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The Black Count by Sam Reiss, about the father of Alexandre Dumas père. Slightly worried by the amount of hyperlatives used about the book's subject in the introduction.
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The Black Count by Sam Reiss, about the father of Alexandre Dumas père. Slightly worried by the amount of hyperlatives used about the book's subject in the introduction.
My understanding is that they might be warranted -- Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie became general-in-chief of the French armies for good reason. This is a guy who had heated disagreements with Napoleon himself and got away with it. Not bad for a former slave!
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The Black Count by Sam Reiss, about the father of Alexandre Dumas père. Slightly worried by the amount of hyperlatives used about the book's subject in the introduction.My understanding is that they might be warranted -- Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie became general-in-chief of the French armies for good reason. This is a guy who had heated disagreements with Napoleon himself and got away with it. Not bad for a former slave!
That is one of my all-time favourites, and the General does deserve the good press he got in the book, it seems.
Vive le Galt!
Speaking of which, started in on Aptheker's American Negro Slave Revolts. S'alright.
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Also, a big shout out to Comrade Curtin who gave Mr. Comrade and I a car full of books. We have yet to divy them up, but once we do, never fear, fellow Paizonians, I'll write up a list.
A.S. Byatt—Ragnarock
Glen Cook—She Is the Darkness
--The Swordbearer
--Lord of the Silent Kingdom
--The Tyranny of the Night
--Soldiers Live
--Surrender to the Will of the Night
--Water Sleeps
--A Cruel Wind
L. Sprague de Camp—The Goblin Tower
--The Clocks of Iraz
--The Unbeheaded King
L. Sprague de Camp/David Drake—Lest Darkness Fall/To Bring the Light
Philip Jose Farmer—More Than Fire
--The World of Tiers, Volumes 1-2
The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
Joe Haldeman—The Forever War
The Complete Poems of Keats and Shelley
Ursula K. Le Guin—The Other Wind*
--Tales from Earthsea*
--The Telling
--The Birthday of the World and Other Stories
Ira Levin—The Boys from Brazil
George R.R. Martin—A Game of Thrones***
--A Clash of Kings**
--A Feast for Crows*
--A Storm of Swords**
--A Dance with Dragons**
--Fevre Dream
Michael Moorcock—The Fortress of the Pearl**
--The Revenge of the Rose**
--The Eternal Champion
--The Quest for Tanelorn
--The Champion of Garathorm**
--The Ice Schooner
Larry Niven—Protector
--The Ringworld Engineers
--A Gift from the Earth
--Man-Kzin Wars IV
Kim Stanley Robinson—Green Mars
David Alexander Smith—Future Boston
--In the Cube
Neal Stephenson—Snow Crash
James Tiptree, Jr.—Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
A.E. Van Vogt—The Voyage of the Space Beagle*
T.H. White—The Book of Merlyn*
W.B. Yeats—Irish Fairy & Folk Tales
Roger Zelazny—Manna from Heaven
--Trumps of Doom
*Denotes an upgrade (usually from paperback to hardcover) of a book I already have
**Denotes a book I already have and will now have to get rid of
***Denotes a book I already have but gave to La Principessa because she lent it to a friend who left it out in the rain while camping
Contributor
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Also, a big shout out to Comrade Curtin who gave Mr. Comrade and I a car full of books. We have yet to divy them up, but once we do, never fear, fellow Paizonians, I'll write up a list.** spoiler omitted **
Ooh, The Forever War. I haven't read that but once, at least since seventh grade. ^_^
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I finished The Grace of Kings. It had epic battles and wily opponents in a "silkpunk" pseudo-Asian setting. I liked it, even though there is some speechifying by major characters and lots of shifts in point of view to keep track of. My favorite characters, it turns out, were the gods of the setting. Their meddling in mortal affairs, and the ways their plans go awry, were entertaining and unexpected. I'm not sure I'm going to read the sequel, though. The end of the war seemed to draw things _mostly_ to a close.
Not sure what novel I'm reading next. My book-Jenga pile is as high as ever, but I've been skimming the Year's Best SF 18 anthology I got at the library. Favorite short story so far: "Bricks, Sticks, Straw" by Gwyneth Jones. I'd love to see it turned into a CGI short feature.
Aptheker: 160 pages before we get to some slave revolts. Vive le Galt!
Martin: Got up to the end of the second episode; will push on until where I got to last time I started the book then see where I am via watching the show with La Principessa. Then I will consider a brief skimming re-read of the three Jane Gaskell books I read last year (?) before moving on to finishing the story.
Whitman: Gonna press on through the "Birds of Passage" part and then see where I am with the above reading.
Variously:
'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell, which was very good up until the end, when a good-hearted aristocrat came and saved Christmas in true Edwardian style
'Death-Blinder' by Bernard King - Norse themed fantasy which was actually pretty good, despite the cheesy metallic cover
Now reading 'Jude The Obscure'
Dangerous Waters - Book 1 of The Hadrumal Crisis by Juliet E McKenna.
Galley slaves, corsairs, and wizard politics galore.
