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Post by nayrb on Dec 23, 2016 20:39:59 GMT -5
I love his novels. The Charwoman's Shadow was one of my favorites. I also love the art, smell, and price of the old Ballantine editions of his work. The art of the short story collection Over the Hills and Far Away (my introduction to Dunsany) is especially incredible. Old books do have a nice smell, don't they? Those old Ballatine editions are great. I recently picked up The Charwoman's Shadow but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
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Post by dungeonsnake on Dec 23, 2016 23:15:08 GMT -5
King of Elfland's Daughter is one of my favorite novels of all time
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Post by nayrb on Dec 26, 2016 18:58:06 GMT -5
King of Elfland's Daughter is one of my favorite novels of all time Same here. I'm due for a re-read. It's been a few years, but I remember that I read it during a picture perfect Spring and it seemed to go well with that season. The reading list is so long right now, though...
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Post by andrewwerdna on Dec 26, 2016 22:11:38 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm a fan of that one as well. Old books do have a nice smell, don't they? The smell of old books might be my favorite smell, except for maybe coffee. Whenever I read an old book I can't help but shove my nose in between the pages and take a big whiff.
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Post by dungeonsnake on Dec 26, 2016 22:43:43 GMT -5
i got a pretty good haul for christmas this year, including Viriconium by M. John Harrison which i'm pretty excited for. never read any of his work
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Post by singe on Dec 26, 2016 23:00:45 GMT -5
I have been reading Jeff Vandermeer's "Southern Reach" trilogy recently. he is part of a movement identified as "The New Weird", which takes a lot of the aesthetic and narrative ideas of Weird Tales/pulp authors like Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, and updates them to a degree. Read the first two books so far and it's quite a trip. Sounds super interesting; any idea where I can read it for free/cheap?
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Post by Ananoriel on Dec 27, 2016 16:42:19 GMT -5
Old books do have a nice smell, don't they? Most of them have. I have a collection of a few old Jules Verne books from 1931. But I once bought a first Dutch pressing of the Silmarillion by Tolkien and sadly it smells like cigarettes pretty badly.
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Post by nayrb on Dec 27, 2016 18:46:44 GMT -5
Old books do have a nice smell, don't they? Most of them have. I have a collection of a few old Jules Verne books from 1931. But I once bought a first Dutch pressing of the Silmarillion by Tolkien and sadly it smells like cigarettes pretty badly. Damn! Of all books, too!
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Post by nahadoth on Dec 28, 2016 1:56:49 GMT -5
I have been reading Jeff Vandermeer's "Southern Reach" trilogy recently. he is part of a movement identified as "The New Weird", which takes a lot of the aesthetic and narrative ideas of Weird Tales/pulp authors like Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, and updates them to a degree. Read the first two books so far and it's quite a trip. Sounds super interesting; any idea where I can read it for free/cheap?I got lucky enough to find it at my local library - it was well enough acclaimed upon release that a fair amount of libraries picked up the set. The first one is getting made into a movie sometime next year, so there will probably be a cheap tie-in version when that comes out.
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Post by thekeeper on Dec 30, 2016 18:32:15 GMT -5
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Post by Nacht on Jan 2, 2017 19:10:26 GMT -5
I'm in my final year of my degree (dual honours Politics & Philosophy), and many of the terms there are ones I've never once come across. Looks rather fascinating. I'm unfortunately not very well-versed in Continental philosophy, though I have a rough grasp of Kant's metaphysics and ethics, as well as Hegel and Fichte. I'll certainly dig into this tomorrow. I just finished reading Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. This and the preceding book Gardens of the Moon have reinvigorated my love of fantasy literature. I have my issues with the way Erikson writes these books, but I'll come to them in a bit. What I love is the way that he introduces these incredibly rich and realistic characters into the story and it all threads together in the end. Erikson is balancing at least a half dozen different points of view throughout this novel, from characters in very different locations, and yet in their own way it always ends up having a purpose. The conclusions to these various threats of plot are almost always satisfying, even if they can be surprising and heartbreaking as well. It's not flawless though. Erikson consistently leaves important and fundamental concepts unexplained, and no, I shouldn't have to read almost 1,500 pages to understand basic things like what the bloody hell Soletaken, D'ivers, the 'Path of Hands', or House of Azath are. Even fundamental things - like what Jhag, Trell, Tlan'Imass even are are left almost completely explained except for a very brief glossary at the back of the book. It also doesn't help that key areas in the plot don't feature at all on the map at the front of the book, so the sense of geography throughout this novel is continually confusing. So I love the characters, I love the way they grew over this novel, and I loved the overall arc that I can see starting to be constructed here. I like how he isn't afraid to kill characters that readers become attached to, and yet it never feels particularly gratuitous or done for shock value. The world he's built is incredible, and the characters are so rich and vibrant it's hard to imagine this is merely fiction, and the scope of the narrative being spun is stunning. I just hope in future books Erikson does a better job of actually explaining the world he has created to the reader and letting us in to understand it.
