ThunderPeel2001

Books, books, books...

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Southern Reach really got under my skin--especially all of Annihilation--and unnerved me. It was definitely my favorite series of 2014.

 

When Control is hallucinating, and he sees Psychologist with Area X behind her ready to invade Southern Reach agency. FUCK! That scared me.

 

Right now, I'm going through The Moor's Account and  The Book of Night Women

 

The Book of Night Women is a hard read because of how it's written: 
 

 

"Every negro walk in a circle. Take that and make of it what you will. A circle like the sun, a circle like the moon, a circle like bad tidings that seem gone but always, always come back.”

 

But once you get into the flow of the language, it's quite hypnotizing.

 

It's a painful read though.

 

“People think blood red, but blood don't got no color. Not when blood wash the floor she lying on as she scream for that son of a bitch to come, the lone baby of 1785. Not when the baby wash in crimson and squealing like it just depart heaven to come to hell, another place of red. Not when the midwife know that the mother shed too much blood, and she who don't reach fourteen birthday yet speak curse 'pon the chile and the papa, and then she drop down dead like old horse. Not when blood spurt from the skin, on spring from the axe, the cat-o'-nine, the whip, the cane and the blackjack and every day in slave life is a day that colour red. It soon come to pass when red no different from white or blue or black or nothing. Two black legs spread wide and mother mouth screaming. A black baby wiggling in blood on the floor with skin darker than midnight but the greenest eyes anybody ever done seen. I goin' call her Lilith. You can call her what they call her.”

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It wasn't bad, but it needed an editor. I almost think it a shame that it's so long, because reading it makes me think of the possibilities that other writers could find in Hamilton's vision. It's not like there's a shortage of things to borrow, in that great mass of text...

 

Hamilton re-threads alot of the Night Dawn trilogy with his commonwealth book with a focus on some of the idea's he had in the original. Still needs an editor and his endings are still not great. 

 

Vandermeer's thing is alienating creepiness, I love his Ambergris works as well for that. I'll have to check out Southern Reach.

 

Really liked his City of Saints and Madmen book but I got about half way through the first book of the southern trilogy and lost any interest in reading anymore. The weirdness he is famous for worked really well when focused on a fictional city and it's history but out on the wilderness I lost all interest. I think I have read so many short stories with a similar premise that Annihilation felt like one that over stayed it's welcome. 

 

I have been meaning to go back to Memory, Sorrow and Thorn as well as Otherland his cyberpunkish series since I only read the last book of each many years ago. I started the first book of his Shaowmarch series but dropped it in about 50 pages cause I am mostly done with stories with children who have mysterious past and a princess unhappy with the restricted role they have in their society (which from what I can remember both are also present in M,S&T).

 

That said I tore through Kate Elliot's Black wolves in a couple of days which has a strong focus on women unhappy with the restricted roles in their societies but Elliot  has always put alot more thought into that part of fantasy than 99% of those who have that particular trope. She is also a fantasy writer who uses actual history as an inspiration for her books and not the pseudo medieval European  D&D/Tolkien influenced history of alot of fantasy writers I have read. Also good person to follow on twitter for interesting history books to check out especially if you have an interest in the history of trade.

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I just finished Of Mice And Men, only a few pages in I gave George and Lennie the voices of George and Junior from the Avery cartoons, only to find out they were based on them.

 

And.... I'm incredible bummed out by the ending...How did I not see it coming? 

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Maybe this belongs in the Idle Workouts thread, but I've started to do yoga while reading and today I read The Secret Garden, it was quite charming, but was there a trend to have stories of ill children getting better with the power of friendship and nature or are this and Heidi of the Alps the only ones who do this?

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All the ones I can think of are just orphans that got sent to rural locations and brought joy to the townspeople (Pollyanna & Anne of Green Gables) rather than sick children cured by nature. (The Secret Garden, Pollyanna & Anne of Green Gables all came out between 1900 & 1910, so i think it is certainly a trend of idealizing the power of positivity, friendship and nature.)

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Since Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies seem to be fairly well regarded around these parts (and pretty much everywhere, I suppose), would anyone happen to have any recommendations in a similar vein? I struggled through Wolf Hall but fell totally in love with 'Bodies (the book was good too, hurr hurr). I think the historical aspect was nice, but the pacing and character development absolutely sucked me in. I'm hesitant to go further into Mantel's back-catalogue since I suspect her earlier work will be more similar to Wolf Hall (if not 'worse'), but that's based on my assumption that the quality of 'Bodies is a product of her development throughout her career.

