What are you reading?

[Kacey Y]

Ha that's part of why I like it. I mostly just read on my lunch break bc home is too busy with the kids. Kurt is simple enough to pick up and put down and not be lost each time.

I enjoy the fact that he communicates such deep concepts with simple prose. It makes for an entertaining read.

[coldbrightsunlight]

All of the Dune books are rad. The Frank Herbert ones are "the best" but the rest of them are great fun too. I got a bunch of them out at the library, though -- I wouldn't say many past the first four are really worth owning.

Interesting, I am a liiittle tempted to read the rest for completeness.

Also I should have a library card... free books!

[Kacey Y]

Also I should have a library card... free books!

I grew up in an area where every year there was some story about how they were closing a library branch down for x amount of days per week (or whole branches), never updated the books and pretty much just kept the places open for internet access. The last book store in my home county went out of business 10 years ago. I moved to a new area with real public libraries and suddenly they're just all "oh, we don't have that, but we can just call another branch and it'll be here in a few days". Yay (funded) libraries.

[MrNovember]

Just started Dune. Never read before.

Yeah you're gonna love it.

I almost bought Dune this week. The only reason I held off was because I know there are several sequels and I'm the kind of person who a) is a completionist and has to finish everything, and b) doesn't like reading huge long series' because I generally lose interest. So yeah, how important are the sequels/the entire series?

All the original sequels (i.e. written by Frank Herbert) are pretty good (at least up to God Emperor which is a highlight, but the latter two are definitely less good).

I've never read any of the other books done by Brian Herbert and others, and the general advice I've been given is don't.

Entirely possible to enjoy Dune as a standalone book if you so choose. I understand the completionist impulse though, it's why I read all the original books and I still feel a little conflicted over not reading the others but there are so many good books to read I shouldn't give time to things I've been told plenty of times are disappointing.

All of the Dune books are rad. The Frank Herbert ones are "the best" but the rest of them are great fun too. I got a bunch of them out at the library, though -- I wouldn't say many past the first four are really worth owning.

Interesting, I am a liiittle tempted to read the rest for completeness.

Also I should have a library card... free books!

Hmm, definitely good to know. I'd probably stick to only the Frank Herbert ones on principle. I don't know why, but it bugs me when a new author carries on another authors work

Also, I haven't checked out the library in my new town since moving. I'm still close enough to my old library to stop in, and it was pretty sweet, but I also just really like owning books

[Dapper Bandit]

Just started Dune. Never read before.

Yeah you're gonna love it.

I almost bought Dune this week. The only reason I held off was because I know there are several sequels and I'm the kind of person who a) is a completionist and has to finish everything, and b) doesn't like reading huge long series' because I generally lose interest. So yeah, how important are the sequels/the entire series?

All the original sequels (i.e. written by Frank Herbert) are pretty good (at least up to God Emperor which is a highlight, but the latter two are definitely less good).

I've never read any of the other books done by Brian Herbert and others, and the general advice I've been given is don't.

Entirely possible to enjoy Dune as a standalone book if you so choose. I understand the completionist impulse though, it's why I read all the original books and I still feel a little conflicted over not reading the others but there are so many good books to read I shouldn't give time to things I've been told plenty of times are disappointing.

All of the Dune books are rad. The Frank Herbert ones are "the best" but the rest of them are great fun too. I got a bunch of them out at the library, though -- I wouldn't say many past the first four are really worth owning.

Interesting, I am a liiittle tempted to read the rest for completeness.

Also I should have a library card... free books!

Hmm, definitely good to know. I'd probably stick to only the Frank Herbert ones on principle. I don't know why, but it bugs me when a new author carries on another authors work

Also, I haven't checked out the library in my new town since moving. I'm still close enough to my old library to stop in, and it was pretty sweet, but I also just really like owning books

While the original 6 do take a bit of a dip in quality towards the end, they never dip below really good. As a series of books it's pretty much all hit, even the second one is a perfectly enjoyable set up for an incredible third. I couldn't recommend them enough, really, these books cover thousands of years and are just so deep. You've got thoughts on the nature of power, an in-depth look at the Muslim faith, environmentalism and human evolution.

The books by his son and Kevin J Anderson are a different kettle of fish entirely. I read House Atreides and I was done. Turns out writing talent is not hereditary.


I would also recommend library cards, they are rad as fuck.

[morange]

I remember nothing from any of the sequels. Nothing all that great or memorable. Just read the first one, is my vote.

[Dapper Bandit]

Not long finished China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh. Mindblowing sci-fi that swapped spaceships going pew-pew-pew for character development and world building. Two thumbs up!

[bloatedsack]

Just started Dune. Never read before.

Yeah you're gonna love it.

I almost bought Dune this week. The only reason I held off was because I know there are several sequels and I'm the kind of person who a) is a completionist and has to finish everything, and b) doesn't like reading huge long series' because I generally lose interest. So yeah, how important are the sequels/the entire series?

Read the first one, loved it. I have read none.of the others but I hear 2 is bad but 3 was good...? I dunno and don't have that problem with books if they wrap up well with the exception of Harry Potter.

Expecto Patronum!!!

Apologies I'm very drunk =)

Dune's weird for me.

