What'cha reading?

[Octopus Prime]

Started reading Wicked, because I knew that either the book was a whole lot better than the musical, or the musical was a whole lot better than the book, but I couldn’t remember which and opted to gamble on the one that’s easier to access.

In the first few chapters, I’ve learned that Oz is just astonishingly racist, and the book seems to imply that the Wicked Witch is evil because of her nebulous genitals. Though they brush over the fact that her very first action after being born was to bite someone’s finger off with her razor-sharp shark-teeth. Which seems like a way better indication of evil than an absent peener.

Also, boy oh boy does everyone hate that baby.

[Rascally Badger]

I just finished Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It felt like it started as a Dr. Who script, which according to that most trustworthy of sources wikipedia, it kinda sorta did. It is unusual for the red herring in what appears to be a murder mystery be the murder.

[masterthes]

Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958-2009 by J. Randy Taraborrelli

[Beefy Hits]

Reading a book about Ministry and Al Jorgensen. It goes into all the drugs and drinking he did as well as tours and making all of his albums. It's a broken record, but interesting, especially the parts where Sascha Konitzeko of KMFDM and Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers talk about how they knew him. The parts about his childhood and early Ministry were new and interesting.

[Rascally Badger]

I finished Jasper Fforde's Early Riser. As with any Fforde book, describing it is a challenge. It is a thriller set in a world where people hibernate, set among the people who stay awake to keep everything running while everyone else is asleep. The central plot revolves around a giant corporation that sells a drug to help people hibernate, but also turns a negligible number of them into essentially zombies. They are preparing to roll out a new version designed to be cheap enough for everyone to afford. Also, a half dozen other things are going on. It isn't my favorite of his books, but I liked it a whole lot. I am a little unsure of how the one trans character was portrayed. I think it was good, but it is kind of hard to decipher among all the weirdness that is the setting and plot.

[masterthes]

Reading a quickie before moving on to bigger things: 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

[masterthes]

Keeping with Black History month biographies with Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig

[masterthes]

That was really good. Highly recommend if you want to learn about Muhammad Ali

Back to fiction now with Making Money by Terry Pratchett

[Octopus Prime]

Well, still not sure if it’s supposed to be the book or the musical of Wicked that’s supposed to be the good one, but I kind of feel like I may have backed the wrong horse? There are bits I liked; the revisionist history going on that makes it so that if the Wicked Witch was the protagonist, the rest of Oz needs to suuuuuuuuuck (and boy does it), and I also liked the viewpoint flip on the events of the original film.

But The vast bulk of the book is a series of theses on the nature of morality and/or long long side-stories that contribute very little to the overall arc however... and those were not what I was signing up for.

Can’t help but feel that the stage show didn’t have a musical number about what to consider of the ethical cost of terrorism.

[masterthes]

Alright, so, I consider Terry Pratchett one of my favorite authors of all time, but I just couldn't get through that story. I actually DNFed a DIscworld book. Oh well, let's see how Wild Cards 1 (expanded edition) edited by George R.R. Martin goes

[Octopus Prime]

Been eyeballing that series; like to know how it is.

[Positronic Brain]

Originally Posted by Octopus Prime

Been eyeballing that series; like to know how it is.

Same!

[masterthes]

It's great so far. I'm more than 200 pages in and I have a feeling it'll be one of my favorites of the year.

[Octopus Prime]

Sounds good to me!

And the Kindle edition is currently... two Canadian Dollars. So I think that’s safe to gamble on regardless.

[Positronic Brain]

Originally Posted by Octopus Prime

Sounds good to me!

And the Kindle edition is currently... two Canadian Dollars. So I think that’s safe to gamble on regardless.

The first three books are on sale right now.

[Octopus Prime]

So it seems. Well, guess I’d gamble $6 as easily as I would 2!

Anyway, I also finished Double Wonderful, which was not only far less funny than the Frank Burly series, but it also had a fair few jokes that were tasteless enough that I retroactively started liking John Shwartzwelders writing less.

Anyway, on to The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcadtle, because who doesn’t want to read a locked room murder mystery based on Groundhog Day?

