Post-Lupin
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Post by Post-Lupin on Jun 14, 2014 5:24:04 GMT -5
Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson. Basically World War Z but with a robot uprising. Was OK until he set a scene in London and it all went Dick Van Dyke. Still reading… This may sound needlessly fussy, but one of my pet peeves is when some writer tries to capture the dialect/voice of a particular foreign region, but they have no clue how they speak outside of pop culture stereotypes. Then again, as a Minnesotan (by birth; no personal/emotional connection to the area), I still feel a bit peeved when people expect all of us to talk like when wandered out of Fargo. In this case, it's having a vague idea of how working-class London voices sound but putting distinctly American phrases in their mouth. Even allowing for the promiscuous nature of phrases in English being shared through media, some things just don't happen. You'd never, for example, have a Brit say 'sidewalk' or 'elevator' (unless trying to talk like a Yank) - it would be 'street' (or 'pavement') and 'lift' every time. And that's not hard to check! Examples from the book: -of US phrasing that sticks out - "It's surrounded by a mess of papers and pencils." No Brit would use 'mess' in that way - it'd be "a bunch" or "load". -of almost getting slang right, but actually getting it totally wrong - "Unmoor us, you sodding fuck!" NO: it'd be "fucking sod", every time. Makes me wonder about all the other non-white-American characters, especially with a sizeable section set in the Osage Nation (with a lot of old traditional dances and such)... |
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Post by sarapen on Jun 14, 2014 10:08:58 GMT -5
Coincidentally, Post-Lupin, I'm reading Un Lun Dun right now. I was never into China Mieville's New Crobuzon novels or that one about the Pied Piper, but I'm liking this children's book more. I think it's his prose that sticks at me and the way he's forced to simplify things for his audience makes it all go down better. I also rather liked that comic book he did, too. As a bonus, Un Lun Dun includes footnotes to the London dialect for his American readers. Bleagh, I had no idea that "bling" had penetrated so much across the Anglosphere. |
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Post-Lupin
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Post by Post-Lupin on Jun 14, 2014 10:16:45 GMT -5
Coincidentally, Post-Lupin, I'm reading Un Lun Dun right now. I was never into China Mieville's New Crobuzon novels or that one about the Pied Piper, but I'm liking this children's book more. I think it's his prose that sticks at me and the way he's forced to simplify things for his audience makes it all go down better. I also rather liked that comic book he did, too. As a bonus, Un Lun Dun includes footnotes to the London dialect for his American readers. Bleagh, I had no idea that "bling" had penetrated so much across the Anglosphere. Heh. That cross-pollenation is of course the price of being Anglophone... but those regional variants still hold even with loan words and people wanting to imitate, say, a LA gangsta while having a distinct Brixton accent. (My main feeling about China is that he writes dialogue like a very bright kid who learned English from books as a second language but has never heard it spoken!) |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2014 13:41:42 GMT -5
Prodigy by Marie Lu, which I am still pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying.
I'm also reading 100 (Monologues) by Eric Bogosian.
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Post by Dr. Dastardly on Jun 14, 2014 19:38:49 GMT -5
Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson. Basically World War Z but with a robot uprising. Was OK until he set a scene in London and it all went Dick Van Dyke. Still reading... I did not care for this book. I mean, I didn't hate it, but it was so dumb - so, so, so dumb. I read it for mindless entertainment and it was dumb even for that. Definitely a big debt to WWZ, yeah, but it made WWZ look like Tolstoy. Paleu sadly I am aware of elevatorgate. And I have to say, it might just be that elevatorgate was in the back of my mind somewhere, but when Dawks talked about gender differences in this book - and particularly during a bizarre and out-of-nowhere rant about divorce lawyers that was ostensibly a metaphor for something - I got this not-quite-tangible feeling, like, "I don't know that this guy is super crazy about women." Roy Batty's Pet Dove, did you get those inklings too? It's not like he said anything I could put my finger on, it was just a...disturbance. |
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Dellarigg
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Post by Dellarigg on Jun 15, 2014 2:38:50 GMT -5
Just finished Mr Mercedes. Thoroughly enjoyed the first half, then the second began to drag somewhat. Still, a very decent book.
