What Are You Reading Right Now?

[nvanprooyen]

Bonus question, what genres do you enjoy and what are some of your favorites?

Inb4 "duh, this thread", "CCS" or any other replies in a similar vein.

 

[Omeletpants]

Trump, making America really, really great again

 

[nvanprooyen]

I can't see what you said, but I'm sure it was stupid.

 

[botfly10]

Nerdy, but I am reading the 2nd book in the expanse series.

Here is the first:

Good hard science fiction with a big sweeping scope like game of thrones or some shit. In fact, I think one of the authors is an assistant writer for Martin. Excellent reading - smart, entertaining, competent writing, great characters. Best sci fi I have read in years. Good enough that I get excited when its time to go to bed and read for an hour or two. Has kept me up a couple times.

 

[nvanprooyen]

Nice. Nerdy maybe, but I don't care. I'm a big fan of sci-fi epics. Some of my favorite books of all time fit into that category. Dune, Hyperion, etc. I'm gonna check this series out.

I'm not really into fantasy, but read The Way of Kings awhile back and really enjoyed it. I think I'm just into epics with deep character development.

 

[Ares]

Nerdy, but I am reading the 2nd book in the expanse series.

Here is the first:

Good hard science fiction with a big sweeping scope like game of thrones or some shit. In fact, I think one of the authors is an assistant writer for Martin. Excellent reading - smart, entertaining, competent writing, great characters. Best sci fi I have read in years. Good enough that I get excited when its time to go to bed and read for an hour or two. Has kept me up a couple times.

I've watched the show.

Srs question, are the books better? Give more detail/context?

 

[nvanprooyen]

I've watched the show.

Srs question, are the books better? Give more detail/context?

I haven't watched the show, or read the books... but in my experience books are almost always better than show / movie adaptations. Very few exceptions to this rule in my personal experience. The book format allows for a much larger level of detail from a story telling perspective. The only exception is usually with a thin plot where the visuals take precedence over substance. This could just be personal preference though.

 

[botfly10]

I've watched the show.

Srs question, are the books better? Give more detail/context?

the show is shit. I tried watching maybe a year or so before I even knew about the books. Can't even compare the two. The books and great, on the order of other classic series like dune or enders game or whatever imo.

 

[nvanprooyen]

the show is shit. I tried watching maybe a year or so before I even knew about the books. Can't even compare the two. The books and great, on the order of other classic series like dune or enders game or whatever imo.

High praise. Definitely will check it out.

 

[botfly10]

This is the last book I last finished. High adventure, romance, and a lot of heart. Excellent writing, memorable characters. Will probably be a movie soon.

 

[Ares]

the show is shit. I tried watching maybe a year or so before I even knew about the books. Can't even compare the two. The books and great, on the order of other classic series like dune or enders game or whatever imo.

K, I've enjoyed the show.

However, I agree 100% with nvan.... books almost always tell the better story.

Ima pick up these books next.... thx bot

 

[botfly10]

K, I've enjoyed the show.

However, I agree 100% with nvan.... books almost always tell the better story.

Ima pick up these books next.... thx bot

I watched the show for maybe 3 episodes. To me, the whole thing felt rushed and muddled. It seemed like important things were happening but without enough context to understand or care much about them. Such little time was spent on early character development, it was hard to connect with any motivation and understand why the hell anything was happening. When I found out it was based on an 600 page book, it made a lot of sense.

The pacing and character development in the books is so much better.

 

[dennehy]

My buddy wrote this:

Just came out, so I haven't checked it out yet, but he is a great historian and writer, and this is a very important story. Fresh Air on NPR reviewed it last week:

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/30/6609...how-emmett-till-s-murder-was-nearly-forgotten

 

[Ares]

I watched the show for maybe 3 episodes. To me, the whole thing felt rushed and muddled. It seemed like important things were happening but without enough context to understand or care much about them. Such little time was spent on early character development, it was hard to connect with any motivation and understand why the hell anything was happening. When I found out it was based on an 600 page book, it made a lot of sense.

The pacing and character development in the books is so much better.

I really don't envy TV writers who have to try to take a wonderfully written story that weaves a narrative together, and then distill it into 10 episodes of TV.

Some of them do it very well, but there is no way to do it without cutting it down into the most vital plot points, generally.

A narrator can say something like "Over the weeks and months that followed, the abuse continued uninterrupted, in fact getting worse day by day" and convey something that is hard to do in a TV show without spending time on a montage or having character's just kinda narrate things that happened over weeks/months which doesn't have the same impact.

Ok, I'll get off my soap box.

 

[Sculpt]

Thrawn trilogy

Nice. Nerdy maybe, but I don't care. I'm a big fan of sci-fi epics. Some of my favorite books of all time fit into that category. Dune, Hyperion, etc. I'm gonna check this series out.

I'm not really into fantasy, but read The Way of Kings awhile back and really enjoyed it. I think I'm just into epics with deep character development.

the show is shit. I tried watching maybe a year or so before I even knew about the books. Can't even compare the two. The books and great, on the order of other classic series like dune or enders game or whatever imo.

Leviathan Wakes sounds cool. Loved reading Enders Game. Never read Dune.

Speaking of blasts from the past, did anyone ever read the Timothy Zahn' Thrawn trilogy (Star Wars)? What'd ya think? It didn't have anything profound to say, but they were a good reads, interesting and pretty riveting.

 

[botfly10]

I really don't envy TV writers who have to try to take a wonderfully written story that weaves a narrative together, and then distill it into 10 episodes of TV.

Some of them do it very well, but there is no way to do it without cutting it down into the most vital plot points, generally.

A narrator can say something like "Over the weeks and months that followed, the abuse continued uninterrupted, in fact getting worse day by day" and convey something that is hard to do in a TV show without spending time on a montage or having character's just kinda narrate things that happened over weeks/months which doesn't have the same impact.

Ok, I'll get off my soap box.

Yeah. They really have to have the proper support from whoever is producing the thing, if time/episodes to do the source material justice.

Its a shame in this case cause with enough investment, it could have been fuckin cool.

 

[botfly10]

Leviathan Wakes sounds cool. Loved reading Enders Game. Never read Dune.

Speaking of blasts from the past, did anyone ever read the Timothy Zahn' Thrawn trilogy (Star Wars)? What'd ya think? It didn't have anything profound to say, but they were a good reads, interesting and pretty riveting.

You should check out more of the ender series. Speaker for the Dead is my favorite, but even the other two are better than enders game imo. Too bad Card is a **** tho

 

[HeHateMe]

The Hike by Drew Magary. Thanks @number51 for the recommendation. I love the constant subtle humor underscoring the terror.

 

[CaptnSUG]

11/11 is coming up and I am rereading The Guns of August.

 

[nvanprooyen]

You should check out more of the ender series. Speaker for the Dead is my favorite, but even the other two are better than enders game imo. Too bad Card is a **** tho

Was Speaker of the Dead the one with the pigs? I read it a really long time ago.