Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (2 Viewers)

[Sand]

* Lucifer's Hammer: A comet hits the earth causing the end of the world as we know it. Alternately gripping and slow moving. It was too long but often interesting.

* Hyperion (Dan Simmons): Consistently rated as one of the best Sci-Fi books of all time. I thought it was very good. Not all time great however. It did stay with me for a while afterwards and that - to me - is the sign of a good book.

* Sandman Slim (Richard Kadrey): Not recommended. Guy comes back from Hell for payback. Great premise but I found it formulaic, predictible, and silly.

Greg Bear is awesome and loved Lucifer's Hammer. The sequel was pretty good, too.

Hyperion was pretty close to perfect.

Sandman Slim was awful. Couldn't even finish that one.

----

Just finished Starship Eternal. Pretty good and kept things moving. Good enough that I had a second book by the same author, His Dark Empire, and am chewing through that.

 

[Gravity]

Yeah, agreed. I found it while searching for books like my all time favorite "Altered Carbon". Someone recommended SS. What I don't get is that the reviews are good for it and there is a whole series. As noted, it was just plain bad.

------------------------------------------

"Sandman Slim was awful. Couldn't even finish that one."

 

[Swing 51]

Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson. About 100 pages in, kind of cliched writing, hope it picks up soon.

In this shattering and iconic American novel, PEN prize-winning writer, Smith Henderson explores the complexities of freedom, community, grace, suspicion and anarchy, brilliantly depicting our nation's disquieting and violent contradictions.

After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral eleven-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face to face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times.

But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the F.B.I., putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.

 

[Socrates11]

Golden Son, the follow-up to Red Rising, was outstanding.

http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Son-Book-Rising-Trilogy/dp/0345539818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426523130&sr=8-1&keywords=golden+son

 

[Sand]

Golden Son, the follow-up to Red Rising, was outstanding.

Too much coverage of this. I'm trying to wait until the price for the audio comes down a bit. You guys are making it tough.

Speaking of that, the price for The Martian went down to $6 and the audio is only $3 right now. Pretty good deal - I snagged it for the next trip.

 

[Don Quixote]

Finished "Devil in the White City." Absolutely hated it. It requires a need to look at the footnotes to figure out when Larson was talking about stuff that actually happened and when he was making stuff up. I don't mind historical fiction if it is labeled that way, but calling it nonfiction when 50% of the book is Larson speculating how something happened, when he does not make that clear in the text or in the marketing of the book, just annoys me as a fan of history.

On now to Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned

 

[Thorn]

Starting The Psychopath Whisperer, non-fiction about a psychologist who works in a Canadian prison for seven year to study and interview true psychopaths. Riveting so far.

Would recommend it now that I'm done. I little "look at me" at times, but the subject matter was intriguing.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Finished "Devil in the White City." Absolutely hated it. It requires a need to look at the footnotes to figure out when Larson was talking about stuff that actually happened and when he was making stuff up. I don't mind historical fiction if it is labeled that way, but calling it nonfiction when 50% of the book is Larson speculating how something happened, when he does not make that clear in the text or in the marketing of the book, just annoys me as a fan of history.

On now to Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned

I read it on Kindle and have no idea how to look up footnotes on that device. So I read it more as a historical fiction novel. Worked for me, though I did do some research after the fact.

I pretty much assumed that any dialogue or in-his-head thoughts or stuff no one could possibly know were Larsen's creations. And the "God's-Eye" stuff was the facts. Went in thinking that way and enjoyed the book a ton.

 

[Don Quixote]

Finished "Devil in the White City." Absolutely hated it. It requires a need to look at the footnotes to figure out when Larson was talking about stuff that actually happened and when he was making stuff up. I don't mind historical fiction if it is labeled that way, but calling it nonfiction when 50% of the book is Larson speculating how something happened, when he does not make that clear in the text or in the marketing of the book, just annoys me as a fan of history.

On now to Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned

I read it on Kindle and have no idea how to look up footnotes on that device. So I read it more as a historical fiction novel. Worked for me, though I did do some research after the fact.

I pretty much assumed that any dialogue or in-his-head thoughts or stuff no one could possibly know were Larsen's creations. And the "God's-Eye" stuff was the facts. Went in thinking that way and enjoyed the book a ton.

Yeah, there were some stuff that I could tell was clearly made up as I was reading, but there were also a lot of borderline stuff that it was hard to know. And I wasn't clear in advance what possibly came out at trial or what he confessed to and how much of that was being incorporated. By the end, it was clear that he did not talk, so it was all made up.

