Exilian
Off-topic and Chatter: The Jolly Boar Inn => General Chatter - The Boozer => Topic started by: Pentagathus on September 16, 2012, 07:57:56 PM
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Anyone else find that particularly annoying when someone asks what you're reading whilst you're busy reading? And then they ask you what its about because apparently they can't read the portugaling blurb on the back of the portugaling book.
Anyway I'm currently reading The Quest For The Holy Ale. Its kind of like a discworld book, but only if pratchett was completely off his tits whilst he wrote it.
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I'm reading The Survival Handbook: Essential Skills for Outdoor Adventure.
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Hang on, the adventurer parties don't actually have to go and adventure somewhere do they? Cos I'm kinda busy right now.
Anyway I think I'll be reading Stormdancer soon, partly due to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mei6yRz7pTU&feature=youtu.be
But mainly because its japanese steampunk with mythological creatures and other fantasy stuff.
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Crucible of Gold, the seventh Temeraire book because Ladyhawk was sweet enough to go order it from overseas before it was released in Australia.
They're a historical reimagining. Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons. :D
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I am reading "Wounds of Honour" by Anthony Riches - a great book. :)
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Just finished A Game of Thrones. Pretty damn good stuff, makes me want to write (again). :P
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Earth: Portrait of a Planet
The Dinosaur heresies
And a crap ton of other geological books
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Also read Game of Thrones recently Jubal. I have to say, the story's great but the way he describes what everyone's wearing gets old pretty quickly.
Not the fact that he does describe it. It doesn't even happen all that often, but the way he does it grates.
Tyrion walked into the throneroom and saw his sister.
"You're looking stunning today, sister."
She wore a gown of blah blah blah.
Then a bit later.
Bran looked around his room. His mother sat in the corner. She wore blah blah blah.
Surely there was a way to subtly put that information into the prose rather than that.
But I'm probably being overly picky. Much like Matthew Reilly and his incessant italicising.
And he put his hand, through the wall! Yes that's right, through the wall! And he did proclaim, "Ouch!" with great and terrible pain and agony
And you all think I'm joking.... :P
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I am reading Veronica Decides to Die. Self explanatory title, I must say!
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The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.
It's all right.
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What's it about?
I'm struggling through yet more of Bryer & Winfield's Monuments of the Pontus, a book seemingly designed as a murder weapon first and a useful reference work second. I did buy a new Bernard Cornwell book the other day, hell knows when I'll get to read it!
Also, should we merge this thread with the other "what are you reading" thread in the Storytellers' Hall?
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It's a different take on Alice in Wonderland, it's more steampunk/clockwork and the hatter is a bodyguard with hidden blades from assassins creed. I like the steampunk setting, I like the weirdness of the original Alice and I like the Tim Burton movie unfortunately the writing is... weird, and not in a good way. There was a line from star wars or something early on in the book and it was really out of place, things generally aren't described well enough (for me at least) and it doesn't do a great job of making any characters meaningful.
Is that more Byzantine stuff by any chance? ;)
Having the thread here is better imo.
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I prefer the location of the other one, so we'll leave both put for now :P
Anyway - yes, Anthony Bryer really founded the Byz centre here in Birmingham, and did a huge amount of work on Trebizond & the Pontus which I'm drawing on for my current research, it's fantastically detailed and careful work. This particular book is a sort of Byzantinist's guidebook to the northern Turkish coast from Sinope to the modern Georgian border. He's technically still alive, but he's extremely old and his mind is apparently not so much functional any more which is sad :(
I feel I should read more steampunk as GS&S is ostensibly a steampunk setting, but I often find that steampunky stuff shoves a few too many arbitrary cogs in my face rather than having a good plot and writing.
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I'm still reading Polish Wiedzmin: Sezon Burz, the latest of the Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski released fairly recently compared to the oldies. Loving it so far, definitely one of my favorite in the series.
Also picked up another Polish book from my grampa: Tropami Powstańczej Przesyłki, an autobiographical tale from one of the Warsaw Ghetto boy handling mail delivery. Crawling through ruined trenches, getting out of German capture, and watching death and destruction spreading around. Pretty chilling, if fascinating...
