Arthur Clarke - Rendezvous With Rama.
I'm completely hooked on sci-fi.

Have anyone read Alchemist ? Any comment on it ?

I'm in the slow, slow process of reading all of the "War of the Spider Queen" novels. Last one I read was insurrection, which was pretty cool. There's not really too much to say about it, continued the story from dissolution without changing too much. Swords, magic (lack thereof as well) and elves.

The outsider - albert camus

Written by Darth Revan on 21.02.2014 at 06:12

I'm in the slow, slow process of reading all of the "War of the Spider Queen" novels. Last one I read was insurrection, which was pretty cool. There's not really too much to say about it, continued the story from dissolution without changing too much. Swords, magic (lack thereof as well) and elves.

I was DMing for a Neverwinter Nights server (and playing drow) when I read it, so I mostly enjoyed it for the information value. It found it very uneven, though. Some of the writers are really boring, others are quite good. I didn't like the first book (I think?), because it had too much action and the D&D basis was stressed in some awkwardly obvious ways - like the description of how Pharaun casts a Bigby's Forceful (or Grasping?) Hand spell. And later you'll get a very unorthodox use of Time Stop. It was a decent series, insofar as throwaway WotC fantasy goes, but often I felt it was a bit too obvious about advertising and advancing the story of a game setting, rather than telling a good self-contained story. Never was a fan of gods having a go at it, anyhow. (If you want to read a great example of lower-key FR adventure, you should check out the City of Splendors Waterdeep novel.)

Last Words - George Carlin and Tony Hendra.

Everything you want to know about genius George. Amazing life span he had.

Gene wolfe - book of the new sun

Totally overated and boring

Latitude Zero by Windsor Chorlton

This was actually pretty damn good being a type of story line i wouldn't usually go for. A plane crashes making for a lord of the flies type scenario and shit hits the fan every way imaginable. Never gets boring with lots of surprises, but not surprises to drastic to be real or fuck up the story line.

Next book is "Druids" by Morgan Llywelyn which also sounds really good.

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin.

Book 5 of his A Song of Ice and Fire series (The books that the TV show Game of Thrones is based on). Finally starting it after taking about half a year to read book 4 (A Feast for Crows). I really like this series but AFFC was a massive drag for the most part. I'm really excited to get through ADwD though as many of the characters missing (some of which are my favorites) from the previous book will pop back up. I'd like to get through this one pretty swiftly as the TV adaptation will be showing some of this material in the current season.

Written by Silent Jay on 16.04.2014 at 13:51

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin.

Book 5 of his A Song of Ice and Fire series (The books that the TV show Game of Thrones is based on). Finally starting it after taking about half a year to read book 4 (A Feast for Crows). I really like this series but AFFC was a massive drag for the most part. I'm really excited to get through ADwD though as many of the characters missing (some of which are my favorites) from the previous book will pop back up. I'd like to get through this one pretty swiftly as the TV adaptation will be showing some of this material in the current season.

never even watched a single episode of game of thrones, the media rave on about it so much i thought it's got to be commercialized crud. I bet the books are way better ?

Written by Guest on 16.04.2014 at 16:53
never even watched a single episode of game of thrones, the media rave on about it so much i thought it's got to be commercialized crud. I bet the books are way better ?

You should probably watch it and form your own opinion rather than assuming it's bad simply because it's popular. Makes you sound like a bit of a hipster douchebag - not saying you are one, but definitely makes you sound like one.

Finished the Red Sphinx. It got better towards the end, but my original impression was fairly accurate. Clinging to historical events and probably outright inserting source material (like a diary entry from the king's physician) happened at the expense of storytelling, but still a decent read. The Finnish translation was amateurish though.

The Return of Martin Guerre, by Natalie Zemon Davis. A small classic of social/microhistory. She writes well and the story is quite amazing (as you will know if you've seen the movie, which she also consulted on), and yet she doesn't resort to flights of fancy or overt popularizing. Martin Guerre leaves his wife in a French village in the 1500s to wander around Europe. Another guy comes to town posing as Martin Guerre and continuing life with the wife. After some time people start to wonder (or, rather, have reason to do something about what they knew from the start?) and there's a trial to determine his identity. It might turn in his favor, but then the real Martin Guerre returns. Dramatic!

The History of England volume I: Foundation, by Peter Ackroyd. Ackroyd is not a historian, and it shows. Way too popular for my tastes, with absolutely source references or other footnotes. I am also not too fond of his unanalytical, smug, witty yet pompous style. He writes really short paragraphs and might juxtapose completely unrelated facts or end chapters in some banality in an attempt to say something profound. All that said, the book was very readable, entertaining and quite successful in telling the story of England from prehistory to Henry VII. And he did have an argument and interpretation of his own, regarding continuity, as vague as it was. If you dig historical overviews that span a long time, this one is worth a read.

