I thought Naomi Klein had already made that clear in The Shock Doctrine.In Behemoth, one of the protagonists just hooked up with the Committe of Union and Progress. Also, for some light reading to cleanse the palette, I've been reading Noam Chomsky's Profits Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order.
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Finished The Hobbit. Found it to be a solidly average tale. We'll see if I find the trilogy more exceptional.
Personally I prefer Hobbit to the Lord Of The Rings. I think that Professor Tolkien work truly shines, however, when one reads [i]Silmarillion[i], as long as one is interested in epic, mythic tales.
Finished Master of Devils and 2/3 through Prince of Wolves (think i should have read them reversed order).
While I like the author and the reading goes well, I cant help but see a repeat of Forgotten Realms incestuous (constantly revolving around the same characters across several authors/regions/topics) storytelling most evident In the Drizzt series (first thirteen, ok i get it, but what number are they on?) and the previous incarnation started off with the war of the gods and beaten to death by an elminster or blackstaff popping up in seemingly every novel.
Finished The Hobbit. Found it to be a solidly average tale. We'll see if I find the trilogy more exceptional.Personally I prefer Hobbit to the Lord Of The Rings. I think that Professor Tolkien work truly shines, however, when one reads Silmarillion, as long as one is interested in epic, mythic tales.
I'm down with all that Tolkien jazz, but The Hobbit makes me seven years old again and life was pretty good when I was seven. Aside from nostalgia, I generally think Tolkien kicks ass.
Finished Master of Devils and 2/3 through Prince of Wolves (think i should have read them reversed order).
While I like the author and the reading goes well, I cant help but see a repeat of Forgotten Realms incestuous (constantly revolving around the same characters across several authors/regions/topics) storytelling most evident In the Drizzt series (first thirteen, ok i get it, but what number are they on?) and the previous incarnation started off with the war of the gods and beaten to death by an elminster or blackstaff popping up in seemingly every novel.
Hello, Shadowmage75, and welcome to the bestest thread on the boards!
Exactly how many Driz'zt books are there now?
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Finished The Last of the Mohicans and started Great Expectations last night.
Ope, if you just start the Foreigner series by C.J.Cherryh, that's like thousands of pages right there; I don't know if it'll last till GRRM finishes the next one, but certainly worth reading.
Then again, if you want an epic story about emotional cripples and stuff, go for the Faded Sun trilogy. (Sometimes it's called Mri Wars trilogy, but by C.J.Cherryh.)
CJ Cherryh writes at the opposite pace of GRRM!!!! :-) Her Foreigner series has 13 novels so far, Chanur has 5, Mri Wars/Faded Sun 3, Finesterre 2, Cyteen 2 (or 4; the first book was originally split into a trilogy), I don't know how many more in her Union-Alliance universe (which Chanur and Mri Wars are loosely connected to, and Cyteen is one of the centers of....).
Anyways, she has 50 to 60 novels out there, almost all of them excellent. (I'm not a big fan of her fantasy, but YMMV.)
50-60 is a lot of novels. I think people should be forced to stop at, say, 15.
Ope, if you just start the Foreigner series by C.J.Cherryh, that's like thousands of pages right there; I don't know if it'll last till GRRM finishes the next one, but certainly worth reading.
Then again, if you want an epic story about emotional cripples and stuff, go for the Faded Sun trilogy. (Sometimes it's called Mri Wars trilogy, but by C.J.Cherryh.)
CJ Cherryh writes at the opposite pace of GRRM!!!! :-) Her Foreigner series has 13 novels so far, Chanur has 5, Mri Wars/Faded Sun 3, Finesterre 2, Cyteen 2 (or 4; the first book was originally split into a trilogy), I don't know how many more in her Union-Alliance universe (which Chanur and Mri Wars are loosely connected to, and Cyteen is one of the centers of....).
Anyways, she has 50 to 60 novels out there, almost all of them excellent. (I'm not a big fan of her fantasy, but YMMV.)
I agree on her writing pace Dan; the joke was you'll probably have time to read everything she's written before GRRM publishes his next book :P
She'll probably have 70 books out by then!
