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billvon

A few books

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A few fictional books I've read recently:

Radio Freefall, Matthew Jarpe. A great first novel about a traveling musician who can (literally) read the crowds he plays to. Jarpe reminds me of a cross between Neal Stephenson and William Gibson, without any of the snootyness or name-branding.

Anathem, Neal Stephenson. A "saecular" society (in this case, referring to the religious and practical aspects of the world) inteferes with "fraas" living in "concents" who spend their lives cloistered away doing theoretical and practical math. A well written and fun to read book, but very long and cram packed with extraneous discourses on every subject under the sun. Stephenson takes a lot of pleasure in mocking "mundane" people and it comes through pretty clearly in this one. Not as much fun as some of his other ones. ("Snow Crash" was especially good.)

Tracking, by David Palmer. Sequel to Emergence. Teenage girl takes on bad guys. It was OK, but the stilted style which the main character narrates in gets old pretty fast, and he excels in the use of deus ex machina to move his story along. There's a few scenes with a Helio Stallion (i.e. Porter on steroids) that will amuse skydivers.

Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi. Science fiction in the military genre done very well. He has a few books out now and they're all quite good. Old Man's War was an especially well done book. It's interesting to watch his viewpoint change throughout the books.

Host, Stephenie Meyer. I read this one on someone's recommendation, and later discovered that it was her first non-teenage-girl-vampire novel. I was suprised to discover that there even WAS a teenage-girl-vampire genre, but apparently there is. Host is a decent attempt at the alien-invasion story, but has so much teenage girl left in the story that you want to yell at her after a while. "Never mind if he thinks you're fat and unpopular, drive away before they kill you already!"

BTW the Kindle has cut my book expenses by 2/3 and requires far less shelf space. Much easier to carry on airplanes as well.

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Anathem, Neal Stephenson. A "saecular" society (in this case, referring to the religious and practical aspects of the world) inteferes with "fraas" living in "concents" who spend their lives cloistered away doing theoretical and practical math. A well written and fun to read book, but very long and cram packed with extraneous discourses on every subject under the sun.



Stephenson??:o Surely, you jest!:ph34r:

I just read "Snow Crash" a few months ago, and was bowled over by the detail of those sessions with "The Librarian".
"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

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I do love to read also, Bill, but lately have not been able to afford much for leisure, let alone books. What is the "Kindle" you speak of?
It's your life, live it!
Karma
RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1

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Edited to add -

Also just read The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. (He also wrote No Country for Old Men.) One of the most depressing books I've read. Near the end of the book, I was actually hoping for the main characters to die so they'd stop freezing, starving, bleeding and coughing to death.

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Also just read The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.



My son had to read that for AP English. He hated it! I'm not even sure that he finished it, I think he used SparkNotes for help.
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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I recently read Life of Pi and really liked it. I'm now about 2/3 of the way through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and am liking this one too. I was figuring my streak of good books can't last much longer, but your review makes it sound like the next book on my list (Anathem) could keep it going.

Blues,
Dave
"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

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OK, here's my contrib:

Recently read Margaret George's two volumes Autobiography of Henry VIII and Mary Queen of Scotland. Both historical novels. If you have to choose one, choose Henry VIII; gripping, keeps moving, and very well-written (Mary gets a little slow...).

For non-fiction lovers (I like history and biography), and in honor of the times, I also just finished Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, about Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. Excellent primary-source research; very well-written.

Oh, and just before that, I read Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, a novel whose protagonist is an AWOL Confederate soldier on the lam during the Civil War. Surprisingly good; I recommend it.

