[Strikes Diceton Abbey from his Netflix queue, replaces with Gosford Park where, at least, the Downstairs gets to off the Upstairs]
I also notice that my effete, tea-drinking and dentist-shunning Elven steward is reading My Apprenticeship, by Gorky, for which he will be PUNISHED.
From a speech in some commie pamphlet entitled Enlightenment Rationalism and the Origins of Marxism:
"Most of the radical leaders of the revolution were from the bourgeoisie; typically they were lawyers. A significant exception was Lazare Hoche, a leading general in the revolutionary army, best known for suppressing the Catholic-royalist peasant uprising in the Vendee. As a youth in his teens, Hoche had been a stable boy in the royal palace at Versailles. He later recalled that in his spare time, when not cleaning the stables and grooming the horses, he had read Voltaire and the other philosophes. When a stableboy in the king's stables is reading Voltaire and Diderot, you know that the ancien regime is in deep horse manure."
Au secours! Au secours! Les lutins se révoltent!
An abbey, full of nuns - FULL. OF. NUNS. - and what does he do? Set fire to it. You see, this is what happens when you abolish serfdom.
What?
No nuns?
Oh, fine. Carry on. Have some turps.
I also notice that my effete, tea-drinking and dentist-shunning Elven steward is reading My Apprenticeship, by Gorky, for which he will be PUNISHED.
Comte, mon ami, if you can even afford an elven steward, you must doing something right. I'm stuck with all these goblin house servants who keep humping the cushions and shouting "Vive le Galt!!" at their moment of climax.
(Yes, Diceton Abbey could use a good going over with a bucket of bleach or two.)
Uh, uh, uh, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....Vive le Galt!
[Lights cigarette]
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All of the pillows in my attic garret are entirely unstained.
Hm? No, I don't know what the word "gelded" means, or understand why the term is germane to our conversation.
Books? I haven't started anything since I heard Fredrick Pohl died this weekend. :(
Aw, (bleep).
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Slightly disappointed in the ending to Asimov's "Foundation and Empire." He's made SOME improvement in characterization, but somehow the way he manipulates them is too plain to see. I'm not sure I have the words to describe it, but his characters have surface emotions but lack emotional depth. YMMV. I can't see any of them making me want to cry if he kills them off. But I will still read the next book in Hari Seldon's Plan, provided it DOES wrap up the "2nd Foundation" in one book...we shall see.
All in all, Asimov is not quite what I expected. I can't really see the Foundation novels as "hard sci-fi," more as space-opera with some big-ideas thrown in. I suppose I shouldn't have expected really hard sci-fi since the whole Foundation premise necessitates faster-than-light travel. Asimov does well with big ideas; I think that is his main strength based on my reading so far.
[Don Juan de Doodlebug]
Finished Swords and Deviltry and am in mourning for the girls.
[Comrade Anklebiter]
Dr. King just finished up the Birmingham campaign with mixed results. Lots of passages to mine for violent rebellions and anti-Democrat ranting, if the topic ever comes up.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
It is better than I thought it would be.
-Aaron
The End of the Story by Clark Ashton Smith thanks to a recommendation a bit back by Erik Mona. About half way through and it is great, have picked up the other 4 subsequently and a "related" book.
[Don Juan de Doodlebug]
Finished Swords and Deviltry and am in mourning for the girls.
[Comrade Anklebiter]
Dr. King just finished up the Birmingham campaign with mixed results. Lots of passages to mine for violent rebellions and anti-Democrat ranting, if the topic ever comes up.
Don Juan, does Swords and Deviltry end with "Ill Met in Lankhmar"? Cause personally, I'd just love to read everything Fritz Leiber wrote in chronological order.
Conjure Wife/Our Lady of Darkness Tor Double? Acceptable.
Yes, it ends with "Ill Met."
It's kind of fun, because I've got all the "books," but they're spread out through four different publishers. But I cross-checked with wikipedia, because I'm that kind of nerd.
Anyway, chronological like he wrote them would be a neat project, but I'm going to read them straight through as published. I've never read the whole series before, just some of the ones in the second half.
I know these boards are kind of divided over Michael Moorcock, but one thing that he said that seems to be absolutely, 100% true, completely indisputable, is that Fritz was the best S&S writer evah.
Oh, it was also kind of fun, because Faf & GM had the same girlfriends throughout the whole book,
In comparison, Death's Heretic was like a feminist manifesto.
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I know these boards are kind of divided over Michael Moorcock
Heck, I'm divided over Michael Moorcock all on my own!
