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[Arx]

Anathem was much better than Seveneves, because it didn't try (and fail) at being hard scifi. I honestly don't remember much of the details of Anathem, but it's better than Seveneves, where all the details I remember are things that annoyed me/were blatantly unscientific/just didn't make any sense.

That being said, the prose in Seveneves is pretty good.

[Mephisto]

Bit of a bump but I'm finally reading a book that's appropriate for this thread.

Picked up Every Word You Cannot Say last night on a whim. As someone who isn't really into poetry, it's actually pretty good. It's basically self-care poetry and I'd give it a strong recommend.

[Iduno]

English Teachers have instilled in me a terrible and lifelong hatred of reading that can only be suppressed for short periods.

So I've been catching up on the humor webcomic(s) Bobbins/Scary Go Round/Bad Machinery. It's called Bobbins again. It's very British in a very specific, mostly made-up way. It's about...well, it varies. Scary Go Round was mostly horror that turned out to not be so horrible. Bad Machinery was mysteries. Bobbins was mostly just story arcs that characters created by being entertaining idiots (which is also what caused the problems in the other comics).

[catacombs]

.

[Iduno]

English Teachers have instilled in me a terrible and lifelong hatred of reading that can only be suppressed for short periods.

That's a shame. Reading is fun. Do you know of a genre that interests you?

Not really. Anything I used to enjoy takes longer to get started than I can manage to keep interested. I think I made it through the short story the obelisk from 2001 was introduced in, but it took 2 days.

[nogoodnames]

I only read it once a year ago, but I'm suddenly struck by a desire to express my deep dislike of Stephen King's Elevation.

Spoiler: Plot details ahead (click to show/hide)

So, setting aside the tone deaf white savior-style LGBT pandering and the implausibility of an out of shape, middle aged shclub keeping up with an Olympic-level runner just because he lost a 3rd of his body weight, the ending is kind of a slap in the face to anyone living with a physical disability.

For those who haven't read it, the premise is that the main character is gradually weighing less and less without any physical changes. Once he hits zero, he decides that he can't live a normal life anymore and commits assisted suicide by floating away into space.

Yes, I get that it's used as a metaphor for terminal illness, but it really falls apart when you put any thought into it. He's not in any pain. His only real problems are some mobility difficulties and not being able to go outside without a tether. He's well off financially and has a group of new friends willing to help take care of him. The whole thing just comes off as massively self-centred and melodramatic.

He never even entertains the possibility of seeking help from anyone more capable than his small town family doctor. Sure, maybe there's some validity to his concern that he'll be locked up in a lab for the rest of his life, but I can think of ways to avoid that. Not to mention the potential scientific discoveries he's withholding. Humanity could discover anti-gravity and gain free access to the stars if only he could take his head out of his ass.

[Enemy post]

Spoiler: Re:Elevation (click to show/hide)

Couldn't he function mostly normally by using a wheelchair with a seatbelt?

[nogoodnames]

Yes. Pretty sure that's what he was doing during the last chapter.

[ChairmanPoo]

I only read it once a year ago, but I'm suddenly struck by a desire to express my deep dislike of Stephen King's Elevation.

Spoiler: Plot details ahead (click to show/hide)

So, setting aside the tone deaf white savior-style LGBT pandering and the implausibility of an out of shape, middle aged shclub keeping up with an Olympic-level runner just because he lost a 3rd of his body weight, the ending is kind of a slap in the face to anyone living with a physical disability.

For those who haven't read it, the premise is that the main character is gradually weighing less and less without any physical changes. Once he hits zero, he decides that he can't live a normal life anymore and commits assisted suicide by floating away into space.

Yes, I get that it's used as a metaphor for terminal illness, but it really falls apart when you put any thought into it. He's not in any pain. His only real problems are some mobility difficulties and not being able to go outside without a tether. He's well off financially and has a group of new friends willing to help take care of him. The whole thing just comes off as massively self-centred and melodramatic.

He never even entertains the possibility of seeking help from anyone more capable than his small town family doctor. Sure, maybe there's some validity to his concern that he'll be locked up in a lab for the rest of his life, but I can think of ways to avoid that. Not to mention the potential scientific discoveries he's withholding. Humanity could discover anti-gravity and gain free access to the stars if only he could take his head out of his ass.

It's also a straight rip-off of an Asimov story, I think. One which actually had two versions

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

One of them has a grim ending, like this one, the other one had a happier, Asimovian ending

[nogoodnames]

It's also a straight rip-off of an Asimov story, I think.

Any idea what it was called?

Oh, I almost forgot. The book won the Goodreads choice for horror... despite lacking any horror elements whatsoever. Imagine being an aspiring horror novelist and seeing that.

[ChairmanPoo]

It's also a straight rip-off of an Asimov story, I think.

Any idea what it was called?

Oh, I almost forgot. The book won the Goodreads choice for horror... despite lacking any horror elements whatsoever. Imagine being an aspiring horror novelist and seeing that.

"Belief"
http://www.asimovreviews.net/Stories/Story013.html

[Eschar]

Speaking of Stephen King, I just finished Revival, which was... oddly paced, but on the whole I would recommend it.

I'm re-reading his Dark Tower series; currently on Wizard and Glass.

[NRDL]

Been reading a LOT of Dianna Wynn Jones books. Read most of the books of the Chrestomanci series ( just haven't read Witch Week or Magicians of Caprona, they don't really have much to do with the main cast ) and I'm on book 3 of the Moving Castle series.

Just absolutely wonderful stories of magic and people.

[Yoink]

I'm reading The Shipping News, by... Annie Proulx, I believe the name is.

Pretty sure I've read other stuff since I last posted in here, but I'm a li'l drunk and I just want to rave about this book. I was loving it pretty much from the first chapter.
It's like a perfect book for me. A mixture of the often-bleak minuteae of everyday existence, presented in abstract prose that is beautiful in its starkness, adventure in a strange, sometimes inhospitable foreign place, a deep delve into human nature, family and emotions without ever waxing philosophical or dragging on in the least, a fascinating setting (described in just enough detail) whose inhabitants keep memories of their land's past close to their hearts and tell stories of it even as the modern age forges ahead leaving them behind, and, well, a relatable, hopeless goof of a protagonist with a good heart and a smooth brain.

I don't know, a lot of these words of description I came up with when I'd first started reading this book and I probably didn't get my points across nearly as eloquently as I'd hoped to, but still.
It just keeps getting better, too. Can't believe I'd never even heard of this author.

[delphonso]

Finally digging into Shogun by James Clavell. I found a copy in my father's house and read the first chapter - I was a bit dubious at first, but past that I have really started getting into it.