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Ozymandias

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This thread is just a little something I thought I'd put up to share my knowledge of the latest in, well, literary (and some other) news.

 

Anyone is free to contribute if they wish, but please keep it on topic. Any violation post will be relocated or deleted, as apropriate.

 

Danke. :>)

 

 

May 14, 2006

 

Books

 

Eragon and Eldest are the first two books in a trilogy by a young man named Christopher Paolini. I have not had the chance to read them yet, but I have it on good authority from several whose opinions on good books I trust implicitly that they're pretty freakin' neat.

 

Why do I recommend books I haven't even read yet? Well, these are his first two published books, they're both bestsellers, *and* he's finished two out of the soon-to-be three before he turned twenty one.

I'll be proud to support the career of a man like that. Plus, the trilogy's about dragons. How can we go wrong??

 

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The Neverending Story will perhaps be forever the penultimate story about true love of reading. It's by Michael Ende, and is also one of the best fantasy stories ever written. At least in the U.S., this is a title you'll often find in the children's section of bookstores, but don't let that fool you. If either of the aforementioned facets of this book appeal to you, then this is your book, no matter how old you are.

 

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Dean Koontz is most definitely worth mentioning here (thank you, Rune, for reminding me to give him his props!). Sadly, I cannot report on his latest works as I have not read them yet, BUT...

This is the man who brought me to love horror. Consistent wild inventiveness in his heros and villains (read Cold Fire and Watchers for prime examples), as well as engaging, thrilling, and ofttimes chilling plots (the prime example of *that* in his work is one murder mystery that is terrific twice over: one, the true fear the story evokes is not the crimes the killer commits, but the extended look into the minds of the villains of this story, and two, you will *not* expect who the killer is...precisely because of the personality. I just wish I could remember the freakin' title! Even wikipedia isn't helping! GAH!)

 

Lastly, read Oddkins, still one of the best stories/children's books/fairy tales I've ever read. It's an engaging mix of Toy Story, Labyrinth, and perhaps a little bit of Hellraiser. The paintings are quite good as well (even though I can't remember the artist's name). Hard to find, but well worth the search.

 

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One more odd book recommendation in the form of Rainbow Mars, by Larry Niven. For those of you who know Niven, this is a good read *almost* on the strength of the fact alone that this is not hard sci-fi. It's almost fantasy. This is because it was originally a project begun by Niven and Terry Pratchett of all people. Their schedules did not mesh, however, before the years had passed and Niven had had enough ideas to write the whole story himself. Terry gave his blessing, and Niven finished it.

 

Last, and most certainly not least, all of you fantasy/sci-fi geeks out there MUST pick this up, because it remains, to my knowledge, a totally unique take on time travel. ;>)

 

 

Comic Books

 

Bad news first. Marvel Comics has just mortally wounded one of the greatest Fantastic Four stories ever, in J. Michael Strasczynski's two-part lead-in story for "The Road to Civil War" (another current Marvel storyarc). It's not that Strasczynski's tale is poorly written; not at all.

 

It's that it COMPLETELY @#$%&* IGNORES the storyline that Doctor Doom was last seen in, "Authoritative Action", a storyline which was in turn, the second to last stoyarc that spanned an epic that blew me away as a Fantastic Four fan, and as an avid reader. But it's quality is really irrelevant - what so deeply upsets me is that they ignored almost a dozen sequential issues of the comic, but paid heed to the REST of the story, to bring us a good BUT COMPLETELY CONTRADICTORY new wrinkle in this book!!!!!!

That is simply sloppy, irresponsible business.

 

...and I *dearly* hope not sloppy writing, for Joe's skill truly is a gift to all who love to fantasize. He'd better not let it atrophy.

 

----

 

Though a problematic release schedule and lukewarm fan response have sadly thrown the formerly planned monthly title by the same author in to comic book limbo, still, Ultimate Iron Man, by Orson Scott Card (that's right, Orson Scott Card!!!!! You know - Ender's Game? Pastwatch? The Tales of Alvin Maker? Uncle Orson himself!!!)...is still avery, very engaging (and well drawn!) read. Now available in hardcover wherever fine geek print material is sold. W00t.

 

----

 

Finally, I have seen in my local comic book haunt, Twilite Zone Comics's bargain boxes a comic entitled Rex Libris, which is apparently a comic about a Super Librarian.

 

I think the time has come to break down n' buy it. After all, it's only fifty cents, and I'm not THAT cheap.

 

 

Television

 

The Storyteller, Jim Henson's magnum opus, is a beautifully crafted and masterfully told series that took a different fairy tale/folk tale/legend from around the world each episode, and related it to us as only Jim Henson could. The acting, the sets, the music, the special effects, the dialogue, and most of all, the stories, were magic as few other television shows ever have been, or are.

 

That is, until John Hurt, the actor who played the title role went and sullied his own good name, and some of the show's as well by attaching himself to the bitter, shallow, hateful movie called Manderlay - a cinematic vehicle whose plot was about black slavery still existing in the modern United States of America (in the movie, modern was the thirties).

