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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 11, 2020 10:15:32 GMT -5
So, another first book of a fantasy series, and another fantasy book drawing on a different set of cultural folklore... The Trail of Lightning, Book One of the Sixth World by Rebecca Roanhorse This one drawing on the myths, legends and folklore of Native American cultures. This is one that I've been looking at and is on my super long list of books to read. I've kind of slowed down on new SF/Fantasy, but I may get to it some day.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2020 13:25:00 GMT -5
This is one that I've been looking at and is on my super long list of books to read. I've kind of slowed down on new SF/Fantasy, but I may get to it some day. I've actually been picking up more new fantasy (And a little SF) than I have in a long time. I was out of the loop on fantasy for several years and honestly a little burnt out. But after joining Goodreads, and starting to follow a couple of folks on Booktube who focus on fantasy and SF, I've discovered a lot of stuff that has intrigued me, and as long as my local public library has copies, I am willing to give some of them a try. There's a few that the first book has been enough or that I didn't even finish the first book, but I've alos found some stuff that has me moving on through the series. -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 12, 2020 16:31:28 GMT -5
Goodreads is good for making lists of new stuff.... while alot of it seems to be dreck, some is interesting. I do alot of browsing new purchases at my local library as well...I find that even more satisfying, because sometimes Goodreads will point me to an interesting looking book I can't get.
I read Trail of Lighting with my local book club, and one of the other members (who's younger than I and VERY into the current book scene) apparently learned the the mythology is not accurate at all.. it's just generic stuff made for the book, which was disappointing.
It wasn't terrible, but I didn't find it interesting enough to read the next one.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2020 0:01:10 GMT -5
Goodreads is good for making lists of new stuff.... while alot of it seems to be dreck, some is interesting. I do alot of browsing new purchases at my local library as well...I find that even more satisfying, because sometimes Goodreads will point me to an interesting looking book I can't get. I read Trail of Lighting with my local book club, and one of the other members (who's younger than I and VERY into the current book scene) apparently learned the the mythology is not accurate at all.. it's just generic stuff made for the book, which was disappointing. It wasn't terrible, but I didn't find it interesting enough to read the next one. It really felt like a prologue for the series rather than a true first installment, so I want to give it one more to see where it goes, but I am not in a hurry to do so and there's a lot of other stuff I need to clear off my TBR list first. The mythology reminded me a bit of how Native America myths were used as inspiration for modern fantasy in the Vertigo series Ghostdancing that I read a few years back. Not necessarily an accurate translation of the myth into the story, but the myths were used as a jumping off point for the mythos of the story. Both featured Coyote and his spirit kin in prominent roles, but the similarities are more intheir approach to the folklore rather than in the execution of such. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 15, 2020 12:17:37 GMT -5
I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories: The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak, Volume One by Clifford SimakClifford Simak was the first SF writer who was "my discovery." By that I mean I found him on my own with no outside help of any kind. Asimov, Heinlein, Burroughs, Ellison, I found from various sources be they my Uncle, books hanging around the house, friends or comic books. But not so Simak. I discovered him when the cover of All Flesh is Grass screamed out to me in the Bookworm and I bought and devoured that paperback novel. I then discovered that his short story "The Big Front Yard" was in the Asimov edited "The Hugo Winners." Even in the late 70s/early 80s it felt like Grandmaster Simak was largely forgotten by SF fandom. The idea of collecting all of Simak's short fiction (including his western output) into a dozen volumes is a welcome one. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme to which stories are in which volume. They aren't chronological or thematic. Maybe the editor knows. Maybe he doesn't. It's probably fine. Thematic volumes run the risk of the stories seeming same-y. Chronological volumes have the disadvantage of showcasing earlier, usually weaker, work in the initial volumes which can make the wait for the better stuff hard. This first volume is a joy. As with any collection the stories will vary in quality, even with a writer as competent as Simak. The editor gives us some great stuff in this first volume and some that is historically significant. We get the first-ever publication of "I Had No Head and My Eyes Were Floating Way Up in the Air" which was written for Ellison's The Last Dangerous Visions. "Gunsmoke Interlude" is one of Simak's handful of westerns which had never been re-printed in a mass format. "Madness From Mars" published in 1939 was one of Simak's very earliest stories. We get a couple of time-travel stories and a look at Simak's view of robots and of his view of aliens. The title story probably comes closest to evoking the pastoral feel that Simak is probably best known for, the feeling that made him the most "small-town" SF writer, controlling for Bradbury who really didn't write much actual SF. All-in-all a fine collection by one of SF's greats.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 15, 2020 12:40:10 GMT -5
Lost Highway: Journeys and Arrivals of American Musicians by Peter GuralnickThis is essentially a companion or continuation of Guralnick's earlier book Feel Like Going Home. Like the earlier tome it's a collection of articles that had previously been published (predominantly in Rolling Stone). If you've read Feel Like Going Home you know what you're going to get as Guralnick writes about Ernest Tubb, Bobby Blue Bland, Merle Haggard and Howlin' Wolf, among others. They are a snapshot in time and at times that can make them poignant, as the Howlin' Wolf interviews were done very shortly before his death. It's also nice to see a little love given to the likes of Ernest Tubb and Hank Snow, who even forty years ago were "oldies" acts that were no longer producing new music. I think if there's a problem here it's that there's not much to differentiate this from Feel Like Going Home. And that's both good and bad. I enjoyed both books, but there was a feeling of "been there, done that." And it seemed that in Lost Highways Guralnick made some choices that forty years on didn't pan out. While it was marginally interesting to look at the likes of Sleepy LaBeef, James Talley and Stoney Edwards, it's mitigated by the fact that even in an era when music is more available than ever before it's hard to actually find any of their output. For the Roots music lover this is a worthwhile read. But it's just not completely fulfilling.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Sept 16, 2020 9:38:27 GMT -5
The Complete Tutankhamun by Nicholas Reeves. The discovery of the almost intact tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922 by Howard Carter is without doubt the greatest and most famous archaeological find of all time. Unlike a great many of his archaeological contemporaries, Carter was fastidious in meticulously documenting the contents of his finds. As such, he has left us with a painstakingly complete record of the tomb as he found, explored and dismantled it. And one of the things that really comes across in Nicholas Reeves' book is just what an arduous task that exploration was! It took Carter almost 10 years of hardships, frustrations, and back-breaking toil to get the job done. Unfortunately, Carter died before he was able to publish his full account of the tomb's discovery and its contents. The Complete Tutankhamun (originally published in the mid 1990s), aims to provide that full account in a handy single volume, using a mixture of glorious modern colour photographs of the tomb's treasures, along with exquisite on-site black & white pictures taken by the expedition's photographer Harry Burton. Reeves also incorporates extracts from Carter's notes, drawings and diaries into the book – many of which were unpublished at the time, I believe. The book is divided into two distinct halves: the first detailing Carter and Lord Carnarvon's exciting quest for the tomb in the Valley of the Kings (which features a splendid cast of fascinating gentlemen explorers and eccentric academics), and the second detailing the treasures found within it in great detail. As such, the latter half of the book is maybe a little too dry and academic for the casual reader. But, if you are willing to pour over it, there are lots of incredibly interesting details about the Pharoah's life that can be learned from this section of the book. My feelings about The Complete Tutankhamun are much the same today as they were back in the late 90s, when I first read it: it's a fascinating re-telling of Carter's grand archaeological adventure, with "eye-candy" photographs aplenty, in which all of the relevant topics are covered in a methodical and very readable manner. Recent CT scans and DNA research on Tutankhamun's mummy may have added greatly to our knowledge of the boy king in the 25 years since this book first came out, but that additional information hasn't really negated any of what is presented here. As a result, The Complete Tutankhamun remains a highly recommended purchase for anyone interested in Ancient Egypt, the boy Pharaoh, Carter, or the greatest archaeological find of the 20th Century.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 21, 2020 12:29:48 GMT -5
