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General Battuta posted:I just read The Invincible by Lem. It was pretty good, I loved his style, but it kinda felt like it stopped just when it really got going. I adore the Pontius Pilate sections, the language is just so beautiful and crisp
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Feb 2, 2023 00:33
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I started reading The Quantum Thief and now the concept of "Combat Autism" is going to be stuck in my brain a while. Someone wrote that, they thought it was a good idea to put in a story. I'm not going to stop reading it or anything, but now it's one of those phrases lodged in my brain like a bit of beef jerky in my teeth.
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Feb 2, 2023 01:01
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It’s no doubt a tribute to the foreign art of Japanese anime. Ghosts in shells and so forth.
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Feb 2, 2023 01:13
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General Battuta posted:I just read The Invincible by Lem. It was pretty good, I loved his style, but it kinda felt like it stopped just when it really got going. The Master and Margarita is so good, it may be the only Russian novel I wanna read multiple translations of
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Feb 2, 2023 01:26
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Stuporstar posted:The Master and Margarita is so good, it may be the only Russian novel I wanna read multiple translations of The ending had me absolutely bawling just trying to walk someone through what happened it's so beautiful. And then you walk back a few scenes and Satan is just chilling on a rooftop getting so frustrated with some dude all he can manage to say is "You're stupid." Incredible book.
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Feb 2, 2023 01:39
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StrixNebulosa posted:What’s the best historical fantasy that isn’t by GGK? Kate Heartfield's recent release, The Embroidered Book, was really good.
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Feb 2, 2023 02:25
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StrixNebulosa posted:What’s the best historical fantasy that isn’t by GGK? Aubrey/Maturin.
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Feb 2, 2023 02:59
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Oh yeah the Long Ships was cool as gently caress too
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Feb 2, 2023 03:02
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General Battuta posted:I just read The Invincible by Lem. It was pretty good, I loved his style, but it kinda felt like it stopped just when it really got going. I loved how many times Satan's cat does something with such aplomb that Everybody Claps. SimonChris posted:War & Peace starts with a group of students getting drunk, tying a police office to a bear, and chasing it into the Moyka river, so it swims around the river with the policeman on its back. I don't know how Russian literature got this reputation of being all gloomy and serious when it is actually full of goofy slapstick humor. I've read a handful of the big Russian Lit classics but hadn't gotten to War and Peace yet and this alone really makes me want to finally get to it. There really are a lot more jokes in them than you'd think! Especially slapstick and dark humor.
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Feb 2, 2023 03:17
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StrixNebulosa posted:What’s the best historical fantasy that isn’t by GGK? Latro, Bridge of Birds (is this historical fantasy? eh close enough), Travel Light, Okla Hannali, Lyonesse
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Feb 2, 2023 03:22
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DurianGray posted:I've read some really good stuff lately, like . . . The Master and Margarita Now there is a book filled with enough allegory and symbolism to kill a horse. Great fuckin' book, though. DurianGray posted:I've read a handful of the big Russian Lit classics but hadn't gotten to War and Peace yet and this alone really makes me want to finally get to it. There really are a lot more jokes in them than you'd think! Especially slapstick and dark humor. War and Peace is dope as hell. So many great moments. Bolkonsky after Austerlitz is one of my favorite chapters of anything. Epic fantasy in the vein of ASOIAF and Wheel of Time owe a lot to that book in the sheer scope that they're trying to portray. War and Peace also reminds me of Moby Dick. Both are considered stodgy, longwinded doorstoppers when they're really goddamned exciting. Moby Dick is like tiny babby to War and Peace - the unabridged audiobook of the former is about 20 hours while the latter is 60... and that's including the quarter of Moby Dick taken up by interludes about the technical process of whaling and how he thinks whales are fish even though the natural scientists say they're mammals. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Feb 2, 2023 |
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Feb 2, 2023 03:37
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habeasdorkus posted:Now there is a book filled with enough allegory and symbolism to kill a horse. Great fuckin' book, though. Actually, I think you'll find that whales are books.
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Feb 2, 2023 03:49
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habeasdorkus posted:Now there is a book filled with enough allegory and symbolism to kill a horse. Great fuckin' book, though. Moby Dick is one of my favorite books so this is just sweetening the prospect of reading War and Peace for me even more. John Lee posted:Actually, I think you'll find that whales are books. Yes.
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Feb 2, 2023 03:51
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Kalman posted:Aubrey/Maturin. Good catch! That series really is amazing. You've got a historically accurate period setting, really solid adventures and battles based on real events, and a ton of interesting characters with real arcs. It is overtly technical about sailing ships, but if anything is actually important, someone will explain it to the doctor. And there are twenty books, and to top it off the audio books are extremely highly regarded. If you want historical fiction or just good, solid adventure/military fiction, you'd be hard pressed to find better. I binge read them a few years ago and am about due to go back through them.
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Feb 2, 2023 03:52
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If you want inscrutably scottish historical fiction, though, you should aim at Dunnett's Lymond books. They're excellent, but I wouldn't say anything is explained, you just kind of have to pick up who's who and why people are fighting over what little hill in Scotland as you go along.
