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YC’s Summer Reading

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Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#61

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

patio11 wrote: post #39
ztravis wrote: post #14

I'm consistently surprised to hear people saying positive things about "Ready Player One" - to me it was one of the most hackneyed and silly books I've read in a long time. My review at the time of reading (originally for private consumption only): Terrible modern sci-fi about easter egg MMO quest for game creator’s fortune. Childish plot/dialog, cliches everywhere (e.g. ‘L337 Hax0r Warezhouse’), absolutely atrocious…

It's an interesting contrast with The Martian: both are geek porn, but one says "Geeks are awesome because they might have a high-school level understanding of science which would be improbably useful if they were stranded alone on Mars." and the other says "Geeks are awesome because knowing the script to War Games demonstrates moral fiber." and believes it . (The character who established the challenges believing th…

Eh, I still think The Martian was a good book. It had the plot and humor to make its concept stand up. And the very fact that some people have made complaints about the accuracy of its science is a testament to the fact that it did take its science seriously to some degree: Most fiction doesn't show enough work for you to question it.

RP1 was okay. Cline's next book, Armada, was similar, and that's where it really starts to fall apart.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#62

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

wyldfire wrote: post #21
ztravis wrote: post #14

I'm consistently surprised to hear people saying positive things about "Ready Player One" - to me it was one of the most hackneyed and silly books I've read in a long time. My review at the time of reading (originally for private consumption only): Terrible modern sci-fi about easter egg MMO quest for game creator’s fortune. Childish plot/dialog, cliches everywhere (e.g. ‘L337 Hax0r Warezhouse’), absolutely atrocious…

I really enjoyed it myself. It was a big nostalgia fest. I wonder -- are you significantly older or younger than the audience that would've spent time enjoying these games?

15, but I loved it.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#63

Post by criddell »

screature2 wrote: post #59
Yhippa wrote: post #12

Just curious, what's everybody's pace around here? It took me about a month to casually get through "Ready Player One" (great book BTW), and that was for a book club. It seems like a lot of the people I respect get through about a book a week. Either they're lying or have such good focus to avoid distractions other than books. Maybe I could put down the HN for a bit.

Books tend to fill my lengthy public transportation commutes. also I'm not opposed to borrowing some sleep time to get in a few more pages.

I regret reading before sleep. I think I've conditioned myself to sleep anytime I read now. I can rarely get more than a five or six pages before I start to drift off.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#64

Post by facepalm »

Finbarr wrote: post #46
mindcrime wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a recommendation for some female authored sci-fi at least: The "Newsflesh Trilogy" by Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire). I'm not usually into zombie fiction, but this was a great series. Not your typical zombie fare... more like a political / conspiracy thriller where zombies are just part of the trappings of the story, not the focus of the story. Hard to explain, but worth reading.

I really enjoyed "Children of God" and the sequel "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell. Great sci-fi.

As a counterpoint, I really disliked The Sparrow. I guess it could be interesting if you are religious, but even then: why do you have to experience horrible things on an alien planet to start wondering why god let's such things happen - aren't there enough horrible things happening on earth? Really didn't see the point... (Don't know Children of God).

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#66

Post by facepalm »

schlupp wrote: post #7

Nice, 2 out of 20 authors are women. Nothing like a balanced reading experience.

If you can recommend more female authors on par with, say, JK Rowling, Fred Vargas, Neil Gaiman or Patrick Rothfuss, I'd be happy to read them. It's hard enough to find good books, worrying about the author's gender is very pointless. Especially since I am not interested in women's issues, which nobody should be obliged to be.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#67

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

I reread Cryptonomicon (the last Stephenson book to really draw me in enough to make me read it, although he frontloads a lot of the complexity, so maybe if I push through the opening to Anathem just one more time...)

For those of you who read RP1 already, I would reccomend You, by Austin Grossman, which takes the concept of a treasure hunt through computing and gaming history in a radically different direction, one that is more realistic (although it still takes some bizare leaps of logic and outright wrong turns), as you follow a new developer at a games company that his friends started many years ago, desparately trying to track down an ancient, game-breaking bug, before the company closes its doors for good.

It's flawed, but has a stronger character focus than RP1, and I think I liked it better, on the whole.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#68

Post by facepalm »

bbctol wrote: post #53
GradysGhost wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention the love interest relationship, which is basically, "Love interest doesn't trust protagonist until the story reaches a climax and all of a sudden she's protag's girlfriend despite not having any new reason to be that."

Even worse, "love interest doesn't think she's pretty but only the protagonist is a nice enough guy to see past that." The whole book was a bunch of wish-fulfillment fantasies, but I found the romance the creepiest.

Only the protagonist met her in real life. I think you read too much into that.

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#69

Post by facepalm »

jseliger wrote: post #48

The Magicians is a lovely book; I actually interviewed Grossman when the first one came out, in 2010: https://jakeseliger.com/2010/10/14/an-interview-with-lev-gro... . If you like it, try Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy too. Leviathan Wakes disappoints: its plot and political economy are interesting but on a sentence-by-sentence level one wishes for more. If you haven't read it yet try Peter Watts, Blinds…

Pullman is another one for the Christians, I suppose. If you are not religious, it seems unlikely to me that you would enjoy it (I didn't).

Re: YC’s Summer Reading

#70

Post by overcast »

qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #67

I reread Cryptonomicon (the last Stephenson book to really draw me in enough to make me read it, although he frontloads a lot of the complexity, so maybe if I push through the opening to Anathem just one more time...) For those of you who read RP1 already, I would reccomend You , by Austin Grossman, which takes the concept of a treasure hunt through computing and gaming history in a radically different direction, one…

I have a first printing hardcover Cryptonomicon sitting in front of me, that I haven't cracked opened yet. Bought it prior to reading Snowcrash, which I thought was the most overrated drivel that I've ever come across. Awesome beginning, that turned into ancient religious programming nonsense. I'm afraid to even begin that monster, if the writing is anything like that.
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