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

[cen]

Originally Posted by -Thomas-

I've just read The Running Man, a great book IMO. Do you recommend reading It too?

Just finished it my self, a great read although I was a little irked that the foreword by King spoiled the ending.

Currently half way* through Brust's My Own Kind of Freedom. Took a little bit to get into but it is improving as I go along


* I think, the page count keeps changing

[Hvatum]

Just finished the island of Dr.Moreau and Anthem by Ayn Rand.

About half way through Moby Dick.

Nice to finally get to all the great works of Literature which I had been intending to do but never quite got around to actually going to the library and getting them.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

I am unsure why but I find the whole idea of the 1632 series interesting. Dropping today's tech into a world 400+ years in the past is just, well, interesting to me for some reason.

.

Well think about it, we're so spoiled with what we have now that we don't even see how incredible those things are. Imagine the power one could obtain using those objects in the past; tools, electricity, communications, video cameras and a basic four by four that would run on biodiesel Hey just a watch that would keep the time accurately! Plastic containers, fridges. That's a lot to transpose, it could make a series.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by nekokami

I can't see this as a movie. It would make a year-long series, at least. Maybe a multi-year arc like B5. I suppose they'll have to pick one part and focus on that. I wonder what they'll pick?

You aren't kidding about the content. I cannot see it as a single epsiode movie really. I seem to recall the audible version was around 28ish hrs. more or less. Most books made into movies seem to be under 300 pages or about a 3-5hr audiobook.

Heck look at how much was left out of each Harry Potter book when the movies were released. If people had not read the book no way the series makes any sense.

But if you look here you'll see the info about the movie:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429087/

Apparently it was delayed due to the writers strike. But it looks like a committed project. I would rather an HBO or whatever mini series than trying to push everything into a typical theatrical release.

No matter the story is so good it needs to be put out there for more people to see and maybe they will want to then read the book.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Well think about it, we're so spoiled with what we have now that we don't even see how incredible those things are. Imagine the power one could obtain using those objects in the past; tools, electricity, communications, video cameras and a basic four by four that would run on biodiesel Hey just a watch that would keep the time accurately! Plastic containers, fridges. That's a lot to transpose, it could make a series.

Yup, we live in such a throw away before even thinking about repair world today. Then again even people and their jobs are considered disposable.

I love how the series brings what, as you mention, take for granted, but it shows the people of the time stuff like paper, a light bulb, plastics, even simple things such as sanitation (bathing, soap, sterilization) seem magical to the characters from the era.

Even clear glass. It was not until the mid-late 1800's that glass making became refined enough for truly clear windows. They could make a sort of molded lead-crystal glass in the early to mid-1700s but it was very brittle and easily damaged. Also the molding techniques required the forms have elaborate designs to hide wavy imperfections and thickness issues. The history of glass is actually really interesting. I only own one piece from around 1720-1740ish and have been researching it for a few years now. Between me and the folks at the corning glassware museum we think it was likely a French made piece possibly early Baccarat. It's actually really amazing considering the era and the lack of modern day molding techniques.

I guess that is sort of the reverse of people of that era being amazed by what we have now. I sit and look at this piece thinking how amazing it was they could make something of such quality almost 300 years ago.

For fun here is a pic of the piece:



{if that is too big I'll re-size it}

So, maybe because of my interest in antiques I am sort of drawn to the history juxtaposition in the 1632 series...and like you say we take so many things as a given...think for example that aspirin was really not know for a while yet and even once discovered (it comes from Willow bark btw) it actually killed a lot of folks before they realized just how toxic it can be...

[Alexander Turcic]

Just finished reading Storm Front, the first novel of Dresden Files. Highly recommended if you are looking for a funny and fast-paced read!

Amazon has an excerpt available.

[mdbenoit]

Over at Goodreads is a group names 1001 books you must read before you die. Many of those are in the public domain (a lot are classics or books from Nobel Prize winners) and can be downloaded as an ebook.

I also found a site that gives a List of Online Archives for Free Unabridged Books Online

[Lobolover]

gave up Wieland for now (found out the version I had was abdridged and cut), but am am now reading Zanoni.

[bookwormfjl]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How did you convert the PDF to Mobi format?

I didn't. I read it using Adobe Digital Editions. It wasn't bad. The ability to really zoom out helped my tired, old eyes (read it on my wide screen monitor).
Tried reading it (in Adobe format) on my Sony PRS-505--way too small.


Johnny

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

I am unsure why but I find the whole idea of the 1632 series interesting. Dropping today's tech into a world 400+ years in the past is just, well, interesting to me for some reason.

I take it that maths is not one of your strong points?

I have to confess that when I read a book, my enjoyment of it can really be spoiled by elementary errors, and that's what happened to me in "1632". There's a scene in which a priest makes a "pithy comment" in Latin, and gets the Latin wrong. Studying Latin is one of my interests, and this mistake did, I'm afraid, really annoy me, and put me off the book and its sequels.

[astra]

Oh well.
I give up on The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe.
An impossible task.

One of the very few (less than 10) books I was not able to finish.
Bye bye Gene Wolfe.
(I am glad I didn't buy books 3&4 when I decided to read 1&2 and only if I liked them, then buy the rest).

Anyway, I am debating now whether to read The Tawny Man trilogy or Crown of Stars series. 98% the latter.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I take it that maths is not one of your strong points?

I have to confess that when I read a book, my enjoyment of it can really be spoiled by elementary errors, and that's what happened to me in "1632". There's a scene in which a priest makes a "pithy comment" in Latin, and gets the Latin wrong. Studying Latin is one of my interests, and this mistake did, I'm afraid, really annoy me, and put me off the book and its sequels.

