I read the book, and tried to get my parents and wife to watch the movie. They quit after the scene in the house where the family cooks unexpectedly return.
But Peter Watts still manages to remain bleaker in outlook.
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Have read the book, it didnāt send me out wanting to see the film.
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I donāt remember this. Will have to re-read. Damn you!
I should go read his new (to me) stuff. Didnāt know there was a sequel to Blindsight.
The previous stack from the library:
Ghost Rider is by Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart, describing his attempts at self-salvation following a truly unspeakable year. I donāt think a person can ever get over what happened to him, but you can give yourself some distance, which he did by spending months on a BMW R1100GS crossing continents. (Motorcycle people here ā @jlw, @Wanderfound, others ā might want to know about his writing.)
Before that was Bacigalupiās The Water Knife and Schneierās Data and Goliath and Beyond Fear. Data and Goliath I ended up skimming since, as a BB reader, I felt up to date with most of the issues he presented, although his suggested solutions were worth reading in depth.
The current stack from the library:
Cialdiniās Influence was acquired by the library at my suggestion, which I thought was very cool of them. Iām having trouble getting through it though because Iām dueling with someone else for the opportunity to read it. I check it out and bring it home, where I start on it in a few days after whatever Iām already reading. By then someone else has placed a hold on it, which means I canāt renew it, and back it goes until I can get it again (because my hold has kicked in and stopped the other guy from renewing it).
I found out about Old Manās War because Cory mentioned it, it was fun and had some new ideas in it, worth reading. You canāt see the title on Nunbergās book, thatās The Years of Talking Dangerously. I find myself wishing for an audiobook because Nunberg is so good at reading his own work, like when he does segments for Fresh Air.
Todayās haul from a library used book sale:
That should keep me busy for a couple days (years, decades).
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It turns out this collection has another Darger and Surplus story about them running the black money con against a trio of powerful crooks in New Orleans, so my jonesing is temporarily abated.
Iāve read Eating the Dinosaur, a collection of essays.
On paper, it sounded right up my alley, but ultimately I didnāt like it much - found his style too aggressively clever/showy, hyperbolically irreverent, etc. Draws a lot of fun-but-basically-inane links between unconnected topics. Trying WAY too hard to be gonzo, imho.
Itās the kind of stuff that can be a blast in short doses (e.g. magazines, where most of it originally appeared, to be fair) but painful in bulk. Your mileage may of course vary dramatically.
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Cool stacks! Iām also reading Shock Doctrine (several years late, I know) 
Enjoying it, if thatās the right word, but also mixing it up with Moby Dick for diversion from the āweāre so screwedā realisations it elicits.
Occasionally for diversion from the Great Whale Iām dipping into Rob Newmanās Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution, which is a fun quasi-rebuttal of Dawkins.
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Weirdly, for a guy who actively dislikes the sea, boats, and such, I freakinā love Conradās work. Victory is possibly my fave book of all time.
I mention this because I recall that Nostromo, while being very tedious initially, really grew on me to a massive extent and is definitely one I plan to reread after the appropriate interim.
Never tried Lord Jim, I must admit. Heart of Darkness obviously gets all the adulation but I have it in a cheap edition with a wonderful novella called Youth which is deeply entrancing and beautiful.
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Thanksā¦ Iāll keep that in mind. Maybe Iāll check it out of the library rather than buying a copyā¦
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I finished Ancillary Mercyā¦and was a left a bit nonplussed. I enjoyed it but I was kind of expecting more of a conclusion. I guess this way thereās scope to write lots more novels.
Next up is Gaimanās The Ocean at the End of the Lane, but am also trying to read The Hobbit to junior. We got about halfway through chapter one before he fell asleep when we started, so it might take a whileā¦
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One of the worst books I have dragged myself through, ever. Just awful. Get out while you still can!
Iām still giving Infinite Jest the stinkeye myself. So far, not a fan, despite really liking all the other David Foster Wallace Iāve ever read.
Recently finished Bealeās workworking book. Re-read the first three Earthseas and Night in the Lonesome October because they came up in conversation. Just started The Accursed Kings with Wilderness next up.
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Very difficult book to read aloud. I did it for my kids, and it took about a year, and was painful.
Right now, Iām enjoying it, and itās sending him to sleep, so Iāll take that!
Infinite Jest was hard work but I think it was worth it for me. The only other thing of DFWās Iāve read is Oblivion (I will read A Supposedly Fun Thing Iāll Never Do Again, I just havenāt yet. Itās on the list)
I havenāt read One Hundred Years of Solitude, but I really should, because I adored Love in the Time of Cholera.
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Oh! I loved 100 Years! So crazyā¦ Like a Herzog film on drugs, without the pervasive despair.
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I read IJ first, and after that the other works were easier lol. I still havenāt made it through White Noise or Gravās Rainbow though.
Currently reading the second book of āThe Black Companyā. My friend recomended it. Sometimes I think forums and blogs and mobile video have broken my attention span for longer forms.
I liked 100yrs and donāt remember it being slow, but I was reading a lot back then.
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Interesting difference in our reactions!
I loved the climax and ending of Ancillary Mercy, which made the whole trilogy drop into place for me. To me it was āOMG, Breq and the Pretzker have just invented The Culture!ā (From Iain Banksās Culture SF novels, that is.) It suddenly throws all the parts of the Radch into a new relation to each other.
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I read it to my sprog when he was in Kindergartenā¦ he wasnāt so sure with the slowish start but once things started happening he didnāt want me to stop reading for the evening.
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Glen Cookās Black Company, not the historical Schwartzen Haufen? I liked those better than anything else heās written, read the whole set.
The first David Foster Wallace story I read was in an obscure college(?) literary zine I found for a dollar in a junk shop. It was āThe Girl with Curious Hairā which read like Chuck Palahniukās nightmares. Many years later I discovered that other people knew who DFW was, and that a story collection had been published with TGwCH as the title piece. So I read that collection, Consider the Lobster, This is Water, and also his (truly excellent) Everything and More and enjoyed them all. But Infinite Jest just isnāt working for me, except possibly as a sleep aid. The book makes Dumas and Dostoevsky seem terse.
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Stumbled on All You Need Is Kill at the library yesterday and just finished it now. Probably would have finished it earlier if I wasnāt distracting myself. It is the source for Edge Of Tomorrow.
A soldier finds himself stuck in a loop of fighting the same battle over and over and needs to figure out how to break out of the loop. A good fast paced and interesting read.
As I am wary of anything with Tom Cruise in it I am tempted to get the film now. Has anyone here seen it?
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