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The finalists for the 2015 Hugo Awards were announced on April 4, 2015. Who deserves the prize for Best Novel?
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Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.
-- H. L. Mencken
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday May 28 2015, @11:20PM
Once I got caught up on the Wheel of Time Series, I got that next Hard Cover edition as soon as I could. Now it's done and there's certainly no more books to be released by that author. I did grab the first book of the Stormlight Archives, but haven't rushed out to get the next one. It was fairly good though. I am the purchaser of books at our Library, but it's an Academic Library. The problem with books is any crazy person can write a book and just because it sells well doesn't mean it's a good book. Please see the Eragon series for further education on that subject. I typically don't read/spend a lot of money on new books as that would get expensive. I just got done with a month's binge of re-reading/purchasing each Wheel of Time book on my Nook Simple Touch. In contrast I have 900+ hours on Terraria. I payed something like $5 for 4 copies of that game. Lots more bang for your buck. Not to mention there are a ton of classics on Gutenberg that I haven't read yet. I recently started "Narrative of the life of David Crockett" by Himself http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37925/37925-h/37925-h.htm/ [gutenberg.org] and found it to be a rather interesting read. As far as places to find good new books, I just usually hit up Barnes and Noble and / or Amazon. I like going through the 0.00 books on my e-reader, but most of it is romance/erotica.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday June 02 2015, @01:54PM
I chugged through the Wheel of Time series for a while, enduring the numerous slow parts, but the 7th book did me in.
I used to think it wouldn't be in the bookstore if it wasn't good. But then I picked up the Iron Tower trilogy and was appalled at what a naked rip of Tolkien it was. Using the bestseller list as a guide, I eventually got around to L. Ron Hubbard's stuff, and was disappointed to say the least. Later, I learned that his followers had manipulated the bestseller lists by repeatedly buying his works. They would never have made #1 otherwise. Now I hear that the Hugo Awards have been gamed in similar fashion, and that's why such crap is on the shortlist.
Yes, definitely spending my leisure time more on games and less on fiction. As you say, another factor is price. Around 1980 to 1982, a paperback was $2. Then publishers started raising prices, bumping it by 50 cents every year until it crossed the $5 point around 1990, and kept right on going until reaching $7 to $8. That was a faster rise than the rate of inflation. I became more conservative, buying only authors I liked. I tried used bookstores, but they're too hit or miss, was too hard to find the books I sought. Finally I quit buying.
I've also become more critical. As a teen, I thought Sword of Shannara was pretty good, despite being a little too similar to Lord of the Rings. Rereading parts of it again years later, I was shocked at how bad the writing was. Why didn't I see that the first time?
I also don't want to devote even more room, more shelf space, to more paper books. Technology could really help with that, and lots of other aspects of writing and library management, if allowed. Oh well, books were fun while it lasted.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday June 02 2015, @06:39PM
I agree that the Wheel of Time Series was a bit long winded at times. The last 3 books that were co-authored by Brandon Sanderson were actually much better paced. Less describing of the minutiae and a lot more action / story. I have recently bought a few Humble Bundle Book Bundles. While the quality is hit and miss, it's decently cheap and are DRM Free. Usually you can get access to epub and PDF versions. Sometimes they have mobi versions and the comices usually have cbz as well. I got a good bit of the way through L. E. Modesitt, Jr.'s "Saga of Recluse". It's a fairly good / fun / engrossing read. I don't remember which book I stopped on and never got around to figuring it out. It didn't help that I started reading another series of books at the time. For the life of me I can't remember the name of that series. It had an interesting version of magic / technology. The main character starts out on a homestead where he raises sheep that have extremely tough wool that is used for armor, etc. It was also a fun read, but again I have no idea which book I stopped on. I should have all the books, but that would take a bit more time than I care to spend on it now. The nice thing about buying Tor books on my Nook is that they are DRM Free as well. I can back them up and read them elsewhere, if I so desire.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday June 07 2015, @11:39AM
WRT price, I find it fascinating that for decades the price of a mid-range restaurant cheezeburger is roughly the price of a paperback book. Has something to do with the cost of shipping a given mass and volume, and the amount of water and crude oil needed to make it, or something like that.
Not being more expensive than other stuff doesn't help if median standard of living peaked in 1970 for energy reasons. Then its just one more expensive thing. But it does show its not unusually expensive compared to stuff in completely unrelated industries. Its not like higher ed increasing in price 10%/yr "because they know the .gov will pay up no matter what". Book price increases are legitimate.
Oh well, books were fun while it lasted.
My public library has about 32K sci fi volumes or at least it did last time I went. Thats based on over 1000 books per tall double sided book shelf four book case long and about eight rows of sci fi. Most are older shovelware not worth reading, but there is also plenty of good stuff, all free. I'm not sure there's 32K titles worth stocking; there is substantial duplication, they must have a half dozen copies of Dune.
Also my local used book store sells for somewhat less than half price and their purchase price handles the cost of gas and sales tax, so its still cheaper than amazon. Admittedly half price means you get last decade's books for last decades price, today, so its still not free but not awful.