What are you currently reading? v2

[Vurtual]

They sell Morning Star...

It's surprising how far it gets about round my way - i sort of buy it just cos it's there usually (better articles online) and to support the commies of course

 

[Shambles]

Shambles, free FT (no not that one) offer still available.

Free FT?!? You left that first - rather important - word out initially. Makes quite a difference :D

FT was pricey even years ago. Was worth it cos it is densely written with lots of indepth articles by experts (don't snigger - yes you can get experts in such matters) and is a cut above any of the other "weird shit" magazines out there. As Vurtual says, much (probably most) of the articles lean much more towards debunking than wild speculation... but they don't dismiss things out of hand. It's a nice balance and suits folk like myself (and apparently Vurtual who appears to have very similar approach to such things) down to the ground.

You may just get a PM incoming at some point now the F word has come into play :D

PS: I likes me a lil New Scientist most months too, Vurtual. Not every month but probably every other month there's something that grabs my attention enough to make it an essential purchase. Seems we have similar taste in mags.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Yeah, check it out, I downgraded from Penny Chews to Free. Blud. Or something.

 

[Shambles]

Do penny chews still cost a penny? They cost a ha'penny when I was a nipper so there's some room for inflation to make the name more accurate but I bet some scoundrel charges tuppence

 

[Marmalade]

Chavs - The demonization of the working class by Owen Jones.

Brilliant left wing polemic mapping the class war and hatred of the working class as practiced by Thatcher et al. Echoes of Orwell.

Bugger.

I shall take it off the pile.

This is what happens when my arse isn't in gear.

 

[Shambles]

What was the name of the Japanese book you sent my way, Mz Marmz? That was a belter. Probably the best book I've read in quite some time. Think I forgot to mention it in here but I do dimly recall quoting it in Teh Lounge book thread one very drunken night. Right up my alley was that. Fantasy, cyberpunk, surrealism... loads of other kewl shit and all written so damnably poetically. Will have to get more of his stuff.

 

[Marmalade]

Oooooo! the Murakami one? A Wild Sheep Chase?

One of my favourite books EVER ... the ending! fuck me ... so good. Buckets of tears were spilled. I think I've got the sequel here too if you wanna read it, Dance, Dance, Dance.

I need to read his full bibliography, he's pretty much seen as one of the best contemporary writers out there now I recon. I made a start on Norwegian Wood but got distracted by something else and havent picked it back up.

[edit] and yeah, he's a master of language ... he gets better and better at it too ... sublimely written

 

[Inflorescence]

Norwegian Wood is the only one I have read of his well worth picking back up..must look in to your suggestion :D

 

[Shambles]

Oooooo! the Murakami one? A Wild Sheep Chase?

Murikami sounds right but wasn't that one. Had flash of memory (they do still sometimes happen) and it was Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World. It really is a bit hard to explain so excuse my wiki quoting again but anybody who may be interested might actually get an idea of what it's about from this instead of my witterings...

(contains minor spoilers but if you hadn't worked those out from the start... they're not big spoilers but skip the second paragraph (or at least the second half of it) if you would rather not be even slightly spoiled)

The story is split between parallel narratives. The odd-numbered chapters take place in the 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland', although the phrase is not used anywhere in the text, only in page headers. The narrator is a "Calcutec", a human data processor/encryption system who has been trained to use his subconscious as an encryption key. The Calcutecs work for the quasi-governmental System, as opposed to the criminal "Semiotecs" who work for the Factory and who are generally fallen Calcutecs. The relationship between the two groups is simple: the System protects data while the Semiotecs steal it, although it is suggested that one man might be behind both. The narrator completes an assignment for a mysterious scientist, who is exploring "sound removal". He works in a laboratory hidden within an anachronistic version of Tokyo's sewer system. The narrator eventually learns that he only has a day and a half to exist before he leaves the world he knows and delves forever into the world that has been created in his subconscious mind.

