Swarm Book Club

[Jim Prather]

Has anyone else read The Three Body Problem? A really fascinating piece of hard SF...

 

[slugboy]

Finished “Invasive” by Chuck Wendig. Sci Fi mystery, current day. Kind of the theme you’d get in a Michael Crichton book, but different style
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27213152-invasive

Also finished an older book—“Last Chance to See” by Douglas Adams. It’s non-fiction by the writer of Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, where he travels the world to see species before they go extinct.
A lot of the animals he saw are now extinct
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8696.Last_Chance_to_See?ac=1&from_search=true



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[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

There is a trick to reading Les Miserables.... Read every other chapter... One chapter will be story and the next will be the author's commentary on the politics of the day... The story chapters are really interesting, but the soapbox chapters are a tough slog... Give the every other chapter method a try and you may be surprised...

You are right about that for the most part. But with only 100 or so pages left, I should be able to read all of it if I just sit down and do it. Since I made my post, I called an Augusta bookstore close to me to see if they have "A Column of Fire". They did not, but they are ordering it for me. That will be my project for the rest of July, if not the rest of the summer. Maybe reading that will get me going again. BTW, watching the superb PBS miniseries on "Les Mis" back in May really made me want to finish the book. Hopefully I will do that this summer also.

 

[Jim Prather]

You are right about that for the most part. But with only 100 or so pages left, I should be able to read all of it if I just sit down and do it. Since I made my post, I called an Augusta bookstore close to me to see if they have "A Column of Fire". They did not, but they are ordering it for me. That will be my project for the rest of July, if not the rest of the summer. Maybe reading that will get me going again. BTW, watching the superb PBS miniseries on "Les Mis" back in May really made me want to finish the book. Hopefully I will do that this summer also.

I didn’t even know about A Column of Fire. I loved the first two books. I’ll have to go find that one.
If you ever have a chance, each of the first two books have been turned into a miniseries. They are really well done! Periodically they pop up on either PBS or Starz Even having seen them before I will record them and rewatch them.

 

[MWBATL]

Has anyone else read The Three Body Problem? A really fascinating piece of hard SF...

Yes, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have not yet read the next book in the series (I am not even certain it is out yet) but that was a very good read by a Chinese sci-fi author.

 

[GTpdm]

Yes, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have not yet read the next book in the series (I am not even certain it is out yet) but that was a very good read by a Chinese sci-fi author.

I finished the whole trilogy this past Spring (The Three-Body Problem - The Dark Forest -Death’s End). It was a very...different...sort of science fiction. Not sure how I feel about the final ending, but it definitely takes you in unexpected directions at various points.

All in all, well worth the read, for all three novels.

 

[Jim Prather]

I finished the whole trilogy this past Spring (The Three-Body Problem - The Dark Forest -Death’s End). It was a very...different...sort of science fiction. Not sure how I feel about the final ending, but it definitely takes you in unexpected directions at various points.

All in all, well worth the read, for all three novels.

So I will keep harping on this book... If you liked The Three-Body Problem, the next book you should read is Anathem by Neal Stephenson. It’s a little slow at first while he is building his world, but once he hits critical mass watch out... The book runs close to 1000 pages and when it finished I was disappointed it was so short.
I have since reread it another 5-6 times

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I didn’t even know about A Column of Fire. I loved the first two books. I’ll have to go find that one.
If you ever have a chance, each of the first two books have been turned into a miniseries. They are really well done! Periodically they pop up on either PBS or Starz Even having seen them before I will record them and rewatch them.

I only became aware of the 3rd book last night, and I immediately ordered a copy. It was just printed in September, 2017, so it's obviously a pretty new book.
I was not aware that either of the first two books had been turned into miniseries. I can't believe I missed them, because I would have gladly watched both of them. I will have to check for re-runs.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I didn’t even know about A Column of Fire. I loved the first two books. I’ll have to go find that one.
If you ever have a chance, each of the first two books have been turned into a miniseries. They are really well done! Periodically they pop up on either PBS or Starz Even having seen them before I will record them and rewatch them.

Well, as it turns out both miniseries are being replayed on STARZ tomorrow morning and Tuesday morning. So I have set up my DVR to record them for binge watching later. I am puzzled by one thing though: one website for Pillars indicates that there are 9 episodes, and another one says only 8. STARZ is showing only 8, so will I be missing one, or was the site that indicated 9 incorrect?

 

[Jim Prather]

Well, as it turns out both miniseries are being replayed on STARZ tomorrow morning and Tuesday morning. So I have set up my DVR to record them for binge watching later. I am puzzled by one thing though: one website for Pillars indicates that there are 9 episodes, and another one says only 8. STARZ is showing only 8, so will I be missing one, or was the site that indicated 9 incorrect?

I think the 9 was incorrect... I only remember 8...

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I think the 9 was incorrect... I only remember 8...

I think you are right. We shall see. Thanks for letting me know that the two series might be on STARZ. Just on a lark, I checked, and lo and behold, there they were and are both on this week.

 

[Milwaukee]

Finally got around to finishing Sapiens. It was a very painful read. The beginning and end were very interesting with a few hundred pages of snooze in the middle.

Starting Black Flags by Joby Warrick

 

[Jim Prather]

Has anyone else read Anathem by Neal Stephenson? I absolutely LOVE that book (I've probably read it 6-7 times), but I've never met anyone else who has ever read it...

 

[MWBATL]

Has anyone else read Anathem by Neal Stephenson? I absolutely LOVE that book (I've probably read it 6-7 times), but I've never met anyone else who has ever read it...

I got it and read about the first 30 pages or so, and just found myself bored silly.......so put it down and have not picked it back up. It struck me as fantasy, not sci-fi, and I am not much of a fantasy fan...but admittedly 30 pages doesn't count for much....

 

[Jim Prather]

I know, the book is very slow for the first 150-200 pages... I almost put it down myself. Once the author finishes building his world though, his book is really good...

 

[Techster]

Since a lot of us will have time on our hands, and in the spirit of the "New Movies" and "Good TV Shows", what's everyone currently reading, or does anyone have good book recommendations. Fiction or Nonfiction.

 

[jwsavhGT]

Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire series.
https://www.craigallenjohnson.com/

C.J. Box Joe Pickett series.
http://www.cjbox.net/new-page

Edit: You would definitely want to start at the beginning of each series.

 

[Jim Prather]

I never read the books, but the Longmire TV show is excellent!

 

[slugboy]

I’m actually reading this right now (yikes! a math book): https://g.co/kgs/ficWpY
Things to make and do in the fourth dimension, by Matt Parker.

For graphic novels, I just finished Velvet by Ed Brubaker, Daytripper by Fabio Moon, and The Massive by Brian Wood.

Stephen King got into crime stories, and wrote a series starting with “Mr. Mercedes”. Also read NOS4A2 by Joe Hill.

“Wanderers” by Chuck Wendig is really good. Post-apocalyptic, though. The Newsflesh series by Mira Grant also falls into pretty well-written post-apocalyptic zombie fiction.


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[jwsavhGT]

Of course, if current events aren't enough for you...Stephen King's "The Stand"