Book Recommendations?

I hope not but it would make sense for where it ends up. We never even got to the Termination Shock!

ComfortZone wrote:

I hope not but it would make sense for where it ends up. We never even got to the Termination Shock!

BTW Stephenson totally made up the definition he gives in the book. "Termination shock" is actually a term from astronomy - it refers to the boundary where the solar wind meets the interstellar medium.

Ordered Maus for me and Mary Roach's new popular science book, Fuzz, as a gift for the Boss.

For anyone else who enjoys Mary Roach, check out this podcast.

Every once in a while I stop by the used book store and check against my reading list. It's a small shop and I don't often find what I'm looking for.

This last time I noticed the sequel to Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio, which I own and read years ago. So I picked up Darwin's Children and began re-reading the first book.

Darwin's Radio is really slow. I'd call it a slow burn except there's not much burn. There are some interesting parallels to the covid pandemic, as the plot revolves around how humanity is dealing with a strange viral outbreak. In general though, it's pretty dull. I didn't remember it being so dull on my first read. I remember wanting to see where the story went.

Enter Darwin's Children. Where did the story go? Nowhere interesting. While the main theme of the first book was

Spoiler:

humanity on the cusp of sudden and radical evolution,

the sequel wasn't about hardly at all except near the end. It kind of reads like Bear didn't know where the story was going either and so instead he punted that until the end of the novel.

Am I less forgiving of slow books as I've gotten older? I probably would have recommended Darwin's Radio when I first read it. Now I would not either of these books.

Mixolyde wrote:

Ordered Maus for me and Mary Roach's new popular science book, Fuzz, as a gift for the Boss.

For anyone else who enjoys Mary Roach, check out this podcast.

Thank you for reminding me about Roach's science oeuvre...I'm just catching up.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Every once in a while I stop by the used book store and check against my reading list. It's a small shop and I don't often find what I'm looking for.

This last time I noticed the sequel to Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio, which I own and read years ago. So I picked up Darwin's Children and began re-reading the first book.

Darwin's Radio is really slow. I'd call it a slow burn except there's not much burn. There are some interesting parallels to the covid pandemic, as the plot revolves around how humanity is dealing with a strange viral outbreak. In general though, it's pretty dull. I didn't remember it being so dull on my first read. I remember wanting to see where the story went.

Enter Darwin's Children. Where did the story go? Nowhere interesting. While the main theme of the first book was

Spoiler:

humanity on the cusp of sudden and radical evolution,

the sequel wasn't about hardly at all except near the end. It kind of reads like Bear didn't know where the story was going either and so instead he punted that until the end of the novel.

Am I less forgiving of slow books as I've gotten older? I probably would have recommended Darwin's Radio when I first read it. Now I would not either of these books.

Nope, i had same reaction to both. Pretty boring, really.

Was in the mood for a post apocalyptic tale, and decided to go outside of my normal set of authors. Found an audiobook that was included in Audible Plus (think they may also be on KU)called Dusty's Diary by Bobby Adair.

Read by Ray Porter, so I assumed it was going to at least be listenable. But I did enjoy it and it was a good palate cleanser that requires low effort on the reader's part.

It is about a post-pandemic world with some zombie analogs, but the original novellas were published starting in 2015, so any resemblances to current events seem purely coincidental

So if you have Audible Plus it might be worth a checkout if you like this type of story.

SallyNasty wrote:

Nope, i had same reaction to both. Pretty boring, really.

If SallyNasty doesn't like something you know it's bad.

.

I've embarked on a re-read of the whole Rivers of London series. I've read most of the books more than once, but this is the first time I've gone back and re-read all of them in order. I'm enjoying them just as much as ever. I expect to be finished in plenty of time for the release of the next book in April.

(minor spoiler)

Spoiler:

One thing I'm noticing for the first time is how much long-range foreshadowing there is. For example, Molly's reaction to the death of the Pale Lady in the second book - at the time Peter didn't connect the dots and just put it down to Molly being in "one of her moods", and the reader had no deeper clues; it's not until much later, in Lies Sleeping (book 8), that we find out the truth.

CaptainCrowbar wrote:

I've embarked on a re-read of the whole Rivers of London series. I've read most of the books more than once, but this is the first time I've gone back and re-read all of them in order. I'm enjoying them just as much as ever. I expect to be finished in plenty of time for the release of the next book in April.

I just got around to listening to the first and found it very enjoyable, though weirdly for me I found myself wanting more of the London beat cop stuff by the end. Looking forward to continuing the series. Also adding Kobna Holdbrook-Smith to the list of folks who could read me just about anything.