The even-numbered chapters deal with a newcomer to "The End of the World", a strange, isolated walled Town depicted in the frontispiece map as being surrounded by a perfect and impenetrable wall. The narrator is in the process of being accepted into the Town. His Shadow has been "cut off" and this Shadow lives in the "Shadow Grounds" where he is not expected to survive the winter. Residents of the Town are not allowed to have a shadow, and, it transpires, do not have a mind. Or is it only suppressed? The narrator is assigned quarters and a job as the current "Dreamreader": a process intended to remove the traces of mind from the Town. He goes to the Library every evening where, assisted by the Librarian, he learns to read dreams from the skulls of unicorns. These "beasts" passively accept their role, sent out of the Town at night to their enclosure, where many die of cold during the winter. It gradually becomes evident that this Town is the world inside of the narrator from the Hard-Boiled Wonderland's subconscious (the password he uses to control different aspects of his mind is even 'end of the world'). The narrator grows to love the Librarian while he discovers the secrets of the Town, and although he plans to escape the Town with his Shadow, he later goes back on his word and leaves his Shadow to escape the Town alone.

The two storylines converge, exploring concepts of consciousness, the unconscious mind (or as it incorrectly referred to, subconscious) and identity.

In the original Japanese, the narrator uses the more formal first-person pronoun watashi to refer to himself in the "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" narrative and the more intimate boku in the "End of the World". Translator Alfred Birnbaum achieved a similar effect in English by putting the 'End of the World' sections in the present tense.

The translation really impressed me. It must be hard to convey meaning across language when language is used in such abstract and poetic ways but it was beautifully done. Excellent book and will keep an eye out for others. I can hardly not want to read A Wild Sheep Chase really can I? :D

 

[Marmalade]

Urgh! fuck, that's actually the one I meant. Dunno why I linked sheep chase. I've given away HBWATEOTW several times cos its just that awesome
If you wanna read sheep chase and dance dance dance I can mail em your way anyway cos I have a copy of both here.

Did you read Jeff Noon's Vurt and Pollen? Cant remember if I ever sent you em or not. theyre two more of my faves

 

[Shambles]

If you wanna read sheep chase and dance dance dance I can mail em your way anyway cos I have a copy of both here.

Did you read Jeff Noon's Vurt and Pollen? Cant remember if I ever sent you em or not. theyre two more of my faves

Yes and no in that order

 

[Vurtual]

...Did you read Jeff Noon's Vurt and Pollen?...

Loved those two (hence the name) and automated alice too - though to me his later books never really reached the same level and were a little disappointing. Got any recommendations of other books you like that are similar in whatever way (and you shambles - always looking for new books). That hard-boiled wiki blurb has got me interested; sounds up my alley.

Here's some of mine ('scuse me if i'm patronising your sf book knowledge :

Ian Watson's done some excellent books (martian inca, embedding, miracle visitors, slow birds, stalin's teardrops etc etc), more in the thinky/arty/human side of sf - bit old and dated in parts but still well worth reading (especially the short story collections - like stalins teardrops, the very slow time machine and slow birds). Not necessarily the best at structure in the novels, but some of the nicest-to-read writing i think (and very english and down to earth - bit like M John Harrison (see previous post)). (japan made me think of him cos he wrote about time he spent there in some stories).

If you like the drug-related sf, you must (have) read Fairyland by Paul Macauley (virus-based drugs and mind control (and blue engineered slaves (the fairies)) - not as 'arty' as noon, but a cool bio-cyber-punk thriller. A modern take on similar themes (brain augmenting software) is Nexus by Rameez Naam (i'm sure i've mentioned them in this thread already, but hey)

And another - Greg Egan: some of his books are hard work (cos of head bending concepts rather than not enjoying it - he earns the name 'hard sf'), but it's not particularly hard to read. I'd recommend Quarantine as his best: an amazing exploration of implications of one interpretation of quantum physics (and has some mind-augmenting software stuff in too). Permutation City is all about running minds in computers in a 'game of life' and is about maths largely; his later stuff explores implications of humans migrating into computers and expanding into space and is all pretty mindblowing - they're all good i think (some better than others obviously), not everyone's cuppa though

And of course any adam roberts (stone's my fave though)

(i'll stop now)

 

[Shambles]

I like sci-fi but don't actually have all that much. Fella I've read most of in terms of sci-fi recently would be Greg Bear who I really like. Like his more "out there" conceptual stuff - stealth planets and the like. Quite a fan of the more "hard" sci-fi is it? Greg Egan sounds like my kinda thing - in fact all of your recommendations do. I only really buy books from the charity shop here so it's a bit pot luck but given how cheap you can pick up books from Amazon and the like I think I'll start being a bit more pro-active picking stuff I want. At least I would if I could remember my bleedin' Amazon p/w

