read any good books lately...

Scott,if you want a good,quick King read try out Blockade Billy.It's short,centers on baseball and is a little more mainstream than his usual work.

rushfan4 wrote: I finally finished the Star Wars X-Wing series last weekend while on vacation.

The couple of those Ive read weren't bad, at least compared to most things labelled Star Wars these days

I think I'm probably the lone Tom Holt fan here, and I usually praise his books above Terry Pratchett and his ilk for their wit and clever use of comedic nonsense, but this (Holt's first foray into SF) falls a little flat for me, having a few too many "plot-holes" for the humourous one-liners to fall into and be lost forever. The problem is, for science fiction the science is just a little too fictitious and the twisted observational comedy that makes Holt's novels so enjoyable just isn't grounded enough in surreal/reality to be funny. Sadly he's written a book that has everything I dislike about Pratchett - one good idea, a few over-laboured jokes and a protracted build-up to a very week punchline. Shame, I was looking forward to reading this one.

Edited by Dean - July 19 2012 at 17:52

Dean wrote: I think I'm probably the lone Tom Holt fan here, and I usually praise his books above Terry Pratchett and his ilk for their wit and clever use of comedic nonsense, but this (Holt's first foray into SF) falls a little flat for me, having a few too many "plot-holes" for the humourous one-liners to fall into and be lost forever. The problem is, for science fiction the science is just a little too fictitious and the twisted observational comedy that makes Holt's novels so enjoyable just isn't grounded enough in surreal/reality to be funny. Sadly he's written a book that has everything I dislike about Pratchett - one good idea, a few over-laboured jokes and a protracted build-up to a very week punchline. Shame, I was looking forward to reading this one.

TheProgtologist wrote: Scott,if you want a good,quick King read try out Blockade Billy.It's short,centers on baseball and is a little more mainstream than his usual work.

I concur, it was also a really great little story.

Tony, have you read Infinite Jest? If you're ever able to find the time for it, you seem like the kind of guy who might enjoy. 

^I never even knew he did anything other than Dune.

I was gonna recommend the Infinite Jest!!! Another cult-following, underground book is House of Leaves. Completely different, but probably the best written book I've just about ever read. A horror story with mixtures of all genres. It's fictional, but you'd swear it actually happened (partly due to the footnotes). About 600 pages long, it sucks you in and you can't stop reading. It should've become as famous as The Shining.

Anthony H. wrote: The best Stephen King novels are the super-long ones that are decidedly NOT quick reads (such as The Stand, It, and 11/22/63).

Got a used copy of this off of amazon:



The cover is what caught my eye, but this is a pretty extensive little guide. Should keep me occupied with plenty of good literature for awhile.