Philotic Web

Currently reading: The God Engines by John Scalzi.

Just finished: WWW: Watch by Robert J. Sawyer (book two of his Hugo nominated WWW trilogy).

I am very glad I hadn't bought a book since July since I am going wild this month. So far: Surface Detail-Iain Banks, and just got a copy of All Clear put aside for a signing on Thursday. And there's also a new Jack McDevitt & Greg Bear, and I think I may start buying Kindle versions to read on my computer of ones I don't want to pay hardcover for but want ASAP. And all my new books library holds have come in this week too. Butler, Lethem, Pamuk, Bacigalupi, aka all those authors who I have yet to become obsessed with but I know others rave about.

Syphon, how is The God Engines & WWW: Watch? Scalzi is just short of my must-buy-immediately list, but that one didn't stand out to me.

Scalzi is a funny guy. I met him and got some books signed when he was in the neighbourhood last spring.

And because I never post just to brag ( ), I should mention that I just got a package containing the Hunger Games trilogy, which only came to my attention because of this thread.

Syphon, how is The God Engines & WWW: Watch? Scalzi is just short of my must-buy-immediately list, but that one didn't stand out to me.

Okay, I'm terrible with reviews, but, here I go:

I finished The God Engines last night and I'd give it a 4/5. It's a little darker than his other work (of what I've read, at least), and significantly shorter (it's a novella), but it was well written, fast-paced, and overall pretty interesting.

I probably wouldn't spend the $20 (or $13 at Amazon) for a physical copy, but I certainly think it was worth the $5 I paid for the ebook version and, if your library has it, even better.


WWW: Watch was excellent.

Granted, I considered Wake the best of the four Hugo nominees I read this summer. Boneshaker was completely underwhelming (and underdeveloped), despite the fact that it had a lot going for it from the beginning. The City & the City was a bit tedious to get through and never actually drew me into the story. The Windup Girl was better than either Boneshaker or The City & the City, and its plot and setting were interesting, but I wasn't super impressed with his characterization.

Watch, especially the latter half, was even better than Wake. It's faster-paced, was able to move away from the science aspect of emerging AI, as that was mostly explained in the first book, and delve into the morality issues. The characters are better developed and the various plot lines from the first book start coming together. I'll definitely be buying the third when it's released next April. Worth the $8-$10 on Amazon for the print copy.

I should mention that I just got a package containing the Hunger Games trilogy, which only came to my attention because of this thread.

Have you read them yet or just ordered them and yet to read?

Just started the first book. You'll probably have to wait a while to hear my thoughts. I can barely find a few minutes of quiet reading time these days.

Just started the first book.

Me, too! And all because everyone around here was making a fuss.

I probably wouldn't spend the $20 (or $13 at Amazon) for a physical copy, but I certainly think it was worth the $5 I paid for the ebook version and, if your library has it, even better.


WWW: Watch was excellent.

Granted, I considered Wake the best of the four Hugo nominees I read this summer. Boneshaker was completely underwhelming (and underdeveloped), despite the fact that it had a lot going for it from the beginning. The City & the City was a bit tedious to get through and never actually drew me into the story. The Windup Girl was better than either Boneshaker or The City & the City, and its plot and setting were interesting, but I wasn't super impressed with his characterization.

Watch, especially the latter half, was even better than Wake. It's faster-paced, was able to move away from the science aspect of emerging AI, as that was mostly explained in the first book, and delve into the morality issues. The characters are better developed and the various plot lines from the first book start coming together. I'll definitely be buying the third when it's released next April. Worth the $8-$10 on Amazon for the print copy.

Yeah, I am probably going to get the ebook version of God Engines; couldn't justify the (probably awesome looking but still extraordinarily) expensive Subterranean copy. I actually quite like City & The City but I gave it to a friend and he definitely felt like he never got fully in to the story either. I have no interest in Boneshaker, though I might read it when I start missing Seattle. I'm trying to get through Windup Girl right now, but it just isn't happening, so Wake is my last try for this year's Hugo awards (Julian Comstock was a complete letdown as well)! I read the first 20 or so pages on Kindle preview, so it just a matter of getting a copy.

Thanks for the opinions!

Awesome, more Scalzi fans! I absolutely loved everything i've read by the man. I've read all the Old Man War books, Android's Dream (almost as good as Old Man's War), and Agent to the Stars (not bad, but not as good as the others).

The only reason I didnt pick up God Engine is because of the price.

