Chatterbox: Literature Edition

Someone somewhere here mentioned the Gormenghast trilogy in passing, I was curious, and oh look, my library had a large illustrated edition!

I have not yet started on it. It's refreshing to have a book that I don't actually know much about beforehand, so I cherish the feeling.

edited 14th Dec '16 3:17:54 PM by maus42

^Woohoo! Are the illustrations by Peake himself?

So I'm reading Brent Weeks The Lightbringer Series and it strikes me as being very similar to something Brandon Sanderson might have written. Anyone want to compare and contrast? Note: Weeks earlier stuff was much darker.

Yes! The book is still resting on my desk, but on Wednesday is the final exam of the finals week, and after that I have nothing but a holiday week and books to spend it upon...

^Enjoy! Peake is one of my favourite artists ever. I enjoy his poetry a great deal.

Read The Hunger Games to be more optimistic about our future. I can really sense the author fatigue near the end of Mockingjay.

While I was at community college, I took a fantasy fiction class. Three books assigned to us were the Bartimaeus Trilogy. The second book properly introduced me to the concept of a Golem and I'm glad it did because this version kept its Jewish roots which I found fascinating.

Why good books don't have attention they deserved but bad ones are known by everyone? I've just find in library old book A Deadly Presence by Hjalmar Thesen and this book is just amazing. Go and read it - you won't regret I promise.

edited 29th Apr '17 10:58:23 PM by Ladyofpayne

There's uncountably more bad books that no one knows about than the opposite, if it helps.

You know, I'm just curious... Are there any tropers who are fans of Arabic literature? And I'm not talking old-timey stuff like the Arabian Nights; I'm talking modern Arabic literature.

Granted, I'm not a literature person in the first place, but I technically have read some Arabic novels, in the form of Nabil Farouk's Ragol Al Mostaheel (Man of the Impossible) and Malaf Al Mostakbal (The Future File). Even if it took me until about a decade ago to realize that the dogmatic nature of the pro-Arab nationalism in it and how its portrayals of unpopular non-Arabic countries (particularly the USA, the UK, and Israel) were rife with gross exaggerations of their negative traits and glossing over of any positive traits. And even though I felt betrayed by the author as the quality of the storylines increasingly degraded until the last dozen or so issues seemed to be horribly rushed, as if Mr. Farouk just got fed up with his work (seriously, Malaf Al Mostakbal's finale was a genuinely mediocre Gainax Ending).

I've been reading Franz Kafka's The Castle.

I've never read any of his work prior to this but I find it quite a fascinating read. The society and systems described in it are bizarre and opaque to the point of absurdity, but I think it works because it's an extremely apt representation of how we perceive a lot of the systems in our own society. It's hard not to root for K given how much of an asshole almost everyone is to him and how every victory seems inconsequential.

Looks like William Gibson is writing a new book. Because its AH, I hope it is depressing...

Have you ever read The Metamorphosis? It was weird but enjoyable in its own way; a Slice of Life where the main character is a bug, giving it a dream-like quality. Though the ending had me wondering what the point was supposed to be...

What I like about The Castle is that unlike his other stories that center around a helpless victim of circumstances, K. gives as good as he gets. I must confess that in his abuse of the assistants I see my own behaviour towards some people, including my brother.

Currently being emotionally compromised after reading Song of Achilles after seeing it on my professor list of Recommend Reading in my Literature class.

Currently being blown away by Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Man, can this guy write!

I love Journey to the west (obviously).

I read Sufficiently Advanced Magic last night.

I really enjoyed it. It was a little rough around the edges, especially with the dialogue in a few of the scenes.

But I really liked the way the magic system was explored.

I wouldn't put it in any of my top 10 lists or anything, but I'll definitely read book 2 when it comes out in a month or so.

Who is it by?

It's by Andrew Rowe. Here is a link to the amazaon page.

I don't believe it has a physical release.

edited 31st Mar '18 6:37:26 PM by 32ndfreeze

I finished The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. It's a daringly unconventional novel which makes the city of Chicago come alive to the reader as it changes over sixty years, with impeccable prose and period detail, but is perhaps the first novel where I felt the main plot was not just weak but a negative to the overall quality. At its worst it felt like a scrapbook of passages from great novels arranged at random.

I'd like to make a review, but I would have to make an article for it first. Would anyone join in?

Does anyone know the name of the girl in the article image for Everybody Loves Large Chests?

Edited by MarqFJA on Nov 9th 2018 at 6:45:41 PM

I just noticed that the Fortune De France series (French novels), which is among my favorites, was now being published in English language. The first book, from 1977, was published as The Brethren in 2014.

I just created the work page; this is very nice swashbuckling adventure (except for a low level of Hollywood History) if you don't mind a slow start with much exposition. In fact the first book is more about everyday life in 16th century rural France, than adventure, which doesn't mean there are no dangers.

Edited by gropcbf on Nov 14th 2018 at 2:44:49 PM

Thanks for starting a page. I've checked the first book out from the library a couple times and seem to always end up having to return it, but it seems really interesting and I hope to read the full series as more of the translated volumes come out.

I've been watching Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Die Neue These and I can't stop thinking that Yang Wang-Li and Jack Geary ought to make a support group for Peace Yearning Admirals saddled with idiot Governments.

Maybe get latter days Pre-Disney Wedge Antilles in there too.

Edited by 3of4 on Nov 12th 2018 at 11:02:47 AM