What are you reading?

[mo2872]

Finished up The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel recently. 6 book fantasy series. Entertaining, some educational information, I give it a solid B to B+.

 

[Marc_G]

He is an author that has caught my attention, after listening to “Children of Time” and “Children of Ruin.” Haven’t listened to “Elder Race,” would you care to give an opinion?

Reading children of time now. I like this author.

 

[smstachwick]

Something you see all the time in movies or TV shows is the bad guy threatening somebody with a semi-auto pistol, or a pump-action shotgun or even a lever-action rifle. Then, to show he is serious about the threat, said bad guy, pulls-back the slide on the pistol or racks the shotgun or levers the lever so as to make himself look tough.

The problem is that no shell is ejected when they do this, thus demonstrating that the gun had no round in the chamber. Sometimes they even do this more than once, thus demonstrating that the gun is unloaded.

“It’s not about the true-to-life accuracy, it’s about sending a message.”

 

[hball55]

“It’s not about the true-to-life accuracy, it’s about sending a message.”

View attachment 502779

Then I think they failed, as only an idiot would threaten someone without having a round in the chamber; most people know that, so movie makers are only pandering to the lowest common denominator . . . they should quit doing that, as holding the hand of the uneducated results in insulting the intelligence of the educated.

 

[smstachwick]

Then I think they failed, as only an idiot would threaten someone without having a round in the chamber; most people know that, so movie makers are only pandering to the lowest common denominator . . . they should quit doing that, as holding the hand of the uneducated results in insulting the intelligence of the educated.

I guarantee that firearm handling is not even close to an important takeaway from entertainment fiction.

What’s far more important is that it has the potential to be morally instructive and culturally relevant. Heroes are displayed with desired, acceptable, or even just common qualities, and their flaws don’t destroy their ability to do great things despite presenting a struggle. Villains are either the converse of this (having many of the same desirable qualities but misapplying them for evil purposes) or the opposite (having sharply contrasting, undesirable qualities). Just this contrast of “be like this guy, not this guy” is enough to speak to people on a very basic, visceral, foundational level.

Furthermore, it’s very common in real life to threaten with a weapon that is empty, not ready for use, non-functional, fake, or just not backed up by a serious intention to actually use it. Many armed robberies end with nobody getting hurt for this reason.

I’d also disagree with the notion that a typical moviegoing or book-reading audience is intimately familiar with firearm function, or cares enough to see improper use as a major annoyance. Just the outward, surface-level appearance of having an object of power is enough to serve a narrative purpose and convey the writer’s intentions. In other words, the shorthand for “Now I mean business” is generally workable and can be used to great effect when combined with solid acting, camera work, sound, musical cues, and editing, even if the scene isn’t mechanically or logically sound. In fact, people in the audience catching a mistake like this can add to the idea that the bad guy is very, very good at intimidating other people if he can do it with a gun that to the audience is obviously not ready to be fired.

Or, depending on other circumstances and elements, it could just be a case of poor writing and direction. Not always though.

 

[vcp]

In the middle of Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future.
Just received David Weber/Thomas Pope's A Call to Insurrection, the fourth book of the Manticore Ascendant series

 

[hball55]

Also posted in the thread “What are you listening to.” The audiobook “The Man From St. Petersburg,” by Ken Follett. Thoroughly enjoyable book that would be classified as “Historical Fiction.” In that category, I would also recomment “The Last Kingdom,” which is the first book in a series.

 

[bronicabill]

Currently reading "Term Limits" by Vince Flynn on my Kindle...

 

[hball55]

Currently reading "Term Limits" by Vince Flynn on my Kindle...

Great series of books, they only get better as you go. If you like listening to books, try Audible.com . . . listen to all the ones narrated by George Guidall, starting with American Assassin, George Guidall is the perfect voice for Mitch Rapp, though Term Limits doesn’t have Mitch Rapp.