At one point him he was talking about Holmes' childhood (something I thought he had researched), and then there a footnote that it was pure speculation based on Larsen's discussion with an expert on serial killers and how they all come from troubled childhoods. It was that kind of stuff that annoyed me.

 

[shuke]

I don't remember there being footnotes in Devil in the White City. But I ended up being a more intrigued by the World's Fair stuff than the serial killer.

 

[imjackdupp]

Just finished the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks and started Crimson Campaign the last of the Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan.

I would recommend both to any fantasy readers who haven't gotten around to them.

"Sandman Slim was awful. Couldn't even finish that one."

I tried twice and never got past chapter 3.

 

[Swing 51]

I don't remember there being footnotes in Devil in the White City. But I ended up being a more intrigued by the World's Fair stuff than the serial killer.

Agreed - on the lack of footnotes and the World Fair plot being much more interesting

 

[Gravity]

Just finished:

Alone Together by Sherry Turkle. A Psychologist from MIT discusses her concerns about the total immersion of technology wrought by cell phones and messaging that is "Always On and Always On Us".

Its kind've ironic that my first impression is that it was too long and could've been likely halved with very little substance being lost. Do I feel that way because the internet feeds us bite-sized information via blog posts, tweets, etc.. and now I don't have the patience for anything overlong or was it really a bit long winded....

I believe the latter since I have read other long books that held my attention...

Anyway, for those interested, I'd skip the book and just view her TED talk as well as some articles she has online which basically capture everything you need to know. That said, there were some truly eye-opening insights that I will share as follows:

* The ubiquity of cell phones and being always connected has caused many of us to have zero alone time. There is no down time. No Solitude. According to her, this is especially significant for teenagers who need that down time for internal self-development. Alone time allows for self reflection, decompression of thoughts, thinking about goals, mistakes, etc...and our youth are basically being deprived of this.

* Some people are actually happier when they live in their virtual worlds (via immersive role playing games, etc...) then they are in their real world.

* "Always on us" means that teenagers never fully have the experience of cutting the cord. They are always connected to their parents and know instantaneously that they can call their parents if they need an urgent bail out.

* Average teen sends over 3000 tests a month (that was in 2010 - I bet the number may be double that now)

* Teens are TERRIFIED of making actual phone calls. They can't stand the thought of conversations taking place in real time. And they have no idea how to end a phone conversation.

* Loss of a cell phone to some people can "feel like a death"

* Each incoming text (and associated "Ding") causes a dopamine hit. (Same with responses to their facebook postings). Some people are just addicted to these small dopamine hits and can't fully seperate or extricate themselves when appropriate (meetings, vacations, even during funerals).

* Facebook and the like is someone's EDITED life. Some people are living their life FOR Facebook. Others are depressed that their life can't compete with someone else's Facebook-presented life.

* Reports have shown that at least 1 in 5 people will interrupt sex to answer their phone! (Again, in 2015 I bet that number is even higher)

* The quantity of communication between people has swelled but the quality has decreased.

 

[Fly]

Just finished:

Alone Together by Sherry Turkle. A Psychologist from MIT discusses her concerns about the total immersion of technology wrought by cell phones and messaging that is "Always On and Always On Us".

* Each incoming text (and associated "Ding") causes a dopamine hit. (Same with responses to their facebook postings). Some people are just addicted to these small dopamine hits and can't fully seperate or extricate themselves when appropriate (meetings, vacations, even during funerals).

Hadn't thought about it that way before but it makes sense. It's somewhat scary to think what the future holds when we're already this "chemically" addicted to phones/technology/facebook, etc. I can't imagine it getting any better.

 

[shuke]

Just finished:

Alone Together by Sherry Turkle. A Psychologist from MIT discusses her concerns about the total immersion of technology wrought by cell phones and messaging that is "Always On and Always On Us".

Its kind've ironic that my first impression is that it was too long and could've been likely halved with very little substance being lost. Do I feel that way because the internet feeds us bite-sized information via blog posts, tweets, etc.. and now I don't have the patience for anything overlong or was it really a bit long winded....

I believe the latter since I have read other long books that held my attention...

* The ubiquity of cell phones and being always connected has caused many of us to have zero alone time. There is no down time. No Solitude. According to her, this is especially significant for teenagers who need that down time for internal self-development. Alone time allows for self reflection, decompression of thoughts, thinking about goals, mistakes, etc...and our youth are basically being deprived of this.

