Return of the Book Thread

[Engels]

Heh heh, sorry about the name mix up Stray. I corrected the post. Blame it on not enough morning coffee. I too have a beef with self-styled nihilists pushing ole Fred like the little red book at a hippy concert, since it encourages others to dismiss his entire philosophy out of hand, or as something that doesn't merit the time to be read.

As for starting material, I would recommend Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, Ovid's Metamorphoses and Aristotle's Poetics.

A good 'antidote' to Nietzsche would be Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov.

[stray]

I admitted to liking Dostoevsky around here once.

People pointed and laughed.

[WindupAtheist]

Ew, philosophy.

Anyway, I do recall seeing a hardcover collection of Robert E. Howard Conan stories somewhere recently.  I don't have it yet, but I plan on picking it up eventually.  I mean I don't care about the uberleetmensch or whatever, but the old Conan stories just kick ass.  All of my dad's ancient little REH paperbacks have long since dessicated and crumbled.

[Morfiend]

I just finished Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. I enjoyed it. So I read the next one, and that was good to. Now im reading Market Forces.

[Ironwood]

There are 3.  Market Forces is a totally different universe and, to be honest, not as interesting.

Woken Furies, Altered Carbon and, er, the one with Angel in the title.

[Johny Cee]

There are 3.  Market Forces is a totally different universe and, to be honest, not as interesting.

Woken Furies, Altered Carbon and, er, the one with Angel in the title.

Broken Angels.  Not as good,  but still a fun read.

[Sky]

Mmm..zombie movies. There aren't many good ones. The original Night of the Living Dead is by far my favorite for a dramatic zombiflick. My girlfriend hates zombie movies, I've tried to explain that the beauty of NotLD is not the zombies, but the human interaction, human nature defeats them, not the zombies (which are actually extremely easy to overcome). Zombies = plot device.

For comedy zombies, the Return of the Living Dead was a favorite with my band. But the more recent Shaun of the Dead is pretty good, too.

But this is the book thread. Woops. Probably going to have to buy a copy of Cruel Wind by Glen Cook because we don't have it in the library system and I'm just about finished with Soldiers Live.

[Furiously]

I finished the first 3 books in the Taltos series last night. Didn't care for the 3rd one, and the first 2 seemed a bit formulistic.

[WayAbvPar]

I finished the first 3 books in the Taltos series last night. Didn't care for the 3rd one, and the first 2 seemed a bit formulistic.

Philistine!

I just finished Issola and completely loved it. I am sorely tempted to go buy the compendiums of of the first 6 books of the series, since the originals are probably scattered to the 4 corners of the earth by now. The first Taltos book I read (I can't even remember which it was) was given to me by a friend who worked in a bookstore when we were in high school- it was one of the coverless free editions  The good news is I was instantly addicted and have bought 10-15 of Brust's other books, so it was good advertising.

[Lt.Dan]

Thirded. Way back on page one or two of the thread I recommended it to someone who thought all Stephen R. Donaldson wrote was trash, after hating his white gold wielder books.

He definately can write loathsome characters.

Donaldson wrote about that in his little Gap primer in Book One.  He shelved the book for a long time because he thought it revealed something about his own character that he wasn't comfortable with himself.   

[XboxGod]

I have to disagree with some of what Stray(!) says about Nietzsche. Although I am one of those who was an "18 year old wannabe nihilists who don't know a damn thing about life", I continued to read him through my 20s and the more I read, the more influential I saw him to be. I'm now 36 and I still think Nietzsche is very very good stuff.

We take a lot of what he said for granted these days; a lot of his attitudes have taken over the modern consciousness and his stuff now doesn't seem all that special.

I also think that Nietzsche is a good starting place for philosophy in general simply because of his use of the aphorism and common parlance to explain concepts. If you start earlier, with Hegel or even Aristotle, you'll find that you have to learn an entire sublanguage just to 'get' what they are on about.

On the other hand, reading Nietzsche as beginning philosophy is like watching the Daily Show to get your world news. Sometimes you may have enough background on the history of the situation to be in on the joke, but if you're an ignorant putz who doesn't bother picking up the paper, 90% of John Stewart's jokes will fly over your head.

