What are you reading? - 2019, and beyond.

[snorri]

As usual, I got several books at the same time. One on the Duchy of Normandy in Middle-Ages, the second volume of Gor (discovering it was a source for Dave Arneson's First fantasy campaign, I went back to Gor) and essays of Nicos Poulantzas on the marxist theory of state. Maybe I should do a module mixing the threes?

[akiyama]

I recently read J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey, which I found very interesting. It's not a biography of Tolkien but a collection of insightful observations on his writing - the sort of book an English Literature student studying Tolkien might be assigned to read. I highly recommend it if you are the sort of person who has read LotR more than once and is planning to read it again.

A book edited by Tom Shippey which I read a while ago is The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories, which was published in 1994. It contains 31 fantasy short stories written from 1888 to 1992, including stories by Dunsany, Merritt, Lovecraft, Howard, C. A. Smith, C. L. Moore, Leiber, Vance, Manly Wade Wellman and Poul Anderson. Up until a couple of years ago, I'd hardly read any fantasy, so this book was great for me.

The Howard story in the book was "The Tower of the Elephant", which I liked so much I read The Conan Chronicles, published by Gollancz. This is a reissue under a different name and with a far more boring cover of the Fantasy Masterworks book The Conan Chronicles: Volume One: The People of the Black Circle. It contains 16 stories by Howard, Howard's essay on the Hyborian Age, and a map. I was a bit disappointed, to be honest. A few of the stories were as fresh and exciting and weird as "The Tower of the Elephant", but some of them seemed as if Howard was parodying his own work. I read one story, "The Devil in Iron", to my wife, and she was in tears of laughter all the way through, which is probably not the reaction Howard was aiming for, but I can see her point.

I reread The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian and was totally unimpressed. I had read both of them a long time ago and quite liked them, but rereading them now I just think that C. S. Lewis is a poor writer and that Narnia doesn't make any sense at all. I mean, in the first book Narnia doesn't appear to have any communities, transport links, or gainfully employed people, and is in the middle of a perpetual winter, and yet the population have such things as tea, tobacco, umbrellas, iron stoves and sewing machines. The inhabitants of Narnia consider men to be a myth, and yet at the end of the book diplomatic relations are established with the neighboring realms of men. And don't get me started on Aslan!

I also read Nation by Terry Pratchett, which was quite enjoyable. For a book aimed at teenagers, it certainly didn't feel "dumbed down". It might be interesting to go back and reread the first two Discworld books sometime - it's a long while since I read them.

Another book I read recently was The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, which despite being set in the real world has a bit of a D&Dish feel to it. It's a really, really good book.

I also really enjoyed Anathem by Neal Stephenson - a science-fiction novel with an interesting setting - and If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor - "literary" fiction and probably not to everyone's taste.

At the moment I am reading Uresia: Grave of Heaven, a BESM d20 supplement describing an anime-inspired fantasy world. It's written by S. John Ross who did Encounter Critical. People who like that kind of thing will probably find it the kind of thing they like. And I'm reading The Best of White Dwarf Articles Volume II which I fished out of my parent's attic on a recent visit. The best article in it, IMO, is "The Dungeon Architect", a three part article on dungeon design from back when "dungeon" meant "megadungeon".

[terje]

Currently I am reading Alastair Reynolds "Pushing Ice" which is a very good hard (-ish) SF novell about a crew of "comet herders" (or what ever one should call them, they harvest comets for industrial use) who are sent on a mission to investigate why Saturns moon Janus has left its orbit and is speeding out of the solar system.

Besides this I'm also reading Abraham Merrits "Dwellers in the Mirage" which is fairly good, though so far I'm not enjoying it as much as "The Metal Monster", however the stuff about the Kal'Khru is cosmic horror of fine quality.

[James Maliszewski]

I'm busy reading all of Poul Anderson's "Technic Civilization" stories, some of which have been collected and reprinted by BAEN recently.

[ragnorakk]

Finishing UBIK by P. K. Dick tomorrow. Whoa.