* "Always on us" means that teenagers never fully have the experience of cutting the cord. They are always connected to their parents and know instantaneously that they can call their parents if they need an urgent bail out.

Interesting, probably worthy of a thread of its own. The above two things are most concerning to me as a parent.

 

[Donald_Rodriguez]

Just finished: Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel. It tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. It is a bit terrifying, reminding us of how paper-thin the achievements of any civilization are; but at the same time, it leaves us not fearful for the end of the world but appreciative of the grace of everyday existence.

Next in line: Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi. It's supposed to be a reimagining of the Snow White story set in the United States of America during the 1950s and the 1960s.

 

[joker]

Just finished Red Seas Under Red Skies and The Republic of Thieves. I liked The Lies of Locke Lamora by far the best, thought RSURS was still very good, but TROT was just ok in my opinion. There was much of the book I could have done without, and it didn't have nearly as much adventure or fun as the first two books (especially the first) had. I'll definitely read anything else that comes out in the series (assuming any do). Lynch is a promising writer, so I look forward to more from him.

Currently on The Emporer's Blades by Brian Stavely. I'm not that far in, and so far it's decent but not great. I'm listening to the audiobook, though, and the narrator isn't doing much for me, so that may be a large part of it. He keeps switching back and forth between vaguely Asian and European (Scottish, perhaps?) accents for most of the characters, so I'm having a hard time seeing/building the world in my mind while I listen. Not that the two accents can't coexist, but they're making me work for it, and good narrators IMHO make the characters and world come alive in your head versus having to work to build them up.

I'm also reading The Butcher of Anderson Station on my Kindle. Just started it, so no review yet, but I'll get there in time.

 

[Sand]

I'm also reading The Butcher of Anderson Station on my Kindle. Just started it, so no review yet, but I'll get there in time.

Supposed to be a pretty weak effort inside a great (great) set of books. I'll be interested in your take on it. One of the few parts of that series I haven't read.

 

[joker]

Yeah, I finished the three main books (LOVED them, as I believe I already documented in here somewhere) and figured I'd run through the smaller spin-offs, starting with this one. I'll be sure to update once I'm finished.

 

[jfranco77]

Just finished: Station Eleven by Emily St.John Mandel. It tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. It is a bit terrifying, reminding us of how paper-thin the achievements of any civilization are; but at the same time, it leaves us not fearful for the end of the world but appreciative of the grace of everyday existence.

Next in line: Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi. It's supposed to be a reimagining of the Snow White story set in the United States of America during the 1950s and the 1960s.

Big fan of Station Eleven. Lived up to the hype.

 

[jfranco77]

Finishing up Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation

It's a very long book that tells the story of Sega, with a little bit of Nintendo history and Sony Playstation history mixed in. If you grew up in the late 80s/early 90s, this is right in your wheelhouse. It's told in an interesting style where most of the events are described in conversations, though I assume the author wasn't there and doesn't actually know the exact words that were said. So maybe not 10/10 for historical accuracy, but it seems close enough to the truth and makes it easier to read.

Also interesting as a B-school sort of book since most of what Sega did was branding and advertising and positioning themselves against Nintendo. It does get a little too focused on personalities and not enough on products from time to time.

 

[Swing 51]

This sounds good and is getting rave reviews for a first novel:

A profound, startling, and beautifully crafted debut novel, The Sympathizer (by Viet Thanh Nguyen) is the story of a man of two minds, someone whose political beliefs clash with his individual loyalties.

It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be given passage aboard the last flights out of the country. The general and his compatriots start a new life in Los Angeles, unaware that one among their number, the captain, is secretly observing and reporting on the group to a higher-up in the Viet Cong. The Sympathizer is the story of this captain: a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, a man who went to university in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause. A gripping spy novel, an astute exploration of extreme politics, and a moving love story, The Sympathizer explores a life between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today.

 

[shader]

* Lucifer's Hammer: A comet hits the earth causing the end of the world as we know it. Alternately gripping and slow moving. It was too long but often interesting.

* Hyperion (Dan Simmons): Consistently rated as one of the best Sci-Fi books of all time. I thought it was very good. Not all time great however. It did stay with me for a while afterwards and that - to me - is the sign of a good book.

* Sandman Slim (Richard Kadrey): Not recommended. Guy comes back from Hell for payback. Great premise but I found it formulaic, predictible, and silly.