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I've been noticing recently just how much literature is unlocked when one can read multiple languages... I have so much learning to do :(
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I donno, I think translations do a good enough job most of the time. No it's not the same, but appreciating foreign literature is more about knowing the culture, saysing, folklore etc. than purely speaking the language, I think.
Tho I hear the Witcher english translations are really bad. And Sapkowski is a really witty writer who plays with the Polish language a lot too, so I think it would indeed lose a bit in translation. But as I said above, you'd really need to know Polish history and folk tales to really appreciate it.
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Yeah, but there's quite a lot of less famous literature that isn't translated (and it's hell in my academic field, where most papers are written in the author's native language and never translated).
I agree though that knowing the culture is more important than the language (I really would like to know more eastern European folklore).
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I read a couple of Sapkowski's books and they're pretty good, but I think you're probably right: some of the language used is meant to be edgy or sarcastic and doesn't immediately scan. Still, they're good books.
Just started reading The Humans by Matt Haig.
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So I picked this thing for a dollar at a used book store:
(http://i.imgur.com/TNvma4z.jpg)
despite the cover, it's actually pretty good. Interesting world with witty writing. The back reads:
The economy is the new cold war battlefield, robots and androids do the work, and the Interstellar Sprocket Conspiracy intends to oil its gears with the flesh of humanity. Cadet Sergeant Henry Fleming enlists in the economy to save America, is joined by a hydraulic-aholic robot, an army of mutants, a wizard who cant keep on his skin, and the luscious mechanical love of Henrys life, Anne Droid. The one chance for humanity is subterranean race across the nuked-out heartland of America to find a forgotten power that can save the worldor destroy it.
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Book covers can usually be oh so terrible.
I've been reading this forum... any suggestions on literature?
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Depends what you're into bud but I have a few;
Comedy - The Humans (Matt Haig)
Fantasy - The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
Sci-Fi - Altered Carbon (Richard Morgan) or The Diamond Age (Neal Stephenson)
As a literature study - The Fall of House Usher and other writings (Edgar Allen Poe)
Read and enjoyed all of these for different reasons. Poe is sometimes difficult to read but he's got some very forward thinking themes and is great at atmosphere if you want to learn how to write it. Altered Carbon is like an android killing fest, if you like over the top hyper-violence, go for it. If you like sort of subtle character progression and a book about an individuals growth then The Diamond Age is for you.
The Humans has a sense of humour I'd call quaintly British, if you can get behind that, you'll enjoy it. If you're looking for deeper meaning, it has that as well and is where the enjoyment of the book came about for me. The Name of the Wind I won't say much about, I wanted to take a look at a book with an unreliable narrator and initially didn't get along with the main character but he grew on me eventually. It's pretty standard modern fantasy otherwise.
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World of Warcraft illidan by William King. As I love Warcraft lore and am considering buying the best expansion. Awesome book so far on my favourite character.
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I trattati con Bisanzio 992-1198. This book is written in two languages and I can't really read either of them but I'm trying anyway :P
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Any good recommendations for Steampunk, SciFi or maaybe fantasy that is more on the short side? I don't want to dig into a 1000 page epic at this point and prefer something succinct, world/setting focused, without too much silly gory action. The aforementioned Naked Came the Robot is only like 200 pages and each chapter is no more than 4-10 pages which is perfect on a quick bus commute or as quick break from work. The first and last Witcher books were great for that too.
I know Sanders tends to have that style.
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Hmmm...
Fantasy: I'd suggest Neil Gaiman. He's an excellent writer; his novels are not particularly long, and he's also got a series of short story collections, which would suit your 4-10 page criterion.
SF: you might like Greg Egan - he too does short stories, and his novels often read like collections of related short stories too. Iain M. Banks and Ken Macleod might suit you too.
