Inklings

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Okay, with permission from the mighty SORCERER himself .... this is a literate SPAM thread on the BOOK topic.

The object is to keep us reading, thinking, and sharing ideas, quotes and recommendations.

Books are prefered, but magazine, e-zine and other input is welcome as well.

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Here's a start ....

I just picked up "The World According to Garp" by John Irving. I loved the movie, and so far the book is much better. I'd descibe how Garp was concieved, but there are children prowling these pages ....

I'm also reading "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose. Its the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Good stuff. I'll have a couple good quotes after the weekend (don't have the book handy)

 

I have been reading some Dickens lately, or rather two of his books. A Tale of two cities and Hard Times, a tale was quite good but I didnt enjoy Hard Times that much. I found his writing style a bit shallow and his characterization to be a bit stylizised. The third book I read on my trek among the giants of literature was Crime and Punishment and it was really quite good, very bleak and a bit moralising for my taste but quite a good read.
I am about start on a book named 'Jack' written by Ulf Lundell one of Swedens greatest musicians and writers, it is supposed to be extremely good by all accounts. Have had it recommended by everyting from parents and critics to buddies. I am looking forward to it.

 

Dicken's novels have always been thoughtful but shallow. They were printed in installments that cost a dime each with a bout 3 or 4 chapters an installment I believe. He was more of a propagadist than a novelist.

Lately I've been reading a lot of political sci-fi like Robert A. Heinlen and Frank Herbert and Ray Bradbury. I've always been more captivated by appocolyptic sci-fi than by frilly fantasy. Larry Niven's Ringworld was my latest achievement. I was hoping some Sci-Fi readers could give me some suggestions for good books.

I read The World According to Garp last year and loved it. I can't say that I've seen the flick though.

 

To the not so religious one up there - if you like appocolyptic SF try the following:

Footfall, The Moat in God's Eye and Lucifer's Hammer - All by Niven and Pournelle.

Another good one is Greg Bear's "Forge of God" and it's sequel "Anvil of Stars"

Currently I'm about to go out and get the 2nd and 3rd Farseer books by Robin Hobb. Bit depressing, but quite well written. Interesting premise too.

Should really pick up the Billy Connoly biography from next to my bed, that I bought some months back, but haven't quite got around to read.....

 

If you want a good Sci-Fi and Fantasy book series, that's well, not really Sci-Fi and Fantasy, I strongly suggest you read Madeline l'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series. They involve multiple dimensions and dragon droppings, microbiology and universal enemies, the degeneration of human society and the Great Flood (Noah's), and plenty of other things that are quite original.

Pick it up some time at a library or bookstore. I can't say you won't be glad you did.

 

I just finished re-re-re-re-re-reading Timothy Zahn's "Thrawn Trilogy" (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command). I just can't get enough of them, I guess.

Right now I am slogging through WD Howells' The Rise of Silas Lapham. All I can say is SNORE!

 

Right now I'm reading Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan. It's good, but the series is getting too long and complicated for my taste.

BTW, what is the Lewis and Clark expedition? The only thing that comes to mind is the spaceship Lewis & Clark from the Sci-Fi/horror movie Event Horizon.

 

Just finished Angelmass by Timothy Zahn. I love his writing-too bad 80% of his stuff is OOP. Any other Zahn fans?

Lewis and Clark were two American explorers who led the first expedition to the Pacific and back during Jefferson's presidency. They brought back alliances, maps, and all sorts of interesting scientific stuff

[ November 18, 2002, 09:36: Message edited by: AMaster ]

 

Thank you, oh Horned-helmed-one. I may just look into them when I finish Hero in the Shadows by Gemmel. My brother got it for a gift almost a year ago but I haven't tried reading it becuase I wanted to read Waylander and Legend and the other Drenai books first. But like Druss the Legend this one is easy to follow in a single book sense, without a lot of tedious references to past adventures like those weak Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels. But who am I kidding, I'm still trying to read the Dark-Elf books by Salvatore, I've got Siege of Darkness on hold from the liabrary, but that's becuase Rowley's third book from the Arna trilogy (I believe that's what it's called) isn't out yet.