I've pretty much given up on GRRM. He writes too slowly. When I retire, I'm going to start at book 1 and just read them all in one marathon 6-month long session.
Assuming he's done in 30 or 40 years.
I bought the DVD set of season one of the HBO adaptation, and found it entertaining enough to buy the box set of the first four books. Jokes aside, I'm curious as to whether he'll have published book six and seven by the time they adapt books one to five.
I heard season 3 is only going to be the first half of book 3.
50-60 is a lot of novels. I think people should be forced to stop at, say, 15.
But then the Discworld series would have stopped somewhere in the area of Guards! Guards, Eric, Moving Pictures, or Reaper Man - before it starts to get brilliant (which would be Small Gods.
As for what I'm reading - Song of the Serpent.
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Finishing up my 2nd read-through of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, about 100 pages into VII: The Dark Tower. I hadn't read the 2003 re-edit of I: The Gunslinger yet and last read any books from the series over 5 years ago so it's been a good re-read.
Mayhap I'll change my mind after I finish it this 2nd time through, but to me it's logical and satisfying in its irony. :-)
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Malazan Book Of The Fallen is finished, at least formally (The Crippled God leaves legion of unfinished threads...). Duh. I want more!
Thanks for the tips. I may check those out. I'm also looking into the Malazan Books of the Fallen and The Night Angel Trilogy. Considering I'm working and going to school, books on CD are best right now as I don't really have time nor the inclination to read for pleasure. However, I've got plenty of car time, so listening to a book is perfect.I agree on her writing pace Dan; the joke was you'll probably have time to read everything she's written before GRRM publishes his next book :POpe, if you just start the Foreigner series by C.J.Cherryh, that's like thousands of pages right there; I don't know if it'll last till GRRM finishes the next one, but certainly worth reading.
Then again, if you want an epic story about emotional cripples and stuff, go for the Faded Sun trilogy. (Sometimes it's called Mri Wars trilogy, but by C.J.Cherryh.)
CJ Cherryh writes at the opposite pace of GRRM!!!! :-) Her Foreigner series has 13 novels so far, Chanur has 5, Mri Wars/Faded Sun 3, Finesterre 2, Cyteen 2 (or 4; the first book was originally split into a trilogy), I don't know how many more in her Union-Alliance universe (which Chanur and Mri Wars are loosely connected to, and Cyteen is one of the centers of....).
Anyways, she has 50 to 60 novels out there, almost all of them excellent. (I'm not a big fan of her fantasy, but YMMV.)
Cherryh is so good!!!
I like to use kif fluff for my tengu.
Just started Hitchens' God is Not Great -- less of the anti-religion tirade I expected and more of an excuse for Hitchens to throw out enough literary references on each page to choke a goat.
Also downloaded Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I was familiar with her story, of course, but am looking forward to reading her book.
Started Eddings' Pawn Of Prophecy.
Just started Hitchens' God is Not Great -- less of the anti-religion tirade I expected and more of an excuse for Hitchens to throw out enough literary references on each page to choke a goat.
I love pompous erudition!
Also downloaded Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I was familiar with her story, of course, but am looking forward to reading her book.
I had no idea who that was until I clicked the link.
1. I love pompous erudition!
2. I had no idea who that was until I clicked the link.
1. He was the eruditest and the pompous-est!
2. Anytime you hang with a bunch of liberal American muslims and start thinking "probably most Islam worldwide is cool like this," it's good to go back and look at some of her essays about women actually living in Muslim-dominated nations.
You guys read Persepolis? Simple art, but it's an eye opener.
Just started Hitchens' God is Not Great -- less of the anti-religion tirade I expected and more of an excuse for Hitchens to throw out enough literary references on each page to choke a goat.
It was interesting to me how different Hitchens' interest in the subject was from Dawkins'. I expected far more repetition than I got when I read both.
You guys read Persepolis? Simple art, but it's an eye opener.
Yes, it's great.
Also, communist propaganda!
