Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading? - Page 34

Lobolover · 06-12-2008, 03:21 PM

Also doing "The Pale Ape" by M.P.Shiel .

nekokami · 06-12-2008, 04:18 PM

Finished Pratchett's Reaper Man (second attempt), now reading Soul Music, which got off to a faster start than some of his others (though I tend to find the wizards somewhat tiresome).

Patricia · 06-12-2008, 04:19 PM

I am beginning to find most wizards rather tiresome, too.

bbusybookworm · 06-12-2008, 07:25 PM

Just got 'Terry Pratchett - The Wit and Wisdom Of Discworld' Compiled by Stephen Briggs, and while I don't read it like a normal book, its great to just dip into and read a few passages out of it. It usually ends up making me laugh out aloud, so a great way to refresh yourself.

Unfortunately was unable to find a ebook version of it, so ended up getting the hardback version.

Mindy · 06-13-2008, 04:28 AM

I love the Witches and Susan & Death books best.
I'm re-re-re-re-re-reading (at least) Maskerade at the moment. Luv it, luv it, luv it.
"Your house was on fire, what's the first thing you'd try to take out?"

montsnmags · 06-13-2008, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekokami

Finished Pratchett's Reaper Man (second attempt), now reading Soul Music, which got off to a faster start than some of his others (though I tend to find the wizards somewhat tiresome).

I found them a little tiresome at times, though began finding them less so when Hex and Ponder Stibbons came on the scene almost as their foil. Both counterbalance them quite nicely, I find.

Cheers,
Marc

nekokami · 06-13-2008, 10:01 AM

I realized this morning that the problem I have with some of Pratchett's books is the balance between "in jokes" and plot or characterization. Sometimes it seems the books are almost completely skewed toward the former, when I prefer the latter. The Tiffany Aching books seemed to have a balance I liked better.

DixieGal · 06-13-2008, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patricia

I am beginning to find most wizards rather tiresome, too.

I'm starting to feel some scifi/fantasy bloat myself, but I'm enjoying Joe Swope's Need for Magic. It got off to a slow start because there is a large cast of characters and they had to be introduced, but at about page 400 of 1150 on my reader, it started picking up steam and is becoming hard to put down. There are wizards here, but the story, symbolism, and underlying message is what is compelling.

zelda_pinwheel · 06-14-2008, 11:51 AM

i have just started reading Cory Doctorow's book "Down and out in the magic kingdom" on my telephone, when i'm in the métro (get it here : http://www.booksinmyphone.com). and i admit i'm having a bit of a problem. i believe i understand the basic concept of the story so far, however i'm having a lot of trouble with the individual words. and the problem of a téléphone vs. my liseuse (other than the obvious ones of screen size, etc.) : no dictionary lookup. not that it would help, because actually i'm pretty sure that most of the words i don't understand are words that he made up. i do *like* the way he writes, it's just rather abstruse to me for the moment. i'm hoping i will understand more as i go along (i just started it yesterday, and by the time i finished the blurbs, and the explanation of the new licence, and the original explanation of the original licence, and the prologue, i only had time to read a few paragraphs of the actual story before i was at my station and had to stop).

i don't read very much Science fiction usually (which may be part of the problem) but i wanted to try something by him because i've heard so much about him, and because i really like his philosophy from what i've read of it. so i'm going to stick with it. but i suspect that it may require a lot more effort than "Three Men in a Boat" which is what i read on my telephone just before...

pilotbob · 06-14-2008, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i have just started reading Cory Doctorow's book "Down and out in the magic kingdom" on my telephone, when i'm in the métro (get it here : http://www.booksinmyphone.com).

Funny, I just started reading this too on my Kindle via Feedbooks. I am reading it because I like Little Brother alot. But, this one is starting out much slower, and there is alot that you just have to infer about the setting which isn't really explained up front.

What words do you not understand?

BOb

Lobolover · 06-14-2008, 01:42 PM

"The house of sounds" by M.P.Shiel .

Mindy · 06-14-2008, 06:48 PM

"The House of Sleep"
Read it a very long time ago and can't remember who it's by (and, since it's late and I need some ^^, can't be arsed Googling it) but was very random and yet very good.
Night all.

zelda_pinwheel · 06-14-2008, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Funny, I just started reading this too on my Kindle via Feedbooks. I am reading it because I like Little Brother alot. But, this one is starting out much slower, and there is alot that you just have to infer about the setting which isn't really explained up front.

What words do you not understand?

