*OOOOOW!*
No fair!
Cuz I iz BIIIIG
It about time for another trip down there from Boulder, hit Garden of the Gods on the way.
Ohh and Tocath which Pratchett books have you read besides Mort?
GOG is one of my favorite bike rides in this world. I've got about a 14 mile loop I like to do through there.
Pratchett is an author that I read intermittently. So, I've picked up and read various Discworld novels throughout the years, in no order and never two in a row :) That I can remember, here is what I've read:
Hogfather
The Last Continent
Maskerade
The Colour of Magic
Night Watch
Going Postal
Thud!
Making Money
GOG is one of my favorite bike rides in this world. I've got about a 14 mile loop I like to do through there.
Pratchett is an author that I read intermittently. So, I've picked up and read various Discworld novels throughout the years, in no order and never two in a row :) That I can remember, here is what I've read:
Hogfather
The Last Continent
Maskerade
The Colour of Magic
Night Watch
Going Postal
Thud!
Making Money
If you dont mind suggestions for him
Feet of Clay
Reaper Man
Monstrous Regiment
I'll add those to the list!
Finished Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Powerful and disturbing. The book is about a village in Africa both before and after colonialism sweeps in. I liked that there are no simple stereotypes here. Pre-colonialist Africa is not an Eden, there are issues of violence and spousal abuse. The Igbo tribe are neither noble nor savages. Missionaries are neither all evil nor all good. In short, the story reflects the messiness of real life. As a whole, the title is very appropriate. A generation after the Europeans arrive, the culture is irrevocably altered, and there is no going back to the systems and norms of before.
In the hopper right now:
Eye of the World. My plan is to perfectly space all the WOT books between now and when the next comes out. I want it to be fresh in my mind when I start reading this world for the final time.
Poke the Box.
Know it all. A guy reads all 20 something volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
I'll add those to the list!
Finished Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Powerful and disturbing. The book is about a village in Africa both before and after colonialism sweeps in. I liked that there are no simple stereotypes here. Pre-colonialist Africa is not an Eden, there are issues of violence and spousal abuse. The Igbo tribe are neither noble nor savages. Missionaries are neither all evil nor all good. In short, the story reflects the messiness of real life. As a whole, the title is very appropriate. A generation after the Europeans arrive, the culture is irrevocably altered, and there is no going back to the systems and norms of before.
In the hopper right now:
Eye of the World. My plan is to perfectly space all the WOT books between now and when the next comes out. I want it to be fresh in my mind when I start reading this world for the final time.
Poke the Box.
Know it all. A guy reads all 20 something volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Know it all was better than I expected it to be (my expectations weren't that high, I guess, but it was an interesting/fun read).
Finished Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Powerful and disturbing. The book is about a village in Africa both before and after colonialism sweeps in.
+1
I picked up this book a couple of years ago not really knowing what to expect and found it to be pretty awesome.
If you like big fat history books, check out The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham. It's a pretty gruesome tale but it's a great book.
EDIT: Full title is: The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912. He does some pretty action-packed years (Mahdi Uprising, Gordon at Khartoum, Boer War, Zulu War, all that Heart of Darkness-Belgian Congo stuff, missionaries vs. pederastic cannibal kings in the Uganda area, witch doctors getting the tribes to believe they were immune to bullets and then going out to slaughter German colonists, all kinds of crazy shiznit!) in 650 pages.
Went to a wedding/camp-out this weekend, and thought to myself "Who brings a book to a wedding?" Then, at 5:42 am, I woke up, couldn't get back to sleep (damn you, UPS, for destroying my ability to sleep past 6:00!), the only person awake, and bereft of reading material! Woe is me!
Luckily, I was able to find a copy of Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path and read a bunch of that. Not to far into it, but so far, it's pretty good!
I'll have to look into Scramble! I do like big fat history books, especially when there is a compelling narrative, not just stream of facts.
Speaking of “stream of facts” I think I’m going to shelve Know it all. It’s just too random, too unconnected for me to read at long stretches. I find that I’m far more interested in the occasional bits of story about the author’s pregnancy attempts than I am about whatever tidbit he’s learning about. Ah well.