Next up ... not sure. An Elmore Leonard? I've got Riding The Rap. Or some Vonnegut short stories? There's also a few Nabokov things I haven't got round to. Or Mildred Pierce, that's supposed to be good. I'm having a bath soon, I'll need to've decided by then.
ETA: settled on Lolita, a reread. I've never enjoyed the prose of this as much as I should, since all the other stuff is so ... darn complicated.
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Post-Lupin
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Post by Post-Lupin on Jun 15, 2014 4:02:58 GMT -5
Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson. Basically World War Z but with a robot uprising. Was OK until he set a scene in London and it all went Dick Van Dyke. Still reading... I did not care for this book. I mean, I didn't hate it, but it was so dumb - so, so, so dumb. I read it for mindless entertainment and it was dumb even for that. Definitely a big debt to WWZ, yeah, but it made WWZ look like Tolstoy. You are not wrong. May well bin it and just reread Marcus Sakey's Brilliance in prep for the sequel coming out. |
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Post by Dr. Dastardly on Jun 15, 2014 15:21:07 GMT -5
I did not care for this book. I mean, I didn't hate it, but it was so dumb - so, so, so dumb. I read it for mindless entertainment and it was dumb even for that. Definitely a big debt to WWZ, yeah, but it made WWZ look like Tolstoy. You are not wrong. May well bin it and just reread Marcus Sakey's Brilliance in prep for the sequel coming out. Here's the thought I kept having: "Man, the inevitable movie based on this book is going to be even dumber." |
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Post-Lupin
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Post by Post-Lupin on Jun 15, 2014 16:48:18 GMT -5
You are not wrong. May well bin it and just reread Marcus Sakey's Brilliance in prep for the sequel coming out. Here's the thought I kept having: "Man, the inevitable movie based on this book is going to be even dumber." You mean the one Will Smith was going to star in and then left suddenly? (I quite like the book, but the combo of tight action and heroic grey areas usually works for me). |
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Post by Dr. Dastardly on Jun 15, 2014 16:56:04 GMT -5
Oh, wait, I'm still talking about Robopocalypse. You're talking about Brilliance now? That looks entertaining. Is it entertaining? I have this plane ride coming up...
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Post-Lupin
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Post by Post-Lupin on Jun 15, 2014 17:04:48 GMT -5
Oh, wait, I'm still talking about Robopocalypse. You're talking about Brilliance now? That looks entertaining. Is it entertaining? I have this plane ride coming up... I am: Smith basically got the Brilliance movie together and then dropped out. It would make an ideal plane flight book. |
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Post by Nudeviking on Jun 15, 2014 19:46:04 GMT -5
I started reading Erik Larson's "The Devil In The White City," this morning on the commute to work. I'm about 40 pages in and it's pretty good thus far. It's a lot more readable than any of the other history books I've read recently.
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Post by Dr. Dastardly on Jun 16, 2014 8:34:31 GMT -5
Post-Lupin, done and done, thanks. Nudeviking solid choice. See if you agree with the rest of the world that the Olmstead stuff turns out more entertaining than the serial killer stuff. Dellarigg Ah, Lolita. Fire of my whatever.
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Post by Ron Howard Voice on Jun 16, 2014 10:13:37 GMT -5
Petersburg, by Andrei Bely, has gotta be the only book I've read where the omniscient narrator gets confused and actually writes the word "uhhh".
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Post by Tea Rex on Jun 16, 2014 11:17:09 GMT -5
Finished Cloud Atlas!
Majorly good book. Loved the span of time, the genre-hopping, the message of the highs and lows of humanity being told over and over again.
But now I need a bit of a breather after reading something so literary. So I'm reading OUTLANDER, the story of a woman who goes back in time and fucks a highlander.
Awwww yeaaaahh.