 

I've only read Hero in the Shadows and Legend (in that order), but it sure seems like Gemmel is a master of easy reading. Sometimes I wonder why he's not as widely known or mentioned in the genre as Robert Jordan and R.A. Salvatore.

The last book I've read was "Prince of Shadow" by Curt Benjamin. Ummm...it wasn't that great. It starts out ok, but the author seems to lose his concentration and rush through pell mell. Not much else to say about it.

The last notable book I've read was the "The Farthest Shore" by Ursula K. LeGuin. It's the third book in the Earthsea series ("A Wizard of Earthsea" and "Tombs of Atuan" came before it). They mostly center around a wizard named Ged. Really good series I might add, though a bit on the thin side (number of pages). Some say it's got a Taoists philosophy. I don't know, but there's some deep meanings here and there. I think a person who liked Wrinkle in Time would be similarly impressed with this series.

 

Sure Gemmel is great at nice easy reading actionfilled fantasy. But all his books are more or less identical. Same story in all of them and the main characters are not very different from eachother. I stopped reading them after the Waylander book, nothing really wrong with them but it felt like if I had read one I had read em all.

 

If you all like humor, mixed in with some apocolyptic stuff, you should pick up Good Omens, by Patchett and this other guy. Really funny stuff.

 

Niven wrote "Ringworld" right?

Loved that book. Could use some spice these days ... better than a botox injection

"Lewis and Clark" Expedition ... is from American History. 1804 iirc. Thomas Jefferson was the president. America had just finalized the "Louisiana Purchase" with Napolean, and one of the biggest goals was to establish a water route from Ocean to Ocean.

The British were pulling ahead, making tracks in Canada. The Spanish were a wanning power, and the French had their hands full. So the new country pushed west.

With a Keel Boat and a couple piroges (sp?) a handful of adventurers pushed west. Its a great read. You get the trill of what a real life adventure would be like. For example, at night they had to coat themselves in "voyagers grease" and then stand in the smoke from their camp fire to keep the mosquitoes away (they were in huge, thick clouds). Not the sort of thing we read about Frodo or Drizzit having to endure.

 

I believe it's piroage, or maybe it's pirouge, whatever I think I'm wrong too. Ringworld was by Niven, my favorite Sci-Fi to date.

I can see what you mean with Gemmel's books being the same. As I read on I found Waylander from Hero in the Shadows to be virtually the exact same character as Druss! They both are off working and get their wives taken, and their following lives revolve around those women. Okay so Waylander's wife was killed and Druss's was only kidnapped, but they are both natural warriors who are forced into a warrior life which they do not enjoy and are tortured by demons due to their failure in protecting their wives!

End Rant. That was fun. I thought I should metion how much I enjoyed Robert A. Heinlein's Farnham's Freehold. That is a book that makes me want to keep reading.

 

right now i'm re-reading the truth by Terry Pratchet. It's quite nice, but certainly nowhere near as good as the watch books.

Term is almost done so i'm into a lot of classical renaisance and restoration literature right now: Shakespeare, Donne, Milton etc. Great stuff to read but it takes some getting used to.

Just saw Minorty report. I really have to get into some of the novels by this writer Philip Dick (or is it Dick Philips, can't remember)

Argh! so much to read and so little time!!

btw Math, why did you choose Inklings as the name of the topic? (I know the group of Lewis, Tolkien etc, but what did they do?) and who were the other members of this group? anyone?

[ November 21, 2002, 00:31: Message edited by: aegron ]

 

I have to disagree, as far as I know one of his later works was Starship Troopers, which is the Sci-Fi military novel I use to compare all others that I read. It is that good. Personally I think much of his work when he got started in the fifties and such where sophmoric at best, I have to say that the quality got better as he got older. If you can post examples instead of just ambiguously contradicting it would be helpful.

 

A buddy of mine in the Marines had to read Starship Troopers as part of the standard reading list for promotion. Never figured that all those Jar Heads were literate