Heck, I left an Octo-shaped dustcloud in the store running to the cash when I read the back cover!

Well, I got it on my Kindle, so I left a home running to my pocket

[Octopus Prime]

Think I’ll circle back around to that one; a little too Great Gatsby and not enough pizzazz early on.

So, instead, on to The Hod King, because boy oh boy, do I like this series.

[shivam]

Started reading book 2 of the Legend of the Condor Heroes by Louis Cha, called A Bond Undone, and it's fabulous. Pure kung fu drama. this series is great, man.

[masterthes]

I'll admit, some of the stories in Wild Cards I wasn't much of a fan of, although it's more like two. It was a very solid read, and I'll definitely continue on (I managed to grab the next two, taking advantage of the sale)

Now, about to reread a modern favorite of mine, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I'm finally going to read the sequel, but I need to refresh my memory

[Lady]

Originally Posted by masterthes

it's been three years since I last visited Discworld, and it's high time I get back there with Wintersmith

it's been a lot longer than 3 years since I visited the Disc. I started reading the series from the beginning (which means Mort will be the first one that is a re-read), and holy shit, it's so good. I never really understood how it started as "Terry Pratchett making fun of D&D". I'm on Equal Rites by now and very excited to get back to the ones I have read before.

[Violentvixen]

A coworker lent me A Field Guide to Snowflakes and it's just delightful.

He's the source of the temperature diagram for snowflake morphology if you've ever seen that:

[Loki]

I had to know more.

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/s.../class-old.htm

[Paul le Fou]

Originally Posted by Paul le Fou

I finished Borne, which I think I liked very much. Immediately moved onto A Strange Bird, a novella set in the same world.

Finished this - it was beautiful and brutal and heartbreaking - and moved on to Komodo, another short novella/short story? by Vandermeer.

Having finished that, I've taken a very different direction and started reading Hope Never Dies, "An Obama-Biden Mystery"

[Violentvixen]

Originally Posted by Paul le Fou

Having finished that, I've taken a very different direction and started reading Hope Never Dies, "An Obama-Biden Mystery"

I tried so hard to get into this and just couldn't. Curious what you think!

[Rosewood]

Originally Posted by Lady

it's been a lot longer than 3 years since I visited the Disc. I started reading the series from the beginning (which means Mort will be the first one that is a re-read), and holy shit, it's so good. I never really understood how it started as "Terry Pratchett making fun of D&D". I'm on Equal Rites by now and very excited to get back to the ones I have read before.

I'm on Wyrd Sisters.

I wonder if anyone has ever followed the good advice of skipping the first three or four Discworlds if they want to read the series. Not a dig on Lady, I didn't follow it either! And doing things that way was helpful because between Colour of Magic, Light Fantastic, and Eric I now know that the Rincewind books are very skippable. I skipped Sourcery and will probably never read it. :P

[Octopus Prime]

I did, but not by design so much as by ignorance. I zig-zagged through the entire series. Except for the Tiffany Aching books, which I did read in chronological order.

[masterthes]

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss is finally going down

[Mommi]

Bridge of Birds (feastivus gift from the amazing MrChris!) was really memorable. Was it appropriative? Yes. Was it an upsettingly patriarchal fantasy world? Big time. Did it depict humanity as a fishbowl of cannibal piranhas devouring each other? Mm-hmm, In excruciating detail for hundreds of pages.

But it was so brightly written and well structured that I couldn't put it down regardless. I'm very glad to have read it.

[Johnny Unusual]

Originally Posted by Mommi

Bridge of Birds (feastivus gift from the amazing MrChris!) was really memorable. Was it appropriative? Yes. Was it an upsettingly patriarchal fantasy world? Big time. Did it depict humanity as a fishbowl of cannibal piranhas devouring each other? Mm-hmm, In excruciating detail for hundreds of pages.

But it was so brightly written and well structured that I couldn't put it down regardless. I'm very glad to have read it.

Loki gave me that one a previous festivus and it was a fun time. Clipped along quite nicely. I definitely get your first and second issues with it. Somehow I forgot the third.

[Mommi]

That's probably because it's my personal impression! I don't think I've read something with so much blood and death and be so flippant about it.