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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Huntn
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Wanted to give Harry Bosch a rest, so I just started "Dune" and I am about 140 pages in so far. Not to bad so far!
It's been far too long since I've read Boileau-Narcejac, so my current book is - J'ai été un fantôme. These are always quick fun reads.
Wanted to give Harry Bosch a rest, so I just started "Dune" and I am about 140 pages in so far. Not to bad so far!
Dune, and it's sequels are great reads and a great commentary on power. I liked them all, including the ones written by his son, Brian and Kevin J. Anderson in recent years. It's a wonderful literary universe and story!
Recently, a professional friend and I shared a cup of coffee and conversation in my office. We spoke about all sorts of work-related things, but we spent most of the conversation on the topic of coffee. He's as enthusiastic about coffee as I am and we don't drink the stuff that comes in pods, pre-ground or freeze-dried. I made us a nice cup of fresh coffee and brewed it in a Chemex and we enjoyed the coffee and our conversations.
At one point he started to tell me a little bit about the history of coffee and that he read it in a book and said I should check it out. I told him I would. Then a couple of days ago a package arrived at my office from Amazon that I wasn't expecting. He had taken the liberty to buy the book for me as a gift.
I just finished (last night) the Zen book I started the other day and will begin this new book today.
Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World
At one point he started to tell me a little bit about the history of coffee and that he read it in a book and said I should check it out. I told him I would. Then a couple of days ago a package arrived at my office from Amazon that I wasn't expecting. He had taken the liberty to buy the book for me as a gift.
I just finished (last night) the Zen book I started the other day and will begin this new book today.
Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World
Let me know how you find it and whether you think it is worth reading (or purchasing).
Same here. God-Emperor of Dune is certainly my favorite (after the original Dune, that is).
I have to say that both BH and KJA did a wonderful job in keeping the Duniverse interesting. Their mid-original books sucked (Paul of Dune, Winds of Dune) simply because they tried to enter a territory that wasn't theirs to step upon. However, the Legends of Dune trilogy and the Schools of Dune trilogy (*) are quite great. I truly loved reading about the Butlerian jihad. Their Preulde to Dune trilogy was good enough for me to remain interested, and their conclusion of the saga (Hunters and Sandworm) was quite good too.
I can't wait for the new movie!!
*= I haven't read "Mentats of Dune"... it's the very last one and I am kinda afraid to finish this amazing series quite possibly forever.
"Mentats" was a great read, but there's still "Navigators of Dune" after it. They really did an awesome job with them and they are well worth the read!
If you liked those I cannot recommend highly enough that you read KJA's other books. He is just a fantastic author. "Clockwork Angels", with Neil Peart of Rush was great (and based on the album of the same name). And his Saga of the Seven Suns series is space opera at its best. He has become one of my favourite writers.
I plan to read his Saga of the Seven Sun. He was also kind enough to engage in a short conversation with me on his writing technique (which, as you might know is quite unique). Nothing fancy, I barely remember the exchange, but he was very nice.
Wanted to give Harry Bosch a rest, so I just started "Dune" and I am about 140 pages in so far. Not to bad so far!
This was a series I never really warmed to; I quite liked the first book, but thought that it went sharply downhill after that. After the third book, I realised that this wasn't quite to my taste.
I couldn't get through two chapters...
And the "Begats" business was too much like reading the Bible.
The other thing that was an issue is that I didn't actually like Paul Atreides.
(Didn't like Frodo either).
But, if you do not feel any sort of sympathy for, or engagement with, or liking for, the protagonist, then, the chances of your feeling strongly about the work in a positive way are probably quite limited.
The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff on audiobook. A collection of reports on the happenings back then by a historian. While well written, and surely well researched it is really dull, now that I am one third through it. It is person after persons random observations, happenings, and what-not, without much ado or anything, so it comes of as very incoherent and repetitive.
And in my quest of reading through the stuff I inherited from my late father, I am also reading Our Mysterious Spaceship Moon by Don Wilson on paperback (Published in 1975 mind you). This is about Wilsons research into the moon, and how the moon is likely to be a giant alien spacecraft. Fortunately a relatively short read, because this guy REALLY believes the moon is a spacecraft! Like, REALLY REALLY.
Random accounts by random people with no source checking, and random stories from thousands of years ago that fits the theory? Can't be false, so spacecraft.
Lights in craters? Not ice, but spaceships.
Random objects that could be interpreted as buildings on the moon but never found again because they likely were never there? Not a trick of the eye, so spacecraft.
Movement on the moon? Not a trick of the eye or something moving in front of lenss, but spaceships.