Which is to say that I think he's very uneven - some stuff is absolutely amazing, others really make you think they're one of those he's supposed to have written in 24 hours under the influence of various chemical substances... and not in a good way.
Slightly disappointed in the ending to Asimov's "Foundation and Empire." He's made SOME improvement in characterization, but somehow the way he manipulates them is too plain to see. I'm not sure I have the words to describe it, but his characters have surface emotions but lack emotional depth.
This, I think, is a major point. Quite a few science fiction writers start out writing great stories with nifty ideas. Then, as they mature (or believe themselves to be doing so) they write more about characterization. In my opinion, what makes science fiction great is the nifty ideas. You can get characterization in ANY genre.
And Asimov is a good example. In the original "Foundation" series, he presents some fantastic ideas, that I will never forget, which couldn't be adequately imitated in any other genre. In the prequels, which Asimov wrote as an old man, he turns Hari Seldon into a more "real" person. I thought that Seldon was much more fun to read about as a larger-than-life icon. He was a symbol of psychohistory. Of course, readers who prefer characterization over SF ideas may disagree with me.
And the same goes for a lot of other science fiction writers, such as Harry Harrison (as seen in the "Stainless Steel Rat" series) and Arthur C. Clarke (as seen in the "Rama" books).
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As the steaming Comte has pointed out, I am still reading My Apprenticeship and enjoying it very much. I also finished 'Stormlight', by Ed Greenwood, in which the Bard of Shadowdale investigates some mysterious slayings in Cormyr and sometimes keeps her clothes on for up to two pages at a time.
I know these boards are kind of divided over Michael Moorcock
Heck, I'm divided over Michael Moorcock all on my own!
Which is to say that I think he's very uneven - some stuff is absolutely amazing, others really make you think they're one of those he's supposed to have written in 24 hours under the influence of various chemical substances... and not in a good way.
I have so far, I believe, stuck to the semi-universally accepted as awesome Moorcock, but if anyone wants to name some of the others, I may be looking for reading material when I finally score some acid.
Semi-srly, one of the things I love about Moorcock is that he makes no bones about being a hack. And he's still better than 2/3rds of the crap on the shelf at the used bookstore!
Currently reading: A Clash of Kings. I know I'm late to the party, but I'm actively trying to stay *behind* the HBO series because I'm enjoying being surprised.
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Disappointed in Asimov's characterizations.This, I think, is a major point. Quite a few science fiction writers start out writing great stories with nifty ideas. Then, as they mature (or believe themselves to be doing so) they write more about characterization. In my opinion, what makes science fiction great is the nifty ideas. You can get characterization in ANY genre.
And Asimov is a good example. In the original "Foundation" series, he presents some fantastic ideas, that I will never forget, which couldn't be adequately imitated in any other genre. In the prequels, which Asimov wrote as an old man, he turns Hari Seldon into a more "real" person. I thought that Seldon was much more fun to read about as a larger-than-life icon. He was a symbol of psychohistory. Of course, readers who prefer characterization over SF ideas may disagree with me.
I completely agree that the essence of sci-fi is its ideas. They are more important than the characters. Yet, I also think that conflict in the genre over the role of character goes all the way back to Jules Verne (there was a nifty article on Capt. Nemo making its rounds on the internet recently that argues about this).
What I'm trying to figure out is where I as a reader fall in what makes a satisfying balance of Ideas + Characters for me.Also, it was a bit of jolt coming from Octavia Butler straight to Asimov, because their styles and answers to that question are so different (as are the ideas they raise).
I've read a little bit of Harrison (Make Room! Make Room! & Technicolor Time Machine, but not Stainless Steel Rat) and the thing that strikes me about him is his satiric tone, more than his ideas (not that he isn't original, just that the tone is what sticks with me more). And with satire, it's more okay to not have a consistent character, if it serves the humor, as much as it serves his ideas. The tradition probably goes back to Swift more than Verne.
Of course, readers who prefer characterization over SF ideas may disagree with me.
Okay.
Being an anthropologist and having a pshrink for a dad, characterization is what makes a story work for me. Argh, how to express this? If you're talking about a basic concept - say, FTL travel or the common use of magic as a tool - it may be "new" to me as a reader; but to the characters in the book, it's old hat, or it should be, unless the author is trying the whole paradigm-shift-without-a-clutch thing, as per Mickey Zucher Reichert's Godslayer, or any number of Andre Norton's books. What makes the plot go 'round is how the characters interact, not just with the idea/technology, but between themselves and the point where the idea intersects with their lives. I've read a few papers on the topic; the psych and anthropology journals picked up on it when some IT students publicly expressed their displeasure about the instability of Ringworld. That was a whole revolution in and of itself: for the first time in human history, people actually had the time (time considered as a resource) to protest about something - a nifty idea! - which had no relation to acquiring basic necessities. Unless, of course, you consider a stable Ringworld to be a Basic Necessity, in which case...facepaw.
