September's Studious Search For Sonorous Snippets

[soulsinging]

After reading what you thought of this it kindled my interest in reading a far out, classic SF story. I think I have this book in my collection? I'll have to look through them and see if I can dredge it up. Otherwise I'll just have to be content with one of my unread PKD novels.

Their praise piqued my interest as well and I just snagged a copy!

 

[D_Davis]

Almost done with the second part of Ice. This is a remarkable work of fiction; Sorokin is able to write in so many different voices, and each is pitch-perfect, and authentic. I can't recommend this book enough, although I do with some hesitation because I know that it won't appeal to a broad audience. Like how the 23,000 Rays of Light are called in the novel, I think that there is a small number of readers with whom this book will really connect. If you're willing to take a chance on something unique, give it a try.

 

[Quokka]

Finished HG wells' The Invisible Man, a fun read even though the main character never seems very believable to me. It's also nice to read something written in and about 1897 rather than something written as historical fiction.

Next up is The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith which I know nothing about.

 

[Rosemary]

Finished re-reading Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson. Really is a great read, although rather sad towards the end!

Now re-reading House of Chains by the same author. I must admit I didn't enjoy this volume on the first read and so far I haven't changed my mind. The introduction of Karsa Orlong at the very beginning of the book seemed as if it was from another series altogether.

 

[j d worthington]

After a brief bit where I was having a fair amount of reading time, I'm back down to precious little now... but I have read some of the materials gathered together in various editions of works by Bierce... each of which has things others do not. As for the introductions, all of which give a fairly detailed examination of his life and work... this has got to be one of the most controversial figures I've ever come across where such things are concerned. The introductions by E. F. Bleiler (Dover, E. J. Hopkins (University of Nebraska Press), and Edward Wangeknecht (Stemmer House) are so wildly different in the picture they present, that one would be tempted to think each was a completely different person... and I don't recall that ever happening before.....

 

[Diggler]

Their praise piqued my interest as well and I just snagged a copy!

I also managed to find my copy, and while only reading about 20 pages so, all I can say is wow!

 

[Lord Soth]

Finished Dune by Herbert, now onto Tigana by GGK.

 

[D_Davis]

The second book of the Ice Trilogy ended perfectly, and I think I actually ended up liking it even more than the first. I still think it would be better to read the second part first, especially with how it ends and how the third book begins, but it also works how it is presented. The third part of the second book is a series of testimonials written by different people, and once again Sorokin proves that he can nail the idiosyncrasies of different characters perfectly. Of course major props must also be given to Jamey Gambrell, the translator. Gambrell has worked on other Sorokin books, and I will definitely be checking those out.

23,000, the third and final book of the trilogy, kicks things off with an incredible action sequence. So far, this portion reads more like a modern-day thriller, and I can already tell that the sh*t has hit the fan, so to speak. Something has gone wrong, and there seems to be some kind of war being fought between the Brotherhood of Light and the Meat Machines.

Can't wait to finish this up.

As long as things stay on course, I will have no problem declaring Sorokin's trilogy as a masterpiece of speculative fiction. It's completely unlike anything I've read, and it has captured my imagination completely. It is brave and powerful, haunting and violent, beautiful and ugly.

 

[Connavar]

I read Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, i read it yesterday from cover to cover almost. It took me around 8-10 hours, not fast paced read thanks all he was trying to say. It was not one of the best written SF novels technically but it was a story, a novel that the writer managed to say alot of important, haunting things about modern history, his alternative politic world.

Despite it was a bleak, depressing novel it was refereshing, positive in a way that he said alot of things that happen in our world today too. Also at least not all of us live in controlled, perfected dictatorships....

 

[Diggler]

I read Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, i read it yesterday from cover to cover almost. It took me around 8-10 hours, not fast paced read thanks all he was trying to say. It was not one of the best written SF novels technically but it was a story, a novel that the writer managed to say alot of important, haunting things about modern history, his alternative politic world.