Before Beyond Good and Evil I would recommend starting with The Gay Science. It is often considered the first clear beginning of his thought process and sheds light on many of the obscure and inexplicably dark passsages within BGE.

Edit to fix Stray's name!

Thank you, and Stray, for the in-depth replies. It was a good friend that recommended him, so I am definitely going to check him out.

[Ironwood]

World War Z is awesome.

[stray]

So....Am I the only one who's been reading these new Dune books? They're light reading and all, but the basic gist of these stories have been pretty great.

Up until now, all of the recent novels have been prequels. The new series is a sequel (consisting of 2 novels), and picks up where Chapterhouse Dune ended (Frank Herbert died after writing Chapterhouse, leaving one of the most uneasy feeling cliffhangers ever). The first part of this series was just released --- "Hunters of Dune" --- The second part comes out next year.

If you're a Dune fan, I recommend them (and just in case you were thinking it, these aren't the product of some corporation trying to ransack and cash in on Herbert's legacy. They're based on Frank Herbert's notes and outlines, and written by his son. They seem to be very much a labor of love).

[Furiously]

Picked up the first Black Company book based on this thread. Very good.  Bookstore had the 3rd one and I ordered the 2nd. I cheated a bit and started reading the 3rd.

[WayAbvPar]

After Issola, I broke down and bought the 3 compendiums (Book of Jhereg, Taltos, and Athyra) and am thoroughly enjoying another trip with Vlad and Loiosh.

[Johny Cee]

There are 3.  Market Forces is a totally different universe and, to be honest, not as interesting.

Woken Furies, Altered Carbon and, er, the one with Angel in the title.

Broken Angels.  Not as good,  but still a fun read.

Blah.  Broken Angels is number two in the series,  still very good.

Woken Furies is trending into a false dichotomy of neo-Marxist rebellion vs. nu-feudal pseudo capatalism.

I enjoyed the action (especially since Morgan generally has one huge "WTF???" series of amoral events per book), but the overall plot was...  silly.

[Johny Cee]

Picked up the first Black Company book based on this thread. Very good.  Bookstore had the 3rd one and I ordered the 2nd. I cheated a bit and started reading the 3rd.

You are a lucky bastard, getting to read the Black Company for the first time.

I read most of the books way out of chronological order,  starting with Bleak Seasons to She is the Darkness and back to the beginning, and still thoroughly enjoyed it.  The big love it/hate it point in the series seems to be the Forest of Cloud sequence...  You either go through that and chase down the rest of the books,  or you drop it and demand the book to be banned.

Has anyone picked up A Cruel Wind (by Cook, again)?

I gibber in places about the Dread Empire series being the fundamental basis for most of the recent "dark fantasy" or noir epic fantasy like Erikson and Martin, but people just tend to look at me funny. 

There seems to be a new Bujold fantasy book out.  Unrelated to her previous fantasy works,  and looks to be kicking off a trilogy/series.  The blurb on the cover makes the story sound kind of trite,  but then again Bujold is a damn fine storyteller so who knows.

[Rasix]

I was thinking of picking up A Cruel Wind, but I just finished Soldier's Live and I need a break from Cook.  I take a long time getting through his books due to not always being able to follow the action.  Some of his sequences just throw me for loops.  Plus, man.. a lot of characters met rather perfunctory ends.  At least people went out with a big ass bang in Silver Spike(still my favorite of his, but I enjoyed the entire series). Dunno, reading Cook leaves me satisfied but exhausted.

I picked up Storm Front, the first book of the Dresden Files.  Enjoying it a lot so far. 

So, anyone recommend what series I should dive into next (I may not come out of the Dresden books for a while though)?  Some series I've enjoyed lately: A Song of Fire and Ice, The Black Company (entire run) and admittedly the War of Souls (crappy Dragonlance but fun). Thinking of seeing what these Vlad Taltos or Mazalan Books of the Fallen are all about. Unforunately I can only get them online... the Barnes and Noble near my house likes to stock the latest stuff but doesn't realize people tend to buy series.

