Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[bizzybody]

Just downloaded the Peter Watts SF books. Going to run them through Calibre.

Typos, wrong words and flat out spelling errors are why it would be nice if there was a standard editing/notation file format for reading devices and software so you could make corrections on the fly while reading then send that off to the author or publisher. Even better would be if the reader could take a correction file and alter the text display without altering the book file directly.

I still want one reader app that can open many different ebook formats instead of having to convert. One Ultimate Reader!

If you're an author with horrible language skills, surely you must have a "grammar nazi" somewhere in your circle of family and friends who is also a bookworm?

Recently read
All the Lensmen series, except Masters of the Vortex for the other two vortex blaster stories. Ryk E. Spoor's Boundary series, including the long time in the farther future Castaway Planet, which ends on a cliffhanger/setup for next book (If you want hard SF with no fantasy technobabble, this is a series for you). Avilon, the latest book in Jasper Scott's Dark Space series. Tom Godwin's Prison Planet (AKA Space Prison) and the sequel The Space Barbarians. The four extant books of The Secret World Chronicles. (C'mon! Hurry up with the next!)

After all that I've dropped back into the 1632 world with 1636: Seas of Fortune, 1636: The Viennese Waltz, 1636: The Devil's Opera, and currently reading 1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies. Some time ago I read 1636: The Kremlin Games.

All the 1636 books run at least partially in parallel and some have some crossover so it really doesn't matter which order they're read in.

Coming up, E.E. Doc Smith's Subspace Explorers and Subspace Encounter.

Old SF from the era of Doc Smith, Tom Godwin and Edgar Rice Burroughs is just plain fun to read. Anyone who knows Star Trek can identify with the origins of technobabble, and can appreciate when the fantastical "science" is kept at least somewhat consistent, unlike in Star Trek.

In Prison Planet, the survivors of the crew and passengers marooned on a planet with 1.5 times Earth's gravity decide the way to escape is to build a hyperspace transmitter to send out a message in the clear, to lure in an enemy ship so they can capture it. Just one catch. It will take 500 pounds of iron to build the transmitter but they cannot find any anywhere. The land wherever they can reach by walking is next thing to completely free of metals. The escape plan turns into a multi-generation project none of the original castaways will survive.

What else other than 500 pounds of iron do they need to build the transmitter? Not explained, not important to the plot. They do recycle all the stuff the enemy aliens left with them when they were abandoned to die, and from that they manage to build an electric generator and a metal lathe, find some Bauxite and cryolite from which they smelt aluminum. The whole long process of gathering the materials and building the tools to build the tools is detailed enough to when they finally do get that 500 pounds of iron... THEN it takes (IIRC) 50 years to build the hyperspace transmitter. While working on that they also put together a plain old radio to attempt to taunt the aliens into coming back, but at 70 light years to the planet they were going to when their ship was attacked, it's not likely an alien ship will pick up the signal. A hyperspace signal can cross that distance in weeks. But if they never manage to send a hyperspace signal the humans will wait as long as it takes for the regular radio *because they are really pissed off at the aliens*. (Not written as such in the book, but that's the essence of their feelings.)

Why not plan to build a whole spacecraft? The initial survivors quickly realize that even with the experience and knowledge they have, the task is beyond them and that with the extreme scarcity of all metals on the planet it could be forever impossible for their descendants to develop the technology to build one.

The essential bit never explained is who among the survivors has the complete knowledge of how to build a hyperspace transmitter from scratch, using only hand tools, 500 pounds of iron and a "home built" metal lathe. They make books to write down everything they know and teach it all to their children, generation after generation. Knowledge on this hellworld is survival. Humans must survive *here* because they have no idea if any survive anywhere else.

I could see this making a pretty decent movie, with suitable updating that pays decent homage to the book, but the cost for cast would be very expensive, none of the players would be in the whole movie and a large number would be short parts due to the many deaths.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by Apache

Angles of Attack (Frontlines Book 3) by Marko Kloos is will be available April 21, 2015.

http://www.amazon.com/Angles-Attack-...sin=B00OIBPIZO
Apache

Yes, and my Prime membership expires next month, and I'm not sure I want to renew it. I might have to actually buy this one.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by bizzybody

Typos, wrong words and flat out spelling errors are why it would be nice if there was a standard editing/notation file format for reading devices and software so you could make corrections on the fly while reading then send that off to the author or publisher.