Slight SPOILER for the Old Man's War series. I just love the non-traditional family unit of the series. Spoiler part is whited out. 90 year old man (in a younger body) marries the 9 year old clone of his dead wife (different person, just shares her DNA) and they adopt a 6 year old girl who happens to be the prophet of an entire alien race. So Cool.

Any Peter Hamilton fans here? The Commonwealth series is some pretty damn kick ass space opera.

Or Charles Stoss? God I love this author. I've read just about everything I can get my hands on. Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise for the space opera fans. Atrocity Archives for the Lovecraft/Horror fans (Magic is possible using higher mathmatics and computers). Accelerando, Stross's first novel is IMO one of the most likely futures for humanity. Altho I'm not sure its his best novel. Merchant Princes for the fantasy fans. Not only that, unlike many authors, hes able to pump out several novels a year.

Just started the first book. You'll probably have to wait a while to hear my thoughts. I can barely find a few minutes of quiet reading time these days.

Well, I decided to Hell with marking lab reports and quizzes this weekend and finished reading book 1 instead.


*HUNGER GAMES BOOK 1 SPOILERS*


I enjoyed it. It was exciting, suspenseful, and really pulls you into the story. I'm not sure I like Katniss all that much as a character though. I found her personality to be somewhat bland and her obliviousness with regards to Peeta frustrating. Also, the last third of the book was a bit slow at times. Too many pages spent on nursing Peeta back to health in the cave. The Romeo and Juliet style gambit at the end was a nice twist though. And is it just me, or does Collins make a point of describing every single meal Katniss eats in detail? I know it makes sense to explain what she's living off of during the games, and the elaborate meals in Capitol are described in contrast to the sparse food she ate in District 12, but still, it just felt like a lot of pages were spent describing food. In any case, it was certainly a good read. Kind of like "Ender's Game" meets "Lord of the Flies". I'll probably jump right into book 2 tonight.

Well, I decided to Hell with marking lab reports and quizzes this weekend and finished reading book 1 instead.

I enjoyed it. It was exciting, suspenseful, and really pulls you into the story. ...I'll probably jump right into book 2 tonight.

This makes me happy.

I hate to make the comparison to plug this other series I've read 2/3's of but I think people who enjoyed the Hunger Games Trilogy would really enjoy Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking Trilogy (2/3's of it, anyway). The character it follows most closely has a poor education to say the least and it's reflected in the prose, which threw me off for the first chapter or two, but the story makes that irrelevant before long. Maybe as a sign of how much I enjoyed what I've read, I'm seriously tempted to touch my Chicago money to buy the last book since the library doesn't own it, I can't ILL it until it is at least a year past publishing date, and I feel like I'm going to explode if I don't find out what happens ASAP.

Ratings on Amazon, if you put any stock in those, give them a 4 of 5, 5 of 5, and 4 of 5. (Just learned a prequel came out, so not quite a trilogy. That got a 3.5 of 5.) Goodreads gives them a 4.11 of 5, 4.29 of 5, and a 4.56 of 5. 4.33 for the prequel, of 5. Lastly, if this sways anyone, YALSA put book one on a list of readalikes for Mockingjay, so someone besides me thinks you may enjoy it if you enjoyed the HG universe.

I think it captures the human condition quite well, both the good and bad, and has some rather intense moments.

Anyway.

Alea, I keep trying to pick up THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO but I cannot seem to get past what I call "All That Tristram Shandy Bullshit."

I really, really, REALLY hate when books play around with typeface/font/pagination/etc to "enhance" their story somehow.

People keep recommending this series to me but every time I pick the book up off the library shelf I just start GROANING.

Is the story really good enough for me to look past the conceit? I hate to miss over something great just because I find the presentation thoroughly irksome...(THOROUGHLY irksome).

Jan, I just finished All Clear. Let me know when you read it so we can discuss.

Is the story really good enough for me to look past the conceit?

I truly feel it is, yes.

I am almost done reading Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks and Big Pharma Flacks. I've been following Ben Goldacre's website for a few months and I find him fascinating. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in science, medicine, nutrition, health, etc.

Currently I am getting through GOOD OMENS. It's a nice break from LES MIS, which is an awesome book, but very long and liable to go on lengthy, unrelated (but interesting) tangents.

It's a nice break from LES MIS, which is an awesome book, but very long and liable to go on lengthy, unrelated (but interesting) tangents.

That's my Dad's favorite book. Tangents and all, since he loves history so much. It's my goal to read it before I see the musical (again) next september. Maybe I'd better get started...

