OS Book Club Pt II

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

ME1 was my favorite of the series as well. Long live the Mako.

If anyone wants to explore a magic infused, steampunk inspired 1920s Cairo I highly recommend P. Djeli Clark's A Master of Djinn. Instant favorite to me and I'm still thinking about it 3/4 of the way through the book I've been reading after that wishing I was reading A Master of Djinn again.

Highly entertaining and can be enjoyed on a surface level, but there's also some layers to dive into it you want to give the book and it's world legs. Plus there's two short stories/novella prequels to add more richness.

I've read 5 of Clark's books this year and he's up there with Jemisin to me. Top quality writing and story telling. Superb and memorable characters. A rich, thriving world that you never want to set down. Humor, clever insight, fantastic action, and wonderful pacing. My only negative is that I figured out the plot by halfway through, but the ride was still excellent.

Definitely recommend for summer reading this season.

[LambertandHam]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Sorry to bump the thread, but I've been heavily weighing getting back into reading. I have no problem buying books that I'm interested in, be it single series or novels, but was curious about the hardcover vs paperback cost difference. I really don't want to run into the problem I have had with games and other media where I collect and don't necessarily use.



I know hardcovers are good for storing and collecting. I saw Barnes and Noble had a really nice hardcover of "The Count of Monte Cristo". Other books like "The Long Goodbye" only seem to be in paperback.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I try to buy hardcover whenever possible and financially reasonable. I might throw out the financial reasonableness depending on the author or how certain I feel like I would read the book again. For me it's a posterity thing, but also a shelf full of hardcovers is more pleasing to me than trades.

Outside of new releases prices of hardcovers seems to be all over the place. Sometimes I can find them cheaper than the mass market papers.

[Executor]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Sorry to bump the thread, but I've been heavily weighing getting back into reading. I have no problem buying books that I'm interested in, be it single series or novels, but was curious about the hardcover vs paperback cost difference. I really don't want to run into the problem I have had with games and other media where I collect and don't necessarily use.



I know hardcovers are good for storing and collecting. I saw Barnes and Noble had a really nice hardcover of "The Count of Monte Cristo". Other books like "The Long Goodbye" only seem to be in paperback.

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the best books / series in the history of mankind.

[KSUowls]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I try to buy hardcover whenever possible and financially reasonable. I might throw out the financial reasonableness depending on the author or how certain I feel like I would read the book again. For me it's a posterity thing, but also a shelf full of hardcovers is more pleasing to me than trades.

Outside of new releases prices of hardcovers seems to be all over the place. Sometimes I can find them cheaper than the mass market papers.

Completely agree. I read plenty of books on my computer and kindle. I will always be a paper > digital guy, and hardcovers are the best. It has led me into problems in my house though when I try to organize and find room for all of them which my wife does not appreciate though

I too sometimes am able to find hardcovers cheaper than the paperback version for non new releases. In general though, and this is by no means scientific, most of my hardbacks probably had about $5 premium on them.

[KSUowls]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

On Silver Wings
Evan Currie

This is on Kindle Unlimited (KU), and I was pleasantly surprised by it.

I honestly don't know why I keep my subscription to KU. I've had for it a couple of years, and my entire experience with KU has ranged from dreadful to mediocre in the best of times. This is the first book on KU that I have ever enjoyed cover to cover.

The actions starts on page 1, and it never stops. Also, unlike the basically default option for any action story featuring a female lead, the story doesn't get caught up on some love triangle that honestly doesn't make a lot of sense with the overarching plot. I really appreciate when stories break away from this far too common trope for female leads.

The biggest positive here is that the author has a good feel for pacing.

The sci-fi setting was rather unique in my opinion. It's set somewhere around the 22nd century, humanity has achieved faster than light capabilities and even started colonizing other planets. All of that is pretty standard. The unique aspect though is that these spaceships with FTL capabilities do not have any form of interior gravity like you see in all other sci-fi movies. All of the ship crew has to float around and anchor themselves to things. I wouldn't say that it was a necessarily good or bad thing for the story, but it was interesting.

As much fun as I did have with the story, it wasn't without its faults. The heavy focus on action kept the story fun the whole way through, but I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters due to a total lack of character development. This also left me somewhat ambivalent on jumping into the next book in the series since I don't feel overly attached to any of the characters even if they are superficially interesting.

[Hammerhunker]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir

Excellent!

As an educator, this book could easily be used in an immersive unit with the science and math he easily interjects into the story, much like he did with The Martian. Not being a prude, but this is much more a PG story with the language.

Weir has sure perfected the easy humor intertwined with intense pressure.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I’d heard great things about it, I loved the Martian but saw a lot of complaints about Artemis so it’s good to see he’s back on his game.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I've been trying to get through Thomas Pynchon's V for over a month now. I love Inherent Vice and this is my second novel of his I've read, but the abstract narrative really clips the interest down as it constantly shifts between stories and various perspectives. Not to mention there is a ton going on all over the page, but honestly doesn't feel dense until you put the book down and start thinking about things. There's at least two different novels in here complete with different genre studies and styles. I feel like I started On the Road, but am venturing off into historical fiction and tongue in cheek spy games. It's one hell of a trip if a bit bumpy and rough passage.

The main pull for me at about halfway through is seeing how this is all wrapped up by the end and seeing just how many characters are pushed into this thing. For what it's worth Pynchon easily creates memorable and quirky characters and the quality level of his writing is superb.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I’m still trucking through the Philosphy of Christopher Nolan. Slowed down when I moved onto other people’s movies and wanted to read stuff on them but Kubrick is going to send me down a film study rabbit hole. History, obstacles, just how in gods name these movies come together is incredible to me.
Unrelated to what I’m reading but related to books, some great adaptations on the way. Sci-fi heads eating good between Dune and Foundation, but I’m really excited for Park Chan Wook’s (Oldboy, The Handmaiden which is amazing if you haven’t seen it) take on The Sympathizer starring Iron Man, which I haven’t read but understand was inspired by Invisible Man so I’ll be keeping an eye out for that.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I need to read Dune soon. And pick out a S. King book for the Fall. So far I've only read IT and The Shining.

[dickey1331]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I need to read Dune soon. And pick out a S. King book for the Fall. So far I've only read IT and The Shining.

I just bought the Dune series.


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[LambertandHam]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

So I started my fledgling book collection. Got a hardcover "Book Annex" version of "The Count of Monte Cristo" for 8$ at Barnes and Noble. They had a nice exclusive version for 25$, but went with the 8$ one. Also picked up "The Long Goodbye" in paperback.


Got some stuff to read

[Hammerhunker]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I need to read Dune soon. And pick out a S. King book for the Fall. So far I've only read IT and The Shining.

Ok, you opened this potential rabbit hole trap door. I was going to pose the question of which King story not It or The Stand would be your favorite (just because these two always seem to be consistently mentioned as favorites, I know this is arguable). About 4 years ago I committed to reading as many of his books as I could. Most have been enjoyable, a couple rather too much for me. I just started his newest one, Billy Summers. It has hooked me out of the gate and I can't wait to see what unfolds.

So, any King fans that have that non-typical favorite?

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I think Beantown was the resident King fanatic if I’m not mistaken.