The Trial, by Franz Kafka. A bit uneven. The best part was the second-to-last chapter, which integrated the famous parable he previous released as Before the Law. It was hilarious, absurd and distressing at times, but Kafka never finished it (it was posthumously edited) so the story isn't quite coherent, and at least my personal interpretation of events is sort of contradicted by the ending. Something might be missing there.


And aloud, we read some medieval sources:

The Confession of Saint Patrick and Letter to Coroticus, in translation by John Skinner. Generic early medieval/late ancient spiritual autobiography/apology. It had some interesting and entertaining historical details, and it's always fun to read letters and other works where the author is trying to justify himself or affect the behavior of others, but Patrick definitely was not a literary mastermind. I mean, contemporary to Augustine and Jerome, literary giants, he is more interesting as a saint than as a writer.

Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charlemagne). I have not read Suetonius' lives of the emperors, but apparently Einhard modeled his work on them. Concise and readable work that, for the modern reader, gets more interesting towards the end when it describes Charlemagne's life, character and property (rather than what wars he fought where). A quick read, two short sessions, so I can recommend it to anyone interested in history or biographies. Won't take much of your life, and it is one of the most important secular biographies of Western culture.

Written by Guest on 16.04.2014 at 16:53

Written by Silent Jay on 16.04.2014 at 13:51

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin.

Book 5 of his A Song of Ice and Fire series (The books that the TV show Game of Thrones is based on). Finally starting it after taking about half a year to read book 4 (A Feast for Crows). I really like this series but AFFC was a massive drag for the most part. I'm really excited to get through ADwD though as many of the characters missing (some of which are my favorites) from the previous book will pop back up. I'd like to get through this one pretty swiftly as the TV adaptation will be showing some of this material in the current season.

never even watched a single episode of game of thrones, the media rave on about it so much i thought it's got to be commercialized crud. I bet the books are way better ?

I thought the same for a while. Even watched the first episode and didn't think it was all that. Then sometime between the second and third seasons I went back and gave it another go... now I'm hooked. Its a really well done show and easily one of the best shows on television. After watching those two seasons I decided to start reading the books as I heard that there was much more to it that what was shown on the show. The books go into a lot more detail, has more sub-plots, characters and history. I definitely recommend them if fantasy novels are your thing. Though the show can at times feel very underwhelming after reading the books, and a few changes do make me cringe in frustration, I feel it still does a good job considering the limitations of a television show and is as faithful of an adaption as it can be.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 16.04.2014 at 18:31

Written by Guest on 16.04.2014 at 16:53
never even watched a single episode of game of thrones, the media rave on about it so much i thought it's got to be commercialized crud. I bet the books are way better ?

You should probably watch it and form your own opinion rather than assuming it's bad simply because it's popular. Makes you sound like a bit of a hipster douchebag - not saying you are one, but definitely makes you sound like one.

there's plenty of the same sort of sex violence ridden medieval shows out there already, so i had good reason to make the assumption.

Maybe you should lay off the beers or get over your hang over or something

Quote:

Written by Silent Jay on 16.04.2014 at 21:29

I thought the same for a while. Even watched the first episode and didn't think it was all that. Then sometime between the second and third seasons I went back and gave it another go... now I'm hooked. Its a really well done show and easily one of the best shows on television. After watching those two seasons I decided to start reading the books as I heard that there was much more to it that what was shown on the show. The books go into a lot more detail, has more sub-plots, characters and history. I definitely recommend them if fantasy novels are your thing. Though the show can at times feel very underwhelming after reading the books, and a few changes do make me cringe in frustration, I feel it still does a good job considering the limitations of a television show and is as faithful of an adaption as it can be.

i usually like fantasy, more on the historical fiction side though. If i do check this out it will definitely be the books as they always seem to be better.

Written by Guest on 17.04.2014 at 06:39
there's plenty of the same sort of sex violence ridden medieval shows out there already, so i had good reason to make the assumption.

Maybe you should lay off the beers or get over your hang over or something

All I'm saying is if you're going to judge a series (be it movie or book) without having seen it, it says a lot about how you allow external influence to dictate your tastes. Wasn't drunk or hungover at the time of posting either.

Haven't read a full book in years, but I think the last one was Pirate life, by Anders Odden. Biography.

Last fictional book was Pillars of the earth by Ken Follett.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 17.04.2014 at 15:15


All I'm saying is if you're going to judge a series (be it movie or book) without having seen it, it says a lot about how you allow external influence to dictate your tastes.

it's just i have been recommended those medieval tv series before by friends and a over hyped media before, and i have rarely got past one episode.