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The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman. Incredibly disappointing. I've loved everything else he's written, but the depressing pointlessness of the central conceit (Long dead ghosts living in a graveyard forevermore adopt a baby being pursued by an assassin) can't be papered over by any amount of magical Gaiman wordsmithery. And there's a lot less of that on show than usual. Exchanged it for;

The Dream Hunters, Neil Gaiman. Illustrated short prose story in the universe of The Sandman graphic novel series. Fox falls in love with monk, monk cursed to die by nearby occultist politician, fox journeys to see the King of Dreams in attempt to save monk. All plays out in Feudal Japan. Beautiful. Now reading;

A Wild Sheep Chase, Haruki Murakami. Recently divorced, early thirties advertising exec is co-opted by the Secretary of a dying, reclusive political puppet-master to search Hokkaido for a mysterious sheep which might be the power behind the power behind the throne. Girlfriend with supernaturally beautiful ears comes along to help. Wierd, wonderful, evocative. Murakami could write about a man taking out the trash and it would be brilliant.
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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I've been reading the Stephenie Meyer "Twilight" vampire series and I think they've all been fantastic! I actually read the first 3 books in 1 week. They are definetely geared more towards teenagers/girls/women, but still good if you can handle thinking "geez would you just have sex already!"

The "Prey" series by John Sanford is also really good. He's from Mn and his books are based in Mn, so it's fun for me to read and know exactly what he's talking about sometimes.

The Quiet Room is another good book that I've read a few times about a girl's personal experience with schizophrenia.

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Also just read The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.

Despite all of the acclaim it garnered, I thought it was his worst novel to date. Try "All the pretty horses". It was one of his best books.
"No cookies for you"- GFD
"I don't think I like the sound of that" ~ MB65
Don't be a "Racer Hater"

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Also just read The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.

Despite all of the acclaim it garnered, I thought it was his worst novel to date. Try "All the pretty horses". It was one of his best books.



I finished The Road recently too. I enjoyed it, although it was my first McCarthy book. I want to read some of his others soon. As soon as I finish the damn Dark Tower series.

The Road is being made into a film, was supposed to be released end of 2008 but has been delayed a bit. Viggo Mortensen will play the man. It is directed by John Hillcoat with a soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis... the same director/songwriters were teamed together for The Proposition (Australia) which was pretty damn good. Cave and Ellis also did the soundtrack for 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James which was without a doubt the best soundtrack I've ever heard (and I was so damn surprised to find out it came from Nick Cave of all people). So, between the subject matter and the team behind it... I am VERY interested in how this film adaptation will turn out. The rest of the cast is also impressive, despite how short all their roles are by necessity. The guy who played Omar in HBO's The Wire will play the thief...
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The neighborhood coffee shop has a modest library where I stumbled upon "Future Shock" by Alvin Toffler. It gives a 1970's perspective of the rapid technological changes that will lead to information overload. It is very interesting to hear this foresight in retrospect. Though he briefly discusses some awkward predictions like predominant communals and professional parents, I've found his assertion that society will struggle to adapt to the rapid changes caused by the "Super-Industrial Revolution" to be spot on. I think many of the problems we face today, ironic as it may be, are indirectly caused by the assimilation of the world through the information propagated through the internet and television. There are just so many ideas, perspectives and positions, that nobody can agree on anything and nothing is wrong anymore. The rapid speed of change is overwhelming and old people are choking on the dust while the young continue to lose their innocence at an exponential rate.....anyway, I guess there is much more that can be said about all this, but its probably best if left to SC.

I still have a majority of the book to read...if all goes well, I think I'll pick up the 1980 sequel "The Third Wave" and then complete the trilogy with "Powershift" written in 1990.

btw, has anybody seen the 1972 movie based on future shock with Orson Welles?
Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

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BTW the Kindle has cut my book expenses by 2/3 and requires far less shelf space. Much easier to carry on airplanes as well.



I've been reading extensively on first my old Palm and now on my windows mobile phone. The small screen size took a bit of getting used to, but now that I am it far and away beats "paper" books and is much, much smaller and easier to carry thank I think the Kindle would be. Plus it's not an extra purchase :)
It wouldn't hurt you to think like a fucking serial killer every once in a while - just for the sake of prevention

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