The Portrait of Zool Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 My new favorite author is John Scalzi. In the last month I read his 'Old Man's War' trilogy, 'Agent To The Stars', and the howlingly entertaining 'Redshirts'. Today I just picked up his 'Your Hatemail Will Be Graded', which is a book of his blog posts - yes, an actual, published, book converted from a forest, not an e-book. You? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snypiuer Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Waiting for the final Wheel of Time to come out in paper back. Other than that, I haven't been able to get to a bookstore and see what's out there for quite some time now. Seems that no matter how much detail I can find online, I just don't know if I want to buy a book until I have it in my hands. The feel of once mighty vegetation, brutally torn down and violently pulverized and converted into paper and formed into a book for my perusal . . . well, THAT just makes reading so much more satisfying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Portrait of Zool Posted October 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 Ha! I know what you mean. I wasn't interested in 'Your Hatemail Will Be Graded' until I had stopped by the local Barnes & Noble, not knowing what else to do on an otherwise idle lunch hour, and saw it there on the shelf. Holding it in my hands, feeling the heft of the raw irony of everything right and everything wrong about our society in one neat little package, I knew I just had to buy it. 'Redshirts', on the other hand, I had been wanting to buy for quite a while, so when I saw it on the shelf it was just self interest. Imagine my surprise, however, when I learned it was the 2013 Hugo winner! Funny thing, it says 'mind-bending' on the back cover, and I could actually feel my mind bending as I read it. I gave my wife a Kindle for Xmas last year and she has been trying to convince me to get one. She loves it. For one thing, she says, it is so LIGHT. For myself, if I'm not sweating, I figure I'm just not having an intellectual good time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Portrait of Zool Posted October 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 An interesting story concerns John's novel 'Agent to the Stars'. This was his first book, written, so he explains in an epilog, just to see if he could. After he finished it, he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Not thinking it was actually good enough to publish, he put it on his popular blog 'Whatever', and requested that if anybody read it and liked it to donate a dollar for his site. He put a stop to that after a short time when he noticed he had collected over $4000.00. Then he had it published. The rest, as they say, is history. Yes, I'd have to say one of the reasons I have come back to the Pen is I am actually feeling somewhat inspired by Mr. Scalzi. He writes good books too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Portrait of Zool Posted October 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 (edited) This week I received a new book; 'Yma Sumac, The Art Behind the Legend', by Nicholas E. Limansky Yma Sumac was a singer in the 50's and 60's. She had an incredible 5 octave voice and a horrendous Diva complex, complicated by the fact that she was incredibly beautiful and a bona-fide Incan princess. Makes for interesting reading. Edited October 13, 2013 by The Portrait of Zool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Portrait of Zool Posted October 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 Currently I am reading the operation and maintenance manual for the HP 122AR Oscilloscope. Unfortunately, I have to report that it's not very exciting - best to wait for the movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighid of Byrness Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Malory's Morte d'Arthur...again...with my class. For fun, I'm re-reading Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. My middle-schooler started reading the same copies I had when I was his age, so I joined in and am rediscovering why I loved them. (I think I'll pass on the movie version of HP 122AR Oscilloscope...unless it's sci-fi?!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Portrait of Zool Posted October 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 It has been EONS since I read the Earthsea books! I'm going to have to look into re-reading those myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighid of Byrness Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 It has been EONS since I read the Earthsea books! I'm going to have to look into re-reading those myself. They will transport you back to a more innocent time (Did you read them when you "still innocent?" It's a weird sensation reading them 35 years later....yes, it really has been 35 years ...and I remember becoming immersed in the fantasy and learning some important lessons, like you must have darkness to have the light.