I'm reading Emma by Jane Austen.
You continue to convince me that we must be literary soulmates.
I love Daniel Baldwin, Maxwell (the singer) and George Plimpton. Are we soulmates?You continue to convince me that we must be literary soulmates.
Do you also love James Baldwin, William Maxwell, and Thomas Wolfe?
Flowery language and beautiful prose, deeper truths, whoopee. But will that save you when the zombies come? Didn't think so.I still need to read that. And then point out his mistakes every time someone brings it up as gospel, because I know there will be some, unless he is very well-studied when it comes to guns.
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Arm yourselves with knowledge... and a shotgun.
Currently I’m reading a most bland mix of;
Being and Nothingness -John-Paul Sartre
Critique of Pure Reason- Immanuel Kant
The Leviathan- Thomas Hobbes
An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding- David Hume.
So if anyone is willing to put me out of my misery I don’t think I would complain.
I just finished re-reading Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger and am about to start The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
Flowery language and beautiful prose, deeper truths, whoopee. But will that save you when the zombies come? Didn't think so.I still need to read that. And then point out his mistakes every time someone brings it up as gospel, because I know there will be some, unless he is very well-studied when it comes to guns.
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Arm yourselves with knowledge... and a shotgun.
Currently I’m reading a most bland mix of;
Being and Nothingness -John-Paul Sartre
Critique of Pure Reason- Immanuel Kant
The Leviathan- Thomas Hobbes
An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding- David Hume.
So if anyone is willing to put me out of my misery I don’t think I would complain.
I don't even know anymore. Someone stop this thing called college.
(If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino)
stuff about zombies and the survival guide
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
My PI gave this to me, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. The scary thing is that while most of the book is a little far fetched, it is still feasible.
I also happen to be reading Anna Karenina. I expected it to be dreadfully boring, and only started because I didn't have anything better, but I am finding it to be very engaging (even though I'm only 150 pages into it).
I also happen to be reading Anna Karenina. I expected it to be dreadfully boring, and only started because I didn't have anything better, but I am finding it to be very engaging (even though I'm only 150 pages into it).
i have read a few of margaret atwoods, and im not really a fan of her writing style so much, but i do love the fact she can switch genres quite easily, from the futuristic stuff that could happen to books like the blind assassain that were set in the early 1900's. i'm REALLY enjoying it, i cant seem to put it down...
Tolstoy kicks ass. Hardcore. I think his works are prefaced by so much bullshit that people go into them already jaded, I mean how many times have you heard some comment like "I asked for a phonebook/report/directions, not War and Peace!". When I was in college I took an Honors Russian Lit course, and all we did was read Tolstoy and talk about it. Its the only course I ever got better than a perfect 100% average in, i just got into Tolstoy that much.
i have read a few of margaret atwoods, and im not really a fan of her writing style so much, but i do love the fact she can switch genres quite easily, from the futuristic stuff that could happen to books like the blind assassain that were set in the early 1900's. i'm REALLY enjoying it, i cant seem to put it down...
I had only heard of Handmaiden's Tale before reading this book, so I didn't know what to expect, but I wound up neglecting my research far too much for the next few days because of Oryx and Crake
I'm re-re-rereading A Feast For Crows (christ, it's only been out 3 years I'm so goddamn nerdy) by george r r martin, the latest A Song of Ice and Fire novel.
it was cheaper than getting new books.
I am currently reading Giraffes? Giraffes! (http://www.amazon.com/Giraffes-Dr-Doris-Haggis-Whey/dp/0743267265). It comes highly recommended.
Just finished Anansi Boys last night, pretty good.
o/
high-five for The Terror because that book is fucking sick.
have you read the Hyperion series? those are probably my most favoritest books of all time.
I finished Watchmen last night, and am currently reading Barry Straus's The Trojan War: A New History, Charles Mann's 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, Neil Gaiman's Sandman (Volume 3), and Terry Pratchett's Going Postal.
I'm re-re-rereading A Feast For Crows (christ, it's only been out 3 years I'm so goddamn nerdy) by george r r martin, the latest A Song of Ice and Fire novel.
it was cheaper than getting new books.
But you're reading something, and that's what is important!
Moby Dick
Just Finished Moby Dick. It took me forever to read that book. Not that I didn't like it, but it was filled with absolutely everything I'd want to know about Whales, Whale Hunting, Whale Ships and so forth. I was expecting more of a Old Man and the Sea type book I guess.
Just Finished Moby Dick. It took me forever to read that book. Not that I didn't like it, but it was filled with absolutely everything I'd want to know about Whales, Whale Hunting, Whale Ships and so forth. I was expecting more of a Old Man and the Sea type book I guess.
Man, Melville and Hemingway are as different as can be. The Old Man and the Sea is waaaay too simplistic in plot and style to be anything Melville would have considered writing. Personally I think Moby Dick is one of the greatest things ever written in any language but that's just me.
2666 by Roberto Bolano
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
2666 by Roberto Bolano
I've heard quite good things about this, and Bolano in general. Is there a particular book that you (or anyone else) would recommend starting with for him? I've been meaning to pick up The Savage Detectives for a while.The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
I read the first book of this, City of Glass, and wasn't nearly as impressed as I thought I would be based on what I'd heard, though it certainly was an enjoyable read. How do the other two books compare?
as far as the list of great living American writers go, I don't think Auster would be on it (my list, for what it's worth, includes Pynchon, McCarthy, Delillo, Updike and a handful of others)
... The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Good fun, and a great read. I'm delaying reading anything else, to give that one a chance to get out of my system. Just enjoying the afterglow for now.
I'm currently reading The Joke by Milan Kundera. Way too good.
I am currently reading the Wiley CPA Exam Review 2008: Business Environments and Concepts. Its, uh, awesome. Great plot line and such.It sounds riveting.
Working on Moby Dick
Hyperion
and Thirst for Love
First is by Melville...second is by....I don't know but I almost want to say it's Dan Simmons and the third is by something Mishima...damnit, all my books are in boxes or are two far away.
I just finished the Book "Atlas Shrugged".
Chekhov is great.
Chekhov is great.
Also, maybe it's just me but it's bugging me slightly that people are forgetting to put the names/titles of novels in italics.
Kitty and the Midnight House - Carrie Vaughn
I may get I Am The Messenger by.. I forgot..
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Three Case Histories by Freud
Ghosts/Aliens by Trey Hamburger
Hyperion
...Catch 2?catch 22...fuck.
...Catch 2?catch 22...fuck.
Neverwhere!! It's great!
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.
It is really fucking good.
I also finished up World War Z.
The third book in the "Regeneration" trilogy,"The Ghost Road" by Pat Barker is calling to me. Instead I am on the internet, pretending that I am just about to start my essay on media polarization... Yes, so much easier to pretend you're just about to do your work this way.
But holy shit, Pat Barker is good. Especially "Regeneration" which is one of those books I read twice in the span of about two months, then read several times more over the next two years.
Halfway through graveyard book ....
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.
It is really fucking good.
Olympos - Dan Simmons
I started this yesterday.
So cool.
Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find.That's a really great one once you get into it. Have you thought about Dubliners by James Joyce? It's one of my favorites, and surprisingly readable considering it's written by Joyce.
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Following discussions earlier in this thread, I'm reading No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym. I regret to say that about a hundred pages in, I'm not really enjoying it all that much. I find the characters rather irritating, and the plot rather overly reliant on coincidence. But I'll finish it, and I've got Excellent Women by her too so I'll give that a go, before I dismiss her entirely.
I think she's a fantastic writer and I enjoy her views on a laissez faire structure.The Fountainhead - Ayn RandWhy?
http://www.davemckay.co.uk/philosophy/nietzsche/
I think she's a fantastic writer...
Also been reading through a variety of Gogol's works. Plays, stories, and I have Dead Souls waiting for me.
Let's see... Avec, you're... 17?
Olympos - Dan Simmons
I started this yesterday.