I just finished The Compleat Enchanter by de Camp & Pratt for the first time. I didn't realize these stories went back to the forties. The conceits about math/symbolic logic and the anthropological study of magic are fun.
I just finished The Compleat Enchanter by de Camp & Pratt for the first time. I didn't realize these stories went back to the forties. The conceits about math/symbolic logic and the anthropological study of magic are fun.
Those stories are awesome!
Finished Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Powerful and disturbing. The book is about a village in Africa both before and after colonialism sweeps in.+1
I picked up this book a couple of years ago not really knowing what to expect and found it to be pretty awesome.
If you like big fat history books, check out The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham. It's a pretty gruesome tale but it's a great book.
EDIT: Full title is: The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912. He does some pretty action-packed years (Mahdi Uprising, Gordon at Khartoum, Boer War, Zulu War, all that Heart of Darkness-Belgian Congo stuff, missionaries vs. pederastic cannibal kings in the Uganda area, witch doctors getting the tribes to believe they were immune to bullets and then going out to slaughter German colonists, all kinds of crazy shiznit!) in 650 pages.
It took me a minute to realize that the full title ended with the period. My first thought was, wow, what a long and awesome title! :)
Finished Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Powerful and disturbing. The book is about a village in Africa both before and after colonialism sweeps in. I liked that there are no simple stereotypes here. Pre-colonialist Africa is not an Eden, there are issues of violence and spousal abuse. The Igbo tribe are neither noble nor savages. Missionaries are neither all evil nor all good. In short, the story reflects the messiness of real life. As a whole, the title is very appropriate. A generation after the Europeans arrive, the culture is irrevocably altered, and there is no going back to the systems and norms of before.
I loved Things Fall Apart! I did a world lit class that centered around equatorial colonialism. Read that and:
The Underdogs
No One Writes to the Colonel
as well as a good deal of Post colonial african poetry
Got introduced to the idea of magical realism (which shapes my approach to gaming heavily now)
The Underdogs
Got introduced to the idea of magical realism (which shapes my approach to gaming heavily now)
How's The Underdogs? I picked that up for cheap at a used bookstore based on the cover and the blurb on the back, but I've never heard of it.
Any recommendations for magical realism? I've read Luis De Bernieres and Isabel Allende, but nothing else.
The Underdogs
Got introduced to the idea of magical realism (which shapes my approach to gaming heavily now)
How's The Underdogs? I picked that up for cheap at a used bookstore based on the cover and the blurb on the back, but I've never heard of it.
Any recommendations for magical realism? I've read Luis De Bernieres and Isabel Allende, but nothing else.
I really enjoyed The Underdogs it has a Zapata-esque feel, so the trajectory of the book may not be all that surprising but it is very well written and generally a quick read.
Magical Realism you hit one of my favorites Allende look to Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I liked "A Very Old Man With Big Wings" which is a short story in the anthology No One Writes to the Colonel. Also critics say One Hundred Years of Solitude is an excelelnt example of the genre but I have yet to tackle that work
GGM it is. Thanks.
Just finished:
- The Kingdom beyond the Waves by Stephen Hunt
- Tehanu by Ursula Le Guin
Just finished:
- The Kingdom beyond the Waves by Stephen Hunt
- Tehanu by Ursula Le Guin
What'd you think of Tehanu?
Just finished:What'd you think of Tehanu?
- The Kingdom beyond the Waves by Stephen Hunt
- Tehanu by Ursula Le Guin
I liked both Farthest Shore and Tehanu, but I think I liked the first two even more. It seems to me like there is an exponential drop in action the further you get into the series, with Tehanu having the least action and the most introspection of all. My memory is really fuzzy, but I thought that I read a novella with the character in it in an anthology somewhere several years back. Maybe I'll try and dig that out today.
I liked both Farthest Shore and Tehanu, but I think I liked the first two even more. It seems to me like there is an exponential drop in action the further you get into the series, with Tehanu having the least action and the most introspection of all. My memory is really fuzzy, but I thought that I read a novella with the character in it in an anthology somewhere several years back. Maybe I'll try and dig that out today.
I agree.