Greg Bear is awesome and loved Lucifer's Hammer. The sequel was pretty good, too.

Hyperion was pretty close to perfect.

Sandman Slim was awful. Couldn't even finish that one.

----

Just finished Starship Eternal. Pretty good and kept things moving. Good enough that I had a second book by the same author, His Dark Empire, and am chewing through that.

There is a sequel?

 

[Hov34]

Just finished these two that were mentioned here:

The Last Policeman by Ben Winters - was good, but I guess I expected great. I think my expectations were set too high and I was let down. If I had never heard of the book and just picked it up I probably would have loved it and ran here to recommend it. I will read the next two after what I am currently reading.

Replay by Ken Grimwood - Loved it, and only wish the planned sequel or movie would have happened. Read over about 4 days during spring break and I am a notoriously slow reader. Couldn't put it down. Also forced me to read what I am currently reading.

Just started The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North - I'm in love with this book - much more detail and depth than Replay and I loved Replay. Granted I'm only about a 1/4 of the way trough the book but so far it is great.

 

[Swing 51]

Just finished these two that were mentioned here:

The Last Policeman by Ben Winters - was good, but I guess I expected great. I think my expectations were set too high and I was let down. If I had never heard of the book and just picked it up I probably would have loved it and ran here to recommend it. I will read the next two after what I am currently reading.

Exactly how I felt. Not bad, just a bit underwhelming. Will still read the last 2 books in the series as I got all three in paperback for Xmas.

 

[joker]

Update on The Emporer's Blades - it's gotten much, much better. Probably about 3/4 of the way through it, and the pace has picked up along with my comfort with the narrator. The book revolves mostly around the experiences of two of the main characters, and it's gotten meaty enough that each time the book switches to one character or the other you're left with a mini-cliffhanger that leaves you wanting more, but you're excited to pick up from the last cliffhanger of the other character. The supporting characters have also been fleshed out more solidly, so they come into much better view in my mind as I'm listening, like I'm looking at a portrait of them that's becoming more and more detailed.

Definitely worth my time, and is making me much more excited for the next book.

 

[jfranco77]

I really enjoyed the Last Policeman series. All 3 were good.

 

[facook]

The Last Secret of the Temple, by Paul Sussman. Mystery split between Cairo and Jerusalem that digs into the Israel/Palestine stuff and has roots in archaeology, Jewish history and Nazi history...kind of Da Vinci Code-ish but in a much better way in my opinion. The sympathy for Palestinians is a little heavy handed at times early on, but in the second 2/3 of the book that has settled down quite a bit and the focus on the characters and the mystery are very entertaining. Probably give it 3.5 out of 5, it's worth reading if you like Dan Brown/Khoury/Berry "speculative historical fiction" if that is a thing.

 

[Swing 51]

Just finished Shadows of Glory by Owen Parry. Second book in the so called Abel Jones mysteries/historical fiction series which take place during the Civil War (first book set in 1861) and which some FBG (can't recall who and search still sucks) recommended and I'm really enjoying.

Looks like 6 books in this series - really entertaining reads.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/150342.Owen_Parry

 

[Swing 51]

Now on to Jack Reacher Book #14 - titled 61 Hours.

 

[Ilov80s]

Just finished Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in a Castle". I can see why Stephen King praised this book so heavily, it is creepy and full of a dark, but innocent and humorous characters. The humor and innocence actually make it more sinister as the true nature of the plot is revealed. Great quick read if you like creepy horror books, I read it in 2 sittings.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Just finished Shadows of Glory by Owen Parry. Second book in the so called Abel Jones mysteries/historical fiction series which take place during the Civil War (first book set in 1861) and which some FBG (can't recall who and search still sucks) recommended and I'm really enjoying.

Looks like 6 books in this series - really entertaining reads.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/150342.Owen_Parry

I've read at least a couple of these and 2nd Swing's opinion.

I set aside the Purge Of Babylon series after a few chapters. Between life and whatever other reasons, I just wasn't getting into it. That happens to me sometimes and, when I pick it back up later, I'm good (ASOIAF was like this, too).

I've started Dan Simmons' latest, The Fifth Heart, about Henry James and Sherlock Holmes teaming up to solve a mystery. Very early on, but I'm liking it so far. The book is a million pages, so I expect it to be full of Simmons showing off all of the research he did on nonessential side-stories. Sometimes these diversions are really interesting and sometimes But the writing is always good.