March Violets by Philip KerrSetting a mystery novel in 1936 Berlin is a pretty bold move. There are a lot of stereotypical ways that that setting and genre can go. And Kerr does a decent job of walking that tightrope. Private Investigator Bernie Gunther is a German WWI veteran and a former Berlin police officer. He left the police force when the Nazi government came to power as he was not willing to be a "March violet" (late-comers to the Nazi Party after passage of The Enabling Act). This is where you might expect Gunther to become a shining beacon of freedom in an increasingly repressive society...and to his credit that's not what Kerr gives us. Admittedly a large portion of Gunther's clientele is Jewish, but that's because they are the people who need his help, whether it be searching for family members (who have mostly disappeared by legal government means) or getting them in a position to get out of the country. He won't, however, do anything to jeopardize his life or business. It's not altruism. It's business. The story itself finds Gunther hired by a rich industrialist (think Krupp) to recover a large diamond necklace that was stolen from his daughter in an episode that also resulted in the death of her and her husband. The bodies were found burned after they'd been shot. The mystery leads Gunther through 1936 Berlin, into a secondary case working for Hermann Goering and to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In this regard it's definite meld between hardboiled detective and historical novel. Overall it's a good novel and its strengths overcome its shortcomings. Kerr tries a little too hard to be Chandleresque...and ain't nobody Chandler but Chandler. Gunther is probably a bit too successful with women, giving it something of a Lazlo Woodbine feel on occasion. I largely figured out the mystery surrounding the necklace and the deaths about 1/3 of the way through and well before Gunther did. And the detour of the book toward the end with Gunther "undercover" in Dachau never rang true for me. That may seem like a lot of problems. But the book was compulsively readable and Kerr absolutely used his setting to great effect. The novel largely seemed to suffer from young writer syndrome and my understanding is that Kerr honed his craft as he went along. I'm certainly looking forward to the next case for Herr Gunther.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 22, 2020 8:50:29 GMT -5
Wait... Clifford Simak wrote Westerns??? That sounds like it could be amazing... definitely going to have to check into that (so many things to read, so little time...)
The Phillip Kerr book sounds really good, that's goin' on the list as well.
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
This is quite a book.... the city of New Crobuzon, and the magnitude of the world that is hinted at, is quite staggering. If the author has all the details all worked out, I'd LOVE to see the 'bible' of the world.. it would make one hell of a role playing game.
As for the story, it was definitely far too drawn out in parts (it could have easily been 200 pages shorter without losing anything), and some bits seemed somewhat random. Did we really need newly awakened AI in this stew? Or the Handlingers, which were, bizarre, very cool, but ultimately useless?
There was just SO much in this book, like someone dared the author to throw in x number of elements and make it work. It did (mostly) work, but it was weird, and alot of it seemed unneeded.
The actual plot, when not sidetracked, was decent... the ending had too much coincidence in it, and I didn't think poor Issac needed to be put through QUITE so much, but overall it was pretty good.
I thought the main characters were quite unique and interesting, but the supporting ones were all mere cyphers, filling their role and without any interest or development. That's fine (the book was long enough) but some of the time devoted to, say spreading wire or feeding catepillars probably could have been instead used for some need character development.
