What are you reading

[holy ghost]

Started The Terror by Dan Simmons. Had it on the shelf forever and been meaning to read it. I really enjoyed Hyperion but his writing style has definitely evolved. Quite dense, I’m about 100 pages in so far and he’s great at building up tension. Kind of Lovecraft-ish in a lot of ways. Into it.

[absurdexposition]

Started The Terror by Dan Simmons. Had it on the shelf forever and been meaning to read it. I really enjoyed Hyperion but his writing style has definitely evolved. Quite dense, I’m about 100 pages in so far and he’s great at building up tension. Kind of Lovecraft-ish in a lot of ways. Into it.

I remember liking Song of Kali when I read it a decade ago. I gifted Hyperion to my mom a few years ago, I should reclaim it and give it a shot.

[Balor/SS1535]

Started The Terror by Dan Simmons. Had it on the shelf forever and been meaning to read it. I really enjoyed Hyperion but his writing style has definitely evolved. Quite dense, I’m about 100 pages in so far and he’s great at building up tension. Kind of Lovecraft-ish in a lot of ways. Into it.

The TV series based on this was very good as well!

[Atrophist]

Can somebody recommend a fairly recent, hard(-ish) SF space opera series? No humanoid aliens, no present-day politics rendered in a futuristic setting, no sentimental life lessons pushed down the reader’s throat.

Alastair Reynolds was the latest author in the genre I really got excited about, but even that was a long time ago. Recently gave John Varley and Peter F. Hamilton a try, but those didn’t really work for me (although Hamilton was pretty close).

I’ve read most of the classics, Asimov, Clarke, Brin, Niven, Herbert etc. That’s why I was after something more recent/contemporary.

*** *** ***

I’m currently about halfway through Cosey’s Art Sex Music. It’s based on her diaries, so it has a slightly tedious sense of ”well then we did this, and then this happened, and then I said such and such, and then something else happened”. So far very little actual commentary. Biggest surprise is what a selfish, useless and helpless manbaby it makes Genesis out to be.

[holy ghost]

Finished The Terror - took a while to really get sucked in but hands down one of the best books I’ve ever read. Got a few new others from him on the pile.

Started Siberian Education, did 150 pages and put it down. Sanctimonious and poorly edited. I love the idea of the Russian criminal underworld but.... blah blah blah.....

Going to tackle a couple of the Hogarth Shakespeare - read Macbeth by Jo Nesbo last year, really liked it. Will try Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood next.

[Atrophist]

Just finished Tricky’s autobiography Hell Is Round the Corner. An interesting, if not super memorable read. It follows the same formula as these books usually do: a chapter about childhood, first musical influences, first attempts at creating music, then success, followed by the inevitable substance abuse and financial troubles. Told with great candidness and absolutely no self pity. Even though the book opens eith his mother’s suicide when he was 4, and, heartbreakingly, ends with the suicide of his own daughter.

[Atrophist]

I’m currently reading Jonathan Ames’ Extra Man. It’s completely different from The Alcoholic and You Were Never Really Here, two of his works I’ve previously enjoyed the most (and those two are equally different from each other).

The Extra Man seems to be in the same continuum of Ames’ debut short story collection I Pass Like Night, but it has a more gentle and humorous feel. I guess ”cosy” would be a term some would use, despite the seediness of some of the plot elements. The story is pretty simple: an uptight and repressed former teacher moves from New Jersey to New York in order to experiment with cross-dressing and femdom, while his older roommate works as an ”extra man”, that is, a male escort for fabulously wealthy old Manhattan widows. I’m certainly enjoying it.

[Potier]

Just started "Intermediary Spaces" about/from Éliane Radigue & Julia Eckhardt - contains a long-form interview and career overview of the artist. It's in english and french simultaneously. Only read the introduction so far but should be a great read.

I'm a sucker for Radigue's work - so there's always more to find out and explore.


https://www.lespressesdureel.com/EN/ouvrage.php?id=7465&menu=2

[holy ghost]

Just finished Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood’s retelling of The Tempest. I am not particularly knowledgeable about Shakespere but I’m trying to work my way through the Hogarth Shakespere Project. Read Macbeth last year and really liked it. I’ve picked up a few others I’m going to try and get to this year.

Currently reading Song of Kali by Dan Simmons.

[host body]

Can somebody recommend a fairly recent, hard(-ish) SF space opera series? No humanoid aliens, no present-day politics rendered in a futuristic setting, no sentimental life lessons pushed down the reader’s throat.

Alastair Reynolds was the latest author in the genre I really got excited about, but even that was a long time ago. Recently gave John Varley and Peter F. Hamilton a try, but those didn’t really work for me (although Hamilton was pretty close).

I’ve read most of the classics, Asimov, Clarke, Brin, Niven, Herbert etc. That’s why I was after something more recent/contemporary.

My friend recommended The Expanse series is great, gritty used future setting and lots of political shenanigans. I've only seen part of the TV show, and while it was ok it didn't quite grab me.

Then there's Stephen Baxter and his Xeelee sequence series, similar to Reynolds in scope but has even more books I think. I haven't read all of them but Baxter is a competent writer and the science is both legit and highly imaginative.

[Atrophist]

My friend recommended The Expanse series is great, gritty used future setting and lots of political shenanigans. I've only seen part of the TV show, and while it was ok it didn't quite grab me.

Thanks! I saw a couple of episodes of the show, it seemed okay if not great. Eventually it was relegated to the back burner and then forgotten. Perhaps I’ll give the books a go. I certainly have had others suggest them too. 

Then there's Stephen Baxter and his Xeelee sequence series, similar to Reynolds in scope but has even more books I think. I haven't read all of them but Baxter is a competent writer and the science is both legit and highly imaginative.

I tried Raft, which I understand was the first published Xeelee novel, but apparently chronologically the events it describes take place millions of years into the future? I have to admit that I abandoned that one, the idea of a small group of humans trapped in a different universe with different physical laws was fascinating, but simply being dropped into the middle of it with no backgroup whatsoever was rather overwhelming.

Having looked into it later, most of Baxter’s readers seem to think Timelike Infinity is the best starting point. I’ve been a bit hesitant to take the plunge, because humanity succesfully waging a war against a Kardashev IV (!) civilization, traveling back in time to within minutes of the Big Bang, etc. seem like stuff that is almost impossible to pull off well. But perhaps if ”wave 2” of the corona hits and we are all quarantined again?

[Atrophist]

Just picked up Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation by David Novak today. I’ll post a short review when I’m done with it.

Btw if you go to the website for the book, you’re supposed to be able to read it online for free. However I at least couldn’t get the link to work.

http://www.japanoise.com/book/

[Balor/SS1535]

I just finished Celine's Journey to the Edge of the Night, and am beginning Misery by Stephen King.

[holy ghost]

and am beginning Misery by Stephen King.

This book scared the ever living shit out of me when I read it at 12 or so. I think  my favourite Stephen King book.

[Balor/SS1535]

and am beginning Misery by Stephen King.

This book scared the ever living shit out of me when I read it at 12 or so. I think  my favourite Stephen King book.

I like it a lot so far (so far it seems to be one of his better novels), though I think my perspective on the book has been altered a bit by the second season of Castle Rock.