Discovered Authors 2010

[GOLLUM]

I like the layout,look of penguin black classic books but isnt there books like those without the notes ?

Very annoying those notes for me, they are trying to explain harpies are/mean,what Soho in London is. Come on like i havent heard of Soho before and dont know simple english words....

Yes but you have to appreciate not everyone may have knowledge about certain aspects relating to these items. They also frequently have many helpful notes relating to items that are not that obvious/often obscure to most readers unless you're a specialist in a particular field or period of literature.

Certainly there are editions without the notes. The most notable being Vintage. They mostly just give you the basic text. As I find the annotated texts very helpful I tend to buy OUP and Penguin Black Classic. Norton are probably the best at annotations and providing ancillary information, which as a general rule, can often help to enrich the reading experience.

 

[GOLLUM]

Okay, sounds good. I get to escape from my wife for about an hour this morning, maybe I'll sneak over there and pick it up.

Please let me know how you go. I know that at least J.D. and Jayaprakesh here have read that book as well.

 

[Connavar]

Yes but you have to appreciate not everyone may have knowledge about certain aspects relating to these items. They also frequently have many helpful notes relating to items that are not that obvious/often obscure to most readers unless you're a specialist in a particular field or period of literature.

Certainly there are editions without the notes. The most notable being Vintage. They mostly just give you the basic text. As I find the annotated texts very helpful I tend to buy OUP and Penguin Black Classic. Norton are probably the best at annotations and providing ancillary information, which as a general rule, can often help to enrich the reading experience.

Norton a part of Penguin or another publisher ? Havent heard of them.

I like the introductions that try to analyse the books in PC but the notes take me out of the story because i cant help but check them out often even when i know what they are explaining. They focus on my mind on other things than the story im reading,which makes the reading less enjoyable to me.

I have found Modern Library is similar critical introductions but without notes new fav of mine that imprint after getting Jack London books from them.

 

[GOLLUM]

Norton a part of Penguin or another publisher ? Havent heard of them.

I like the introductions that try to analyse the books in PC but the notes take me out of the story because i cant help but check them out often even when i know what they are explaining. They focus on my mind on other things than the story im reading,which makes the reading less enjoyable to me.

I have found Modern Library is similar critical introductions but without notes new fav of mine that imprint after getting Jack London books from them.

Indeed. Norton is a seperate publisher. They are the best value for money publisher you can buy that I know of. The only problem is, their fiction range is not that huge. The ones you want to look at are Norton Critical Editions. They're superb if you want to learn more about the book, author, themes covered in the book etc. They're used by students, scholars etc. They do have additional notes though, which you may find annoying. However, they also have a series of papers/essays by leading scholars on the book much like an Appendix. They also have a detailed biography of the author plus a detailed introduction prior to the main text and a bibliography and chronology of events. All that for less than $20 Aus. That's pretty good value IMO.

I have several Modern Library Classics. In fact I have most of their listed top 100 novels (although not always of their editions). They're very good in terms of the range of titles they offer. The gold covers are also quite attractive.

Other excellent publisher/series w.r.t World literature inlcude:

Harvill Classic
NYRB range
Penguin Classics
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Wordsworth
Dover Thrift Editions
Vintage
Library Of America

Cheers.

 

[Connavar]

Vintage ? You mean the hardboiled crime Vintage/Black Lizard ? Those are old favs of mine have many books from them.

Modern Library is my new fav,their Jack London books showed their great inner layout of pages,texts. Its Hardcover quality in paperback. Plus they have good introduction,critic texts,notes that you barely see getting in the way of story.

OUP i have Dumas classic book from. They are good but their paperbacks are too light,easily damaged when its big books,omnibus.

Wordsworth is good for anthologies when you want to try authors. Not when you want to collect your fav classic authors.

 

[GOLLUM]

Vintage ? You mean the hardboiled crime Vintage/Black Lizard ? Those are old favs of mine have many books from them.

Modern Library is my new fav,their Jack London books showed their great inner layout of pages,texts. Its Hardcover quality in paperback. Plus they have good introduction,critic texts,notes that you barely see getting in the way of story.

