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What are you reading?


Shane

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Haha, for sure. Ah, the old days of not being sure what the hell is going on.

 

I just finished Reaper's Gale and I'm not sure what's going on. Too many threads to remember - although at least in this book he does bring them together for the conclusion. But it was a real slong to get through, and a lot of the time he makes you like a character and want to see more of them, and then they disappear for the next 100 pages.

 

Anyway, I'm reading Everyone Loves You When You're Dead by Neil Strauss. Pretty awesome. Sometimes leaves you wanting more though.

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Finished Robert Creamer's bio of Babe Ruth and am now on Kramer's dimaggio bio. . Starting a little sports run, as I have a about 6-7 books to go, hopefully by the end of the summer. Being unemployed  paradoxially means I read less, as I would usually have about 90 minutes or to read during lunch and break, only read 8 books so far this year; granted 3 of them were Manchester's churchill trilogy, abut 3000 pages in all, I am such a slacker. . . .:)

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Recently I read Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines. Not bad, it's  superheroes set in a world lost to zombies. He has a second one I'll get to called Ex Patriots. Also read the novel of Marvel Civil War, and reading the book X-Men Gifted now.

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Finished a few books when the old board when boom.

 

Name of the Wind. Would be the greatest book ever if Kvothe got his jaw broke by Ambrose and his precious lute smashed to pieces.

 

 

The Running Man. After seeing the movie so many damn times, I really enjoyed it. Though just wished we got to more of the Hunters. Only problem I had was that King spoiled the ending in his introduction, boooo

 

Just finished 11/22/63. Loved it. Kept on picturing Star Man era Jeff Bridges as Jake Epping.

 

Back to Mitch Rapp with Pursuit of Honor.

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Working on Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. A really neat steampunkish alt history taking place around the beginning of WWI.

Finished this last night. Excellent start! Will definitely look for more at the library if it ever stops raining here.

 

For now, re-reading Voyage of the Mourning Dawn by Rich Wulf.

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Do you (or anyone else, but you mentioned it first) have any general recommendations for steampunk books, for someone completely ignorant of that genre?  The visuals and ideas of steampunk are something that I find fascinating to the point of wanting to play around with them in stories myself, but it seems like the books suffer from the same problem as the fantasy genre, which is simply a bad case of Sturgeon's Law with countless untalented hacks who somehow bluffed their way into authorial careers.  So, what's a good short list for beginners?
 
I'd start with this. I haven't read much of any steampunk, so you might want to look at the book in Amazon or Goodreads and see what else they recommend.
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About 3/4 of the way though Chris Kluwe's Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies. Actually pretty good. . .it includes some of the stuff he's written online, but it has plenty of other good stuff in it, too.

 

After that is probably going to be Ben Mezrich's Straight Flush, a book about the guys that started Absolute Poker.

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I read The Road Warriors book from a few years ago written by Animal and some other guy and I read William Kennedy's "Ironweed", all to close out my requirements in my public library's Reading For Chocolate deal. I didn't care too much for the Road Warriors book and was especially unhappy with "Ironweed". "Ironweed" was beautifully written for sure but I just did not enjoy the characters and where the story went. Ah well, got free candy out of this past month of reading so, who am I to complain. 

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I think I'll use my first ever post on this esteemed wrestling board to talk about literature! Hooray!

 

I'm juggling a lot of books at the moment. I'm totally in love with Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney, due to my short attention span I don't really get through books all that quickly but I'm so addicted to it. The 2nd person narration doesn't stick out like I feared it might and, actually, improves the book. The plot's got a great, fast pace to it. Often pretty funny as well, while still packing an emotional punch when it needs to I'm really getting a taste for the Brat Pack writers of the eighties, they're completely unpretentious, very easy to read and have bundles of sleazy, quirky plots that contrast very appealingly with my safe, geeky, middle class existence. 

 

Elsewhere I'm inching through a couple of soccer books and I've just started the Severed Alliance, which I could go either way on. I've almost finished my re-read of the Hitchhiker's Guide series but I've got stuck on the sixth which is nowhere near as good as I remembered it being. Still, on the whole, summer reading is going well.

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I liked the Road Warriors biography.  Thought it was a quick read and to the point.  Laurenitis pretty much summed it all up without delving too deep into Hawk's substance abuse problems.

 

Putting politics aside don't blat me, I am currently reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (strictly as it has been deemed a science fiction classic.  I could care less about Card's radical politics).  I am reading it strictly for pleasure

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Gardens of The Moon is conquered... AT LAST~!

After I buy my new helm for fighting I am getting the next Malazan book. I see  a very big Joseph Campbell's "A Hero's Journey" thign playing out with Crokus. The final exchange between Cotillion and Paran was pretty chilling. I'm very fascinated with what will happen with Vorcan and Rallick Nom. I really loved how everythign just dovetails to the big fete at Lady Simtal's.. I just love every character in this damn thing!