About halfway through Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and the Sun”, his first novel after his Nobel win. Very much enjoying it. Might re-read “The Remains of the Day” after this.

Whoever recommended Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga has my heartfelt thanks. This is one of the best developed fantasy/wuxia novels I’ve ever seen. Eastern in setting and themes, Western in storytelling and format, with language that is totally suited to the topic and much more world-building than is usual in these stories. I’m amazed. Pure pleasure, easy reading, clear and vivid imagery, and strong attention to detail so that you don’t forget the environment and setting.

Brilliant writing.

Couldn't agree more, I just finished Jade War and am waiting for the third one to show up at the library!

Coincidentally I also have Klara and the Sun queued up, have heard good things.

I'm almost done with Jade City! It is a really fun book. Jade War in in transit to my local library.

I’m also reading Klara, Comfortzone, very spare, subtle language. Loving it.

I've now finished Klara and would highly recommend it. As you say Robear the language is very deft, and I'd say the book is worth it just for the narrator alone. But then it probes themes of human nature, AI, ethics and so on in such a gentle and subtle way, it's a very refreshing contrast to the usual "opinion pieces" these topics attract these days. On a technical level I also appreciate the descriptions of machine vision, which is something I have worked on for many years. I'm sure Ishiguro does a lot of background research for all his books but it's good to see the results in an area I have some expertise in!

Robear wrote:

I’m also reading Klara, Comfortzone, very spare, subtle language. Loving it.

Speaking of spare... I'm rereading Glen Cook's Black Company after ages of doing it the first time. So different reading it as an adult.

ranalin wrote:
Robear wrote:

I’m also reading Klara, Comfortzone, very spare, subtle language. Loving it.

Speaking of spare... I'm rereading Glen Cook's Black Company after ages of doing it the first time. So different reading it as an adult.

In a good way or a bad way? Loved that original trilogy as a teen.

Tasty Pudding wrote:
ranalin wrote:
Robear wrote:

I’m also reading Klara, Comfortzone, very spare, subtle language. Loving it.

Speaking of spare... I'm rereading Glen Cook's Black Company after ages of doing it the first time. So different reading it as an adult.

In a good way or a bad way? Loved that original trilogy as a teen.

I should revisit that series, don't remember much about the final few books other than "things got weird".

Absolutely loved... I may go through a couple more i had so much fun with it

My copy of Maus arrived!

Mixolyde wrote:

My copy of Maus arrived!

Say, mine too!

I haven't decided whether to donate it to my local community center's lending library when I'm done with this reread, or give it to my 16-year-old niece. That's about the right age to start being exposed to things about history that some folks would rather didn't get taught in school, I think.

Big big sale at audible right now. Things like 85% off. Spent 50 bucks and got like 10 books i had wanted, including all of the murderbot books.

SallyNasty wrote:

Big big sale at audible right now. Things like 85% off. Spent 50 bucks and got like 10 books i had wanted, including all of the murderbot books.

oh dear

EDIT: a ton of books on my wishlist were sub-$7, so it was a massacre! Thanks, Sally!

SallyNasty wrote:

Big big sale at audible right now. Things like 85% off. Spent 50 bucks and got like 10 books i had wanted, including all of the murderbot books.

Good call out. Got the notice on my phone this morning. Time to look for take my wish list and look for sub $8 books that don't have a cheaper price if you have Kindle Unlimited.

I'm on a discounted annual Audible plan at $100, so those credits are a bit over $8 each. KU books often have a $2 or $7.49 add audiobook option, so you can check out the book on KU then add the book, and even after you stop KU or check the book back in, the audiobook stays with your account. So you can either get a free test KU account and buy a bunch of add on audiobooks, or you can get KU for a month and grab a few.

/cheapskate audible tips

Brandon Sanderson's got a secret: https://youtu.be/6a-k6eaT-jQ

Spoiler:

I'll probably buy in to the Kickstarter for the hardbacks.

Math wrote:

Brandon Sanderson's got a secret: https://youtu.be/6a-k6eaT-jQ

Spoiler:

I'll probably buy in to the Kickstarter for the hardbacks.

Spoiler:

Backed the hardcover+ebooks tier. Very excited!

FridgeGremlin wrote:
Math wrote:

Brandon Sanderson's got a secret: https://youtu.be/6a-k6eaT-jQ

Spoiler:

I'll probably buy in to the Kickstarter for the hardbacks.

Spoiler:

Backed the hardcover+ebooks tier. Very excited!

Spoiler:

His prolific-ness has been joked about before in this very thread, but wow. And I just had a birthday, will have to see if Ms. Ferret is OK with one more present. :)

Totally in.