Just finished: "Halting State" by Charles Stross, a techno-thriller set in the near future where a programmer, forensic accountant and Edinburgh police sergeant investigate a bank robbery inside an MMORPG and how it connects to a larger conspiracy. It's very good, has some nice humor and characters and some neat ideas about future technology and society, and the novel gimmick of being written in the Second Person Perspective, like old text based adventure games, though it can get a bit jargon heavy, the author being a former software engineer. Just started: "Making Money" by Terry Pratchett. The 36th Discworld book, it's the second in the series following former(ish) conman, Moist Von Lipwig. After saving the Ankh Morpork Postal Service in "Going Postal", Moist is offered the chance to tackle the city's Royal Mint and Bank, and though tempted, refuses at first before circumstances conspire against him (the deceased chairman left all her controlling amount of shares to her dog, which she leaves to Moist, making him the de facto chairman). Enjoying a lot so far.
Ripley Bogle by Robert McLiam Wilson. In this fictional memoir, Ripley Bogle's explains how he endured his humble beginnings in Ireland as a prostitute's son to eventually enroll in Cambridge. The thing is, he's telling this story over a three day period during the first June of his homelessness--and he's barely twenty. In both the past and the present, Bogle gets his ass kicked, his heart broken, and his conscience...well, his conscience is a driving force of the story. Bogle's prose is a bit "peacockish" at times, making it tough on the reader; however, it fits the character. Some pretty gut-wrenching accounts hunger and betrayal pep up the pace a bit. Many of my favorite novels tend to be first-person tales by very fallible narrators, so this was right up my alley. Get it? Alley? Because he's homeless.
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. I enjoyed Angela's Ashes, and since I'm taking a bit of a sabbatical from high school teaching, I decided this would be a good reflective read. McCourt was an English teacher in NYC for 30 years, and this memoir shows the 3-decade growth process of an inexperienced educator to a slightly more confident one. it's amazing how some of the same rhetoric from the 50's and 60's applies today. It's a fun, light read, but McCourt's writing style worked well in Angela's Ashes because it was through the unreflective eyes of a child; while there are some slight modifications here, the overall style seems a bit immature for the thoughts of a 60 year-old man. If you've ever been interested in the evanescence of teacher-student relationships and what exactly "teachable moments" are, it's pretty quick and seemingly honest.
I'm not too far from finishing Lolita, so I'll be sure to review it for DevSop.
Re Halting State: Forensic Accounting, eh? That might be right in my line. Does he mention Benford's Law? That's a principle in number theory that says that numbers found in the world are more likely to begin with lower numbers. So a forensic accountant can easily show if dollar amounts in a big ledger were actually produced by a random-number generator. Fascinating stuff. (To me, anyhow.)
I just finished David Frum's How We Got Here: The 70's: The Decade That Brought You Modern Life--For Better or Worse. A fascinating but frustrating book. Equally split between "I didn't know that; that's fascinating"--for example, it was the first I had ever heard of the Media, PA FBI break-in, and I consider myself a pretty well-informed person. I would definitely call that event one of the most important and little-known events in US history--and "I didn't know that; because I happen to know that isn't true"--for example, when trying to make the point that the Warren court didn't foresee what their First Amendment decisions would someday be used to defend, makes reference to them not foreseeing "Public Enemy's 'Cop Killer.'" Just how ignorant are you, Mr. Frum, of the culture you're attempting to dissect?
I suppose it's just a side-effect of the unfortunate combination of being brilliant, but also being wedded to a not-so-brilliant ideology. After reading the book and deciding to learn a bit more about the fellow who came up with it, I discovered that one of his books is a hagiography of Dubyah of all people!
Re Halting State: Forensic Accounting, eh? That might be right in my line. Does he mention Benford's Law? That's a principle in number theory that says that numbers found in the world are more likely to begin with lower numbers. So a forensic accountant can easily show if dollar amounts in a big ledger were actually produced by a random-number generator. Fascinating stuff. (To me, anyhow.)
No. Any focus on forensic accounting is based on the speculated future EU legal system.
I started doing Discworld (Colour of Magic, Light Fantastic, Sourcery, & Mort), then stopped for no good read. Just recently, though, I picked them back up with Equal Rites and Wyrd Sisters--the latter of which I dug until about 3/4 through, then it just plodded on. Equal Rites was amazing though, I found myself quite saddened afterwords when I found out Esk wasn't coming back anytime soon.
I'm not sure if I should keep doing Witch books or go for City Watch, I hear those are some of his best work.
Most recently (literally Wednesday) I finished "Generation Kill" which was pretty fascinating. I'm also in the middle of American Gods which is better than most reviews I've heard about it.
I've read the City Watch books the most, and they're my favourites so far. Having a really tall human who's been raised as a dwarf makes a pretty good character, and the main character Sam Vimes is awesome.
Post by salmonjunkie on Jun 20, 2008 11:42:19 GMT -5
beady, I read American Gods. I really enjoyed it, especially being a mythology nerd. Gaiman really has a knack for using old mythological characters and bringing them to life.