(yes i could create a new account probably but happen to have thirty quid's worth of vouchers on that one so would quite like to keep it. i know i wrote it down somewhere. where is another matter entirely of course 8))

And I really would recommend that Hard Boiled... one. Very unique style and the writing is just gorgeous even in translation. It would more or less come under sci-fi I guess but not exactly. Has elements of a number of genres but with what may be called somewhat cyberpunky overtones as you can tell from the blurb. It's more of a kind of fantasy and fable than sci-fi as such but it's lots of things and is well worth a read. Will be looking into his other stuff for sure.

 

[Vurtual]

I've read a few Greg bear books, the recent ones were really good - i'm trying to remember one i read which was a thriller all about how the global bacterial web is intelligent and are controlling us through our nervous system (like meat spaceships) (pissed me off though cos i thought that was my idea)

I think you'd definitely like quarantine - it really gave me some insights into quantum physics (in particular the copenhagen interpretation) - I'd send you my copy, but like most of my favourites i end up lending them out of existence (i just want to spread my addiction). I really think that science fiction can sometimes reach places that straight teaching would find hard to reach - i learn science concepts so much better when given as part of a narrative - as long as the storyteller knows what they're on about (lots of the modern sf authors do have sciencey backgrounds).

I love 'hard-sf' myself (though i like lots of stuff that isn't particularly hard too). For straight up cosmology and astrophysics, i learned loads from Stephen Baxter books (and proably more likely to turn up in a charity shop than egan). Fairly rudimentary narrative writing, but massive amounts of wonder from large scale space concepts - definitely hard sf and reliable science (i think he studied astrophysics) - i'd recommend Ring (fnar) and he did an excellent sequel to The Time Machine called The Time Ships that sees it more from the morlocks point of view (plus so much more). Also any Alasitar Reynolds is pretty tasty hard-sf 'new space opera' that i learned from (plus really excellent narrative writing) - also more likely to reach the charity shop.

A lot of the sci fi i like is only just categorisable as sci-fi, and it still feels an awkward term (oh and apparently you're supposed to say SF not sci fi to distinguish you from someone who just likes star trek/wars and hollywood sci-fi films - i tend to stick with sci fi anyway to wind them up). There was/is a 'movement' of cyberpunk influenced writers who tried to break away from it and call their writing 'New Weird' - some of their stuff is interesting, but largely pretentious (as often happens with these categories).

...

To move away from sci fi for a second; the narrative helping understand science concepts also goes for popular science writing - have you read any John Gribbin shambles? If you haven't it'd be right up your street (books on quantum physics, astrophysics and cosmology that really explain the stuff well so are a joy to read)

 

[eclipsedesign]

I like sci-fi but don't actually have all that much. Fella I've read most of in terms of sci-fi recently would be Greg Bear who I really like. Like his more "out there" conceptual stuff - stealth planets and the like. Quite a fan of the more "hard" sci-fi is it? Greg Egan sounds like my kinda thing - in fact all of your recommendations do. I only really buy books from the charity shop here so it's a bit pot luck but given how cheap you can pick up books from Amazon and the like I think I'll start being a bit more pro-active picking stuff I want. At least I would if I could remember my bleedin' Amazon p/w

(yes i could create a new account probably but happen to have thirty quid's worth of vouchers on that one so would quite like to keep it. i know i wrote it down somewhere. where is another matter entirely of course 8))

And I really would recommend that Hard Boiled... one. Very unique style and the writing is just gorgeous even in translation. It would more or less come under sci-fi I guess but not exactly. Has elements of a number of genres but with what may be called somewhat cyberpunky overtones as you can tell from the blurb. It's more of a kind of fantasy and fable than sci-fi as such but it's lots of things and is well worth a read. Will be looking into his other stuff for sure.

Have you read any Alastiair Reynolds Shammy? Got poked in his general direction after my Iain M Banks marathon, and I'm quite impressed. The author used to study physics as well I believe, making some of the concepts that much more tangible.

Reading Empire of the Ants at the moment and I'm finding it fascinating:

Ants came to this planet long before man. Since then they have developed one of the most intricate civilizations imaginable - a civilization of great richness and technological brilliance. During the few seconds it takes you to read this sentence, some 700 milli0on ants will be born on earth.

