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Jazzfanz Bookclub

scootsy said:
Wife's working late tonight, could probably read another book. Anyone read we were liars? Love a good mystery, but I'm thinking it could be toooooo teen girl for my taste.
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I reccommend Run by blake crouch
or Unbroken by laura hillenbrand
 
I get what you mean, I've read choke snuff (don't judge) Pygmy fight club and am reading haunted and at times I've felt like I've been reading the same stories over again. There is a familiar feel.

Buuut I still find them entertaining, and when I started reading him like 5-6 years ago, I was impressionable and my worldview somewhat changed. Not a passionate defender, but I enjoy (most of) his work.
 
I just finished a book called Orfeo by Richard Powers. It was so-so for me, but I bet if someone is really into music theory, they'd love it.

If someone needs sci-fi recommendations, I'm your man. I have read 314 sci-fi books just on my kindle! :D
 
Fish nooooooo!!

Escapism. That's why I read! Not to get away just from my own realities, but reality in general. Refuse to read any nonfiction!
 
Siro said:
I just finished a book called Orfeo by Richard Powers. It was so-so for me, but I bet if someone is really into music theory, they'd love it.

If someone needs sci-fi recommendations, I'm your man. I have read 314 sci-fi books just on my kindle! :D
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I read too much fantasy, too little sci-fi. Recommended authors?
 
scootsy said:
I read too much fantasy, too little sci-fi. Recommended authors?
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If you're into fantasy then you probably would enjoy soft science fiction a lot better than hard sci-fi. In that case, I highly recommend Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It is beautifully written, has amazing characters, and simply is loads of fun.
 
Also, if you're looking for specific topics in sci-fi (for example, I think I've read every single first contact novel in existence), I can recommend ****. Or if you liked a sci-fi book and want something similar.

Ooooh, since you're into fantasy, I have to bring up The Book of the New Sun. Not only are they some of the best novels out there, they are some of the best novels, period!
 
scootsy said:
Fish nooooooo!!

Escapism. That's why I read! Not to get away just from my own realities, but reality in general. Refuse to read any nonfiction!
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I feel ya, im the same way. I never read non fiction. I have not even read unbroken yet, but im making an exception and i will start it very soon. (my wife loved it and told me alot about it and there is a movie for unbroken coming out on christmas day that looks really good.)

Give the other one a read though (Run by blake crouch)
It is one of my favorite books of all time. Its pretty short and is a very very fast paced book with elements of apocalypse and some sci fi in it. Plus it made me get tears in my eyes twice while reading it. Fantastic book. And cheap too.
 
franklin said:
Finished the Tawny Man trilogy. Robin Hobb is top notch at character development. She could tell about Fitz chopping wood for 3 days and it would be entertaining. But her overall plot was lacking, and once again dry and boring by the third book.

I don't think I'll read the new one that just came out after a 9 year absence.
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FWIW, I've read the new Fitz book. My recommendation right now to anyone interested is probably to wait at least until all the books of the new trilogy are out, because the first one is pretty much entirely a set-up book. 90% of it is Fitz hanging around Withywoods. I still enjoyed it, but it was definitely a tease.

Just out of curiosity, what did you think of the ending/wrap-up, and particularly the extent of it? The bizarre thing for some people is that there's so much of it... hundreds of pages of cool-down/wrap-up after the climactic battle stuff. But I find I'd much rather have a metric ton of that than not enough.

Siro said:
If you're into fantasy then you probably would enjoy soft science fiction a lot better than hard sci-fi. In that case, I highly recommend Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It is beautifully written, has amazing characters, and simply is loads of fun.
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Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos series is f-ing crazy, and probably my favorite sci-fi ever. A warning, however: while technically not "hard" sci-fi with regards to the science, they're not exactly a light read. Sci-fi is often called the genre of ideas, and Simmons is full of them, weaving poets and theologians and mythology together into a tapestry that is bursting at the seams. Sometimes they're so complex that they get to be a bit of a slog for the wrong reader. That said, they're well worth a try.