So cool.
i am three-quarters of the way through this right now.
shit is ridiculous! oh man
p.s. have you read the Hyperion books? if not, they should probably be next on your to-do list because that shit is so fucking epic that it hurts.
Done with Dexter. On to Rushdy. Midnight's Children to be exact. I have the sneaking suspicion that this book might be smarter than its reader ...
I read a short, very positive review-blurb about that "Boneshaker" book somewhere a little while back and it sounds very interesting. I might have to check that out.
It seems like roughly 70% of all alternate history books involve the Axis Powers winning World War II. Which is boring as fuck when you think about what could be done with tinkering with early western civilizations' development, like Rome, Greece, etc.
It seems like roughly 70% of all alternate history books involve the Axis Powers winning World War II. Which is boring as fuck when you think about what could be done with tinkering with early western civilizations' development, like Rome, Greece, etc.
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Conrad is good! I like his style even though it's kind of boring, because it's soooo of its time and soooo British..
Now I'm getting ambitious and trying to read The Tale of Genji.
I'm about 300ish pages into The Passage by Justin Cronin. I can see what the hype is about and I'm enjoying a lot more than I thought I would.
Just read BONE
Oh man the Dresden Files are pretty damn awesome. I have all the books bar the newest one (isn't out in paperback here yet) and each one I have found entirely enthralling. It's possibly because Jim Butcher used to write for Spiderman but something about the writing style is just really snappy.
Oh man the Dresden Files are pretty damn awesome. I have all the books bar the newest one (isn't out in paperback here yet) and each one I have found entirely enthralling. It's possibly because Jim Butcher used to write for Spiderman but something about the writing style is just really snappy.
After several discussions with my literature teacher I decided to take a stab at James Joyce's Ulysses. I know the premise and I know this is going to be one of the most difficult books to pick up. Has anyone else finished Ulysses with some idea of what's going on?
The Skies Of Pern
By Anne McCaffrey
The Skies Of Pern
By Anne McCaffrey
This makes me happy :D
Reading the Pern series backwards as a fun way to enjoy the series, so started with that, the last book.
Got the urge to read it again after I found my copies of the Atlas and The People of Pern and perused them again.
Reading the Pern series backwards as a fun way to enjoy the series, so started with that, the last book.
Got the urge to read it again after I found my copies of the Atlas and The People of Pern and perused them again.
That sounds fun. I have maybe half the series in paperback. I might buy the rest as e-books, as I've run out of space, between Pern novels, Xanth novels, and various old sci-fi and fantasy paperbacks.
There's something called The Book Thing in Baltimore where you can go get free books, and they always have an awesome selection in those genres.
No! That is awesome, thanks for showing me :D
And then went down to the ship,
Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and
We set up mast and sail on that swart ship,
Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies also
Heavy with weeping, and winds from sternward
Bore us onward with bellying canvas,
Crice's this craft, the trim-coifed goddess.
Then sat we amidships, wind jamming the tiller,
Thus with stretched sail, we went over sea till day's end.
Sun to his slumber, shadows o'er all the ocean,
Came we then to the bounds of deepest water,
To the Kimmerian lands, and peopled cities
Covered with close-webbed mist, unpierced ever
With glitter of sun-rays
Nor with stars stretched, nor looking back from heaven
Swartest night stretched over wreteched men there.
The ocean flowing backward, came we then to the place
Aforesaid by Circe.
broom of the system is like probably his weakest fictional work, i'd say; his short fiction was much better and infinite jest is far more readable.
I'm a little over halfway through with Anna Karenina and have been enjoying it immensely.
There's a better shine
on the pendulum
than is on my hair
and many times
. . .
I've seen it there.
I am reading three books right now, since I like to switch back and forth depending on my mood.
Machine of Death (http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Death-Collection-Stories-People/dp/0982167121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295237713&sr=8-1)
The Remedy (http://www.amazon.com/Remedy-Novel-Michelle-Lovric/dp/0060859865/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295237727&sr=1-3)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Garden-Good-Evil-Berendt/dp/0679751521/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295237746&sr=1-1)
Fear and Loathing (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fear-Loathing-Las-Vegas-Perennial/dp/0007204493/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295260897&sr=1-1) is my current "might as well read between lectures" book.
I desperately want to get my hands on Machine of Death.
I'm really enjoying the Cryptonomicon but Yours Truly's stupid retelling of his "mission" with DSM is one of the most tedious things that I have ever had the displeasure of reading.I'm still trying to figure this one out and I really hope this isn't a dumb question... Who's Yours Truly and who's DSM?
I'm really enjoying the Cryptonomicon but Yours Truly's stupid retelling of his "mission" with DSM is one of the most tedious things that I have ever had the displeasure of reading.I'm still trying to figure this one out and I really hope this isn't a dumb question... Who's Yours Truly and who's DSM?
Can we please, please, please stop describing literature and sci-fi as entirely separate things? thanks!
Please describe that difference? I wasn't aware that there were standards.
literature can encompass any genre
It's got nothing to do with standards and everything to do with what the writer is trying to achieve.
A History of Western Philosophy
We can only really claim to have an idea of what the author intends the messave of their work to be through cultural, linguistic and metatextual clues outside of the text itself
And what about the sections of Shakespeares plays written entirely to amuse the cheap seats.
What of the endless words Dickens churned out mostly to meet publishers deadlines.
if a writer is unable to convey their intentions clearly to the reader then the writer has failed in their chosen field of endeavour.
What about them? They're sections, as you say, not the whole. Surely you're not suggesting that we start isolating particular excerpts from a piece of writing and start considering them as if they were a whole and complete text?
we only know the authors stated intention. It becomes clear, in fact, that the stated or presented intention is all the intention we can ever know, if we know the intention at all. Thus, plainly the idea of intention is meaningless
Wait, there are people who haven't read Phonogram?
Wait, there are people who haven't read Phonogram?
I haven't, I never really got around to it.
Yeah that's how I learned of him first as well, the first thing I ever read by him was a review of the PCG UK that had Warcraft 3 in it - it might even have been the Warcraft 3 review, or possibly Neverwinter Nights. I forget! Anyway he was brilliant at reviewing things, I'm kind of sad he left because now I'm not giddy about buying PCG when I go to the UK any more.
.Now reading 'Child of God' - Cormac McCarthy. He really doesn't like people, does he?
Felix Gomez went to Iraq a soldier. He came back a vampire.
Now he finds himself pulled into a web of intrigue when an old friend prompts him to investigate an outbreak of nymphomania at the secret government facilities in Rocky Flats. He'll find out the cause of all these horny women or die trying! But first he must contend with shadowy government agents, Eastern European vampire hunters, and women who just want his body . . .
Part of me really wants to continue this whole literature/non literature debate because it's endlessly fascinating but a greater part of me realises that it's got less and less to do with the thread at hand and it really only involves myself and Khar, and neither of us are going to change the other's mind.
Just because Sartre posits something doesn't mean it's true. I don't do much thinking about literature (such a restricted form of communication is beneath me), but you seem to be suggesting something similiar to the idea in aesthetics whereby a work of art is taken to be like a conversation and people find aesthetic value in the same sort of things they value in a conversation. Value/quality and meaning are not the same thing at all however, although the two things may have already been rather confused in the conversation above, but not in the same way. My argument, which I think is perfectly sound and pretty difficult to assail, is that the intent of the author is ultimately uncertain and thus cannot be used as a qualifier to sort works into two sets ('literature' and 'not literature'), because it makes the two sets meaningless, and thus the terms meaningless.
New thread?
Mostly Yuri Slashfic online at the moment :-D
Mostly Yuri Slashfic online at the moment :-D
That you say this shit to us is one of the reasons why we find you a really creepy dude.
Amazon and ebay are failing me.
Current focus of reading
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
You know, I've always felt that that book would make the mother of all war films.
Current focus of reading
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
You know, I've always felt that that book would make the mother of all war films.
Concur - much better written than most of the other books he wrote, this would be on the order of a movie like "A Bridge Too Far" in terms of length and breath of material, but the sheer breadth of the material and necesary sets would probably stymie most production companies.
