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a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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I quite often will avoid the things that feel bandwagon for one reason or another. Neil Gaiman has always been what the weirdos and goths read so I avoided it.

Saw the trailer for American Gods and liked it so I bought the book. Only a chapter in and so far it is great. Why didn't you guys tell me about this?!?!

(That is sarcasm I know a lot of you gush over the book/author)
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
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I quite often will avoid the things that feel bandwagon for one reason or another. Neil Gaiman has always been what the weirdos and goths read so I avoided it.

Saw the trailer for American Gods and liked it so I bought the book. Only a chapter in and so far it is great. Why didn't you guys tell me about this?!?!

(That is sarcasm I know a lot of you gush over the book/author)
Gaiman is a guy where I can't figure out why I haven't set out to intentionally read more of his stuff. Read American Gods and Anansi Boys years ago and loved both. Haven't read another book from him.

Well, I read Good Omens(Him and Terry Pratchett, it's great) and I read Odd and the Frost Giants with my nephew.

To be fair I'm barely reading anything these days.
 

Fippy Darkpaw

Molten Core Raider
75
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For everything that doesn't deserve it's own thread.

I just finished two books by Ron Jonson:

The first was "The Men Who Stare At Goats". I was looking for something interesting to read that wasn't fiction and was recommended this. It's about the secret paranormal soldiers the U.S. government tried to create. Pretty interesting read. Funny to think that so many people worked so hard for something that seems so outlandish.

After that I read his latest book "So You've Been Publicly Shamed". I enjoyed this one a lot more, despite the concept seeming much less interesting. It takes a look at several different people who have suffered public backlash for various things and how they dealt with it. It argues that public shaming is back in a big way, mostly due to social media use. A quick and easy read, I would recommend it if you have any interest in the subject matter.
 
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Agraza

Registered Hutt
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I just read this post.



It sucked. 1/1000 stars.



I also read Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One", and found it entertaining and remotely plausible, but not really. They're making it a movie. This is not news. It's like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory mixed with Tron. Light and fun. 4/5 :)

I read Kevin Hearne's "Hounded", the first of his Iron Druid series. It sucked. I like contemporary fantasy or "low fantasy". This shit was weak. Most of it is weak anyway, but this was way over par. Do not want. It was like if Rick Castle (from that tv show, what's it called?) was slightly less awesome, and a druid living by himself, fighting demons and shit. That actually sounds like something I'd like, but it's just too cute and clever to be endearing. Part of what makes Castle a fun character is that he's often wrong and screws up, but he's cool about it. That doesn't really happen here. 2/5 :(
 
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Randin

Trakanon Raider
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Been working my way through the Black Company books off and on, and I've been enjoying it. (Most of you have probably already read it, but I'll give my thoughts anyway.) It's got shades of Malazan to it, with the focus on (relatively) ordinary soldiers frequently dealing with shit much bigger than they are, albeit without Malazan's extreme power level, and with a darker tone. The premise of the first book is a mercenary company that has somewhat inadvertently signed on with the setting's Sauron; highjinx ensue. It's also a lighter read than Malazan, so if you want something without Malazan's 500 characters and dozens of story threads, but with perhaps some similar narrative elements, you should give this a go.
 

kudos

<Banned>
2,363
695
The New Spymasters

Finished this on a flight back from San Diego. Was a really good read. Each chapter is basically a different story in the history of espionage. Some stories show examples of exceptional work, and some stories about fucking up big time. It goes from WW2 all the way to Afghanistan / Iraq and it's not just the US. They mention in one chapter how Spain due to its laws lets spies basically take the stand in court even if they aren't a citizen and STILL keep their cover. Which is just absurd considering their cover is a lie to begin with.
 

Fury

Silver Knight of the Realm
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I read Kevin Hearne's "Hounded", the first of his Iron Druid series. It sucked.
I just finished the Iron Druid series, and I enjoyed them quite a bit. The character is a bad ass from the start, messes with gods as needed, screws up a couple of things royally, and basically is the cause for the start of Ragnorok. I thought it was a good read.
 
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Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
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I just finished the Iron Druid series, and I enjoyed them quite a bit. The character is a bad ass from the start, messes with gods as needed, screws up a couple of things royally, and basically is the cause for the start of Ragnorok. I thought it was a good read.
Even the most recent one? Granuile (sp) is a giant fucking SJW cunt in that book, and I practically couldn't finish it just because of her. I enjoyed almost all the previous books though, to a moderate degree at least.

