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Post by berkley on Jan 13, 2015 16:49:25 GMT -5
The Return of Tarzan - Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is probably my favorite Tarzan novel. There's just a ton happening here. And we get the first appearance of Opar. Here it's still fresh and we haven't seen Tarzan's Africa where there is a hidden city around every third tree. Tough call between this one and the first one, for me. The ending of the first Tarzan novel is so good, I'm almost sorry ERB carried on with the series. OTOH, you can think of them as two parts of a single story, if you want - like the first three John Carter books.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 14, 2015 21:39:43 GMT -5
Back to the Historical Fiction....
Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich
This is the first in the continuing adventures of Ethan Gage, and American who serves under Franklin and is just sort of wandering around Europe in search of his purpose. He finds it when he wins and Egyptian medallion of great antiquity, and ends up accompanying Napoleon to Egypt as one of his savants to figure out the ancient mysteries, and adventures ensue.
I checked this out due to comparsions on Amazon to the Flashman Papers, but it's a pale shadow at best. Mr. Gage is far less defined as a character, and, frankly, is far less interesting. The writers clearly loves history and mathematics, and those parts are very well done, but as an adventure story... meh. The first 1/2 was very slow, and when things picked up, a crazy series of last minute miracles were the main drive of the action.
It's not a terrible story, but I wouldn't exactly recommend it, either.
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Post by berkley on Jan 19, 2015 2:19:32 GMT -5
last couple books I read:
The Fortune of the Rougons - Émile Zola: this is the first of the 20+ novels of Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle. I'm impressed to the point that I now want to track down as many as I can, instead of just the most famous ones, as I had planned to do before. This one's about the effects of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's 1851 coup d'état on a provincial town in southern France, and how the unscrupulous and ambitious Rougons built their fortune on it, while a young, idealistic relative ... well, I won't say any more, in case someone wants to read it.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas - Jules Verne: everyone's heard of this one, of course, and knows the basic idea. I think I read a severely abridged children's edition when I was young, but it was so long ago and probably so inaccurate that reading this new translation from Oxford paperbacks was like reading a brand new book. I recommend looking for this version, unless you can read the French original. Seminal book, obviously - the mysterious, charismatic captain, the marvellous ship exploring the unknown, the adventures they encounter - monsters of the deep, hostile natives, awesome forces of nature ... how many science fiction stories have been inspired by all this. Not that this was the first story to do any of that, of course - you can go back to Sinbad, Odysseus, the Argonauts - but perhaps the first to reformulate it in modern, technological terms.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 20, 2015 14:38:21 GMT -5
Funny you read a Napoleon book, too! I'll have to look into that, sounds pretty good (though perhaps too much of that time period for my interest).
I'll defnitely have to hunt for the new Verne translation at the library, I've only read the classic illustrated version.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jan 20, 2015 15:49:01 GMT -5
After mentioning it a while ago in the Savage Sword of Conan thread, I got my hands on a copy of The Howard Collector, edited by Glenn Lord (sixty-five pence plus shipping!)
It has stories I had read before, but also stuff that is new to me. There's an endearing tale called "spanish gold on devil horse" that stars a barely-disguised version of Howard himself having just the kind of adventure boys tell to themselves. I wouldn't be surprised to learn he had written it while still very young. It's no "Worms of the Earth", but it's a lot of fun!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jan 20, 2015 15:51:46 GMT -5
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas - Jules Verne: everyone's heard of this one, of course, and knows the basic idea. I think I read a severely abridged children's edition when I was young, but it was so long ago and probably so inaccurate that reading this new translation from Oxford paperbacks was like reading a brand new book. I recommend looking for this version, unless you can read the French original. Seminal book, obviously - the mysterious, charismatic captain, the marvellous ship exploring the unknown, the adventures they encounter - monsters of the deep, hostile natives, awesome forces of nature ... how many science fiction stories have been inspired by all this. Not that this was the first story to do any of that, of course - you can go back to Sinbad, Odysseus, the Argonauts - but perhaps the first to reformulate it in modern, technological terms. I'll always remember a student of mine complaining about the book: (Him:) "It's okay, but sometimes Verne goes encyclopedic on us and delivers ten pages of fish names". (Me:) "Well, I suppose it can be fun to learn about fish…" (Him:) "You misunderstand. Not ten pages of fish names and descriptions; ten pages of fish NAMES". I don't know if it's accurate, but I found that comment hilarious!
