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 Shadowcrunch reads also!

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Shadowcrunch
Journeyman
Shadowcrunch


Posts : 902
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 47
Location : Wisconsin, USA

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PostSubject: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyFri May 25, 2012 10:16 pm

Again, following Soothsayer's lead. This will be the thread of my reading. I will begin with my last 3 reads. Instead of full insight or opinion, I will just list these books with an X/5 rating. Perhaps I will expand on them further at a later time. So, in chronological reading order:

'Metro 2033' by Dmitry A. Glukhovsky 4.5/5 (video game based on this book) full_rating full_rating full_rating full_rating half_rating

'The Last Wish' by Andrzej Sapkowski 5/5 (The Witcher!!! Very Happy ) full_rating full_rating full_rating full_rating full_rating

'The Blood of Elves' by Andrzej Sapkowski 3.5/5 (The Witcher!!! Very Happy Would have had a higher rating but was more focused on politics and fantasy world history than actual plot...sadly) full_rating full_rating full_rating half_rating empty_rating


Note: it occurs to this admin type person that we could probably incorporate some stars in the smiley section for reviewing books and movies and such! I think I will make that a project. Perhaps a black star with outline for the "out of 5" and a solid-filled star for the actual rating. Will have to try it and see. Oh, probably some half stars too... Rolling Eyes


Last edited by Shadowcrunch on Sun Jun 03, 2012 12:14 am; edited 1 time in total
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VaderXanth
Journeyman
VaderXanth


Posts : 346
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 50
Location : Marinette WI

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PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyMon May 28, 2012 7:13 pm

I like the 'Star' rating idea!!! Thumbs Up
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Shadowcrunch
Journeyman
Shadowcrunch


Posts : 902
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 47
Location : Wisconsin, USA

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PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyMon May 28, 2012 8:50 pm

Currently, I am reading a horrible book that is destined to piss me off. Keep in mind, since my copy of Metro 2033 took some damage from the trip to work BEFORE I got my android tablet, I have been only reading on the tablet. Metro was read during my first weeks with the tablet, so I read it in between trying this app, and this app, and this app....on and on. The Witcher books, going from good to slow, made reading on the tablet seem like a chore, and I was losing momentum (had high hopes from the 60-ish books I read on a 3" screen Dell PDA). Then I started reading 'Flinx Transcendent' by Alan Dean Foster.

I read the first book in the series in the early 80s, sold it to the local used book store, and spent the last few years trying to find it again. When I was reading on the PDA, and finding online ebook collections, I discovered it wasn't just the one book, but an entire series. I read them all up to the current at the time. When the next two came out, I bought them and read them. When the last one came out, I didn't want hardcover, and lost track when it came out in paperback. My wife bought it for me a while back, but I was busy with other books. Because I don't want to damage my precious paperbacks, I got it on my tablet.

So last week I finished the second (third) Witcher book after much struggle. I started Flinx Transcendent. I read some more at home and stayed up too late. I couldn't put it down. At work the next day I discovered I had read over 100 pages in one day! Alan Dean Foster, his tales of Flinx and the Alaspinian minidrag Pip, are a full out epic space opera, spanning the galaxy, and some of the most bizarre worlds the imagination can conceive. So why is all this awesomeness going to piss me off? This is the end. Alan Dean Foster has decided this will be the last in the series. Sad Amazing book, amazing series, all gone...
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Shadowcrunch
Journeyman
Shadowcrunch


Posts : 902
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 47
Location : Wisconsin, USA

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PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyMon May 28, 2012 8:51 pm

Oh yeah, this admin forgot all about the stars with all the stupid 'having-to-work-at-work' crap that happened today. Assuming tomorrow goes better, I will work on some stars.
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Shadowcrunch
Journeyman
Shadowcrunch


Posts : 902
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 47
Location : Wisconsin, USA

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PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyThu May 31, 2012 1:30 pm

Is it legal to blame an author for my not starting the lawn early enough to get it done while everyone was at school or work? Do I have to first send a fan letter to said author describing his disruption to my day's workload? Damn you, Alan Dean Foster!!! I pooped, and was reading my book. Then it was "let me just finish this page."

