The Books/Reading Thread

[EspaDa]

This shit's crazy. Loving it.

 

[tagradh]

Just finished The Stars are Legion and The Industries of the Future. Now reading Civil Wars: A History in Ideas, Homo Deus and The Collapsing Empire.

 

[Einherjar86]

I have no idea where the fuck to put this, but it involves a writer I love (Peter Watts) so I'm leaving it here. That said, it's not actually a book--it's a fucking sci-fi metal opera:

http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=7426

I’m writing the story. It involves terrorist vegan gengineering and academic hierarchies and marbled lungfish and autocannibalism. Also terraforming and First Contact with aliens who showed up on Earth long before Kubrick’s transcendent monolith-makers, and who— being not very bright— bet on an utterly wrong horse. There’s a lot of story, a lot of backstory, and yet the story almost seems to be the least of it. It’s an actual opera, you see; a fusion of classic high-pitched arias and growling distorted black-metal grunge. There’s music, and a libretto. There are singers and sets and costumes— relatively primitive at this stage, the event was basically a proof-of-principle exercise after all— and scientific fact-checking courtesy of a number of real authorities, not the least being the co-discoverer of Dark Energy. We’re after verisimilitude, here. This aims to be the most scientifically-rigorous opera about alien lungfish on Mars ever written.

 

[TageRyche]

My review of the Joseph Kanon thriller Defectors is can be read via this Mystery Scene magazine link.

 

[Cronopio]

Currently reading

and

Both are rollicking good reads, in different (and partly similar) ways.

 

[TageRyche]

You can check out my review of the Adam Hamdy thriller Pendulum via this Mystery Scene magazine link.

 

[Anom@nder Rake]

read Naked Lunch this week. the first half of the book has so much talk about cocks and ejaculate that i had to double check that it wasn't written by HamburgerBoy

 

[Einherjar86]

Only Beat book worth reading anymore, in my opinion. Some fucked up shit in there. Also found a way to express the modern control society when neither Ginsberg nor Kerouac could.

 

[TageRyche]

You can check out my review of the Laurie R. King novel Lockdown via this Mystery Scene link.

 

[Sirjack]

Here's his lecture on the novel:



He delves into a lot of history about the novel, but I think it's a great lecture. He really knows his shit about realism, modernism, and the contemporary novel.

Only 7 months later....yeah man that is a great lecture and a very interesting debate. Lots of terrific ideas and commentary from the other writers also. l just purchased Railsea which looks interesting but, l have started to read Limbo by Bernard Wolfe, so China' gonna have to wait. cheers for the link

 

[Einherjar86]

 

[CiG]

Short record of a Christian's journey through the slums of India.

 

[Einherjar86]

View attachment 10557

Fuck yes. Baldwin and Ellison are the pinnacle of awesomeness.

 

[CiG]

I'm not very familiar with Ralph Ellison but I do enjoy James Baldwin even if I do not share his worldview broadly speaking.

I'm actually re-reading all the books I own by him (not that many unfortunately) because I'm writing and am looking for some inspiration of a certain brand.

(Also just about to re-watch Dark City for the same reason.)

 

[TageRyche]

A couple more of my reviews went up online:

The Vinyl Detective - The Run-Out Groove by Andrew Cartmel

The Switch by Joseph Finder

 

[Einherjar86]

I'm not very familiar with Ralph Ellison but I do enjoy James Baldwin even if I do not share his worldview broadly speaking.

I'm actually re-reading all the books I own by him (not that many unfortunately) because I'm writing and am looking for some inspiration of a certain brand.

(Also just about to re-watch Dark City for the same reason.)

Haha, Baldwin and Dark City. My mind is jumping to conclusions...

 

[CiG]

 

[Doomguy]

I really enjoyed this, I've always liked science fiction but seem to have shelved this one for a while inexplicably. Which sequels are worth reading if not all five? Probably won't get around to seeing the David Lynch adaptation, which is apparently bollocks.

 

[CiG]

Probably won't get around to seeing the David Lynch adaptation, which is apparently bollocks.

Watch the proper version rather than the edited, cut version, it's actually good and the soundtrack Toto did for it is amazing.

 

[Doomguy]

I'd give it a go man, but

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you