I could get behind that, if more authors/publishers were willing to take such feedback. I usually compile a text file on my iPad, in this format:

Ch(X): "faulty test here" (test should be text)

Sometimes I have to vary it a little, as when the error is something else, but the principle stays the same. Quote a landmark near or including the problem, then note the error. Given a file like that and a decent editor (like calibre's), even a long list of problems can be fixed pretty quickly. Two key factors to remember are (a) keep the list in order and (b) make the landmarks useful, text that stands out in a search. From there, it's mostly a matter of opening the first affected document, searching for the first fix, and going down the list until you're done.

Yes, CSS problems are a different story, and special characters can be a problem, but those are relatively minor issues in comparison to the typical typo problems.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I've just started James Patterson's first of the series "Private," and I'm really surprised at the poor writing style this book is delivering, especially with its dialog. Very amateurish for Patterson. I usually enjoy his writing. This book is jumping around with half a dozen different sub-plots, and I'm really hoping he has some intention of bringing them together some how, but I'm getting the feeling that this is a collection of ideas that he'd been thinking about for separate books but couldn't flesh them out so tried to use them in this fashion. I'll finish the book, but if it doesn't improve will not continue with the series.

I just read another hundred pages and I'm quite willing to believe that this wasn't even written by Patterson! I've followed several of his series in the past, but this seems to be written by a college freshman for an assignment in a creative writing class. It certainly couldn't have been edited by a professional either! The plot is good, but the execution is remarkably bad.

Stitchawl

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I just read another hundred pages and I'm quite willing to believe that this wasn't even written by Patterson! I've followed several of his series in the past, but this seems to be written by a college freshman for an assignment in a creative writing class. It certainly couldn't have been edited by a professional either! The plot is good, but the execution is remarkably bad.

Stitchawl

I've given up reading Patterson completely. His more recent output is definitely suffering from "more quantity, less quality" syndrome. I have actually started to get really annoyed with him and the dross he is putting out there. I can't even read any more of the Alex Cross series, which I used to enjoy, but which is also suffering from a surfeit of output.

Have recently finished Mr Mercedes by Stephen King, which is a straightforward crime novel (no funny goings on in the attic whatsoever), and which was pretty good. It is sub-titled Bill Hodges Trilogy #1, so I guess there will be a coupe more in the series, but this can be read as a standalone, as the resolution is complete.

Now starting on Charlie Higson's sixth book in his Enemy YA series, The Hunted, about zombies in London .

[DiapDealer]

Just finished up Ben Aaronovitch's Foxglove Summer. Number five in a series starring Peter Grant (constable and apprentice practitioner) which blends police procedural and urban fantasy. Foxglove Summer was a nice change of pace from the previous installments, taking Peter out of London and away from his mentor as he helps a rural community investigate a mystery surrounding two missing children. There's nothing mind-blowing here, but I often find these short books to be entertaining "palate cleansers" when I'm not looking for anything "heavy" and/or challenging. They're very cumulative, so don't start anywhere but the beginning if you pick them up.

Now starting Runner by Patrick Lee. The first in a new series starring Sam Dryden. I read Lee's earlier Breach Trilogy, and while I thought it might have gone a bit "off the rails" toward the end, I still enjoyed the frenetically-paced Thriller/Conspiracy/SF tale. Enough to give this new series a shot, anyway!

[missimpossible]

Just finished All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, a YA contemporary novel that's been getting a lot of hype, having been compared to The Fault in our Stars and Eleanor and Park, both of which I loved. This... I did not love. It's the story of two teenagers who are both struggling with mental illness and suicidal ideation. They partner up to take on a school project, and find themselves becoming closer, despite coming from different backgrounds.

This is a pretty big spoiler:

Spoiler:

I hated the way Finch's depression and eventual suicide was used to facilitate Violet's character progression. I didn't like Violet to begin with, and it didn't make me appreciate her any more that the author chose to have every single character fail to help in any meaningful way the character with mental illness so that she could recover from her bereavement. There's totally another way this story could have gone, and the author, I feel, made the wrong choice. The message just seems to me so hopeless. Violet is suicidal because of grief, not mental illness, and therefore she can be saved, but Finch is mentally ill, and therefore he cannot? I'd much rather have seen a story develop between him and Amanda, the cheerleader with bulimia, of mutual understanding of different mental illnesses, rather than this nonsense where he has to die because he's too special for this world and Violet needs to move on? Argh.

