Finally gave up on Plato for good and no amount of heckling is going to make me revisit it. When he got to the part where he started planning his sci-fi/utopian plan to raise the perfect guardians and philosopher-kings, I stalled out and began skimming. Got to the Allegory of the Cave, again, and quit.
The Republic is of obvious historical importance and immense irony. The most democratic government in the ancient world's most remembered event was the execution of Socrates and the greatest book it produced was Plato's unremittingly undemocratic blueprint. But I have to wonder about the "virtue" of a plan that quite knowingly bases itself on lies. Also, in my opinion, it's quite boring.
Instead I turned to The Viking Portable Voltaire and am filling up on the stuff I haven't read before (Philosophical Dictionary, Letters Concerning the English Nation) which is quite droll and Robert E. Howard's The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane which I found for cheap in a local used bookstore. Although the SK stories are pretty bad-ass, I was a tad disappointed in that, other than his clothing, he doesn't seem particularly Puritan to me. Not once does he rail against Archbishop Laud, not once does make demeaning comments about Catholics, not once does he praise Cromwell's Commonwealth! Oh well, maybe he's an American Puritan.
Oh well, maybe he's an American Puritan.
Exactly -- my understanding is that REH never in his brief life left the state of Texas.
Just finished the Codex Alera series...good stuff.
Working on finishing up 'The Eagle of the Ninth' by Rosemary Sutcliff that I borrowed from my father. A fast read, but very, very good.
Next on my list: 'The Book of Jhereg', Steven Brust's first three adventures about assassin Vlad Taltos (borrowed from my boyfriend).
Just finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, and I have to say that he is now my favorite author. Now that I am done with that I am going to re-read the dune series by Frank Herbert.
...Robert E. Howard's The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane which I found for cheap in a local used bookstore. Although the SK stories are pretty bad-ass, I was a tad disappointed in that, other than his clothing, he doesn't seem particularly Puritan to me. Not once does he rail against Archbishop Laud, not once does make demeaning comments about Catholics, not once does he praise Cromwell's Commonwealth! Oh well, maybe he's an American Puritan.
Finished the Solomon Kane collection and, to answer my own question, it would appear that the stories take place under the reign of Elizabeth I.
I come to these conclusions by references to Sir Richard Grenville and the poem at the end of the collection, Solomon Kane's Homecoming.
The stories were pretty great, btw. Highly recommended.
Poring thru some cheaply-obtained copies of Sword and Sorcery Studios Everquest D20 game. Some good stuff for yoinking, but it assumes a 40-level-cap game, so all the monsters and NPCs are ridiculously powered. Still, considering my PCs, I might need some of those stats one day ....
Today I read Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well.
Parolles is a fine addition to the Sancho Panza/Falstaff school of loveable, completely unredeemable rogues; Bertram is a douchebag who doesn't deserve sweet Helen's affections and the Clown's pretty funny.
I liked it but I wish Bertram would've gotten executed instead of married.
Finished Jeff Long's The Descent. Really enjoyed it. A mash of horror/sci-fi/apocalyptic/survival story. Certainly enough genres covered there.
Got about halfway through Patrick Rothfuss's The Wise Man's Fear and lost interest. Found it bloated, self indulgent and boring. Was a big fan of The Name of The Wind, but this book was a huge let down.
Currently reading Justin Cronin's The Passage. Enjoyed the first third, hopefully the fine storytelling will continue.
Switching genres from fantasy to horror as most of the fantasy books I have started such as Jemesin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Rothfuss's WMF, Sam Sykes Tome of the Undergates and Dea's The Adamantine Palace couldn't maintain my interest.
Probably will go with Joe Hill's Horns next.
Somebody recommend a good, recent, fantasy novel please!
There are very few characters in fantasy fiction that make me wish I could stab them in the back of the head (authors? sure).
Joe Abercrombie's Lord Bayaz, First of the Magi is one of them.
Halfway through The Heroes, and even though the bald scumsucker has only made a few brief appearances, they fill me with hate and loathing.