[graymouser]

Hope no one minds a bit of thread necromancy. I do find reading threads interesting, however.

I'm currently reading Cugel's Saga as part of my Jack Vance kick. I recently finished the Lyonesse books and then started his Dying Earth cycle with The Dying Earth and Eyes of the Overworld. I'm thinking I might pick up the omnibus edition of Planet of Adventure this weekend and then perhaps save Rhialto the Marvellous for last.

I'm also reading Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword in off moments. Very good so far.

[Dave L]

I recently worked my way through Raymond E Feist's books again, but for the last month I've been reading Lord of the Rings as an ebook.

Why? Mid-life crisis I suppose.

Trying to recapture some of the wonder and awe of my early teens, when things were much simpler (before the hormones kicked in).

[bluskreem]

I'm rereading "Mahars of Pelludicar", and reading "Red Axe of Pelludicar" for the first time. I'm really enjoying Holmes's style in these two. I'll probably try and find "Maze of Peril" and "Mordred" after I finish them up.

[abecross]

Currently reading "The Farthest Shore" and slowly making my way through all of ERB's John Carter books. I was trying to read "The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart" but it crawled under my skin, I guess I am not a fan of the "New Weird".

[stonetoflesh]

Presently reading Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth by James M. Tabor, about the real-world scientific exploration of "supercaves." I'm only a couple chapters in and already gleaning little bits of inspiration for my underworld...

[Deleted]

BLIND DESCENT is on my too read list, as well. I saw the clip on this at one of my friend's blogs.

I read very little fiction anymore, but have planned some Manly Wade Wellman and selections from Black Lizard's "Big Book of Pulps." Non-fiction books on tap are 20+ titles, which includes Sabine Chalvon-Demersay's "A Thousand Screenplays" which is a creative and inspired sociological study innocently resulting from a French network's open call for TV scripts.

[terje]

Just finished Poul Andersons The Broken Sword - wow, I was totally blown away! Really good (and dark and tragic) fantasy. And boy, Moorcock didnt joke when he said Elric was "inspired" by this book!

I'm also reading some of the Thieves world stories and planning to get hold of Tanith Lee's Flat Earth books.

[simonw]

Maureen Ash's "Templar Knight Mysteries". I've finished the first - "The Alehouse Murders" and I'm partway through the second "Death of a Squire".
I tried reading "Mistborn" (Brandon Sanderson) recently but got bored and gave up. I did the same with one called "Dwarves" (can't remember the author) too. Not really finding any fantasy novels worth reading at the moment - anyone got suggestions?
I did read a book called "Twelve" (by Jaspar Kent) recently - that was excellent, if anyone wants a recommendation...

[Finarvyn]

Back reading my Dresden Files (Jim Butcher) book collection. I think at this moment, he's my favorite living author. (Moorcock would be up there as well.)

I once realized that most of my favorite fiction authors (Zelazny, Tolkien, Howard, Burroughs) were all dead. That was kind of a bummer. Now I have a similar thing happening with RPG authors (Gygax, Arneson, Wujcik). Guess that goes with growing old. I discovered most of my favorite books and such in the 1970's, so add 30+ years and we get quite an attrition rate.

[Finarvyn]

May 14, 2009 13:49:43 GMT -6 snorri said:

...the second volume of Gor (discovering it was a source for Dave Arneson's First fantasy campaign, I went back to Gor) ...

I wish that someone would/could take the Gor books and release Expurgated Edition volumes (similar to what Geoffrey did with Carcosa) with the most offensive parts edited out.

I think that the Gor books fundamentally have some great story arcs and that Gor is a cool world, but it will never become mainstream as long as it has all of the slavery/sex emphasis throughout. (There is the whole "priest kings" arc in the early books and the Kurii keep popping up later in the series. There may be others, but I never finished reading them.)

I'm not "into" censorship in my books, but I just don't enjoy reading Gor as much as I'd like to.

[Deleted]

Finished "Red World of Polaris" by CA Smith, going on to re-read the "King in Yellow," as it's been many years since I've read it (got the Dover edition with larger fonts, my eyes can't take the MMPB print size these days).