Edmond Wells had studied ants for years: he knew of the power which existed in their hidden world. On his death, he leaves his apartment to his nephew Jonathan with one proviso: that he must not descend beyond the cellar door. But when the family's dog escapes down the cellar steps, Jonathan has little alternative but to follow. Innocently he enters the world of the ant, whose struggle for existence forces him to reassess man's place in the cycle of nature. It is an experience that will alter his life for ever.

Empire of the Ants is an extraordinary achievement. It takes you inside the ants' universe and reveals it to be a highly organised world, as complex and relentless as human society and even more brutal.

 

[Shambles]

^ I've not but do prefer sci-fi which extrapolates from reality rather than the purely fantastical stuff. Although I rather like some of that too. And I also need to get a lot more of Iain Banks' stuff cos only have a couple and like them a lot. They very rarely appear at the charity shop so presume people must hang on to them cos it seems the world and it's dog likes Iain Banks.

I'm sure I saw a documentary about Edmond Wells not so long back but can't think what it was called and my googling skills fail me. Unless there are two fellas famous for spending a lifetime studying ants from every conceivable angle I presume it's the same fella anyway.

I've read a few Greg bear books, the recent ones were really good - i'm trying to remember one i read which was a thriller all about how the global bacterial web is intelligent and are controlling us through our nervous system (like meat spaceships) (pissed me off though cos i thought that was my idea)

That was the first one of his I read. Blood Music? It was originally a short story which is in one of his short story collections (which are excellent) and the novel just broadens the scope nicely. I like the scale of his novels - there's something a bit epic about it all. Some really interesting ideas in there too. Some of his stuff is nearer fantasy than sci-fi but I mostly prefer his more traditional sci-fi stuff. The more fantasy-tinged ones ain't bad either though.

Will look into some (or probably all at some stage) of the authors you mention cos although I like sci-fi I'm never quite sure who it is that I'd like and tend to just stick with a (scant) handful that I'm familiar with. Mostly rather obvious ones - Arthur C Clarke, isaac Asimov, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling and the like.

 

[Raasyvibe]

Chavs - The demonization of the working class by Owen Jones.

Brilliant left wing polemic mapping the class war and hatred of the working class as practiced by Thatcher et al. Echoes of Orwell.

Bugger.

I shall take it off the pile.

This is what happens when my arse isn't in gear.

eadd chav discussion needed, manz...

 

[Inflorescence]

Hallucinations

by Oliver Sacks
Only half way through but fascinating, demistifies a fair few things I had pondered on.



Overview

To many people, hallucinations imply madness, but in fact they are a common part of the human experience. These sensory distortions range from the shimmering zigzags of a visual migraine to powerful visions brought on by fever, injuries, drugs, sensory deprivation, exhaustion, or even grief. Hallucinations doubtless lie behind many mythological traditions, literary inventions, and religious epiphanies. Drawing on his own experiences, a wealth of clinical cases from among his patients, and famous historical examples ranging from Dostoevsky to Lewis Carroll, the legendary neurologist Oliver Sacks investigates the mystery of these sensory deceptions: what they say about the working of our brains, how they have influenced our folklore and culture, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all.


Source Barnes&NobleBN.com

 

[COCOCARTER]

The Iliad & The Oddyssey.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

Clive Barker's Books Of Blood:3

Collections of short stories. I should be able to manage bits of this, completing whole novels is a bit of a rarity for me, but the short stories are good enough to read during quiet times in the day, and not just to send me to sleep after 3 pages when the etiz kicks in at bedtime. Started off with Rawhead Rex.

It was interesting the way he described the way that the English village had kept its identity throughout history despite the invasions of the Normans and Saxons and all that, but that the gradual invasion of wealthy outsiders and gentrification of the village finally made it loose itself. I find his ideas about 'realisms' much more interesting than where he takes off into flights of fantasy and nightmarish occult type stuff. But that seems to be his stock in trade, unless he has written some entirely 'real' type book that i dont know about yet.

So that generally means that i enjoy the openings of his stories much more than when he starts 'tripping out' inventing beasts that have lived underground for hundreds of years and are suddenly awoken when a farmer decides to remove a huge boulder from his field and stuff like that. 8(