I would petition Mr. Abercrombie to kill this douchebag off, but, unfortunately, the fact that he fills me with so much rage is probably proof that he's a very successful character.
Somebody recommend a good, recent, fantasy novel please!
I found a translation of Russian author Alexey Pehov's 'Shadow Prowler'. It's book one of a series being translated by a 'best selling new generation Russian fantasy author'.
All I can say is Wow!It's about a thief who is recruited to join a elf, a dwarf, a gnome, a goblin and some humans to recover an artifact to stop an evil undead lord and his horde of orks from destroying the kingdom. Sounds normal right?
Wrong.
The author takes all this and makes it completely new, in every way.
I've been reading fantasy for more than thirty years and I expected almost none of what Pehov did.
This has become my most recommended novel.
Hopefully, the other books will come soon. For some reason, I think the next is due in April, but I can't find that on the cover of the first book.
"Wise mans fear", by Patrick Rothfuss. A bit long-winded and not as good as the first book(which was very good).
"Strange piece of paradise ", by Terry Jentz. Its been 15 years since someone tried to kill the author and her friend. Now she tries to find out what happened that night and why no one was arrested.
Recommendations; something by Joe Abercrombie, R. Scott Bakker, Chris Wooding or Scott Lynch ?
Somebody recommend a good, recent, fantasy novel please!I found a translation of Russian author Alexey Pehov's 'Shadow Prowler'. It's book one of a series being translated by a 'best selling new generation Russian fantasy author'.
All I can say is Wow!
It's about a thief who is recruited to join a elf, a dwarf, a gnome, a goblin and some humans to recover an artifact to stop an evil undead lord and his horde of orks from destroying the kingdom. Sounds normal right?
Wrong.
The author takes all this and makes it completely new, in every way.
I've been reading fantasy for more than thirty years and I expected almost none of what Pehov did.
This has become my most recommended novel.
Hopefully, the other books will come soon. For some reason, I think the next is due in April, but I can't find that on the cover of the first book.
I was intrigued to find out that this is actually fan-fiction for the Thief video games. The main character is still called Garret in the Russian version.
Thanks for the recs guys. Will definitely be checking out Shadow Prowler, niel, especially with the "Thief" tie in. Sounds good!
Read everything you recommended, Jit. Not a fan of Bakker, too heavy on the philosophy for me. I read all of Joes's and Lynch's stuff. I started reading Retribution Falls by Wooding but put it aside as it's a little too "lite" I found. Still, the Firefly aspect is great and I plan to go back to it one of these days. I pretty much have any well known fantasy author covered so I am looking for some newer talent.
That being said, I can understand the hype over Justin Cronin's The Passage. Lots of fully fleshed characters, different settings and an a-one plot involving a plaguelike vampiric virus that starts in a jungle temple and then is developed in the US to create a strain of super soldier. I think it is a deeper book than any of Del Toro's and Hogans vampire trilogy and certainly less traditional. But I enjoyed both on their merits.
It will keep me busy for a while
just finished "lord of light," by roger zelazny. i didn't like it so much. the characters never quite grabbed me and zelazny's writing style felt odd.
just finished "lord of light," by roger zelazny. i didn't like it so much. the characters never quite grabbed me and zelazny's writing style felt odd.
** spoiler omitted **
Yeah, that line is the most famous part of the book.
"Harvest", by Tess Gerritsen. Bayside Hospital is is famous for its transplant team, but the doctors on it are dying.
Dragonlance: The Soulforge, by Margaret Weis
Trying to decide between
"The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi (last years hugo/nebula winner)
"A Talent for War" by Jack McDevitt (Alex Benedict #1)
"Pandora's Star" Peter F. Hamilton
Opinions anyone? <------------------
edit*** Kind of wanted a change of pace from Fantasy. Next Fantasy will likely be Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson when I go back there.
