This thread.

To get myself acquainted with Houston, I'm reading:

And for kicks:

And for the future:

Right now I am reading the "battery insertion proceedure" for the new vibrator.

Neal Stephenson, The System of the World -- Volume Three of the Baroque Cycle

Dude. Do it. This is by far his silliest effort yet. I've laughed more times than I can count. Great way to end the day.

I think the cheapest way to get them (besides borrowing them from the library) is the trade paperback -- the small paperbacks are coming out in 8 volumes (vice three). I got the hardbacks.

Just got this new Murakami, I'm on the 2nd story:

Also, re-reading this one, first time I read it: high school!, man does time changes prospective on readings or what...:

Just got done with finals...so fuck books for like a few days or so

And

More info here.

I also picked this large-format photo book up as well:

I read it for the articles, really, I do.

I am between books at the mo'. Feel free to make suggestions from the following:

Robert Ludlum

Tad Williams -- probably the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn cycle, as I already read the Otherland cycle and Tailchaser's Song

something else

memory, sorry and thorn is by FAR his best, in my opinion.

Tad Williams writes whiny farm boy becomes wizzzard characters. I can't stand whiny characters.

Currently reading:

Really great book so far.

So to you Neil Stephenson fans. First, I have the Baroque Cycle Trilogy on my shelves, but I have never read them. I am sure I will love it, I just have yet to pick them up. Your positive comments are making me want to. Second, years ago I tried to read Snow Crash and just couldn't really get into it. However, I heard the sci-fi channel is making a mini series out of his book, Diamond Age, so I just got that from amazon and will probably read it soon. Any thoughts on Diamond Age or comparisons of it to Snow Crash?

Casual:

NPR's Guide to Classical Music

What to Listen For In Music - Aaron Copland

Study:

USMLE Board Review for the Step 2

Diamond Age is a completely different story from Snowcrash, and in some ways, I like it better. It's not "cyberpunk" the way Snowcrash is, but it's still sci-fi. I don't think you'll have the same trouble getting into it the way you did with Snowcrash. You might have different trouble, but you won't have the same trouble.

I liked tailchasers song, but tad williams isn't really all that great IMO.

Some recommendations:

R. A. MacAvoy - Trio for Lute is my favourite, but it is all good stuff. Tends to be rather hard to find.

Guy Gavriel Kay - Anything, but I like Tigana and the Fionavar Tapestry the best.

Judith Tarr - The Hound and the Falcon is a good place to start.

David and Leigh Eddings - Belgariad and Mallorean series' - The best written wars I've read in a fantasy work. Redemption for Althalus is pretty good too. Stay clear of the Sparhawk crap.

I'm reading Ted Dekker's 'White' right now. My Mom sent me the Circle series for christmas. It's not too bad.

That short edit window is really irritating...

A couple things I wanted to add:

RE:MacAvoy --- A Trio for Lute is an omnibus of the Damiano series.

RE:Tarr --- I haven't read any of her newer stuff, but all of her older 'real world with a fantasy flavour' novels are among my favourites.

Oh, and I am assuming you've read Heinlein. If you haven't read Job: A Comedy of Justice, it has a fantasy feel to it and is my favourite book by him.

but he grows as a character and quits being whiny.

Diamond Age is completely different from Snow Crash, but every bit as good. it's more or less hard sci-fi, but very witty.

True about Williams, I just have a hard time dealing with the whininess while it is occurring. There are sooo many fantastic SFF books out there to choose from, so I choose not to spend my reading time on books with whiny characters -- even if that whininess goes away after a few hundred pages. See also Kate Eliots Crown of Stars. I couldn't get through book one with the female lead's "woe is me" mentality. I mean true, she was a slave to an evil priest who beat and raped her, but I like my heros to cowboy up and go apeshit on their antagonists instead of feeling sorry for themselves and letting those feelings spiral down into inaction, which results in a stalling plot device that makes me queasy. "i would save my friend from the evil dragon, but my fear of my abusive relationship is preventing me from taking action, so my friend will die and I'll have something else to beat myself up over"

I'm stoked about Diamond Age. I hear it deals more with nanotech then with VR/cyberspace, which is cool because I am not the biggest fan of virtual worlds in books.

I did finish Eifelheim last night, all in all this was a very cool book. Not perfect, and a bit tedious in places, but the characters were wonderfully written, and by the end I was feeling great empathy and emotion for them. The basic plot (no spoilers) is that our first contact with aliens actually occurred in a small german village in the middle ages. Really the most fascinating part of the book was reading about how people viewed religion and science in that era. They had no conflict studying science with religion - all religious scholars were required to be rigorously educated in mathematics and science - the humanities were NOT taught. The people of course were extremely Christian, but wouldn't accept "because God willed it" as an answer to any scientific question. Therefore, there was no real conflict between religion and science. They would be puzzled, for example, by todays creationists.

Good read if you are in the mood for a rather densely written, but short lengthwise, historical story with aliens.

Not sure what I'm moving onto now, maybe the Stephenson or maybe more of The Dresden Files, which I'm hooked on.

I'm stoked about Diamond Age. I hear it deals more with nanotech then with VR/cyberspace, which is cool because I am not the biggest fan of virtual worlds in books.

Mm...no promises. It does have a certain amount of a VR world in it. Forewarned is forearmed and all that. I don't remember much nanotech, but I could be wrong. It's been long enough that I could probably re-read that book right now.

I just have a hard time dealing with the whininess while it is occurring.

So...you hated Dante's Inferno? I don't mind suffering as long as it is ultimately either redemptive or tragic or somehow else dramatic.

I should also mention the last thing I read (after the Baroque cycle -- which is excellent beyond words, but is a long and difficult read for some reason, probably the language) was the 30 Days of Night -related novel, Rumors of the Undead. Took me about ten days to read/finish. Probably not the best place to start in the 30 Days of Night world, but a good read if you've already read everything else (30 Days of Night, Dark Days, Return to Barrow, Bloodsucker Tales, etc.), as most, if not all of those other stories are spoiled in this one.

...oh, hot shit, they're making it into a movie...

Diamond Age is filled with nanotech.

Okay, that just means I need to re-read it.

pfft, i loved that series in third grade.

Sorry... but after reading the Belgariad and Mallorean series' it just seems like a bad copy of what they already did. Maybe if I read the Sparhawk series' first it would be a different story.