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Post by berkley on Jul 22, 2015 16:53:53 GMT -5
I think I've mentioned before that I knew Silverberg more as an editor than as a writer. With most of the other big names from his era I have a general idea of which titles are supposed to be that writer's defining classics, even if I haven't read them, but I can't say the same for him. What are the essential Silverberg books for a newcomer?
Actually, looking at the list of "books of interest" I keep adding to every time I hear about something new, I see I have Nightwings, Planet of Death, and Across a Billion Years entered under Silverberg's name. Something tells me I got those titles from here on this board or maybe the old Classics at CBR, so maybe I've asked this question before.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 22, 2015 19:05:05 GMT -5
I think I've mentioned before that I knew Silverberg more as an editor than as a writer. With most of the other big names from his era I have a general idea of which titles are supposed to be that writer's defining classics, even if I haven't read them, but I can't say the same for him. What are the essential Silverberg books for a newcomer? Actually, looking at the list of "books of interest" I keep adding to every time I hear about something new, I see I have Nightwings, Planet of Death, and Across a Billion Years entered under Silverberg's name. Something tells me I got those titles from here on this board or maybe the old Classics at CBR, so maybe I've asked this question before. As mentioned, I've been reading his short fiction. The only novel if his I have read recently was Man In The Maze, a pretty decent read. He's won Hugos and Nebulas for his novels. Here's his website
link
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 29, 2015 14:25:13 GMT -5
Toad Words And Other Stories by T. Kingfisher I found this one via recommendations on Amazon and Goodreads. The author is apparently a children's book author and this is a pseudonym. I was looking for a quick light read (as I've a bit of reader's block) and this totally fit the bill. It's a few short stories and one novella retelling fairy tales from another perspective...and with things a tad skewed. Obviously this is something that has been done a lot, but the stories were fun and interesting, light and easy to read. Worth a look if you like that sort of thing.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 29, 2015 14:36:05 GMT -5
The Cocktail Waitress by James M. Cain This lost manuscript was pieced together from many drafts by Charles Ardai, the founder of Hard Case Crime. I dunno...maybe there's a reason Cain never finished it. It's okay. But it's not a patch on the three books that put Cain in the pantheon of literary noir greats. On the other hand, those three books (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce) really are Cain's legacy and most of the rest of his work is pretty lightweight. There's nothing inherently wrong with the book. It treads a far bit of the same ground as Postman and Mildred, just with a different focus. And it's interesting to speculate, since it's written in the first person, what, if anything, the narrator is leaving out of her story. But overall it's a bit frustrating and I can't help but wonder if it's really necessary that this was put together as it adds little to Cain's legacy.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jul 29, 2015 14:42:00 GMT -5
I'm currently reading Bulfinch's Mythology: The Complete Text. I read Age of Fables years back, but I've never read his Age of Chivalry and Legends of Charlemagne. These are books that were written in the 1850's and 1860's, so it was amusing to see him make a point of the ancient Greek's not having access to scripture and proceeding to call the Greek account of the origin of man "absurd." Because, as we all know, the story of The Garden of Eden is the height of rationality! That said, I think the writing style of the period fits well with the subject matter and I like how he gives ample examples of mythological allusions in famous bits of prose and poetry.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 29, 2015 17:35:08 GMT -5
Bullfinch was my gateway to mythology... great stuff.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 29, 2015 21:09:43 GMT -5
The Devil You Know by Mike Carey
I think it was MRP that suggested this to me... thanks.
He described it as similar to the Dresden Files, but, in fact, it's almost the opposite. Yeah, they are both 'Supernatural Noir', I guess you would call it. But Felix Castor is NOT a willing hero, as Dresden is, but rather dragged reluctantly out of retirement. Fix's world is one where everyone knows about Ghosts and the undead... they're just a part of life, as opposed to the secret magic of Harry Dresden. The dichotomy was really interesting.
As is typical of Mike Carey's work, there's lots of ideas to chew on here, with the main character being at the crux of moral dilemmas that the reader can share. As such, things did start off a bit slow, but once the plot got moving, there was no stopping it, and it quickly turned into a action packed, rollicking detective thriller that ends on an upbeat note and promises many interesting stories to come.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2015 9:10:29 GMT -5
A library copy of Carey's (as "M.R. Carey") The Girl with All the Gifts is sitting on my couch waiting for me to delve into it as soon as I'm through with a couple of other novels I'm reading (Craig Johnson's Dry Bones & Stephen King's Finders Keepers).