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Feb 2, 2023 04:00
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habeasdorkus posted:Moby Dick is like tiny babby to War and Peace - the unabridged audiobook of the former is about 20 hours while the latter is 60... and that's including the quarter of Moby Dick taken up by interludes about the technical process of whaling and how he thinks whales are fish even though the natural scientists say they're mammals. On that note, is there any especially good audiobook Moby Dick? I've always wanted to read it, but ideally I'd have it growled directly into my ears by some kind of grizzled old seaman, a la Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse.
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Feb 2, 2023 04:01
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I was looking back at what I finished in 2022 and I read some good books. Thanks, thread! I read Murderbot 1, 3, and 4. Somehow I never bought 2? I can't justify the price, so I'll wait until the rest go on sale but I like the stories so far. Blacktongue Thief was really good fantasy. I don't usually go for hard fantasy. I read this based on how much I like Between Two Fires and it paid off. The first Fifteen Lives of Harry August was interesting and fun. The City and the City hit me like Piranessi did the prior year. It felt like a basic story with something heavier layered just below the surface. I can still visualize certain things and scenes clearly. Consider Phlebas and Pushing Ice were ok. Good sci-fi, both different, but I don't know if I'll go back for more of either. The Girl with All the Gifts was good. I should really watch the movie to compare. The Last Astronaut felt uneven to me. I liked the general story but it felt forced getting the specific characters into the story. I finished Origin Complex right at the end of the year. Absolutely loved it. Steel Frame is a favorite of mine. This felt original enough to stand on it's own in the world of the first book without rehashing the story. Definitely looking forward to more. I read some non-sci-fi/fantasy too. Notably the first two Aubrey & Maturin books on the thread's rec. Just wonderful. I have a few more queued up to mix in.
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Feb 2, 2023 04:06
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cptn_dr posted:On that note, is there any especially good audiobook Moby Dick? I've always wanted to read it, but ideally I'd have it growled directly into my ears by some kind of grizzled old seaman, a la Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse. The Frank Muller read is a genuine work of art. People also praise the Anthony Heald read, but I can't comment. Find samples of both and pick your favorite (or whatever one is available at your library) There's also a gimmicky version where each chapter is read by a different person. Some are famous actors, most are writers and musicians. I got a few chapters in and it was actually pretty compelling and not as distracting as I thought it'd be. It's free https://www.mobydickbigread.com/
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Feb 2, 2023 04:45
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David Cameron? Surely not the PM?
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Feb 2, 2023 05:08
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FPyat posted:David Cameron? Surely not the PM? Yeah, the PM. It's a wild list of people, hard to imagine many other projects tying together the likes of Tilda Swinton, David Cameron, China Mieville, John Waters, David Attenborough, and Mary Oliver lol
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Feb 2, 2023 06:28
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Doobie Keebler posted:Consider Phlebas and Pushing Ice were ok. Good sci-fi, both different, but I don't know if I'll go back for more of either. If Consider Phlebas is the only Culture book you've read, I will say it's totally different from the rest of them. I read it first and really didn't jive with it, but then a friend suggested I try out Surface Detail (it's about a war over whether digital hells for dead people's digitized conciousnesses should exist or not) and I really enjoyed it. Now I'm on Player of Games and enjoying it a lot, too. I am glad I didn't just give up after Phlebas, basically, because I almost did. It could be worth trying a different one.
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Feb 2, 2023 13:25
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As we get off the classic lit segue, the last thing I'll say about Moby Dick is that the description of chowder in Chapter 15 always makes me hungry whenever I think about it. I DNF Consider Phlebas because I lost my copy of the book and bounced off of Player of Games a few years ago. I should give it another try, Banks should be right up my alley.but he just hasn't clicked for me yet.
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Feb 2, 2023 14:02
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General Battuta posted:I can't believe I'm saying this but aside from 'phonies' the one part I remember is the explanation of the title. There's a guy who catches people, in the rye. the only part I've ever remembered is the part that gets quoted in the laughing man arc of Stand Alone Complex lol
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Feb 2, 2023 14:10
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Yeah, The Culture series is definitely one of the series' that gets better with the later books; Excession is probably what I'd consider the peak, but it's only by a hair's breadth.
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Feb 2, 2023 14:12
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Recently read Dawnhounds and really enjoyed it. Grizzled cop / veteran was a standout character for me. Finally read Piranesi and didn't like it. Probably a victim of its own hype to me. I believe I can see why people enjoy it.
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Feb 2, 2023 16:16
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StrixNebulosa posted:What’s the best historical fantasy that isn’t by GGK? It's not actually fantasy, but Michael Chabon's The Gentlemen of the Road is an incredible and beautifully written historical swords and sandals adventure.