 

So in short, does anybody have any suggestions for "if you liked Bring Up The Bodies, you might like..."? I need to stock up on novels for my holiday reading.  

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I'm only as familiar with Pollyanna & Anne of Green Gables as touchstones in children's literature aimed at girls. I never read them as they're super old and lacked the charm of Mary Poppins to me to get me to read something old when I was little. Pollyanna is useful to know about as that name because a short hand for a goody two shoes with unfappably sunny outlook on life, usually denoting someone naive.

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So in short, does anybody have any suggestions for "if you liked Bring Up The Bodies, you might like..."? I need to stock up on novels for my holiday reading.

 

Also, thanks to Goodreads, I now know which book I'm going to pick up once I'm done with Bring Up the Bodies:

Choke Hold by Christa Faust

"Angel Dare went into Witness Protection to escape her past—not as a porn star, but as a killer who took down the sex slavery ring that destroyed her life. But sometimes the past just won’t stay buried. When a former co-star is murdered, it’s up to Angel to get his son, a hotheaded MMA fighter, safely through the unforgiving Arizona desert, shady Mexican bordertowns, and the seductive neon mirage of Las Vegas..."

 

(This is a genuine "Because you are reading Bring Up the Bodies..." recommendation from Goodreads)

 

Somehow I doubt this is what you are looking for, though.

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Since Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies seem to be fairly well regarded around these parts (and pretty much everywhere, I suppose), would anyone happen to have any recommendations in a similar vein? I struggled through Wolf Hall but fell totally in love with 'Bodies (the book was good too, hurr hurr). I think the historical aspect was nice, but the pacing and character development absolutely sucked me in. I'm hesitant to go further into Mantel's back-catalogue since I suspect her earlier work will be more similar to Wolf Hall (if not 'worse'), but that's based on my assumption that the quality of 'Bodies is a product of her development throughout her career.

So in short, does anybody have any suggestions for "if you liked Bring Up The Bodies, you might like..."? I need to stock up on novels for my holiday reading.

may I recommend:

The Son

All the Light We Cannot See

The Narrow Road to the North

The Bully of Order

Shadow Country

Blood Meridian

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Thanks for the suggestions! I've made a note of all of them. Blood Meridian is one of favorite novels actually. Shadow Country sounds like something up my alley, and is now ready on my Kindle :D

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Marlon James, winner of the Booker award, is going to be writing a new book!

 

"geek the fuck out" and create his own fantasy series, kicking off with a book called Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which he describes as "an African Game of Thrones." As James puts it, "I realized how sick and tired I was of arguing about whether there should be a black hobbit in Lord of the Rings. African folklore is just as rich, and just as perverse as that shit. We have witches, we have demons, we have goblins, and mad kings. We have stories of royal succession that would put Wolf Hall to shame. We beat the Tudors two times over

http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/marlon-jamess-new-book-will-be-an-african-got.html?mid=fb-share-vulture

 

What really gets me down is the amount of detail he's going to put down. Never cared for such things, even if he's exaggerating a bit.

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Marlon James, winner of the Booker award, is going to be writing a new book!

 

http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/marlon-jamess-new-book-will-be-an-african-got.html?mid=fb-share-vulture

 

What really gets me down is the amount of detail he's going to put down. Never cared for such things, even if he's exaggerating a bit.

 

I'd still give it a try. In a glib way he's basically describing Infinite Jest and while I still haven't completed it (and feel comfortable in not) I did get a lot of enjoyment in it's dense footnotes and side stories.

But at the same time I am wary of someone planning to throw down a whole bunch of lore. 

 

Anyway I've mostly been reading trashy fantasy and sci fi novels set around the W 40k universe. I grabbed a whole bunch of their epubs and well, they're just there. I know they're bad but some of them are just decent enough to enjoy and they help me worldbuild for trpg campaigns. 

I've been finally digging into Terry Pratchett at the same time and loving it. He's truly the best fantasy writer for me; I shouldn't have put him off because of his goofy cover art.

 

These holidays I'm either going to re-read The Luminaries or start Wolfe Hall. Honestly it'll probably be the former because it fits in better with being half drunk at a lakeside in summer. 

 

With the new year I might finally be able to go and find some decent books to buy and I'm thinking The Goldfinch by Donna Tart and The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood. But if anyone has any other suggestions for well voiced character novels I'm all ears.