Despite it was a bleak, depressing novel it was refereshing, positive in a way that he said alot of things that happen in our world today too. Also at least not all of us live in controlled, perfected dictatorships....

This is one of those "must read before you die" novels, that I constantly skim over every time I am choosing something to read. I have read Animal Farm, which was alarmingly accurate in it's depiction of totalitarian style dictatorship, and Orwell's obvious disdain of Stalin-ism under the guise of barnyard politics

 

[dask]

This is one of those "must read before you die" novels

I finally got around to reading it in 1983 for obvious reasons.

 

[Connavar]

This is one of those "must read before you die" novels, that I constantly skim over every time I am choosing something to read. I have read Animal Farm, which was alarmingly accurate in it's depiction of totalitarian style dictatorship, and Orwell's obvious disdain of Stalin-ism under the guise of barnyard politics

1984 is such a legendary book that i avoided for years but it is really a book you must read and you cant skip. Not because you are SF fan but because you are a fan of great books that say something real.

In middle school they showed a film of it for some sick reason like we couldnt read the book but thankfully, cosmically i was sick that day

Orwell has a quote that the teacher in my Uni modern novel class gave us which said something like every work of his since 1936 was to say something against oligarchical socialism.

The finest thing about 1984 without spoiling is parts when he say its about the high people who enslaved, controlls their people to get power and stay there. Dictatorships built on socialism or its systems ruled by capitalism doesn't really matter. They are only slogans for people after the same power. Seeing our world today there are many countries that control their people with both systems at once.....

Animal Farm sounds great but not as broad in scope, ambitious as 1984 for some reason.

 

[HareBrain]

Recently finished two books that almost belong in the SFF genre but not quite

First was Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel, a novel about a rather pathetic spirit medium and her demanding assistant in their life of psychic fairs and stage performances around the M25. Interestingly for such a big subject as the afterlife, almost everything about the world of psychics is portrayed as being utterly trivial, even the spirits, mostly reduced to barely conscious entities who hang around looking for lost friends and muttering about not being able to get a decent saveloy. The non-trivial stuff is provided by the medium’s dreadful childhood, abused by the man who is now her spirit guide, and his lowlife mates.

Then The Magician by Somerset Maugham, a dark little tale set (initially) in Bohemian turn-of-the-century Paris, in which wonderfully realised villain Oliver Haddo (based on the author’s encounters with Aliester Crowley) seduces and corrupts a beautiful naïf from under the nose of her dull fiancé. Floridly written, but all the better for it. A real gem.

 

[GOLLUM]

1984 is such a legendary book that i avoided for years but it is really a book you must read and you cant skip. Not because you are SF fan but because you are a fan of great books that say something real.

Animal Farm sounds great but not as broad in scope, ambitious as 1984 for some reason.

So is 1984 the only Orwell work you have read so far? I have a collection of his major works. George Orwell along with Virgina Woolf are often viewed as being two of the very finest exponents of the English Language of the past 100 years. Have you read anything by Virginia Woolf? She is definitely an author I think you would appreciate...

Cheers.

 

[GOLLUM]

Recently finished two books that almost belong in the SFF genre but not quite

First was Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel, a novel about a rather pathetic spirit medium and her demanding assistant in their life of psychic fairs and stage performances around the M25. Interestingly for such a big subject as the afterlife, almost everything about the world of psychics is portrayed as being utterly trivial, even the spirits, mostly reduced to barely conscious entities who hang around looking for lost friends and muttering about not being able to get a decent saveloy. The non-trivial stuff is provided by the medium’s dreadful childhood, abused by the man who is now her spirit guide, and his lowlife mates.

Then The Magician by Somerset Maugham, a dark little tale set (initially) in Bohemian turn-of-the-century Paris, in which wonderfully realised villain Oliver Haddo (based on the author’s encounters with Aliester Crowley) seduces and corrupts a beautiful naïf from under the nose of her dull fiancé. Floridly written, but all the better for it. A real gem.

