May's Manic Meanderings Into Marvellously Mystical Manuscripts

[Fried Egg]

I've only read "The Silver Stallion" by James Branch Cabell and didn't like it very much...

 

[j d worthington]

Interestingly, Cabell revised several of his works more than once; sometimes the revisions were quite minor; other times rather important. I just did a little comparison between the original of Chivalry and its later revision, for instance,* and found that here most of the revisions were minor, but made more of a connection between the rest of the Manuellian cycle. However, it does make me think of the sort of thing Moocock does with his work, altering older works as his vision as a whole changes, thus making the entirety of his oeuvre much more tightly-knit.

I finished this collection last night. A bit uneven in spots (it was one of his earliest), but nonetheless quite impressive. Have now moved on to Jurgen, in a Dover edition which combines the revised 1926 text with the Frank C. Papé illustrations for the original edition. As I said, I read this originally a very long time ago, and on rereading it, too, has grown. I am finding myself to be even more taken with it than I was the first time, and also even more impressed with his ability to handle such poignant things with such a deft, seemingly light touch (which really, if anything, increases the emotional complexities of the scenes). Even his use of a tone very close to the classic fairy-tale works to advantage with this....



*The original version, which can be found at the Internet Archive, includes illustrations by Howard Pyle, which was why I was looking it up in the first place.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

About to start this one:

 

[AE35Unit]

Next up, in honour of the great man...

 

[Connavar]

Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I need a fun,epic adventure and my first these days is ERB.

 

[The Judge]

I finished The Master of Bruges, a supposedly historical novel about Hans Memling, the 15th century artist. Easy enough to read, but not something I'd recommend to anyone, especially not anyone at all interested in history or art.

After that I read The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, which was too self-consciously satirical for my tastes, though I could appreciate the writing.

Just started Magician by Raymond E Feist, which I think will be another I put down without finishing.

 

[HoopyFrood]

As might be noticeable from the Robert Jordan section, I've been going through the Wheel of Time series. Up to the fourth book, The Shadow Rising now.

 

[GOLLUM]

Just started Magician by Raymond E Feist, which I think will be another I put down without finishing.

Really? I liked this book. It's still my favourite of all that I've read by Feist and felt it was something of a minor classic in the field. I realise it uses plenty of tropes and is a little predictable but I thought it really had something going for it.

 

[gully_foyle]

Just finished Vance's Emphyrio and I've gotta say it was pretty good.could stand up today with a few hundred more pages of back story, although the socialist/humanist aspect might put some people off. Now I am stuck at the airport with nothing to read and nothing inspiring (and unread) in the airport bookshop. Sigh.

 

[The Judge]

Really? I liked this book. It's still my favourite of all that I've read by Feist and felt it was something of a minor classic in the field. I realise it uses plenty of tropes and is a little predictable but I thought it really had something going for it.

Well, cardboard characters, implausible dialogue (often info-dumping and invariably going on too long), persistent narrative info-dumping (little of which is necessary), flat writing, stupid females, a lack of feel for history and social class which makes it high-school-teens-in-fancy-clothes, a lack of pace, and outright mawkish sentimentality don't do it for me, I'm afraid. I'm actually not sure what other people see in it that makes it so popular, but it's obviously something I must have a bypass for.

Just finished Vance's Emphyrio and I've gotta say it was pretty good.could stand up today with a few hundred more pages of back story, although the socialist/humanist aspect might put some people off.

I loved Emphyrio, though, indeed, the political aspect which is made explicit at the end rather rubbed me up the wrong way when I re-read it a year or so back.

 

[GOLLUM]

Well, cardboard characters, implausible dialogue (often info-dumping and invariably going on too long), persistent narrative info-dumping (little of which is necessary), flat writing, stupid females, a lack of feel for history and social class which makes it high-school-teens-in-fancy-clothes, a lack of pace, and outright mawkish sentimentality don't do it for me, I'm afraid. I'm actually not sure what other people see in it that makes it so popular, but it's obviously something I must have a bypass for.

Yes your bypass switch must have been working overtime on this one... I can understand where you are coming from. It's no great example of exceptional prose style, plotting or even characterization and yet.. yet..there is something about it that perhaps appealed to my inner child and love of quest narrative that made it enchanting; magical. I should say I read it over 15 years ago and perhaps an older more skeptical, demanding self would have a less positive reaction now? Maybe also having met Feist and accquiring personally signed copies further coloured my view... I also read quite a lot of the followup books in the ongoing series and enjoyed those as well so I clearly bought into this world but never quite to the extent seen with Magician. His co-authored Daughter of the Empire trilogy with Janny Wurts was another Feist highlight of mine.