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Post by Mrs David Tennant on Jun 16, 2014 11:47:12 GMT -5
Finished Cloud Atlas! Majorly good book. Loved the span of time, the genre-hopping, the message of the highs and lows of humanity being told over and over again. But now I need a bit of a breather after reading something so literary. So I'm reading OUTLANDER, the story of a woman who goes back in time and fucks a highlander. Awwww yeaaaahh. I did like Outlander, but the sequels have diminishing returns. I stopped about book 4 or 5. |
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Paleu
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Post by Paleu on Jun 16, 2014 19:04:34 GMT -5
Heh. That cross-pollenation is of course the price of being Anglophone... but those regional variants still hold even with loan words and people wanting to imitate, say, a LA gangsta while having a distinct Brixton accent. (My main feeling about China is that he writes dialogue like a very bright kid who learned English from books as a second language but has never heard it spoken!) I picked up a copy of Perdido Street Station for my wife, but so far she is turned off by Mieville's writing style and isn't sure she'll stick with it. Personally, I kind of love Mieville's writing style, but I can totally see how it could turn someone off. I think it's just nice to have someone who's writing scifi who isn't afraid of such blatant displays of erudition, no matter how gratuitous. I also like the way he writes female characters. But I've been trying to get my boyfriend to read Perdido Street Station and he's had the same objections. |
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Post by WKRP Jimmy Drop on Jun 16, 2014 20:26:38 GMT -5
(My main feeling about China is that he writes dialogue like a very bright kid who learned English from books as a second language but has never heard it spoken!) I picked up a copy of Perdido Street Station for my wife, but so far she is turned off by Mieville's writing style and isn't sure she'll stick with it. I love that comparsion, @lupin Addams. I usually describe it as "a 15-year-old boy describing his D&D game, and I already have a DM". |
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Post-Lupin
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Post by Post-Lupin on Jun 17, 2014 9:03:44 GMT -5
Finished rereading Brilliance, now on the sequel A Better World.
Basically; imagine that in the early 1980s, it was noticed that kids worldwide were suddenly being born with a 1 in a 100 chance of being gifted (on the level of the Alphas in the late lamented TV show - abilities ranging from the trivial to the powerful, but not defying laws of physics).
Then imagine 20 years later, one of those 'Brilliants' gamed the stock exchange to the tune of $300 billion, causing it to be shut down. Another commits a mass murder.
Fast forward to how now looks after that - and that's how the first book starts.
Good stuff - strong worldbuilding with little-to-no rosy glasses about human nature, enough moral greyness to work, tightly done fight scenes, actions have real consequence.
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Post by Mrs David Tennant on Jun 17, 2014 9:59:22 GMT -5
Requested Brilliance from the library but they didn't have A Better World yet.
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Post-Lupin
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Post by Post-Lupin on Jun 17, 2014 14:23:04 GMT -5
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clytie
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Post by clytie on Jun 18, 2014 15:33:05 GMT -5
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, in anticipation of the upcoming DVD of The Innocents, which is based on it.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Jun 20, 2014 20:01:06 GMT -5
I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. It was good. It was a lot of fun, generally pretty exciting, and one of the most almost plausible pieces of science fiction that I've read in a long time. On the other hand, Weir's prose skills are pretty pedestrian at best, and too much of his humor is geared towards popular conception of what nerd-humor is (like abbreviating some wordy unit of measurement as a "pirate-ninja"). It was an enjoyable read, but with the way people have been raving about it, it felt a little overrated to me.
Now it's time to actually fucking finish a couple of things that I've been reading for ages, and get a start on my library copy of the George R.R. Martin-edited short story collection "Rogues". There's a handful of writers I like contributing, so hopefully I'll enjoy it.
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Post by nowimnothing on Jun 21, 2014 0:27:57 GMT -5
I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. It was good. It was a lot of fun, generally pretty exciting, and one of the most almost plausible pieces of science fiction that I've read in a long time. On the other hand, Weir's prose skills are pretty pedestrian at best, and too much of his humor is geared towards popular conception of what nerd-humor is (like abbreviating some wordy unit of measurement as a "pirate-ninja"). It was an enjoyable read, but with the way people have been raving about it, it felt a little overrated to me. Now it's time to actually fucking finish a couple of things that I've been reading for ages, and get a start on my library copy of the George R.R. Martin-edited short story collection "Rogues". There's a handful of writers I like contributing, so hopefully I'll enjoy it. The Martian was really good for a first book. Yeah the prose was pretty stilted and there were some deus ex machima feelings from some developments but it had me on the edge of my seat. Who does not want a story of MacGyver stranded on Mars? |
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Post-Lupin
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Post by Post-Lupin on Jun 22, 2014 6:42:49 GMT -5
Started on the first 'Wayward Pines' book by Blake Crouch. Utter shit. Like someone wrote a Twin Peaks influenced horror novel after having heard of the idea but never actually reading any.