That and there are a lot of Warsaw Pact vehicles that could proabably be picked up for some of the shooting
'. . . How has she been lately?'
'Miserable. She's gone away to some religious place in the north for a rest.'
'She won't get much of a rest in a religious place.'
'That's what I thought. But this is one of Mother's ideas. She gets together with her priests and builds these buildings. Then they dedicate them to a saint. Then mother sends her friends to stay in them.'
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse - a graphic novel about the Civil Rights movement and being gay in the 1960s rural South. Best graphic novel since Maus.
I just finished reading Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. Really great graphic novel. Very well ilustrated, well written, I would recommend it.
Tbh, that's how I just read the title.
Tbh, that's how I just read the title.
For years I stubbornly claimed not to like Discworld.
Also, what does that have to do with the quote?Tbh, that's how I just read the title.
At this point in his life, the Collector was more interested in explosions than in naked women. He was only ten, and it would be a couple of years before his interests moved to girls. Freud never identified a stage of devel-opment known as "pyrotechnic fascination," but that was only because there wasn't an abundant supply of disposable lighters in nineteenth-cen-tury Vienna. Ten-year-old boys blow shit up. It's what they do. But today, a strange new feeling had come over Mikey, a feeling he couldn't put a word to, but if he could, the word would have been "horny." As he Rollerbladed through town, tossing the Los Angeles Times into the shrubs and gutters of businesses along Cypress Street, he felt a tightness in his shorts that until now he had associated with having to take a raging pee in the morning. Today it signified a need to see the Crazy Lady in a state of undress.
You're kidding, right? I used to love those books
Kafka on the Shore contains several riddles, but there aren't any solutions provided. Instead, several of these riddles combine, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes shape. And the form this solution takes will be different for each reader. To put it another way, the riddles function as part of the solution. It's hard to explain, but that's the kind of novel I set out to write.
Right now I am reading a book of essays on French materialist feminism. It is a lot. I was certainly aware of the notion of gender as a social construction, and even used it as the basis of my understanding about "male" and "female", but the first two authors argued that sex is also a social construction. wait, what?... I think I buy it, but it is still a lot to wrap one's head around. Just finished the third essay, which gave three ways to look at the relationship between sex and gender. I thought I had handle on the issues surrounding sex and gender, but really I have had my mind blown. I have never put this much thought into it before, and I was nearly a gender studies minor.
The development of Gender gave us a way to understand the social differences between the sexes, but we somehow forgot to question the legitimacy of the sexes in the first place. Mostly this is because it's nonsensical liberal bullshit/Fixed
That's pretty typical of Palahniuk in general...and sums up quite nicely why I like him so much. I love that all his stuff is so unpredictable and twisted. I'm dying to read Haunted....apparently, at a reading he did someone in the crowd actually puked when he read the first story.
"Comeback: A Conservatism That Can Win", David Frum.
About to start Ender's Game. I've been told to read it since I was 13, but I never did. Now I will.Reading it as well. A friend recommended it and I bought it right away, not because she was so convincing, but to demonstrate how easy Amazon makes it to buy ebooks.
You both ought to go out and read Ender's Shadow now. I loved that book to pieces. It runs parallel to Game, telling the story of Bean. I prefer it to Game by a good order of magnitude or two. I read both of them when I was in 6th grade. To sort of portray how amazing both books are: I picked up Ender's Game and was so enthralled I finished it in 3 days--skipping my favorite TV shows, losing sleep, finishing meals very quickly, etc. Then, I got Ender's Shadow and I finished it in 2 days--I was so much more into the whole everything of that story (partially cause I had already read Game, partially because it's just freaking amazing) that I finished it more quickly despite it being longer.I second all of this. As much as I loved Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow was just spectacular. I read both about every year or so heh. Just one of those mindless books I can blow through and enjoy, and pick up different things each time.
(Also, IMO, Ender's Shadow and the whole Shadow series feels like a much more appropriate sequel and follow up to Ender's Game than Speaker for the Dead and the rest of the Ender series were)
I would actually suggest reading Speaker for the Dead. It's a very very very different book from Ender's Game, but it's probably the best sci-fi Card has written. Just... don't bother reading Xenocide or Children of the Mind. Pretend they don't exist.Picked this up on your recommendation, and because a friend found the hierarchy of alienness to be an interesting one. I finished the book now, and I got the impression that it was as much, or even more, about people as it is about science fiction. I don't remember many books I've read that are like that. While it's interesting to read about the implications of instantaneous communication combined with the relativistic effects of near-lightspeed travel, they're obviously subservient to the stories of the characters' themselves.
I'm about 300ish pages into The Passage by Justin Cronin. I can see what the hype is about and I'm enjoying a lot more than I thought I would.
Reading this aswell. Great opening, weak middle, signs of a great sprint into awesome at the end.
Can you buy a Maxtor at a Mac store?No, and you can't buy a Mac at a TJ Maxxstore. Not that I've tried.
Sex at Dawn is actually a really common book suggested to people looking into non-monogamy/polyamory/etc. I've got mixed opinions on it for that purpose, since I think that Evo-Psych is kind of a horrible basis for relationship advice.
The Ethical Slut, more specifically the 2nd edition, I personally found great
how to deal with jealousy
I think the more universally useful book on the subject is probably Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships (http://www.amazon.com/Opening-Up-Sustaining-Relationships-ebook/dp/B001GCUCV8/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=ZP0IWIF3FOHL&coliid=I3HLE39V80FU26).
Just finished the 'Hunger Games' trilogy again. Christ I hate the movie more every time I read the books. They just did NOT do the story justice.
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. So far I'm not really enjoying it, but my boyfriend insists that I must keep reading because it is the best thing ever.
One time, there was this big and scary thing that was so big and scary, I can't even begin to tell you how big and scary it was, that's how big and scary it was. You should be scared now.
Watching the movie really put me off wanting to read the books. I may grab the first one to see if I can banish the weak plot line of the movie from my mind, whilst doing my best to take in the book as a separate entity.
I'd say calling it bad writing isn't fair in the least, but it's definitely not easy reading.
The Lovely Bones. Because I had a week at the beach.
Ehhh, I'd say that's a bad defense of it as far as the BDSM community goes. [...]I'm not going to defend anything against the BDSM community because I know next to nothing about the BDSM community. I'm just saying read it or don't. Get angry at it or don't. It'll blow away in a little bit.
This thread?
Calculus, I liked it at the beginning but the plot seemed to get a little repetitive when it got to the multivariale chapter. That being said the characters are wonderful and so dynamic, it seems like X has an entirely new value every time you turn the page. I would definitely recommend it to those with some time on their hands.
The Founding arc, from Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series.
A good book about life on the delta, but I found the characterization had limits.
The Founding arc, from Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series.
Very good books, but they get better as they go on. The Saint is a brilliant arc (Guns Of Tanith is an action book, a thriller, a legal drama and a murder mystery all at once), The Lost not as good of an arc but it has Traitor General, which is easily the best book in the entire series, absolutely stunning book.
How far through are you?
Has he talked about his mother yet? I read that passage and it sounds priceless.He has. It is. The theory is that he chooses his subs because they look like his mum. And then he beats them and fucks them. Merry fucking christmas! After that revelation the criticism levelled at these books became a bit more understandable.
Has he talked about his mother yet? I read that passage and it sounds priceless.He has. It is. The theory is that he chooses his subs because they look like his mum. And then he beats them and fucks them. Merry fucking christmas! After that revelation the criticism levelled at these books became a bit more understandable.
For XXX specifically, but really for anyone out there who doesn't think that women write Science Fiction. Because not only do they write SF, they write some of the best SF.
Elizabeth Bear -- her Jenny Casey trilogy is a great place to start.
Lois McMaster Bujold -- the Vorkosigan Saga is her magnum opus, a series of books in theory starring (or at least based around) the eponymous family.
Emma Bull -- Bone Dance probably should've won the Hugo.
Octavia Butler -- many reccomend her Patternist series, but I like the Xenogenesis books better.