 

[The Judge]

... there is something about it that perhaps appealed to my inner child and love of quest narrative that made it enchanting; magical. I should say I read it over 15 years ago and perhaps an older more skeptical, demanding self would have a less positive reaction now?

Actually, it's very possible that if I'd read it back when it first came out, or perhaps even as recently as 10-15 years ago, I'd have enjoyed it more even if still cavilling at certain aspects of it. Whether it's because my reading tastes have developed, or because now I'm writing myself I'm reading more critically, or because there's been a sea-change in fantasy generally so I've come to expect better in those areas, I don't know.

 

[Vertigo]

Finished neoAddix by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. This was actually better than I expected; it is my second Grimwood, the first being End of the World Blues which was a very good very wierd cyberpunk story. This, however, was his very first book (picked up by chance in a charity shop) and it does show rather. So all things considered (including Grimwoods own disparaging remarks - "...the only [book] which I've refused to let go back into print.") I wasn't expecting too much and it was certainly full of early career flaws, but it was actually rather good, almost comic book style, cyberpunk. An enjoyable read (once you've made appropriate allowances). More here.

 

[Ice fyre]

I'm reading an oddity, (well in my opnion anyway), Its the "Long Earth" by Terry Pratchett and Sephen Baxter.

I have more or less just started it, and I get the feeling of Pratchett coming through. There is also another rather whimsical style, reminding me of Robert Rankin interspersed.

So far quite interesting looking forward to seeing what going to happen.

 

[Connavar]

Just finished Vance's Emphyrio and I've gotta say it was pretty good.could stand up today with a few hundred more pages of back story, although the socialist/humanist aspect might put some people off. Now I am stuck at the airport with nothing to read and nothing inspiring (and unread) in the airport bookshop. Sigh.

That book was my first Jack Vance book and i was drawn to his writing because the humanist aspect, the weird far future human culture that i came to know is what Vance like to tell stories about in most of his SF.

When you want a short novel to be longer is a good work by the writer and usually for me im happy with 200-300 pages lenght in many classic SF, modern SF books.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I was a little slow getting into it at the beginning, but by the end I was completely engrossed. I knew it wasn't going to have a happy ending, but it was even more upsetting than I expected.

I only finished it a little bit ago, so it's still sinking in. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to read next...

 

[tangaloomababe]

Lady I haven always wanted to read this book, The Book Thief, but never gotten around to it, not sure that I want to now if it has a sad ending.

Currently reading The Sisters who would be Queen - The Tragedy of Mary, Katherine and Lady Jane Grey by Leanda LeLisle. I particularly love English Monarchy and this is more of a factual account of life in Tudor England rather than a novel. I think Jane's is one of the many sad stories of women's lives in those times. They lived such short lives and were simply pawns if their families attempts to gain more money and position.

 

[GOLLUM]

For what it's worth I highly recommend Zusak's Book Thief. He's an Aussie writer and quite talented. I have some of his other works but Book Thief is the best to date for me.

A stage adaptation has already been made of The Book Thief and it is currently being filmed by Fox with a cast that includes Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson, directed by the guy who did Downton Abbey.

Watch this space...

 

[Bick]

Two further books to comment on:
Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold. I'd never read any Bujold and she seems to win the Nebula best novel award just about every year (slight exaggeration) so I thought I'd give the first in her Sf series a go (Falling Free did indeed win the Nebula). I got about 50 pages into it, then had to put it down for a while as the book and i didn't see eye-to-eye. But after a short break I persevered and tried again, and got nearly 200 pages in... but have had to give it up once again. Unfortunately its really poorly written. The dialogue is stilted and unrealistic, the pacing is choppy, and the overall style is not to my taste. I'm astonished this could win the Nebula.

I'm now just about finished with another non-genre novel: Richard Russo's Bridge of Sighs, which is, in contrast to the Bujold, very well written. I'm always a big fan of Russo's work, but bias aside, its still highly recommended.

I have more GRRM on order from book depository (Storm of Swords).

 

[Extollager]

I've started Dostoevsky's The Adolescent (Pevear-Volokhonsky translation; also known as A Raw Youth). Some critics have a relatively low opinion of it. I figure I'll give it a hundred pages and feel free to bail out at that point if it's not holding my interest.