Books you're reading (8 Viewers)

mikhail

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2003
9,576
#1
Thread does exactly as it says on the tin. :)

I'll start off with a book I've just finished,
Light
by M. John Harrison
Harrison is a famous name in SF, though I have to admit that I haven't read anything else by him. This book is apparently his first SF one in thirty years though. It doesn't show. The writing is absolutely fantastic. I've never read anything written quite like it, but his prose style works really well. Still, enough about the writing style.

The story consists of three threads. The first follows a matematical genius, Kearney, who is psycopathic. He and another man (Tate) develop quantum computing, and are the drive behind man's conquest of space, but their work seems to break down the boundaries of physical laws, driving Tate mad. Keating is already mad enough, haunted by an alien presence since childhood, and he commits a number of disturbing murders during the book.

The second thread, set four hundered years in the future, follows Seria Mau, a little girl who volunteered to become hard-wired into a warship, which is composed of alien technology barely understood. The warship (and not her) rebelled and went AWOL, and she/they now operate as mercenaries. Seria Mau is quite amoral, and callously murders a number of passengers.

The third thread follows Ed Chianese, and I ruin nothing of the novel to reveal that he turns out to be the brother of Seria Mau, a ruin of a man who spent his life too close to the edge, and wound up trying to escape it. He winds up running from thugs, and finding refuge in a circus, where the mysterious owner forces him to become a prophet, a painful experience for him. He predicts war.

The ending of these three stories seems mashed together on a small moon near the Kefahuchi Tract, a "singularity without an event horizon", where all the laws of physics seem to be breaking down, and upon which countless older alien races seem to have broken themselves in a fruitless effort to understand it. The last of one of them wants an answer. And maybe Ed Chianese can provide it. We can't tell. They story ends here. Or rather, it begins, as it says.

I'd like to quote a reviewer called Steven Wu, "Light is an intensely unpleasant novel. It opens with a casual, almost offhand murder, and such murders occur with disturbing frequency throughout the novel... The characters are cold and insubstantial; they seem almost alien at times, their motivations obscure, their capacity for human empathy stunted or entirely absent. The bleakness of the novel is emphasized by a surprising (and disturbing) emphasis on extremely frigid sex entirely devoid of any human element; in fact, the sex of Light often feels more exploitative than sharing, more cruel than comfortable."

"The conclusion is an eruption of utter chaos, disparate story elements crashing together in a manner that makes no real sense. You leave this novel no more enlightened than you were at the end of the first chapter."

It seems to be a matter of taste, but the majority of reviewers are delighted with this book, which is a difficult, disturbing story with an open, unsatisfying ending. Read it with caution.
 

Buy on AliExpress.com
OP
mikhail

mikhail

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2003
9,576
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #3
    What's it about Fli? I've only read "Consider Phlebas" by him, which was quite good.
     
    Sep 28, 2002
    13,975
    #5
    ++ [ originally posted by mikhail ] ++
    What's it about Fli? I've only read "Consider Phlebas" by him, which was quite good.
    about a boy who likes to kill animals and who has a mentally sick brother who likes to burn dogs and feed kids with worms. that brother escapes from hospital, and tries to get home and then he tries to kill his folks.

    just go and read it man. i really cant tell what its all about. if i told you's not have any pleasure reading it. that is one shocking book.
    for those with strong nerves, try it.

    remember, strong nerves.
     

    Loppan

    Senior Member
    Jul 13, 2002
    2,528
    #8
    Simple Truth

    by David Baldacci

    Description of the book
    Behind the scenes, the U.S. Supreme Court is a battleground of egos, intellects and power. Here brilliant young attorney Mike Fiske toils as an elite foot soldier. His colleague Sara Evans is clerking for a female Court justice who is powerfully connected to Congress. Far from the imposing facade of the High Court is the world of street crime, prison time, and bare-knuckles criminal courts defense. In a Virginia military prison Rufus Harms is just one more lifer claiming innocence. Convicted of killing a girl on an army base twenty-five years ago, Harms smuggles a desperate letter out of his prison cell. It's a bombshell -- an appeal to the Supreme Court -- that claims he was forced to commit murder. Suddenly everyone who has anything to do with Harms or the appeal mysteriously dies, including Mike Fiske. When his brother, John, an ex-cop, investigates and asks for Sara's help, they both face a conspiracy that is shaking the very foundations of power in Washington. And the one man who can help them, the one man who knows what really happened twenty-five years ago -- and why -- has escaped from prison and is running for his life.
     

    Lemon

    New Member
    Dec 15, 2003
    26
    #10
    the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy...by douglas adams

    its not really my type of book ...the genre is comedy and the book is almost 800 pages...the problem is i can never leave a book half way and pick up another one ...im through with 400 pages got another 400 pages to go and i think im stuck ....cant get myself to read it though i know i will finish it sometime.

    LEMON
     
    Aug 1, 2003
    17,696
    #12
    bridget jones was okay i guess, but shopaholic stuff is real funny, you should try it :D

    im currently reading this book called eragon by christopher paolini, its fantasy/lotr stuff
     

    Febrina

    Senior Member
    Jul 17, 2002
    2,011
    #13
    A friend of mine are so crazy about chicklit, including "confession of a shopaholic" :). she's currently reading "can you keep a secret" Maybe I'll borrow it as soon as she finished it.:D

    I read japanese serial comic "Salad Days" by Shinobu Inokuma part 1-17, phuiff...it's such long serial but it was so funny!:cool:
     

    vitoria_Ally

    Senior Member
    Jul 14, 2002
    7,232
    #14
    I've heard about Confessions of a shopaholic, but I havent read it yet, but I hope to read it soon :)

    Anna: I have the same thoughts about Bridget as you do :)
    Cause I didnt find that book good at all.
    I didnt understand what the hype was about it.
    Maybe cause I dont identify with such girl at all.
    You know, not my story.
     

    Gandalf

    Senior Member
    Jul 28, 2003
    2,038
    #18
    ++ [ originally posted by sallyinzaghi ] ++
    you should vit!
    has anyone ever read of a fantasy book called "Eragon"? I've just finished reading it and its quite new, its BLOODY AWESOME
    Eragon..? is it about dragons..? can you write an overview about it..?
     
    OP
    mikhail

    mikhail

    Senior Member
    Jan 24, 2003
    9,576
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #20
    ++ [ originally posted by sallyinzaghi ] ++
    you should vit!
    has anyone ever read of a fantasy book called "Eragon"? I've just finished reading it and its quite new, its BLOODY AWESOME
    I haven't heard of it. Could you post a brief review? Even steal one off the internet and add your own comments if you like.
     

    Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 4)