As for fantasy, the aforementioned Robin Hobb books are great if you haven't read them yet -- start with the Farseer trilogy. I also very highly recommend Jim Butcher's Dresden Files -- light reads, but tremendously entertaining, and they just keep getting better through at least book seven (probably my favorite of the series).
 
I'm currently reading Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance. I'm liking it better than the first nook of the series. I
m going to have to check out Hyperion Cantos and some of the other ones suggested.
 
Best of the hard sci-fi:

1. Heinlein. Stranger in a Strange Land is a good start, and so is Starship Troopers. It is nothing like the movie, and it is one of my very favorite books.

2. David Brin. The Uplift War is great, and the start of a series. Also Kiln People is good without being too techy. His stuff can be very very science dense and digs deep into alternate cultures and alien beings. He has an incredible imagination and is insanely smart, so his fiction is deep and can be tough to get through, but very good nonetheless.
 
LogGrad98 said:
Best of the hard sci-fi:
2. David Brin. The Uplift War is great, and the start of a series. Also Kiln People is good without being too techy. His stuff can be very very science dense and digs deep into alternate cultures and alien beings. He has an incredible imagination and is insanely smart, so his fiction is deep and can be tough to get through, but very good nonetheless.
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The Uplift Series! Or how I learned to love dolphins! The first book is okay, but the second one is just great. The last one is a lot of fun, but it isn't as good as the second. David Brin's Existence is in my top 10. It really blew me away when I read it. And everyone I talk to hates it. :(
 
AtheistPreacher said:
Just out of curiosity, what did you think of the ending/wrap-up, and particularly the extent of it? The bizarre thing for some people is that there's so much of it... hundreds of pages of cool-down/wrap-up after the climactic battle stuff. But I find I'd much rather have a metric ton of that than not enough.
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I liked the ending quite a bit but the whole thing had that nagging "I want it to end this way but it never will, and it will only set up another book selling scheme for the author" feel to it.

It's hard for me to say either way because Hobb is an incredible writer and I enjoy the **** out of her narratives, but at the same time I think books need to have some closure and I've found our current capitalistic structure has ruined that. They're writing for sustainable revenue, and that's okay, but it gets old after about 7-8 books. At that point it turns into the sitcom model of carrying on far too long and ruining a legacy.

I also get that Hobb and other authors get bored with their work just like the rest of us and don't want to please the audiences for their own torment.

I wanted Fitz to out himself to Kettricken and his somewhat son. The book set that up in a way with his skill dreams of being King Shrewd, and with the stuff in the last book about Lady Patience. The lack of closure there, along with the tireless tie ups of all his other secrets, left too much on the table.
 
Just finished Emily St. John Mandel's "Station Eleven". To summarize it is a post-apocalyptic genre novel written in literary style. I really enjoyed it and also recommend it if you're into that kind of thing.
 
Anybody read anything good lately that is NOT sci-fi or post-apocalyptic? Fiction or non, as long as it's readable and not too dense.

some recent favorites include Provenance and The Boys in the Boat (both non-fiction) and All the Light We Cannot See and The Sparrow (both fiction)

right now I'm reading Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene - so it doesn't necessary have to be a current author - - just looking for ideas for when it's my turn to pick a book (March)
 
Read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Pretty good, I will read it again.

Also up to Feast of Crows in A Song of Ice and Fire. It is going good, much better than when I first read the first 2 books. I don't really quite remember why I didn't like it back then. Still not as good as Wheel of Time, though.
 
Hekate said:
Read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Pretty good, I will read it again.

Also up to Feast of Crows in A Song of Ice and Fire. It is going good, much better than when I first read the first 2 books. I don't really quite remember why I didn't like it back then. Still not as good as Wheel of Time, though.
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I think that a feast for crows is the worst of the five song of fire and ice books.

I HATED wheel of time (read the first 6 or 7 and gave up) but to each thier own. Lots of people like those books
 
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