Trying to decide between
"The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi (last years hugo/nebula winner)
"A Talent for War" by Jack McDevitt (Alex Benedict #1)
"Pandora's Star" Peter F. HamiltonOpinions anyone? <------------------
edit*** Kind of wanted a change of pace from Fantasy. Next Fantasy will likely be Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson when I go back there.
I just finished Windup Girl iliked it a good deal.
I just finished Windup Girl iliked it a good deal.Trying to decide between
"The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi (last years hugo/nebula winner)
"A Talent for War" by Jack McDevitt (Alex Benedict #1)
"Pandora's Star" Peter F. HamiltonOpinions anyone? <------------------
edit*** Kind of wanted a change of pace from Fantasy. Next Fantasy will likely be Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson when I go back there.
+1 to this. Bacigalupi realizes a well-made consistent and compelling distopia in this book IMO. Really top notch.
Mary Roach: Packing for Mars, Bonk, and Stiff.
Just finished Abercrombie's The Heroes. Am kind of speechless at the last bunch of emotionally-draining twists and turns of the plot.
For me, the core of the story is Curnden Craw and his dozen, which I thoroughly enjoyed/was gut-wrenchingly disgusted by. Was especially touched by the stories of Corporal Tunny, Red Beck and Prince Calder. Didn't see Colonel Gorst's deflation coming, but I should've. This is Abercrombie, after all. Loved the fact that the death of Forley the Weakest has reverberations after all this time. Also loved the continuing evolution of Caul Shivers. Is the Dogman the only one of The Bloody-Nine's original crew still drawing breath? Poor Black Dow (who finally got fleshed out as more than a villain), I didn't see it coming.
I didn't laugh as much as I did during his other books. Of course, I bruised my ribs a couple of weeks ago and it is excruciatingly painful to laugh, so maybe it's just me. There were a couple of hilarious exchanges throughout the book, but it seemed a lot grimmer (than Best Served Cold?) and humorless. Of course, war's not a terribly funny subject.
Can't wait to see what happens next. Looks like we'll be returning to Styria where, hopefully, we can see a little more of Nicomo Cosca (time keeps marching on in the Circle of the World).
Wish someone would man up and send Bayaz back to the mud, though.
Just got a series of 12 books called the Foxfire Project which seem to be a series of different interviews with Appalaichian folk about their lives, culture and arts. A donation from my father-in-law, as he is in the process of downsizing his personal library.
Ahhh, soon to be a dream of the golden past, the personal library..
What's this golden dream of the past business?
What's this golden dream of the past business?
Meh. Just a thought that ten years from now the library will have gone the way of the massive CD collection. Not for everyone, certainly not for me until I croak, but for most, collecting books will dissolve into files on an iPad or some such....
What's this golden dream of the past business?Meh. Just a thought that ten years from now the library will have gone the way of the massive CD collection. Not for everyone, certainly not for me until I croak, but for most, collecting books will dissolve into files on an iPad or some such....
Nice library.
Re-reading some of Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories (my Planet Stories edition of Who Fears the Devil, followed by an old paperback of The Hanging Stones).
Next up after that: Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth (and I'm watching the miniseries concurrently).
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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I've been re-reading Lord of the Rings, and LOVING IT. Haven't read it in quite a while. Maybe 1992 if memory serves.
It's been very interesting reading and comparing to the movies. Seeing where bits of dialogue are swapped around between characters or scenes at times, in a few cases reversing how things are in the books. Two examples come to mind:
In the books, Gandalf argues to go into Moria (Aragorn is the dissenter).
In the movies, Gandalf argues against going into Moria.
In the books, Boromir wants to go to Rivendell. Faramir would have been willing to go, but Boromir bogarts the mission for himself (cuz he's kind of an egomaniac).
In the movie, Faramir wants to go to Rivendell, but Boromir gets sent instead by mean old dad.
Lots of little bits and pieces that I've forgotten. No big things; like all good nerds I know all the major beats of the story by heart. But the fine details are delightfully crafted. The beginning of Fellowship reads like a professor wrote it; there's a lot of history and a lot of exposition. By the time we get to the end of Two Towers, though, the ascent up to Cirith Ungol is incredibly taut and harrowing. I was reading the first chapter of Return today at the dog park, and I actually got a little choked up reading the part where Pippin offers his service to Denethor in payment of his debt to Boromir.
