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Reading any books? (Read 16546 times)
perpetualstudent
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #120 - Jan 18th, 2022 at 12:02pm
 
Working through Moby Dick as my bedtime reading right now. I'm enjoying it. I had no idea that at the time of writing they were still arguing over whether whales were properly considered fish. They knew whales had lungs and were warmblooded but the argument that they should be considered as a "spouting fish" was still existent. Fascinating and amusing.
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"Facts stand wholly outside our gates; they are what they are, and no more;they know nothing about themselves and they pass no judgement upon themselves. What is it, then, that pronounces the judgement? Our own guide and ruler, Reason."
 
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Rat Man
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #121 - Jan 18th, 2022 at 4:12pm
 
perpetualstudent wrote on Jan 17th, 2022 at 7:09pm:
Western sci-fi sadly ain't what it used to be. Fantasy has kind of taken up the mantle of asking questions about who we are in different situations. But Ken Liu did a translation of chinese sci-fi short stories, apparently their sci-fi market is booming. Makes me think that maybe only an ascendant power can write good sci-fi.

"Invisible planets : contemporary Chinese science fiction in translation" was fascinating, felt like a short story collection from the golden sci-fi age. There's a collection of his own short stories (not strictly sci-fi) which is quite good called "the paper menagerie and other stories"

That might scratch your itch.







   Sounds like exactly what I was looking for.  Once I get through Lovecraft I'll check it out.  Thanks.
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Kick
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #122 - Jan 19th, 2022 at 12:57pm
 
For specifically Weird fiction, I recommend The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. It's got loads of writers from all over the world from across a wide range of time and there are some fantastic stories in it. I recommend it for everyone actually.
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You are a great guy Kick but also slightly scary at times. - Morphy
"Nothing matters, but it’s perhaps more comfortable to keep calm and not interfere with other people." - H.P. Lovecraft, in a letter to Frank Belknap Long, 7 October, 1923
 
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Curious Aardvark
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #123 - Feb 6th, 2022 at 1:12pm
 
curently rereading The catechist trilogy by alan dean foster.

read it some years back, long nough to forget the fine details.

Recommended.

One of my all time favourite books is his: Sentenced to prism.
Technically it's set in the humanx universe, but totally stand alone novel.

Sticking with mr dean-foster: The icerigger trilogy is just superb !

I need to track down the 2nd and third as I've currently only got the first of the books on my nook.

Like terry pratchett, many of alan dean fosters books are better the second third or even fourth time round.

I have no clue how many times I've read 'guards guards !'
I figure I'm into double figures by now.

Sometimes if you've read a 'heavy' book or something truly awful - like novelisation of a video game (avoid the assasin novelisations) you just want something guarenteed to be good.
Something you've read before is often the best way to go Smiley
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Curious Aardvark
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #124 - Feb 6th, 2022 at 1:23pm
 
@kick: is there an author index in 'The Weird' ?
Curious if there's anyone in it, I know from the small press scene in the 80s and 90s.

The amazon excerpt just goes straight to the first story. No index Sad
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Rat Man
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #125 - Feb 7th, 2022 at 8:27am
 
Kick wrote on Jan 19th, 2022 at 12:57pm:
For specifically Weird fiction, I recommend The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. It's got loads of writers from all over the world from across a wide range of time and there are some fantastic stories in it. I recommend it for everyone actually.


   I'm pretty sure I read this a long time ago.  I remember very little so I could read it again.  It might even be buried somewhere deep in my library. 


Who are the authors in the weird?
The Weird features 110 stories by an all-star cast, from literary legends to international bestsellers to Booker Prize winners: including William Gibson, George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Franz Kafka, China Miéville, Clive Barker, Haruki Murakami, M. R. James, Neil Gaiman, Mervyn Peake, and Michael Chabon.
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perpetualstudent
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #126 - Feb 8th, 2022 at 3:20pm
 
Just finished the letters of seneca, skimming through the bread ovens of quebec right now. Planning on making an earthen oven this spring to experiment with. I am also thinking about next to it building a firebrick rocket stove so I can bake and cook using the dead wood around me.
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"Facts stand wholly outside our gates; they are what they are, and no more;they know nothing about themselves and they pass no judgement upon themselves. What is it, then, that pronounces the judgement? Our own guide and ruler, Reason."
 
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #127 - Feb 22nd, 2022 at 7:49am
 
I know there are  lot of well known authors in the weird.
But I want an exact list of ALL the authors.

There were a lot of us writing speculative and horror fiction in the 80s and early 90s. Before the internet pretty much killed small press fiction magazines.

I wrote for a few magazines, and knew most of the other publishers and authors.

Just curious if any of them got entries into this anthology.

I wrote a couple of stories with a guy called paul pinn - that made a few anthologies.
There were some of the guys who persisted at it and made names for themselves. 

Just curious if any are in this Smiley
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #128 - Feb 22nd, 2022 at 6:49pm
 
I just got done with: The Bankruptcy of Our Nation by: Jerry Robinson

Its a very interesting book.
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If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle
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Happy Slinging, and God bless my friend.
 
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perpetualstudent
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #129 - Feb 23rd, 2022 at 8:08am
 
just finished "santa claus a Biography" by Gerry Bowler

It was quick, it was fun, it was interesting. He obviously was deeply read across centuries. It was clearly his take rather than a carefully built argument but his knowledge is impressive enough that it didn't bother me.
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"Facts stand wholly outside our gates; they are what they are, and no more;they know nothing about themselves and they pass no judgement upon themselves. What is it, then, that pronounces the judgement? Our own guide and ruler, Reason."
 
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #130 - Feb 25th, 2022 at 12:25pm
 
Reading "Operation Mincemeat", for the sake of my father, before we watch the movie. It describes a really cool intelligence operation during the WW2.
It has that "describe every single personal quality of every single individual involved" writing style, which I love.

Update: saw the movie.
It was ok. Bit too long but enjoyable. Not a need to see though.
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« Last Edit: Jun 24th, 2022 at 3:50pm by Slyngorm »  
 
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Slyngorm
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Re: Reading any books?
Reply #131 - Jun 24th, 2022 at 3:53pm
 
Finished Return of the King recently.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeev am I glad I decided to do Lord of the Rings. Damn good series. Could tell that a lot of effort was put into this series.

I actually read the Hobbit years ago, started the first LOTR book and dropped it because it was too long compared to the movie. Now I can't understand why I ever felt like that. Have heard many people say that but now I consider it a leap of maturity to enjoy the books.
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