 

[shuke]

Next up: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. I think someone here recommended it.

Thought this was great. Not your typical post-apocalypse novel. Someone in here thought that it was beautifully written. Great way to describe it.

Next up: Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy

 

[Sand]

The Martin is bloody spectacular.

 

[Wrigley]

The Martin is bloody spectacular.

Tell me more

 

[Swing 51]

Now on to Jack Reacher Book #14 - titled 61 Hours.

So this had an interesting ambiguous ending; can't recall any other Reacher books like that.

 

[Kev4029]

I have a new commute that is about 2 hours round trip a day for the next two years, so I'm deciding to give audiobooks a try as the radio has gotten pretty stale for me. Audible does a free month trial so if I decide that I can't concentrate well enough to listen to an entire book while I drive there is nothing lost.

I'm looking for suggestions on what to start with. I don't read a lot of books, but when I do it covers a fairly wide range. The last books I've read have been Ender's Game, The Stand (actually reading now), Life - Keith Richard's autobiography, Fight Club, the Wool series, Kitchen Confidential, and The Year of Living Biblically. I would say the only thing that I'm not terribly interested in is history or historical biographies. TIA.

 

[Ilov80s]

I'm not sure where you live, but my local library has a million audio books for free. You can sync across all devices. It's really easy to use. I don't understand why anyone pays for books or audiobooks.

 

[Kev4029]

I'm not sure where you live, but my local library has a million audio books for free. You can sync across all devices. It's really easy to use. I don't understand why anyone pays for books or audiobooks.

Hadn't even thought about that. Got on my local library's website and they have about 1000 audiobooks to choose from including a lot of newer books. I think that might be the way to go after my Audible trial expires. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Ilov80s]

I'm not sure where you live, but my local library has a million audio books for free. You can sync across all devices. It's really easy to use. I don't understand why anyone pays for books or audiobooks.

Hadn't even thought about that. Got on my local library's website and they have about 1000 audiobooks to choose from including a lot of newer books. I think that might be the way to go after my Audible trial expires. Thanks for the idea.

No problem. It just surprises me how many people but books that are available for free...my wife especially. The e audio books are especially good if you are trying to stay on top of new popular books.

 

[Sand]

The Martin is bloody spectacular.

Tell me more

I meant the Martian. Premise is about a guy who gets stuck on Mars and how he tries to survive. Seems completely outlandish, but its not and has completely sucked me in. Not gonna give away anything else, but it is really, really well done so far.

 

[facook]

Dan Simmons' latest, The Fifth Heart. Sherlock Holmes in late 19th century America. Honestly, the "plot" is pretty lacking but Simmons' characters are utterly enthralling to me. Not as good as The Terror, but better than The Abominable and WAY better than Drood.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Dan Simmons' latest, The Fifth Heart. Sherlock Holmes in late 19th century America. Honestly, the "plot" is pretty lacking but Simmons' characters are utterly enthralling to me. Not as good as The Terror, but better than The Abominable and WAY better than Drood.

I'm reading this now and am about 1/3 of the way through.

As always, my biggest problem with Simmons these days is his inability to NOT show his research. Black Hills was stuffed with these diversions that had absolutely nothing to do with the obstensible main storyline. While I find some of these sidetracks interesting, they can also be really distracting.

In any case, I agree that he writes wonderful characters and he really has a knack for dialogue.

 

[facook]

Dan Simmons' latest, The Fifth Heart. Sherlock Holmes in late 19th century America. Honestly, the "plot" is pretty lacking but Simmons' characters are utterly enthralling to me. Not as good as The Terror, but better than The Abominable and WAY better than Drood.

I'm reading this now and am about 1/3 of the way through.

As always, my biggest problem with Simmons these days is his inability to NOT show his research. Black Hills was stuffed with these diversions that had absolutely nothing to do with the obstensible main storyline. While I find some of these sidetracks interesting, they can also be really distracting.

In any case, I agree that he writes wonderful characters and he really has a knack for dialogue.

Agreed. I don't think it's quite as distracting in this one but you are correct re: Black Hills and especially Abominable.

Sidenote: Did you read Flashback? I started it and quit not too far into it. Just wondering if I should try it again.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Dan Simmons' latest, The Fifth Heart. Sherlock Holmes in late 19th century America. Honestly, the "plot" is pretty lacking but Simmons' characters are utterly enthralling to me. Not as good as The Terror, but better than The Abominable and WAY better than Drood.