In need of light reading, so trying Sarah Lotz's 'The Three' next.
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Post by MrsLangdonAlger on Jun 22, 2014 10:58:53 GMT -5
Requested Brilliance from the library but they didn't have A Better World yet. If you happen to have Kindle and use Amazon, I believe both are in the Kindle Owners Lending Library, though obviously you'd only be able to get one at a time. On the general subject: Ugh, I checked out the WORST book last month for my Lending Library read. The author used the word "cloth" 12 times on one page and at one point actually wrote the sentence "the warmth of the sun's rays warmed me". |
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Post by Mrs David Tennant on Jun 22, 2014 16:28:38 GMT -5
Requested Brilliance from the library but they didn't have A Better World yet. If you happen to have Kindle and use Amazon, I believe both are in the Kindle Owners Lending Library, though obviously you'd only be able to get one at a time. On the general subject: Ugh, I checked out the WORST book last month for my Lending Library read. The author used the word "cloth" 12 times on one page and at one point actually wrote the sentence "the warmth of the sun's rays warmed me". I actually JUST bought a Kindle and got it on Friday - I got the paperwhite one and it is sooooooo much lighter than my Nook! And I like the screen too, because it's not glossy and doesn't show fingerprints like the nook. I'll have to look into the lending library, although I think I can only borrow one book a month? |
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Jun 23, 2014 2:02:22 GMT -5
Requested Brilliance from the library but they didn't have A Better World yet. If you happen to have Kindle and use Amazon, I believe both are in the Kindle Owners Lending Library, though obviously you'd only be able to get one at a time. On the general subject: Ugh, I checked out the WORST book last month for my Lending Library read. The author used the word "cloth" 12 times on one page and at one point actually wrote the sentence "the warmth of the sun's rays warmed me". Was the "cloth" page anything like this exchange? Also, what was this book called? It sounds almost entertainingly bad. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2014 2:25:41 GMT -5
Requested Brilliance from the library but they didn't have A Better World yet. If you happen to have Kindle and use Amazon, I believe both are in the Kindle Owners Lending Library, though obviously you'd only be able to get one at a time. On the general subject: Ugh, I checked out the WORST book last month for my Lending Library read. The author used the word "cloth" 12 times on one page and at one point actually wrote the sentence "the warmth of the sun's rays warmed me". I was warmed from the warm sun, so warm, warmy warm warm, warmer than a hot pocket on a warm july afternoon. |
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Post by Nudeviking on Jun 23, 2014 3:01:44 GMT -5
Post-Lupin, done and done, thanks. Nudeviking solid choice. See if you agree with the rest of the world that the Olmstead stuff turns out more entertaining than the serial killer stuff. Dellarigg Ah, Lolita. Fire of my whatever. Finished it up this morning and Olmstead is indeed the most interesting character in the entire shebang. More interesting than Burnham. More interesting than Holmes. The second most interesting dude was probably Prendergast. In all I liked the race against the clock to get the fair ready stuff better, but part of that might have been because I didn't really know anything about it. Holmes I'd read about during a random trip down a Wikihole...you know the kind: you're at work and the next thing you know you've spent the last 2 and a half hours reading about serial killers for some reason, so it could have just been that I already knew the gist of his plot: insurance fraud, murder house, many ladies, etc. Anyway it's pretty much summer now, so that means it's time for me to put away the books that have any redeeming literary or informative value and pull out some random bullshit fantasy, sci-fi, and/or horror books. I have done this pretty much every summer since time immemorial (except the one summer when I read the Bible from cover to cover for some reason). I'm not entire sure what I'll end up reading. I have a crate of crappy fantasy and sci-fi paperbacks from the 90s in my homestead so I'll probably pull something out of there. It's mostly Dragonlance and Star Wars shit, but there's some other crap in there too: some Stephen King, the first couple Wheel of Time books, other books with chainmail bikini ladies and gorks on the cover. I may just blindly pull a book out and see what happens. |
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