CJ Cherryh -- Oh, where to start; she's written over sixty novels, about fifty of them SF, about two-thirds of that in one continuous universe. I adore the Foreginer series, which is currently at 14 books and waiting on the next one.
N. K. Jemisin -- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was gobsmacking, considering it was her debut novel. Look for better stuff to come.
Nancy Kress -- XXX mentioned her Beggars trilogy, but I liked the Probability books better.
Madeline L'Engle -- seriously, she single-handedly introduced an entire generation of readers to SF, me among them; before I read RAH, I read MLE. And glad I did.
Ursula K. LeGuin -- nevermind her Earthsea books, since they're Fantasy; set aside one of the single best essay collections by a writer about writing, The Wave in the Mind; if you read nothing else, read The Lathe of Heaven and then you'll know why she's a Grand Master.
Elizabeth Moon -- She wrote not one but two of the best Military-SF series ever written, and if you don't like Mil-SF then you can console yourself with Remnant Population or Speed of Dark and be happy.
Andre Norton -- You owe it to yourself to read Sargasso of Space if you have any adventurous soul in you. Or, you could pick from any of the 100+ other works she wrote since 1936 .
Melissa Scott -- Everyone raves about how much they loved Neuromancer and how it introduced them to cyberpunk and how it changed their lives. But for my money, Trouble and Her Friends was the book that really made me want to live in the future. And Night Sky Mine made me want to be a writer (I was later disabused of that notion).
Alice Sheldon -- You probably don't recognize this name. That's because she wrote under the name James Tiptree, Jr. and as 'Tip' was one of the most influential short-form writers of the 20th Century. She wrote only two novels, but Up the Walls of the World is one of the greatest meditations on what it means to be a thinking being ever written.
I've ended up leaving a bunch of names off this list; Naomi Novik, because she only writes Fantasy; Anne McCaffery because I can't stand her, Margaret Atwood because she doesn't "consider herself a Science Fiction Writer", and others I'm sure. There is a huge well of talent out there. When the Hugo Awards were handed out at ChiCon 7 this year, 10 of the 18 awards (including Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Novellette, and both Best Editor awards, as well as the Campbell Award) were given to women. Any time someone talks about SF being a boys club, kick them in the junk. Then go read some really excellent work by women.
You all make me feel like that one kid who didn't do their summer reading assignments because he was wasting time leveling up his mage in Phantasy Star. Ugh...
You all make me feel like that one kid who didn't do their summer reading assignments because he was wasting time leveling up his mage in Phantasy Star. Ugh...
Bro I'm a literature critic and I don't even finish half of what I read.
Mhh, reading Steinbeck in the late afternoon sun in august after work, the only person waiting for the train at a run down station with overgrown plattforms simmering in the heat :)
Yeah, that's what I mean. They say a picture's worth a thousand words...but only those two would actually use A THOUSAND GODDAMN WORDS to paint that picture.
Judge by Karen Traviss
She's not an Author I've read before but got intrigued by the book. Will look at getting more of her work after I finish this one.
Judge by Karen Traviss
She's not an Author I've read before but got intrigued by the book. Will look at getting more of her work after I finish this one.
Afterwards I'll skip right to the latest novel "Snuff".
I did, however, find out recently that Cheery Littlebottom's last name is Sh'rt'azs in Dwarfish. :-D
"The Jewish Annotated New Testament": annotations by Jewish scholars. Heavy going and fine print, but fascinating.
About to start 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad.
What? I've never read it.
:oops:
Fellow Scottish author, Ian Rankin, said the news of Banks' terminal cancer was "just awful".
He Tweeted: "Typical of Iain to propose marriage to his partner Adele with the words 'Will you do me the honour of becoming my widow?"
"A Personal Statement from Iain Banks April 3rd, 2013 in From the Author
I am officially Very Poorly.
After a couple of surgical procedures, I am gradually recovering from jaundice caused by a blocked bile duct, but that - it turns out - is the least of my problems.
I first thought something might be wrong when I developed a sore back in late January, but put this down to the fact I'd started writing at the beginning of the month and so was crouched over a keyboard all day. When it hadn't gone away by mid-February, I went to my GP, who spotted that I had jaundice. Blood tests, an ultrasound scan and then a CT scan revealed the full extent of the grisly truth by the start of March.
I have cancer. It started in my gall bladder, has infected both lobes of my liver and probably also my pancreas and some lymph nodes, plus one tumour is massed around a group of major blood vessels in the same volume, effectively ruling out any chance of surgery to remove the tumours either in the short or long term.
The bottom line, now, I'm afraid, is that as a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I'm expected to live for 'several months' and it’s extremely unlikely I'll live beyond a year. So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last.
As a result, I've withdrawn from all planned public engagements and I've asked my partner Adele if she will do me the honour of becoming my widow (sorry - but we find ghoulish humour helps). By the time this goes out we'll be married and on a short honeymoon. We intend to spend however much quality time I have left seeing friends and relations and visiting places that have meant a lot to us. Meanwhile my heroic publishers are doing all they can to bring the publication date of my new novel forward by as much as four months, to give me a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves.
There is a possibility that it might be worth undergoing a course of chemotherapy to extend the amount of time available. However that is still something we're balancing the pros and cons of, and anyway it is out of the question until my jaundice has further and significantly, reduced. Lastly, I'd like to add that from my GP onwards, the professionalism of the medics involved - and the speed with which the resources of the NHS in Scotland have been deployed - has been exemplary, and the standard of care deeply impressive. We're all just sorry the outcome hasn't been more cheerful.
A website is being set up where friends, family and fans can leave messages for me and check on my progress. It should be up and running during this week and a link to it will be here on my official website as soon as it’s ready.
Iain Banks
Continuing Casual Vacancy.
I have about 300 volumes of various series to get through.
I'll have to compose a directory...my wife and I are still going through them. I'll let y'all know. ^_^I have about 300 volumes of various series to get through.
But you haven't told what manga! 300 volumes could be from 10 to 50 different series, depending on how long they are...
UGHH my head....I am currently reading Homestuck, and am the middle of Act 4 right now.
I swear to god, guys, people have had acid trips more understandable than this. :psyduck:
Marine - I mean this not to sound mean but as a genuine question from someone who's never known a military man; is your entire life being a marine, revolving round that?
There's a whole holy fuck ton of posts that suggest if not flat out state that it's not all I do just in this forum. So I'm forced to interpret this as more intentional then you're trying to come off. I talk about not Jarhead stuff constantly. It's the bulk of my posts.
Valdis, I've been sent back in time from the year 2155, I'm a member of the Star League Space Marine Corps, and you are the target of assassins from the future. Come with me if you want to live.
I was pretty left wing when I was younger but I'm not against military folk in any sense
Valdis, I've been sent back in time from the year 2155, I'm a member of the Star League Space Marine Corps, and you are the target of assassins from the future. Come with me if you want to live.
y-You really are just here on a mission? Not to woo me? Who says I want to be saved anymore..! ;_;
can i go to the future with you? if so the answer is definitely still yes
Valdis, I've been sent back in time from the year 2155, I'm a member of the Star League Space Marine Corps, and you are the target of assassins from the future. Come with me if you want to live.
R.I.P. Iain Banks
Iain Banks Dead at 59 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047)
Night Watch? As in Lukyanenko?I hope so, because those books are truly awesome. When I read them it took me a while to comprehend the world he's describing but once I got into it, it was great. I was amazed how different the writing style apparently is in Russia.
"It's really nice to have an electric cattle", I said. "Heats water quickly. Where do you have electricity from anyway, Arina? Somehow I never noticed cables going to the hut."
Arina's face faltered. She said lamentably:
"Maybe the cable is underground?"
"Nuh-uh", I said, carefully spilling the tea on the ground. "This is not the right answer. Try again."
Arina bobbed her head in annoyance.
"What a shame... getting caught on such a small detail."
"Yellow Eyes" by John Ringo.
for about the 6th time.
I'm reading Young Men in Spats by PG Wodehouse.
Does it mention "the pillow book" at all?