 

It was even directed and written by a man who, even by accounts of fans of the film, wanted to (and did) make a movie about the supposedly unchanged since the close of the Civil War racist attitude toward black people in America.

 

Yay.

 

I am going to watch this film to verify these facts, as soon as I may, not because I particularly like the sound of it, but because the imagination, innocence, and solid values of right and wrong of The Storyteller, and all of Jim Henson's work are that important to me.

 

For now, I am saddened, disgusted, and angry.

 

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On a lighter note, Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre is out on DVD. Six discs, twenty-six fairy tales, which are slightly different than the original (especially the Eric Idle directed "Frog Prince", starring Robin Williams in the title role. Best line from that episode: "You're very pretty - in your own bitchy sort of way."). It's the whole series in one box, and ranks way up there with the best retellings I've ever heard of the marvelous stories that've been retold for hundreds of years.

 

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Japanese animated television has actually given bibliophiles a place to call their own. Though I am unfortunately two or three years behind the curve on this one's debut, I'd still guilt trip myself into mentioning Read or Die later if I didn't do it now, so I'll do it without the guilt, thank you very much.

 

The miniseries is a terrifically drawn, scripted, scored, and voiced fantasy/sci-fi/action/adventure piece, with one of my favorite bibliophile heroines EVER, and the regular TV series only got better. Jsyk, the regular series (which *has* ended now, by the way) does veer even more heavily into the world of books and reading, and very rapidly becomes one of the most fascinating shows I've ever seen, as the story becomes by turns very Highlander, Faherenheit 451, The Matrix, and 1984.

 

Read or die! I mean, watch or die!

 

 

Movies

 

We all know about the Harry Potter movies, so I won't worry about 'em in *my* posts.

 

So...wish...I could get a million dollar handout from J.K. Rowling.

 

 

What? I am, in the legal sense, lower class income, *and* a pretty darn pathetic waif if I do say so myself. How can you say no to this face? Huh?

 

Yow. I'm loopier than I thought today. \:>| *shrug*

 

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The earlier mentioned Christopher Paolini has a movie deal in the works for Eragon. No word yet on Eldest, or if anyone wants to commit to the entire trilogy in one fell swoop. I hope someone does, frankly. The world needs more books made into movies AND more movies about dragons.

 

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Speaking of Dragons, are there any Gordon R. Dickson fans out there? In either the earlier eighties, or late seventies (I have forgotten) his novel The Dragon and The George was made into a damn fine (though more'n a little reinterpreted) animated movie entitled Flight of Dragons. Both book and film are well worth your time. It became the beginning of Dickson's series The Dragon Knight. I've never read any of the others, but The Dragon and the George is quite good. It's got time travel, astral projection, a castle siege, dragons, a damsel in distress, knights, and a wizard with an ulcer.

 

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Further good news on the lit to movie front - Cornelia Funke (whom you may know as the author of The Thief Lord) has a movie coming out based on Inkheart - yet another nifty sounding book that is billed as children's literature (that I also have not read. Sigh.). It's a story about a fantasy novel that literally comes to life. The sequel is Inkspell. If I remember correctly, they too are about dragons.

 

Hmmm. I'm sensing a pattern, but I'm not quite sure what it is....

 

'til next entry!

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The latest Jim Butcher book in his Dresden series is out and perhaps not his best but it's extremly good.

 

Harry Dresden is a wizard who does detective (and more) work in Chicago. Very well written and the series improves over the course of the series and is often quite funny. I'll edit in a quote or two if I can find one I like when I get home.

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Oz, I understand your ethusiam, but I still can't understand attaching your name to a series you haven't even skimmed let alone read yet. How do you know the hype will agree with you?! Think of all the over-hyped movies you've seen that turned out to just that, hype. Oh well to each his own.

 

hmm, let's see.

Books Nonfiction:

This boy's life by Tobias Wolf

A good read, but also a good study of how to use the fictional tools of story-telling in memoir.

 

Lost in Translation Eva Hoffman (no relation to the Movie with Bill Murry in it)

A good study of the author struggle to refine her identity going from Communist Poland to Capitalist Vacouver, Canada cira 1960 ish. Lot's of discussion on how the language you live, think, and write in can reshape your identity. Neat.

 

Hiroshima by John Hersey

Hersey's account of the Hiroshima in the aftermath of the WWII Atom Bomb attack. The retelling in exacting detail chronical how the 5 individuals were affected by the attack immediately after the attack up through the 1980's. This is not a political piece. It goes straight to heart of each persons struggle as a human being not as members of an enemy/agressisor/defeated nation to the U.S.A. Orginally published in 1946. Later expanded.

 

 

Books Fiction:

 

In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway

Good for seeing how people deal with the trauma of war, and of course Hemingway is that master of concisen writing in modern literature.