Then "let me just finish this plot point."

Then "let me just finish this chapter."

I wanna know what happens!!!!

Spoiler:
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soothsayer
Journeyman
soothsayer


Posts : 1516
Join date : 2011-06-30
Age : 51
Location : Right here.

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PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyThu May 31, 2012 11:52 pm

Here's a spoiler pulled from the internet regarding said novel.

Spoiler:
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Shadowcrunch
Journeyman
Shadowcrunch


Posts : 902
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 47
Location : Wisconsin, USA

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PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyFri Jun 01, 2012 2:19 pm

I finished the book last night! But coincidentally, I'm crappin right now! Twisted Evil
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Shadowcrunch
Journeyman
Shadowcrunch


Posts : 902
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 47
Location : Wisconsin, USA

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PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyFri Jul 27, 2012 11:32 pm

Two days ago, I finished what may become my favorite book. If multiple reads makes a particular book more favorite than another, then William Gibson's 'Neuromancer' has been my favorite since the 5th read. It's the whole cyberpunk thing... the birth of geekitude. Gibson invented the term Cyberspace. He is a lord among sci-fi authors. But now we must disregard the concept of which book is read most... in truth, the book I've read most is probably a Blue Bug book or some crap I was hooked on 30 years ago! So that theory is null and void.

Now, Gibson. Neal Stephenson came in a close second with his cyberpunk mind-blower 'Snow Crash'. Neuromancer was a bit more sci-fi, but had a certain increase in realism (the world and details were filled with more realism)... while Snow Crash was more believable because it's all symbolic of more everyday type stuff, and based loosely on ancient religion and history. So, Neal Stephenson can do cyberpunk as well as Gibson.

About 2 weeks ago I started Neal Stephenson's 'Reamde'. When I thought I was getting close to the end of the plot, and a new twist popped up, I checked pages. It's not often I read 800+ page books. Even more rare for me to finish that size in just over a week! Reamde is truly powerful and ENTERTAINING sci-fi!!!!

Now, without giving anything away, I think... this book combines all of the MODERN cyberpunk elements with a backstory every bit as detailed and believable as a Tom Clancy Novel. Lemme esplain. Reamde is a computer virus, and it's supposed to be a whatever-its-called of 'Readme'. In the background of everything that happens in this book, one of the major factors is a fictional MMORPG, and since many of the characters have to coordinate inside this MMORPG, you get to know the actual inner workings, the design...hell, there's entire chapters explaining how the idea was cooked up and implemented, and what sets it apart to take down World of Warcraft as the #1 MMORPG (yes, in the book it mentions how it beat out WOW cheers ) You learn enough of the game, you can actually get to the point where you feel like you've played it, or wish it was real!

So, we have the world's biggest MMORPG as the main character of sorts. We have a computer virus written by late teen/early 20s Chinese hackers. Hmmm...not Clancy enough. Let's throw in Scottish credit card fraud agents operating out of Canada... who work for some underlings in the Russian Mafia, who hire ex-spetsnaz security consultants. Still not Clancy? Still too much involved with the damn video game? Ahhh...add just a dash of Muslim jihadists, Chinese cops, MI6 agents, US special forces, American pot smugglers... Good god, this book covers the globe in video game and crime fighting and saving the world!!!

For the geek in us all, Neal Stephenson treats us by using terms like Seagate, thumb drive, T1... and LOTS of guns. Every character in the damn book has a laptop at some point! You just can't go wrong...EVER! This book is getting 6 out of 5 stars. How is that possible? Cuz I made the stars, I can do with them what I will! (ooh...that's sounds like an ominous story starter right there!)

Neal Stephenson's 'Reamde': full_rating full_rating full_rating full_rating full_rating full_rating
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Shadowcrunch
Journeyman
Shadowcrunch


Posts : 902
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 47
Location : Wisconsin, USA

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PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyThu Jan 31, 2013 12:45 am

See? Already the list is slipping away! I started a list of books I've read on my tablet... wait wait wait. Back it up.