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Post by nayrb on Jan 3, 2017 7:26:58 GMT -5
I'm in my final year of my degree (dual honours Politics & Philosophy), and many of the terms there are ones I've never once come across. Looks rather fascinating. I'm unfortunately not very well-versed in Continental philosophy, though I have a rough grasp of Kant's metaphysics and ethics, as well as Hegel and Fichte. I'll certainly dig into this tomorrow. I just finished reading Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. This and the preceding book Gardens of the Moon have reinvigorated my love of fantasy literature. I have my issues with the way Erikson writes these books, but I'll come to them in a bit. What I love is the way that he introduces these incredibly rich and realistic characters into the story and it all threads together in the end. Erikson is balancing at least a half dozen different points of view throughout this novel, from characters in very different locations, and yet in their own way it always ends up having a purpose. The conclusions to these various threats of plot are almost always satisfying, even if they can be surprising and heartbreaking as well. It's not flawless though. Erikson consistently leaves important and fundamental concepts unexplained, and no, I shouldn't have to read almost 1,500 pages to understand basic things like what the bloody hell Soletaken, D'ivers, the 'Path of Hands', or House of Azath are. Even fundamental things - like what Jhag, Trell, Tlan'Imass even are are left almost completely explained except for a very brief glossary at the back of the book. It also doesn't help that key areas in the plot don't feature at all on the map at the front of the book, so the sense of geography throughout this novel is continually confusing. So I love the characters, I love the way they grew over this novel, and I loved the overall arc that I can see starting to be constructed here. I like how he isn't afraid to kill characters that readers become attached to, and yet it never feels particularly gratuitous or done for shock value. The world he's built is incredible, and the characters are so rich and vibrant it's hard to imagine this is merely fiction, and the scope of the narrative being spun is stunning. I just hope in future books Erikson does a better job of actually explaining the world he has created to the reader and letting us in to understand it. I'm glad to see someone else tackling this series and bringing some good thoughts to the table. I don't have much time at the moment to put together a very coherent response, but I will say, be prepared to wait a long time for resolutions. I don't want to give any spoilers, but it's one of the main features of the series that the universe is absolutely huge and the webs of history extremely convoluted. I for one enjoy the slow unraveling of all the mysteries and complexities, but there were times when I felt as if the characters not only knew more than me, but knew they knew more than me and were dangling that fact in front of me. I think it was the sheer volume of characters that started to confuse me. It's all part of Erikson's point, of course, but there really are a lot of characters across the ten books of the series. But I encourage you to stick it out. Undoubtedly you'll have some critiques, but it really is a great series and worth the effort. I'm currently looking to gather up the rest of the Malazan books (both Erikson's and Esslemont's), but I'll need a little break before I tackle them. I spent nearly two years reading almost nothing but the Book of the Fallen. I have very fond memories of entire weekends lost to reading these books. I think I read Deadhouse Gates in a matter of a few days. These books have a way of pulling you along with them. It wasn't uncommon for me to tear through five or six hundred pages in two days (I'm an avid reader but of average speed). I simply couldn't put them down.
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Post by Ananoriel on Jan 3, 2017 10:08:40 GMT -5
I am still reading Deadhouse Gates as well, a bit slow because I didn't had time to read in the holidays. And I agree, some things need some more explanation. I ended up Googling several terms. I love how rich the characters are described though, and I find the structure of the book (switching from different viewpoints) very refreshing.
I think after this book I will switch to a different book or series for a while, and then continue to the third book. I like a bit of variation in what I am reading. That is why I have 137 books on my ereader, and also a to-read pile of books in my room.
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Post by kaptaincarbon on Jan 6, 2017 9:13:58 GMT -5
I need to catch up on this thread. I have been reading Name of the Wind (Kingkiller) since i never read the series and have heard great things about it. I think I feel I am about to enter into a great experience as I am loving the classic fantasy tropes mixed with contemporary writing without icky gritty parts.
Other than that my most recent fantasy hauls have been reading the The Black Company and Chronicles of Prydain (The Black Cauldron). Every christmas I get from my mom a bunch of new and old sci fi books like Philip K Dick and new anthologies of recent works.
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Post by Ananoriel on Jan 6, 2017 9:23:14 GMT -5
The Kingkiller Chronicles are pretty good. I have the first two books here somewhere, the storytelling may be a bit slowpaced, but it is totally worth it. And I love the magicsystem in it, it is very interesting.
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