h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is a thread to consolidate all other current threads in the BooK NooK so that all might be able to find the most current thread.

I'll start it off.

Just finished William Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties. A fantastic read, not as good as Neuromancer, but on a par with Count Zero.

I am currently reading Dan Simmons' Illium, about 40 pages in and I forsee sleepless nights ahead of me.

I also am working my way through Volume 2 of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

What books are you reading, and what is the top book you want to read?

Courtesy

Just purchased "Regina's Song" by David and Liegh Eddings. The first chapter is engaging. Also reading Carl Sagan's "Contact" for the first time, along with one of Eddings's older books, "The Sorcerous of Darshiva".

Sorceress of Darshiva was pretty good, if memory serves.

You had mentioned that you had picked up the latest Tom Clancy. I'm on a wait and see towards his books after Red Rabbit, so I would be interested in you opinion on the book.

Hopefully we will get enough people to build the critical mass needed to kick off this corner again.

Courtesy

Well, I liked it, but it was a bit weak compared to some.

It is about Ryan's son and some nephews (I did not know that Ryan had siblings). It is interesting, if a bit unrealistic.

I have pre-ordered the new Neal Stephenson book, which is apparently the first of a trilogy. He's already written all three books (about 3000 pages worth!) but the publisher has decided to release it in three stages.

I don't even remember the title and know only vaguely what it's about, but I trust the author completely! I know it will be worth waiting for.

Thanks for reminding me. I want to get an order in for that book. I have a friend who manages a book store, and I will ask him to order it.

So far I believe that you cannot go wrong with any Neal Stephenson book. Even Zodiac is a great read.

I definitely enjoyed Cryptonomicon, and I'll have to read his other books. Right now I'm reading the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I started it about a year ago, but the book was destroyed () and I'm just now getting back to it. Next on my list is Margaret Atwood's Blind Assassin.

Lil - I believe the trilogy is the Baroque Cycle, I'm not sure of the name.

I have read 3 Stephenson books, Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon were excellent, I haven't been able to really get into Diamond Age.

Courtesy

Mmmm Stephenson, I'll have to keep an eye out... loved diamond age and snow crash... I'm yet to aquire Cryptonomicon.

Just finished an Iain Banks, Dead Air, his usual brilliance Though I did prefer the old black and white covers ratherthan the photographic covers he's now using.

Math

Math - great to have you here.

I actually preferred Cryptonomicon to the other Stephenson books I have read.

I will keep a look out for Iain Banks. What type of writing?

Courtesy

Iain Banks, err well when he writes sci-fi its published as by Iain M. Banks, so it's not sci-fi... I would say on the whole ermm literature ?
It tends to be set in modern or current times, tends to have an interesting bunch of characters, usually one which is the main character, often some events happen, almost always some thoughts and conversations, occasionally even rants. His characters are in my experiance (and opinion) always realistic, and their reactions and behaviour consistant. Perhaps if I write a word or two on some specific books...

The Wasp Factory - very odd, and if I say too much I'll spoil it.. bad choice... about a violent young man and his family.
Whit - About a girl who belongs to an odd cult, and some conniving to gain influance in the cult.
Dead Air - About a DJ and some death threats he recieves.
Espidair Street - The recollections of a fading rock star, and some stuff that happens around his retreat.
Complicity - A journalist and a story he's following up on (also made into a film)

There are more, some of which I've also read and a few I haven't yet... but I am planning on reading all that I can aquire

Math

I finnished the new novel from david and Leigh Eddings, "Regina's song". While it was a good read, and very enjoyable, the cover blurb ruins the suspense. So if you wish to read this, do NOT read the back cover, as it exposes a major plot element.

It is a departure from the fantasy novels that we have enjoyed from this team of writers. It is a modern day mystery/thriller and one that I quite enjoyed. The character development is par with what I expect from this pair, and the story is engrossing. The biggest flaw is the spoiler on the back cover.

I have just now completed the book "A Fine and Private War" by Stuart M. Van Tine.

It is billed as a book worthy of Tom Clancy. While I would not go so far as to say that Tom has much to worry about, I will say that the author has a flair for describing military hardware and is quite good at making his characters believable.

That said, I am dissapointed in some inaccuracies as far as military procedure are concerned. To quote Tom Clancy "That's moored, not parked Jarhead."

I find the plot to be a bit unbelievable and some of the later action in the book is not described, even though it is somewhat crucial to the outcome of the story.

I would give the book a solid B+ grade, and reccomend it only if you are in to techno-thrillers.

I just started reading Quicksilver, volume 1 of The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson, last night. Marv will kill me if I spoil it for him.

Without spoiling it, I would be interested in your initial feelings on it.

What book is it most like? etc.

Courtesy

Well, I CAN say the the name of the protagonist (so far): it is ... Enoch Root.

The book is an etymological delight. It opens in pre-Revolutionary Boston and somehow manages to have something of the vocabulary of that time without descending into thees and thous and ye's. It reads smoothly.

It is unfolding the History of Science most delightfully.

I knew that much about it from teh jacket blurb. I am very much looking forward to it myself, as it should also include some of the waterhouses if I recall correctly.

Yup.

And here are the Shaftoes, an ancestor of Cryptonomicon's Bobby, wandering through wars on the European mainland.

Are you only just now getting to that point, Lil? I am at the halfway point in teh book, and fully in thrall with it. The trouble is that I tend to doze off as I am reading it because I am reading it at odd hours.