Don't get me wrong: I adore nifty ideas. I'm a Big Fan of nifty ideas. I would love nothing better than to be able to use a good, reliable Dancing Lantern spell rather than to have to hold the stupid flickering flashlight under my arm while I'm opening the mailbox, all the while wondering if the mountain lion is nearby and licking its chops. But where does the story go from there? Did I make it back to the house alive? Or am I lion food, and all of this was ghostwritten (hee-hee. Couldn't resist)?
There is no reason a story about big ideas can't have believable, functioning, interesting characters. No reason at all.
That is true (although to me, great ideas steal the show, and make great characters seem secondary). But my only point was that when some writers mature as they continue their successful series', they don't seem to have much more to say about great ideas, and focus on characters instead.
John Dies at the End by David Wong.
Finished the King bio, which was very good and nowhere near as critical as the title would suggest. I guess it just meant it wasn't hagiographic, especially for a bio written, like, a year after MLK got whacked.
Up to "The Howling Tower" in Swords Against Death.
Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire. Wonderful series.
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Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson. certainly a... different world. Very interesting, though the magic system is not as vibrant as those presented in "mistborn". A lot less action, too, but most of the support characters are better written than in Mistborn, and it's nice to see a setting populated by non Caucasian people (I mean, I think so... I don't recall skin color being mentioned, but given the jungle setting and the oriental vibes, I imagine the people as being Thai like in appearance).
Haven't made any progress on Swords Against Death I am afraid, but I did start The Bible Unearthed by Finkelstein and Silberman in what I hope will be a run of Comrade Samnell recommendations.
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I have been absent from this thread for some time! Here are my recent reads (working backwards from most recent):
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
The Omnivore's Dilemma (nonfiction) by Michael Pollan
The Beautiful and Damned by Fitzgerald
In between, I worked in quite a bit of poetry (various authors) and a bunch of short stories by Flannery O'Connor
I hadn't read Gatsby since high school, and since I am trying to work through FSF's body of work, I figured I ought to reread it. I went to find a copy at a used bookstore, and the only ones they had were the movie tie-in paperback edition with Leonardo DiCaprio on the cover. It made me feel dopy reading it on the train. I did my best to hide the cover when I was a reading it so nobody would think I was some lame bandwaggoneer. I mean, I haven't even seen the movie. Le sigh.
Also, Flannery O'Connor is a slice of awesome.
I think I am going to shift gears and read Needful Things by Stephen King to get into the spirit of autumnal horror. I picked it up a long time ago and never got around to reading it.
After that, I will return to my project of catching up on American novels I somehow never read. The Sun Also Rises and The Grapes of Wrath are staring at me from their respective places on the shelf.
Haven't made any progress on Swords Against Death I am afraid, but I did start The Bible Unearthed by Finkelstein and Silberman in what I hope will be a run of Comrade Samnell recommendations.
Goblin puppets dance in the street? :)
Came to the conclusion after two weeks of not touching the damned thing that I need a little break from Freehling. I'll finish him, since he came to the door with this pizza I don't remember ordering and all, but I was out of town today with my mother. She needed a sewing machine serviced, and you can read that however you like, but there's also a nice Barnes & Noble down there so I picked up Mythic Adventures (with a lovely lavender spine, no less) and a pleasant surprise: I really dug Ian Mortimer's The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England a year or so ago. I go into the history section and the books come to life and dance around me singing showtunes for a while before parting to reveal The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England by one Ian Mortimer.
Yes, please. The cover even includes a fellow in the pillory. There are not enough pillories in gaming, I think. Might have to do what I can to fix that. After my guys are done with the bestial barbarians they're currently negotiating, I suppose.
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I hadn't read Gatsby since high school, and since I am trying to work through FSF's body of work, I figured I ought to reread it. I went to find a copy at a used bookstore, and the only ones they had were the movie tie-in paperback edition with Leonardo DiCaprio on the cover. It made me feel dopy reading it on the train. I did my best to hide the cover when I was a reading it so nobody would think I was some lame bandwaggoneer. I mean, I haven't even seen the movie. Le sigh.
Although my copy of TGG is much older than the Baz Luhrman (?) film, I am glad to see that I am not the only one who suffers from snobby don't-want-to-be-seen-riding-public-transportation-and-reading-the-movie-ti e-in-edition anxiety.