I first read it when I was 14 or so, and I absolutely loathed it. I still read the next 3 or 4 books and then just gave up. Still, I go back and re-read Dune every five years or so, and I still continue to hate it but every re-reading I have a little more respect for how "complete" a world that Herbert put together, at least insomuch as you need to care for the plot of the book.

I now find that nearly 30 years later that while I will still claim to loathe it (see above), I've read it dozens of times and can quote and explain portions chapter and verse.

As for Harry Potter, I recently took a shot at reading the entire series because for years people have been telling me that zomgoggles htey're the best bookses ever! They're not. They're fucking awful. How are these popular? They go from cute kids' light reads to ponderous fucking teenage literature. The plots are hackneyed, you can almost always see through eeryone of them with int he first 20 pages and, honestly, the "world of Wizardry" that Rowling has built is just so much fucking stupidity. There's nothing even interesting the magic, wave a wand, do anything! What's the point of fucking wizard school?

I'm sure if you were born in the magic period where you "aged up" along with Harry so that the books grew with you, then I can see how they've got a soft spot for them, but other than that I can't see how they're anything but terrible.

Also, after light reading on JK Rowling she appears to suck as a human being going so far as to say things like she "wasn't writing fantasy" and that even if she was, fantasy was droll and dead before she got their and revolutionized it with her shitbooks. She also clearly has nothing in the tank but seven shitty teenage witch books and then everything she can do to exploit her fanbase with pointless retreads, sequels, and occasional updates about what her shitty characters re doing over the last 10 years or whatever.

[samzadgan]

^ so agree with this analysis of harry potter books. I find it really sad that its gotten the literal praise that it has.

I get that its a fun read for young teenagers, much like the old "choose your own adventure" books in my youth....but that's really about it. But to be anything more than that is staggeringly over inflating its importance as a literal work of any kind let alone in the fantasy genre...where i think some of more talented and creative writers preside.

[Iommic Pope]

Yeah, they are excellent b9oks for making young readers enthusiastic about reading, but the idea that adults love them is loathesome.

[samzadgan]

Yeah, they are excellent b9oks for making young readers enthusiastic about reading, but the idea that adults love them is loathesome.

there's a guy at work whom i really dislike...he thinks harry potter books and movies are some of the best ever written/made...he's 28...and he's favourite playlist on spotify is one called Happy Pop. I guess that gives an insight as to who these "adults" are...

[$harkToootth]

I am reading the "Pedal Breeder Thread". I'm almost done. This what life has come to. I think it's time to die.

[actual]

I am reading the "Pedal Breeder Thread". I'm almost done. This what life has come to. I think it's time to die.

Man, livin' the dream!


Also, happy pop 4 lyfe.

[oscillateur]

I'm lazy so I'll just copy/edit a similar post I made on llllllll...

I recently read :

The Three-Body problem, by Cixin Liu. Not as impressive or mind-blowing as some reviews made me expect but not bad either. I suppose most of my reservations about it might be addressed in the second volume…

The Fractured Europe Sequence (all 3 books), by Dave Hutchinson. Europe in Autumn, Europe at Midnight, Europe in Winter. I really liked these. They have a sort of Warren Ellis/China Mieville vibe to them. Not that surprising as I read it after a recommendation in Warren Ellis’ newsletter. He says it better than me :

Turned out to be a near-future political fiction about a Europe splitting into independent states and The Coureurs Des Bois, a secret courier service rattling around the continent in determination to keep the Schengen dream of an open Europe alive. That had enough of a weird Thomas Pynchon kink - a secret postal service! - to keep me going. And then it gets a little weirder. And then there’s a bit probably inspired by those non-existent locations that pop up on Google Maps like mapmaker watermarks, brilliantly transposed to antique British mapmaking. And then it all suddenly goes a bit China Mieville. And then there’s a bit in the second book that’s pure “Laundry Files” Charlie Stross. By then you’ve already realised that Dave Hutchinson pulled a huge stunt on you and the conspiratorial poli-spy fiction you thought you were reading is actually something completely fucking mental.

I also started re-reading something I read as a teenager (and in French), Jack Vance’s Tschai cycle. Well, I stopped at the end of the kindle free preview, as some things annoyed me a bit too much (generic/uninteresting/talented at everything hero character, etc.). The world is interesting though (at least from what I remember) so I might get the book later if I want some fantasy/sf that doesn’t make me think too much…

And I bought these to :
Radiance, by Catherynne Valente
Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer
Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald

I just started the VanderMeer and I quite it so far, the only other thing I read from him is the first volume of The Southern Reach Trilogy (Annihilation) but I want to read the next ones too.

And I also never read Harry Potter and don't plan to. I tried to watch the first movie in a place recently and couldn't go past 30 minutes or so. I guess, as said above, you probably have to read/see that as a kid and grow with it...

[coldbrightsunlight]

I'm lazy so I'll just copy/edit a similar post I made on llllllll...

I recently read :

The Three-Body problem, by Cixin Liu. Not as impressive or mind-blowing as some reviews made me expect but not bad either. I suppose most of my reservations about it might be addressed in the second volume…

I'm about 2/3 of the way through this right now and I feel the same. I saw so much glowing praise that I'm a bit disappointed. It's definitely interesting and I'm enjoying it but not as much as I expected to