Reading: The Book Thread

[Count Steer]

Just started True Names (and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier) by Vernor Vince....I'll report back.

[KungFooBob]

Just started True Names (and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier) by Vernor Vince....I'll report back.

I did A Fire Upon The Deep, a couple of months back, great story with a bit of a shit ending. Didn't stop me buying A Deepness In The Sky,

[Potter]

Finished John Nichols book about the Lancaster Bomber and now I've started the Spitfire one, best books I've read in a while.

I've started doing what I used to do with music LPs, I go in and grab anything that looks vaguely interesting on the cover and just give it a try without knowing what it's even about, but there really is a lot of shite out there. I got one by a lady that moved to Cornwall and it's basically just a rambling journal in the form of a story with no point to it, I read it to the end because it's easy reading but afterwards I wondered why she'd bothered.

I grabbed a bagful from Waterstones to take back with me.

[DefTrap]

Finished John Nichols book about the Lancaster Bomber and now I've started the Spitfire one, best books I've read in a while.

I've started doing what I used to do with music LPs, I go in and grab anything that looks vaguely interesting on the cover and just give it a try without knowing what it's even about, but there really is a lot of shite out there. I got one by a lady that moved to Cornwall and it's basically just a rambling journal in the form of a story with no point to it, I read it to the end because it's easy reading but afterwards I wondered why she'd bothered.

I grabbed a bagful from Waterstones to take back with me.

I tried the method of "try anything that is Booker nominated" which worked great for a while and then I had two or three real stinkers in a row. I'm stuck in a rut now and not really got into anything for ages.

[Potter]

I tried the method of "try anything that is Booker nominated" which worked great for a while and then I had two or three real stinkers in a row. I'm stuck in a rut now and not really got into anything for ages.

I was the same, I re-read a lot of books from our bookshelves, but finally dropped on the John Nichol books.

[David]

Termination shock by Neal Stephenson....post climate catastrophe...so far so good.

I read Snowcrash, thought it brilliant, but then didn't read anything else he did. All the reviews of stuff like Diamond Age, made them sound a bit high brow.

I have read moost..baroque trilogy is great....anathem was the one i havent got into yet....

[weeksy]

Right, need some more books....

Horror related please....

What you got ?

[KungFooBob]

I don't do horror, books or TV. I'm out!

[Skub]

Sequel to The Shining. Dr. Sleep.

Stephen King.

[Count Steer]

Getting into 'Time on Rock' by Anna Fleming and pondering on a trip to Hathersage/Stanage Edge. Not that I'll be flaking ropes, doing a few South African abseils and working on my hand jams.

Be nice to see some gritstone though.

Anyone else been into clambering up rocky things?

[Mr. Dazzle]

I got my dad a copy of John Clark's Ignition for his Birthday...I've heard from a few places its a good read but it's out of print AFAIK. Gonna have to borrow it

Its an account of the development of liquid fueled rockets, written half humoursly and half seriously by one of the guys there in the 60s.

[Yambo]

Anyone else been into clambering up rocky things?

Not for a long time.

I enjoyed climbing, though it was never a passion. There's an enormous feeling of achievement when you finish a climb.

I'm up in the hills here now and again, although it's at best a scramble. Still love standing on the tops though. It just feels right.

[demographic]

Just started True Names (and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier) by Vernor Vince....I'll report back.

IIRC thats an odd one. Fairly sure I read it a while ago.
Theres a bit of story in there but a lot of its factual and about why having good encryption is important to everyone. It's still good but not what I expected after reading a few of his fiction books.

[Count Steer]

Just started True Names (and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier) by Vernor Vince....I'll report back.

IIRC thats an odd one. Fairly sure I read it a while ago.
Theres a bit of story in there but a lot of its factual and about why having good encryption is important to everyone. It's still good but not what I expected after reading a few of his fiction books.

It is an odd one. It's a short story preceded by a number of papers/articles on things like encryption. The story itself is supposed to be referenced by lots of SF that came out after. Some of the papers are interesting but can be heavy going. I think I now know far more than I'll ever need to! It does give insight into how/why the data companies like Faceplant and Google have prospered...and why that may not be such a great thing though. (Eeeh, lad, I remember when t'cookies were American biscuits ).

[demographic]

Just started True Names (and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier) by Vernor Vince....I'll report back.

IIRC thats an odd one. Fairly sure I read it a while ago.
Theres a bit of story in there but a lot of its factual and about why having good encryption is important to everyone. It's still good but not what I expected after reading a few of his fiction books.

It is an odd one. It's a short story preceded by a number of papers/articles on things like encryption. The story itself is supposed to be referenced by lots of SF that came out after. Some of the papers are interesting but can be heavy going. I think I now know far more than I'll ever need to! It does give insight into how/why the data companies like Faceplant and Google have prospered...and why that may not be such a great thing though. (Eeeh, lad, I remember when t'cookies were American biscuits ).

I think it was Marooned In Realtime and Across Realtime that I liked best by him.
Some of the stories themselves werent amazing but I just liked the concept of embobblement* and how far he went with it.

Where they could create a "Bobble" around something which stopped time within the bobble.
Could effectively protect the occupants, even if it was thrown into the sun, could be an off centre bobble and cut someone in half and used as a weapon or for mining and if you wanted something out of a hillside you just bobble it and it rolls down.
Size and duration being the variables and you could do a lot with those.
There was more to it than that but I just liked where he went with it.

[wheelnut]

Right, need some more books....

Horror related please....

What you got ?

John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series is well worth a read, in my top 5 for fiction.

Not exactly horror as such, but has a good streak of malevolence running through the whole series. Each one is stand alone, but start at the beginning,

[David]

John Sandford ...ocean prey....

I have read most of his....usually fairly funny too.

[Skub]

Anyone read Brian Lumley?

Worth a couple of kindle quid?

[MingtheMerciless]

How to drive a nuclear reactor by Colin Tucker. Just got it and had a quick thumb through, Mrs M says its highly inappropriate for some one of my abilities.

[asmethurst99]

Just bought Alanbrooke war diaries - off on a mini tour next week