Books

[Tale]

Reading City of Torment. It's the second book in Bruce R. Cordrell's Abolethic Sovereignty series. Not that exciting. I can't wait to finish it to start reading Equal Rites from Pratchett.

[Guard Dog]

Now reading Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst. Volo, LadyCrimson and everyone else who like baseball or sports books, you must give this one a look. It is perfect, insightful, self depricating, funny and inspiring at the same time, Great book. You will be laughing out lound in the first three pages.

[Monte Carlo]

After Jerry Cornelius I've been on an epic military history odyssey.

 

A Bridge too Far by Cornelius Ryan, D-Day by Stephen E. Ambrose, plus assorted tracts on Arnhem, the Rhine Crossings in 1945, the Ardennes and Monte Cassino.

 

After all that crunchy military stuff am in the mood for frivolity, so I might switch to something a bit lighter. May I recommend Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series, Berlin Noir ( Amazon link ) is particularly good and the second tryptych in the saga also rocks if you dig the whole shady-nazis-meet-gangsters-in-latin-america vibe, circa. 1956.

 

Cheers

MC

Edited September 4, 2010 by Monte Carlo

[Guard Dog]

Great, let us know what you think.

 

There is very little actual discussion in this thread

Ok, it took some doing but I finally choked down The Blade Itself. Overall it was not bad, but it really was not great either. I guess I'm not a big fan of the fantasy genre in general but there are some I really like, this one I could take or leave. My biggest criticisim is the language he used. I find modern day venacular, slang, and profanity a little out of place in sword & sorcery fantasy. Don't get me wrong he has to tell his story but... some phrases just do not fit. I did like the charachters though, particularly Glotka. I'll get to the next one, but just not now. There are three other books in line in front of it.

[Walsingham]

I'm just finishing the second volume of the Flashman books. Royal Flash is a far less military romp, in the style of the three musketeers set in 19th century Europe. It's still a cracking read, and lots of fun, but perhaps less authoritative than the previous volume, as I suspect (sorry old man) but the author had less experience of orgies than of running around a battlefield scared witless.

 

I recommend it.

[Purkake]

Great, let us know what you think.

 

There is very little actual discussion in this thread

Ok, it took some doing but I finally choked down The Blade Itself. Overall it was not bad, but it really was not great either. I guess I'm not a big fan of the fantasy genre in general but there are some I really like, this one I could take or leave. My biggest criticisim is the language he used. I find modern day venacular, slang, and profanity a little out of place in sword & sorcery fantasy. Don't get me wrong he has to tell his story but... some phrases just do not fit. I did like the charachters though, particularly Glotka. I'll get to the next one, but just not now. There are three other books in line in front of it.

The ending to The Blade Itself was really nice. The trilogy is really closer to one long book instead of three shorter ones, most of the plot twists and whatnot is still yet to come.

[Guard Dog]

Now reading True at First Light. Yeah, yeah, I know. But what can I say, I'm a Hemingway fan.

[Raithe]

Picked up a slightly tattered "Collected Verse of Rudyard Kipling" that was published in 1912 from a charity shop. There's something about reading Kipling from faded, yellowing pages that are practically falling out of the binding that makes it feel more.. solid almost.

 

As bizzare as that might sound.

[Walsingham]

Picked up a slightly tattered "Collected Verse of Rudyard Kipling" that was published in 1912 from a charity shop. There's something about reading Kipling from faded, yellowing pages that are practically falling out of the binding that makes it feel more.. solid almost.

 

As bizzare as that might sound.

 

Not at all. I was greatly shaped by a copy of Other Men's Flowers, which was a collection of poetry including Kipling and Chesterton. Mine was published in 1944, and was thereby imbued with all sorts of resonance.

 

"...The skies I saw, the trees I saw

After no eye shall see.

Tonight I die the death of God

The stars go out with me..."

Edited September 9, 2010 by Walsingham

[Raithe]

Picked up a slightly tattered "Collected Verse of Rudyard Kipling" that was published in 1912 from a charity shop. There's something about reading Kipling from faded, yellowing pages that are practically falling out of the binding that makes it feel more.. solid almost.

 

As bizzare as that might sound.

 

Not at all. I was greatly shaped by a copy of Other Men's Flowers, which was a collection of poetry including Kipling and Chesterton. Mine was published in 1944, and was thereby imbued with all sorts of resonance.

 

"...The skies I saw, the trees I saw

After no eye shall see.

Tonight I die the death of God

The stars go out with me..."

 

I've always been partial to pharoah and the sergeant..

 

"...It was not a Duke nor Earl, nor yet a Viscount --

It was not a big brass General that came;

But a man in khaki kit who could handle men a bit,

With his bedding labelled Sergeant Whatisname..."

[Tale]

Found a cheap hardcover copy of And Another Thing..., so I'm rereading my Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide collection.

 

More people should write like this.

[Malcador]

The Dragon Book, ah I love compilers. Other than that, reading On War. A bit chewy at times, but it's interesting.

[surreal]

The Dragon Book, ah I love compilers. Other than that, reading On War. A bit chewy at times, but it's interesting.

 

Hehe, this takes me back... That book inspired me to write my first LR(1) parser

[Purkake]

Read "Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson. The sci-fi premise is really good as is its development, the book suffers a bit on the character front, but overall it's an enjoyable sci-fi experience.

