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Drunk Driver Dad posted:For my next fantasy read, I can't decide if I want to start with The Faithful and The Fallen series by John Gwynne, or Stormlight by Sanderson. I'll probably read both eventually, but I'd appreciate if someone would help with my decision paralysis for now. If you have too much $$$ to throw around I would recommend listening to graphic audio's production of the Stormlight Series.
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Jan 16, 2018 21:26
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ShinsoBEAM! posted:If you have too much $$$ to throw around I would recommend listening to graphic audio's production of the Stormlight Series. I dunno Michael Kramer and Kate Redding do a really good job with the normal reading, is there really anything too special about Graphic Audio's I usually find their stuff distracting.
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Jan 17, 2018 00:49
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MockingQuantum posted:LBJ also regularly peed on the White House, so yeah, all bets are off. The couple of LBJ anecdotes I've heard make him sound like a psychopath. Demanding his aides take dictation while he shits to humiliate them and such
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Jan 17, 2018 01:47
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Neurosis posted:The couple of LBJ anecdotes I've heard make him sound like a psychopath. Demanding his aides take dictation while he shits to humiliate them and such But then he's responsible for all the horse-trading, cajoling, and arm twisting that got the most significant piece of legislation in the latter half of the twentieth century passed: The Civil Rights Act. And from all accounts, he really believed in it and it was the singular goal for his presidency. He was a strange president.
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Jan 17, 2018 01:52
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Just finished reading the first Bartimaeus book and while I enjoyed it Nathaniel is so freaking annoying and unlikable that I'm questioning whether to keep reading it. Not entirely sure if it's just what I think a 12 year old would act like versus what the author thinks or just the way the character is so contradictory in ways that don't make sense for a kid, but in any case it really rubbed me the wrong way. Does John/Nathanial improve in book 2 & 3, or should I just hang up the series now?
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Jan 17, 2018 03:49
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Funnily enough I'm rereading the series at the moment! It's been years since I've read them all but I remember that Nathaniel definitely improves over the series - the second book is set several years later when he's had a chance to grow up and mature. He's still a bit lovely and irritating, but by the third book he's come quite far. The second book also introduces a third viewpoint character with their own subplot that may be a relief from Nathaniel for you.
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Jan 17, 2018 03:57
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nessin posted:Just finished reading the first Bartimaeus book and while I enjoyed it Nathaniel is so freaking annoying and unlikable that I'm questioning whether to keep reading it. Not entirely sure if it's just what I think a 12 year old would act like versus what the author thinks or just the way the character is so contradictory in ways that don't make sense for a kid, but in any case it really rubbed me the wrong way. Does John/Nathanial improve in book 2 & 3, or should I just hang up the series now? Nathaniel is an awful little poo poo, and the series completely acknowledges it. Kitty is the most conventionally heroic of the main characters. Proteus Jones posted:On the one hand, insisting on literal dick measuring contests, looming into people's personal space because he knew it was disconcerting and intimidating. loving up and expanding US involvement in Vietnam. I read some of those Robert Caro bricks, and LBJ didn’t strike me as a guy with sincere political beliefs of any kind. He did what he thought would be long-term beneficial for him, which occasionally aligned with what was good for the country depending on how publicly accountable his office was. Dude did a lot to delay and shut down civil rights pushes in the Senate because the racist southern Democrats were useful to him, and then pushed for civil rights himself once he perceived they were no longer useful.
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Jan 17, 2018 04:03
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Neurosis posted:The couple of LBJ anecdotes I've heard make him sound like a psychopath. Demanding his aides take dictation while he shits to humiliate them and such They make him sound cool and funny
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Jan 17, 2018 04:44
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I don't think there's ever been a "genteel" period in politics anywhere or any time in history.
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Jan 17, 2018 05:44
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MockingQuantum posted:LBJ also regularly peed on the White House, so yeah, all bets are off. How? Out of a helicopter?
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Jan 17, 2018 05:54
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dude was also obsessed with his cock which he dubbed 'jumbo' and would swing it around in men's bathrooms and ask people if they'd seen anything that big. apparently when some reporters asked him to explain why the us was expanding its role in vietnam he pulled out jumbo and declared 'BECAUSE OF THIS!'
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Jan 17, 2018 11:16
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nessin posted:Just finished reading the first Bartimaeus book and while I enjoyed it Nathaniel is so freaking annoying and unlikable that I'm questioning whether to keep reading it. Not entirely sure if it's just what I think a 12 year old would act like versus what the author thinks or just the way the character is so contradictory in ways that don't make sense for a kid, but in any case it really rubbed me the wrong way. Does John/Nathanial improve in book 2 & 3, or should I just hang up the series now?