BOb

from memory, and bearing in mind that i have not actually even finished the prologue yet (so if these are explained in the first page of chapter one, please forgive me) :
- whuffie
- HUD
- dead-heading
- jaunting
- grepping
i'm relatively confident that the meaning i've inferred for some of them from context is pretty close, but it's approximative, and i would appreciate accurate definitions of them regardless.

i may have more to add to the list, as i keep reading.

thanks !

would you recommend i read a different one first ? if i've understood correctly, this is his first novel, which is why i decided to start there, but i could still switch to a different one...

sharpshin · 06-14-2008, 11:28 PM

@Z_P:

HUD = Heads Up Display, a semi-transparent overlay over your normal visual field, currently used by military pilots, but a frequent SF construct too.

Grepping = verbification of Unix grep command for searching text for regular expressions.

I think the others in your list are more specific to "Down and Out..."; as I remember they may be explained later. A lot of the context may remain mysterious if you haven't been to DisneyLand/World, but the main plot is still amusing.

astra · 06-15-2008, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharpshin

@Z_P:

HUD = Heads Up Display, a semi-transparent overlay over your normal visual field, currently used by military pilots, but a frequent SF construct too.

I never new the proper meaning of the abbriviation, but it is used in FPSs too

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06-12-2008, 03:21 PM	#496
Lobolover Gorosei Posts: 421 Karma: 334 Join Date: Feb 2008 Device: Microsoft Word	Also doing "The Pale Ape" by M.P.Shiel .

06-12-2008, 04:18 PM	#497
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	Finished Pratchett's Reaper Man (second attempt), now reading Soul Music, which got off to a faster start than some of his others (though I tend to find the wizards somewhat tiresome).

06-12-2008, 04:19 PM	#498
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	I am beginning to find most wizards rather tiresome, too.

06-12-2008, 07:25 PM	#499
bbusybookworm Tech Junkie Posts: 1,027 Karma: 10080 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Earth Device: iPad, MotoXStyle, OnePlusOne	Just got 'Terry Pratchett - The Wit and Wisdom Of Discworld' Compiled by Stephen Briggs, and while I don't read it like a normal book, its great to just dip into and read a few passages out of it. It usually ends up making me laugh out aloud, so a great way to refresh yourself. Unfortunately was unable to find a ebook version of it, so ended up getting the hardback version.

06-13-2008, 04:28 AM	#500
Mindy Away with the Faeries Posts: 483 Karma: 8459 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Sony PRS 650	I love the Witches and Susan & Death books best. I'm re-re-re-re-re-reading (at least) Maskerade at the moment. Luv it, luv it, luv it. "Your house was on fire, what's the first thing you'd try to take out?"

06-13-2008, 10:01 AM	#502
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	I realized this morning that the problem I have with some of Pratchett's books is the balance between "in jokes" and plot or characterization. Sometimes it seems the books are almost completely skewed toward the former, when I prefer the latter. The Tiffany Aching books seemed to have a balance I liked better.

06-14-2008, 11:51 AM	#504
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	i have just started reading Cory Doctorow's book "Down and out in the magic kingdom" on my telephone, when i'm in the métro (get it here : http://www.booksinmyphone.com). and i admit i'm having a bit of a problem. i believe i understand the basic concept of the story so far, however i'm having a lot of trouble with the individual words. and the problem of a téléphone vs. my liseuse (other than the obvious ones of screen size, etc.) : no dictionary lookup. not that it would help, because actually i'm pretty sure that most of the words i don't understand are words that he made up. i do like the way he writes, it's just rather abstruse to me for the moment. i'm hoping i will understand more as i go along (i just started it yesterday, and by the time i finished the blurbs, and the explanation of the new licence, and the original explanation of the original licence, and the prologue, i only had time to read a few paragraphs of the actual story before i was at my station and had to stop). i don't read very much Science fiction usually (which may be part of the problem) but i wanted to try something by him because i've heard so much about him, and because i really like his philosophy from what i've read of it. so i'm going to stick with it. but i suspect that it may require a lot more effort than "Three Men in a Boat" which is what i read on my telephone just before...

06-14-2008, 01:42 PM	#506
Lobolover Gorosei Posts: 421 Karma: 334 Join Date: Feb 2008 Device: Microsoft Word	"The house of sounds" by M.P.Shiel .

06-14-2008, 06:48 PM	#507
Mindy Away with the Faeries Posts: 483 Karma: 8459 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Sony PRS 650	"The House of Sleep" Read it a very long time ago and can't remember who it's by (and, since it's late and I need some ^^, can't be arsed Googling it) but was very random and yet very good. Night all.

06-14-2008, 11:28 PM	#509
sharpshin Member Posts: 13 Karma: 301 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Silicon Valley Device: Iliad V2	@Z_P: HUD = Heads Up Display, a semi-transparent overlay over your normal visual field, currently used by military pilots, but a frequent SF construct too. Grepping = verbification of Unix grep command for searching text for regular expressions. I think the others in your list are more specific to "Down and Out..."; as I remember they may be explained later. A lot of the context may remain mysterious if you haven't been to DisneyLand/World, but the main plot is still amusing.