Although I enjoy the darker, more disturbing tone of her work, I yearn back to The Tombs of Atuan, which I would put next to any work of fantasy literature ever written. That book was great.
I don't know if you've read Tales of Earthsea, but that was a collection of shorter pieces that were probably originally published elsewhere. That might help you find that story. I only remember them vaguely, but I remember them being quite good, but mostly unrelated to the Geb-Tenar storyline that now turns out to be "the" story of the series:
Hee hee!
I've only dipped into her non-ES stuff, but I think that, word for word, she's one of the best writers in the English language. She reminds me of F. Scott Fitzgerald, she reminds of Henry James, AND YET, her campaign world is full of some of the coolest D&D shiznit out there.
I like Ursula K. Le Guin.
Just finished "The Lies of Locke Lamora" and just started "Red Seas Under Red Skies," both by Scott Lynch. It's kind of a fantasy Venice version of Leverage....lots of thief capers.Lies is one of the best fantasy books ever. I've always thought of it as a cross between Pirates of the Caribbean and Ocean's Eleven. Red Seas is good, too. I've given up holding my breath on when the third book will actually see print.
I think it has a release date in November 2011!!!!!!!
I just finished "Tiassa" by Steven Brust and just started "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss.
I liked both Farthest Shore and Tehanu, but I think I liked the first two even more. It seems to me like there is an exponential drop in action the further you get into the series, with Tehanu having the least action and the most introspection of all. My memory is really fuzzy, but I thought that I read a novella with the character in it in an anthology somewhere several years back. Maybe I'll try and dig that out today.I agree.
Although I enjoy the darker, more disturbing tone of her work, I yearn back to The Tombs of Atuan, which I would put next to any work of fantasy literature ever written. That book was great.
I don't know if you've read Tales of Earthsea, but that was a collection of shorter pieces that were probably originally published elsewhere. That might help you find that story. I only remember them vaguely, but I remember them being quite good, but mostly unrelated to the Geb-Tenar storyline that now turns out to be "the" story of the series:** spoiler omitted **
I've only dipped into her non-ES stuff, but I think that, word for word, she's one of the best writers in the English language. She reminds me of F. Scott Fitzgerald, she reminds of Henry James, AND YET, her campaign world is full of some of the coolest D&D shiznit out there.
I like Ursula K. Le Guin.
Yeah, Tombs is probably my favorite, too.
I think of Patricia McKillip as being in the same neighborhood as UKLG, but more extreme.
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Just finished Mira Grant's Deadline, the second book in the Newsflesh Series.
IMO, the first book, Feed, totally earned its Hugo nomination, the second one doesn't have quite the impact of the first, but it still has the oomph in plot reveals. I think the third one could be very excellent, based on the strength of the finish.
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I think it has a release date in November 2011!!!!!!!Just finished "The Lies of Locke Lamora" and just started "Red Seas Under Red Skies," both by Scott Lynch. It's kind of a fantasy Venice version of Leverage....lots of thief capers.Lies is one of the best fantasy books ever. I've always thought of it as a cross between Pirates of the Caribbean and Ocean's Eleven. Red Seas is good, too. I've given up holding my breath on when the third book will actually see print.
It has had many release dates and they all sailed by without a book. He reminds me very much of Whilce Portacio, a comic book artist that made his fame in the X-men books and went with so many others to start Image Comics then fell apart as soon as there was no one riding him to do his job.
It has had many release dates and they all sailed by without a book. He reminds me very much of Whilce Portacio, a comic book artist that made his fame in the X-men books and went with so many others to start Image Comics then fell apart as soon as there was no one riding him to do his job.
That's not entirely fair. Portacio pulled out of Image early on because his sister became very ill.
Which isn't to say that the company as a whole was a deeply professional, well-organized outfit. Just that Portacio had reasons other than hookers and blow or whatever.
Currently reading The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers... so far, liking it quite a bit. Steampunk fantasy, interesting take on divine magic. Seems like it would be an awesome rpg setting.
Randy
Growing Up Gamers
It has had many release dates and they all sailed by without a book. He reminds me very much of Whilce Portacio, a comic book artist that made his fame in the X-men books and went with so many others to start Image Comics then fell apart as soon as there was no one riding him to do his job.
