The Athenaeum - Reading updates and Literary Review from the Obsidian Elite (this means you)

[Guard Dog]

Can anyone recommend any good books about Alexander the Great and his campaign in Persia? There are enough of them to fill a library but none of them jump out at me a reviews are all pretty mixed. I'd appreciate any opinions if you have read one. 

 

[Gfted1]

The Women of "Firefly" to Launch on a New Adventure in "The Sting".

[Guard Dog]

This one has just left me speechless: https://spectator.us/writers-blocked-fantasy-fiction/

Fantasy fiction is now offensive and must be banned!

[Guard Dog]

Now reading

 

[Guard Dog]

Now reading:

 

Half way through. This happened in my lifetime but I knew nothing about what really happened. 

 

Also reading:

 

I finally caved in to peer pressure, here and elsewhere. I usually hate fantasy but I don't hate this one... yet. Still on guard for the cliche parade though. 

Edited May 24, 2019 by Guard Dog

[the_dog_days]

Good luck. Once you realize all Sanderson's characters use the exact same snarky sense of humor you'll probably drop Kings and Sanderson.

[ShadySands]

Stormlight Archive is the only Sanderson I've read and now, I guess, the only Sanderson I will read. I want to see where he goes with the rest of this series and I don't want to burn out on him.

[Gromnir]

halfway through first mistborn novel is as far as we ever got with sanderson. weren't sooper terrible, but characters were theatrical, predictable and flat. were set up as a series, and we couldn't see our self reading another thousand or so pages o' same characters. 

the guy is prolific and popular, so clear he is doing something right. perhaps we didn't give him enough o' a chance, but we don't actual regret stopping halfway through first mistborn.

with dark materials becoming the new hbo epic fantasy series following got, perhaps gd gives pullman's books a try. can be the snooty know-it-all at the water cooler on monday morning who infrequent slips in an observation 'bout how books did such-n'-such different than the tv episode.

HA! Good Fun!

[Hurlshort]

I enjoy fantasy, even quite a bit of trashy fantasy, and I've never been able to get into Sanderson.

I've been reading these Monster Hunter International books. Silly fun, for sure.

[Guard Dog]

OK, I'm done with Sanderson. I see no point in reading any more of that series. It's not that it's bad, it's unoriginal. I think some of Kaladin's lines were later cut and pasted into his WoT books for Mat Cauthon. Good fantasy writing is rare IMO and stands out when you find it. This ain't it. 

[Guard Dog]

Now reading:

 

[Malcador]

Reading Hue by Bowden.  Not a bad recollection of events.  Sort of funny to read how both North Vietnam and the US militaries were in some fantasy land in some respects and how middle level officers felt when dealing with the realities of it.

 

[Guard Dog]

Nothing from the man himself but multiple sources say Rothfuss's Doors of Stone will be out 8/2020: https://lrmonline.com/news/third-kingkiller-chronicle-book-gets-2020-release-date/

[the_dog_days]

^ Nine years ago I would've been exited.

[Guard Dog]

This is pretty cool! https://www.chronicle.com/article/And-for-Extra-Credit-Read-a/246357

[Guard Dog]

Now reading:

[Malcador]

Hue is a bit of a slog, is funny to read about some arrogant Marine officer ignoring the troubles the ARVN had, leading his men to get torn up and then try to cover his ass by saying the ARVN commander lied to him.

[Guard Dog]

So, say you have this really big and important job that you just HAVE to do. But it's a very hard job so you keep making yourself busy with smaller and easier jobs. You tell yourself "I'll catch up to the big one later, as soon as I do the small ones". But you keep "finding" more and more small ones to enable you to put off the big one. It's called Industrious Procrastination. Doesn't this strike you as a perfect example of that???? https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/9/18658839/elden-ring-george-rr-martin-fromsoftware-game-of-thrones-e3-2019-microsoft

[Malcador]

Going to start Voices from Chernobyl, the show gave me the idea to perhaps read a book on it rather than TV documentaries.   After Hue, that might be a bit too depressing though.

[ShadySands]

3 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

So, say you have this really big and important job that you just HAVE to do. But it's a very hard job so you keep making yourself busy with smaller and easier jobs. You tell yourself "I'll catch up to the big one later, as soon as I do the small ones". But you keep "finding" more and more small ones to enable you to put off the big one. It's called Industrious Procrastination. Doesn't this strike you as a perfect example of that???? https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/9/18658839/elden-ring-george-rr-martin-fromsoftware-game-of-thrones-e3-2019-microsoft

He's also recently gotten involved with Meow Wolf, which is a thing

[Guard Dog]

Starting this one on my lunch break today

 

[Guard Dog]

Here is what I'm doing tonight:

 

[LadyCrimson]

I finally read the novel Starship Troopers (vs. the goofy but awesomely silly-fun movie). It was ok and interesting in some parts but overall I found it rather dull. The first-person narrative was one strike - that rarely works for me in any novel ... for some reason I find it a limiting and distracting/non-immersive perspective for any long fiction. I already knew the movie completely changed everything so I wasn't expecting the movie, y'know, but mostly I was expecting more action sequences I suppose. More about the war and battles. They were few and what was there was pretty dry. Didn't dislike it, but didn't really excite me either.

Also, when did books in bookstores become almost all oversized paperbacks? I mean most of the King novels were in that 3/4 hardback but softcover size for $15-$20 with nary a smaller version to be found anywhere. This was in Barnes/Nobles store. The smaller paperbacks were still oversized - too tall. I didn't like the over-spaced printing style/format they've mostly move to, either. Is this a trend to make them more tablet-familiar or something? I don't like it. They no longer match all the paperbooks on my shelf. I say "boo." Can you tell I haven't been in a bookstore for a long time? Ah well.

Edit: I know! The printing format is to make the book be more pages so it seems like you're getting more for the higher prices.
I read Troopers in about 2.5 hours. Says it's a bit over 300 pages but wouldn't surprise me if some original paperbacks somewhere have it as less than that....

Edited June 22, 2019 by LadyCrimson

[the_dog_days]

I hate the Starship Troopers movie. Not because I love the book, but I think it's sh!tty in a world where parody is perfectly legal to make a parody and slap the name of the thing you're lampooning and sell it to the fans with the intention of provoking them. I don't care what the IP is (book, movie, comic, romance, sci-fi, slice-of-life), don't buy the use of it to make a product that makes fun of the original and call it an adaptation. The Starship Troopers movie is probably the world's most expensive troll and it's proportionally a d!ck move.

[the_dog_days]

14 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Also, when did books in bookstores become almost all oversized paperbacks? I mean most of the King novels were in that 3/4 hardback but softcover size for $15-$20 with nary a smaller version to be found anywhere. This was in Barnes/Nobles store. The smaller paperbacks were still oversized - too tall. I didn't like the over-spaced printing style/format they've mostly move to, either. Is this a trend to make them more tablet-familiar or something? I don't like it. They no longer match all the paperbooks on my shelf. I say "boo." Can you tell I haven't been in a bookstore for a long time? Ah well.

$7-$9 (depending on where you live) is the cost of mass market paperbacks. The $15-$20 are trade paperbacks. They have better quality paper and covers (cardstock usually). Trade paperbacks are supposed to be a quality product that sits somewhere in between mass market paperbacks and hardbacks.