I'm reading this now and am about 1/3 of the way through.

As always, my biggest problem with Simmons these days is his inability to NOT show his research. Black Hills was stuffed with these diversions that had absolutely nothing to do with the obstensible main storyline. While I find some of these sidetracks interesting, they can also be really distracting.

In any case, I agree that he writes wonderful characters and he really has a knack for dialogue.

Agreed. I don't think it's quite as distracting in this one but you are correct re: Black Hills and especially Abominable.

Sidenote: Did you read Flashback? I started it and quit not too far into it. Just wondering if I should try it again.

Yeah, I read Flashback. The politics were distracting and kind of ugly. Simmons is clever enough to hide what he feels in most of his works. Flashback felt like a screed to me. Can't imagine it went over well in the Middle East.

 

[facook]

Dan Simmons' latest, The Fifth Heart. Sherlock Holmes in late 19th century America. Honestly, the "plot" is pretty lacking but Simmons' characters are utterly enthralling to me. Not as good as The Terror, but better than The Abominable and WAY better than Drood.

I'm reading this now and am about 1/3 of the way through.

As always, my biggest problem with Simmons these days is his inability to NOT show his research. Black Hills was stuffed with these diversions that had absolutely nothing to do with the obstensible main storyline. While I find some of these sidetracks interesting, they can also be really distracting.

In any case, I agree that he writes wonderful characters and he really has a knack for dialogue.

Agreed. I don't think it's quite as distracting in this one but you are correct re: Black Hills and especially Abominable.

Sidenote: Did you read Flashback? I started it and quit not too far into it. Just wondering if I should try it again.

Yeah, I read Flashback. The politics were distracting and kind of ugly. Simmons is clever enough to hide what he feels in most of his works. Flashback felt like a screed to me. Can't imagine it went over well in the Middle East.

So...worth the read? Or no?

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Dan Simmons' latest, The Fifth Heart. Sherlock Holmes in late 19th century America. Honestly, the "plot" is pretty lacking but Simmons' characters are utterly enthralling to me. Not as good as The Terror, but better than The Abominable and WAY better than Drood.

I'm reading this now and am about 1/3 of the way through.

As always, my biggest problem with Simmons these days is his inability to NOT show his research. Black Hills was stuffed with these diversions that had absolutely nothing to do with the obstensible main storyline. While I find some of these sidetracks interesting, they can also be really distracting.

In any case, I agree that he writes wonderful characters and he really has a knack for dialogue.

Agreed. I don't think it's quite as distracting in this one but you are correct re: Black Hills and especially Abominable.

Sidenote: Did you read Flashback? I started it and quit not too far into it. Just wondering if I should try it again.

Yeah, I read Flashback. The politics were distracting and kind of ugly. Simmons is clever enough to hide what he feels in most of his works. Flashback felt like a screed to me. Can't imagine it went over well in the Middle East.

So...worth the read? Or no?

I'd say "yes" because Simmons is such a good writer. If you like the way he writes, you'll like the book. There's gonna be some Arab-bashing, though, so be forewarned.

 

[Sand]

Dan Simmons' latest, The Fifth Heart. Sherlock Holmes in late 19th century America. Honestly, the "plot" is pretty lacking but Simmons' characters are utterly enthralling to me. Not as good as The Terror, but better than The Abominable and WAY better than Drood.

I'm reading this now and am about 1/3 of the way through.

As always, my biggest problem with Simmons these days is his inability to NOT show his research. Black Hills was stuffed with these diversions that had absolutely nothing to do with the obstensible main storyline. While I find some of these sidetracks interesting, they can also be really distracting.

In any case, I agree that he writes wonderful characters and he really has a knack for dialogue.

Agreed. I don't think it's quite as distracting in this one but you are correct re: Black Hills and especially Abominable.

Sidenote: Did you read Flashback? I started it and quit not too far into it. Just wondering if I should try it again.

Yeah, I read Flashback. The politics were distracting and kind of ugly. Simmons is clever enough to hide what he feels in most of his works. Flashback felt like a screed to me. Can't imagine it went over well in the Middle East.

So...worth the read? Or no?

I'd say "yes" because Simmons is such a good writer. If you like the way he writes, you'll like the book. There's gonna be some Arab-bashing, though, so be forewarned.