The beat-version of Confessions of an English Opium Eater, as I recall.
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. Trying to catch up on "classics."
I'm ploughing through the complete works of Austen, and various other classics which catch my eye in the library. At the moment, though, I'm reading Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys, which reminds me of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer - similar style and setting, both excellent.Very late to the party, but I also really enjoy Jane Austen. To anyone who wants to read something of a similar type, I'd also recommend Anne Bronte's (can't do the double dots over the e) "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".
I just finished On Basilisk Station and In The Name Of The Queen and I must say I <3 the Honorverse. Sure it's basically Horatio Hornblower genderbent and IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE but... I fucking like Horatio Hornblower!
Mr. Gareth sound general quarters and bring the ship to battle station if you please. Helm, Mr. Cold lay in an intercept, I want to do everything we can to avoid that broadside once we close. Tactical, Groggy hold to 100,000 klicks then engage with laserheads, please remind your defensive fires teams that another missile through our sidewall could well cripple us.
I just finished On Basilisk Station and In The Name Of The Queen and I must say I <3 the Honorverse. Sure it's basically Horatio Hornblower genderbent and IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE but... I fucking like Horatio Hornblower!
Mr. Gareth sound general quarters and bring the ship to battle station if you please. Helm, Mr. Cold lay in an intercept, I want to do everything we can to avoid that broadside once we close. Tactical, Groggy hold to 100,000 klicks then engage with laserheads, please remind your defensive fires teams that another missile through our sidewall could well cripple us.
No it's not, hemorrhagic fevers in particular, might want to pick up The Demon in The FreezerAwesome, thank you.
Been going through the series that showtimes Dexter is based off of
Just read The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman in one go, in a warm garden.On my strong suggestion my girlfriend read it and she was all like: yeah, 's allright, I suppose.
I don't think I can recommend it enough. It's a stunning piece of art.
Are you sure she didn't accidentaly read American Gods? Because then the reaction would make sense....
She thinks it's okay, the story does stay with you for a while, but she's just not blown away by it.
How the hell is that possible?
I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. I made a mental note to buy this book once it came out for the Kindle on the basis of the huge tick (http://www.schlockmercenary.com/blog/the-martian-book-review) given to it by Howard Taylor in his blog, and frankly I was very disappointed. Fundamentally the problem is that the author completely failed to make me care about his protagonist.(click to show/hide)
I was really looking forward to this book, because I'm so tired of lazy science-fiction that might as well have Harry Potter waving his wand in the engine-room, but the author's complete failure to engage me emotionally relegates it to second-rate in my opinion.
All the Weyrs of Pern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_Weyrs_of_Pern) by Anne McCaffery. IMHO, the last Pern book she wrote before age started seriously eating into her ability to maintain internal consistency in her stories.
I'm currently reading the Left Hand of Darkness, after that it's either Bird Box or Wolf in White Van
I'm currently reading the Left Hand of DarknessOh, I've been wanting to reread it ever since I attended a "class" in a sci-fi con, which was about the figure of the Visiting Stranger in Le Guin's work, with a strong emphasis on Genly Ai (the scholar who lead the class noted that "Ai" sounds like "eye", which may or may not be a coincidence).
I'm finally reading the Song of Ice and Fire series. I don't want to get ahead of the show, though. Dramatic plot twists are much more dramatic on TV, where you can actually see everyone you like die horribly.
I picked up Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris at the airport. It looked interesting, and was clearly a national bestseller if it was in the little airport bookstore (and I guess it does say national bestseller on the title page... huh look at that). It's in short story format and is a quick read. I like the humor and the occasional amount of absurdity. Literally bought it on a whim and had no idea what it was about, so I'm pleasantly surprised.I picked that up based solely on the title. Okay read. I figured out later that the author is a semi-regular on This American Life whom I enjoy. The more you know.
I picked up Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris at the airport. It looked interesting, and was clearly a national bestseller if it was in the little airport bookstore (and I guess it does say national bestseller on the title page... huh look at that). It's in short story format and is a quick read. I like the humor and the occasional amount of absurdity. Literally bought it on a whim and had no idea what it was about, so I'm pleasantly surprised.I picked that up based solely on the title. Okay read. I figured out later that the author is a semi-regular on This American Life whom I enjoy. The more you know.
Currently reading: Worst. Person. Ever.
The shows have made it past book 2. I think there are a few events left towards the end of the third book that have yet to take place.
Yup. Have you seen his The Hammer and the Cross trilogy? A group of Norse pagan priests set out to compete with Christianity in an organized fashion, and forge a new kingdom with the aid of a renegade Englishmen. Vikings, warfare, technological development, and vikings abound.
Anyone have a recommendation for a Buddhism primer? Need some light reading while I'm on vacation next week.
Daughter Of The Empire - Janny Wurtz
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, set mainly in Hawaii's leper colony in the late 19th-mid 20th centuries.
Whoaaaa....it blew my mind a little that you're reading this. He's my mom's cousin!
"In a true society, there are no husbands and wives, no lovers and mistresses, no owners and property with ear marks or finger marks, no masters and slaves; but free men and women of society, who meet in a certain sphere of relation, to contribute their utmost to each other's enjoyment. "
I read Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It's full of impenetrable Britishisms but it had me laughing heartily throughout nonetheless.
So I've discovered that Charles Dickens was a fucking prick.
When I was in year 9, we had to read Oliver Twist for some assignment work. It was impenetrable and florid and I hated it, however given the way Shakespeare's work sounded to me, and how antiquated language from even fifty years ago could sound, I thought that just meant that writing from the 19th Century and earlier would just be something I didn't understand. As such, I've read basically none of the 'classics.' I am appallingly read.
In conversation with my partners recently it arose that, well, Dickens just writes like a complete asshole and is no reflection of what actual language was like at the time.
The example given to me was Pride And Prejudice, which in my head had been consigned to the pile of 'book/film/TV series for cis-white housewives' as a piece of culture. I Googled for an extract and found that it was witty and interesting and - here's the kicker - completely understandable.
Fuck you, Dickens.
I'm now about 60 pages into reading Pride and Prejudice and it is so entertaining. It's actually a quite pointed bit of social commentary, which if you can read between the lines more than a tiny bit is pretty obvious. It's like a slating of white privilege centuries before that concept even existed. The characters are engrossing and entertaining - my current favourite being Mr. Bennett. I have a running gag with my partners now that almost any of Mr. Bennett's dialogue could be replaced by 'Fuckin', whatever.' and it wouldn't change the narrative at all.
Example:
'I have more than once observed to Lady Catherine, that her charming daughter seemed born to be a duchess, and that the most elevated rank, instead of giving her consequence, would be adorned by her.- These are the kind of things which please her ladyship, and it is a sort of attention which I conceive myself peculiarly bound to pay.
'Fuckin', whatever,' said Mr Bennett.
Another book they encouraged me to read very strongly was Nation by Terry Pratchett. This I am well over halfway through and am finding it to be a quite extraordinary read. I need to finish it as a matter of urgency, and the resonance that Mao has with one of my partners is of great significance to me.
Moving in with them is going to allow me the headspace to start reading again. And my God, how I've missed reading.
The Collected Works of HP Lovecraft.
I've been a fan of his stories for years, so my sister gave me a collected copy of his work a couple of years ago. His work is still the only one that leaves me feeling disturbed going to sleep at night, which I suppose is a testament to how timeless Lovecraft's writing is. The Whisperer in the Darkness and the Rats in the Walls in particular still leave me feeling cold.
I just finished Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. It was really good. I loved the characters (especially the bad guy) and the premise. A small Illinois town is visited by a strange carnival a week before Halloween. 2 curious boys stumble upon its Dark and sinister secrets. People of the town start to disappear after attending some of the attractions and its up to Will and Jim to save the day, with Will's distant father in tow.
