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Post by berkley on Sept 17, 2024 21:32:53 GMT -5
Like I said, I can accept that having a western protagonist is a natural thing to do when writing books directed towards a western audience. What I don't like to see is when they make that western protagonist a hero at the expense of the people who live in the part of the world he's visiting. I don't know if Clavell does that or not since I haven't yet tried any books, but something on the back cover of King Rat made me fear he might go a little too far in that direction for my taste. However, from codystarbuck's description, I now see that I was misinterpreting that back cover blurb, so I think I will give King Rat a try once of these days.
Given King Rat is about Westerners in a Japanese POW camp, I can see building up the hero at the expense of the Japanese. As for Shogun, I don't know if you'd say that or not. The main character is certainly the hero and saves some of the Japanese on a few occasions. But they also teach him a thing or two about Japanese culture. Personally, if you take it for fiction rather than history, I found it fairly balanced and definitely enjoyable. Yes, the POW camp setting would be a mitigating factor for sure. It's likely I'll give the book a try sometime so I'll find out for myself one of these days how I like it. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 17, 2024 23:50:01 GMT -5
King Rat is about a POW camp, in Singapore, with a mixture of European prisoners. The POV is a British RAF officer, but "The King" is an American corporal, who is a scrounger and black market dealer and pretty much controls the camp. I haven't read it, but saw the film, with George Segal as King. King's fortunes change, after the camp is liberated, upon the Japanese surrender. The "rat" part refers to King selling rat meat to prisoners, as "mouse-deer." I was tempted to read Shogun, but the page count and the parts of the mini-series that lagged kind of dissuaded me. Are you talking about the recent mini-series or the original with Richard Chamberlin? I thought the original was much better and was much truer to the novel. The book is incredibly long and has some slow parts, particularly at the beginning. But if you enjoy samurai-related stories, particularly a slightly romanticized version of the samurai, I'd say it's definitely worth a read. The original. It was good; but, it sagged a bit, in the middle, and some of the romantic elements were a bit too "soap opera," for my tastes. |
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Post by Yasotay on Sept 18, 2024 7:03:56 GMT -5
Given King Rat is about Westerners in a Japanese POW camp, I can see building up the hero at the expense of the Japanese. As for Shogun, I don't know if you'd say that or not. The main character is certainly the hero and saves some of the Japanese on a few occasions. But they also teach him a thing or two about Japanese culture. Personally, if you take it for fiction rather than history, I found it fairly balanced and definitely enjoyable. Yes, the POW camp setting would be a mitigating factor for sure. It's likely I'll give the book a try sometime so I'll find out for myself one of these days how I like it. Are you sure you never read Shogun? "Mitigating factor" is actually my favorite line from the novel and the original mini-series. |
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Post by Yasotay on Sept 18, 2024 7:05:17 GMT -5
Are you talking about the recent mini-series or the original with Richard Chamberlin? I thought the original was much better and was much truer to the novel. The book is incredibly long and has some slow parts, particularly at the beginning. But if you enjoy samurai-related stories, particularly a slightly romanticized version of the samurai, I'd say it's definitely worth a read. The original. It was good; but, it sagged a bit, in the middle, and some of the romantic elements were a bit too "soap opera," for my tastes. Agreed but it was still better than the new version. Book is somewhat similar. Hard to write over 1000 pages and not have some parts drag a bit. |
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Sept 18, 2024 7:12:24 GMT -5
Continued my Cimmerian September journey, finishing Conan and the Emerald Lotus, the first novel in the recent City of the Dead book release by John Hocking. It was originally one of the later Tor pastiche releases. The sequel is the second novel in the release, and I will get to it soon, but I am going to pick up where I left off with the original Howard stories first, which means The People of the Black Circle is on deck.
The serialized short story that appeared in the back matter of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian relaunch is also by Hocking and takes place just after the events of Emerald Lotus, and is a bridge between the two novels in City of the Dead. It was also one of the first releases in Titans e-book program through Amazon featuring new pastiches of Howard characters.