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I'd still give it a try. In a glib way he's basically describing Infinite Jest and while I still haven't completed it (and feel comfortable in not) I did get a lot of enjoyment in it's dense footnotes and side stories.

 

He is describing the last 100 pages of Return of the Kings which is appendices covering the entire history of Middle Earth till the last of the fellowship leave Middle Earth properly ending the Age of the Ring or Age of the fellowship. Can't quite remember but the entries covering the death/departure of the remaining members is still something that makes me a bit sad. Also he tells how to read/speak Elvish and Dwarfish. But Tolkien did that cause he was really interested in language and he kinda worked backward from that to the races to the history to what would become the series. 

 

The African Games of Thrones could be NK Jemisin's Hundred thousand kingdoms or the Acacia Trilogy by David Anthony Durham Samuel R Delany's Return to Neveryon series would be  of a Conan/LOTR series. As a couple writers I follow on twitter pointed out James seems like another "literary" writer making claims about breaking rules of the genre while not being aware people are already doing that.

 

It is a pretty cool title  and African history and mythology is full of material that could make for some great books.

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Since Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies seem to be fairly well regarded around these parts (and pretty much everywhere, I suppose), would anyone happen to have any recommendations in a similar vein? I struggled through Wolf Hall but fell totally in love with 'Bodies (the book was good too, hurr hurr). I think the historical aspect was nice, but the pacing and character development absolutely sucked me in. I'm hesitant to go further into Mantel's back-catalogue since I suspect her earlier work will be more similar to Wolf Hall (if not 'worse'), but that's based on my assumption that the quality of 'Bodies is a product of her development throughout her career.
 
So in short, does anybody have any suggestions for "if you liked Bring Up The Bodies, you might like..."? I need to stock up on novels for my holiday reading.  

 

If you enjoy the political machinations and intrigue of Mantel's books, I'd recommend Jean le Carre. The Spy Who Came in From the ColdTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; and Smiley's People are all fantastic.

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Good recommendation! While le Carre's and Mantel's writing are quite different in many ways, they both have a relatively subdued style that I find very pleasing. My favorite of le Carre's is Smiley's People but you should probably begin with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy if you haven't already read it (or seen the movie).

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They also both do that thing where the main character knows more about a plan or conspiracy than they let on to the reader. 

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Go back! It's really something else. Some passages hit uncomfortably close to home for me.

I've gone back... I'm really enjoying it this time round. Just got up to Haven. Favourite so far is To Reach Japan... Or Amundsen. Appreciated/ understood Amundsen a lot more the second time.

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He is describing the last 100 pages of Return of the Kings which is appendices covering the entire history of Middle Earth till the last of the fellowship leave Middle Earth properly ending the Age of the Ring or Age of the fellowship. Can't quite remember but the entries covering the death/departure of the remaining members is still something that makes me a bit sad. Also he tells how to read/speak Elvish and Dwarfish. But Tolkien did that cause he was really interested in language and he kinda worked backward from that to the races to the history to what would become the series.

The African Games of Thrones could be NK Jemisin's Hundred thousand kingdoms or the Acacia Trilogy by David Anthony Durham Samuel R Delany's Return to Neveryon series would be of a Conan/LOTR series. As a couple writers I follow on twitter pointed out James seems like another "literary" writer making claims about breaking rules of the genre while not being aware people are already doing that.

It is a pretty cool title and African history and mythology is full of material that could make for some great books.

Ahk. It's been so long since I read LOTR and I found it a real struggle in sustaining patience. I've forgotten most of the Appendix material which is funny since I read that the most.

Also I guess that's fair enough that he's not reinventing anything that hasn't come before but the idea just grabbed/reminded me how cool that would be and I got caught in the enthusiasm. I'll check out those sometime.

What do people think of The Goldfinch? The people at my favourite bookstore gave it some glowing recommendations last time I was there for long. Does it still stand up? Does anything else similar blow it away?

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I think he's making general jokes about dense fantasy novels rather than specifically referring to LOTR's appendices (which didn't describe villages for hundreds of pages or talk about magic techniques). He may well be entirely joking and not intend to have huge blocks of exposition at all...

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I got a massive pile of books for Christmas. Including 3 David Lynch flavoured ones

An oral history of twin peaks, the man from another place, Catching the Big fish, death by Video game, Ebert's great movies.

Dunno where to start.

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