Book Hauls!

[Randy M.]

Rasputin's Bastards by David Nickle. CZP looks to be putting out some very interesting, edgy books. I have Nickle's Eutopia as one of my next reads.


Randy M.

 

[Spade]

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter
Across the Universe by Beth Revis

done picking up books for a while...

 

[j d worthington]

Just received a small booklet of writings by one of the more obscure contributors to Weird Tales in the 1930s, Robert Nelson's Sable Revery: Poems, Sketches, Letters. He was apparently a quite young man who was just beginning to make his mark with his weird poetry, when he died as the result of a nervous breakdown. He was just one day short of being twenty-three.

The item is the first of the "Nodens Chapbooks", a project by noted Tolkien and Lovecraft scholar Douglas Anderson, and the contents include all the existing writings by Nelson (including letters to the magazines), as well as five letters by Lovecraft; four to Nelson himself, one to his mother following her son's death. I've only had a chance to look at a couple of the poems, and one of the letters, but -- though showing the marks of a young writer's hand -- they are really rather impressive in an imagistic, moody way; whilst HPL's letter to his mother is a touching document itself, and shows the latter's seldom remarked deeply human sympathies.

 

[Anathem]

Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen by Garth Nix

This was a great series.

This one is a bit old ... but if you love short Sci-Fi stories, this book is awesome:

Will the Last Person To Leave the Planet Please Shut Off the Sun?
by Mike Resnick

 

[nomadman]

I've already bought and read a lot of Graham Greene's work but, partly I guess because of its very popularity, I've never got round to buying Brighton Rock yet. Finally decided to pick up the beautiful Everyman's Library edition, along with a couple of crime/thriller classics: Dirty Snow by Simenon, The Thin Man by Hammett, and Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler.

 

[ines]

Just finished reading 'Mythz-TheBeginning' by TY. It was published 4 years ago but i just now heard of it. It's surprisingly unusual and really amazing. I just devoured the story. Now i'm trying to find more books by that author. Has anyone read something else by this author?

 

[GOLLUM]

I picked up.....

The Devil Delivered and other tales- Steven Erikson *Erikson of course is author of the Malazan series, the best EPIC fantasy series I am yet to come across. Stories covered here are: The Devil Delivered, Revolvo and Fishin' with Grandma Matchie.

League of Extraordinary Gentleman Century: 2009 - Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neil. *Latest offering in Moore's highly entertaining comic series.

 

[GOLLUM]

I've already bought and read a lot of Graham Greene's work but, partly I guess because of its very popularity, I've never got round to buying Brighton Rock yet. Finally decided to pick up the beautiful Everyman's Library edition, along with a couple of crime/thriller classics: Dirty Snow by Simenon, The Thin Man by Hammett, and Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler.

Amber's Journey into Fear is a classic amongst Spy novels and Dirty Snow, is generally regarded as the best of Simenon's 'psychological' novels. I have an attractive NYRB edn. of the latter but have only dipped into it and not yet read it in its entirety. J.P. spoke highly of it. That Hammett I have similarly not read, the best books I've read by Hammett being The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest. It will be interesting to read your comments on these.

I will also be interested to read your impressions of Greene's Brighton Rock. It's not one of his that I have. Are you more a fan of his short fiction or longer works? I have a penguin edn. of his short stories, I think we may have discussed this previously along with some of Greene's novels? ..anyway of what I've so far read of these stories I feel he was one of the best 'British' short story writers I've so far come across, along with the likes of Dickens, Kipling, Woolf, Conrad, Maugham, Waugh, Angela Carter and Muriel Spark.

 

[nomadman]

Amber's Journey into Fear is a classic amongst Spy novels and Dirty Snow, is generally regarded as the best of Simenon's 'psychological' novels. I have an attractive NYRB edn. of the latter but have only dipped into it and not yet read it in its entirety. J.P. spoke highly of it. That Hammett I have similarly not read, the best books I've read by Hammett being The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest. It will be interesting to read your comments on these.

My edition of the Simenon is the same one you have; I plan to read it sometime this month, along with the Ambler. I'm already quite a bit of the way through the Hammett; it's brisk and colorful and very evocative of the time in which it's set, without seeming 'period'. Rather complex and knotty plot though, and a large cast of characters which the reader must pay attention to, to avoid becoming lost.