There is one final book coming out. I will read it because I've invested so much effort already, but I'm not looking forward to being made to feel like a shitlord the entire book.
 

Fury

Silver Knight of the Realm
499
25
Even the most recent one? Granuile (sp) is a giant fucking SJW cunt in that book, and I practically couldn't finish it just because of her. I enjoyed almost all the previous books though, to a moderate degree at least.

There is one final book coming out. I will read it because I've invested so much effort already, but I'm not looking forward to being made to feel like a shitlord the entire book.
I would agree that the last book, Shattered, was not his best work. The switching between characters made it a tougher to read. My biggest problem with the last book wasn't the characters attitudes, but more how convoluted he wove the story. It's like he was trying to write three books in one. All in all I would give the series a 4/5 rating but ymmv.
 

sukik

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
3,099
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Finished Kafka's The Trial earlier this week. Short book at 165 pages. Something I didn't know is that it's an incomplete book that was compiled and published after his death. The beginning, end and several chapters were written he just never finished it. There was the occasional hint of the surreal in it but nothing like The Metamorphosis. Started With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge yesterday. (The book is the basis for parts of HBO's The Pacific.)
 

Ukerric

Bearded Ape
<Silver Donator>
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Just finished (after several breaks) David Wootton's The Invention of Science, a fascinating account on what exactly went on during the Scientific Revolution, and what we mean when we talk about a Revolution.

As he said, in the 17th century, a "learned man" knew about witches, and werewolves (although there's none in England, of course, but you can find them in Belgium), and how mice spontaneously appear in bundles of straw. Everyone knows that the corpse of a murdered man will bleed in the presence of its murderer, or that placing an ointment on a dagger will cure the wound that this dagger made. And he even knows why that happens, because of one of the four purposes of thing, which the ancients knew all about.

In the 18th century, the same well-educated may have looked thru a telescope and knows well that the earth orbits the sun. No one he knows believe in witches, and any who did would probably be soundly mocked. The world is mechanistic, and progress is everywhere.


Along the way, you pick up fascinating stuff, notably why the vocabulary of science is rife with legal terms and constructions, and how people that were really smart could completely say things that were nuts, and even that they knew were nuts.

Highly recommended, if you want to understand how we go from there to here... and how you could go back.

Like that
 
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Ukerric

Bearded Ape
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^ That video terrifies me.
I think people are starting to wake up to the fact that postmodernism is one of the most pernicious idea ever. The idea that there is no objective standard to judge anything, anywhere, paves the way for a massive authoritarianism. Because without objective standards, the only way to solve a conflict of, well, anything, is authority.

Which is a premodern way of doing things. Postmodernism is a full circle.
 
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lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
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I did a quick, fun read:
The Paris Architect: A Novel by Charles Belfoure
about an architect during WW II who reluctantly designed hiding places for Jews even though he collaborated with the Germans in designing munitions factories. Pretty good book.

I just started Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Ho boy. This is going to be a project.
 

Reht

Molten Core Raider
1,115
317
Just finished The WIse Man's Fear. After reading this book, i can finally sort of understand why people are so enamored of Rothfuss, but was having serious doubts during the Name of the Wind.
 

Void

Experiencer
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Just finished The WIse Man's Fear. After reading this book, i can finally sort of understand why people are so enamored of Rothfuss, but was having serious doubts during the Name of the Wind.
Wait, isn't is usually the other way around? Isn't the second one where he spends forever fucking some nymph or some shit? And the chick does stupid shit? Fuck, I can't even remember much, but I thought for sure the second book was widely regarded as the shittier of the two? Maybe I'm wrong.
 
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Reht

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Wait, isn't is usually the other way around? Isn't the second one where he spends forever fucking some nymph or some shit? And the chick does stupid shit? Fuck, I can't even remember much, but I thought for sure the second book was widely regarded as the shittier of the two? Maybe I'm wrong.
No, your memory is right, i just got tired of reading about his time at the university, the second book had a little more action. I probably should have qualified it with the second half of the second book. The first one was boring as fuck for the most part to me as was the first half of the second book, i just pushed through the books because friends kept telling they get better, and it did; i thought the second half of book two was stellar.
 
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