Just started What We Left Behind. Not bad so far, but I think I've been spoiled by Mira Grant. Improbable narrative dumps and heavy-handed foreshadowing; the transmission vectors aren't yet clear, but maybe that'll be explained later. We shall see.
Plowed my way through Trigger Warning, Gaiman's new anthology. Enjoyable!
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'Pool of Radiance', which wasn't much cop, to be honest.I am shocked, shocked!, that the D&D novel based off the video game wasn't awesome.
That being said, I just had nostalgic flashbacks to playing the video game in middle school over Charlie McDonald's house. Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
I remember playing it, I was too young to really get anywhere on my Commodore 128. Then years later when they released the "Forgotten Realms Complete Set" or whatever on the PC it had a wee problem. They didn't recalibrate the game or provide any way to do so, which meant that instead of running at the processing speed of a 286 IBM, it was running at modern speeds which meant text scrolled by too fast to read.
In the quest for intersectional sci-fi/fantasy, Mr. Comrade went out and bought the Nigerian Princess an Octavia Butler book. Kindred, IIRC. She reports that it's very good, but not too sci-fi-ish (although, I guess, it involves time travel).
On top of that, Mr. Comrade looked up one Valjeanne Jeffers, couldn't find any of her poetry, friended her on Facebook, and now, apparently, Ms. Jeffers keeps sending him messages which he then turns around and uses to woo the Nigerian Princess.
Nerds do it better!
In my own reading, just finished the chapter on Nat Turner in Aptheker. Man, he (the latter) might have been a ground-breaking historian, but a prose stylist he sure ain't. Thankfully, the book if full of footnotes making the book only half as long as the page count indicates.
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Doodles, Kindred is probably the least science fiction-ey of Butler's stuff. You want the Xenogenesis trilogy, or the Patternmaster series. Actually, wait, if you want something that pinkos can wax [insert whatever emotion you types get off on; socio-economic melancholia, I guess?] try The Parable of the Sower and The Parable of the Talents.
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Thank you, I will pass the word along, Lord Dice.
He complained that Butler was the only black female sci-fi/fantasy author he could find at the Nashua Barnes and Noble and that Kindred was the only book they had by her. I then cuffed him for thinking that he could find a wide variety of books at the Barnes and Noble.
Finished Varon, who will probably be the subject of Modern Monday this coming week. Started Gallagher's The Confederate War.
Just finished an anthology of the first few "Elric" novels. Just started the "gaunts ghosts" series by Dan Abnet.
Just started What We Left Behind. Not bad so far, but I think I've been spoiled by Mira Grant.
Final verdict: Not as good as Mira Grant, better than the terrible Allison Hewitt Is Trapped (see spoiler). There are some clumsy moments that I suspect a content editor might have nipped in the bud, but overall enjoyable and surprised me at times.
But now, oh yes! I have As White As Snow from the library! Read the first 84 pages on the bus ride in this morning. Must work on book-rationing. <_<
Just finished Brian McClellan's The Autumn Republic. It was a very satisfying conclusion to the Powder Mage trilogy.
Returning to Jim Butcher's Dresden Anthology Side Jobs.
I am currently reading a book analyzing Zen Buddhism.
There's lots of cool books to find at the University's library.
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Currently? Some of Liane Merciel's Pathfinder work - she might be my favorite author of the PF Tales line. ^_^
Nightglass was really good - it was also the first PF novel I read. However, in my eyes Death's Heretic nudges it out of first place rather easily.
I am looking forward to the PF fiction to be available on kindle. It would certainly allow me to get more of them.
Jerry Coyne's Faith vs. Fact turned out to be a huge disappointment, so I'm back to fiction for a while. Reading a collection of Jack Vance's very early short stories, and Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is waiting for me when I finish those (having read and enjoyed Thompson's Fear and Loathing, Kerouac's On The Road, Castenada's Don Juan, and assorted Terence McKenna, it seems like missing EKAAT is a big gap in my reading).
Starting Meditations by Marcus Aurelius tonight. I think I'm gonna blow through The Chronicles of Narnia when I finish that up.
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The details escape me at the moment, but, recently, a female acquaintance complained that she thought her partner was going to be a better lover because he had read Castaneda. Yeah, I told her, I don't think that's what Don Juan is about. Haven't read the Acid Test since high school. Should probably re-read it.
Anyway, I'm a little terrified of the red inscription across the messageboards home page and worried that, come next Tuesday, I will no longer be able to post on these boards due to computer illiteracy. In case that is true, I love all of you and will miss you dearly and I have started reading Tess.
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Thank you, I will pass the word along, Lord Dice.
He complained that Butler was the only black female sci-fi/fantasy author he could find at the Nashua Barnes and Noble and that Kindred was the only book they had by her. I then cuffed him for thinking that he could find a wide variety of books at the Barnes and Noble.
The comrades might also like Butler's short story collection, Bloodchild and Other Stories. Butler didn't write much short fiction, but what she has written is excellent! "Bloodchild" gets the most press and awards, but I personally like "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" the best out of the collection (or maybe I have "Bloodchild" anemia). "Speech Sounds" is also great, especially since Butler and I are both from SoCal and I know some of the places she describes in the story; I can't drive by the Music Center without thinking of that story.