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Post by berkley on Jan 20, 2015 16:52:44 GMT -5
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas - Jules Verne: everyone's heard of this one, of course, and knows the basic idea. I think I read a severely abridged children's edition when I was young, but it was so long ago and probably so inaccurate that reading this new translation from Oxford paperbacks was like reading a brand new book. I recommend looking for this version, unless you can read the French original. Seminal book, obviously - the mysterious, charismatic captain, the marvellous ship exploring the unknown, the adventures they encounter - monsters of the deep, hostile natives, awesome forces of nature ... how many science fiction stories have been inspired by all this. Not that this was the first story to do any of that, of course - you can go back to Sinbad, Odysseus, the Argonauts - but perhaps the first to reformulate it in modern, technological terms. I'll always remember a student of mine complaining about the book: (Him:) "It's okay, but sometimes Verne goes encyclopedic on us and delivers ten pages of fish names". (Me:) "Well, I suppose it can be fun to learn about fish…" (Him:) "You misunderstand. Not ten pages of fish names and descriptions; ten pages of fish NAMES". I don't know if it's accurate, but I found that comment hilarious! Ha! It's true, Verne does indulge in these long lists sometimes, and often with very few qualifiers, though more often there are some brief descriptions thrown in. These passages can be skimmed, IMO, with losing too much of the overall effect. Skimmed, not skipped altogether, though, because it does help create an atmosphere of the Nautilus exploring ocean depths teeming with life. I wouldn't want to risk reading an abridgement that leaves them out, because who knows what else they'd leave out. BTW, if anyone here does plan to read this or any other Jules Verne book and doesn't mind spending a little ($10) extra, I'd recommend getting the French Livre de Poche edition as well as the English, even if you don't read French: the reason being that the French paperbacks have all the original illustrations - 111 of them in the case of 20,000 Leagues.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2015 4:20:26 GMT -5
last couple books I read: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas - Jules Verne: everyone's heard of this one, of course, and knows the basic idea. I think I read a severely abridged children's edition when I was young, but it was so long ago and probably so inaccurate that reading this new translation from Oxford paperbacks was like reading a brand new book. I recommend looking for this version, unless you can read the French original. Seminal book, obviously - the mysterious, charismatic captain, the marvellous ship exploring the unknown, the adventures they encounter - monsters of the deep, hostile natives, awesome forces of nature ... how many science fiction stories have been inspired by all this. Not that this was the first story to do any of that, of course - you can go back to Sinbad, Odysseus, the Argonauts - but perhaps the first to reformulate it in modern, technological terms. This is one of my sentimental favorites and I wished I had still kept a copy of that book. I need to get myself a new copy one of these days and relive some of the grandest adventures you can possibly have. I read that book for the first time during 6th grade and I had to do a book report on it. Great Book to have on your shelves.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 21, 2015 11:25:28 GMT -5
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett. Pratchett takes a look at cross-dressing during wartime and women's rights as well as folk songs and Joan of Arc. Nice individual story (though Sam Vimes is definitely present).