 

They Things They Carried by Tim O'brien

Fictionalized account of the author's service in vietnam. Good read for detail descriptions of scenery and development of a rich cast characters. Also experimental in it's point of view. The author has a lot of fun with this, by speaking directly to the reader at times in explaing how he constructed a few of his charactors in relation to his own vietnam service, which may be total fabracation, but since he classified the book as fiction it's hard to tell where the line between truth and fiction exist.

 

TV/DVD:

Firefly by Joss Whedon. The same man who brought you "Buffy, the vampire slayer (TV) and Angel." Great series, too bad it only made it one season. The movie "Serinity" which was based on the series is also a good choice. Orginal Western meets Space scripts. Kind of a "Cowboy Bebop meets Buffy," but in live action. A pleasant blend of Western and Eastern culture reigns in a colonized universe of the future, where everyone in the 'verse speaks english and manderin (though the latter is usually used for curse words). Whedon's signature comedic timing is impeccable as always.

 

Radio/Web:

 

This American Life compiled by Ira Glass et al.

National Public Radio's series of American Anecdotes centered around a theme that varies per show. Everything from stories of "loss and good ideas" to "Superpowers and How we talk." Oral Storying telling of at it's finest. I saw Ira Glass live a few months ago where he explained his compulation method. Basically he's figure out how to compline a secular sermon inorder to draw listenors in... He so successful at this that statiscally the average mean listening time for his show is about 46 mins. For an hour long radio show without comercials that simply amazing. That means that most listeners tune in while the show is in progess are immediate draw in and continue to listen for the duration of the show. Kudos.

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May 27, 2006

 

Rev:

 

I am comfortable with attaching my name to pieces I have not yet read/watched in this thread because my aim for everything I put in here is simply to share my knowledge, however little or copmprehensive it may be, about whatever given topic I post upon (with a judicious amount of opinionating as well, but that should stick out from the facts pretty easily).

 

Not much more to add today except for the section which I had wanted to include initially but forgot:

 

What I have learned from Reading

 

Meaning, what stories have taught me above and beyond the typical increase in vocabulary and general ability to imagine.

 

Today, The Odyssey by Homer. I only realized the lesson that had stuck with me all of these years last month - There were several great warriors in the Trojan war; most notable among them (to me) were Ajax, the immensely strong, and Achilles, the invulnerable.

 

Ajax was fascinating, because who isn't at least a little intrigued by the idea of having the strength of one hundred men? In the end, though, he was otherwise totally mortal.

 

Achilles on the other hand was immune to all physical harm. With one notable exception.

 

:>) Now that you've all glanced at your feet, I'll tell you what you may *not* know.

 

Achilles got his superhuman durability from his mother dunking him in the river Styx as a baby. She made sure to coat him thoroughly, knowing full well what such a bath would do. And invulernerable he became, except for the heel of his right foot (I *think* it was right), where she had gripped him for his strange baptism. This normal heel on his otherwise injury-proof body proved his undoing in the form of a marksman with a poisoned arrow.

 

What did all of this teach me? I had to smile as I realized, not even three weeks ago, that *that* was why I always rotated cutlery I washed, making sure that the farthest end of the handle (where I am wont to grip it) does not stay dirty. ^^

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Oz, okay, I can respect that. I just think of all the times when I was expecting something to be really good, only be disappointed.

 

Okay, what I'm currentingly reading for fun is a work of fiction by Nick Hornby, How to be good. I'm only about a third of the way through it, but it seems promising. I'm reading it because I attended a reading by the author, and his plot synopsis intrigued me. It's like what happens if the average joe, decides he wants to be a modern-day saint, and how does his family deal with it. Plus it's told from the perspective of his unfaithful wife. Not my usual sort of thing, but it's the all the moral contemplation keeps me into it. Nick's also noted for writing three other books that inspired the movies:

 

High Fidelity, Fever Pitch, and About A Boy.

 

I also heard him read a few scenes from another book, A Long Way Down, which also seems promising. I supposed to read three more non-fiction novels this summer for a class, so I probably won't be able to get to it anytime soon. But it's worth noting because I think it's a very original story. It's a dark comedy about 4 people that indepedantly decide to commit suicide at the same place on the same night, but upon discovering each other, they end talking each other out of it, well at least for the that particular night. I look forward to tearing into that one.

 

btw that's an interesting Sig quote you got there. I wonder what Adam's was reall getting at? Was he attacking all the deist and theist of the day that concided a higher power's existance, but ultimately put more faith in humans? Or was he implying that Statesmen are automatcially secular and immoral. Intriguing, it would be interest to know where you got that quote, so I could find out the context behind it.

 

rev...

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Not sure if this is the right place, but one thing that I read lateley that got beyond "somewhat entertaining" was Starship Troopers. Having seen the movie, I must say the book is vastly different. Basicly the movie is about the war (whee, boom, smash, crash, eh?) while the book is about the culture. And I must say it made me think a bit on if we're really being over politically correct in some ways. Highly reccomended, and its not a thick book.