[Guard Dog]

Look what I just ordered! I'd say my reading is booked solid for the next ten years!!!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-National-Ge...mp;sr=8-1-spell

[Raithe]

Naked Heat by "Richard Castle"

 

Heh, it's a fun read...very much in the style the scriptwriters use for the actual show. And all of the little nods and winks to episodes of Castle where he picked up "research" from the murders/events they investigate and how they've been worked in the "fictional" book is somewhat amusing.

[Tale]

Still reading The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide. I'm at Mostly Harmless, hopefully it'll be done by Friday so I can get started on And Another Thing.

 

 

 

Gauntlgrym is on its way. I'm a big fan of Salvatore's Drizzt books, but not without my criticisms. Those journal entries written by Drizzt that introduce chapters are consistently painful to read, just because it's naval gazing and often feels like author tract (Drizzt criticizes others for seeing their god's avatar because faith in the unseen is somehow better, yet he even saw his god's avatar in a previous book. The hypocrisy is recognized just long enough to retcon it as a delusion. The promotion of faith in the unseen seems out of place for Forgotten Realms).

 

I really disliked three of the last four books, Road of the Patriarch, Pirate King, Ghost King. But since I found the rest of the books to be terrific fun, I'll give this one a try. I'm hoping it'll recapture the fun.

 

 

I prefer Kemp for Forgotten Realms, but it's a shame that he and Wizards had a falling out. I am looking forward to his Star Wars: The Old Republic book in... March? I think.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Tale

[Walsingham]

Just finishing Born Fi' Dead by Laurie Gunst.

 

This is a (relatively) famous book, and in my opinion covers both extremes of excellence and failure in investigative crime reporting. On the one hand Gunst manages to get inside the Jamaican posses, both at home and in the USA. She uses this access to unearth details, and paint a very vivid picture of how they see themselves.

 

Her failure is that she seems to go completely native. That is to say she buys into the narrative version of life painted by the gangsters. Nothing, it seems, is their fault. She quotes their poetry, she describes (several times) their sexual magnetism, and revels in their acceptance. Yet these are multi-multi murderers and peddlers of crack cocaine. Certainly Jamaica has not been helped by its history, its culture, or its neighbours. But these are the men boiling the skin off people, not the ghosts of long dead planters.

 

What saves the book for me is that by betraying herself so transparently I was left feeling she must have been aware of falling short. Just as the gangsters confess through a glass darkly, so does she. And there is, after all, some considerable moral and physical courage which underpins the attempt in the first place. More importantly she cares for her interviewees, andthey for her. Which makes this account both remarkable and an object lesson.

 

I genuinely recommend it.

[I want teh kotor 3]

Gauntlgrym is on its way.

It's epic. His best in years. Emo Drizzt is gone, replaced with... uhh... pissed-off Drizzt. Which is really much better, seeing as though it leads to more fighting.

 

I really disliked three of the last four books, Road of the Patriarch, Pirate King, Ghost King.

Really? I thought Orc and Ghost were really good.

 

But since I found the rest of the books to be terrific fun, I'll give this one a try. I'm hoping it'll recapture the fun.

 

Don;t get your hopes up; its still all emotional and ****. And then

Bruenor goes the way of Regis and Catti-brie

and Drizzt gets

all emo again *groan*

But along the way we do get some rather epic fighting, so it all balances out.

[Tale]

I liked Orc. That's the one of the last four that is excepted from three of the last four.

 

I thought Ghost was less than stellar. Part of it might be that

killing off two of your characters with a book long whimper is just silly. They're bleeding adventurers, they should die in battle. Not bedridden for the entire book! And then their souls get trapped in a pocket dimension for eternity. wut

 

Edited October 15, 2010 by Tale

[I want teh kotor 3]

Part of it might be that

killing off two of your characters with a book long whimper is just silly. They're bleeding adventurers, they should die in battle. Not bedridden for the entire book! And then their souls get trapped in a pocket dimension for eternity. wut

 

Yeah, that was pretty weak. And

why in the **** didn't Mielikki just leave her there? Unicorn-goddess-chick evidently has the power to do so, so why kill her? Wouldn't leaving his goddamn wife alive and THEN putting her in a pocket dimension be a better present for her avatar-dude than just killing her? Also, that glade thing is gonna be extremely awkward when his next girlfriend croaks.

 

 

Gauntlgrym spoilers:

WTF was with Wulfgar? Did they just not care enough to see if he was alive? They didn't have anything better to do with their six goddamn decades of wandering! I don;t know why, but that just really bothers me. Also, obvious disguise is obvious!

 

Edited October 17, 2010 by I want teh kotor 3

[Raithe]

The Count of Monte Cristo - It's a classic for a reason.

 

Sure there are patches where it delves into over-the-top detail... but overall it's nicely structured and an enjoyable look into the nature of revenge, mystery, and murder.

[Tale]

Reading And Another Thing finally.

 

Mostly Harmless was definitely a downpoint for the series. AAT isn't a new pinnacle or anything, but it's pretty good. It's hard to be objective when you're thinking "it's a different author, I wonder what he screwed up." But the truth is, the jokes are funny and the book is enjoyable.

[Serrano]

I'm a quarter through Yahtzee's book 'Mogworld' at the moment. Dreadgrave is awesome, reminds me a lot of The Monarch.

[Tale]

So I pretty much got halfway through And Another Thing yesterday. Been a while since I did that. Must mean I am enjoying it. It's also not very thick.