My brain is goop. It was a long, and ultimately disappointing day, and I need sleep. Tell me what I should be reading tomorrow!
Tag: book of the week
Book of the Week: The Dweller in Drury Lane.
I haven’t read Paul Leone’s The Dweller in Drury Lane yet, sorry. This is my reminder to read the book, because I am extremely tired right now and I need to get some sleep. I don’t want to forget to read it for a couple of months.
#commissionearned
Book of the Week: Snow Crash.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere today, I still don’t know why the world of Snow Crash hadn’t been taken over by people with locally-sustainable military technology and a taste for conquest. It’s still a great book, though – and subversive in a way that’s different from the usual, trite shibboleths. (The sort-of sequel The Diamond Age is even more so.) Neal Stephenson’s a great writer.
Book of the Week (re-upped): The Seventh Veil of Salome.
I’m reading Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Seventh Veil of Salome right now. It has the regrettable lack of any kind of supernatural elements thus far, but I guess that sometimes an author just wants to try an experiment. And, to be fair: there’s nothing inherently wrong with quote-unquote ‘mainstream literature.’ It just doesn’t usually attract the very best writers, that’s all.
…Oh, yes, I’m salty today. Dust inhalation after doing shelf construction this afternoon, coupled with an over-long nap. I’ll be fine.
#commissionearned
Book of the Week: …you tell me.
I’ve been wracking my brain on this one. It hasn’t been a big reading week for me, at least when it comes to new books. First week of school, and all that. And looking at upcoming books on Amazon reminds me that all the stuff I’m waiting for, I’ve already done.
So… you tell me. And everybody else, too.
#commissionearned
Book of the Week: SS-GB.
Picked because I am begging mainstream writers, once again: please stop assuming that you can write alternate history novels simply because you can write regular ones. The genre has conventions. These conventions exist for a reason. You actually have to justify your change points. Len Deighton’s SS-GB is one of the few times where a mainstream author managed to make it all work, and ‘Nazis win WWII’ is easy mode. Don’t think you can just call it in.
(No, I’m not going to tell you what book set me off. It’s actually not a bad book, as long as you can turn off your knowledge of recent history. I don’t want to shame it, or the author.)
#commissionearned
Book of the Week: In Our Stars.
I was happy to finally get down to finishing Jack Campbell’s time-travel-second-chance novel In Our Stars. It’s just that it was under very unfortunate circumstances (the con is going poorly). Oh, well. At least it was a good distraction.
…Oh. I did it already. Yeah, it’s been that kind of day.
Book of the Week: …Yeah, it’s gonna be TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION Vol 2: LIGHTS IN THE DARKNESS.
Book of the Week: A CONVENTIONAL BOY.
I know, I know. But Charles Stross is just so entertaining when he’s being terrified over nothing! A CONVENTIONAL BOY will be his latest Laundry novel, and this one’s going to be over, God help us all, D&D. It’ll almost certainly be highly distressed over precisely the wrong things, but Stross is a legitimately good writer and I don’t really consider these books to be horror novels anymore. I know, they’re supposed to be, and if they are for other people? Well, you know. It’s no skin off my nose if others find them appealing for more conventional reasons.
#commissionearned
Book of the Week: The Halley Traveler: The Children of Mars, Book One.
The Halley Traveler: The Children of Mars, Book One came out only yesterday, so it’s now on my TBR pile. You may remember the author (Mike Mollman) as the guy who did that indy USO library thing last year, and the podcast I did a little while back. Good dude: I look forward to reading the book.
#commissionearned