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Forests have been destroyed for this one. Currently 8.8 books of the 10 book series have been read. After that I'll read the last Wheel of Time, another deforestation champion candidate series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighid of Byrness Posted November 6, 2013 Report Share Posted November 6, 2013 I'm settling in on the couch to read Allegiant, the third book of Veronica Roth's Divergent series. I read a lot of YA novels so that I can talk books with my students (Not the correct thread...but just put this album on the turntable: Jaga Jazzist Live with Britten Sinfonia) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Portrait of Zool Posted November 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2013 Am currently reading 'Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz' - because I've never read it, and I love Oz books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighid of Byrness Posted November 6, 2013 Report Share Posted November 6, 2013 Am currently reading 'Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz' - because I've never read it, and I love Oz books! I always loved the character Tik-Tok. I've only read a few of the Oz books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Portrait of Zool Posted November 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2013 Last night I finished another John Scalzi book, 'The Android's Dream'. Great book! Very fresh and exciting. Not quite on the scale of space opera but with worlds hanging in the balance anyway - highly recommended! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Portrait of Zool Posted December 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2013 Am currently rereading Caleb Carr's 'The Italian Secretary', a 'further adventure of Sherlock Holmes'. For some reason this has three stars on Amazon, but I think it's GREAT, a faithful and atmospheric new Sherlock Holmes story!. If you love Sherlock Holmes, you'll love this too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighid of Byrness Posted December 2, 2013 Report Share Posted December 2, 2013 I haven't read any Scalzi books...will have to give him a try. This weekend I read a book by another author I hadn't heard of. I picked up the book awhile back on a friend's suggestion, but I never got around to reading it. It's a crime novel -- not a genre I usually read -- titled Beautiful, Naked & Dead by Josh Stallings. It was a fast read which kept my attention because of the protagonist, Moses McGuire. Stallings did a thorough job creating a believable, likable ex-marine/ex-con/bad-ass; I just wish he had employed a better proofreader! (He self-published.) http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10766272-beautiful-naked-dead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peredhil Posted June 22, 2014 Report Share Posted June 22, 2014 Just finished "Shifted" by Caitlyn Mitchell http://www.amazon.com/Caitlyn-E.-Mitchell/e/B00J2I5PKG/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 If, like me, you like well-developed characters that stay "true" to themselves in their actions, interactions, and growth, check this out. If, like me, you enjoy solid well-researched "world-building", check this out. Her grasp of the flora and fauna of 1860s England would've been fascinating enough to keep me reading, even if I hadn't liked the story. Amazing grasp of interesting detail, instead of detail just for the sake of padding words. If, like me, you enjoy intelligent use of Fae and magic, you definitely need to check this out. This is the story of the "Beauty and the Beast" the way it should've been done originally. But just because you know one of the inspirations, don't think you know it all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Portrait of Zool Posted June 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2014 (edited) Just finished Alastair Reynolds 2000 classic 'Revelation Space'. Great Sci-fi read! Just starting Dan Simmons' 'The Fall of Hyperion', the sequel to 'Hyperion', which I much enjoyed. If the sequel is half as good as the original, it will be very good. [edit] BTW, your review of 'Shifted' was helpful to me Law. Edited June 24, 2014 by The Portrait of Zool 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted June 27, 2014 Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 I've started reading the Black Company. Only fifty or so pages in, but I can already see that I'll most probably enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peredhil Posted June 28, 2014 Report Share Posted June 28, 2014 Patrick, is that the series by Cook? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted June 29, 2014 Report Share Posted June 29, 2014 Yes! I have the below three in a single volume book. The Books of the North The Black Company (Main Annalist: Croaker) —May 1984 Shadows Linger (Croaker) —October 1984 The White Rose (Croaker) —April 1985 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peredhil Posted June 29, 2014 Report Share Posted June 29, 2014 Those ARE good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozymandias Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 (edited) It Wasn't Always Easy, but I Sure had Fun by Lewis GrizzardLocke and Key, by Joe HillThe Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, by Matthew KellyTrillum, by Jeff LemireGirl Genius, by Phil and Kaja FoglioThe Adventures of Doctor McNinja, by Christopher HastingsUnsounded, by Ashley Cope"Lemme Addams", by Sonny Strait and Billy Foster"scp-wiki", by The SCP FoundationStuffed Animals and Pickled Heads, by Stephen T. Asma Moby Dick, by Herman Melville Treasure Island, by Robert Louis StevensonI... Read a lot of comics. I also perhaps need to cut down to one book at a time. (EDIT: I forgot a few, and the lack of underlining was bugging me.) Edited February 27, 2015 by Ozymandias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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