Duck and Cover

Books are for people with insomnia and no weed.

yeah, pretty much. Oh, and brains - you forgot brains, Nooke.

So anyhow, my grandma was up this weekend w/ my dad, and my daughter was in town too - so we took an excursion to the local used book store. (I only go to Barnes & Noble if I know what I want, and I want it in hardcover.)

While browsing their Sci-Fi section (OC) - I came across some old gems from my youth.

3 Shadowrun paperback, and 3 Deathlands series books later, I got home and last night read for about an hour out of one of the Shadowrun books.

Ah, wasted youth. Maybe it's because I've read a lot of non-fiction lately and am used to writers who aren't appealing to 13-year olds, but it's definitely showing it's age. It's like reading a Dragonlance novel after all these years - but hey, a couple of plot twists later and it's definitely not the worst book I've ever read, but it's not really great either. Oh well, I'll end up finishing all 6 sooner or later.

The Deathlands books are pretty unbelievable as well - but there's some serious mutie action and a really good atmosphere/story for the most part. If you do get a chance to pick one up for $5 or less (maybe $2 or less in France WTF) then I suggest you do so if you like post-apoc fiction.

Nooke wrote:Books are for people with insomnia and no weed.

What's wrong with reading baked when you can't sleep.

Seriously, puff and read some Norman Mailer or some Solzhenitsyn or Bukowski.

i just started reading the agony and the ecstasy. he he he

Cimmerian Nights wrote:

Nooke wrote:Books are for people with insomnia and no weed.

What's wrong with reading baked when you can't sleep.

Seriously, puff and read some Norman Mailer or some Solzhenitsyn or Bukowski.

Maybe someday I won't.

Cimmerian Nights wrote:

Nooke wrote:Books are for people with insomnia and no weed.

What's wrong with reading baked when you can't sleep.

Seriously, puff and read some Norman Mailer or some Solzhenitsyn or Bukowski.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is pretty hardcore.

I'm about ready to give up on The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and throw in the towel and move onto something else. And I'm so close to the finish. For those not familiar with Heinlein's book it's about a miner/computer technician and his computer pal Mike (see HAL from 2001) thinking about starting a revolution on their lunar prison. After a lot of talk and very few things actually happening they take over the moon and stuff happens. There is a lot of interesting details, but what gripes my ass is the way it's written. I swear to god it sounds like a swell guy straight outta Africa wrote this shit. Every sentence is missing a key word that would normally make it sound natural. I think the main character is black, but his racial background is all over the place because that's how it is in the future. The weird grammar is more subtle, which somehow makes it more annoying to me.

This is supposed to be a "funny" book, and Heinlein nails it a few times, but sucks for the most part. There's a handful of major characters, and it seems every page at least a few minor ones are thrown at you for no reason. You'd think with whole pages used for describing every inch of an innocent looking asshole might pay off later on with doublecross or somekinda mystery. Nope. Nothin. It's just Stephen King style filler.

Later tonight or tomorrow I'm gonna sit and force myself to finish this book. I really hope my opinions will change.

caz - which SR books?

Lately rereading idoru and all tomorrows parties...

also plenty of hume and descartes for classes w/ some liebniz soon...not reading my ethics tripe because i've read it before(until we get to geneology of morality which i'll fucking love)

I started Shogun. It's really good. Long as shit, but good. High seas Japanese Samurai adventure and whatnot.

and Slaughterhouse Five kinda sucked. I was expecting to be blown away, but I still don't get why this is almost mandatory highschool reading. Anti-war fags.

---Drops of Corruption about a mage I think who has a gambling problem
---Poison Agendas (which I'm reading now) - about a newbie shadowrunner who decides to take a job a little too big for her
---Born to Run about another newbie shadowrunner.

Not sure if it's a typo, or just following the SR storyline (there was a big timeline out there somewhere on the web) but two of the books have a year 2063 intro and one of the books has a 2053 intro - kind of strange but the 2053 is the first in a trilogy, so maybe that's why.

S4ur0n27 wrote:One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is pretty hardcore.

qfe

cazsim83 wrote:---Drops of Corruption about a mage I think who has a gambling problem
---Poison Agendas (which I'm reading now) - about a newbie shadowrunner who decides to take a job a little too big for her
---Born to Run about another newbie shadowrunner.

Not sure if it's a typo, or just following the SR storyline (there was a big timeline out there somewhere on the web) but two of the books have a year 2063 intro and one of the books has a 2053 intro - kind of strange but the 2053 is the first in a trilogy, so maybe that's why.

i've got technobabel and wolf and raven...can't remember what they're about and too lazy to pull them from the shelf.

and woohoo decking! http://www10.caro.net/dsi/decker/

yeah, the first 4 or 5 chapters of the SR book aren't really all that great, but it's a nice escape before bed I guess.

Thnx for the link - added to fav's so I can check it out later.

errrr cazsimmy didn't you play the shadowrun tabletop rpg (as the novels are based on them)? there's an elaborate timeline (30+ pages or something) in the main rulebook. really cool + absurd world yet strangely plausible, etc. and a good read too. also loads better than fucking d&d (but what isn't).

i find the world to strangely be following the fallout timeline...eerily.

no unfortunately I never had the pleasure - I didn't even know it was tabletop when I was a kid - friends and I too busy playing various forms of D&D traditional fantasy.

Most I ever got into it was the Genesis and SNES games - it wasn't until I was about 17 that I found out about the tabletop, but by then most of us had jobs and other crap that took us away from what life is really about - gaming.

I'll have to look for a PDF of the 30-page thingy - sounds cool. Most I've seen online was a pretty bueno site (can't remember name) that had a clickable timeline w/ major events and such.

Dogmeatlives wrote:I started Shogun. It's really good. Long as shit, but good. High seas Japanese Samurai adventure and whatnot.

Ah, yeah, it's awesome. Read King Rat too. Actually, all Clavell's books are good, except Whirlwind. And I heard Gaijin wasn't too good either.

Started to dig into some serious Russian literature. Started Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" earlier this month and I'm gonna probably start "Notes From Underground" soon as well. It's all :socialistrealism: from there man

I'm reading Catch 22 again, which gets better with every read-through.

I'm also looking for Roadside Picnic, mainly because the game STALKER was somewhat based off of it and it sound pretty interesting.

NakedLunch wrote:Started to dig into some serious Russian literature. Started Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" earlier this month and I'm gonna probably start "Notes From Underground" soon as well. It's all :socialistrealism: from there man

They're pretty to read mang, I can't say I appreciated any of the 3 books I read.