they were counting on the fact that nobody was in the city outskirts where they were yet. That goes with my theory that when Rick caught up to them, they hadn't been there more than a few days. They were probably mostly still in "FEMA will come and rescue us soon" thinking.
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Like half of all modern SF ends in cliffhangers, or at least sequel series hooks.
Yup. It's been 11 years since Homeward Bound, though. We're past George R R Martin territory, here.
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Aggh! The safehold series is infuriating. For fuck's sake, there are so many interesting themes and ideas here. ENOUGH WITH THE FUCKING SPACE CATHOLICS ALREADY!
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ENOUGH WITH THE FUCKING SPACE CATHOLICS ALREADY!
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/en.futurama/images/6/6b/SpacePope.png
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-- Oh my lord, whatever shall I do now that I have become apostate? And the made up Book of Schueler clearly state... (3 paragraph quote of boring bible-like crap)
-- Yes indeed, my eminence. My personal faith has also been put to the test. But then what moral authority have people like Cythian and the Mother Church, when they were the ones... (3 paragraph reiteration of why the good guys are absolutely perfect pearls of goodness and spiritual purity)
ENOUGH! SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP ALREADY AND DO SOME BATTLE SEQENCES. That's what you're good at, not this childish junior-high level stilted introspective dialogue crap.
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I'm currently reading Moby Dick. I started it on our camping holiday in Tasmania. Reading the Nantucket part with the sound of the waves crashing and the wind shaking the canvas of the camper-trailer tent was amazing.
Back home now and finding some of that magic gone but determined to keep going.
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You could always get one of those rip-off CDs of waves. Or find a YouTube video of waves; there's probably one somewhere…
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Or find a YouTube video of waves;
Ooh, ooh—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2uB4nKzGlg
or maybe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIuJTWS2uvY
HTH, HAND, LOL, BBQ, ETC
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So, here's my recommendation of books not yet mentioned in the thread:
By Charles Stross:
The Atrocity Archives and later books. It's basically Lovecraft meets Gibson with a bit of Pratchett. As in: In his universe you can do "magic" by using the wrong algorithms. A "void function" might indeed return the void and a divide by zero is never a good idea if you want to keep on living.Iron Sunrise and Singularity Sky
By Brent Weeks:
The Black Prism, first of the Lightbringer seriesBy Joe Abercrombie
The Blade Itself, first of the First Law TrilogyBy Robin Hobb
Assassin's Apprentice, first of The Farseer TrilogyBy Ian Irvine
A Shadow On The Glass, first of the The View From The MirrorThe latter one I find particularly interesting - Irvine calls his books to be "Darwinistic Fantasy". The second series after The View From The Mirror (which is called "The Well Of Echoes") also sport main "hero" characters who manage to be completely unlikeable for a large part of the beginning.
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The space catholics get way more interesting later. They slow burn.
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Oh. Those aren't space catholics. You aren't far enough to have met the actual space catholics. Those guys are just dicks.
.... Wait. I just realized I'm confusing two entirely different series, both featuring space catholics.
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By Robin Hobb
Assassin's Apprentice, first of The Farseer TrilogyBig fan of Robin Hobb. Waiting for the second in the new Fitz trilogy
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Robin Hobb is awesome :D I just found her recently, and binged the whole lot of them. I was a little disappointed in the newest book though -- it felt not quite as polished as the older stuff. But I've got high hopes for the next one anyway.
Between Hobb and Brandon Sanderson, 2014 was a good year for discovering authors for me :) I'm currently finally reading A Song of Ice and Fire, which is surprisingly better than I expected given what I'd heard about it.
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If you've only just discovered her you might not be aware that she's also written some books as Megan Lindholm. Quite a different style, but well worth reading
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ooh, including some urban fantasy. Added to my list :) Thanks!
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Recommendation for all you EE types (and anyone else who's curious about how to keep electronic gadgets from stepping on each other's little silicon toes):
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Oh great, first it was mobile, now they started with this shit on desktop sites.
How about "Not ever"?
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Is it just me or there is no lightbox thing on that image? o.O
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Re reading Jingo from Terry Pratchett.
if you haven't read discworld. you should, it doesn't get much better.
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Night Watch is my personal favourite, although Jingo was good too (of course). The books have certainly matured as the series progresses.
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I think Thud is my favorite. I've also enjoyed reading Where's my Cow to / with my kids. They love it. My daughter has finally gotten old enough to enjoy Discworld proper.
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Night Watch is one of the best books i've read. all of it fits perfectly.
my top five:
The Truth
Thief of Time
Thud
Night Watch
The Last HeroThe books have certainly matured as the series progresses.
QFTMy daughter has finally gotten old enough to enjoy Discworld proper.
age? i want to get my nephew into it, but i think he's too young yet
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I'm looking forward to read monstrous regiment and the tiffany aching books for my daughters. There's a lot to learn in them for a young girl about independent thought.
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age? i want to get my nephew into it, but i think he's too young yet
She's 14.
EDIT: I think it was Guards! Guards! that got her hooked (of course, the Vimes books are the best). It was the one with the dragon, if that's not the one...
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age? i want to get my nephew into it, but i think he's too young yet
I was about 12 when I got hooked on Discworld (Carpe Jugulum, which my dad had got out of the library and I found and borrowed).
I think it was Guards! Guards! ... the one with the dragon
Correct.
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i think i'll have to wait, he's 7.
maybe "The wee free men" will do. i want him to make the habit of reading
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vimes is the best. followed by vetinari
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i've long been a fan of Carrot and Angua.
they make an adorable couple and their dynamic is awesome!
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Figures you'd go for the furry...
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hmph.
well i won't deny angua is a lycanthrope but that's not why i like her, and besides without Carrot as a foil she's not nearly so likeable. it really is the pair of them that make the awesome.
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Re reading Jingo from Terry Pratchett.
if you haven't read discworld. you should, it doesn't get much better.
Also, Good Omens, which I've been quoting here at every opportunity.
vimes is the best. followed by vetinari
Rincewind
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i think i'll have to wait, he's 7.
Perfect age for the Bromeliad trilogy (Truckers, Diggers and Wings)
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The books have certainly matured as the series progresses.
Up to Making Money. I thought Unseen Academicals was meh, and they definitely went downhill afterward.
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It feels to me like he's rushing to get the series to a "finished" state before the Alzheimers stops him being able to write any more.
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I thought Unseen Academicals was meh, and they definitely went downhill afterward.
I agree, the last couple seem to be missing something. They were pretty good books, but they didn't feel to me like they had that Pratchett spark that the rest do. It actually reminded me of Discworld fanfiction.(I should point out that as well as all the usual dross you find in fanon there are some very talented writers putting out novel-length fanfics for Discworld that are [i]universes[/i] away from the stereotype of fanfiction, but it's never the real thing.)
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I've never read discworld fanfiction. Maybe I should, but there's only so many hours in a day...
WTB more hours per day.
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You can have all my hours between 8:15am and 4:45pm, Mon-Fri (excluding bank holidays and 21 additional days per year to be taken whenever I like, subject to reasonable notification).
There's a lot of Sturgeon in there, naturally, so just wading through the lot is not a particularly rewarding task. I recommend A. A. Pessimal - these are pen names on fanfiction.net - particularly. He's the main author I was thinking of when I said that. Twist writes nothing remotely like actual Discworld but is quite hilarious and worth a look. And there's at least one other writer I'd like to recommend but I've forgotten his pen name and I don't want to go trawling through fanfic on work internet.
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[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31858156]Terry Pratchett died today[/url]
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[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31858156]Terry Pratchett died today[/url]
DAMN