Grand unified books thread

[Scipio]

That will pass.

Why?

Contact Jordanitis.

You are speaking in code I cannot decode.

The developing tendency to slow down the advancement of plot and focus on the daily minutia of an increasing number of viewpoint characters.  Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is the classic example:  the first book covers something like a year of time, the last like a day.

The last book covered at least a month of time.

It may have taken a month to read....

[Syt]

Finishing:
The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815 by Tim Blanning.

Wonderful book, looking at all aspects of life during the period, from culture, to commerce, to communication, to court policies, to enlightenment and superstition to warfare and sex and gender. It's a massively interesting book about this period, without too much bias or focus on select countries, and with an extensive list of dozens of books as suggested reading between war, gender, national histories etc.

[Admiral Yi]

Fiasco, a book about Iraq II & occupation written by a dude who apparently knows every single officer in the US Army.    He's not a very good writer; he strings together quote after quote from this or that unnamed colonel well-versed in Middle East affairs than slaps on a conclusion that doesn't follow.

[jimmy olsen]

That will pass.

Why?

Contact Jordanitis.

You are speaking in code I cannot decode.

The developing tendency to slow down the advancement of plot and focus on the daily minutia of an increasing number of viewpoint characters.  Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is the classic example:  the first book covers something like a year of time, the last like a day.

The last book covered at least a month of time.

It may have taken a month to read....

It was all action, so no.

[Malthus]

I'm reading A Splended Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World by William Bernstein. Very entertaining so far, but more in the way of a string of anecdotes - none the worse for that.

He has a neat turn of phrase. On the incredible Portuguese over-extention in its attempt to monopolize the east india trade after Vasco De Gama and the Treaty of Tordesallis (sp?): 'Portugual was the dog who caught the car'. 

[Scipio]

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, by Gordon Dahlquist.

Bugnutz crazy.  But awesome.  It's like a John Buchan/Rider-Haggard/Anthony Hope Pastiche, with completely insane HG Wellsian sci-fi in an alternate Britain.  Just awesome.

And the sequel I will probably end up starting tomorrow.

[The Minsky Moment]

Question re Perdido Street Station.

Bought it for the Kindle b/c the price was right.

But is it worth reading?  Figure some here must have read.

[Agelastus]

Just finished "Unseen Academicals" by Terry Pratchett.

His latest novel and whatever else the disease has done to him it has not yet dulled his ability to create a fine comic novel. Especially as I am certain it is his longest book to date.

I would recommend this book to any Languishite, regardless of their political stripe or cultural creed.

[Scipio]

How I Became a Famous Novelist, by Steve Hely.  Hilarious send up of lit fiction, he posits a character who does what many overbred English majors think about doing: crafting a stereotypical Robert James Waller novel and cashing in.

[Malthus]

Question re Perdido Street Station.

Bought it for the Kindle b/c the price was right.

But is it worth reading?  Figure some here must have read.

It depends. If a guy having sex with an insect-faced women doesn't throw you off ... it is very heavy on the atmosphere (a sort of hallucinogenic medly of steampunk with Dickensian undertones); the plot goes every which way. Lots of interesting parts and ideas but sadly less than the sum of them. Of course I happen to like the rotting aesthetic of the city desribed, but if you don't, it isn't really worth reading - though in some circles it is considered a masterpiece. Peake covered similar ground in Gormenghast, but much better.

[Razgovory]

What kind of insect?

[ulmont]

Question re Perdido Street Station.

Bought it for the Kindle b/c the price was right.

But is it worth reading?  Figure some here must have read.

Yes, very much worth reading.  I'm a fan of all China Mieville's stuff.

[The Minsky Moment]

Thanks fellas.  It was a free download, so I figure I might as well give it a shot.

[Alatriste]

Stieg Larsson's "Men who hate women" (original "Män som hatar kvinnor"). The Spanish translation is quite softer, 'Men who didn't love women'. I don't know which one is closer to the Swedish title, but "didn't love" doesn't quite express the level of hatred some characters in the book feel.

Larsson's books have had a tremendous success in all of Europe lately, and I wondered if that success was justified... My verdict is, mostly yes. Not only is the novel well written, it's quite refreshing to read a thriller in which characters do actually have an interesting inner life when 99% of them are so obviously written thinking in the potential movie adaptation that you can even guess the actors the author wanted in his/her dreams. Add to that good writing a veteran leftist journalist specialized in denouncing corrupt businessmen and a dark Gothic young girl living on the fringes of society, both skilled at research but not at looking for murderers, and a very liberated "Scandinavian" sexual life, and success was a given.

Weak points? Well, it's a novel with a feminist thesis to defend and makes no secret of it. If you remember that [very minor spoiler ahead] you will guess who's the murderer roughly 30% into the book, mainly because there is a clear lack of suitable alternatives... that's the reason I called it a thriller and not a detective novel; if you expect to find a whodunit, this novel on the surface seems to be one, but actually is not. Hitchcock could have made a great movie in which we knew who the murderer was but the protagonist pair didn't.

Recommended, but remember this one doesn't include old vicars with cats living in Surrey. The cast includes lesbians, homos, nazis, free love and at least one very civilized menage a trois. In short, it's 100% old Yuropean.       

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Just Finished Dylan's "Chronicles" Vol. 1. Fun light read that has reignited my interest slightly in his music, and some others he talks of in the book. Currently reading "The Man Game" which is written by a local dude... takes place mostly after the great Vancouver Fire of 1886. Sort of a Fight Club in Deadwood as done by Thomas Pynchon, it seems so far.