The way i made an assumption about a Hollywood tv series without seeing it doesn't say a lot about how i allow external influence to dictate my tastes...also i just said i thought it's got to be, not it IS crud

I will always hear music before i judge it, well maybe not the new lady gaga, no matter how much the media goes on about it

Quote:
Wasn't drunk or hungover at the time of posting either.

sorry you said you had been on the piss and stuff and your posts are usually more tactful

Has anyone read Metalion's Slayer Mag Diaries? I heard it was pretty good. I'm considering buying it. How about Black Metal: Evolution of The Cult? Anyone?

Druids by Morgan Llywelyn

This was a great book, based on the people of Gaul and there domination by Julius Cesar. The main character is a druid helping out the non fictional warrior Vercingetorix who gathered bickering tribes to give Ceaser a run for his money.

The Silmarillion

Fuck this was a cunt of a read, and not really worth it. Its like trying to read a poetic history book about Lord of the Rings, I would rather read a history book about something that actually happened to be honest.

Written by Guest on 13.05.2014 at 03:36
I would rather read a history book about something that actually happened to be honest.

yeah I AGREE.

What was so heavy about the Silmarillion? It's pretty straightforward prose with little long-winded description or commentary, and a lot of action/story. And the fact that the master narrative is framed by individual episodes made it, for me, easy to digest. You don't really need to remember how the world was created in the first book to appreciate the story of Beren and Lúthien, for example.

What I like about it, among other things, is that it blurs the line of the setting and its literary representation. It reads a bit like, not just some historical textbook, but like an in-setting historical epic. It weaves separate stories into a single mythology, and to a lesser extent different styles/genres of writing. There are elements of Scandinavian sagas, medieval epic poems, national romantic epics, and of course the Biblical allusions of the story (it is all about exile from paradise and the diaspora of a people, after all), and I think that adds a new level of cool to it. It's always interesting to read literary reinterpretations of the traditional building blocks of our culture. Joyce did it one way in Ulysses, Lewis was quite transparent in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Tolkien has integrated them a little deeper into his alternate world.

Written by IronAngel on 14.05.2014 at 16:25

What was so heavy about the Silmarillion?

It's a hard read, just google it and you will see the world agrees.

Sounds like you are a bit of a book or LOTR nerd with more patience than your average reader...i'm not sure if i envy you or not.

Haven't finished reading it yet but I've been reading "Burton & Swinburne in the Strange Affairs of Spring-Heeled Jack" by Mark Hodder. Already read Clockwork Man and decided to go back to the first in the series because boy do I love Hodder's brilliant take on using real life characters and throwing them into a fantasy world and played it out as if the choices they made in real life weren't made here.

Finally had time to read something during free time instead of being stuck with mostly yawn-inducing academic books... And decided to pick up the first book of the Malazan Book of The Fallen series.

Twas enjoyable but had flaws that make me feel ambivalent. Well written, fast paced and easy to understand and entertaining episodes in the plot. So that's good.
But I couldn't get past all the super-magic-wizards everywhere, where everything is explained and has to do with fucking magic-spells-of-dreadful-death. I can't bear that kind of fantasy. Annoys me very much.
Character development and interaction is also quite lacking unfortunately, seems all the solutions pass through killing each other in battle. I like a touch (or rather A LOT) of complicated political intrigues and character deepness (I won't deny I started the book after some recommendation coz of my A Song Of Ice And Fire fanboyism ), mostly absent here. So that was quite dissapointing too. Kruppe and Whiskeyjack were interesting though (did I mention most of the names a ridicoulous too ? ). The plot itself is not too intrincate and quite predictable, it's mystery relying more on squeezing a maximum amount of characters in a same place to make it intriguing.....

Gets a extrapoint for Caladan Brood. Each time I read the name I had that cheese keyboard melody from Echoes of Battle song ringing in mah head .

Written by Guest on 21.02.2014 at 06:53

The outsider - albert camus

One of my favourite books.

I'm not much of a reader though, I used to be and now I've finally went to the local library and slowly started back. So currently I'm finishing [/i]Mozart[/i] by Paul Barz - the biography of - well d00h - the music genious known by the name Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I'm quite enjoying is, especially since it's written so that every other chapter is a retrospective to Wolfgang's childhood and every other takes place in "current time" and follows the story of Wolfgang since age of 4 and later on from the time of his 20s.

I read at least 50 books this year already (which is a lot for me). The last one was The Princess Bride, which was okayish.

Crash by JG Ballard
At times shocking reading.

Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
Starts as a "biography" about himself, but evolves into a horror story.

Dan Brown - Inferno

This is annoying.

I'm not getting a PDF version of Napalm and Silly Putty. If someone find it, can you just drop me a pm?

Blow job in return is waiting for you.