OUP i have Dumas classic book from. They are good but their paperbacks are too light,easily damaged when its big books,omnibus.

Wordsworth is good for anthologies when you want to try authors. Not when you want to collect your fav classic authors.

*We/I am talking this thread a little off-topic. Please PM me if you are after further information regarding publishers....

To briefly answer you:

In a word No. A different Vintage publisher Conn that deal in a lot of modern classics.

My super sister works for OUP so be careful with that comment.... They are softer covers though, I agree with you on that point.

I've found Wordsworth to be excellent for Classics and not just anthologies. I mean classics of literature like Dickens, Kipling, Austen etc.

 

[Connavar]

New discoveries to keep the thread on topic :

Harold Lamb
Robert Louis Stevenson


Last off topic : Wordsworth is good for their price but thier quality is like the price very cheap paper. My Poe,Le Fanu collections i couldnt finish. Thought they deserved to be read in better quality books.....

 

[GOLLUM]

Understood on Wordsworth Conn.

I still haven't got hold of Harold Lambs stuff and I know he is very good. One to chase up this year.

 

[Connavar]

Lamb is really one to chase up, he is surprisingly very strong writing for a pulp adventure writer. Not that there isnt great writers in other genres of pulp era.

Other pure adventure writers are more pulpish in negative vein.

I have bought two writers becauase they were influential,fav writers of REH in London and Lamb they are both becoming fav writers quickly. London is world wide famous,alot of books in library but i still choose a new copy of The Star Rover instead old versions of his classic books.

 

[Heather Myst]

I just discoved C.S.Friedman this year. A friend suggested her Coldfire trilogy and I enjoyed it but I just finished and loved her Feast of Souls book.

 

[jojajihisc]

I read The Coldfire Trilogy when they came out and it was one of the series that I really got me into SF/Fantasy. I started reading much more frequently around that time.

More discoveries this year:

Paolo Bacigalupi
Octavia E. Butler
David Moles

 

[windy138]

For Meg Abbott. I think that. I love these books that she wrote

 

[fjeronimo]

New discoveries this year (in the sci-fi/fantasy genre):

Ted Chiang
Samuel Ray Delany
Kurt Vonnegut
Richard Adams

Others:

Isaac Bashevis Singer
Italo Svevo
Arto Paasilinna
José Eduardo Agualusa
Eduardo Halfon

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Fiona McIntosh
Currently reading "Myrren's Gift", it's part 1 of The Quickening series.
Very much enjoying it but if I had to give a criticism I'd say it was perhaps more suitable to a slightly younger audience, although I am only half way through the first of the trilogy and was recommend it due to it being dark fantasy.

 

[elvet]

My list of 2010 'new' authors is growing. So far:
Mark Chadborn
Iain M. Banks
Steven Brust
Ilona Andrews
Simon R. Green

 

[Connavar]

Ian MacDonald
Rudy Rucker
Brian Lumley
Jules Verne
Forrest Carter
Paul J McAuley
Steven Brust
Marcel Theroux

In the last 2 months, i liked everyone enough to read more of except Theroux. Ian MacDonald,Lumley impressed me most.

 

[Moontravler]

I only discovered Neil Gaiman this year, I think. I like some of his work, but not all of it equally much. His output seems slightly eclectic.

I just loove Dan Simmons, and Guy Gavriel Kaye is not bad, except when he gets long-winded or does weird things with a story's plot.

I also discovered Robert Sawyer whom I didn't like all that much as far as content goes, though I like his pace.. and Ramsey Cambell, who is not too bad as far as the horror genre goes.

I'll need to read more of Orson Scott Card before I make my mind up about him. I liked the "Ender" side of the story of Ender's Game, but found that the brother and sister's story was a bit over the top for me. I have got the rest of the series on the list, though..

 

[AE35Unit]

Another name to add- M P Shiel
Halfway thru The Purple Cloud and quite enjoying it!

 

[CptShadow]

I discovered J.A. Sanderlin and his book "Europa" a great read

 

[AE35Unit]

Soon to add Charles Stross with his 2010 Hugo winning novella Palimpsest, which readers can temporarily download for free from his blog. Also Peter Watts's novellete The Island, an author I'd not even heard of!