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Jan 17, 2018 13:30
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socialsecurity posted:I dunno Michael Kramer and Kate Redding do a really good job with the normal reading, is there really anything too special about Graphic Audio's I usually find their stuff distracting. Graphic Audio does Audio Dramas not Audio Books. I felt their Stormlight production was great, especially in comparison to what I felt was a passable audiobook reading. I actually don't like Kate Redding as a reader and I felt Michael Kramer's performance in it was weaker than normal for him.
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Jan 17, 2018 15:37
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C.M. Kruger posted:There are three general classifications of "I'm in a fantasy RPG world?!" as I see it. I didn't know the Isekai stuff had a label, but I'm not surprised it does. I heard about a series about someone who gets reincarnated as a vending machine, so of course I had to read it, and it hits every point on that list.
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Jan 17, 2018 20:09
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Neurosis posted:dude was also obsessed with his cock which he dubbed 'jumbo' and would swing it around in men's bathrooms and ask people if they'd seen anything that big. apparently when some reporters asked him to explain why the us was expanding its role in vietnam he pulled out jumbo and declared 'BECAUSE OF THIS!' LBJ fanfic
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Jan 17, 2018 23:52
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My physical copy of The Traitor Baru Cormorant arrived today, and I look forward to thrusting it into the hands of unsuspecting friends and yelling at them to read it.
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Jan 18, 2018 01:29
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I finished the southern reach trilogy. I really, really enjoyed the journey, but man, I have no idea wtf happened.Hieronymous Alloy posted:For a different reversal of that trope, I cannot recommend The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans highly enough. It starts out as somewhat schlocky 80's fantasy and just . . .turns character driven, almost by itself. Great solid little book.
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Jan 18, 2018 03:55
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gvibes posted:I finished the southern reach trilogy. I really, really enjoyed the journey, but man, I have no idea wtf happened. Alien terraforming device, for a race that has gone extinct. It is not clear whether the aliens are from outer space or another dimension, but probably the latter.
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Jan 18, 2018 04:04
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gvibes posted:I read this (assuming based on your recommendation). Pretty good read. Great! There's a whole series of books that author has in that universe, but they're only connected by the universe, not the characters, and they vary a bit in quality.
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Jan 18, 2018 04:26
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Ornamented Death posted:Alien terraforming device, for a race that has gone extinct. It is not clear whether the aliens are from outer space or another dimension, but probably the latter. I got it at that level, but what's at the bottom of the tower, who is henry, what's the deal with Lowry' phone, what did s&sb have to do with area x, etc
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Jan 18, 2018 04:33
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Ornamented Death posted:Alien terraforming device, for a race that has gone extinct. It is not clear whether the aliens are from outer space or another dimension, but probably the latter. i found this explanation unsatisfying. it makes sense of what's happening but isn't particularly interesting. i didn't really like book 2 or 3 of the series though so i probably hung more importance on some explanation to content me given i wasn't enjoying the ride that much (the parts in area x in book 3 were okay).
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Jan 18, 2018 05:24
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So I've started on The Shadow of What Was Lost I'm probably 2/3 of the way through it and it is losing me, the Wheel of Time influences are fine for the most part but the writing feels a bit more YA then I am used to and I really hate the time travel crap and really hope the series doesn't start revolving around it Does it get any better or should I cut my losses, I can put up with a certain level of fantasy jank I love Sanderson for example.
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Jan 18, 2018 07:53
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Ornamented Death posted:Alien terraforming device, for a race that has gone extinct. It is not clear whether the aliens are from outer space or another dimension, but probably the latter. Other responses have more or less said this, but knowing what happened in Southern Reach is really only scratching the surface of what the gently caress the books are about. For anyone who read that spoiler and hasn't read the books, just know that some of the best parts of the book are how precisely the above is unfolded and represented. The "reveal" itself is never all that explicit and sort of secondary to watching what happens to people because of Area X.
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Jan 18, 2018 18:31
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The point of Southern Reach is that you're not supposed to have more than a cursory understanding of what's going on. That's the sort of weird fiction Vandermeer digs: almost nothing is answered by the end and most of the story is left up to your interpretation. It's not for everyone, but a lot of people seem to like it.
