I don't think I've ever written home about a book.
Finished Goliath. Much fun.
Finished Ginsberg's Reality Poems: Europe! Europe!.
Started and finished Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate, by Rick Bowers. Which was nowhere near as cool as it sounds: the history if Superman, the history of the KKK, and some 16-episode radio show in 1947 where Superman beat up some nativist fascists.
Tomorrow, I start Conan.
I don't think I've ever written home about a book.
Finished Goliath. Much fun.
Finished Ginsberg's Reality Poems: Europe! Europe!.
Started and finished Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate, by Rick Bowers. Which was nowhere near as cool as it sounds: the history if Superman, the history of the KKK, and some 16-episode radio show in 1947 where Superman beat up some nativist fascists.
Tomorrow, I start Conan.
In Cimmerian Hyboria, Conan starts you!!!!
Hee hee!
I'm currently working my way through The Gods of Gotham, a dark mystery set in New York City circa 1840.
Also reading Beyond Change Management but that isn't nearly as interesting - no one has turned up dead so far...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Conan by Robert E. Howard, Edited by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter
So, I didn't want to believe it, but, so far, it seems to be true:
Howard writes the best Conan. I thought that the introductory essay in the newish The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian was very unneccessarily disrespectful to the other Conan writers, but, yeah, the stories that were completed by Howard are leaps and bounds better than anything else in here.
Still, I have to wonder whether any of us would even know who Conan was if he hadn't been kept alive over the years by less talented writers.
I am also intrigued by de Camp turning non-Conan stories into, well, Conan stories. I think I am going to have to go trawlling the internet for Conan/Howard miniutiate sites!
I stand by my opinion that the only Conan-stories good enough to pay for were written/adapted by Roy Thomas.
In other news, being short one laptop does wonders for my reading-speed it seems. Charged straight through Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman's The Fall of the Kings in one 500-page sitting. Can't remember the last time that happened.
I stand by my opinion that the only Conan-stories good enough to pay for were written/adapted by Roy Thomas.
Hee hee!
Also, Marc Chagall Porn!
Okay, so I already looked at all these pictures, but I started reading the accompanying blurbs and for "Dedicated to My Fiancee" we get:
"This unusual and vibrant painting was one of the first works exhibited by Chagall in Paris, and it created a small scandal. Chagall wheeled the painting to the Salon des Independents in a handcart and hung it at the exhibition, only to be told that it was offensive and must be taken down. The 'pornographic' nature of this seemingly innocuous painting is hard to discern. Chagall referred to it as The Ass and the Woman and it focuses on the two figures of a man with a bull's head leaning on his arm, and a woman who throws her legs around his shoulders and spits into his mouth. The authorities saw the woman's pose as suggestive, the spitting as ejaculatory, and the lamp in the lower foreground as phallic. Chagall repainted the lamp and convinced the authorities to show the picture, but it continued to be seen as erotic."
The more I read A Dance With Dragons, the more I'm struck by what horrible people live in the world. The Boltons especially. I can't help but think "These...are not nice people."
I'm waiting for A Dance with Dragons to come out in paperback (budget), but yeah, it starts out bad and just keeps getting worse. I don't know why people even get married in Westeros, that's just asking for trouble. One glimmer of hope: Hot Pie would appear to have survived his time on stage. I really didn't think that kid would make it.
The Boltons are a noble family in Westeros. Their standard is The Flayed Man.
I don't think you need to hear anything more about them.
Wonder if Martin had been watching a Sam Allardyce-managed Bolton Wanderers play when he decided on the standard. It certainly describes how you'd feel a lot of the time.
And I'm also reading about Alexander the Great. In this case a biography written by a Greek dude named Arrianos some time in the early 2nd century CE.
The more I read A Dance With Dragons, the more I'm struck by what horrible people live in the world. The Boltons especially. I can't help but think "These...are not nice people."
I haven't read Dance yet, but that's my opinion of just about everybody I read about in history books. That might be expected of people in positions of power, but the picture of ordinary people one gets is not really much better.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Oh come on. Albert Schweitzer was okay.
