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I've started reading Iain M Banks culture series, which I'm enjoying but I do miss the harder sci fi elements.

The culture series is high on my list of books to buy next.

I loved pt.1 (Consider Phlebas?) but from then on it quickly lost it's fascination for me. I love his non SF stuff though. House of Wasps (?) I devoured.

The Wasp Factory, I think. Haven't read any of his non sci-fi yet, though.

Got this in the mail not long ago. The long awaited 3rd edition of The Art of Electronics:

Culture series is on my list.

Already finishing up Proxima (stephen baxter). That awkward moment where it takes a lot of effort to finish because the characters aren't very interesting at all, but the premises/concepts are. Unsure if I want to move on to the sequel (which is supposedly very good) after this. I can handle only so many 1-dimensional characters at any time.

Any of you "read" audiobooks? I do a lot. My job often requires me to work for hours with little concentration, so I like to kill two birds with one stone. Some narrators are pretty bring, but others are absolutely fantastic!

cloudscapes wrote:Culture series is on my list.



Any of you "read" audiobooks? I do a lot. My job often requires me to work for hours with little concentration, so I like to kill two birds with one stone. Some narrators are pretty bring, but others are absolutely fantastic!

Mostly, actually. I have an audible membership for at least 7 years, probably more.
Currently in the middle of The Prince of Nothing, "The Warrior Prophet". I'm enjoying it, but it's a little hard to follow. The timing is a little off in my opinion. Lengthy descriptions and introspections often hide important plot points. Makes it pretty hard as an audiobook. But if I get in the beat with it it's a good series. And I like the middle eastern setting.

cloudscapes wrote:Any of you "read" audiobooks? I do a lot. My job often requires me to work for hours with little concentration, so I like to kill two birds with one stone. Some narrators are pretty bring, but others are absolutely fantastic!

I've got a friend who does that a lot and loves it. But he's a concept artist and can work efficiently while doing that most of the time.
I'm mostly doing programming and there's no way I can listen to an audiobook while doing anything productive. My work needs the same parts of my brain, sadly .

oscillateur wrote:I've got a friend who does that a lot and loves it. But he's a concept artist and can work efficiently while doing that most of the time.
I'm mostly doing programming and there's no way I can listen to an audiobook while doing anything productive. My work needs the same parts of my brain, sadly .

Yep, that's my experience as well. I'm an artist, usually it means I can be both job-artful and listen to/be able to imagine the stuff narrated. Probably like your concept artist. Must be a visual-brain kind of neural thing. But if I have a task that requires me to do writing/reading, or even coding in the case of my personal hobbies, my brain just shuts down if I have an audiobook playing. Gotta turn that shit off in those cases

As you say, probably something to do with parts of the brain.

Starting the Malazan Book of the Fallen

I'm a little over halfway through Wanderer by Sterling Hayden. You may remember him as the Captain McCluskey in The Godfather, or General Ripper from Dr Strangelove, but he was also a pretty good writer. The book is part memoir, part travelogue, and all a search for a meaningful life. It's a rare Hollywood memoir that's enjoyable even if you don't know who he is.

Oh, and he was also Johnny Guitar...

GardenoftheDead wrote:Starting the Malazan Book of the Fallen

Wow, I've never heard of this series or world or author. Wikipedia has me intrigued - please post again when you can conclude if it's or not!

Currently reading Some of the Best from Tor.com.

http://www.tor.com/2015/01/06/some-of-the-best-from-torcom-2014-is-free-to-download-now/

Generally high quality selection of authors, more diverse than most anthologies. And utterly free, which goes a long way these days.

A really great palate cleanser after finally finishing Heart of Darkness, something like 20 years after it was first assigned to me.

I've been reading Emily Dickinson for the last couple of days. Non stop. So depressing. Send help.

UglyCasanova wrote:Non stop. So depressing. Send help.

That sounds like a message modern day Pippi Longstockings would find in a bottle.