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I just Finished The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem this is the best work of contemporary fiction I've read since the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Do yourself a big favor and go out an pick up this book. Seriously. Fortress of Solitude
Before that I read all three Hyperion books by Dan Simmons as well as Illium and Olympos all highly recommended as well. I'm on a roll this year. I don't think I cracked more than 2 books all of last year. I'm up to seven I think so far this year. Hooray for me.
-------------------- Is that a moon?
From: Portland, OR | Registered: Aug 2006
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I've got 'The Fortress of Solitude' in my pile of books waiting to be read so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it Uranus Lad. If it's anywhere near as good as 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay' I'll be happy.
I'm currently reading a book called 'Bullet Points' by a Mark Watson. I'm sure no-one's ever heard of the book or the author - I know I hadn't when I bought it on a whim because of the cover.
I'm glad I did though because it's a real hoot. A kind of comedy/drama about a psychiatrist and his whacky clients in 1980s America with a pretty dark sub-current about the main character's lifetime rivalry with his 'perfect' best friend. It's very Woody Allenish in a way which makes it totally up my alley.
From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2003
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The Complete Bone. My four-year-old loves it. Also a book called Fat, White, Vampire Blues. Just started it, but so far it's entertaining. And, I picked up Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen. I'm a little light on my "English Novels," and I've heard that one is hilarous.
Oh, and a travel book called, "Off the Beaten Track-Illinois." I love learning about my home state.
-------------------- All you need is Love (and a whole big bucket of Money).
From: Lost in the Ozone Again | Registered: Dec 2005
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I'm rereading Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling, the first book in his 'Emberverse' series (in which technology stops working all over the world and the survivors have to rebuild civilization without it). I just got the third book (A Meeting At Corvallis), and when I started into it I realized that I didn't remember well enough what happened in the first two, so I'm just gonna rip through all three one after the other.
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With the birth of my first child last month, my reading time has twindled to scants of that which it once was.
I plodded through The Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher.
I’m a huge fan of Butcher’s Harry Dresden Series so I decided to check out some of his other novels. His Spider-man book was pretty good so I moved along to his Furies series which sets up to be a little more toward standard fantasy fare. This story suffers a little because it seems that choices were not made. It’s written in an omniscient viewpoint, but all characters seem equally important. The problem is that there is a definite main character and the rest are second tier. The main character disappears for over 70 pages of the book in a transparent attempt to create tension (this happens with other second tier characters too). The problem is the tension doesn’t really build in his absence because any mildly sophisticated reader will see the solution coming from miles away. Then the book is 500 pages long and I never found myself involved in the characters emotionally. Sometimes it was a chore to read this book. Having said that, there are some really interesting developments and interactions within the story that could make the sequels worth reading. I’d probably grade this book at a high C+ or low B- depending on my mood.
-------------------- Something Filthy!
From: NOVA by way of NOIN | Registered: Jul 2003
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I actually finished Furies of Calderon a few weeks ago... since then I have been reading a book called Alternities by Michael Kube-McDowell. It was published in 1988 and reflects some of the Nuclear politics of that time and the prior 40 years.
Alright the gist of the book: Somewhere along the line mysterious gates to other "Alternities" (read Parallel Universes) are discovered and explored by people from the "Home Alternity".
"Home" is populated by an America that adopted Isolationism as a national policy after WWII (and suffers, relatively speaking, technologically and sociologically because of it). This led to a quite different reality from our own, one in which Russia is more powerful than America. This in turn leads to some intriguing political maneuvering and kind of a reverse Cuban Missile Crisis. Mingled in with all of this is the exploration and exploitation of other Alternities for the political benefit of the "Home".
Decent enough setup and I found myself interested in turning the page to see what happens next. The set up never goes downhill and the pace of the book is consistent. The tone of the book kinda changes at the end and many details are wrapped up nice and neat... a little too neat for my tastes signifying that the author may have reached his word quota or page count. Having said that, this book still leaves some things dangling that I felt should have been addressed.
I guess most people would categorize this book as "hard" sci-fi, but in the end I think it was more of a character piece with some moral and theological discussion thrown in for good measure. Don't get me wrong, it's not a "preachy" piece of fiction,
(Spoiler Ahead)
but the writer never truly explains the creation of the gates. Characters provide theories about the creation of the gates' existence but they are never proven. Other characters strongly hint at a higher power as being responsible for the Gates. Maybe the author did this on purpose given that Man has struggled with reconciling the two concepts (Higher Beings and Science) since Eden or before. I don't know... maybe after so many discussions and thoughts about the creation of the gates, to not have them fully explained seemed a little disappointing to me.
(end spoiler)
I'd probably give this book a strong B+ even though there were some things I'd like to have seen explained better or at least happen "on screen".
-------------------- Something Filthy!
From: NOVA by way of NOIN | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
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Just finished A Tale of Two Cities (on CD) the other night. It was kind of tedious in the beginning, but the ending is fantastic. Sydney Carton has to go down as one of the greatest literary characters ever.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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Language Arts Lad, I've read Northanger Abbey and loved it. Austen does gothic really well, which is part of why it's so funny.
I just started reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I didn't even know I owned it until last week when I was looking through some books. I remember reading it when I was a kid, but I thought I got it from the library.
-------------------- arachne3003.deviantart.com Current Obsession: Birds of Prey/Secret Six
From: Canada | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by kenaustin: In 18 days I'll be reading Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, the second book of "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant."
By the way, I've been meaning to ask you... did you happen to take your username from the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant?
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
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