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Naked by David Sedaris

 

Another great collection of Autobiographic short stories from the sarcastic playwright, comedic writer, and occasional National Public Radio commentator. Sedaris book paints a funny and outlandish portrait of what it was like to grow up with 5 sisters as an obsessive-compulsive-homosexual-smart-alek in Raleigh, NC than later as a transplant to New York City. He covers a lot ground here: everyting from the birth of his sisters, working as an apple picker in oregon, time spent in Greek Camp, to hitch hiking across the U.S through filter of his obsessive narcissistic wit. In his darker moments his humor gets a touch perverse, but after reading about his mother, you can appreciate where he gets it from. A great read, but not for the easily offended. If you like this book, I recommend a similar work of his: Me Talk Pretty One Day (the title is actually a reference to his years long attempt to master French while living in Paris and the mental trama that he experiened along the way).

 

rev...

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I finally got around to finishing Nick Hornby's How To Be Good. It's an interested read, though I found it a bit challenging. There's nothing wrong with Hornby's style, but his subject matter is hard to swallow sometimes. Basically the book try's the answer the question: How can you be a good person to the world if you can't keep your own family together." Almost half the book is internal moralizing and introspection, the rest revolves around a family's relationship with an unconvention (if there are such things as conventional ones) and unreligious faith healer. It's the plots a bit a far-fetched, but the questions the author puts in the head of his main charactors takes the reader down some interesting roads.

 

Hmm, so I think the book was well written, but I didn't really enjoy it. Hornsby doesn't let you walk away from the book with a happy ending, just an okay one. Which, I guess should be refreshing, but for me at least, it was a bit of let down. I haven't giving up on him though, some time this year I'm plan on picking up his dark comedic novel about suicide A Long Way Down.

 

rev...

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I read constantly so it's hard for me to pick a few books out of the huge number of them, but let's see...

 

The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld

 

Great military space opera scifi that actually has some science in it as well, not just magic blasters that blow up stuff, no FTL light either. Thick book (assuming you find the version that has the two volumes both together) which has its main events happen in a few days of packed action, with some flashback stuff to flesh it out. A bit cinematic but I at least can forgive it when it pulls it off, managing to be very entertaining.

 

Various books by China Miéville, set in the world of New Crobuzon:

 

Perdido Street Station (2000)

The Scar (2002)

Iron Council (2004)

 

This guy is one of those writers that make me go "oh! I wish I could've invented that". His imagination is so wild, so vivid, so captivating, it's easy to get lost in the colorful streets of New Crobuzon, even if it isn't always that happy city. The genre is some sort of steam-punk fantasy, though I've never read anything with quite the same feel to it. Only one big caveat - the stories have their sad and cruel moments and lack the usual almost-guaranteed "happily ever after". Don't read these if you are looking for something to cheer you up, but if you want a view into what fantasy can be when it isn't hindered by the dusty grip of Tolkien's bony hands and instead just goes to explore new frontiers, Miéville's the author.

 

Malazan Books of the Fallen by Steven Erikson:

 

Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains, Midnight Tides, The Bonehunters

 

Erikson has some similarities to Miéville - he has steered way clear of Tolkien's legacy, his books are crammed full of imaginative details and they are definitely not happy stories, though Erikson's fantasy lacks the grimy steampunk milieu, opting for a super-high-fantasy world instead. Currently at around 5000 pages long, the tale has a staggering number of characters, places, cults, details, races, heroes, gods and demons, but he still is able to mostly keep the host of creatures in check and serve the story. Erikson does not shy away from showing what happens when a sword meets flesh, or what remains after a battle - the visions are painted with shades of rust and bright red, sometimes so often the reader can start wondering where do all these hapless soldiers come from? His one bigger failing is lack of visual details about the characters themselves, with some whole races explained in passing detail once or twice in the 5000 pages, making it sometimes hard to keep track just what does this and that character look like, especially since he switches between them quite often. If you can keep track of everything that happens, the satisfaction in the end when you see the big picture can very much be worth it. Recommended, even if the blood-drenched tales are quite heavy reading in more than one way.

 

Learning the World by Ken Macleod

 

A scifi book about a first contact, with a refreshing twist - space-faring humans, so futuristic they would be almost alien to the humans of now being the scary UFOs. I've read several Macleod's books, and while they are entertaining enough (obviously, if I keep on reading his works), they have a tad too much politics mixed into the stories for my tastes. That part is a bit more subdued in this book, and I found the story to be more gripping as well, which meant in the end I read this rather slim volume in 2-3 days. Good book, and should you like it, a good introduction on Macleod's writing style. He is an industrious writer, so anybody liking his stuff has a lot of books to look forward to. Light enough in tone to be a lot more relaxing reading than the two gloomy fantasy series above, also.