Finished the first chapter of The Bible Unearthed and have already had my mind blown by the startling revelations about the patriarchs.
Yesterday I was socialisming it up at the Worcester Public Library, which, once again, had wicked awesomely stocked "Books for Sale" bin:
(Indulges my love of lists)
Seize the Time by Bobby Seale
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
to peddle with socialist newspapers and for myself:
The Creation of Feminist Consciousness by Gerda Lerner which I was wicked excited about until I cracked it open and realized it was the second volume in a 2-volume Women in History. The intro was all like, "In my first book I proved that blah blah blah" and I was like, "Waitaminnit! I need those things to be proved before I continue, aargh!"
The World of Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse so I can catch up with the rest of you
More importantly, the fantasy and sci-fi:
50 cents each:
The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delany
The Gates of Creation by Philip Jose Farmer
Rocannon's World by Ursula K. Le Guin (which I might already own, I'm not sure)
The Beyonders by Manly Wade Wellman
and another copy of Swords Against Deviltry which I gave to my fellow D&Ding comrade
Free:
Dragonflight, The Mark of Merlin and Ring of Fear by Anne McCaffrey
The Jargoon Pard by Andre Norton
As if I need more books!
Have you read Ursula K LeGuin's Malafrena, Doodlebug? It's compulsory LeGuin-reading for revolutionaries (or students of the 1848 revolutions in general).
Turns out someone's produced an RPG based on Lin Carter's Thongor books
No idea whether it's any good or not, but there it is.
This week's star read was Dream Spheres, by Elaine Cunningham, which was excellent.
Have you read Ursula K LeGuin's Malafrena, Doodlebug? It's compulsory LeGuin-reading for revolutionaries (or students of the 1848 revolutions in general).
Huh, no, I haven't, but I did read the Orsinian Tales.
[Adds to list]
Jack Vance's Cadwal Chronicles. The characters, plot, and settings are as awesome and as endearing as I remembered them from my first reading of this triology. What strikes me, though, is that it supposedly takes place in like 3500 AD, and yet people still make telephone calls on non-portable phones, store paper documents in filing cabinets, and even write letters to each other by hand -- even for interplanetary communications. It's like a post-Butlerian Jihad Dune setting, minus the imperialism -- although no reference to any such historical event is made. The thing is, these books were written in the 1980s, so one would have thought that the writing was on the wall as far as computers and mobile communications.
Next Up: King's Wind Through the Keyhole and Child's new Jack Reacher novel -- the latter a guilty pleasure on the order of the old "Destroyer" novels!
Finished the first third of The Bible Unearthed and my mind is buh-lown!!!
In addition to everything else, was chuckling to myself at the name of the dude who excavated Megiddo in the 1930s--P.L.O. Guy. I wonder if he was welcome in Israel in later years?
In Fafhrd and friend news, just read "Claws in the Night." It was awesome!
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I finished Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light. In some ways it raised more questions than it answered, but I did enjoy the ending and all the awesome weapons/toys Zelazny gave his "superhero" characters to play with. Also,
I'm reading "Nemesis", book 'god I can't believe I've been following it this long' in the Horus Heresy series. Not very good. I should just fast forward through to the next Dan Abnett since he's the only writer in the stable who's actually any good. But I'm obsessive about these things.
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"The new Shiva is far too reliant on fusion grenades."
In Fafhrd and friend news, just read "Claws in the Night." It was awesome!
"Claws from the Night," that is.
Just finished Against Death and they have yet to replace their dead girlfriends, so maybe I was a bit too hasty.
Awesome, awesome, awesome!
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DA -- I love the one where they have the ski chase against the tropical priests! And the one with the little girl explaining there's a giant in the tower! And, well, most of them really.
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Those were all awesome, too, and so was the climactic finish when Fafhrd must disturb the plans of interdimensional capitalists!
Turns out someone's produced an RPG based on Lin Carter's Thongor books
No idea whether it's any good or not, but there it is.
This week's star read was Dream Spheres, by Elaine Cunningham, which was excellent.
Your link wasn't working for me, but I assume this.
I, alas, haven't had any luck in finding those other six Thongor books. :(
Doodles, have you gotten to "Lean Times in Lankhmar" yet? Thou shalt enjoy the s**t out of that one. :)
Next one.
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Doodles, have you gotten to "Lean Times in Lankhmar" yet? Thou shalt enjoy the s**t out of that one. :)
Haven't finished the story yet, but it is immensely gratifying to finally read about Issek of the Jug after having read Legends and Lore, oh, 25 years ago.