Have you read any of Gaiman's other books? My favorite would be Good Omens co-written by, well wouldn't you know it, Terry Pratchett.
Last Edit: Jun 20, 2008 11:43:09 GMT -5 by salmonjunkie
beady, I read American Gods. I really enjoyed it, especially being a mythology nerd. Gaiman really has a knack for using old mythological characters and bringing them to life.
Have you read any of Gaiman's other books? My favorite would be Good Omens co-written by, well wouldn't you know it, Terry Pratchett.
I second Good Omens as well. Read that 10 years ago and occasionaly will re-read it.
Fo you TV nerds the "Rise and Fall of the WB & UPN" was a fun read. Written by a founding exec at WB it chronicles the whole story of WB & UPN along with crap that went down with Dawson's Creek & Buffy.
For instance, both James Vanderbeek and the other doofus in Dawson's Creek were both fucking Katie Holmes at the same time. And neither knew, except the crew who was making sure they didn't know as the show was making them assloads of money.
Good times...
It would amuse me if next year Byrne did a women's fed or Texas fed. I'd just like to see how he tries to make it a dark, demonic, ECW homage led by James Mitchell or Raven. -- Lucky, 2009
see. i told you byrne was the way to go here. like i said, he's a big dork. -- Ziggy, 2009
It reads a lot like the Belushi bio, in that it's mainly made up of anecdotes and excerpts by those who knew him best, as well as the fact that Farley was completely consumed by Belushi in every possible way. It's definitely not sugar-coated, as all of his drug problems and rehab trips are discussed, but it's nicely countered by stories of all how he wanted to do was make people laugh.
Definitely recommended for Farley fans.
"You were part Canadian as soon as your dick took up permanent residence in Moosejaw." - Hoodge
"and 29 Fingers, what the fuck is that shit? Who wrote a song about your anal world record set at the Stuckeys just outside of San Diego?" - Moose
"But yeah, I'd rather stick my dick in a dead guys asshole then watch Anchorman again." - Creeps
I'm currently reading 'Next', a new-ish hardcover by Michael Crichton, about genetic meddling. It's an interesting read so far, but it hasn't really captured a major theme plot for me yet, and I'm already about 1/3 of the way through the book. It's kinda annoying.
Is there a book out there with a list good places to hide the bodies of filthy mexicans who give you HIV? And any sort of anatomy book that gives detailed instructions on human dismemberment would be great.
Have you read any of Gaiman's other books? My favorite would be Good Omens co-written by, well wouldn't you know it, Terry Pratchett.
Good Omens is one of my favourites and the only other thing by Gaimen I've read not accompanied by pretty drawings. It was between Neverwhere and American Gods for me and I think I flipped a coin, not knowing coins actually play into American Gods. I'll probably "rent" the Neverwhere TV series, then get that book from the library after I finish watching it. This is interesting stuff to you!
Now reading "Breakout", a Parker (crime fiction series, the first of which was what the film Payback is based on) novel by Richard Stark, and when I'm finished with it, I'll get back to Good Omens, which I started a couple of weeks ago while one holiday.
Now reading "Breakout", a Parker (crime fiction series, the first of which was what the film Payback is based on) novel by Richard Stark, and when I'm finished with it, I'll get back to Good Omens, which I started a couple of weeks ago while one holiday.
Wait... Richard Stark, as in the guy from the Stephen King novel 'The Dark Half'?
I hear good things about Westlake a lot. I should really give his stuff a shot some time.
I just read The Squares of the City by John Brunner. A really interesting novel about a traffic analyst caught up in politics and media manipulation in a fictional South American city.
For those of you who don't mind non fiction, I just finished Legacy of Ashes which is the history of the CIA taken from recently unclassified documents. It's a pretty easy read considering the topic and it's an eye opener to say the least.
I don't know what to do other than not panic and pre order it. And read some Artemis Fowl books, I guess. Heard of them, but never delved into them. Anyone else?
I've only read the first book in the Hitchhiker's Series, even though I have the trilogy of four. I liked it well enough, but I didn't get far into book 2 before I sorta got worn out by the relentless humor. It's just gag, gag, gag, gag, gag, so far, with no break. It's funny, and it's actually similar to Pratchett, the writing style, but Pratchett's stuff does have serious moments and more heart to it. Even when Arthur Dent realises that Earth's been destroyed, it's played for laughs. I might get back to it one day though. Still reading Good Omens, btw, but also "Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale", which is a look into Russell T Davies' work on the fourth season of the show, via a collection of e-mail correspondence between him and the book's compiler. Really interesting so far, because he talks a lot about how he writes (or doesn't) and what things work and don't, as well as the fact you get to see what ideas he had that got changed or scrapped altogher. For instance, he originally planned for the most recent companion to be a completely new character called Penny, but when Catherine Tate expressed interest in coming back, he adapted a lot of those ideas for her. And Dennis Hopper was offered a part in the last chrismas special.