I'd really love to see this as a comic, or even better as an anime... with the right artist it would be absolutely amazing.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 22, 2020 9:18:46 GMT -5
Wait... Clifford Simak wrote Westerns??? That sounds like it could be amazing... definitely going to have to check into that (so many things to read, so little time...) The Phillip Kerr book sounds really good, that's goin' on the list as well. Simak wrote somewhat less than a dozen western short stories. So not a lot, but some. I've read two volumes of that collected series and each one had a single western story. So they're kind of nice palate cleansers.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 22, 2020 12:51:58 GMT -5
(...) Perdido Street Station by China Mieville I read this one a few years after it was published, and to be honest, I really didn't like it. Mieville did some impressive world-building with the city of New Crobuzon, but I thought the actual story was pretty weak overall. Basically, he had this great setting, populated by all kinds of weird, fascinating denizens, but only had a rather middling story to tell - and it didn't help that his two main characters, Isaac and the de-winged eagle man (what his his name? Yagharek?) were pretty unlikable. I lost interest in them about half-way through.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2020 13:12:28 GMT -5
Wait... Clifford Simak wrote Westerns??? That sounds like it could be amazing... definitely going to have to check into that (so many things to read, so little time...) The Phillip Kerr book sounds really good, that's goin' on the list as well. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville This is quite a book.... the city of New Crobuzon, and the magnitude of the world that is hinted at, is quite staggering. If the author has all the details all worked out, I'd LOVE to see the 'bible' of the world.. it would make one hell of a role playing game. As for the story, it was definitely far too drawn out in parts (it could have easily been 200 pages shorter without losing anything), and some bits seemed somewhat random. Did we really need newly awakened AI in this stew? Or the Handlingers, which were, bizarre, very cool, but ultimately useless? There was just SO much in this book, like someone dared the author to throw in x number of elements and make it work. It did (mostly) work, but it was weird, and alot of it seemed unneeded. The actual plot, when not sidetracked, was decent... the ending had too much coincidence in it, and I didn't think poor Issac needed to be put through QUITE so much, but overall it was pretty good. I thought the main characters were quite unique and interesting, but the supporting ones were all mere cyphers, filling their role and without any interest or development. That's fine (the book was long enough) but some of the time devoted to, say spreading wire or feeding catepillars probably could have been instead used for some need character development. I'd really love to see this as a comic, or even better as an anime... with the right artist it would be absolutely amazing. I've tried reading this book three times based on everyone's raves, and never finished it. I don't think I got more than 100 pages in at the most any time. Just not my jam I guess. -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 22, 2020 20:07:15 GMT -5
The beginning is painful... it's all description.. I almost put it down to be honest. It takes about 1/2 way in for the plot to start... then it moves pretty well.
I agree Yagharek (the eagle-guy) was thorougly unlikeable, but his story was interesting, and I actually really liked Issac. He was not your typical leading man, which was refreshing.
I'm glad I was motivated to read it by the Goodreads Hugo-award book group, because I probably wouldn't have stuck with it otherwise. Mielville is definitely one of those authors that gets alot of critical praise that not everyone can get into.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 25, 2020 11:05:51 GMT -5
The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. HigginsEddie Coyle is a small-timer and something of a loser. He supplies guns to Jimmy Scalise for bank jobs. And he does jobs for others now and then. It was on one of those jobs that Eddie got popped by the Feds. He was driving a truck of illegal booze in New Hampshire and is now looking at doing Federal time. So while he's still wheeling and dealing, Eddie is trying to deal his friends to a Federal agent in order to get out of the smuggling rap. He's so desperate that he's willing to give up his gun supplier who is getting machine guns for some lefties. And while machine guns may be enticing to the Feds they aren't as enticing as the string of bank jobs that Eddie is tied to. Everybody is in it for themselves and no person and no deal is sacred. This is a great book that was made into a great film starring Robert Mitchum as the titular character. The real star here is Higgins' dialogue, which is as good as anything we've seen since Chandler. And the book is heavy on dialogue so that's a very good thing. It's also an important book in a few ways. It's arguably the start point for "Boston noir" and had a clear effect on the likes of Dennis Lehane. It also stands out as one of the earlier neo-noir novels following the Golden Age of the paperback original. Higgens captures the voice of his subject and gives us a hell of a tale.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 25, 2020 13:26:57 GMT -5
Hard Road by Jack Tunney (Kevin Michaels) The "Fight Card" books are nothing, if not fast, fun reads. And Hard Road is no exception. Roberto Varga is a struggling fighter who just hasn't been able to get that big break. He makes enough to live on but not enough to get married to his girl, who is pushing for him to got to work for her uncle as a butcher. He's well liked in the neighborhood, one he adopted for himself after growing up in an orphanage. But now he has his big chance. A chance to revenge a fight he lost to childhood friend and fellow orphan Michael Boyle. A fight Roberto swears was fixed. This book, like the others I've read in the series, are just the ticket for a bout of reader's block. A punch to the face to get you going.
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