Wax

You have it in you... you are probably the most prolific reader in the thread!

Probably why they wouldn’t put ratings on their stuff. So hard to pick without researching everything

Saw 20 minutes of Polar... such a terrible D grade movie on netflix. Honestly why did anyone bother to make it. Truly a waste... I want my 20 minutes back

Listened to Phil in the blanks (podcast) with Dr Phil McGraw and Steve Harvey. Steve was brilliant and very open in the interview.

I am nearly at the end of book 1, and I couldn’t do it anymore, ie deal with the suspense. So, I went to wikipedia and read all the plot summaries to book 3. I had figured who the three women were quite early. Overall, the Broken Earth is a good book. The melancholy/factual tone of the narrator reminds me of the Ancillary series that came out a few years aho.

Thanks. Even I am concerned about making unreasonable requests taking up too much time. Hence, the bookmarks idea. I acknowledge that the shardcast at times jumps around with topics. But, I am happy even if I am getting 80% of the discussion. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Even if there a list posted:- (Made up timings below) 15:00 cosmere 35:00 reckoners 55:00 mistborn 1:10 Other long term projects 1:20 funny bits All books have an index, so all I am asking is some way to skip to the sections I am interested in.

Guys ... you really need. 15-20 minute version of this. Like a shardcast highlights reel. With kids running around the house and other stuff, it’s tricky to find the whole 1.5 hours to listen to it (and I was really only into cosmere... having read the SoS). or just post the bookmarks (yes, I am lazy), so I can just drag the slider to it

See, the problems with comparisons is that unless they fit exactly, they end up confusing. The fall of hyperion resolved the original characters of Hyperion, but the next two books were clearly enjoyable and did bring it things to a close eg So, I wouldn’t call star wars a good comparison. I think we’ll have to agree to disagree that book 3 and 4 are worth reading or not.

The final two books in the series are Endymion (book 3) and the rise of Endymion (book 4). They are actually pretty good books. I would say the book 1 had so much set up involved, that you don’t get real enjoyment till you hit book 2. But please don’t listen to the idea that book 3 and book 4 are bad. They are pretty good and a bit of fresh air after the heaviness of the first 2 books. Yes, a few things are tricky as the @TheOoklaThatComesBefore says. But here’s the thing, book 3 and book 4 give you a warmer feeling than the first 2 books. That’s all I am willing to say so that you don’t look for the flaws but enjoy the Hyperion Cantos as a whole. Plus you’ve already got the set, so do go ahead and read it. Seriously, even knowing what issues are being mentioned obliquely here, I don’t regret reading book 3 and 4 and would still recommend it if you can get to book 2. Book 1 was the challenge. It gets progressively easier after that. Also, book 2 doesn’t complete the series. Book 4 does.

TBH, guards guards felt a little unpolished as it was start of the arc. It was superb in the next book in the arc - feet of clay, where AI and sentience was explored by using golems. So, it only gets better.

I got in trouble with six of crows fanboys when I mentioned that’s it’s a bit childish.

Read Honor Harrington I think up to book 5 or 6. In the end, I gave up as all the books are pretty similar, with Honor coming up with a fighting tactic to win in the end. Just boring... Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series, Alistair Reynolds, Peter F Hamilton et al do much better sci fi books.

Just finished Hank Green’s book (brother of John Green). Was pretty good. He doesn’t write great insights or a cool turn of phrase but has a more distinctive and an attractive writing style. Brilliant light sci fi. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24233708

Warching world war 2 in colour documentary (13 Episodes) - great visuals of the real world war. Astounding how many people died in it. Really brought a tear to my eye seeing the details of the german concentration camps. I am watching on netflix but also seems to be on youtube in full.

Isn’t Paatji an inanimate island with investitutre?

Audiobooks are great. Very good for time poor people like me who can’t sit down to read a book and soak up each word. On the negative, if your attention wanders, you can miss a few lines. But, on the positive, the emotional impact is greater due to the addition of of voice. The Tyn-Shallan confrontation in WoR set my heart racing. The call to Shallan to run away when facing the midnight darkness shocked me. I am surprised that so many people are commenting on the szeth issue now. I remember being almost the sole voice in the threads complaining about Szeth. The man was instrumental in so many deaths, so many monarchs dying, et al. Hell he killed Dalinar’s brother besides attacks on him. Too easy to explain it away. I am sure BS will come out with an explanation, but it should have been done in OB or his scene guarding Dalinar could have been held off. In part, I blame the beta readers for not raising it. I did ask during the AMA for beta readers and it was confirmed that they did not point the crater sized hole called Szeth’s rehabilitation.

It’s almost one year and I thought about reminiscing the Oathbringer release, the anticipation leading up to it, the reading experience and feelings one year on. Words of Radiance was a real all time winner. I listened to it countless times on audio. I looked forward to the next book, but the weekly chapter release really amped up the anticipation. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to download the audio at the release time. It was a couple of hours late and so I bought the kindle version first to make sure I was straight into the unreleased chapters. As soon as the audio was downloaded I was on the audio. When I couldn’t listen any more I was straight back on to the kindle. In between, I would log on to post commentaries on each part. I don’t think I’ve annotated fiction books before this one. But some of the writing was gorgeous and some brutal. At times it dragged. But it was glorious all the way. I reread/reheard OB 2-3 times... One year on, I don’t feel the urge to reread OB or WoR. I am waiting for SA4, but it’s not the same any more. What are your guys thoughts?

I would like some more info to confirm if it is worth reading. See, I am troubled by this part of the blurb It sounds like the “revolution” can’t happen without a particular sword. That’s a bit silly sounding. Can you confirm if the sword is more ancillary to the whole thing? Or is it a central device here like a nuclear bomb.

The Good Place season 3. The first two seasons were good but with season 3, I think it’s probably winding down.

Badminton.. you know, like with a racquet and a shuttle?

That’s a good one. My most memorable ones in the discworld series are below. In brackets are the themes touched upon. Feet of Clay (nod to AI, slavery) Night Watch (time travel, back to the future) Thud! (Racial tension) The Wee Free Men (patronising of children)

Discworld is written in arcs. Main Arcs Rincewind City Guards (captain Vimes) Death Weatherwax Witches Tiffany Aching (witches feature prominently - think of it as Arc 2 of the witches) Moist Von Lipwig Side arcs Monks wizards of university others (monstrous regiment, etc) ——— The way the arcs work is the main protaganist has the entire book and the other main arc heroes might usually a 1 paragraph scene, eg stan lee in marvel movies. So, tried and trusted method is to go in discworld book publication order. However, if you are in to a particular arc, you can choose to skip a middle side novel to continue on the arc without much loss. For example, captain Vimes is the most consistent and possibly the best arc of the lot. But, if you want to finish the Vimes story, you can concentrate on the arc, and skip the side arc books until after you finish with Vimes. I know I wanted to finish the Vimes series but kept getting sporadic monk books in the middle.

Just finished the Rysa Walker’s Delphi Adept series (urban fantasy/sci fi). It’d be science fiction but the sci fi bit was on the soft side. Always has been about the prose and the drama but as usual she delivered with a good triology. Definitely something that the fans of the hunger games would like.

What a ho-hum book that was... Anyway, I started reading “Have sword, will travel” by Garth Nix... and this news popped out... https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/8-old-swedish-girl-plucked-074229013.html Texas sharpshooter fallacy / confirmation bias - here I come