The characters, settings, and story was amazing, however I was not a fan of the purple prose. A number of times I told myself "we get it, we get it, its dark outside! Get on with it." Baring the extreme descriptions I felt it had a lack lust ending. Now this was written in 1968 so perhaps back then the ending wasn't so cliche as it is now-a-days (it did inspire Stephen King and Neil Gaiman). I just wanted a more interesting ending I suppose. I also wanted to know more of the carnival and the freaks. What some of the rides/attractions did to people and how the mysterious illustrations came to be on the Illustrated man.
Baring the purple prose and the tropey ending, I would definitely recommend reading this (especially in mid to late October). Bradbury is an amazing writer and very poetic. His characters are well fleshed out but also leaving you wanting to know more about them.
I meant no offence JoeCovenant. It was very poetic. Perhaps it was the exciting nature of the story that I just desperately wanted to know what was going to happen next that my impatience got the better of me. Which really is a testament to Ray Bradbury as a writer. I think I am spoiled by the ending because it has been done over and over again as of now which is what makes it cliche. The fact of the matter is, it has been done to death in the cultural conciseness as of now that it seemed lack luster. I did qualify it by saying it may not have been when it was first published but so many stories have ended the same way since, that I have been exposed to, that it just didn't end as excitingly as I had hoped. Not to say it was unexpected, and I am sure if I read this when I was younger and less jaded I would have been satisfied by the ending.
I would still compel others to read it as it is beautifully written and I loved the story, characters, and atmosphere.
I almost picked up "The Halloween Tree" but decided against it as I watched the movie when I was a child (which Ray Bradbury also wrote and wasn't adapted by someone else) and it was definitely a treasure! I wanted to do something different. Sheepishly I will admit my pick of "Something Wicked This Way Comes" derived from the Rick and Morty episode "Something Ricked This Way Comes" which more parody's Stephen King's "Needful Things." After reading "Something Wicked This Way Comes" I see how R&M may have designed Mr. Needful off of Mr. Dark.
I picked up Bram Stoker's Dracula to round out my October. I almost picked up "Needful Things" but may save that for next year, along with "The Halloween Tree" after your recommendation. :-)
Mark Manson, "The Subtle art of not Giving a F*ck".
So far my summary would be "potty-mouthed Buddhism". I'm pretty sure I saw a paraphrase of the "second arrow" parable and a message about attachment.
The revolution could have succeeded if it hadn't been for the sheep.I'd argue it was because:
Glad you enjoyed it. From what I've seen, the current BBC series is good to watch, but should not be watched as a representation of the book. Rather it takes the setting, the basic conflict, and the characters, and goes its own heroic way.
Having finished Kipling's tales, I've started on the Discworld novels.
Flowery language and beautiful prose, deeper truths, whoopee. But will that save you when the zombies come? Didn't think so.And a crowbar!
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Arm yourselves with knowledge... and a shotgun.
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams.That means you're doing something right!
This book has posed a large problem in that I read it on the subway, and on more than one occasion I have laughed heartily, out loud. This morning I chuckled at a certain passage and a woman looked at me like I'd kicked a puppy.
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is required reading in nearly all schools in the States. Like most of these schools, I too had to read Mark Twain's tale of a young adolescent as he went on his own Mississippi Odyssey with an escaped slave. The book is actually a sequel, and Huck first showed up with Tom Sawyer in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." I am vaguely familiar with the story of Tom Sawyer from made for TV movies and cartoons in my youth but never actually read it. When I saw it on Audible, and narrated by Nick Offerman himself (Ron Swanson of Parks and Rec), I decided it was time to know the chronicle of this little boy from Missouri.I never actually had to read Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer. I should really remedy that.
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" is truly a love letter to being a little boy. His adventures and superstitions remind me of when I was a little lad; trying to not get caught as I pursued my own fun with my friends and relations. What really struck me was how they think they know the world and proper incantations to bring about good luck or remove warts. It's a true insight on being a young kid. His adventures become the talk of the town as he witnessed a murder with the town delinquent and the wrong man was arrested, to striking it out as a pirate, and avoiding the real killer who may be out for vengeance. I would say that if "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was "The Odyssey" then "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" would be the stories with Thor and Loki from "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman (which is also a good read). The ending was amazing and could only happen to an 8 year old.
I did tell my wife that if our next baby is a boy, then this book will be required reading for her. :mrgreen:
Force your way through the first one... the second gets easier, after that.. it's all gravy! :)
I recently finished a big series of illustrations for Moby-Dick, and I’m currently running a Kickstarter campaign to self-publish an illustrated edition of the book (but also, you can read the book for free any time you like). I’m going to use this as an excuse to add to the pile of writing about one of the most written-about books in history: a book that is pored over and analyzed and cross-referenced as if it were scripture.
I am obsessed with this book: as a story and as an unfashionable, aggressive effort, and as an articulation of an interest I have in humanity’s confrontation with the limits of itself and its understanding. I am only lately and by the light of this book seeing that particular throughline connecting a lot of the stories I’ve been preoccupied with throughout my life. It’s a good book to get obsessed with, and to build an overambitious, impractical project on the back of.
Lenny Henry was an excellent choice
Lenny Henry was an excellent choice
THINGS I NEVER THOUGHT I'D READ EVER FOR 500
Lenny Henry was an excellent choice
THINGS I NEVER THOUGHT I'D READ EVER FOR 500
*shrug* He's leagues ahead of the plodding, wanna-be Keillor who narrates American Gods, who can't even get inflection right.
*shrug* He's leagues ahead of the plodding, wanna-be Keillor who narrates American Gods, who can't even get inflection right.
I've discovered that my library now has audiobooks online available for checkout, so I've been re-"reading" my favorites from Gaiman. Just finished Anansi Boys, and Lenny Henry was an excellent choice for the narrator.I have never read the print version of that book, and I never will. Henry's awesome and masterful reading has destroyed it for me.
Just finished "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris. It covers Theodore Roosevelt's life from birth to the moment he became president. I cannot remember the last biography I've read but this was truly amazing. Theodore Roosevelt is perhaps the most interesting historical figure I have ever read. It seems almost fantasy to see him born as a sickly little boy with super asthma and nervous diarrhea only to grow up and become a literal cowboy while also writing 13 books, fathering 6 children, being an active politician and even fighting in a war (he was 38)! His boundless energy and will power along with his keen intellect is near superhuman. Its almost unbelievable! He put together his own museum of natural history when he was 8 years old. He tracked down boat thieves from his ranch pursuing them down an icy river, got in a fist fight with an armed cowboy that was shooting up the saloon, stalked the streets of New York City at night as Police Commissioner to catch cops sleeping on the job, lead a couple of battle charges in a war, modernized the navy, ran the state of New York. Just wow. His resume is staggering that its no wonder he became president. His oration and charisma alone could have done the job but he had the experience, intelligence, and the grit to do it.
There's just so much more I want to say but the words escape me. You just really need to check it out.
It was a bully of a read and I am delighted to recommend it. :-D
(https://us-east-1.tchyn.io/snopes-production/uploads/2017/08/Untitled-design-2.jpg?resize=865,452)
Can't remember if I said in her already but I'm reading a Jeeves and Wooster book to my partners at the moment. I get to do accents and everything. It's so. Much. Fun.I love pretty much anything Wodehouse, but J&W is my favorite.
Finally on the third volume of William Morris's outstanding Theodore Roosevelt biography. This is a trilogy of masterworks. I am absolutely gripped throughout and I am dreading when I run out of pages.The same William Morris who wrote the fantasy novels that inspired Tolkien and Lewis?
I don't think so. I think it was Edmond Morris that wrote the Theodore Roosevelt trilogy.Finally on the third volume of William Morris's outstanding Theodore Roosevelt biography. This is a trilogy of masterworks. I am absolutely gripped throughout and I am dreading when I run out of pages.The same William Morris who wrote the fantasy novels that inspired Tolkien and Lewis?
Nope. His first name is Edmund. I was sleepy when I wrote that...Ah. The timeline doesn't work anyway. Wm. Morris died in 1896. But now I want to go back and reread The Well at the World's End or The Water of the Wondrous Isles again.
I'm only 1 hour into a 37 hour story but I feel like so much has happened that it could have filled its own novel, provided more detail and dialog was in place.Wait, so it's an audiobook?