Otherwise, I'm also reading Bryan Burrough's (author of the very good Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34) new one, Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence. Had no idea it even existed till I came across it on the shelves. Glad to see it, of course, given my undying interest in the subject (dating back even before grad school, where it was my main focus as a U.S. history fellow) ... but damn if his central thesis isn't one I was playing around with way back when.
Of course, I'd be astonished if the idea -- that the white left's increasing commitment to violence (& for that matter its previous orientations, if not indeed its very existence) could be attributed to its desire to prove itself worthy of respect by the increasingly radical black liberation movement -- were at all original with me ... but still. *sigh*
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 2, 2015 22:41:36 GMT -5
I finished up Bully Pulpit over the weekend.. Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about Teddy Roosevelt, Howard Taft, and the turn of the century Mudrakers. I was in the mood for some history, and after reading the Mike Resnick Doc Holliday books, this was just what the doctor ordered. It's a bit relentlessly positive (especially about Taft), and focuses on some strange things (like where Roosevelt vacationed, and Taft's weight), but overall it was both informative and easy to read.
Today was Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. I hadn't read anything my teenager read for a while, and this one seemed like it could be decent, though I don't love Sanderson's fantasy. The basic premise is superheroes appear (called Epics here), but they're all bad. They basically destroy civilization, other than small pocket where the more powerful ones rule with iron fists. Steelheart is the strongest, and rules 'Newcago'. he's basically a combination of Superman and Thor, with transmutation thrown in. The humans resistance is meager, but there's a group called the Reckoners that are killing Epics, who all have a weakness.
David, the main character (basically Phil Coulson in a teenager), spends 10 years studying the Epics, and guesses the next Reckoners target, so he can hook up with them. He convinces them to stop hitting fringe targets, and go after Steelheart. There's two big twists along the way, one predictible, and one not, though in retrospect it was pretty clear. Unfortunately, they kinda completely kill the theme, which really knocked down a fun book a few notches. I did find it interesting that, rather then the usual world building that characterized Sanderson's fantasy, this book was all about the characters, with actually really just random tidbits of background tossed out. The comic book nods were fun (every place is named after a classic comic creator, and there's a Superman cult), but they didn't save the ending. I'll probably read the next one if my daughter does, but I'm not going to run out and buy it or anything.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 7, 2015 22:02:17 GMT -5
The Universe Makerby AE Van Vogt c. 1953 I've had good luck with time travel stories lately... but with this one my luck ran out. It totally made my head hurt. Morton Cargill, a Captain fighting in Korea, gets a little too drunk and seemingly kills a girl he met that night trying to drive home. He later wakes up in the 24th century, ready to have the girls ancestor watch him be killed to fix her historical psychology. He escapes, and finds what is a pretty interesting world... sadly, even though most of the book and all the action take place there, it's irrelevant to the main plot, which involves having someone from the 73rd Century try to tell him how to fix the world. If they dropped the time travel nonsense, the middle could be a pretty decent novel. As is, it's got alot of repetitive faux science and time travel-driven silliness.
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Post by gothos on Aug 10, 2015 16:41:28 GMT -5
I finished GO SET A WATCHMAN today. I can't say that it says anything stunningly original about American's racial problems-- and given that it was written in the 1950s, I wouldn't have expected it-- but in contrast to some reports I heard, it doesn't "make Atticus Finch into a racist," either.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 12, 2015 7:43:56 GMT -5
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
My wife recommended this one... she came across it somewhere... it's Stephen King written a book his Daughter can read (according to the liner notes) It's a pretty straight fairy tale... taking just about every trope you can think of and blending them together... reminded me quite a bit of the Princess Bride, only less satirical. There's nothing innovative, and the plot was extremely predictable, but it was very well written and well constructed. It seeems like a great book to read with your 8-12 year old (which is it's stated purpose).
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 12, 2015 10:13:30 GMT -5
Mafia Fix by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy Remo and Chiun are back for their fourth installment...this time needing to find an enormous heroin shipment, one that will be a game-changer and destroy America. So far all of the early Destroyer novels are intimately tied to the 70s and I'm okay with that. But this one seems particularly dated. Throw in that it's a fairly weak story and the "twist" of who is the "Big Boss" is telegraphed early on and this is not a terribly satisfying installment.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 12, 2015 10:15:49 GMT -5
Redshirts by John Scalzi. I'm not sure why it took me so long to read this. Was it great literature...no. Did it deserve its Hugo and Locus awards...I dunno...I haven't read much of the competition. But damn it was a fun quick read and it pushed all the right meta-fictional fanboy buttons. And it was absolutely the perfect antidote to a case of reader's block.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 12, 2015 11:08:53 GMT -5
I loved Redshirts... it's a real love letter to Trek fandom, and well written besides.
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