And as far as Roman emperors go I have to say that Titus and good old uncle Claudius seems to have been pretty decent chaps.
Oh come on. Albert Schweitzer was okay.
And as far as Roman emperors go I have to say that Titus and good old uncle Claudius seems to have been pretty decent chaps.
By the standards of their times, that may be so. By ours? Probably not so much. It's a bit unfair to them, but I don't think we should discount the obvious corollary to having made a lot of moral progress: People in the past were pretty bad. Fortunately, almost all of them are dead and thus not causing anyone problems.
By the standards of their times, that may be so. By ours? Probably not so much. It's a bit unfair to them, but I don't think we should discount the obvious corollary to having made a lot of moral progress: People in the past were pretty bad. Fortunately, almost all of them are dead and thus not causing anyone problems.Oh come on. Albert Schweitzer was okay.
And as far as Roman emperors go I have to say that Titus and good old uncle Claudius seems to have been pretty decent chaps.
Still, Schweitzer got a Nobel peace prize pretty much just because he was such a principled nice guy. (And Titus most famous words: "I have wasted a day." Spoken when he realised he'd gone a whole day without commuting a death sentence. Though I guess the whole crushing the Jewish rebellion was done rather harshly.)
He wasn't very nice to Berenice, as I recall.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Fool Moon by Jim Butcher. I needed some lighter reading after the last couple. Funny, there's graphic description of mauled and mutilated bodies in this book, but it's still light reading in comparison to Ender's Game.
|
Just finishing Last Argument of Kings, the final book of The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It has been an absolutely brilliant ride, and my only regret is that I wouldn't want it to end.
I'm a librarian and I read a LOT, and yet I'd easily consider this trilogy among the best fantasy books I've read in a long time. In my opinion it is a masterpiece of contemporary fantasy, and I'd recommend it to anyone who liked LotR, LeGuin's Earthsea novels, Gemmell's Drenai series, Chronicles of Amber, Gormenghast, A Song of Ice and Fire or Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising.
Wonderfully written and complex characters, exciting twists, lots of intrigue... there's just so much to love about these books that I don't know where to begin. Maybe I'll just keep it short and simple: if you liked any of the works mentioned above, READ these books! Period.
Just finishing Last Argument of Kings, the final book of The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It has been an absolutely brilliant ride, and my only regret is that I wouldn't want it to end.
But it doesn't have to! Although the characters are different, well, some of them, the story continues in Best Served Cold and The Heroes which are also awesome!!
So, you're a librarian, huh? How's that for a gig?
Conan Porn!
Okay, so "The Lair of the White Worm" has got to be one of the awesomest stories ever--
It goes to show that, when done tastefully, a little mindless sexual objectification is good for you.
"After the meal, warm and weary, they curled up together in his bearskin cloak. Her nearness brought to Conan's mind the thought that a bout of hawt love might calm her mind for sleep. His first tentative caresses found her not at all unwilling. Nor was she unresponsive to his youthful ardor; as he soon discovered, she was not new to this game. Before the hour of lovemaking was over, she was gasping and crying out in her passion. Afterwards, thinking her now relaxed, the Cimmerian rolled over and slept like a dead man."
Conan does it in the Lair of the White Worm!
Started Jerzy Żuławski On The Silver Globe.
I don't know what ODU is, but, congrats!
I don't know what ODU is, but, congrats!
Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, VA.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I was looking through my books the other day, and I chanced upon my old copy of The Fellowship of the Ring that I must have read between 6th-8th grade. I know this because those were my most "difficult" of teenage years, and written in black magic marker across the pages--(the surface opposite the spine, I can't think of how to describe it [bubble bubble bubble])--is written in all caps:
SCHOOL SUCKS!
Just thought I'd share.
Still, congrats!, Sanakht.
I was looking through my books the other day, and I chanced upon my old copy of The Fellowship of the Ring that I must have read between 6th-8th grade. I know this because those were my most "difficult" of teenage years, and written in black magic marker across the pages--(the surface opposite the spine, I can't think of how to describe it [bubble bubble bubble])--is written in all caps:
SCHOOL SUCKS!
Just thought I'd share.
Still, congrats!, Sanakht.
