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Post by kent on Aug 7, 2013 18:37:41 GMT -6
Keep the 50s 60s & 70s pictures flowing they are inspiring. I'll add some myself soon. With regard to Chronology it is a crucial aspect when reading collections. Leiber, for example I believe is best read in the order first published rather than published as collected. Something you notice in that way is how Leiber introduces the two fighters as he conceives them rather than on reflection. I'm reading Playing at the WorldI haven't read this but Im pretty sure I will, it sounds great. The best summary introduction to the hobby? Holmes book is great too. |
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Post by cadriel on Aug 7, 2013 21:06:13 GMT -6
With regard to Chronology it is a crucial aspect when reading collections. Leiber, for example I believe is best read in the order first published rather than published as collected. Something you notice in that way is how Leiber introduces the two fighters as he conceives them rather than on reflection. I read Leiber in something of an odd order. The first time I read any of his stuff was in the 1990s when I had acquired a copy of the 1e DMG from a local library, read Appendix N, and started searching out for everything I could find from it. I lucked out that White Wolf was in the middle of publishing the Lankhmar stories at exactly that time, and I found Lean Times in Lankhmar ( Swords in the Mist / Swords Against Wizardry) before Ill Met in Lankhmar ( Swords and Deviltry / Swords Against Death). By some odd luck, I read "Adept's Gambit" first and "Lean Times in Lankhmar" second, which was a rather delightful way to get a taste of the characters. Then of course I went through everything else in the volume, and followed that with everything in Ill Met. Those two volumes remain some of my favorite fantasy. |
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Post by Ghul on Aug 8, 2013 5:52:25 GMT -6
I'm also reading Vance's Alastor series at the moment. When Vance died, I picked up this lot on eBay for cheap. I read book one in about a week. I've just started book two recently:  |
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bexley
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 104
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Post by bexley on Aug 13, 2013 8:45:32 GMT -6
I recently bought a pulp to read during my tutorial break based solely on it's cover. I guessed I lucked out because Lin Carter seems to rate it as van Vogt's best. What a magnificent building. I haven't read more than a few pages of van Vogt. Let us know what its like when you're done. The plot was surprisingly interesting. The main character is actually the god of the setting, who continually reincarnates throughout human history, however the psychic struggle he goes through offsets the invincible mary sue pitfall quite nicely. Stylistically it leaves a lot to be desired. The pacing jumps around in the first few chapters making it a struggle to read but as the book goes on the prose settles down into a nice rhythm. It's written well enough but I think the plot centred around a god coming to terms with his own cult of worship is the only reason to read it. Don't expect too much and you're golden in my opinion. Edit: Those Vance covers are beyond nice! Which edition/print run are they? |
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Post by kent on Aug 14, 2013 5:45:43 GMT -6
The plot was surprisingly interesting. The main character is actually the god of the setting, who continually reincarnates throughout human history, however the psychic struggle he goes through offsets the invincible mary sue pitfall quite nicely. Stylistically it leaves a lot to be desired. The pacing jumps around in the first few chapters making it a struggle to read but as the book goes on the prose settles down into a nice rhythm. It's written well enough but I think the plot centred around a god coming to terms with his own cult of worship is the only reason to read it. Don't expect too much and you're golden in my opinion. It would be handy to have a book which abstracted just the original ideas from these pulpy genre novels, reducing them to say a half page each. *One Thousand Fantasy & Sci Fi Novels in Five Hundred Pages* kind of thing. |
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bexley
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 104
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Post by bexley on Aug 14, 2013 11:51:23 GMT -6
The plot was surprisingly interesting. The main character is actually the god of the setting, who continually reincarnates throughout human history, however the psychic struggle he goes through offsets the invincible mary sue pitfall quite nicely. Stylistically it leaves a lot to be desired. The pacing jumps around in the first few chapters making it a struggle to read but as the book goes on the prose settles down into a nice rhythm. It's written well enough but I think the plot centred around a god coming to terms with his own cult of worship is the only reason to read it. Don't expect too much and you're golden in my opinion. It would be handy to have a book which abstracted just the original ideas from these pulpy genre novels, reducing them to say a half page each. *One Thousand Fantasy & Sci Fi Novels in Five Hundred Pages* kind of thing. That does sound preferable than reading un-pleasurable prose during leisure time. A blog with multiple contributors would also work for this purpose. I should also mention that the 'dottle' in this book read similar to Tekumel's chlen. Possible source of inspiration? |
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Post by Ghul on Aug 22, 2013 8:45:54 GMT -6
This week's used book store score. Not sure why I needed another copy of this Tarzan book, but it spoke to me. Grand total = $2.00  |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Nov 30, 2013 11:58:33 GMT -6
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. I got turned on to the books by the series. I have all 5 books and it seems there is a big split among fans over the fourth and later books. Time will tell...