I will also be interested to read your impressions of Greene's Brighton Rock. It's not one of his that I have. Are you more a fan of his short fiction or longer works? I have a penguin edn. of his short stories, I think we may have discussed this previously along with some of Greene's novels? ..anyway of what I've so far read of these stories I feel he was one of the best 'British' short story writers I've so far come across, along with the likes of Dickens, Kipling, Woolf, Defoe, Conrad, Maugham, Waugh, Angela Carter and Muriel Spark.

Graham Greene is one of my favorite authors and I've enjoyed pretty much all of his writing, including his short fiction, which can be very good, though IMO it's in the novel form at which he truly excels. The Quiet American, The Human Factor, Monsignor Quixote, Travels With My Aunt and A Burnt Out Case are all superlative works, gripping, morally complex, thought-provoking and, in the case of Monsignor and Travels, marvelously funny and enjoyable.

Green's spare prose lends itself very well to the short form, but a lot of the slow-burning tensions and sense of mounting oppressive dread that characterize the best of his more serious works are naturally reduced or not present. Likewise much of the immersion that comes from his sharply painted cultural backdrops is lost, though his journalistic eye for detail is, if anything, heightened.

 

[GOLLUM]

Graham Greene is one of my favorite authors and I've enjoyed pretty much all of his writing, including his short fiction, which can be very good, though IMO it's in the novel form at which he truly excels. The Quiet American, The Human Factor, Monsignor Quixote, Travels With My Aunt and A Burnt Out Case are all superlative works, gripping, morally complex, thought-provoking and, in the case of Monsignor and Travels, marvelously funny and enjoyable.

OH I don't disagree with that assessment. I think the novel, as you say, was best suited to his style of writing...Having said that I feel his short fiction (of what I've so far read of that collection) is still good enough to rank with many of the finest 'British' writers (who successfully wrote in both the short and longer formats it must be said) I've specifically read, certainly of the 20th Century and earlier including Dickens. I'll need to revisit that collection (and finish it) to provide a more complete response as to why I am taken with his approach to the short form. One thing that particularly impressed me was the sheer variety of different human emotions Greene is able to encapsulate and modes he adopts with obvious technical skill not to mention insight and still, in the stories I have read, to significant 'effect', even in the shorter form....

I should also have added H.E. Bates, Elizabeth Bowen and V.S Pritchett to that list before, Pritchett in particular as you are probably aware having a high opinion of Greene as a writer and vice versa. Have you read much of their work? All three are VERY worth reading, although I rate Pritchett as the best of that particular triumvirate.

 

[nomadman]

OH I don't disagree with that assessment. I think the novel, as you say, was best suited to his style of writing...Having said that I feel his short fiction (of what I've so far read of that collection) is still good enough to rank with many of the finest 'British' writers (who successfully wrote in both the short and longer formats it must be said) I've specifically read, certainly of the 20th Century and earlier including Dickens. I'll need to revisit that collection (and finish it) to provide a more complete response as to why I am taken with his approach to the short form. One thing that particularly impressed me was the sheer variety of different human emotions Greene is able to encapsulate and modes he adopts with obvious technical skill not to mention insight and still, in the stories I have read, to significant 'effect', even in the shorter form....

He's a first class short-story teller, and his work in this form allows him to experiment and indulge in a number of genres that he wouldn't normally touch. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of supernatural and downright bizarre pieces there were in The Collected Ficitons, as well as (like you said) the general variety of effects he goes for. Saying that, I wouldn't quite put him in the top bracket of short story writers, or perhaps I should say that none of his pieces have really affected me in the way the works of writers like Borges, Bowles, etc have.

I should also have added H.E. Bates, Elizabeth Bowen and V.S Pritchett to that list before, Pritchett in particular as you are probably aware having a high opinion of Greene as a writer and vice versa. Have you read much of their work? All three are VERY worth reading, although I rate Pritchett as the best of that particular triumvirate.

I haven't read any of the above authors, though I have Bowen's The Death of the Heart.

 

[GOLLUM]

...Saying that, I wouldn't quite put him (Graham Greene) in the top bracket of short story writers, or perhaps I should say that none of his pieces have really affected me in the way the works of writers like Borges, Bowles, etc have.