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Jan 18, 2018 22:12
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There’s a constant theme of mistranslation/misunderstanding which I feel like I didn’t quite grasp - like the significance of terroir I think a better reader might be able to pull out some subtextual through lines. The big in Acceptance where that one guy is loading people up with subconscious conditioning to somehow reject or defeat Atea X and the way that leaves them more and more monstrous after they transform really got to me. Something pathetic and horrible about the technocrats tripling down on ‘rational’ methods which are no better than ritual. The flying camera in Authority is for my money the creepiest passage in the series. e: I lied it’s the bar scene in Acceptance
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Jan 18, 2018 22:44
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General Battuta posted:There’s a constant theme of mistranslation/misunderstanding which I feel like I didn’t quite grasp - like the significance of terroir I think a better reader might be able to pull out some subtextual through lines. Oh my gosh it's crazy how much of these books I've forgotten since I read them. I think it may be time to go back to them for another pass.
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Jan 18, 2018 22:58
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Ornamented Death posted:The point of Southern Reach is that you're not supposed to have more than a cursory understanding of what's going on. I thought 90% of books were like that for posters in this forum
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Jan 18, 2018 23:39
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General Battuta posted:e: I lied it’s the bar scene in Acceptance I really need to reread it but does the bar scene lead to the scene where the lighthouse keeper (Saul I think his name was?)has his episode in the lighthouse with the meteor? That was one of the best parts of Acceptance IMO. Does anyone have recs for something similar to TSR? I've read a lot of King and love him but other than him I really don't know much about the weird horror genre. I've tried Lovecraft but he doesn't really do it for me. edit - Maybe I should've posted this in the Cosmic Horror thread instead but other than King and TSR, I've always been much more of a sci fi fan than horror. johnsonrod fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Jan 19, 2018 |
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Jan 19, 2018 04:00
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johnsonrod posted:I really need to reread it but does the bar scene lead to the scene where the lighthouse keeper (Saul I think his name was?)has his episode in the lighthouse with the meteor? That was one of the best parts of Acceptance IMO. Roadside Picnic
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Jan 19, 2018 04:38
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skasion posted:Roadside Picnic In this vein, Nova Swing by M John Harrison also
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Jan 19, 2018 04:50
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skasion posted:Roadside Picnic
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Jan 19, 2018 04:54
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The King in Yellow (1895)had some good weird horror stories in it. You'll recognize them fast. Ashton Clark Smith also had a weird mix of fantasy-horror-pulp action, and there is a good cheap amazon Ashton Clark Smith kindle story collection Machen's The great god pan (1890) was genre defining weird horror and managed to outclass the Southern Reach trilogy for me. Southern reach trilogy for me: came into the series blind, wasn't impressed. Annihilation was ok, started rolling my eyes towards the end, with how hokey the lighthouse as a literal metaphor for safety/danger/secret knowledge was worked into the story. The whole plot with the agency in Authority never clicked with me, and I didn't give a gently caress about any of the characters in it. Acceptance continued with the characters I didn't care about, tripled down on the lighthouse backstory, and went sorta purgatory/Cordwainer Smith's Shayol planet.
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Jan 19, 2018 06:49
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Ashton Clark Smith also had a weird mix of fantasy-horror-pulp action, and there is a good cheap amazon Ashton Clark Smith kindle story collection It's Clark Ashton Smith.
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Jan 19, 2018 07:09
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A human heart posted:It's Clark Ashton Smith. Yeah, two first names confusion. My fault.
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Jan 19, 2018 07:13
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:The King in Yellow (1895)had some good weird horror stories in it. You'll recognize them fast. I was surprised to find out some stories in it weren't horror, or related to the titular play.
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Jan 19, 2018 08:08
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johnsonrod posted:Does anyone have recs for something similar to TSR? I've read a lot of King and love him but other than him I really don't know much about the weird horror genre. I've tried Lovecraft but he doesn't really do it for me. The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
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Jan 19, 2018 08:13
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XBenedict posted:
I tried to read HoL and bounced off it at least twice. The Navidson Record is an extremely cool concept but the book wrapped around it spends literally every word preening to get you to tell it how clever it is, aren't you a clever little book. Plus I've seen the author in person twice and he's intolerably pretentious even in group panels.
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Jan 20, 2018 08:29
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I just skipped all the boring guy going crazy in a hotel room parts when I read it.
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Jan 20, 2018 09:17
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So has anyone else finished Iron Gold yet? I just love how it follows on from 'And we overthrow the evil oppressive regime!' with 'we did this via co opting one side in a civil war and allying with various groups of the oppressors'. Also no clean win, the book starts 'ten years later' with a decade of brutal war with millions dead having taken place in the interim and the 'democracy' the main characters set up having serious, serious issues and broken promises. Plus characters who are now actual adults. Good stuff.
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Jan 20, 2018 13:21
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Patrat posted:So has anyone else finished Iron Gold yet? Is that another sequel to the red rising books? I didn’t even know he was working on it.
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Jan 20, 2018 15:51
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