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Nonfiction: Audio Book

 

The Compleat Gentleman: The Modern Man's Guide to Chivalry

by Brad Miner

 

Hmm, ya know when I picked this 7 CD audio book up to break up the 6 hour drive to Atlanta, I thought it would be more of a practical how-to-guild. Instead I found it to be a meditative work composed of equal parts history, philosophy, and social commentary on the nature of Chivalry and it's antecedents through out the ages.

 

It's interesting, I'll give it that, but, not very practical. The author advocates restraint as one of the chief components of being a modern gentleman, but fails to follow his own advice when painting the picture of what the modern gentleman should be. He allows his political biases to color his perspective too much, I think. His occasional side bars about the current wars are far from objective and detached as the restraint that he himself is advocating. His thoughts are in fact charged with reactionary emotion. Still, I believe his insights on how the outcome of the first Gulf war should have been handled by President Bush the elder and Clinton are well thought out. Unfortunately his conclusions on the Current Gulf War are a bit premature. Still, I can't blame him too much that as he wrote that particular chapter in the wake of 911. Honestly, I think he should have excluded that chapter from the book as he was too close to the events he was writing about both personally and by factor of time to be truly objective.

 

Other than that it's not a bad book, but I think he should retitled it: The Compleat "Christian" Gentleman. I don't mean this as an insult either. The book simply give more prominence to the virtues of christianity than any other view. And the view that he espouses is a good solid one in my opinion. Thorough out the book he rails against fundamentalism and self righteousness equally as much as he condemns pacifism and liberalism.

 

Ultimately though, I think the book is really an Apology. For all his talk of chivalry and prowess, he himself failed to exhibit these traits when the draft board called him to war in Vietnam. In 1970, he was draft dodger on his way Canada, when in a fit of guilt at the last moment turned back and through the help of peace movement was able to secure status as a conscientious objective. He went from being a liberal protestant peacenik in the 60/70's to a conservative catholic hawk in the 80's. In his own words he states that he wishes he could "rip the year 1970 from the pages of history." And because of his shame over this event, I believe this book is his attempt to pay penance for his own perceived cowardice and hypocrisy of his youth. This doesn't make it a bad book, or even a hyprocritical work, but it does make you read it with a more discerning eye.

 

rev...

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Nonfiction: Travel Book (sort of) Read for a Class.

 

In a Sunburned Country

Bill Bryson

 

Although I've only read two other of Bryson nonfiction works (A Walk in the Woods and I'm a Stranger Here Myself), I consider myself a fan. So, I was very pleased when I found out that one of my American Studies classes (A part-teleconference course taken with Australians comparing they colonial development to the U.S.A's) had made his book about Australian one of the text. So even though class doesn't start for another week and a half, I felt compelled to devour it.

 

Anyway, I love it. It's a hilarious take on as it turns out, a very interesting country. Like I had no idea just how vast the Country was (much of it is still yet to be surveyed) or that the most deadly creatures on earth happen inhabit it. Bryson approach in his travel books is that he just doesn't go to place and record his observations about it, but he also does some intensive research on the history of the place, which he combines in a nice little narrative from his Monty-python like wit and perspective. Bryson is an American, but spent half his life in England (he even married an English wife) as well, so he's background give him a unique perspective to see Australian through.

 

He basically claims that Australian seems to somehow have combined the best and of both British and American lifestyles. Possibly, but you'll have to judge that for yourself. In three or so trips he visits all the major cities, traverses most of the major road ways, and landmarks that he can fit in. He visit every state to include the Northern Territory. I wasn't bored for a moment reading this book. It's awesome.

 

Oh, but all is not bright in sunny land-down-under. He also attempts to go into the blight of the Aboriginals on a number of occasions, and awestruck by the venomous/pregidous he encounters from otherwise good-natured and dignified individuals. The answer he keeps running into when he tries to pull these pregidious into the light is, "Yes, it's a problem." A problem that Bryson can't for the life of him come up with an answer for either. And in a frank and little disturbing omission by the author, he admits that having no idea how the solve this perplexing problem on inequality, he gives up and starts to no longer see the Aborigines either. Honestly it threw me too. Read up on it, if you don't believe me, it's not only the usual questions of race, skin color, oppression, tragic and brutal slayings (of which there were many), but of how reality itself, is perceived by western and indigenous cultures.

 

The running theme in Bryson's book seems to be how Australian is overlooked in the greater world by every discipline imaginable. Whether achievements of the Aborigines (getting there 30k years before everyone else with out a land bridge or being the oldest still intact culture on earth), their achievements in sports, economy, political intrique, they're one generation transformation from a xenophobic "white" culture to one the most multi-cultural countries on earth, the lethalness of the country in general, the ancient/primordial species and plants that have managed to survive almost nowhere else in the world (stromatolites, ancient angiosperms trees etc).

 

Highly recommended,

 

rev...