If you're going around second-hand bookshops, then nearly anything from the 1970s or before should at least be relatively short. There's a lot of SF from that era that's still worth reading - I'd suggest anything by Isaac Asimov (up to about 1970) or Arthur C. Clarke (up to at least 1990). There's also some interesting, fairly short, fantasy from the pre-Tolkien era that got republished in the 1960s and 1970s.
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I am reading yet more histories.
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Glaurung, I read a bit of Gaiman but not a fan, a little too flowery-fantasy-ish stuff for my taste. But I do love Asimov, the Foundation series is my favorite Scifi :) I was sad I couldn't really get into the I Robot for some reason. I think I really enjoyed the de-focus from characters and emphasis on the society and setting of the Foundation series. I studied some international politics and sociology for my degree and so I really enjoy the societal/cultural/world type stuff.
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I should read more sci-fi generally - for someone who's ostensibly very into SFF stuff, the amount I've actually read is horrendously poor.
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Glaurung, I read a bit of Gaiman but not a fan, a little too flowery-fantasy-ish stuff for my taste.
It might depend what you read: Stardust comes across as rather traditional fantasy, whereas Neverwhere or American Gods, though both still fantasy, have a rather different feel. And his short stories range very widely across the spectrum.
I think I really enjoyed the de-focus from characters and emphasis on the society and setting of the Foundation series. I studied some international politics and sociology for my degree and so I really enjoy the societal/cultural/world type stuff.
A-ha. In that case you might enjoy a lot of Ursula Le Guin's writing, especially The Left Hand of Darkness and (more difficult to find) Always Coming Home. You might also like Mary Gentle's work: it is very much character and plot-driven, but there's also a great deal of detailed world-building. My particular favorites are Golden Witchbreed and Ash: A Secret History.
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Thanks! Yea I only read Neverwhere and it put me off Gaiman, but might check out the other books now that you mention they are quite different.
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Miles Cameron's The Red Knight is the first novel of a pretty biching series. Not on the short side though.
I think I've asked here already, but can anyone recommend stuff that feels similar to the fellowship of the ring? Or any of Tolkein's fairy tale type stuff. Or Lud in the Mist if anyone's read it.
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http://www.earlybirdbooks.com/10-fantasy-books-like-lord-of-the-rings/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/similar/71204-lud-in-the-mist
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Thanks cowman, but it wasn't the epic fantasy type stuff I was interested in, it's hard to explain but something about the fellowship (more specifically the first half of it) feels good man.
But in terms of fairy tale type stuff the lud in the mist list is actually looking very interesting, much thanks for the Google fu.
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Just finished Connie Willis' Doomsday Book and loved it. While it does kind of meander and go back and forth or repeat itself a lot, it got me hooked. I think it may be the stream-of-consciousness, believable writing that kept me going. Maybe it's just what my own disorganized and ADD-y mind needed these days :p
The overall plot is pretty great as well with some unexpected turns. The end is a bit depressing but expectedly and fittingly so.
I know picked up Pratchett's Mort and Press Start to Play, both sound interesting.
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I've started on Illusionarium (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22840398-illusionarium)and it's pretty interesting. A steampunk-ish world where a special gas can be used to induce hallucinations with few being able to control and influence them. A deadly disease spreads through the kingdom, an illusioned doorway leads to a parallel dimension... I'll stop there, but despite being YA with a 16-yo protagonist, it manages to create an interesting scenario one after another and constantly comes up with intriguing twists. Also, bonus points for clever use of footnotes annotating protagonists thoughts.
(http://i.imgur.com/Y57WH9A.jpg)
Also picked up Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Only read like the first 5 pages but dig the "rough" and witty writing, casting The Deliverator as some sort of badass only to reveal it's really a glorified pizza delivery boy job, ha.
EDIT: link URL fixed
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Footnotes in fiction, if played well, are often a plus :)
I've mostly been rereading the Georgian epic "The Knight in Panther's Skin" (in English translation of course!) recently, and also starting to teach myself Georgian. I'd like to do more fiction reading as usual but not managing.
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I've started on Illusionarium and it's pretty interesting.
It certainly sounds like it - I will keep a look out for it.