I'm only 1 hour into a 37 hour story but I feel like so much has happened that it could have filled its own novel, provided more detail and dialog was in place.
How many Ladies of the Lake are there? How are they different from the damsels of the lake? I think either the translation is not adding up or Malory just expected the reader to understand or not care but dammit I want to know! Like who the fuck was in the water giving out Excalibur if The lady of the lake was the one on the shore explaining everything to Arthur and gave him her boat to get the sword? Then she dies a few chapters later. But how if she is suppose to be magical? Then Nimue shows up and is also a lady/damsel of the lake as well as others. Are they of different lakes? Is the one inside the lake the queen of the lake? Is there a hierarchy of some sort? Who is in charge? Is anyone in charge? How do they work?"Fuckin' Ladies of the Lake, how do they work?"
How many Ladies of the Lake are there?
How many Ladies of the Lake are there? How are they different from the damsels of the lake? I think either the translation is not adding up or Malory just expected the reader to understand or not care but dammit I want to know! Like who the fuck was in the water giving out Excalibur if The lady of the lake was the one on the shore explaining everything to Arthur and gave him her boat to get the sword? Then she dies a few chapters later. But how if she is suppose to be magical? Then Nimue shows up and is also a lady/damsel of the lake as well as others. Are they of different lakes? Is the one inside the lake the queen of the lake? Is there a hierarchy of some sort? Who is in charge? Is anyone in charge? How do they work?"Fuckin' Ladies of the Lake, how do they work?"
- Mad Jester Gang
It's been several months since the 2016 presidential election, and "Uncle Joe" Biden is puttering around his house, grouting the tile in his master bathroom, feeling lost and adrift in an America that doesn't make sense anymore.
But when his favorite Amtrak conductor dies in a suspicious accident, Joe feels a familiar desire to serve- and he leaps into the role of amateur sleuth, with a little help from his old friend President Barack Obama (code name: Renegade). Together they'll plumb the darkest depths of Delaware, traveling from cheap motels to biker bars and beyond, as they uncover the sinister forces advancing America's opioid epidemic.
Part action thriller, part mystery, part bromance, and (just to be clear) 100 percent fiction, Hope Never Dies imagines life after the oval office for two of America's greatest heroes. Together they'll prove that justice has no term limits.
(https://i.imgur.com/8Rnl84B.png)I work for the county library system now and I've seen that book a couple of times.
So after starting it a month or so ago and stopping because of stress, I finally went back to Mort by Terry Pratchett and I feel like my mind has been blown open by ideas and observations about humanity.
<snip>
I've missed reading being able to make feel this way.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/02/the-drought-is-over-mass-us-copyright-expiry-brings-flood-of-works-into-public-domain
So after starting it a month or so ago and stopping because of stress, I finally went back to Mort by Terry Pratchett and I feel like my mind has been blown open by ideas and observations about humanity.I'm actually rereading this one now.
One romance has Gawain travel to India, to retrieve a flying chessboard, and he marries the Indian princess, as well. Turns out the legend is a bit more diverse than most people realise.
David Brin's The Postman
A pre-movie copy I found.
Fiction's Law still stands: the Book is always better than the Movie.
David Brin's The Postman
A pre-movie copy I found.
Fiction's Law still stands: the Book is always better than the Movie.
The exception which proves the rule?
The Witches of Eastwick.
One of only two books I put down without finishing... (both, before I reached the third chapter. The other was 50 Shades ofGarbageGrey)
Isn't the latter some fan-fic gone viral, riddled with errors of all kinds?
David Brin's The Postman
A pre-movie copy I found.
Fiction's Law still stands: the Book is always better than the Movie.
The exception which proves the rule?
If Tristan was Aang (The hero)Not at all! Avatar analogies are always awesome! :-D
Palamedes would be Zuko (rival/nemesis but they team up)
Lamarak de Galis would be Toph (Badass friend)
Dinadan would be Sokka (the smartass who can hold his own)
which would mean Iseult would probably be Katara with Kink Mark as Azula?
Maybe this is a bad example.
Not at all! Avatar analogies are awesome! :-D
One of the best animated series in recent memory.Not at all! Avatar analogies are awesome! :-D
Damn. I guess I'll have to watch it then. that's a few days lost to binging, right? [or rather won to binging, by what I've heard]
One of the best animated series in recent memory.Not at all! Avatar analogies are awesome! :-D
Damn. I guess I'll have to watch it then. that's a few days lost to binging, right? [or rather won to binging, by what I've heard]
'I haven't a clue' I admitted, scooping up my laspistol up from the floor where I had fallen. As I did I noticed a thick smear of ichor on the ice. The sight cheered me remarkably, not least because if I'd managed to wound the creature it was unlikely to come back for a while. 'But it bleeds.' I thrust my sidearm back into the holster on my belt with a sense of grim satisfaction. 'And if it bleeds, we can kill it.'
Reading "Caves of Ice" another Cain novel from Sandy Mitchell in the volume I have (I dont think it calls itself and omnibus but it pretty much is). I came across this paragraph at the very end of chapter 3:Quote'I haven't a clue' I admitted, scooping up my laspistol up from the floor where I had fallen. As I did I noticed a thick smear of ichor on the ice. The sight cheered me remarkably, not least because if I'd managed to wound the creature it was unlikely to come back for a while. 'But it bleeds.' I thrust my sidearm back into the holster on my belt with a sense of grim satisfaction. 'And if it bleeds, we can kill it.'
Howl's Moving Castle is my favorite Ghibli movie and I'm finally reading the book it's based onI would have liked to see a film based on that book. One wonders why Miyazaki bothered to license the story at all; it has so little in common.
I'm reading Howl's Moving Castle again, but that's because I forgot I had read it beforeLoved that book, as well as most of what DWJ has written.
Pratchett is one of the few authors I always turn to when I need a pick-up, and it always saddens me that more won't be forthcoming. But the Discworld spins on, I guess. I understand that there are going to be small-screen adaptations coming out with his daughter (who is an established author in her own right as well as being heiress to the IP) involved that I eagerly await.I find that Pratchett adaptations suffer from the same problem as Adams and Wodehouse. The humor is more in the narrative than in the action and dialogue, so it doesn't translate well to the screen. I was thoroughly underwhelmed byHogfather and The Colour of Magic.
"De Vita Beata", "On the Happy Life", Seneca.
Egomaniacal garbage frequently antithetical to Stoicism.
Seneca generally employs a pointed rhetorical style in his prose. His writings focus on traditional themes of Stoic philosophy. The universe is governed for the best by a rational providence, and this must be reconciled with adversity. Seneca regards philosophy as a balm for the wounds of life. The destructive passions, especially anger and grief, must be uprooted, although sometimes he offers advice for moderating them according to reason. He discusses the relative merits of the contemplative life and the active life, and he considers it important to confront one's own mortality and be able to face death.
One must be willing to practice poverty and use wealth properly, and he writes about favours, clemency, the importance of friendship, and the need to benefit others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger
Seneca was undoubtedly extremely rich: he had properties at Baiae and Nomentum, an Alban villa, and Egyptian estates. Cassius Dio even reports that the Boudica uprising in Britannia was caused by Seneca forcing large loans on the indigenous British aristocracy in the aftermath of Claudius's conquest of Britain, and then calling them in suddenly and aggressively. Seneca was sensitive to such accusations: his De Vita Beata ("On the Happy Life") dates from around this time and includes a defense of wealth along Stoic lines, arguing that properly gaining and spending wealth is appropriate behaviour for a philosopher
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Did ya'll know that Howl's Moving Castle is the first book in a series? Cause I sure did not. So i'm gonna start the second book soon.
Did ya'll know that Howl's Moving Castle is the first book in a series? Cause I sure did not. So i'm gonna start the second book soon.I wasn't even aware that it was a book. Intriguing.
As I've said, the movie has only the most superficial points of contact with its source material.Did ya'll know that Howl's Moving Castle is the first book in a series? Cause I sure did not. So i'm gonna start the second book soon.I wasn't even aware that it was a book. Intriguing.