Emerald Lotus was an entertaining Conan pastiche, featuring a Conan that acts like Conan (always a plus ant not always a guarantee in some of the pastiches), with an interesting plot and a likable supporting cast. If I had any critique, it's that it sort of feels like Conan is part of an adventuring party through the latter half of the story (where he is hired as a guide/sword for a noblewoman who has two other retainers on her journey. But as I said, those supporting characters are likable and Conan still gets to be Conan, so it's a minor quibble at most.
-M
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Sept 20, 2024 1:51:11 GMT -5
Cimmerian September continues, I have now read 14 of the original 21 Howard stories, having read The People of the Black Circle, the first story in the second Del Rey volume, The Bloody Crown of Conan. Next up, the only Howard novel, Hour of the Dragon. This one may take a couple of sittings to finish.  -M |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 22, 2024 13:24:12 GMT -5
Galactic Sibyl Sue BlueRosel George Brown, 1966  Sgt. Sibyl Sue Blue, a petite, 40-ish, deceptively tough and resourceful police detective and single mom in the swinging, far-flung future of 1990, is working undercover to track potential illegal activities by the scaly, yet humanoid aliens from the planet Centaurus, when several unusual deaths by apparent suicide occur among young people who smoke the odd cigarettes preferred by the Centuarians. Sibyl suspects that the deaths may in fact be murders, and when she accidentally smokes a tainted cigarette, she has vivid hallucination dream that indicates the problem may in fact be tied to the planet Radix, where her scientist husband disappeared a decade ago. As she investigates further, she also finds that the super-wealthy and exceptionally handsome Stuart Grant, owner of the main interstellar transport company, is involved, possibly for some nefarious purpose, so she finds a way to get onto the next (only third ever) voyage to Radix. Sibyl is a fascinating character, with a definite Modesty Blaise or Emma Peel vibe to her, and the story here is incredibly fast-paced, starting out in medias res and pretty much never letting up. Even so, it’s not some kind of campy adventure, as Brown weaves in a few interesting high SF concepts.
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Post by berkley on Sept 22, 2024 21:35:26 GMT -5
Galactic Sibyl Sue BlueRosel George Brown, 1966 Sgt. Sibyl Sue Blue, a petite, 40-ish, deceptively tough and resourceful police detective and single mom in the swinging, far-flung future of 1990, is working undercover to track potential illegal activities by the scaly, yet humanoid aliens from the planet Centaurus, when several unusual deaths by apparent suicide occur among young people who smoke the odd cigarettes preferred by the Centuarians. Sibyl suspects that the deaths may in fact be murders, and when she accidentally smokes a tainted cigarette, she has vivid hallucination dream that indicates the problem may in fact be tied to the planet Radix, where her scientist husband disappeared a decade ago. As she investigates further, she also finds that the super-wealthy and exceptionally handsome Stuart Grant, owner of the main interstellar transport company, is involved, possibly for some nefarious purpose, so she finds a way to get onto the next (only third ever) voyage to Radix. Sibyl is a fascinating character, with a definite Modesty Blaise or Emma Peel vibe to her, and the story here is incredibly fast-paced, starting out in medias res and pretty much never letting up. Even so, it’s not some kind of campy adventure, as Brown weaves in a few interesting high SF concepts. Wow, I can't believe I've never heard of this until now. I'm a huge Modesty Blaise fan and a life-long (well, mostly) SF-reader, so this is going straight on to my want-list. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 24, 2024 20:47:46 GMT -5
1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York
Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg
In a switch from my usual methods, I got this book AFTER I decided to get the 1921 season to play (Strat-o-matic this time instead of APBA for variety), rather than read a book then decide I MUST play that season (which often doesn't last long).
The book was a pretty good recap of the season, but , as the title promised, it focuses totally on the Giants and Yankees.. swapping back and forth in alternate chapters covering about a month at a time.
While the title promised that to be the case, I still was hoping for a bit more about the rest of the league, and especially the after effects of the Black Sox scandal.