[stray]

I picked up the first Song of Ice and Fire book awhile back. Read through about half of it and set it down. It just didn't grab me. I'll finish most books that length in 2 days (if I like them, of course), but I struggled, falling in and out of sleep, just to get through half of that one.

After hearing so much about it though, I figured that'd be the thing to win me over to fantasy (like I've mentioned before, somehow only REH's Conan has appealed to me).

I picked up the first Black Company novel recently too. I haven't cracked it open yet though.


* Not trying to hate. I'm just saying...

 

[Rasix]

I picked up the first Song of Ice and Fire book awhile back. Read through about half of it and set it down. It just didn't grab me. I'll finish most books that length in 2 days (if I like them, of course), but I struggled, falling in and out of sleep, just to get through half of that one.
 

That one didn't really hook me until about 400 pages in.  But I liked it enough to keep reading until that point. My mom who has a fairly high tollerance for fantasy couldn't get remotely far into the book before putting it down. But she gravitates more toward anything Orson Scott Card has written and she absolutely LOVED every Gaiman book I lent her.  She did manage to make it through the first Wheel of Time book and enjoy it, but didn't feel like comitting to the series.

Black Company is a completely different feel.  It took me longer to get into the first book (although in less pages, Cook reads slow).

Now please, before Margalis chimes in with ASOFAI hate (a book thread tradition), can we just suggest me a new series?

[tar]

What kind of new series Rasix? :)

I'm in the middle of re-reading the Exiles series by Julian May, it's been a while but it's just as good as I remember it being. It's sort of fantasy done through the lens of SF, if that makes any sense. Starts with The Many Coloured Land. If you haven't read it already, it's worth giving it a try.

[Sky]

Forest of Cloud? When they set up Whisper for Taking? That's a great scene, how could you not like it? Bah.

I liked the Black Company all the way through, just finished Soldiers Live. I've had the original trilogy since it was published but hadn't read beyond that until this year, it was always my favorite. It got a bit obnoxious toward the end with the constant South stuff, I missed the north and the ever-changing locations and towns. Dejagore this, Taglios that, will the Daughter of Night and Narayan get kidnapped again, will they escape (yes to both every time). It got a bit old, but Cook really wrapped the series up nicely. I was hoping they'd bring the Limper back again, he was such a great enemy who just...wouldn't...die!

I'm thinking I'll have A Cruel Wind under the xmas tree.

I liked Fire & Ice, I wish they hadn't done Jaime so wrong, he was my favorite character. That series is rough on characters.

Now please, before Margalis chimes in with ASOFAI hate (a book thread tradition), can we just suggest me a new series?

Magician by Feist was great. Cook, Martin and Feist are probably my favorite fantasy authors.

[WayAbvPar]

I picked up the first Song of Ice and Fire book awhile back. Read through about half of it and set it down. It just didn't grab me. I'll finish most books that length in 2 days (if I like them, of course), but I struggled, falling in and out of sleep, just to get through half of that one.
 

That one didn't really hook me until about 400 pages in.  But I liked it enough to keep reading until that point. My mom who has a fairly high tollerance for fantasy couldn't get remotely far into the book before putting it down. But she gravitates more toward anything Orson Scott Card has written and she absolutely LOVED every Gaiman book I lent her.  She did manage to make it through the first Wheel of Time book and enjoy it, but didn't feel like comitting to the series.

Black Company is a completely different feel.  It took me longer to get into the first book (although in less pages, Cook reads slow).

Now please, before Margalis chimes in with ASOFAI hate (a book thread tradition), can we just suggest me a new series?

Here

$11 + shipping, or buy all "Book of"s and get free shipping.

[Rasix]

$11 + shipping, or buy all "Book of"s and get free shipping.

Gyah, 3 bucks cheaper than Barnes and Noble even with my membership card.  I wouldn't have bought this stupid card if they weren't a mere mile from my house.

I'll have to check out Feist too.  Blurbs make it sound like something I'd really like.

I think it's time to go on a book buying binge.  So much good stuff. And unlike games, they're platform independent.   Where am I going to find the time? I guess I'll just have to forgo sleep until New Year.