Meanwhile, I recently finished The Ottoman Endgame by Sean McMeekin - a history of the last 45 years or so of the Ottoman Empire, and especially of that empire's place in the First World War. I have moved on to A History of the Arab Peoples, by Albert Hourani, covering the period from Mohammed up to about 1990; it's thorough and scholarly, but also seems a bit indigestible, alas. For some light relief, I re-read Terry Pratchett's The Dark Side of the Sun, a short novel of fantasy-like SF.
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I've been reading a book I was sure I was going to hate. Recommended to me by my sister, Queen of the Tearling and Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen.
Sort of teen fantasy (therefore thought I'd hate it) but done well and with adult, growing up and nuanced socio-political themes. Not too 'in-your-face'. Also has just the right amount of weird alt-reality-post-apocalypse subversion (yes, subversion of a subversive theme of itself) to keep you interested in more of that subplot. Can't explain that without spoilers though :P
But seriously, it's great would thoroughly recommend. If you've never trusted me before (with very, very good reason :P) trust this.
Umm, the first page, just ignore it. It's awful, just...just awful. But the rest of it is great :D
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Meanwhile, I recently finished The Ottoman Endgame by Sean McMeekin - a history of the last 45 years or so of the Ottoman Empire, and especially of that empire's place in the First World War.
Oh how is that? I've been thinking of picking up a "history of some big empire I know nothing about" book. I read (brief) history of Russia a while back and it was fascinating.
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The Ottoman Endgame by Sean McMeekin
Oh how is that?
Very good - I strongly recommend it. There's a whole lot of history there that I knew little or nothing about (e.g. the Ottoman-Russian front, the British occupation of Constantinople, the Turkish War of Independence), and it's told compellingly. Be warned, though: some of that history is pretty grim: the massacres of Armenians and Turks in eastern Turkey, for example, and some appallingly incompetent military campaigns, of which Gallipoli is the best known.
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Another couple of history recommendations: Germania and Danubia by Simon Winder - histories of Germany and the Habsburg Empire respectively, from 1300 or 1400 to 1933 (Germany) and 1918 (Habsburgs). The style is quite light and conversational, and the history is leavened and illustrated with anecdotes from the author's journeys in the relevant places.
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I do be reading some pretty decent books by bloke called Ben aaronavich or something like that. Can't remember the first books name but the series is the PC Grant series and it's about a wizard copper and it's good armadillo.
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An intro to the coins of Trebizond at the moment...
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Some Christmas-time reading:
- Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising: 1970s "young adult" fantasy, so a nostalgia trip for me. It's very seasonal - set in the days between the winter solstice and Twelfth Night. It was also my first introduction to some bits of English myth: Wayland Smith and Herne the Hunter, for example.
- Tom Holland's Rubicon: a narrative history of the last hundred years of the Roman Republic. Well worth reading.
- a translation of Procopius' Secret History. I've been OD'ing on Emperor Justinian for some time, via our own Roman Law project, amongst other things - the Secret History was written by a contemporary of Justinian, and presents a very different view of him and his reign than Justinian's own propaganda.
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Reading the desert spear by Peter V Brett which is a sequel to his book the painted man. Fantasy book set in a world harassed by demons at night, where people hide behind wards. Great book so far love the characters, told from various PoV like game of thrones. Got many other fantasy books this xmas so will update as i read through. The first book had a very traumatic chapter, i really wasn't expecting such a dark turn, very engaging
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The Painted Man books are fantastic. Those twists just keep on coming too.
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Oh yeah I forgotten about those, don't think I've read desert spear yet.
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Recently finished Tom Holland's "in the shadow of the sword", basically a popular history book about the origins of Islam. It had some interesting stuff in but Holland is really bad at differentiating clearly when he's saying things that are common knowledge and when he's making controversial points (which he does, arguing that Muhammad was based near Palestine not in Mecca). His ethnography is also a but lazy, presenting Arabs, Romans and Persians all in quite culturally homogeneous terms even across a period of centuries. It's a fun read and well written, but I'd take it with a big pinch of salt, basically.