Just started Hitchens' God is Not Great -- less of the anti-religion tirade I expected and more of an excuse for Hitchens to throw out enough literary references on each page to choke a goat.It was interesting to me how different Hitchens' interest in the subject was from Dawkins'. I expected far more repetition than I got when I read both.
Speaking of pompous erudition...
So, he waits 'til the fellow is dead and then craps on the corpse? Classy. Too bad he didn't write this sooner -- I would have loved to have read Hitchens' rebuttal.
Speaking of pompous erudition...So, he waits 'til the fellow is dead and then craps on the corpse? Classy. Too bad he didn't write this sooner -- I would have loved to have read Hitchens' rebuttal.
Oh no. Cockburn and Hitchens were crapping on each other since at least the Clinton years.
Ah, the whole thing makes more sense now. I'd missed Cockburn amidst the gaudy artillery of the Chomsky-Hitchens falling-out...
Gave up on Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin.
Started Endurance by Jay Lake. Sequel to Green.
Ah, the whole thing makes more sense now. I'd missed Cockburn amidst the gaudy artillery of the Chomsky-Hitchens falling-out...
Hmm. I'd always known it as the Cockburn-Hitchens fallout, but, I guess Chomsky is more famous.
Two British expats duking it out in the columns of The Nation? Hee hee! As Woody Allen said, "The intelligentsia is like the Mafia, they only kill their own!"
Despite being a Cockburn partisan, I also enjoyed God Is Not Great. Speaking of the non-repetition with Dawkins, I was thrilled to learn from Hitchens the evolutionary rationale for my constant masturbation! I'm not going blind, I'm protecting my genitals!
I just got All for One - Regime Diabolique - am halfway through and liking it so far. Another childhood fantasy put within reach - join the King's Musketeers and cross blades with the Cardinal's goons!
Finished Claremont's 80s run on the X-Men. Wow did that take a dive towards the end. Started New Mutants on my continuing quest to read all about the mutants in the 80s.
Still plugging away at Sense and Goodness Without God.
Finished Behemoth. I liked it a great deal.
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Finished The Mysteries by Lisa Tuttle. Its a book about a P.I. looking for a girl who was kidnapped by fairies. It's very not cute fantasy in the sense that a lot of 'Urban Fantasy' is but more like what you would get if this were to happen IRL and with a lot of references to folklore.
Overheard whilst at Barnes and Nobles: "Man, I don't read books!"
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...Also downloaded Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I was familiar with her story, of course, but am looking forward to reading her book.
Great book.
I am currently reading the Dresden series. Been taking my time though; on the second book, Fool Moon.
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...Also downloaded Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I was familiar with her story, of course, but am looking forward to reading her book.Great book.
Also read the sequel, Nomad. It is also an eye opener.
currently i'm reading three books (not including books about IT for school)
pandora's star by Peter Hamilton
Thor omnibus by Walt simonson
and an audiobook version of stranger in a strange land by Robert Heinlein
Finishing up King of Elfland's Daughter (highly recommended), continuing God is not Great, and whipping through Baum's The Marvellous Land of Oz.
Baum's The Marvellous Land of Oz.
Lo and behold, one and all, Kirth has an inner child!
Hee hee! Which one was that? Tip and Tick-Tock or what?
Also, on an awesomeness scale of 1-10, where 1 is just regular everyday awesome and 10 is so awesome you shiznit yourself, how awesome is Dunsany?
and an audiobook version of stranger in a strange land by Robert Heinlein
I've been meaning to read that again. I think the last time I did so was 20 years ago. I'm nostalgically revisiting all the books that turned me into the degenerate reprobate I am today.
Dunsany is a 6. Sometimes he seems to be going nowhere, or in circles, but then he busts out some totally cool 9-level shiznit that makes you forget the last 20 pages of 1. Just his description of the differences in time between the Elflands and "the Fields We Know" (all described from the point of view of a lowly goblin-like troll!) is without peer.
"Mavellous Land" is book #2, with Tip, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Sawhorse. Evidently the movie Return to Oz (which I thought was totally awesome, BTW) is an amalgamation of Books 2 and 3.