[WayAbvPar]

Yeah, I have a B&N card too, and Amazon almost always beats their online prices (especially if you buy $25+ and go for the cheap shipping). I still buy enough books in the B&M B&Ns  to cover the cost of the card (and I get decent email offers all the time that further mitigate the cost), but it would be nice if they could beat the 'zon.

Feist's first series (Magician/Riftwar) is fantastic, as is the Daughter of the Empire stuff with Janny Wurts (sp?). His later stuff was good, but not up to the standards of those two, IMHO.

[Furiously]

I love being able to buy used on Amazon. Just thought I would add that in.

[Sky]

What's the proper order for that taltos stuff? I'd like to check out the first one in the series and know which order to reserve them (libraries, people, libraries ;)). Thanks.

[Rasix]

What's the proper order for that taltos stuff? I'd like to check out the first one in the series and know which order to reserve them (libraries, people, libraries ;)). Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Brust

   1. Jhereg (1983)
   2. Yendi (1984)
   3. Teckla (1987)
   4. Taltos (1988)
   5. Phoenix (1990)
   6. Athyra (1993)
   7. Orca (1996)
   8. Dragon (1998)
   9. Issola (2001)
  10. Dzur (2006)

There's also "Book of" omnibuses you can pick up: Book of Jhereg, Book of Taltos and Book of Athyra.

As for libraries, eh, I like having the book when I'm done with it.  I like sticking it on the shelf and then being able to return to it anytime I can.  I like having a collection of books I love.  It's kind of the same with renting games for me. 

[Morat20]

Read Wee Free Men and Hat Full of Sky last week -- Prachett's "teen" witch books. I think at this point he'd be hard pressed to write a bad book, and he'd have to work just to write a mediocare one. I enjoyed both of them -- a lot. Enough so that I preordered Winterspring. I also finished up Nix's Abhorsen books -- really good as well.

I just finished The Initiate Brother and am working on Gatherer of Clouds. I think the author's name is Russel. They were loaned to me by a friend. Pretty good fantasy in a pseudo-China setting. It's really good -- has a solid feel for the culture and world he's built.

[WayAbvPar]

The publishing order is as Rasix posted (which is probably the easiest way to read them, especially with the omnibuses). The chronological order the events take place in would be Taltos, Yendi, Jhereg, Teckla, Phoenix, Athyra, Orca, Dragon, Issola, Dzur. Some day I will read them in that order and see how it flows.

 

As for libraries, eh, I like having the book when I'm done with it.  I like sticking it on the shelf and then being able to return to it anytime I can.  I like having a collection of books I love.  It's kind of the same with renting games for me.

Same for me. I love to re-read my favorites every few years, or be able to loan it to a friend who I think would enjoy it.

[Sky]

You guys hate freedom.

[WayAbvPar]

I am starting to lean toward libraries for some of the 'current events' books I read, since they are soon irrelevant and I will almost assuredly never read them again. Someone needs to start a Netflix spin off for books, since I am way to lazy to actually get to the library.

[stray]

I'm not much of a collector of things, but I do like collecting books. And if I end up really liking something, I'll go out of my way to get antique and/or fancy editions of these things.

As for popular fiction books mentioned in this thread -- It just doesn't cost much to snatch up a cheap paperback somewhere. Half of the time, if I go to a library, these novels are checked out anyways. And once I have my mind made up to read something, I don't feel like waiting.

[Sky]

Learn Hold-Fu. I usually start placing holds well in advance of when I want to read something. Of course, working here and being fine-exempt helps me keep stuff on the shelf longer :) I was going to nab that Musharraf book but it already slipped out, damned patrons are quick. I just leaned on a librarian to order the new Dawkins book, I  Dickie Dawkins. Also need to get a hold on the new Woodward.

I buy a lot of books, mostly used books because I'm cheap. Ok, not so much cheap as not wealthy. But it's a mishmash of stuff. The ability to get most books within a couple days (even if it's checked out, there's another copy in the system somewhere) has spoiled me.

[Righ]

I assume that libraries vary greatly from county to county and state to state over here. The one near us charges $1.50 + tax to borrow a single book for one week. When considering pulp fiction, you'd be as well to just buy used paperbacks.