It's good stuff. Let the haters hate; LotR is an enduring classic for a reason. It's just flat-out great.
Just got a series of 12 books called the Foxfire Project which seem to be a series of different interviews with Appalaichian folk about their lives, culture and arts. A donation from my father-in-law, as he is in the process of downsizing his personal library.
Ahhh, soon to be a dream of the golden past, the personal library..
My step mom got me into Foxfire when I was in middle school, enjoy in good health. It also goes without saying that some the the techniques they chronicle are excellent for gamers to understand cottage based or serf based industries.
I've been re-reading Lord of the Rings, and LOVING IT.
Heh -- I had the opposite experience. I first read them at like age 10 and was captivated. I tried again a few years back and couldn't make it through RotK -- put it down and said, "I just can't take another damn page of whining hobbits."
After that, I thought there must be something seriously and fundamentally wrong with me... until I read Michael Moorcock's essay "Epic Pooh" and realized I wasn't alone.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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I've been re-reading Lord of the Rings, and LOVING IT.Heh -- I had the opposite experience. I first read them at like age 10 and was captivated. I tried again a few years back and couldn't make it through RotK -- put it down and said, "I just can't take another damn page of whining hobbits."
After that, I thought there must be something seriously and fundamentally wrong with me... until I read Michael Moorcock's essay "Epic Pooh" and realized I wasn't alone.
Double-ironically, I had the same reaction to Moorcock. I read all of the Elric and Corum books, The Eternal Champion, a Hawkmoon book or two, and really loved them in high school. Tried to pick them up again later for a re-read and just could not get into it. Found myself saying, "Really, I thought this was good?"
Moorcock has always disliked what he called Tolkien's noble pastoralism and English country gentleman idealism. There is that to be found in JRRT, sure, but whether you like it or not depends. Moorcock was not a fan.
Of course, I'm just getting to RotK now. Who knows, after 22 solid pages of thirsty crawling across Gorgoroth I might get bored of it too, but seriously, that's just one chapter, bracketed by Sam liberating Frodo from Cirith Ungol before and the drama at Mount Doom after. Are you really gonna knock the series because of one bad chapter? C'mon, man. I don't think I've ever read any book that didn't have a slow chapter here and there.
But, to each their own. For me, it's been a treat.
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Moorcock has always disliked what he called Tolkien's noble pastoralism and English country gentleman idealism. There is that to be found in JRRT, sure, but whether you like it or not depends. Moorcock was not a fan.
I have always found Moorcock's essay a little strange. It reminds me of a lot of terrible Stalinist, social-realist criticism in that his main argument is that Tolkien is a reactionary, bourgeois little Englander. And I kept thinking while reading "Epic Pooh", "Yeah, and....?"
Don't get me wrong. I think it's a great essay. I just think he keeps trying to elevate his own taste in fantasy literature into some kind of political-ethical code.
The way he counterposes Tolkien and Peake always struck me as weird, too. I first read Tolkien in third grade. There's no way I would have been able to read Peake at such tender years. Arguing which one is better (as opposed to which one you prefer) is akin to trying to decide between, say, Mark Twain and Faulkner. They're doing different things.
EDIT: Also, I've always enjoyed the work of A.A. Milne, so there's that.
Nice library.What's this golden dream of the past business?Meh. Just a thought that ten years from now the library will have gone the way of the massive CD collection. Not for everyone, certainly not for me until I croak, but for most, collecting books will dissolve into files on an iPad or some such....
Thank you =)
My step mom got me into Foxfire when I was in middle school, enjoy in good health. It also goes without saying that some the the techniques they chronicle are excellent for gamers to understand cottage based or serf based industries.