 

James

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Do you (or anyone else, but you mentioned it first) have any general recommendations for steampunk books, for someone completely ignorant of that genre?  The visuals and ideas of steampunk are something that I find fascinating to the point of wanting to play around with them in stories myself, but it seems like the books suffer from the same problem as the fantasy genre, which is simply a bad case of Sturgeon's Law with countless untalented hacks who somehow bluffed their way into authorial careers.  So, what's a good short list for beginners?
 
Posted Image
The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman
The book is set in an steampunk influenced environment, but it's not a strictly steampunk book.  There are parts that drag and I remember it taking awhile to set up the world in the beginning, but it's still a decent read.
 
Here's a synopsis:

"The world is still only half-made. Between the wild shores of uncreation, and the ancient lands of the East lies the vast expanse of the West---young, chaotic, magnificent, war-torn.

 

Thirty years ago, the Red Republic fought to remake the West---fought gloriously, and failed. The world that now exists has been carved out amid a war between two rival factions: the Line, enslaving the world with industry, and the Gun, a cult of terror and violence. The Republic is now history, and the last of its generals sits forgotten and nameless in a madhouse on the edge of creation. But locked in his memories is a secret that could change the West forever, and the world’s warring powers would do anything to take it from him.

 

Now Liv Alverhuysen, a doctor of the new science of psychology, travels west, hoping to heal the general’s shattered mind. John Creedmoor, reluctant Agent of the Gun and would-be gentleman of leisure, travels west, too, looking to steal the secret or die trying. And the servants of the Line are on the march."

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Half-Made-World-Felix-Gilman/dp/0765325535

 

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As there was some discussion about CATCHER IN THE RYE and how much everyone hated it on the board before the last board-death, I thought it might be worth posting this.

 

My folks just sent me a bunch of junk and books from my old room.  Here is the copy of CitR that I was forced to read in high school.  Somehow it seems to say a lot about where the mind of the 15-year-old drifts when sitting in English class listening to a teacher blather on about it:

 

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Half-Made World seems like it was written to meet a deadline. The author just rushes through things at the end and doesn't even bother with a real conclusion. There's enough good stuff in it that I'm intrigued by the sequel, but I doubt I'll ever get around to picking it up.

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Half-Made World seems like it was written to meet a deadline. The author just rushes through things at the end and doesn't even bother with a real conclusion. There's enough good stuff in it that I'm intrigued by the sequel, but I doubt I'll ever get around to picking it up.

 

I didn't like the ending either.  I figure he ended it the way he did because he was set on a sequel, but that's not a good excuse.  Anyway, I had more problems with the plot dragging at various points in the story.

 

I think Gilman(author) handled the lead characters pretty well though, especially the female character(I forget her name).  I thought he did a good job of developing her mindset throughout the books' various events.

 

I will read the sequel eventually, but I've heard it's not told from their viewpoint, which turns me off.

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Just finished listening to The Sisters Brothers. I enjoyed the audio maybe even a bit more than reading it, as the narrator sells the dark comedy really well. I was also familiar with all the story beats. I'll hold off on discussing it more until the thread about it pops up for the Summer Reading shindig...

Started Seagalogy, which is sort of a humorously critical look at the works of Steven Seagal. Fun read, because the subject is such a kook and that clearly bleeds into his movies

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finished Robert Creamer's bio of Babe Ruth and am now on Kramer's dimaggio bio. . Starting a little sports run, as I have a about 6-7 books to go, hopefully by the end of the summer. Being unemployed  paradoxially means I read less, as I would usually have about 90 minutes or to read during lunch and break, only read 8 books so far this year; granted 3 of them were Manchester's churchill trilogy, abut 3000 pages in all, I am such a slacker. . . . :)

Finished the Dimaggio book last week, took me a little longer that it might have, as he was a very unpleasant person to read about. As cheap as the day was long, and a generally prick. He couldn't stand the thought of anyone making a dollar of his name. Not taking advantage mind you, making ANY MONEY, like taking 100 cents out of every dollar. That and he expected to get free food, drink and lodging, and if you ever asked for a little to break even, you got a life long silent treatment. . just unpleasant to read about for 200 plus pages after he retired. Then I polished off a book about sports in 1941, starting ted Williams autobio next. . .

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Finished up Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! and David Gemmell's Legend. First time reading their works and loved both of them to bits. So many bloody Discworld books I just picked one at random between The Watch series, DEATH, and the stand alones. Probably going with Small Gods or Mort next.

 

Legend was fantastic and already ordered Waylander. Can't wait.

 

 

Currently reading New York by Edward Rutherfurd.

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