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Nonfiction: Audio Book

 

The Meaning of Everything

Simon Winchester

 

Faced with a 9 hours road trip on my way home from Atlanta, I decided before hand to pick up Simon Winchester's concise history of the Oxford English Dictionary. I've been waiting for a sufficiently long drive to tackle this one for oh about a year or so. Anyway, the O.E.D. is an amazing endeavour in scope and in the standards that it holds itself too. One of the main goals of the Dictionary (besides defining every English word in existence) was to be free from imperfection. Not exactly an easy task. A literal army of volunteers from the English speaking world was needed to even start, but eventually contributions started coming in from the entire globe. Winchester gives colorful snap shots of a dozen or so of these volunteers including two unfortunate Americans: One made a hermit due to scandal, and another a schizophrenic committed to an insane asylum. Winchester charts the 70 or so years that it took to churn out the entire first edition. He also goes into the a brief summary of the English language in general and a lot of background on early dictionaries and lexicons such as Samuel Johnson's and Noah Webster's respective dictionaries.

 

It's an interesting tale, but wow, it does get a little um tedious even in the super-user friendly form of an audio book. Throughout my drive I was continually rewinding and pausing the Cd's (7 in total) trying to figure out just "what the heck he just said..." My brains pretty much Swiss-cheese after it.

 

Anyway, good book if you like history(the Victorian age in particular), a fair amount of pomp, elocution, interesting/amusing anecdotes about how great tomes of knowledge are created. An interesting note is that the next edition (currently under-construction) of the O.E.D. is predicted to be so massive that printing a paper edition is thought to be not only impractical but also environmentally insensitive. So the editors are considering making it an electric or online only edition creating a neat marriage of Victorian scholarship with modern innovation.

 

fun, fun.

 

rev...

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Novel: Read for a class

 

Remembering Babylon

David Malouf

 

Curious tale of a man living in two worlds circa the mid-1800's in Australia. Basically Malouf fictionalizes a story based on a true event where a white man walked out of the Australia Outback with the look and mannerism of an aboriginal, having lost almost all of his ability to speak English. Apparently the man, Gemmy, was thrown overboard as a boy of thirteen off the coast of Australia and was subsequently rescued by Aborigines. Apart from the man's first name and the some words spoken on his reintroduction to colonial life, the rest of the story is a complete fabrication. Malouf details the fear that Gemmy's presence evokes for the pioneer settlement he's falling into and the misunderstanding that arise from all sides.

 

Malouf's narrative style takes some getting used to. He's switches from different characters' points of view and their back-stories in rapid succession. His jumps in time in order to fill the reader in on events from the previous chapter in the form of another characters reflection is disconcerting. Actually the whole novel is almost entirely made up of the individual internal reflections of it's many characters. This actually reminds me of the narrative style (or point of view?) Leo Tolstoy used style in War and Peace. This is probably an unfair comparison, since Malouf story is barely 200 pages, but it looks like Tolstoy or someone similar had a heavy influence on his writing style. No character is too insignificant it seems to go into their inner life and their motivations for settling or thriving in Australian, and since I'm supposed to read this for a Comparative history class, I can see why my Professor choose it.

Edited by reverie
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Speculative non-fiction: 'The Second Cryptographic Shakespeare', By Thomas 'Penn' Leary.

 

That's right; Speculative non-fiction. I really don't know what else to call it. It's pretty much along the lines of 'The Da-Vinci Code', except far less dramatised or speculative, and concerns real coding.

 

If you appreciate history, a mystery, and what might be termed 'intellectual archeology', this book is for you. I'm sure most people here have heard the speculation that Shakespeare didn't actually write all those plays and sonnets attributed to him, and reading all the 'evidence' around that is interesting enough, but the author of this book, an amateur crytpographer and adventurer, takes the investigation in a whole new, and compelling, direction. Bardolaters beware! You may come away quite disillusioned!

 

Though the manuscript does tend to wander in places, it is still a fascinating read, revealling the true genius behind Shakespeare, and arguably behind much that we take for granted today in our 'modern' culture. It's a relatively thin book, plus it's free! available entirely online.

 

The rest of the website is pretty fun too, with lots of additional information.

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  • 2 weeks later...

September 1, 2006

 

It's 3:48 AM, and do you know what that means?

 

IT'S MICRO UPDATE TIME! OH BOY!!!

:w00t::w00t::w00t::w00t::w00t:, etc.

 

I've been reading a lot of comic books lately (STILL the easiest reading to fit into my schedule. Sigh.) and Shaman's Crossing, by Robin Hobb.

 

Holy freaking crap, that was a spectacular book.

 

Elaboration to follow September-ish, at the rate I'm going.

 

Sigh.

 

Goodnight, everybody!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oooh, Robin Hobb... I was reminded somewhere that I'd read the first book in the Farseer trilogy quite a while back. Picked up and finished the second book not long ago. I also began the first book in the Liveship Trilogy (not as good in my opinion, but I just started it).

