What are you reading?

Advertise with us
the rocketry show
rocket sok
The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The Expanse series is a great storyline, but I *hate* the format the books are printed in. They're twice as big as a conventional "pocket" paperback. They're too wide for my nearsighted eyes to read (or my nose is too big...).
 
Any of you guys(or gals) read the Game of Thrones books? Worth picking them up?

Caveat, I have seen the series, which I enjoyed, but have been told the books are pretty different.
 
mo2872 said:
Any of you guys(or gals) read the Game of Thrones books? Worth picking them up?

Caveat, I have seen the series, which I enjoyed, but have been told the books are pretty different.
Click to expand...

I read the books when the TV series was first starting and loved them. They had been on my reading bucket list for a long time, and the TV show's start motivated me to read them before watching the show. However, it has been 10 years since book 5 came out and there is no release date for book 6 in sight, and GRRM himself is 72 years old. If you get into the books now, be prepared to never see GRRM's intended ending. GRRM is also on record saying he wouldn't want someone else to finish the series in the event of his death.

Knowing what I know now, that the show's ending was garbage and the book ending may never see the light of day, I would not have bothered with either.
 
mo2872 said:
Any of you guys(or gals) read the Game of Thrones books? Worth picking them up?

Caveat, I have seen the series, which I enjoyed, but have been told the books are pretty different.
Click to expand...
How squeamish are you? I find GRRM distractingly gratuitous, but apparently all fiction should be grittier and all beer bitterer these days.
 
Not very squeamish........maybe I'll just do the electronic version of Book 1 first, to dip my toes in the water.
 
Just finished "Shards of Earth" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and really enjoyed it. What I look for in fiction, quality brain candy with little chance of learning anything useful.

Two of his other books, "Children of Time" and "Children of Ruin" are also worth the time (and Audible credit) in my opinion.
 
Just ordered Earthsea Complete Illustrated Edition on a whim. I'm a sucker for oversized omnibus editions.
 
dhbarr said:
Just ordered Earthsea Complete Illustrated Edition on a whim. I'm a sucker for oversized omnibus editions.
Click to expand...

I'm a sucker for dragons and sorcerers, but haven't heard of this series. Any other authors you could compare this one with? Thanks!
 
mo2872 said:
I'm a sucker for dragons and sorcerers, but haven't heard of this series. Any other authors you could compare this one with? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Guy Gavriel Kay, Patricia McKillip, Peter S. Beagle, Mary Stewart, Tad Williams

EDIT: McKillip & LeGuin both leave me feeling like I've just read Once and Future King ( including Candle in the Wind ) for the first time.
 
Wraped up reading "Attack Surface" by Cory Doctorow. It's the 3rd (ish*) book in the series that started with "Homeland", and "Little Brother". It's the story of Masha, an extremely talanted teenage hacker living in San Francisco. The Oakland bridge has just been blown up by terrorists. Masha goes to work for the increasingly totalitarian government, creating and using exploits and weaknesses in cell phones and computers hooked up to the internet. She works in San Francisco until the abuses and civil rights violations perpetrated by her bosses comes to light. Her main boss is fired from her govt. job, but this just sets the stage for her to work overseas as an independant contractor, violating the rights and privacy of the citizens there. Masha works in several overseas location, but begins to help the "other side" by warning them and helping boost their security. Masha begins to develop a sense of conscious, realizing the evil of mass surveilance by governments. She ends up back in San Francisco, and helps the people she set out to spy on ten years earlier.

It's a very scary book, because all of it is possible. Almost all of our electronic devices - our cell phones, our computers and tablets, even our televisions allow others to get an intimate view of our lives if technology is abused.

* there's a fourth "book" that only came out in ebook form, that is placed between "Little Brother" and "Attack Surface"
 
Historical Brewing Techniques -- I am learning all about some forgotten about forms of farmhouse brewing. During his research for the book he discovered a family of yeast that is all the rage in home brewing now.

1630353288923.png
 
"The Murderbot Diaries" - a series of Novellas. I don't read science fiction too often, but these are an awesome read. Don't let the Murderbot title fool you.
Good and fast moving plots.

IMG_3246.JPG
 
Spent some time at Barnes and Noble on Saturday. Picked up Artemis(couldn't resist) and the first book of Game of Thrones. I haven't been to a bookstore in some time so I have to ask.......what is with these new paperback formats?? Short, wide, pages packed top to bottom and side to side, and flimsy as all get out. Artemis isn't AS bad, decent size wise, but it's still flimsy, but it was the only version they had. GOT I purchased hard back, because the two different sizes of paperback they offered were horrid in my hands.

Looked at several mentioned in this thread(had it pulled up on my phone for reference, actually), but couldn't locate hardbacks for many of them.
 
I'm about 200 pages into "REAMDE" by Neal Stephenson. The guy that hauls me around to launches recommended it highly.

200 pages... I'd be close to the end of a normal book, but noooooo - Stephenson will still be going for another 800+ pages! This thing is HUGE! Even as a paperback, it weighs a ton!
 
mo2872 said:
Spent some time at Barnes and Noble on Saturday. Picked up Artemis(couldn't resist) and the first book of Game of Thrones. I haven't been to a bookstore in some time so I have to ask.......what is with these new paperback formats?? Short, wide, pages packed top to bottom and side to side, and flimsy as all get out. Artemis isn't AS bad, decent size wise, but it's still flimsy, but it was the only version they had. GOT I purchased hard back, because the two different sizes of paperback they offered were horrid in my hands.

Looked at several mentioned in this thread(had it pulled up on my phone for reference, actually), but couldn't locate hardbacks for many of them.
Click to expand...
I liked Artemis a lot, loved The Martian and I have Hail Mary in my to read pile.
 
The Pet Plague trilogy by Darrell Bain.

If you want a good read and a novel means of interstellar travel, try and find John DeChancie's Skyway trilogy: Starrigger, Red Limit Freeway and Paradox Alley.
 
Just finished Artemis. Not quite as enthralling as The Martian, but really a fun read. Glad I picked it up. On to the next new book!
 
Cl(VII) said:
Just finished "Shards of Earth" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and really enjoyed it. What I look for in fiction, quality brain candy with little chance of learning anything useful.

Two of his other books, "Children of Time" and "Children of Ruin" are also worth the time (and Audible credit) in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Listened to Children of Time, and have Children of Ruin ready to listen to. Will have to check out Shards of Earth. Thanks
 

Similar threads

B
Heads up if you rent a car online and buy the insurance, and they don't have a car for you.
Replies
9
Views
948
BABAR
B
P
LOC 4" Phoenix Payload Bay Options
Replies
18
Views
991
b.wieting
b.wieting
ReynoldsSlumber
Old tractors, new tractors: Flying Pitchfork, Cluster F, TetraJet
Replies
16
Views
634
cwbullet
cwbullet
SolarYellow
"Cert racing" vs. skills development and creativity
2
Replies
43
Views
3K
Hobie1dog
Hobie1dog
SolarYellow
Improving the Estes Hi-Flier: Hot wash, lessons learned
Replies
16
Views
2K
mh9162013
M

Latest posts

Back
Top