I know Greg is in a reading club with some old friends and wanted to know which books he's been reading. So far, I've got:
Ubik - PKD
Piranesi - Clarke
Old Man's War - Scalzi
Any others?
Probably books from his guests
Hilarious, yes, I had a great group of friends in San Diego and I'm not the only one to have kids/move away. We started a book club to stay in touch and just have something to do in our new lonely lives. It's 4 guys, and we rotate our picks. Since you're curious, this is what we've done so far and I'll even rate them.
Michael Crichton - Sphere 8/10
PKF - Ubik (mine) 8/10
Kurt Vonnegut - Look At The Birdie (short story collection) 6/10
Piranesi - Susanne Clarke 9/10
Robopocalypse - Daniel Wilson 8/10
The Library At Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (mine) 9.5/10
Old Man's War - John Scalzi 8.5/10 (Not finished yet)
with the next on deck being:
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
I liked Library At Mount Char more than any fictional book I've read in a decade, and I'd say the same about Piranesi. Both are very bizarre and unique.
I also started Wool, but just couldn't keep up with the book club stuff so I just switched to the show. It's decent, but slow at parts and focuses too much on romances/relationships rather than the big questions, but I get it, you got to keep people on the hook. Let me know if you have any recs!
@thecarlwood thanks for the list and the ratings! Piranesi was very bizarre, Old Man's War is quite provocative. I'm pretty sure you also recommended Solaris by Stanislaw Lem, which I found more than thought-provoking but soul-provoking.
2 of my favorites along the lines of esoteric fiction (or is it?) epic tales:
I just started Piranesi after hearing how highly you spoke of it. I'm only a handful of pages in, but I really like it so far.
@kingofkentucky Heck yeah. Granted my fiction experience is very limited, it just felt fresh to me. If you already like the language of it, that's great. The weird wording seems like the main thing that could turn someone off. Library At Mt. Char next!
@thecarlwood
Here's my Shakespeare/Brave New World (Order) analysis you might find relevant.
Obviously BNW is actually a line from the Tempest but reading and comprehending Shakespeare is a major plot point of the novel - and there are plenty of rabbit holes to explore.
Socio linguistic programming, Marshall McLuhan, George HW Bush, - this episode's for you Greg. My channel mainly does Shakespeare Authorship Questioning (we're group theorists but I can get John Dee in the room for you) but I'm bridging our thesis to my love of the larger conspiracy/skeptic community.
Enjoy.
"O, Brave New World (Order)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kpQjrWqCG4
@thecarlwood I'm definitely gonna check out Library at Mount Char. I'd never heard of it but after I looked it up it sounds amazing.
Love the idea of a higherside chats book club involving the community and what we and greg and the guests are reading.