 

[ewomack]

I recently finished these:



And currently working on (30th book in the series, FDR is next):

 

[neil_w]

Just finished the audio book of The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu. I enjoyed the book, but for me the performance of the reader was a huge negative. Curious if anyone else has listened to it and what their reactions were.

 

[ThikeHigh]

Star Trek Psychology, The Mental Frontier by, Chris Gore It is a great Christmas Gift my daughter sent me. I am really enjoying it, The author used some development psychology from Erickson to flesh out Spok's development as a Vulcan and Human in the last chapter I read.

 

[dhbarr]

Some time after the SciFi channel gave up, TOR stepped up their online short story game. It's no substitute for when Jim Baen was still pushing the Free Library, but it scratches an itch.

https://www.tor.com/category/all-fiction/original-fiction/

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Having never read any of the Percy Jackson books in my youth, I’ve got the complete set on my iPad. The prose is beautifully simple, Percy is witty, the characterizations are fun and clever, the chapter titles are hilarious, and the project is just about perfect thus far. Why did I sleep on these?

And whatever you do, don't, under any circumstances, not even under threat of torture and death, watch the movies.
The books are a delight, the movies are a "Crime against humanity".

 

[smstachwick]

And whatever you do, don't, under any circumstances, not even under threat of torture and death, watch the movies.
The books are a delight, the movies are a "Crime against humanity".

I actually have a personal rule that I see the movie before reading the book. An impressive movie will yield a more enjoyable reading experience, but an impressive book will (usually) yield an unsatisfying movie adaptation.

I ignored this rule on this one occasion, since everyone seem to hate the films and Riordan himself has disowned them.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

I ignored this rule on this one occasion, since everyone seem to hate the films and Riordan himself has disowned them.

There were only two goods things in those movies and Alexandra Daddario had both of them.

 

[smstachwick]

There were only two goods things in those movies and Alexandra Daddario had both of them.

Yeah she does have really pretty eyes, doesn’t she?

 

[Michael L]

I'm done with Louis L'Amour's Sackett series. Sticking with the same genre (not) I'm reading Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Just picked up No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull.

 

[Cape Byron]

Online. Hysterical. Love the Poe entry.

Oh, possibly NSFW... Depends on where you work, I suppose...

FAMOUS MALE WRITERS TEXT “U UP?”
by MIRIAM JAYARATNA

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles...Ue0ADQ1-bwccSllu1b0o6lIkrRJjZlMiJjx1cxkDtSCcI

 

[lakeroadster]

The Call Of The Wild, written by some fella named Jack London

 

[John Kemker]

Die Trying by Lee Child. Second in the Jack Reacher series. Coincidentally, just finished Season 1 of Jack Reacher on Amazon Prime.

 

[hball55]

Listening to The Wheel of Time with Rosamund Pike narrating. It is far superior to the books as narrated by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer. Hope they reissue all the books with Rosamund Pike narrating.

One thing I have always wondered, why is it that every time the Forsaken are thrown out of the Pattern, they always have their knowledge through thousands of years of existence, but when the Dragon Reborn (Lews Therin Telamon) is thrown out, he is totally ignorant of everything and has to relearn how to channel.

 

[vcp]

Just finished: How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch by Harry Cliff. Concludes with a very thorough recipe that sounds excellent, but the first 13.8 billion years is somewhat vague and tedious.

 

[Tech 68]

"Targeted" by Stephen Hunter...
A Valentine's Day present from my lovely bride!

 

[dhbarr]

My copy of Dawnshard came in, hope I get some time on it very soon.

 

[OverTheTop]

Just finished The Martian. Not sure what I'm onto next.

 

[Orien]

Currently reading "Term Limits" by Vince Flynn on my Kindle...

Mitch Rapp is a BEAST.

 

[Antares JS]

Just finished The Martian. Not sure what I'm onto next.

I recommend Project Hail Mary by the same author. IMO it was better than The Martian.

 

[user 13]

I enjoyed Artemis also.