The moon couldn't possibly exist because pseudo-science? Not fake, so spacecraft.
Astronauts see bogeys in space? Not stuff we put up there ourselves or celestial objects viewed from cramped windows while tumbling around at 30.000 km/h, but spaceships.
Life on Earth evolved dependent on the moon? Disregard because it can't be true, because spacecraft!
He goes to hilarious lengths to prove that the moon is in fact, a giant spacecraft, science and facts be damned. Fun read so far, but oh boy...
And in my quest of reading through the stuff I inherited from my late father, I am also reading Our Mysterious Spaceship Moon by Don Wilson on paperback (Published in 1975 mind you). This is about Wilsons research into the moon, and how the moon is likely to be a giant alien spacecraft. Fortunately a relatively short read, because this guy REALLY believes the moon is a spacecraft! Like, REALLY REALLY.
Random accounts by random people with no source checking, and random stories from thousands of years ago that fits the theory? Can't be false, so spacecraft.
Lights in craters? Not ice, but spaceships.
Random objects that could be interpreted as buildings on the moon but never found again because they likely were never there? Not a trick of the eye, so spacecraft.
Movement on the moon? Not a trick of the eye or something moving in front of lenss, but spaceships.
The moon couldn't possibly exist because pseudo-science? Not fake, so spacecraft.
Astronauts see bogeys in space? Not stuff we put up there ourselves or celestial objects viewed from cramped windows while tumbling around at 30.000 km/h, but spaceships.
Life on Earth evolved dependent on the moon? Disregard because it can't be true, because spacecraft!
He goes to hilarious lengths to prove that the moon is in fact, a giant spacecraft, science and facts be damned. Fun read so far, but oh boy...
Would rather have my nails pulled out than endure a read-through of Dune at this point in my life.
Well, while I wouldn't go that far, I didn't like the series, and deeply disliked the protagonist.
It's interesting, a younger me would probably have agreed with you, but I re-read The Hobbit after I had watched the final of Peter Jackson's three films, and one thing that jumped out at me is how much more sympathy I felt for Thorin after how he'd been represented in the film. Of course we never actually see the BOT5A in the book, and I was a little uneasy about it's inclusion in the film, but I feel it helps round off Thorin's character arc more nicely (he gets his redemption and ironically becomes a worthy king despite never being crowned). I don't know whether this was even Tolkien's intention for the character, whether the adaptation drew upon unpublished material or whether it is pure invention, but I have to say I never really liked the character reading it growing up, but this has changed my perspective (which I suppose could be considered a good or bad thing?). I think Balin is a very likeable dwarf either way though!
Last night, reading stuff about gumbo and jambalaya, I ordered a book, Chef Paul Prudhommes Louisiana Kitchen which was recommended as a source for recipes for gumbo and jambalaya (neither of which I have ever had, but long to try).
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Ah, a fascinating perspective.
I haven't seen the movies, but I do love Bilbo, who strikes me as one of the most engaging protagonists I have encountered in fantasy literature.
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Ah, a fascinating perspective.
I haven't seen the movies, but I do love Bilbo, who strikes me as one of the most engaging protagonists I have encountered in fantasy literature.
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Yes I think it certainly is interesting to find how something like watching another person's interpretation of the story can impact your own, even when you are already familiar with the story. I didn't have the same experience for Harry Potter as I didn't read them until after the final film had been released, so the movie franchise was my first exposure to the universe. I think far too many modern protagonists are written to be a heroic character, rather than being someone who steps up to heroic actions despite not being what you may consider to be inherently heroic. This is where Bilbo shines for me!
Agreed.
Actually, I read the Harry Potter books before I saw the movies, and must say that I liked them a lot.
The strength of the later books is how the back story is slowly added, incrementally, layer by careful layer, over the entire series.
While the sixth book gave us Voldemort's back-story, (and the inevitable death of Dumbledore - the Guide - or Mentor - is always killed, or otherwise removed from the plot - as was the case with Gandalf - so that the Hero can grow into his (or her) Destiny), I did wonder what the seventh would - or could - possibly reveal that would have an effect on the overall narrative.
Very often, in fantasy, the final work is among the weakest of a series, and can often be a massive disappointment, as it fails to deliver on character, development, narrative and tension.
However, J K Rowling delivered a stunning tour de force in her final work, and brought it home in style - personally, I think Deathly Hallowes the best of the series, and the double back story that the book told us, the stories of both Dumbledore and Snape, lent it a real narrative heft and power.
I looked back over The Sword of Shannara recently, and found it shallow, whereas I had loved it when reading it as an undergrad - oops - a few decades ago, in the 80s.
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