To clarify I did say 'British' writers and to provide a more accurate assessment I would place him in the lower end of a top 10 'British' writers if that doesn't seem too much to be splitting straws; at the end of the day I do consider him to be a very fine short story writer. On a world scale however he would not be in my top 10 short story writers, probably not even in my top 20...so we're possibly in a kind of agreement here? Writers like Borges, Ashton Smith, Bruno Schulz, Yusinara Kawabata (palm of the hand stories specifically) or Thomas Ligotti have had a far greater 'impact' upon me than Greene...which to return to your earlier point is perhaps the more balanced way to assess how much one 'likes' or 'ranks' a particular author, it being to a large extent a matter of personal taste.

To change subject slightly, I will be interested in reading your observations of Bowen's The Death of the Heart. You've picked up her best novel (of the ones I've read). Bowen was a fine all round writer but in general it was her short stories where I believe she excelled. Angela Carter is another writer I tend to view in the same way. Very good. even great at times in the field of the novella or novel but both Great artists IMO of the short form.

Cheers.

 

[Rodders]

I've just downloaded Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey and The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Invincible by Jack Campbell.

 

[nomadman]

To change subject slightly, I will be interested in reading your observations of Bowen's The Death of the Heart. You've picked up her best novel (of the ones I've read). Bowen was a fine all round writer but in general it was her short stories where I believe she excelled. Angela Carter is another writer I tend to view in the same way. Very good. even great at times in the field of the novella or novel but both Great artists IMO of the short form.

Cheers.

I probably won't get round to reading Death... for a while yet, though I've had my eye on Carter's The Bloody Chamber for a while now.

 

[nomadman]

Recently ordered:

Uncommon Danger - Eric Ambler
Epitaph for a Spy - Eric Ambler
Cause for Alarm - Eric Ambler
The Cornelius Quartet - Michael Moorcock
Watchman - Alan Moore
Hour of the Dragon (Berkley Edition) - Rob Howard
People of the Black Circle (Berkley Edition) - Rob Howard
Red Nails (Berkley Edition) - Rob Howard
Swords in the Mist: Books 3&4 - Fritz Leiber
Portable Darkness: An Aleister Crowley Reader, Edited by Scott Michaelsen

 

[GOLLUM]

I probably won't get round to reading Death... for a while yet, though I've had my eye on Carter's The Bloody Chamber for a while now.

The Bloody Chamber & other stories is Carter's strongest short story collection. Alternatively I would urge to to obtain a copy of Burning Your Boats, It collects Carter's short story oeuvre and at a reasonable price. For the slightly longer form I would suggest The Infernal Device Machines of Dr. Hoffman to begin with....

I'm not going to post it here as this will feature in my soon to be restored Beyond The Horizons thread, but in coming weeks I'm going to reviewing some of the stories and short novels from a batch of awesome, recently purchased anthologies covering 'Surrealism', 'Decadence/Symbolism & Fin de Siecle' and finally 'Weird Fiction'....some of which might just blow your head right off its hinges...

OH and I'll be interested to read your reaction to Watchmen and the Alesteir Crowley reader in particular from that latest haul.

Cheers.

 

[dask]

Portable Darkness: An Aleister Crowley Reader, Edited by Scott Michaelsen

This sounds cool. Didn't know there was such a thing>

 

[Connavar]

Heh im in Dubai and i had some extra cash left and wasnt impressed by their millions of electronic stores. Randomly i found a good second hand bookstore and i had to buy books for the first time in foreign country.

In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway - the best condition of second hand book i have ever bought.
Harm's Way by Colin Greenland
Keeper by Greg Rucka

 

[dask]

WORLD'S GREAT ADVENTURE STORIES, no editor listed. Very nice condition hard back published by Black's Readers Service Company, the Black here referring to Walter J. Black,the guy in charge I guess, and not to any bookseller generosity extended to the minority readership of 1929 when this book came out. All the usuals you'd expect are here: Doyle, Machen, Irving, Hawthorne, etc. and a barrel load I'd never heard of, plus a few like Christopher Columbus and Cotton Mather which lead me to believe these are not all fictional adventures. 504 pages, just under 90 stories (I lost count), fair plus condition if I were grading it as a comic. Ten bucks at an antique store. More than I usually pay nowadays but we were on a sort of overnight vacation so what the heck? Looks worth reading.

 

[nomadman]

This sounds cool. Didn't know there was such a thing>

Neither did I. One of those "oh, cool, I'm getting that" purchases you sometimes have while browsing.