 

Thanks so much for mentioning Shaman's Crossing. Oh, I would've learned of it eventually, but ever so nice to know there's something new out there waiting for me. :)

 

Series. Ach. I'm halfway through The Dark Tower series, just started the Wheel of Time, halfway through Recluce... Would anyone like to recommend another uber long series to bog me down? Just asking.

 

And I've read Harry Potter. And reread. And reread. When is Book 7 coming out?

 

Oooh, I love whoever mentioned China Miéville. I wrote down all of your recommendations... but umm... I'm not sure when I'll get to them.

 

My list of books to read now contains at least a thousand books... but I keep losing pieces of it, so I can't be sure.

 

Erm, I'll try to think of something more relevant to post here next time. heh.

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Pesky, pesky pink relevants. ;>)

 

One of the things I admire/enjoy most about Shaman's Crossing is that it is a seamless marriage of American Pioneer west and epic fantasy stories. I know *I've* never seen that before.

 

Ooo, and the Liveship Traders is actually the best one to read next, because its stories happen before The Farseers (and feature one certain some-onne...that you've already met...), and the Tawny Man ends the larger story told in the Traders and Farseers.

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Oh no! Now I really have to find the third book in the Farseer trilogy, and finish up this Liveship trilogy. And I'm in love with WoT, now... Argh!

 

*stares at the walls of books boxing her in and threatening to fall down and bury her* eep.

 

Hmmm... and why are relevants pink? This is obviously a decidedly non-pink post. hehe. Sigh. I can't even keep my word on my second post. So sad. But I really should be in bed, so I'll chalk it up to tiredness. :)

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Fauna, if you're looking for über-long series to pick up, there's one I can really recommend, though it does require a fond appreciation of "non-standard" fantasy, and ofcourse, alot of time ;)

Otherland, by Tad Williams. I've just finished reading it for the 2nd time, while being in the middle of the dark tower series and my shakespearean collection 0_o

One of the few long series of books I would reread, apart from the Death's Gate cycle perhaps. One of the only prose authors who's managed to impress me just about since I got into high school on top of that :P

 

As far as my own reading's concerned, I haven't been doing enough of it lately. Apart from the long-term dedications named above, I haven't really read anything lately, apart from web comics and rereading this really odd Dutch book by Gerrit Komrij, of which I'd be surprised if a translated version exists.

It's called Hercules, a relative small (200 pages or so) book about a man well into a midlife crisis with some serious imagination problems. As in some scenes (or actually, just about the whole book) had me thinking the author must have been using something seriously hallucinogenic, or otherwise he wanted the main character to give that impression.

Outrageous imagination aside (my Dutch teacher two years back tried in her own way to explain that with the words "oh well... he probably always will be more a poet than a writer.")... well... honestly I can't say there really isn't much in it beside that, but I'd say it's well worth the read if only for just that. If it's ever translated into a language some of you (except for the usual suspects ofcourse ;)) will be able to read and understand, and you see it in a bookstore or online even, don't hesitate to try it if you like weird reads :P

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  • 1 month later...

This doesn't really fit anywhere, but I didn't want to start a whole new thread for it.

 

While taking my Imitation Poetry class, I've had to read a handful of poets very intently. And after doing so, I've come to the conclusion that reading poetry is an acquired taste. Oh, sure, this statement seems obvious enough, but it's one thing to declare something off-hand (or condemn it) and quite another to experience it.

 

Pretty much, I've never really enjoyed reading a book of poems by any poet--well, except for maybe Max Ehrmann after my brother died--he cheered me up. Which is just a little strange for someone that spends a vast amount of his time trying to write poetry. Oh, I could enjoy a poem on it's own, but never a whole book. If assigned to read these tomes in the past, I would skim a poem or two, here and there or whatever was required for a class, and at some point I did try to read more of Frost and Poe or whoever else people told me were great, but I never really got it. And I'm not exactly sure I could describe what 'it' is. I can talk around it though.

 

You know how you can just read a story for the sake of the story--reading for pleasure. Well because of the time I have put in my Imitation class, I can now do that with a book of poetry. Which makes sense I guess, since once I couldn't even do that with fiction. Back in my early teens, I loathed reading. Most likely because my reading ability sucked, and I never really gave it a chance to grow on me. Still by sheer force of will combined with a dogged persistence in reading 'til my eyes bled, my appreciation for fiction grew (long, but standard angst-ridden story of escapist youth; trying to keep yourself sane, that sort of thing). So, to a much lesser extent my appreciation for published works of poetry has grown.

 

Neat huh? It's kind of like when you hear that annoying pop song on the radio, that you vow to hate immediately, but the more you hear it, the more you like it, then one day you start humming along, and you keep humming and humming and humming, until one day you discover that you've become somewhat of spectacle as you belt out those stupid Maroon 5 lyrics while people gawk and stare, and if you're really into it you don't even give damn if the light ever changes. Reading poetry is like that, only it takes a lot longer (well for me at least).

 

rev...

Edited by reverie
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  • 3 months later...

