Category: Books

Books I’m reading/have read

Robert J. Sawyer, Pakistan, Synchronicity and Last Minute Changes

Sohaib Athar1 Comment

Robert J. Sawyer, winner (and multiple times nominee) of Hugo and Nebula awards, has become one of my favorite science fiction authors recently. I was reading one of his novels "Flashback" last week, and noticed a small mistake where it said:

"Islamabad, Pakistan (autotranslated from the original Arabic): In my vision, I have two arms-but today, I have only one (I am a veteran of the India-Pakistan ground war)."

The above sentence implied that Arabic (and not Urdu) is the language spoken in Pakistan, which comes as no surprise as a lot of Americans think we are part of the Middle Eastern Arab nations (I've been called a towel-head in jest more than once before I corrected their misconceptions).

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The Wheel of Time

Sohaib Athar1 Comment

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend.  Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.  In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose… The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of time. But it was a beginning."

Ouch! Robert Jordan, the author of the 12 volume 'The Wheel of Time' saga, died last week, which is sadly ironic, as the Wheel of Time didn't let him finish the last book in the series. I read 11 of the 12 books last year, around 10,000 pages, and was waiting for the last book – now the millions of scifi and fantasy fans will have to settle with someone else telling the story that he began. Makes me want to pray for the health of the other dozen authors with unfinished stories that I'm reading … at least until they write the last book in the series … after that, they can go to hell.

My Obligatory Harry Potter Post

ReallyVirtual

Yes I read it.
No, it wasn’t anything exceptional, just a typical end to a boilerplate fantasy tale with all the right ingredients.
No, I didn’t spot any genius in the writing.
No, I don’t see what the fuss is all about.
Yes, I feel that every blog post (this one included) that has nothing intelligent to say should be considered spam.
No, I don’t want to hear about how bad your last few hours were while you waited for the book to arrive.
Yes, I’m glad its finally over.
No, I won’t watch the movie.
Yes, Rowling loves you.

Book Sequels Suck

Sohaib Athar

I stopped watching TV more than 5 years ago, and never had a regret. A combination of DVDs, RSS Feeds and books gives a much better value-for-money (assuming time is money) than surfing 100+ cable channels, and (mostly) no ads.

I have one complaint though, the life cycle of a good scifi series or saga is much longer than a TV show. The Dark Tower (Stephen King) finally ended (in a recursion) last year, and Harry Potter will finally end this month. That still leaves me waiting for

    A Song of Ice and Fire (George R. R. Martin)
    Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan)
    Ender (Orson Scott Card)
    Alvin Maker (Orson Scott Card)
    Harry Potter (J. K. Rowling)
    Miles Vorkosigan (Lois McMaster Bujold)
    Saga of Seven Suns (Kevin J. Anderson)

Now, when I pick up a (fiction) book, I make sure it is either a stand-alone novel, or a complete set of novels. I installed the Facebook Visual Bookshelf application last week, and wasted an hour trying to remember the books I read last year. Shelfari and LibraryThing are other similar Web2.0 sites that I have to check out after I finish Robert J. Sawyer’s award-winning novels. With the spare time that I have these days, I’m averaging about a book per two days, so if you have any recommendations, do let me know : )