Actually, and sadly I might add, I have a couple degrees in mathematics...but not arithmetic. Therein lies the difference. I have a fairly relaxed sense of need for applied numeric accuracy...at least that has been my, ummm, rational, for the past few decades. need an answer, eh, in the ballpark is enough. In reality I can be slightly dyslexic in my addition at times. It's weird as it can come and go...but that might be why I was drawn toward theoretical work vs. applied (which I have no use for applied at all...EXCEPT non-linear/chaotic systems...I LOVE that stuff.)

One of my grad profs once teased me that I was the only person on the planet who could multiply (-1)*(-1) and get -2 or square -1 and get 3...I just get caught up in the equations and forget to check my arithmetic...and boy can that change the solution space.

So, 1632, is near enough to 2032 is near enough to now....hehehehe....ok, FINE I stand corrected!! hahahaha...geeze, some days I scare even myself.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I have to confess that when I read a book, my enjoyment of it can really be spoiled by elementary errors, and that's what happened to me in "1632". There's a scene in which a priest makes a "pithy comment" in Latin, and gets the Latin wrong. Studying Latin is one of my interests, and this mistake did, I'm afraid, really annoy me, and put me off the book and its sequels.

Oh, yeah, that stuff can make me nuts and lose interest quickly too. I must have missed that one and am glad I did. There have been a few spots where I felt my interest begin to fade due to reality creeping in but mostly in 1633.

Perhaps that is why I am not a big fan of longer than a trilogy at most. Did you ever read the Gor series when you were younger? If not they were all shorter reads, maybe 300ish pages at the most...and there ended up, I forget how many, but it got near 20 or so books. I gave up around 11 or 12 I think. I should have stopped after something like book 8 I think. but my roomy and I were both hooked and kept hoping it would get better...just kept getting worse. And reason was simply because the characters and events became just too improbable or really took huge liberties with reality.

Maybe accuracy and good research is why some of the cornerstone SF writers have withstood the test of time. Even reading the early Jules Vern stuff still has some feel of truth and genuine possibility to it, even if the hard science is off because of what we know today.

These are my first Eric Flint reads and I will take a break from him before reading another of his books. I worry his writing style might be sort of mono-dimensional.

I cannot recall the name of the book but once I had a collection of "locked room" mysteries by Asimov (I could be wrong but am pretty certain they were either all his or some his and others from the SF mag with his name.) But those were some of the best puzzle stories I read. Why? because there had the foundations in fact and enough reality to keep my interest. I'll never forget on story involved a landmark that was described as "the cross of Lorraine" and when you finally read what it was you want to smack your forehead and wonder why you don't die of suffocation because you should be too stoopid to breath. Don't Google it or you will see a spoiler right off. But the book(s) were called "The Black Widowers" or some variation of that title. All fun, light but interesting reads...and I actually read them all.

But authors back then seemed to write a larger variety...anything to pay the bills...heck, Heinlein, alledgedly, even wrote some sorta soft porn stuff under a psuedonymn. And if ya recall some of his later stuff and even a couple around the time of Stranger in a Strange Land that writing experience showed through a bit. But the point is these guys wrote about a wide variety of things not just curn it out formulaic serial novels where after the 2nd or third book you know exactly how it will go...

[MickeyC]

Unlike you brains reading science, I'm plowing through yet another SDN (Sleazy Detective Novel). This is New York Dead by Stuart Woods. First one of his I've read and am now looking forward to working my way through the series.

Okay, it's not all SDNs. I'm also reading The Infinite Book by Barrow and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

Perhaps that is why I am not a big fan of longer than a trilogy at most. Did you ever read the Gor series when you were younger? If not they were all shorter reads, maybe 300ish pages at the most...and there ended up, I forget how many, but it got near 20 or so books. I gave up around 11 or 12 I think. I should have stopped after something like book 8 I think. but my roomy and I were both hooked and kept hoping it would get better...just kept getting worse. And reason was simply because the characters and events became just too improbable or really took huge liberties with reality.

The original Gor "trilogy" was quite reasonable, but after that it basically degenerated into "soft porn" with lots of whips and bondage thrown in for good measure.

I cannot recall the name of the book but once I had a collection of "locked room" mysteries by Asimov (I could be wrong but am pretty certain they were either all his or some his and others from the SF mag with his name.) But those were some of the best puzzle stories I read. Why? because there had the foundations in fact and enough reality to keep my interest. I'll never forget on story involved a landmark that was described as "the cross of Lorraine" and when you finally read what it was you want to smack your forehead and wonder why you don't die of suffocation because you should be too stoopid to breath. Don't Google it or you will see a spoiler right off. But the book(s) were called "The Black Widowers" or some variation of that title. All fun, light but interesting reads...and I actually read them all.

Asimov's "Black Widower" stories are just great! I still have them all in paperback - there are a total of 5 paperback collections of them. The particular story you mention, however (and I won't give away the "secret") is a good example of how sometimes stories don't "translate" well to other countries, because the particular "cultural referrent" involved is a solely American one which meant nothing to me, first reading them as a British teenager.

Asimov wrote another wonderful detective story - a novel this time - called "Murder at the ABA", set at the convention of the American Bookseller's Association. Do try and read it if you can; it's a great story, and Asimov includes himself as a character in it, in which he gives an absolutely wonderful parody of himself as the archetypical "aging hack writer" who tries to sleep with all the pretty girls, and will sign an autograph on anything that stands still long enough. A great read .