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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Huntn
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i think you would enjoy American Gods. it is not without flaws, but it is certainly well written and it has a mix of mistery/historical mythology/fantasy that i think you'd find appealing.
as far as Ursula LeGuin, you might be right, and maybe in 1968 it was "better" relative to what was available then. but it certainly is eons removed from Tolkien both in terms of world building, storytelling and writing.
She is very influential and i haven't read anything else by her so i will withdraw any broader judgment, as i imagine her best work is elsewhere. btw, you would NOT like the treatment of women in this book (especially considering a woman wrote it)
re: Neal Stephenson, my fav work of his is Cryptonomicon. really loved that one.
Agree that Cryptonomicon - a terrific book, and a really rollicking read.
From what I can see, in the mid to late 60s, there wasn't an awful lot available in the fantasy field, and so, yes, Ursula Le Guin is viewed as having been very influential. Actually, I have noticed that quite a number of other writers in the field - especially women - have name checked her as an influence.
Well, attitudes to women (even from, and in some cases, especially from, other women) were sometimes fairly retarded and retrograde in the 60s. I think the 60s get a great retrospective press - possibly better than they deserved in some ways. However, while the 60s were a time when attitudes (to women, to war, to blacks) began to be questioned - a great many of the real changes in laws and rights tended to come somewhat later.
Okay: I'll keep an eye out for 'American Gods', then, on your recommendation.
Finished The Martian, thumbs up!
Good read, glad it was not over the top, and hopefully the movie will closely follow the book. Most interesting was how technology was utilized in this survival drama to overcome life threatening obstacles. And I'm glad the author did his technical homework.
Have yet to see the movie, but while reading I had pictured Irrfan Khan in the role of Vincent Kapoor, who played the CEO of Jurrasic World, but no. No biggy.
I plan on watching the movie later tonight.
Yes there doesn't seem to be many of us. But, the best thing about reading a crap book are the reading the bad reviews, which I enjoyed from Amazon and Goodreads.
Just finished reading Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter. Well written and good suspense. I think I'll read more by her. She doesn't over cook the characters and keeps things balanced, similar to Michael Connelly.
I'm currently reading The Devil's Chessboard which is about Allen Dulles, good read. It's been a while but I'm knocking about 100 pages a shot.....when I actually get time to read.
i think you would enjoy American Gods. it is not without flaws, but it is certainly well written and it has a mix of mistery/historical mythology/fantasy that i think you'd find appealing.
as far as Ursula LeGuin, you might be right, and maybe in 1968 it was "better" relative to what was available then. but it certainly is eons removed from Tolkien both in terms of world building, storytelling and writing.
She is very influential and i haven't read anything else by her so i will withdraw any broader judgment, as i imagine her best work is elsewhere. btw, you would NOT like the treatment of women in this book (especially considering a woman wrote it)
re: Neal Stephenson, my fav work of his is Cryptonomicon. really loved that one.
On the topic of women characters in fantasy, this is an area where - until relatively recently - the depiction of women, or female characters was so predictably tediously trite, banal, clichéd and unimaginative that it really used to irk me.
More recent writers tend to do a lot better and write women better - as people who happen to be female rather than their Female Otherness defining their every (limited and clichéd) utterance and action.
Scott Lynch, Brandon Sanderson and Guy Gavriel Kay all write women well, and offer a variety of perspectives and individuals whom you can come to think of as people.
That sounds fascinating - what on earth is it about?
Now, that sounds like my kind of book. Do you recommend it and think it worth reading?
Definitely, I love books that go down to the nitty gritty detail of how power works, this is one of those books.
Ah, and so do I. Very much so, in fact, not least because it can be so dramatically different from anything one studied or taught as an academic.
Thanks a lot for the recommendation. At their best, some of the US histories are very well written and highly readable.
In a gist, it's tells the story of a teenager who is inspired by his grandfather's stories to go visit the remains of a school his grandfather attended during WWII.
If you're into that kind of stuff I can't recommend "Typecasting" and "PR!" by Stewart Ewen enough. He is the definitive historian of propaganda ("PR" it was renamed after WWII). PR! is great to read first (it starts slow, but with Ewens interview of Edward Bernay's (the father of American propaganda), one of the last he gave in his life), then if you move onto Typecasting you'll have a MUCH better understanding of how many of the stereotypes and commonly held myths of society came about.
Fascinating stuff.
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The book is better, not implying the movie should not be watched.
Rarely is the movie better, but I enjoyed it.
Sounds like some investigation is warranted on Amazon this evening.
Thanks a lot for the recommendations. These sound fascinating. And yes, I do love that sort of lateral history - it gives a different perspective on things, and can throw an extraordinarily interesting light - from an unexpected angle - on some of the more formal narrative histories that I more usually read.
Leviaton Wakes (2011)- Reading a sample on iBooks. Of note it appears that Apple, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble have all got their prices coordinated at $9.99. The TV show The Expanse, the SyFy Netwok version, although it has potential, some awesome action, the characters did not agree with me. I blame it on the director as the book follows the TV show closely with minor differences and it feels much warmer than the show. That could be my brain digesting the story vs being force fed by SyFy Network. I predict I will purchase this.
I predict I will purchase this.
Jack Reacher books... I'm into my third one and I can't see me reading a 4th...
You should have done an IQ test before and after a Jack Reacher book to estimate the long term effects of the entire series.
@Scepticalscribe. Thought you'd appreciate the irony in this picture I've just seen!