Yeah, I dig stuff that is historically interesting, and can be yoinked to add versimilitude to gaming =). Plus I have a weird fascination with Appalachian culture. Odd, because the closest I ever got to them was the Virginian/W. Virginian border for some Army class TDY for a couple of days. Oh and Western Mass (also technically part of the Appalachian chain..)
What's this golden dream of the past business?Meh. Just a thought that ten years from now the library will have gone the way of the massive CD collection. Not for everyone, certainly not for me until I croak, but for most, collecting books will dissolve into files on an iPad or some such....
Yeah, I have to have...both! I just wanted to be clear on whose library it was and if your personal lib. was going away...because then I would think something had gone seriously wrong.
Moorcock has always disliked what he called Tolkien's noble pastoralism and English country gentleman idealism. There is that to be found in JRRT, sure, but whether you like it or not depends. Moorcock was not a fan.
I have always found Moorcock's essay a little strange. It reminds me of a lot of terrible Stalinist, social-realist criticism in that his main argument is that Tolkien is a reactionary, bourgeois little Englander. And I kept thinking while reading "Epic Pooh", "Yeah, and....?"
Don't get me wrong. I think it's a great essay. I just think he keeps trying to elevate his own taste in fantasy literature into some kind of political-ethical code.
The way he counterposes Tolkien and Peake always struck me as weird, too. I first read Tolkien in third grade. There's no way I would have been able to read Peake at such tender years. Arguing which one is better (as opposed to which one you prefer) is akin to trying to decide between, say, Mark Twain and Faulkner. They're doing different things.
EDIT: Also, I've always enjoyed the work of A.A. Milne, so there's that.
I think it's great...ly wrong. I can hardly enumerate the things wrong with it, it's so fundamentally wrong. But sometimes, frustrated people have to do things to make themselves feel better about themselves. Hopefully, Moorcock is beyond all that now.
I just finished Hok the Mighty and have turned to Plague of Shadows. I enjoyed Hok, although the Silver John stories are The Best.
Yeah, I have to have...both! I just wanted to be clear on whose library it was and if your personal lib. was going away...because then I would think something had gone seriously wrong.
Yeah, I was going all grognardy on the concept of digital books, but I am finding myself more and more attracted to the concept, if or nothing else, the portability. Seeing my inlaws struggle with their collection, and having to give away/sell most of them because they are downsizing has got me thinking. Not that I am downsizing any time soon, but at some point it would be nice to have a library I could carry with me.
That and I have a lot of gaming PDFs and I really hate reading them on the computer ..
I think it's great...ly wrong. I can hardly enumerate the things wrong with it, it's so fundamentally wrong. But sometimes, frustrated people have to do things to make themselves feel better about themselves. Hopefully, Moorcock is beyond all that now.
I think it is well-written, thought-provoking and cogently-argued opinion-piece. Most essays that you read about fantasy literature are uncritical puff pieces, so I've always been hungry for essays that named names and fired shots. I don't agree with his opinion, or his final conclusion, but I enjoyed reading it and I wish I could get my hands on a copy of his Wizardry and Wild Romance.
I just started "Prince of Wolves" last night. I made it about 50 pages in and conked off. Actually rather enjoying it, I was just a little tired last night. I do like that its pretty much PG-13 and not too g-rated. I can take it more seriously as a result.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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The part of Return of the King that dragged me down as a kid was the book between Shelob's Lair and the rest of Mordor. I wanted to get back to the hobbits! I liked that chapter a lot more during my 3 or 4 reads as an adult :)
Again, I had the opposite reaction. I *LOVED* the whole Minas Tirith/battle section. It was possibly my favorite part of the whole series. Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth was my favorite minor character.
The return to Mordor and Frodo and Sam seemed so small and slow by comparison after the huge, sweeping dramatics of the battle scenes. Sure, as I got older I could appreciate the dramatic tension and counterpoint and all; I just loved the big stuff.
Then again, one of my favorite childhood books was The Two Ocean War by Samuel Eliot Morison (a copy of which sits just a few feet from me right now) and I read several hundred WWII books in elementary school, so maybe I was just weird that way... :)