February's Fantastic Folios and Fascinating Fables

Status
Not open for further replies.
Finished The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. Reads at times like an instruction manual. I think I need a reread of The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula Le Guin) to get the utopian authoritarianism out of my system.
 
El Borak and Other Desert Adventures by Robert E. Howard

I dont usually read two books at the same time but with Gene Wolfe novel i can read El Borak stories on the side.

El Borak has been a great adventure story after another. I almost like the non-fantastic historical REH more than the fantasy one. Much more gritty,vivid,crisp writing. El Borak himself is so timeless and makes Indiana Jones and co like poseurs....
 
Nice get Conn.

The Howard book is yet to arrive here. I'm sure I'll enjoy those stories too... :)
 
GOLLUM said:
Nice get Conn.

The Howard book is yet to arrive here. I'm sure I'll enjoy those stories too... :)
Click to expand...

Apparently it appeared on friday to swedish bookstores. 4 Days before the real realese, hehe online stores dont send it before 9th.

El Borak is great its late in his career like in the westerns, you can see his writing getting less pulpy mannerism,words. Those things i think hurt a little his fantasy stories.

Gordon is so dangerous,great fighter,cunning,smart. He is the only modern action hero of REH. I like that :)

He is gunning for nr.3 fav REH character spot just ahead of Bran Mak Morn.
 
I'm reading The Underpeople by Cordwainer Smith. It's really just light and fluffy sci-fi stuff.
 
The Underpeople is the second half of his novel, Norstrilia, although both halves were also printed separately. I'd agree that the novel was fairly fluffy; but I think Smith's body of short stories are anything but. They map out a very powerful and compelling future history which, to my mind, is underpinned by far more interesting ideas and concerns than many competing future sequences.

I'm halfway through Anton Reiser, which is turning out to be a very powerful and moving book. Moritz' ability to convey the inner world of his title-character, the development and evolution of his intellect, his predilections and affinities, foibles and inspirations is quite something. Even given that it is a largely autobiographical novel, I would be hard pressed to detail my own inner life in such vivid and telling detail and make such a compelling narrative of it.
 
Looks like I'll have to put this down then. No point in reading the second part first :)
 
knivesout said:
I'm halfway through Anton Reiser, which is turning out to be a very powerful and moving book. Moritz' ability to convey the inner world of his title-character, the development and evolution of his intellect, his predilections and affinities, foibles and inspirations is quite something. Even given that it is a largely autobiographical novel, I would be hard pressed to detail my own inner life in such vivid and telling detail and make such a compelling narrative of it.
Click to expand...
Anton Reiser sounds like something I should read then.... :)

I presume you saw the reference to Sebald regarding Bruges-la-Morte?

To clarify a point I made earlier. I'm currently watching my DVD edn, of Hitchcock's classic Vertigo and the interesting commentary has revealed that the film was essentially taken directly from the 1954 French crime novel D'entre les morts (The Living and the Dead) by the writing team of Boileau and Narcejac. Further research indicates it is highly likely the French authors were inspired in no small part by Rodenbach's classic Bruges-la-Morte, published in 1892. There are way too many striking similarities between the novel and the film's central plot and premises of identity and remembrance for this to be sheer coincidence. Whether Hitchcock ever read Bruges-la-Morte I have my doubts but I'm confident the great Director would have enjoyed the story all the same.

Apologies for the misinformation provided earlier.

Back to the movies....:)
 
Last edited:
GOLLUM said:
the 1954 French crime novel D'entre les morts (The Living and the Dead)[....]
Click to expand...

Pardon me, but wouldn't a more accurate translation be something like "from among the dead", or even simply "among the dead"? That certainly would seem to fit, at least based on the Hitchcock film....

And I finished that issue of Whispers (a bit of a letdown overall, despite such talents as Dennis Etchison and Sallis... though still quite interesting), and have moved on to The Moving Target, the first of "Ross Madconald's" (Kenneth Millar) Lew Archer series....
 
Ok, started reading Zyzygy by Micheal G. Coney (As a replacement for The Underpeople). I've only managed to read two chapters as my neck is really bad due to an infected ear :(
 
j. d. worthington said:
Pardon me, but wouldn't a more accurate translation be something like "from among the dead", or even simply "among the dead"? That certainly would seem to fit, at least based on the Hitchcock film.....
Click to expand...
Yes Mr. Stickler.... :p

To clarify I used the official title the book was translated under in English. As a tie-in to, I presume the film, it was also published under the title of Vertigo.

I asked Dad and he said the literal translation of D'entre les morts is "from between the dead" but in English you would normally say "from among the dead", which is what you were suggesting.

Hope that clears it up....:)

Now get back to answering those PMs....;)

@Knivesout: At the end of the novel, this Dedalus edition includes a fascinating essay by Rodenbach entitled The Death Throes Of Towns, where he quite beautifully talks about Bruges and several other towns replete with B&W photos. I can imagine Sebald bringing the same mastery of imagery and insight to his traveller's notes if that tallies?.....:)
 
Last edited:
Well I've started reading the Gautier collection My Fantoms and I'm really liking what I see. I especially love one of his central proclamations as described in the Introduction, "one is truly never dead until they are no longer loved" which I find touching, indeed somehow profound and particularly relevant from what I gather to this collection.

Amongst Gautier's many friends and admirers were De Nerval and Rilke, both of whom wrote works of fiction I plan to read next in my multi-storey TBR pile......:)
 
Talysia said:
Staying with McCaffrey's Crystal Singer trilogy, I'm moving on to Killashandra.
Click to expand...

Read that some years back and loved it. Glad you said that, must dig them our for a re-read.


Currently reading Selina Scott "A Long Walk in the High Hills". The TV presenter on the old farmhouse she bought in Mallorca, talking about the area, the neighbours, the building work and the documentary she did of King Juan Carlos of Spain.

Nice sunny read for the middle of winter. As usual with books like this, I do wonder whether her neighbours will be reading this. Some of them might be annoyed by her descriptions.
 
Still reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and, having dismissed it as a bit dull and meaningless, it has built up into quite an epic. The two sci-fi subplots are good, particularly An Orison of Somni 451, very William Gibson. Recommended reading.
 
Whoa....that's a big call.

I've seen it plenty of times in the shops. I will read it this year after I've given Austerlitz a go.
 
Reading American Psycho at the moment by Bret Easton Ellis. Picked it up at the library on a whim. I'm hoping that, seeing as it's a library book and thus has a time limit, it'll help me get back into some recreational reading again.

Excellent starting, with the "I" not appearing until eight pages in. It's like that foot-missing-a-step feeling when it suddenly does.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
GOLLUM February's Fastidious Foraging For Fabulous Fiction Book Discussion 67
GOLLUM February's Febrile Focus For Finding Fulfilling Fiction Book Discussion 215
GOLLUM February's Fabulous Feast Of Fully Formidable Fiction Book Discussion 197
GOLLUM February's Fortuitous Following Of Fabulous Fiction Book Discussion 189
Pyan February's Feast of Fantastical Fiction and Fact... Book Discussion 199

Similar threads


Back
Top