Did ya'll know that Howl's Moving Castle is the first book in a series? Cause I sure did not. So i'm gonna start the second book soon.
If there's another that follows Castle in the Air (which is only loosely connected to Howl's), I'm unaware of it.
Did not know that.If there's another that follows Castle in the Air (which is only loosely connected to Howl's), I'm unaware of it.There is one, called House of Many Ways, and it came out pretty recently. It's only a decade old now
I've been recommended the Honor Harrington series. Anyone of you read that?Only On Basilisk Station, the first of the series. I think I remember enjoying it, but it was like 20 years ago.
You know Ged is pronounced with a hard g, do you?I listened to the audio book, so yes. What's your point?
(click to show/hide)
Not much - I wondered if you'd been seduced by a greater similarity between Jet and Ged-with-a-J; but you haven't, so all's good.
Not much - I wondered if you'd been seduced by a greater similarity between Jet and Ged-with-a-J; but you haven't, so all's good.
"Hard G" as in God? (So "Gehd")?
Ged, to me, IS almost the same as Jet (G as in "Gee")
Isn't text great for pronunciation discussions? :)
You the Reader have Reader’s Rights. One of them is to pronounce made-up names and words the way you want to.
I'm nearing the end of "An Artist of the Floating World" by Kazuo Ishiguro. I first heard of the writer way back in college - one of my professors was often raving about him - but I didn't get around to reading any of his novels until now.
It's... kinda amazing. My mother (whom I bought the book) described it as "a novel where nothing happens", but she really, really liked it. And honestly? That's a good description. Nothing really happens throughout the book. There's not much of a story. But it's also very good. The dialogue maintains tension and held my interest really well.
I'm definitely reading more books by this guy, and soon. If they are all this well-written, his 2017 Nobel Prize was well-deserved.
Ged like Get, not Jed like Jet.
Ged like Get, not Jed like Jet.
Yeah... s'what I meant.
Ged (in the UK certainly) is pronounced like Jet.
Having read the book, the Prime show was mildly disappointing, especially since American Gods was such a riot - although to be fair, I haven't read that book.Does Good Omens end with the season? My Amazon menu lists it as "Season One".(click to show/hide)
Also Neil Gaiman announced that he won't be back if Amazon renews the show.......which reminds me that HBO has renewed Big Little Lies for a second season, despite the entire book story having been covered in the first. :?
Well, you know. The first season of The Handmaid's Tale covered the entire book as well, and we've had three seasons so far...I don't know that, actually. I stalled in my reading of The Handmaid's Tale and still haven't finished it.
It's a bit too close to reality right now for me to give it another go.Off topic, but I saw a Venn diagram a couple days ago with four overlapping circles labeled:
This is why I don't read stuff like that. I have enough darkness in my life without having in my entertainment as well. I don't need a dystopian allegory to make me aware of how fuck up the world is and how much more fucked up it could be. I am painfully aware.
From Bacteria to Bach and Back, by Daniel Dennett.
I'm taking notes on my phone on pretty much every single page, so it's slow going. But it's a great book
I see some people in this thread have mentioned The Expanse series. I didn't see anyone mentioning the audiobooks, which are read by a Tony-winning actor. He's very good. He sounds like he's having so much fun reading the dialog of Avasarala, a character who sadly doesn't show up until the second book.
"A Blade So Black" - A modern "Alice in Wonderland" about a young black woman fighting and slaying Nightmares trying to breach their way into the human world from Wonderland, the manifestation of the dream of the human collective unconscious.That sounds a little bit like the comic book Return to Wonderland, which is kind of a Wonderland-meets-Lovecraft horror series.
Anyone got a Sci-fi or Fantasy recommendation for me? Looking for something new to read. Can be a classic, as (re-) reading in English might be reason enough for me
As far as Sci-fi goes, I guess I have a thing for man/machine intrrwction, digital consciousness.
I don't need some thought out recommendations, just fire something at me.
Edit: I must admit, that I haven't read much, if any cyberpunk in years. It kinda stopped being fun for me once it started becoming reality.
Read the English version, though - I cannot imagine that it'd work in a German translation.
I do wonder if in a non-gendered society, what would happen with individuals who desired to express one would be treated like that one lady was in that TNG episode.[1]
Or would contact with other cultures create a broader social movement a la Cheery Littlebottom and other Ankh Morpork dwarfs who in Discworld have a mono-gendered society.
I do wonder if in a non-gendered society, what would happen with individuals who desired to express one would be treated like that one lady was in that TNG episode.[1]
Or would contact with other cultures create a broader social movement a la Cheery Littlebottom and other Ankh Morpork dwarfs who in Discworld have a mono-gendered society.
Gender expression is largely a social construct. And, as i recall, it isn't as though everyone in The Radtch looked, dressed, and acted exactly the same way, they just didn't ascribe gender to those differences. To them, seeing someone in a dress would be no different than seeing someone in pants. A person with what we called "feminine" characteristics and would be seen the same as someone with "masculine" features.
They would just see them, and themselves, as"human'Radchaai.
Except for Kant. For the love of all that is good and decent in the world, and if one doesn't want to plunge into the depths of Lovecraftian madness, read him in English, if at all.
The weirdest and best I've read recently is Anne Leckie's Imperial Radch series - fair warning, though: It's not about Razorgurlz, and she uses two very potent 'Verfremdungseffekte' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distancing_effect).I've read the first two of those (third wasn't out yet) and now it's been so long I'll have to start over.
Omg Kant ... I can't manage more than two pages of the Critique of Pure Reason before going cross-eyed (and very, very cranky ...). Even his interpunctuation and word-order seem odd to me; I could very well be missing something, but I have doubts whether he fully understood how to properly mark the beginning and end of subclauses - or what is and what isn't a subclause to begin with.Immanuel Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable.
TL;DR - I doubt that it's easier for us native speakers. The man was simply a very, very bad writer (and German provides bad writers with a lot of tools to use badly).
With my mind working some weird angles at times, I kinda like things that shouldn't work but actually do.
With my mind working some weird angles at times, I kinda like things that shouldn't work but actually do.
You should become a software engineer.
Lesnecrostronauts
Lesnecrostronauts
Started reading Harrow the Ninth, sequel to Gideon the Ninth. More lesbian necromancers in space. It is difficult to describe without spoilers from the first book. The tone is quite different from the first book as Harrow and Gideon are vastly different characters. If you've read the first book and liked it, I still suggest you pick this one up. If you haven't read the first one, then I definitely recommend you remedy that.
I repeat: Lesbian Necromancers In Space.
How many Ladies of the Lake are there? How are they different from the damsels of the lake? I think either the translation is not adding up or Malory just expected the reader to understand or not care but dammit I want to know! Like who the fuck was in the water giving out Excalibur if The lady of the lake was the one on the shore explaining everything to Arthur and gave him her boat to get the sword? Then she dies a few chapters later. But how if she is suppose to be magical? Then Nimue shows up and is also a lady/damsel of the lake as well as others. Are they of different lakes? Is the one inside the lake the queen of the lake? Is there a hierarchy of some sort? Who is in charge? Is anyone in charge? How do they work?
(https://www.ir-rs.com/applications/core/interface/imageproxy/imageproxy.php?img=https://i.imgur.com/fpgxujN.gif&key=6ca189911aa81a5a451a3dbb3ac49e22324eecac2fead6c37658d7ed5937e672)
If I remember correctly, Malory distinguishes between two ladies of the Lake, with Nimue as the most important.
I'm currently reading two different books on Irish history, Emma by Jane Austen and Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein.I'm not at all familiar with the second book, but I didn't know Emma was about Irish history.
When a faculty member dies under suspicious circumstances at Osthorne Academy for Young Mages, authorities rule that it was an accident. The headmaster wants a second opinion, and hires a private investigator — Ivy Gamble, the nonmagical estranged sister of Osthorne teacher Tabitha Gamble — to find out what really happened.