Warren Ellis: The Captured Ghosts Interviews. Book length interview with Ellis covering his life, his work, his process and his internet personality. Excellent read.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 23, 2015 22:02:42 GMT -5
The Broken Lands Fred Saberhagen c. 1971 Book One of 'Empire of the East' I've read a few other (later) books by Saberhagen, and he's never really been my cup 'o' tea... I'm not sure what it is exactly, but he's always just one the cusp of being entertaining, but then too much exposition turns the story to mush. I think the shorter format of the 'classic' sci fi era works far better for him.. this is a quirky, fun, and fast moving story. There's nothing particularly thought provoking or unique, just your usual 'little guy fighting the big scary dictator' type story, with a post-apocalypse setting. There's a little magic thrown in, too, with talking birds and wizards, but it's never quite clear if that's actual magic, or 'old' technology one particular person has figured out. We see a few things (Binoculars and fire extinguishers) that are clear, others that seem pretty magical, like the 'thunderstone' that creates rain when it passes to a new owner, or a wizard that turns people into toads. The 'Elephant', which is the symbol of freedom, turns out to be a nuclear powered tank. Interesting that in a story where 'the East' is the power and mysticism behind the evil rulers, he uses a very eastern symbol, rather than, say, a Lion or an Eagle. Overall, a good, fast read.. I'll probably check out the rest of the series sometimes soon.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 23, 2015 23:27:59 GMT -5
Redwallby Brian Jacques I'm not generally into fantasy but I really enjoyed this. It has lots of colorful characters, swashbuckling, a mystery steeped in its own mythology and a quest for a legendary sword. The quest is genuinely exciting and the battles are tense. I felt the ending was very touching. Not sure if I should read all the sequels in the series or just cherry pick the better ones. I'm a huge fan of the series but I'd just cherry pick the better ones, like Mattimeo(a direct sequel to Redwall) Salamandastron, Outcast of Redwall, Martin the Warrior, Mossflower and the Legend of Luke. The others aren't bad but they more or less just recycle the plots of the stories I mentioned just with slight character substitutions.
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Post by berkley on Jan 24, 2015 14:26:28 GMT -5
The Broken Lands Fred Saberhagen c. 1971 Book One of 'Empire of the East' I've read a few other (later) books by Saberhagen, and he's never really been my cup 'o' tea... I'm not sure what it is exactly, but he's always just one the cusp of being entertaining, but then too much exposition turns the story to mush. I think the shorter format of the 'classic' sci fi era works far better for him.. this is a quirky, fun, and fast moving story. There's nothing particularly thought provoking or unique, just your usual 'little guy fighting the big scary dictator' type story, with a post-apocalypse setting. There's a little magic thrown in, too, with talking birds and wizards, but it's never quite clear if that's actual magic, or 'old' technology one particular person has figured out. We see a few things (Binoculars and fire extinguishers) that are clear, others that seem pretty magical, like the 'thunderstone' that creates rain when it passes to a new owner, or a wizard that turns people into toads. The 'Elephant', which is the symbol of freedom, turns out to be a nuclear powered tank. Interesting that in a story where 'the East' is the power and mysticism behind the evil rulers, he uses a very eastern symbol, rather than, say, a Lion or an Eagle. Overall, a good, fast read.. I'll probably check out the rest of the series sometimes soon. I've never read any Saberhagen - for some reason none of his books have ever caught my eye, even though a lot of them sound like the kind of thing I would have been into back when they came out, including this one, for example. Maybe I'll give it a shot someday. Anyone read his collaboration with Zelazny, The Black Throne? As a Zelazny fan I've always been curious about that one.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 24, 2015 15:09:30 GMT -5
Ask the Parrot by Richard Stark. The penultimate Parker novel. Not bad, but it was probably time to be done. Stark wasn't breaking out of the formula at all. And the coincidences just kept piling up. Readable...but that's pretty much all.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jan 24, 2015 15:46:59 GMT -5
Ask the Parrot by Richard Stark. The penultimate Parker novel. Not bad, but it was probably time to be done. Stark wasn't breaking out of the formula at all. And the coincidences just kept piling up. Readable...but that's pretty much all. Outside of the first two or so I'd say that was a fair estimation of just about all the Parker books. Still, they tend to be fun.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 24, 2015 16:03:35 GMT -5
Ask the Parrot by Richard Stark. The penultimate Parker novel. Not bad, but it was probably time to be done. Stark wasn't breaking out of the formula at all. And the coincidences just kept piling up. Readable...but that's pretty much all. Outside of the first two or so I'd say that was a fair estimation of just about all the Parker books. Still they tend to be fun. I'd say that's pretty fair. All of the books are very readable. There are a couple of real gems past the first novel. The Score is possibly stronger than The Hunter. Actually Darwin Cooke has done a great job of picking the stronger books to adapt.
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