Which also isn't fair about Scott Lynch. He was diagnosed with clinical depression and suffered a painful divorce which left him in a bad state. He is only recently getting back on track. Writing is a very mental exercise and if you are not in a good way, it must be hard to motivate and focus while suffering in this form.
Here is an interview in which Scott speaks (under Extras on the Orion Site) very openly about Republic of Thieves and other considerations, including his depression on part 3. He's a pretty sharp pencil and a great speaker, as this interview reveals:
The first part of Red Seas was great, maybe his depression started when he started to write about the pirates.
a few books I read recently
Tyranny of Night - Glen Cook
Surface Detail - Iain M. Banks
Gate of Ivory - Robert Holdstock
Embassytown - Mieville
White Luck Warrior - Bakker (recommend)
Finished:
The Eye of the World - I'd forgotten how much I enjoy some of these early WOT novels. Jordan's voice is so fresh to me here, the pacing is tight, the characters engaging and overall it's a compelling story. I think Jordan is still figuring out how to write some of the characters in this first book (I'm thinking specifically of Rand maniacally swinging on the spars of the boat like Mat is wont to do later) and there are shades of future problems (tugging on braids and sniffing) but I remember why I love these books!
Prodigal God - great reframing and understanding of the prodigal son story. Keller explains that Christ is saying that that both the sensual way of the younger brother and the ethical way of the elder brother are spiritual dead ends, and that the real road is grace through him. Recommended.
Poke the Box - Good. Pithy statements, short and punchy and perhaps without a lot of actual meat; but it did remind me to ship some of the things I've been working on and nudge me to start some new things as well.
Up next:
The Great Hunt. The WOT read through continues.
Dubliners. Gotta get me some Joyce.
Sleepwalk with Me. I've heard some Mike Birbiglia MOTH excerpts and am looking forward to more stories.
Finished:
The Eye of the World - I'd forgotten how much I enjoy some of these early WOT novels. Jordan's voice is so fresh to me here, the pacing is tight, the characters engaging and overall it's a compelling story. I think Jordan is still figuring out how to write some of the characters in this first book (I'm thinking specifically of Rand maniacally swinging on the spars of the boat like Mat is wont to do later)
Rand's behavior was deliberate. It's a reaction to his first channeling. Fits of megalomania and exhaustion are established symptoms of One Power acquisition.
"Dreadnought" by Cherie Priest. A steampunk about an 1880s Civil War nurse traveling across the US and CSA and the territories NW of there.
Rand's behavior was deliberate. It's a reaction to his first channeling. Fits of megalomania and exhaustion are established symptoms of One Power acquisition.Finished:
The Eye of the World - I'd forgotten how much I enjoy some of these early WOT novels. Jordan's voice is so fresh to me here, the pacing is tight, the characters engaging and overall it's a compelling story. I think Jordan is still figuring out how to write some of the characters in this first book (I'm thinking specifically of Rand maniacally swinging on the spars of the boat like Mat is wont to do later)
On this read through, I thought that the boom hitting the Trolloc was a Taveren thing and that his first channeling was at the inn where lightning hits the window bars, especially since Rand gets violently I'll after. But I went back and looked and correct you are!
Well, I was going to be reading The Great Hunt on the plane, but I left the Kindle in my packed bag. Now I'm stuck reading Flawless Consulting. Sad.
After a brief hiatus, I am starting Book V, "Wolves of the Calla"I just started "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King.
I didn't even know the Dark Tower series existed until a few weeks ago.I am starting book II, "The Drawing of the Three".
The Gunslinger rocked!
Now, I am starting book III, "The Waste Lands".Starting Book IV !! "Wizard and Glass"
Just finished Book VI, "Song of Susannah"
Starting Book VII, "The Dark Tower"
Starting Book VII, "The Dark Tower"
Make sure you stop reading about halfway through. You'll know when. It's when the story logically ends, because King is out of ideas. The rest is filler.
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones. Like TV-Tropes, but funny.
I doubt anyone will agree with me about this, but...