Between that and Alexander McCall Smith's lacklustre retelling of Emma, I've had a couple of duffers in a row. Hopefully on to better things!

[Moe The Cat]

Finished House Of Chains, the fourth book in Steven Erikson's Malazan Books Of The Fallen series. On to number five, Midnight Tides.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

The Lion's Courtship turned out to be a very exciting read (but without Sherlock Holmes), just like the trilogy, Moriarty that follows it was! I'm going to read next, a novel that Annelie Wendeberg has just recently (August/September 2014) published, 1/2986, a post-apocalyptic scifi thriller:

I've been all tied up with after holiday honey-do's and am just now getting back to my reading, finally! I've picked up the 2nd Veronica Mars Mystery, Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham, and it's queued up and ready to read after I finish 1/2986! I just took a short time to read a Dresden Files FanFic short story called, The Last Stand by franknjoe. It was well worth the short time it took to read it and it was great to pay a short visit to The Harry Dresdenverse between Novels while waiting for the next release. Now back to 1/2986!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Just finished up Ben Aaronovitch's Foxglove Summer. Number five in a series starring Peter Grant (constable and apprentice practitioner) which blends police procedural and urban fantasy. Foxglove Summer was a nice change of pace from the previous installments, taking Peter out of London and away from his mentor as he helps a rural community investigate a mystery surrounding two missing children. There's nothing mind-blowing here, but I often find these short books to be entertaining "palate cleansers" when I'm not looking for anything "heavy" and/or challenging. They're very cumulative, so don't start anywhere but the beginning if you pick them up.

I really enjoy this series. It's not heavy, and I'm enjoying this fifth volume, which gets out of London for the moment. It's going slow, but only because I'm using it as the carrot to keep swimming on a regular basis.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I really enjoy this series. It's not heavy, and I'm enjoying this fifth volume, which gets out of London for the moment. It's going slow, but only because I'm using it as the carrot to keep swimming on a regular basis.

Cool. Glad to hear someone else enjoys them too.

[mihranda]

"The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Vol 2," myself. Pseudonymous Bosch with my kids. Enjoying Conan Doyle way more than expected. Am watching the neighbors from a crouch behind the curtains.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Cool. Glad to hear someone else enjoys them too.

I keep trying to categorize it - do I put it in my Mystery collection or in my SFF collection. I gave up and put it in both.

I really like that Peter Grant is just a PC Plod.

I HIGHLY recommend the Audible version of these books. The narration by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is perfect for the books, and really adds to the whole thing.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by orlok

Have recently finished Mr Mercedes by Stephen King, which is a straightforward crime novel (no funny goings on in the attic whatsoever), and which was pretty good. It is sub-titled Bill Hodges Trilogy #1, so I guess there will be a coupe more in the series, but this can be read as a standalone, as the resolution is complete.

Book 2, Finders Keepers, is due out June 2.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Wow, I am way behind here.
...
I am considering continuing the James Potter series when I am done since I am enjoying this re-read so much but I am not sure yet. I read the first JP book (James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing) in 2011 and enjoyed it but never picked up the second one.

Yet again, way behind here.

I finished the Harry Potter series on the 9th (less than 5 days to finish the last 2 books) but have decided to have a break from fantasy for a while and am skipping the James Potter series for now.

Instead I have read Odd Interlude by Dean Koontz (book 4.5 of the Odd Thomas paranormal thriller series) and then a couple political thrillers by Stephen Hunter (Point of Impact) and David Baldacci (The Camel Club) from my library. I enjoyed all three of these a lot. The Odd one was just a novella, but was well done. I hope the person that we met there will feature in another story down the road. Apparently Point of Impact was adapted into the movie Shooter, which I haven't seen, and I really enjoyed it as well. Bob Lee is very "cunning" if not classically brilliant. The Camel Club is a good conspiracy novel complete with most of the tropes. Another good distraction from normal life. I will continue with Baldacci's King and Maxwell series #1, Split Second, tomorrow.

Today I had a couple flights for work and managed to read Neal Stephenson's essay "In the Beginning was the Command Line" which was basically his love story to Linux/BeOS. He had some good points, but overall it wasn't great. Although part of that is that he wrote it in 1999, so forever ago in internet years, and it hasn't aged well. I do wonder if he has updated it since OS X for the Mac; I am wondering what his take on that is.

Right now my page count for January is 3,856 which is 9 pages short of my all-time high reading month. Maybe I need to read a short tomorrow instead of Split Second.