Nice one Harebrain.

I have both of those but am yet to read either. My book agent whose opinion I highly regard often cites Mantel's Beyond Black as a great but highly disturbing novel. I gather you were not as taken by the book?

Somerset Maugham is a gem, not just his books I think. I picked up a Vintage edn. of Magician earlier this year as the premise sounded most interesting and of course the added Aliester Crowley link makes it an even more tempting read.

Good stuff.

 

[Rodders]

Jack Campbell's "The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier".

 

[Connavar]

So is 1984 the only Orwell work you have read so far? I have a collection of his major works. George Orwell along with Virgina Woolf are often viewed as being two of the very finest exponents of the English Language of the past 100 years. Have you read anything by Virginia Woolf? She is definitely an author I think you would appreciate...

Cheers.

Yes it was my first work by Orwell and i will read everything he wrote. Shame he didnt write too much fiction. Many author who lived with the world wars didnt have time to write too many works. Terrible times for literature too....

I have read Virginia Woolf with The Lighthouse and i liked her use of stream of conciousness but the novel was very uneven. Comparing them after their famous novels i cant see Woolf being in the same league as Orwell myself. Yeah she is important female author in early modernism era but she will have to impress me more next time i read her to be seen as one of the best english,brit mainstream.

So far Orwell and CK. Chesterton is the most impressive writers i have read from britain in the non-genre field. Chesteron makes the english language look special with his prose style, wit.

 

[HareBrain]

My book agent whose opinion I highly regard often cites Mantel's Beyond Black as a great but highly disturbing novel. I gather you were not as taken by the book?

Not quite. I'd say it was a good and quite disturbing novel -- my words "pathetic" and "trivial" weren't comments on the story itself, nor the writing, which was generally very good. And the spirit entities were creepily and convincingly done. Nonetheless I didn't feel it had a strong sense of direction, and wouldn't say it achieved greatness. Worth a read though.

I picked up a Vintage edn. of Magician earlier this year as the premise sounded most interesting and of course the added Aliester Crowley link makes it an even more tempting read.

The Vintage edition with the Pernod Absinthe advert on the cover? It might almost have been painted for the book. (And I can't believe it was ever used to advertise anything -- the silk-hatted, bemonacled gent looks like he's watching the girl drink rohypnol!)

 

[GOLLUM]

I have read Virginia Woolf with The Lighthouse and i liked her use of stream of conciousness but the novel was very uneven. Comparing them after their famous novels i cant see Woolf being in the same league as Orwell myself. Yeah she is important female author in early modernism era but she will have to impress me more next time i read her to be seen as one of the best english,brit mainstream.

So far Orwell and CK. Chesterton is the most impressive writers i have read from britain in the non-genre field. Chesteron makes the english language look special with his prose style, wit.

I can assure you Woolf is up there with Orwell but you need to have read more than just To The Lighthouse to ascertain that. To The Lighthouse is certainly seen as one of her major works but actually The Waves, Orlando and Mrs. Dalloway are arguably better books. I might send you some of her other stuff to check out...

Chesterton is great I agree but you should also check out the superb English prose stylist Evelyn Waugh. The collected short fiction of Sommerset Maugham is also worth reading. Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad are also amongst the best English novelsits of the last century that I have encountered not to mention contempotary authors like Julian Barnes or Amis Snr. as well as Jnr. I could list many others but I'll try to get something else by Woolf for you to try first.

Cheers.

 

[GOLLUM]

The Vintage edition with the Pernod Absinthe advert on the cover? It might almost have been painted for the book. (And I can't believe it was ever used to advertise anything -- the silk-hatted, bemonacled gent looks like he's watching the girl drink rohypnol!)

I'll have to read Beyond Black to fully assess it of course including its internal structure but Yes that is the cover and edition I am referring to for Maugham. Maugham was a marvellous writer don't you think? and I have a collection of his short fiction that is top shelf.