Starting Book VII, "The Dark Tower"Make sure you stop reading about halfway through. You'll know when. It's when the story logically ends, because King is out of ideas. The rest is filler.** spoiler omitted **
That's funny. That's exactly my opinion about "Battlefield: Earth" by L. Ron Hubbard. The book is fine at first. Then, about 400 pages into it, the story ends. But Hubbard seems unaware of this, as he just keeps writing on...
...and on...
...and on...
And nothing happens!
More than 700 pages into it, I quit, and just briefly skimmed through the remaining 300 or so. Can you imagine getting more than 700 pages into a novel without finishing it? That's got to be a record for me.
But any reviewer of the book, it seems, either loves or hates the book as a whole. I don't get it.
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Stuff I've read recently:
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges. I read this again and again. It never gets old. The stories will always say something new. The Garden of Forking Paths is about all the possible permutations of reality. Then you've got the Artifices, covering the permutations of knowledge. Understand Borges, and you can deconstruct the physics of almost any work instantly. A place like Carcosa is child's play for Borges.
The City and The City by China Mieville. I read Perdido Street Station first, and it really helped my understanding. Mieville's fascinated by the concept of the boundary, and understanding what causes something to be in one state or another, and whether in the process something can hold both states or neither. Compare and contrast the power of Crisis Energy to the existence of Breach and the myth of Orciny.
...Toldja Borges works wonders.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Short and a Gaimanesque kid's tale. Fun and lovely.
The Spice Route: A History by John Keay. Wonderful, very readable! It's extremely minable for adventure ideas, and amazing to read about what humanity can achieve without even realizing it--the whole trade of cloves and nutmeg from obscure parts of Indonesia all the way to Rome, thousands of years ago, only because there was money to be made!
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Yes, this will be marketed like mad soon enough. I wanted to learn more about it, back when there were only rumors of the possibility of the film. A great read, but nothing really groundbreakingly new to me. I was most fascinated with Katniss's consideration of the economics behind the orange chicken Cinna was eating in the Capital. I think that says more about my personal interest in the economics of food than anything else, though (I read books about the history of the Spice Route, after all...).
ETA:
Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson. Fun book with lots of fun short stories. Very clever and whimsical with a down-home charm... usually. Highly recommended. I read The Pickup Artist afterwards, based on the first book, and I was underwhelmed. The first half of The Pickup Artist is quite an interesting view of a world dealing with too much fame and not enough 15 minutes. The second half is just ridiculous and not worth it.
Killing Time by Caleb Carr. I had been wowed by his work in The Alienist, and felt that this story in particular fell flat. Characterizations were lacking. However, it was really fascinating to see what he thought the world of 2050 might be like, though, writing as he did back in 2000. He's actually a historian first, and it really shows--the United States invaded Afghanistan in this story too, and that's interesting, considering that the story was written before 9/11.
My word is my bond, and, on the third attempt, I finally read Plato's The Republic cover to cover.
Now that I've read three different versions, I'll give props to the translation by Desmond Lee published by Penguin Classics.
Was reading The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham but didn't get to finish it before it was due back at the library.
Turned to H.G. Wells's The Invisible Man before I go back and check D'sP out again.
Currently debating between GJ Meyer's The Tudors and picking up some fun but fairly disposable gaming fantasy.
Actually started the former about a year ago, but got interrupted and didn't come back. He also wrote a great introduction to WWI that I read and really enjoyed. It's nothing groundbreaking, but the style and scope are pretty ideal for someone who doesn't know a whole lot about the war and wants to know a bit more. Except for how he editorializes in the captions to the pictures, which got grating. He has the ability and the material to tell us in the text what he does in the captions, so they're redundant at best and snotty at worst.
I've never read a full survey of the Tudors before, despite knowing the general outline of the story pretty well, so this book seems like the right first read.
But I might kick both options aside and instead dive into C.V. Wedgewood's The Thirty Years War, which would probably give me more ideas for my presently-neglected homebrew setting. Regrettably I just now learned that the author was a woman writing apparently well-received history in the 1930s, which is a bit impressive in itself. I suppose that was the idea behind using her initials. She's of those Wedgewoods, making her a relation of Darwin's.