Funny enough I just got Hyperion on audible. I haven't read it in 20+ years and remember nothing, so am looking forward to revisiting (have a long drive, so it should fill in nicely).

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

I think I might go get this:

A North Vietnamese Spy Finds More Than He Bargained ForIn his arresting debut novel, Viet Thanh Nguyen has crafted one of the best pieces of fiction about the Vietnam war—and by a Vietnamese. And he’s just getting started.
A war novel, written any time after our re-evaluation of the phenomenon that began around the end of the American Civil War, will by its nature include certain unifying elements plucked from the grab-bag of heady themes—the blinding effects of systemic hubris, the absurdity of violence, the madness of man’s darkest natures unleashed, etc. In the case of the Vietnam War, the proceedings will also include, if one is inclined to view history as the story of winners and losers, the bilious extra baggage of defeat.

The equation gets even trickier in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s stunning debut, The Sympathizer, given the kaleidoscopic viewpoint of the unnamed narrator.

“I am a spy,” he writes, “A sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces.” The son of a Vietnamese woman and a French colonist Catholic priest, he is a communist sleeper agent, educated in western schools, who returns to his homeland to infiltrate the retinue of a South Vietnamese general in the closing days of the war. After the fall of Saigon, which happened, coincidentally, 40 years ago this week and which is presented in the book’s opening pages with riveting detail, he goes even deeper into the heart of the capitalist enemy, evacuated with the general and a handful of other refugees to California. From this new observation point, he is able to send secret dispatches back to one of his comrades, named Man, detailing the largely pathetic and unrealistic revanchism of the emasculated former warriors. As Man explains to him before they part ways, “Keep in mind that you will not be just any mole … but the mole that is the beauty spot on the nose of power itself.”

Soon, he is enlisted by a slick and dismissive Hollywood director to serve as a kind of historical consultant on a film depicting the heroic, quixotic attempts of a platoon of John Wayne-ish Americans to liberate a group of voiceless Vietnamese villagers (silent except for their screams) from the diabolical Viet Cong, “white men saving good yellow people from bad yellow people,” as the narrator describes it. “I pitied the French for their naïveté in believing they had to visit a country in order to exploit it. Hollywood was much more efficient, imagining the countries it wanted to exploit.”

Later, after finding time to lend a hand in the murder of two refugees that the general suspects of communist sympathies, he returns to Southeast Asia once more, this time with a group of former ARVN determined to mount one last suicidal action against the communists via a motley “invasion” through Thailand and Cambodia. It is during this ill-fated operation that the narrator, referred to hereafter as “the patient,” is captured by his erstwhile communist allies and subjected to brutal reeducation to purge him of the hedonistic and counter-revolutionary contaminants that he must have picked up during his time in the West. The entire book, in fact, is a written confession, addressed to the commandant of the prison camp in which the narrator is interned.

It’s at this point, during this long final section in which the patient’s id, ego, and super ego are slowly sand-blasted away through sensory deprivation and other forms of torture in order to get him to remember a horrible secret that his confession had so far omitted, that the reader is given to pause and ask himself: how did a novel that began as a realist examination of the folly of war, pure Quiet American (the narrator had in fact written his college thesis on Graham Greene’s classic), become a Kafkaesque nightmare-scape of the mind, the focus sweeping in from the conflict between geopolitical ideologies to the conflict between memory and consciousness? Could it be that Nguyen has captured the shape of the devolution of war itself, from grand ambition to human ruin? Or perhaps, the degradation of the sprit of revolutionary freedom into the impulse to murder a journalist?

Digressions abound, and the book is perhaps 50 pages too long (although most books are), but few of these flights of Nguyen’s fancy will be objected to, given the muscularity of his prose, the darkness of his humor, and the worldliness of his concern. In one particularly memorable and hilarious, if extraneous, section, the narrator recounts with guilt the Portnoy treatment that he gave an uncooked squid in his adolescence. A love affair that he embarks on with a Japanese-American woman is likewise a vehicle more for humor than for plot.

Communism, a wise man once said, is just a red herring. The Sympathizer is, to be sure, one of the finest novels of the Vietnam War published in recent years, especially given that it’s one of the very few written from a Vietnamese perspective. But the war is used here to highlight a panoply of other human realties that can’t be pinned to a moment in history—among them the limits of hope, the failure of friendship, and the psychological spaces that exist too deep in the human heart for politics to touch.

 

[Barry]

The Demolished Man -Alfred Bester. recommended here. What a great book. won the first hugo.