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Feb 2, 2023 16:20
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Copernic posted:This treats reading like a search-and-find for various literary devices and is tedious. My 4th grader has to circle the nouns and verbs on his worksheets, and it is still that, except you are now supposed to find metaphors and allusions. The educational intent seems to be to reveal the inner workings of great literature, like opening the back of a clock, so you can marvel at the complexity. But whatever this is, it is alien to why the author wrote the book and why the reader reads it. Certainly it is not entertaining. It also devalues the plot, the characters, the setting, and the overall intended effect. Like reading Steinbeck for his use of color metaphors, and failing entirely to mention the labor history of the United States. It tends to treat literature as practically gnostic. Books turn into puzzles that must be thoroughly examined to reveal their many secrets. The lesson learned is that books are hard and unrewarding absent unstinting effort and multiple close reads. It isn't even accurate to college-level literary criticism, which correctly treats this kind of analytics as mere technical analysis. I like this, it's hitting the marks for the way literature was taught in my grade schools and it has been a long road to get toward being able to read and enjoy more literary works. It may be the reason why some of my friends don't read at all, and when they do it must be something "productive", never for enjoyment (that's for videogames and tv). I've remarked to one before "the school system failed us" and I still cant get them to try some easy fun fantasy novel that they would enjoy if they gave it a chance.
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Feb 2, 2023 17:12
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silvergoose posted:If you want inscrutably scottish historical fiction, though, you should aim at Dunnett's Lymond books. They're excellent, but I wouldn't say anything is explained, you just kind of have to pick up who's who and why people are fighting over what little hill in Scotland as you go along. For a different and kind of hosed up historical series there's also The Flashman Papers
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Feb 2, 2023 17:25
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Everyone posted:For a different and kind of hosed up historical series there's also The Flashman Papers There's an on-again/off-again Let's Read going. The protagonist is an absolute piece of poo poo even by the standards of his time, but the books look great. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3894423
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Feb 2, 2023 17:33
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mllaneza posted:There's an on-again/off-again Let's Read going. The protagonist is an absolute piece of poo poo even by the standards of his time, but the books look great. I listened to the bad books for bad people episode on one of those. Interesting but doesn't make me want to read it. https://badbooksbadpeople.com/episode-57-flash-for-freedom-a-lovable-rogue
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Feb 2, 2023 17:58
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DurianGray posted:If Consider Phlebas is the only Culture book you've read, I will say it's totally different from the rest of them. I read it first and really didn't jive with it, but then a friend suggested I try out Surface Detail (it's about a war over whether digital hells for dead people's digitized conciousnesses should exist or not) and I really enjoyed it. Now I'm on Player of Games and enjoying it a lot, too. I think you’ve swayed me to try another Culture book. A lot of people like them so it deserves another chance.
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Feb 2, 2023 19:29
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Doobie Keebler posted:I think you’ve swayed me to try another Culture book. A lot of people like them so it deserves another chance.
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Feb 2, 2023 19:37
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mllaneza posted:There's an on-again/off-again Let's Read going. The protagonist is an absolute piece of poo poo even by the standards of his time, but the books look great. The protagonist is a piece of poo poo but he's an honest-to-the-reader piece of poo poo and his take on British colonialism, especially in the early books has a beautifully vicious clarity to it.
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Feb 2, 2023 20:15
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BlankSystemDaemon posted:If the Minds aspect of Surface Detail interest you, Excession should be your next stop. I finished but didn’t really enjoy Excession when I read it, but after a friend saying it was their favourite I tried again (after finishing the rest of the series) and really enjoyed it the second time. I think I struggled to keep all the names and groups of the ships straight the first time.
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Feb 2, 2023 20:17
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Destroyenator posted:I finished but didn’t really enjoy Excession when I read it, but after a friend saying it was their favourite I tried again (after finishing the rest of the series) and really enjoyed it the second time. I think I struggled to keep all the names and groups of the ships straight the first time.
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Feb 2, 2023 20:36
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Everyone posted:The protagonist is a piece of poo poo but he's an honest-to-the-reader piece of poo poo and his take on British colonialism, especially in the early books has a beautifully vicious clarity to it. the landscape and environment writing is incredibly good, too. Fraser can paint a picture so goddam well.
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Feb 2, 2023 21:07
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Everyone posted:The protagonist is a piece of poo poo but he's an honest-to-the-reader piece of poo poo and his take on British colonialism, especially in the early books has a beautifully vicious clarity to it.
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Feb 2, 2023 21:28
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Red Knight Falling (Harmony Black #2) by Craig Schaefer - $2.49 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017RBIZJ2/ edit: The Ruin of Angels (Craft Sequence #6) by Max Gladstone - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUSGCUG/ pradmer fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Feb 3, 2023 |
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Feb 2, 2023 23:57
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Finishing up the audio version of Blindspot by Peter Watts. For anybody else who got lost during the thick "nature of consciousness" monologues in the paperback, the audio format is a whole lot easier to keep pace with.
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Feb 3, 2023 00:10
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Destroyenator posted:I finished but didn’t really enjoy Excession when I read it, but after a friend saying it was their favourite I tried again (after finishing the rest of the series) and really enjoyed it the second time. I think I struggled to keep all the names and groups of the ships straight the first time. Yeah, I enjoyed it as well. but was very much lost with names/who's who. Didn't help I read it in bursts. Look to Windward also had a neat Mind in it with an interesting backstory that's tied in with Consider Phlebas. Matter was a fun romp but not as much involvement in places actually ran by the Culture; just now starting The Hydrogen Sonata.
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Feb 3, 2023 03:02
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