I'm currently catching up on my RPG reading stack, starting with the Giantslayer AP. Battle of Bloodmarch Hill is much more sandbox-y than I expected, but in a good way.
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Read the first two books of Joe Abercrombie's Shattered Sea series. I was prepared not to like them, but found myself interested and very much entertained. First Abercrombie I've read.
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To expand my mind and teach me not to prejudge.
I have finished Jude the Obscure, which had
I have also read a collection of stories about barbarian swordsmen, called 'Barbarian Swordsmen' - it included Fritz Leiber, Lord Dunsany, REH, CL Moore, Henry Kuttner and a couple of other people who I'd not heard of - Clifford Ball was one of my favourites, but his stuff only seems to appear in compilations, and there's very little of it...
And lastly, 'Slave to Her Desires' by Samantha Austen. Not too bad, though did get a bit silly at the end. Darn sight better than the other Silver Moon book I read
Swish!
Whack!
I read books I expect not to like all the time. Mostly, I end up being wrong.
One of the many, many benefits of a life stoned immaculate.
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I read books I expect not to like all the time. Mostly, I end up being wrong.
One of the many, many benefits of a life stoned immaculate.
Well, I also get the impression that you read in a year the number of books I might read in a decade, so... eventually you will also read books that you aren't quite as excited about reading. and probably be pleasantly surprised.
According to a goodreads challenge I set myself this year, my yearly reading amounts to 20-25 books. That's just not nearly enough to afford reading something that sounds unexciting.
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Reading Plague of Shadows right now. Been pretty good so far, story is moving along nicely. Also trying to catch up on my RPG reading. Working on the APG (yes, I'm very far behind).
Speaking of which, started in on Aptheker's American Negro Slave Revolts. S'alright.
Current events, alas, won't stay out of my reading:
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Speaking of which, started in on Aptheker's American Negro Slave Revolts. S'alright.Current events, alas, won't stay out of my reading:
My immediate reaction was "JFC, white America. This s~#& again?"
Got to a chapter past where I got to last time in A Game of Thrones and put it down for now.
Now plowing through Tess and, to lighten the mood, The Halfling and Other Stories by Leigh Brackett.
Just picked up World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters.
More pre-apocalyptic mayhem!!!
I recently wrapped up The First Tail, book one of The Tails of Two Dragons trilogy. It's the first book by a local (to me) author, T.J. Burgin.
Reviewed it over on my blog. Sadly didn't enjoy it that much, but I think it was worth the read from the point of view that a) the concept intrigued me, and b) as someone who's trying to get back into writing, it's useful to read all kinds of stuff to see what does and doesn't work for me as a reader, and if there's any lessons I can apply to my own writing.
Book Review - The First Tail by T.J. Burgin | The Grassy Gnoll
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'The Misfortunes of Virtue and other early writings' by the Marquis de Sade and 'Beasts of Gor' by John Norman. Presently got 'Insurgent Mexico' by John Reed open as on-train entertainment
Scardown by Elizabeth Bear.
Marde, but the woman can write.
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Finished Bloodrites (Dresden Files #6). Took me annoyingly long to finish a book that should have lasted a few short days, but apparantly there's this thing called "real life" that really cuts into one's reading time.
Speaking of time - once more into the breach. Lined up next is Path of Daggers (Wheel of Time #8,629). This one is pretty short, compared to the others in the series, clocking in at only a little over 600 pages. Other than some cringe worthy moments the previous one was actually mildly more enjoyable than the couple prior to that, so hopefully the quality dip of the mid series will start resolving itself soon.
So instead of advancing the grand plot of the series forward, the book takes the deepest delve we've had yet into Harry's past and his family connections. He has a sex-vampire half brother, his good natured mentor is also a mass murderer, and he gets a message from his mother, reaching beyond the grave.
It's all decent stuff. At no point was I overly excited about the story of the book, but there were a few clever and tense action scenes (I want to linger on this for a moment - Butcher has outdone himself in that regard here. The confrontation with Marva was outstanding and the other scraps and fights in the book were certainly above average), some funny moments, and the cosmology expanded significantly, with the white and black vampire courts finally getting the spotlight (ha, ha) over the reds, and Harry's revelations into some darker aspects of his past.
In the overarching series, this book is filler, a way for Butcher to scale back down the series a bit after a few save-the-world and war scenarios in a row. However, it certainly stands on its own while fulfilling that function.
Presently got 'Insurgent Mexico' by John Reed open as on-train entertainment
I remember being blown away when my completely apolitical uncle told me that that had been his favorite book as a young man.
Vive le Galt!
And because I can't find Black History and the Class Struggle Nos. 13 or 14 which I set aside to read and then promptly lost,
Black History and the Class Struggle No. 15: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!
Finished Bloodrites (Dresden Files #6). Took me annoyingly long to finish a book that should have lasted a few short days, but apparantly there's this thing called "real life" that really cuts into one's reading time.
** spoiler omitted **...
hhhmm...in hind sight I don't think I would call it filler. I will say that a ton of things introduced in this book help set up the later books, without giving away any specific plot points. I would probably more refer to it as a "Bridging" novel.