When I used to read books on my Dell PDA, I read a lot of them. I lost track of titles and numbers. I know I went through all of the John Carter of Mars series again. I read two complete series by Fred Saberhagen, two series by Alan Dean Foster, a few Tolkien, and a bunch of other stuff. ONE of the main reasons I upgraded to a tablet last year was to read books, on a larger screen, with better options and visibility, and so on. I was reading Metro 2033 when I got my tablet. I was about a quarter through the book and it was getting beaten to hell taking it to work. My tablet saved my copy of Metro 2033, which is rough, but still in "fine" shape sitting on one of the shelves. YAY for tablets!!! I told myself I would make a list of books I read on the tablet, to help justify the cost by being able to say that "these books are safe from wear and tear because..." Books that aren't damaged don't need to be replaced.

I estimate I read 60+ books on my Dell, and going with a $7 per book concept, the Dell paid for itself many times over (paid $100ish on Ebay). The tablet was a bit pricier, so I want to keep an accurate list to ensure I get plenty of reading done. Looking at my list, I missed a bunch of books (and short stories). SO... since I seem to do better at the forum than at Evernote...

I will be making my list here, in the next post, which I will edit and update. If anyone sees something they want to know more about, ask and I will give a brief review and description... maybe even a comparison.
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Shadowcrunch
Journeyman
Shadowcrunch


Posts : 902
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 47
Location : Wisconsin, USA

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PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyThu Jan 31, 2013 12:58 am

Here's my list of books read so far on my tablet:

Metro 2033 --by Dmitry Glukhovsky

Last Wish
Blood of Elves --both by Andrzej Sapkowski

Flinx Transcendent --by Alan Dean Foster

Damned
Snuff-- both by Chuck Palahniuk

Houseboat on the River Styx --by John Kendrick Bangs

To Save the Kingdom --does this count? by Me

Reamde --by Neal Stephenson

The Tell-Tale Heart
The Fall of the House of Usher --both by Edgar Allen poe

Lord of Souls (Elder Scrolls) --by Greg Keyes

The Night Eternal --by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

The Night Watch
The Day Watch
The Twilight Watch --all by Sergei Lukyanenko

Boneshaker
Clementine      
Dreadnought    
Ganymede      
                       
Bloodshot      
Hellbent --all 6 of these by Cherie Priest

Wild Cards #1 -- George R.R. Martin


Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex
The Last Necronomicon -- both short stories by Larry Niven

Ringworld
The Ringworld Engineers
The Ringworld Throne --all 3 by Larry Niven

Created, The Destroyer (Destroyer #1) by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir
The Destoyer #2
The Destoyer #3
The Destoyer #4
The Destoyer #5
The Destoyer #6

The Inexplicables -- by Cherie Priest (next in the Clockwork Century series)

(FINALLY!!!) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- by Philip K Dick

Just started (current read): ???
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Shadowcrunch
Journeyman
Shadowcrunch


Posts : 902
Join date : 2011-06-23
Age : 47
Location : Wisconsin, USA

Shadowcrunch reads also! Empty
PostSubject: Re: Shadowcrunch reads also!   Shadowcrunch reads also! EmptyThu Sep 19, 2013 9:46 pm

So I just updated the list of stuff I've read on my tablet cuz I was so excited I finally read 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?', and I'm kindof in a rut trying to decide what next from all the books I have. Not sure what I'm in the mood for after those last two. Yet I have been reading, and today it occurred to me that if I spend at least an hour a day reading comics, that should count for something... SO... a brief list of comic series I have read on my tablet: *When I say series, I'm talking having read a complete run OR a run longer than 25 books*... after all, there's no way I'm going to remember all the manga or one-shots I've read. Some of these I read before the tablet, but I have read them again....

Sekirei
The Boys
Rising Stars
Manhunter (DC)
Freezing
Girl Genius

Hell, I won't remember all the series I've read!!!

Currently going through the 1970s Marvel Comics 'Conan the Barbarian' volume (version???) one.
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