After talking about it for ages and waiting for ages, I finally read All Clear by Connie Willis. Such a good sequel to Blackout. It was full of mystery and twists and turns.
The prevailing question of both books was "Is this a comedy or a tragedy?" because she writes both. Connie Willis has killed off the main character of one of her books and major characters of others-very unexpectedly. But she's also written quite a few romantic comedies that have ended in happiness and love.
That question gets answered in the end, and it is very satisfying. Her writing makes me happy.

I'm about halfway through Barbara Kingsolver's memoir/environmental book Animal Vegetable Miracle now, and I'm quite enjoying it, but I have some issues. She seems a bit judgmental of her readers and I feel at times that she is making broad assumptions about who's reading her book. She's also a bit wishy-washy in what she thinks needs to change in the world to make her "local living" idea fit.

That's my Dad's favorite book. Tangents and all, since he loves history so much. It's my goal to read it before I see the musical (again) next september. Maybe I'd better get started...

I suspect the tangents only make it even more interesting to a history buff. I really want to see the musical again, as the first (and only) time I saw it was more or less my introduction to the story. As I can now sing most of it, I will be able to follow it a little better when I can next see it.

I'm about halfway through Barbara Kingsolver's memoir/environmental book Animal Vegetable Miracle now, and I'm quite enjoying it, but I have some issues. She seems a bit judgmental of her readers and I feel at times that she is making broad assumptions about who's reading her book. She's also a bit wishy-washy in what she thinks needs to change in the world to make her "local living" idea fit.

I agree with a lot of this. She is clearly writing from a place of privilege. Not all of us own vast acres of land we can farm, or have the financial security and types of jobs that allows us to spend as much time and money as we like in the pursuit of eating locally.

Still, I enjoyed the book quite a bit overall.

I'm about halfway through Barbara Kingsolver's memoir/environmental book Animal Vegetable Miracle now, and I'm quite enjoying it, but I have some issues. She seems a bit judgmental of her readers and I feel at times that she is making broad assumptions about who's reading her book. She's also a bit wishy-washy in what she thinks needs to change in the world to make her "local living" idea fit.

I agree with a lot of this. She is clearly writing from a place of privilege. Not all of us own vast acres of land we can farm, or have the financial security and types of jobs that allows us to spend as much time and money as we like in the pursuit of eating locally.

Still, I enjoyed the book quite a bit overall.

My sister (a vegetarian) was telling me about this book. She said the same thing. I don't think I will bother reading it...

Not all of us own vast acres of land

I suspect there are more people with vast tracts of land than vast acres of land.

Alea, I keep trying to pick up THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO but I cannot seem to get past what I call "All That Tristram Shandy Bullshit."

I really, really, REALLY hate when books play around with typeface/font/pagination/etc to "enhance" their story somehow.

People keep recommending this series to me but every time I pick the book up off the library shelf I just start GROANING.

Is the story really good enough for me to look past the conceit? I hate to miss over something great just because I find the presentation thoroughly irksome...(THOROUGHLY irksome).

I have a similar problem with Cormac McCarthy, I love the Road, and am glad I read it (any novel that can chill you to the bone and make you feel like you're sitting naked on a frozen lake with a strong and bitter wind blowing in your face when you're laying by the pool getting a sunburn in the middle of july in 105 degree heat is amazing writing) but everything else I've tried to read by him gets returned to the library unread except the first two pages or so because of: ARRGH NO QUOTATION MARKS!

I am currently nearly finished with Blood Sweat and Chalk (the jacket calls it a playbook, it is not a playbook, it is a breezy history of how all the major offenses and defenses of football came about over the last hundred years), just started reading Waiting for Superman, which is a very compelling read, and I have The Saratoga Barrier, The Windup Girl and Obama's Wars on deck. and I'm ridiculously tempted to get Hardboiled Wonderland and read that.

I suspect there are more people with vast tracts of land than vast acres of land.

My acres are quite vast, thank you very much.

I suspect there are more people with vast tracts of land than vast acres of land.

My acres are quite vast, thank you very much.

Oh, I bet they are...


Sorry. Sounded like a euphemism. Carry on.

Clearly my brain isn't working lately. It took me SO LONG to figure out what was incorrect about my phrasing. Oy.

I have a similar problem with Cormac McCarthy, I love the Road, and am glad I read it (any novel that can chill you to the bone and make you feel like you're sitting naked on a frozen lake with a strong and bitter wind blowing in your face when you're laying by the pool getting a sunburn in the middle of july in 105 degree heat is amazing writing) but everything else I've tried to read by him gets returned to the library unread except the first two pages or so because of: ARRGH NO QUOTATION MARKS!