Things I Did Recently for the First Time in Years #whatever-we're-up-to: Purchased a book at full retail price.

 

Waterstone's (the U.K. book supermarket) restocked its shelves recently, so I did my usual scan of interesting authors. They had restocked Fiction - G. They had more of William Golding than simply Lord of the Flies. They had three books, two of which I hadn't read before, compressed into a trilogy for the same price I've been paying for used Golding paperbacks--perhaps the BBC, which had made the trilogy into a miniseries, leaned on the publisher to keep the price affordable. Sale!

 

To the Ends of the Earth is not, and I doubt it ever will be, one of my favorites from among his works. The three books end with pessimistic, irresolute, and optimistic chapters respectively; that tilts the entire trilogy towards the positive and that is not what he's best at sustaining. Tensions of class and station (the books are set on a ship in the early 1800s), which I simply don't care about, are major plot points. I understood enough of it on the first reading to not need to reread it, which isn't a guarantee with Golding, but don't care enough about what I might have missed to go back over them frequently. Still, talent is talent; I accidentally exposed myself to the beginning of the Master and Commander series, and it was refreshing to see how much more a skilled and multilayered author can explore with a similar setting and main character.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My Church Group at University recently got together to discuss books that have inspired us in a major way.

After a day of discussion we came up with this list. Title/Author and a brief description by the recommender.

 

 

 

Books that Influenced Us:

 

 

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

 

Chinese history. An autobiography of a woman showing 3 generations of a family 1890s-1970. About life and experiences in China. ~ Laurel

 

The Massage Book by George Downing

 

Hippy massage. Classic 70s. ~ Eli

 

Das Engeri by Paul Williams

 

Hippie book with random ramblings and one guy’s view of life. It was one of the first books that made me realize it’s okay to have out-there views on religion. “You are God.” (Out of print, but you can find a copy, I highly recommend it!) ~ Nicole

 

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates by Tom Robbins

 

Robbins with the soul of a shaman, the wit of the Sphinx and the literary audacity of Shakespeare on speed, pimps out a story of a modern man whose talents as a CIA field agent leads him, naturally, to divine prophecies as well as deep temptations. This book did to me what Sergeant Pepper did to Brian Wilson. It’s so well written that I haven’t been able to write fiction with the same confidence that I used to have. (It’s intimidating!) Thought provoking yet, irreverent. Though it looks down both sides of a moral tightrope, every page is tremendous fun. ~ Patrick

 

Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das

 

From a Jewish American turned Tibetan Buddhist Lama, a western understandable synopsis of Tibetan Buddhism with interesting and color teaching stories and examples. My intro to meditation, self-discipline and most importantly a spiritual teaching that made sense to me. ~ Michael

 

My Teacher Flunked the Planet, by Bruce Colville

 

~Lisa

 

Selected Poems by Czeslaw Milosz

 

Milsoz was a Polish poet who lived in the US for many years but always wrote in his own language. The collection of poems spans most of his career, which lasted most of his career (his final book, Second Space, is not included). Poems about war, longing for home and lots of other longings and desires. ~Elizabeth

 

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

 

~Laura

 

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

 

A dark humor about the absurdity of war with lots symbolism.

 

~Ellie

 

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

 

Hiro Protagonist is a knight on the Internet, but lives in a U-Stor-It in real life. In this cyberpunk classic, Hiro and his helpful teenage sidekick, Y. T. (Yours Truly) follow up leads from Mesopotamian mythology to cure a modern data plague that threatens the net. Set in a semi-dystopic near future where the US as we know it has been replaced by autonomous corporate franchise states. ~ Catherine

 

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

 

An adventure about a young girl.

 

~Sarah

 

Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron

 

About being comfortable with the present instead of looking to the future or past. Being present in the moment and living life in the moment. Made up of entries, one for every day for 180 days. Each entry is thought provoking. ~ Rebecca

 

The Da vinci Code by Dan Brown

 

Oh, you know. Got me intellectually interested in the study of religion which I’m going to minor in. ~ Sarah

 

Marguerite, Go Wash Your Feet by Wallace Tripp.

 

Poems and Art.

 

~Alex

 

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

 

Ella is a girl cursed to be obedient. In this story she must break her curse by finding the fairy Lucinda.

 

~Josephine

 

Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut

 

~Joy

 

The Dark is Rising (Sequence) by Susan Cooper

 

High Fantasy. Contemporary spin on Arthurian based legend via 1960s-70s England. Think of Lion, Witch and Wardrobe but with no Lion, Witch, Wardrobe or an alternate reality/realm to travel to.

 

~Sean

 

Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder

 

Biography of the doctor/anthropologist/humanitarian Paul Farmer.

 

~Marion

 

 

Also recommended:

 

 

 

Kafka Was the Rage by Anatole Broyard.

 

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Molly Katzen

 

Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

 

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C Wrede

 

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

 

Goodnight by Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian

 

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Northern Lights Trilogy by Philip Pullman

Edited by reverie
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