The story of Ruth Vs. McGraw is still a really good one though, and is a perfectly valid and interesting topic for a book. I would have liked a bit more about the 'news' and stories of the season, and less play by play, but overall the book is worth reading. Man, there were alot of last second heroics! Reading it, it felt like the dawn of the Slugger was just as much about pitchers no longer being able to take is easy through parts of the line up, and thus getting tired before 9 innings as it was about emulating Ruth.
Oh, and I STILL think McGraw had something to do with the 1919 World Series.. maybe some day if I'm independently wealthy or after I retire I'll join SABR and try to prove it.
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Sept 25, 2024 0:15:38 GMT -5
Took me a couple days because it was a novel not a short story, but I finished mt reread of The Hour of the Dragon this evening for my Cimmerian September journey. I just have A Witch Shall be Born to finish the second Del Rey volume.
-M
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Sept 26, 2024 1:53:03 GMT -5
Finished off the second Del Rey volume, the Bloody Crown of Conan, with a reread of A Witch Shall be Born and Patrice Louinet's excellent essay Hyborian Genesis II. I'm now through 16 of the 21 original Howard Conan stories, plus the poem Cimmeria, the Hyborian Age essay, The Emerald Lotus pastiche novel, Louinet's two essays, and a couple of recent Conan comic releases in my Cimmerian September journey. It's going to be tight, not sure I will finish all 21 in September, but I will finish all 21 to complete the journey, even if it runs into October by a day or two. -M |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 26, 2024 15:01:29 GMT -5
The Waters of CentaurusRosel George Brown, 1970  A sequel to Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue (reviewed above, just scroll up a bit); in a story set up in the last chapter of that book, Sibyl is on the planet Centaurus with her 16 year-old daughter, Missy, on an assignment that’s disguised as a vacation. She is there at the behest of the UN State Department to sort of chaperone the 12 ‘twin’ children of Stuart Grant, the (*spoiler alert!*) now deceased owner of an interstellar transport company who was the richest guy in the known galaxy. Said children were the product of a tryst he had as a late teen-age boy with a Centaurian girl of a unique sub-species that lives on a remote island and is apparently genetically compatible with humans. However, things take a strange turn when a devastatingly handsome Centaurian from a northern continent shows up on the island with the nefarious intent to take it over, and then eventually the whole planet. And then Missy one of the twins go missing, so that she is tested to her limits as she attempts to rescue her daughter and also save Centaurus from destruction.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 26, 2024 17:20:10 GMT -5
I re-read George Orwell's Animal Farm yesterday. Still enjoyed it tremendously.
That's one book everyone should read in school.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 27, 2024 11:53:46 GMT -5
 Essex Dogs by Dan Jones
Historian Dan Jones' first historical novel follows the adventures of a mercenary company, The Essex Dogs, from Edward III's landing in Normandy through the Battle of Crecy. The focus here is on this small band and their attempts to survive and to attain their personal goals for the fight, getting paid when their time is up and looting the French cities and people to supplement that expected payment. As you could expect from Jones, who has written extensively about the Middle Ages, the history is spot on. And he forgoes the glamorization of war to show a truer picture of what warfare was like at the time, particularly for those who were not of a privileged class. Overall a very solid historical novel. If there are any problems, it does drag a bit in places and the characters aren't as fully developed as one might like. But it's still well worth a read. |
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Sept 27, 2024 12:32:17 GMT -5
Essex Dogs by Dan Jones
Historian Dan Jones' first historical novel follows the adventures of a mercenary company, The Essex Dogs, from Edward III's landing in Normandy through the Battle of Crecy. The focus here is on this small band and their attempts to survive and to attain their personal goals for the fight, getting paid when their time is up and looting the French cities and people to supplement that expected payment. As you could expect from Jones, who has written extensively about the Middle Ages, the history is spot on. And he forgoes the glamorization of war to show a truer picture of what warfare was like at the time, particularly for those who were not of a privileged class. Overall a very solid historical novel. If there are any problems, it does drag a bit in places and the characters aren't as fully developed as one might like. But it's still well worth a read. I just checked and our local library has a copy of this, so I put in a request. Wasn't aware of this book or author before you posted. Thanks. -M |
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