But I might kick both options aside and instead dive into C.V. Wedgewood's The Thirty Years War, which would probably give me more ideas for my presently-neglected homebrew setting. Regrettably I just now learned that the author was a woman writing apparently well-received history in the 1930s, which is a bit impressive in itself. I suppose that was the idea behind using her initials. She's of those Wedgewoods, making her a relation of Darwin's.
I believe (belive, mind you) that she was a leading non-academic historian of her day, which generally means that she could actually write. I read a book by her a loooong time ago called Richlieu and the French Monarchy; it was pretty good.
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Agreed, if you're going to do history, it's no excuse for not being able to write. I've tried to get through Pleasure and Ambition: The Life, Love, and Wars of Augustus the Strong, 1670-1707 by Tony Sharp. Now note that Augustus the Strong is a larger-than-life noble, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, who was not only a famous patron of the arts, bankrolled the European invention of porcelain, had many, many mistresses (the story is that he had 365 illegitimate children) and is blamed by Poland for leading the nation to becoming a satellite state of Russia through a disastrous war with Sweden, but that he was called "The Strong" because he could tie knots in horseshoes, among other feats of strength. I mean, Arnold Schwarzenegger wishes he could be this guy. To be able to make virtually his only English-language history informative, but so dry is a travesty.
I believe (belive, mind you) that she was a leading non-academic historian of her day, which generally means that she could actually write. I read a book by her a loooong time ago called Richlieu and the French Monarchy; it was pretty good.
I'm of two minds about the readability issue, really. I of course prefer for my enjoyment to read something accessible and fun while also informative and accurate, but I'm very sympathetic to the need for formal academic discourse too and really do get why they need to spend a hundred pages or so placing themselves in the history of the discipline. Of course that ends up in a lot of navel-gazing and wandering off into academic politics often enough. You take the good and the bad, I guess.
What I'd really like is if the publishers got their acts together and gave you a better idea of what type of audience was intended, but that would surely cut into sales of both types of book and so is probably a lost cause.
I believe (belive, mind you) that she was a leading non-academic historian of her day, which generally means that she could actually write. I read a book by her a loooong time ago called Richlieu and the French Monarchy; it was pretty good.I'm of two minds about the readability issue, really. I of course prefer for my enjoyment to read something accessible and fun while also informative and accurate, but I'm very sympathetic to the need for formal academic discourse too and really do get why they need to spend a hundred pages or so placing themselves in the history of the discipline. Of course that ends up in a lot of navel-gazing and wandering off into academic politics often enough. You take the good and the bad, I guess.
What I'd really like is if the publishers got their acts together and gave you a better idea of what type of audience was intended, but that would surely cut into sales of both types of book and so is probably a lost cause.
I've never seen academic writing that couldn't be improved by making it more accessible (or at least clearly written/edited), and I've never met an academic audience that wouldn't appreciate that.
I love lexicography, but so many promising books are a failure of random details in dry prose, with little or no context to help the reader understand why a particular detail is important. History proper (which people may view as important on its own) may not suffer so much as a consequence of poor writing as a field like lexicography does (very few people care anyway), but in some respects it's maddening that academics don't do more to help people care about the subjects they love.
A few authors of multiple history books I found engrossing: Tom Holland, Adrian Goldsworthy, Alison Weir and Trevor Royle. Holland is especially high on my list.
It depends on what you are looking for I guess.
Finished:
The Great Hunt - The WOT re-read continues.
Sleepwalk with Me: and Other Painfully True Stories - I hadn't known that Mike Birbiglia opened for Mitch Hedberg for a time, so I really wasn't expecting to find a touching tribute to Mitch here. I did, and Mitch is one of my favorite comedians, so I'm happy.
The Old Man and the Sea - I spent the week in Miami so it seemed appropriate to throw something about the ocean and Cuba into the mix.
I'd not read it since high school, but it turns out the Old Man is still out there on the sea, and
Up next:
The Dragon Reborn - one of my favorite WOT novels.
My Sister's Keeper - My fiancee is reading this to me out loud. I plan to take my revenge by reading her The Name of the Wind.
Thinkertoys