You... you... you desecrated a book! Why you filthy goblin, come here so I may break the offending fingers! ;)
I just picked up Sunshine by Robin McKinley and Fort Freak edited by GRRM from the library.
|
|
Asgetrion,
Thanks for those recommendations! I'll get the The First Law series as soon as I finish the 4 or 5 Mary Renault books I last purchased.
It's been a long time since I've read the Earthsea books, I've got to put them out for a re-read soon. I usually read The Chronicles of Amber every-other year or so.
I'll check out those other authors once I finish The First Law stuff ...
Regards, and thanks again!
-- Andy
Heh, no problem; it's my job to recommend good books to people, and I love doing it! :D
I just love The Chronicles of Amber, and I've read the books several times, too (and included them in my booktalks for youth). We used to play Amber DRPG on a regular basis, but these days we get to play so rarely that Pathfinder naturally takes precedence over any other games. It's a great game, though, and really captures the atmosphere and spirit of Zelazny's novels.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Just finishing Last Argument of Kings, the final book of The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It has been an absolutely brilliant ride, and my only regret is that I wouldn't want it to end.But it doesn't have to! Although the characters are different, well, some of them, the story continues in Best Served Cold and The Heroes which are also awesome!!
So, you're a librarian, huh? How's that for a gig?
Huh, but neither of them feature Glokta or Logen as protagonists, do they?
Being a public librarian is a dream job for me... I'm always surrounded by a vast number of great books, and I get paid to read and talk about them! :D
Well, the pay could be a bit better, but at least it's a secure and permanent job.
You know, I used to be a graphic designer, but got tired of constant deadlines and ever longer days. In the end I couldn't even sleep or eat, it got that bad; at that point I decided I need to switch to another profession. I've always been a voracious reader, and one day I realized I want to become a librarian; so I became a student, again, and eventually got the degree. And it was probably the smartest decision I've ever made... :)
No, but did you like Nicomo Cosca and Black Dow?
Okay, so "The Lair of the White Worm" has got to be one of the awesomest stories ever--
Which is NOTHING compared to "Queen of the Black Coast" and "Vale of Lost Women!"
Which, though TOTALLY AWESOME!, could be subtitled: In which Conan thinks about joinng the Klan.
I did read the first two books in the first law trilogy and I liked reading them. But be warned: there seems not te be a real story in the book. It has more a slice of life in a decaying fantasy kingdom feel to it. And all the characters are pricks (according to me)
Tried reading Seafaring Women, but while the content was interesting, esp. in the context of Skull & Shackles, the writing was not stellar. Now I'm working on Un beso en mi mano—did a preliminary read-through, now will go back through it with a dictionary—and a handful of other Spanish picture books while I wait for Kalevala to come in (another patron and I keep recalling it from each other :P ).
Started A Clash of Kings last night.
Tried reading Seafaring Women, but while the content was interesting, esp. in the context of Skull & Shackles, the writing was not stellar. Now I'm working on Un beso en mi mano—did a preliminary read-through, now will go back through it with a dictionary—and a handful of other Spanish picture books while I wait for Kalevala to come in (another patron and I keep recalling it from each other :P ).
I could probably get you a copy of your own. As long as you don't mind it being in Swedish or Finnish... ;)
Finished Conan the Cimmerian. It was awesome!
...Kalevala...I could probably get you a copy of your own. As long as you don't mind it being in Swedish or Finnish... ;)
Tack så mycket! But... I suspect I will still finish sooner only reading it in alternating weeks than I would having to stretch my three words of Swedish (see above). And the closest to Finnish I know is a few Hungarian phrases—right language family, but not nearly enough vowels!
|
|
No, but did you like Nicomo Cosca and Black Dow?
Oh, most certainly; I liked both, but Cosca's flamboyant style appealed to me perhaps more than Dow's outright brutal nature. By the way, our library network has several copies of both novels, so I reserved them! :)
(I just hope we will eventually see another novel starring the ever lovable Sand dan Glokta...)
Not a book, but while at work I listened to the latest episode of Starship Sofa* and was very impressed by the main fiction piece: Incompatible, by Will McIntosh.