After reading a number of Gogol, Turgenev and Chekhov novels, plays and short stories, I decided I needed something different. Tonight I completed Invisible Monsters Remix by Chuck Palahniuk.

It's different. I liked it. I thought I might be put off by what I perceived to be a gimmicky structure, but by the end of the novel, I concluded that Palahniuk had achieved what he attempted. It's entertaining and raises some serious themes/issues. It takes a post-modern, satiric, and ironic attitude toward those themes.

This

Searched to see if anyone had mentioned this previously and bumping now for those who won't have seen this post- thoroughly excellent book, very funny with a lot of substance.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. The main character is fascinating -- a sentient spaceship who has human-like "ancillaries" that perform tasks for her. This allows Leckie to show an omniscient-type of viewpoint via a first person lens. Pretty cool and unique on that front. The setting is also well-drawn and leaves a good deal to the imagination. Overall, it's one of the better military-themed scifi stories I've read. Not everything is spelled out, so the novel requires the reader to work through things and is better for it.

It's not without its failings, though. Dialogue is clunky as hell and doesn't flow naturally at all. The motivations of secondary characters are unclear -- particularly those of the main character's sidekick, whose purpose in the story seems little more than dead weight. And since it goes for a hardcore scifi tone, many subtleties get seem to be needlessly sacrificed, like why the **** everyone is referred to as female. I think this book is part of a trilogy, and I'll probably continue reading, but these things keep this unique book from being great.

I got Ancillary Justice on Xmas. The semester has been quite hectic, so I haven't read it yet. It won the Hugo for best novel. I look forward to it.

I have this and have been meaning to read it...have so many unread books!

Some time back I mentioned receiving for Christmas Ian Toll's second book on the Pacific war. Though thinking I was done with the subject out of respect for the giver I read it. I found Toll to be a terrific history writer...fluid with a great narrative drive. In both this and his first book in the series I gained much while being hugely entertained. Toll utilized effectively sources both high and low...diaries...first person etc. I came to appreciate both the forces and players which led to Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Admiral Yamamoto was a remarkable figure who in intellect and character far exceeded the usual suspects in WW2 histories such as MacArthur, Rommel, Montogomery, Patton etc. incidents at the basic level also inform Toll's work to round the face of the basic Japanese soldier. On Saipan six weeks after the US invaded with some enemy soldiers still roaming the hills...at one of the open air USO movies (John Wayne) when the lights came up a Japanese soldier stood up and said to the surrounding Marines "you got me".
Thiese wonderfully constructed histories sent me to Toll's first book Six Frigates on the founding of the US Navy and, says Toll, the first actions that molded us into a nation. Again...the high and the low goes into this remarkably readable narrative. Adams and Jefferson, the Barbary pirates, many startling niches and eddies. Anyone who has enjoyed Patrick O'Brian's wonderful series should read this book.

I read this over xmas, and agree very much with your thoughts. The main character really is brilliant and unique. I enjoyed thinking about the universe the novel is set in and thought the author did a great job describing the planets and people and their customs.

I'd be eager to hear your thoughts on the rest of the trilogy if you do continue reading. I haven't been able to bring myself to read book #2 over the other books in my reading list, but a positive review will probably make me get around to it sooner rather than later.

Enrique & Dom,

Slackers.



Roy,

It's probably going to be a couple months before I get to it, as my queue never seems to get any shorter. I'll definitely post here about it, though.

How many books are in your To Read List? Just pruned my Goodreads list. My To Read queue is now 223 books long...

149

Not sure if these were that well known outside of the UK, but I just saved a HUGE part of my childhood from getting thrown out.

Hopefully I'll be able to give them to my kids to enjoy one day.

I'm pretty sure I've read every one he wrote. I absolutely loved them as a kid, I think there's a cartoon version as well, really wish I had that growing up.

Goodreads: 242
Physically on my "to read" bookshelf: 45
Ordered and on the way: 3

I don't put much on my good reads to read so only like 20. I've got probably another 20 unread on my Kindle and probably about 50 physical unread books on my bookshelf. Then maybe if pressed I could come up with another 25 titles or so that I either haven't bought, haven't downloaded or haven't put onto goodreads list yet.

I will say I'm making good progress towards my goodreads goal of 52 books, I'm at 24 right now.

Just began...with some misgivings a doorstop novel...An early character is Darvy Suckling...others among hundreds...Chick Counterfly, Professor Vanderjuice, Sloat Fresno, Clovis Yutts, Ellmore Disco, Root Tubsmith, Capt. Q. Zone Toadflax, Edwarda Beef, Scarsdale Vibe, Dodge Flannelnette. Quote "Time did not so much elapse as grow less relevant."

Not sure how far I'll go...my drug consumption is not what it used to be.
I assume the first first guess at the author will get it right.

Thanks for the link. Having loved Light Years, this piece, esp. the opening anecdote, was an illuminating read.

DFW never goes away, thankfully: http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...s-perfect-game. His tennis essays have always been among my favorites.

Any Charles Dickens fans? I've read and really enjoyed Great Expectations twice. I thought A Tale of Two Cities was pretty good, though probably a lot better if I knew more about the French revolution.

I'm thinking next will be Bleak House or David Copperfield.

I enjoy Dickens. I liked David Copperfield more than Great Expectations or A Tale of Two Cities. I haven't read Bleak House yet.

What's the most you guys ever spent on a book? I'm not talking a textbook either lol.

reason I ask is I found what looks to be a pretty decent book about a topic that is of interest to me, but the damn thing is $105 even electronically. And the university press (Cambridge) wants $125 for the hardcover. It's not even an old book, published in 2014. I got the free sample on ibooks and if it's good I might actually shell out the $ for it. Pathetic.

Library is your friend

No way this book is in the library

Wait until it's been out long enough so used copies are on Amazon for $3.99

Judge,

Pretend it's your birthday and get somebody else to buy it for you.


I listened to Kim Stanley Robinson's latest, Aurora. Excellent hard sci-fi -- lots of good space travel stuff, but it's also heavy on logic and philosophy, ecology, and sociology. The storyline is broad and basic as we follow a generation ship that reaches its destination and finds it's not all sunshine and rainbows. The bulk of the narrative comes from the POV of the ship's emergent AI, so we get to view the passengers and their conundrums from its perspective. Watching its growth is one of the more fascinating aspects of the book. Ali Ahn gives a pretty great reading of it, too.

I'm going to have to add his Mars trilogy to my reading list. I keep my reading lists all over the place, but I've got probably 150 in there (I expected much lower, actually) -- which isn't anything like a real number, as sometimes I'll throw an author in there whom I've never read just so I remember their name. Once I've read and liked that author (as in KSR's case), pretty much any book in their oeuvre is fair game.

I found a used copy on amazon for "only" $50