[thegreyelf]

Currently I am reading The Chronic (WHAT?) CLES OF NARNIA!

[kesher]

Just starting to read almost everything by ol' Lord Dunsany, beginnning with The Gods of Pegana, all available free as Kindle books.

[terje]

Just began reading Drell Master by Poke Runyon (www.amazon.com/Drell-Master-Poke-Runyon/dp/0971055203). Its a sword n planet adventure story inspired by Burroughs, Merrit, Carter and also Herberts Dune, but made somewhat unique by the emphasis on adult erotic themes. Its pretty good this far, the plot is interesting and the world is fascinating. The book also includes an essay by Lin Carter on the art of creating fantasy worlds.

[kent]

Desert Island Book: The Worm Ouroboros - ER Eddison
World I would like to play in (not DM in): The Night Land - WH Hodgson


Primarily works of fantasy, science-fiction or horror is ok too.

By all means nominate a work of literature in addition.

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I don't believe we have one of these threads and they can be useful. I recommend the first time you mention what you are reading that you pick two books as I did above to let people know where you are coming from.

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I am currently reading The Water of the Wondrous Isles by William Morris. Not everything he wrote was interesting but when he was good he was brilliant.

[Deleted]

Theodore Sturgeon's collected stories.

[bexley]

Desert Island Book: Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
World I would like to play in (not DM in): The Worm Ouroboros by E.R Eddison

I'm currently reading Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe. So far it's been pretty good with a lot of taoism inspired stuff but I feel like it might be way too long.

[Vile Traveller]

This month, I have mostly been reading Philip Jose Farmer's "Riverworld" books.

[kent]

Jul 26, 2013 2:53:37 GMT -6 bexley said:

World I would like to play in (not DM in): The Worm Ouroboros by E.R Eddison.

Good luck finding a DM good enough and cheeky enough to set a campaign on Mercury!

Wind, Sand and Stars looks interesting looking at a couple of reviews.

[kent]

I read last night Robert Aickman's short story Ringing the Changes from his Painted Devils anthology. A couple visit a strange largely empty seaside town and stay the night though they shouldn't. Aickman writes with great subtlety, his effects are light but lasting.

[bexley]

Jul 26, 2013 8:46:16 GMT -6 kent said:

Jul 26, 2013 2:53:37 GMT -6 bexley said:

World I would like to play in (not DM in): The Worm Ouroboros by E.R Eddison.

Good luck finding a DM good enough and cheeky enough to set a campaign on Mercury!

Wind, Sand and Stars looks interesting looking at a couple of reviews.

It's rare to find a DM who has read it to any great depth, let alone the chops to run Mercury.

I feel a great affinity with Saint-Exupery, his views on life practically mirror my own but it's also a great exploration memoir in it's own right. The desert island status is purely for it's personal reflective quality though.

[kesher]

Man, I think WO is begging for a game adaptation...

I'm currently reading Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, as well as the collected poetry of Sir Walter Scott.

[scottenkainen]

I tried getting through Dune this summer. I made it 3/5 of the way through when I realized I had run out of characters I still liked and was just forcing myself to keep reading.

[kent]

I have a hardback of Dune on my to get list. I used to love Dune in my late teens and loved David Lynch's film too. I haven't picked it up since but was less impressed with film recently because of all the choppy editing and cuts. I do wonder what Jodorowsky would have made of it if that movie had worked out. I consider Dune like LotR a book that hits a sweetspot in readers in their late teens.

[geoffrey]

Desert Island Book (understanding that this book must be both a fantasy book and my only book): Lilith by George MacDonald
World I would like to play in: Clark Ashton Smith's Poseidonis

I am re-reading David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus. It is perhaps the most vividly imaginative fantasy book I have ever read. While the author's style is lamentable, it does not hinder the raw force of his vision. Harold Bloom has read A Voyage to Arcturus hundreds of times, and he gives it a place in the Canon. On his recommendation you should read it, kent.