Argh, he's that guy who's responsible for All the Pretty Horses! I had to read it in high school, and ARRGH NO QUOTATION MARKS! was roughly my response, with a side order of THERE ARE MORE SPEAKING VERBS THAN "SAID". I'd forgotten who wrote that book, but now that I've remembered, I'll know to ignore it if anyone recommends his other stuff to me.

I just finished GOOD OMENS, which was lovely. And then with our sudden snowfall, I was tempted to read some Garth Nix, which I associate with wild winters and snow for a reason I'm not entirely sure of. But instead I am succumbing to EL's pressure to read THE OWL SERVICE, by Alan Garner. So far it is delightfully Welsh.

There's something odd about certain books, though, and I suspect this may be one such book. Sometimes I feel this almost unbearable pining for the unattainable Other-world. Sometimes it feels like it's just right there, and if I could catch the right angle or reach forward just subtly enough, I could be drawn into it. And it is agonising that I've never been able to find the slightest hint of it, aside from that internal sense.

I just finished reading "The Girls" by Lori Lansens. It is fantastic and I highly recommend it. It's a fictional autobiography of a set of conjoined twins. I couldn't put it down, it was so compelling.

I recently found myself in want of a good book, so I started perusing this thread. I found this book rec on the third page (I think) and got it from the library. I liked it a lot! I just wanted to let you know that your very old posts are still doing me some good.

I'm now about to start How Starbucks saved my life : a son of privilege learns to live like everyone else based on the recommendation of a friend. That'll probably come along on my trip.

I have been so behind on my reading, it makes me a bit sad. But I just finished The Missing: Sent, by Margaret Peterson Haddix and it was really quite fun. It's my favorite type of SF; if there's an official name for it, I'd love to know but I refer to them as timeline stories, BTTF and The Butterfly Effect being movie examples of it. Change one little thing and see how that alters history. I guess I should also mention it is Children's fiction, probably best for a 10-12 year old that isn't already into the more challenging stuff.

My favorite little excerpt from the book:

"[...] I can't go back to being who I used to be!"

Hadley looked down at him sympathetically.

"None of us can, kid," he said. "That's the point. You get what you get. Life changes you. Time travel or no, you always have to build on what you live through."

What I especially liked about this was how it made use of what little was known about Edward V and his brother Richard's disappearance and had fun with the (impossible in reality) possible explanations. History can be so damn interesting but the way I learned a lot of it in school, memorizing dates and places, made me walk away with this idea that history was dull. Books like this inspire me to look for information where I'd be uninterested otherwise. If it works this way on kids too, awesome-pawsome.

I just finished reading Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson. It's a children's book (not like Clifford books...more like, oh what's a good example...A Series of Unfortunate Events - that level.), but it's fun.

I'm reading Measure for Measure right now, Love Shakespeare.

I just finished reading Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson. It's a children's book (not like Clifford books...more like, oh what's a good example...A Series of Unfortunate Events - that level.), but it's fun.

Did you like the end? I enjoyed the concept of the book and thought most of it was fun, as you said, but then the end came around and it felt rushed and ended up being completely anti-climactic. I haven't even attempted to read the sequel because the end was so disappointing for me.

Did you like the end? I enjoyed the concept of the book and thought most of it was fun, as you said, but then the end came around and it felt rushed and ended up being completely anti-climactic. I haven't even attempted to read the sequel because the end was so disappointing for me.

I haven't read the other books yet, no. It's not anticlimactic, it just doesn't leave you with something to ponder at the end (in my opinion). Sure, you've still got the "what about the overlords" deal, but Pearson didn't introduce another mystery before he closed up shop. I want to read the whole series before i say more.

I may revisit it, then, since the latest I could have read it was 2006 but not at the moment.

I've gotten my hands on Monsters of Men (book three in the Chaos Walking trilogy) and Matched, by Ally Condie - not only has that generated a lot of buzz, I first heard about it pretty early in the year and was anticipating reading it pre-buzz, so I'm pretty stoked to find out if it lives up to all that anticipation and hype.


I finished what was out in the Haddix Missing series, or at least what my library owns; book three was just as entertaining as book two but this time was about Virginia Dare and the Roanoke Colony. It was all fun enough to make me consider picking up some NF, which I hardly ever do.

I still haven't reached the 52 books this year but I'm hell bent on getting as close to it as possible. Now that the craft is done, I should have a lot more time to get into all my books. :)

I still haven't reached the 52 books this year but I'm hell bent on getting as close to it as possible.

I'm still losing horribly. Serves me right for starting Washington: A Life.