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Post by strangebrew on Dec 19, 2013 17:45:30 GMT -6
I just started the Demon Princes series by Vance. I only have the first two, but if I like them I'll track down the others. Same with the Kothar series by Fox. I also just started The Magus by Fowles and a book on the late medieval Arab explorer Ibn Battuta. Yikes, biting off more than I can chew actually.
I also picked up a small heap of old TSR modules I've never read, so that's proving to be a bit of a distraction from "real" reading.
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Post by machfront on Dec 19, 2013 21:37:26 GMT -6
Yes, really. The novelization of Hawk the Slayer! Apparently available only in the UK. I know I had to order mine from there years ago.  I was also in the middle of refilling one of my e-cig carts....and yeah, yeah, wind-up robots old and new...and yes, I really should clean my keyboard again.  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2013 23:45:59 GMT -6
Gulliver's Travels. I'm sure someone has already written a Gulliver-esque module.
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Post by Porphyre on Dec 21, 2013 11:59:09 GMT -6
Presentely re-reading norse sagas: the Saga of the Volsungar & the Saga of Gisli Surrson
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Post by strangebrew on Dec 21, 2013 21:44:17 GMT -6
Presentely re-reading norse sagas: the Saga of the Volsungar & the Saga of Gisli SurrsonI read Njal's Saga/Burning Njal for a college course and it absolutely blew me away. Great action scenes. I've read it a few times since.. once i free up some space on the nightstand I should give it another read. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2013 0:31:35 GMT -6
Oh, also Berserk (Kentaro Miura).
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Post by kent on Dec 24, 2013 13:08:54 GMT -6
My reading over the Christmas period. I only read nice hardbacks these days.  Mistress of Mistresses 1935 -- ER Eddison Dracula 1897 -- B Stoker The Niebelungenlied Melmoth the Wanderer 1820 -- C Maturin The Death of Grass 1956 -- J Christopher |
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Chainsaw
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 303
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Post by Chainsaw on Dec 24, 2013 14:39:04 GMT -6
I liked Martin's books at first, but eventually stopped reading. Much of it became tedious and boring (too many uninteresting new subplots) and I also grew increasingly suspicious that he planned on dying before finding a satisfying way to wrap it all up. My wife's in the same boat. I still watch the show, but more out of momentum than anything else.
Currently reading Zothique. Awesome!
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Post by geoffrey on Dec 24, 2013 14:44:28 GMT -6
I am re-reading Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Iliad.
I would appreciate opinions regarding better translations of Homer.
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Post by Fearghus on Dec 24, 2013 20:04:07 GMT -6
I recently purchased Three Hearts and Three Lions, and The Broken Sword. Both are by Poul Anderson. I finished Three Hearts about a week ago and thoroughly enjoyed the story and characters. The Broken Sword is about half-way done and is just as enjoyable to read.
While at my sisters I stumbled upon a box with several of my old books. I found Fantasy Wargaming by Bruce Galloway, and The Fortress of the Pearl by Michael Moorcock; neither of which I have completed. I've 8 days away from the office so I plan to plow through them all! My little side project is to read Lord Dunsany stories and put them together into a setting for D&D adventures (centered around Allathurion). Anderson's work helped solidify my direction for faeries (elves, goblins, dwarves, etc). And it was really an eye opener and put into perspective D&D's marginalization of such humanoids.
I am not picky about my reading medium, so I read Dunsany at Project Gutenberg, and the others are a mix of hard back and mass-market paperback.
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Post by Porphyre on Dec 26, 2013 11:50:42 GMT -6
Re-reading presentely:
-The Hobbit
-Beowulf (Seamus Heaney's translation)
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Post by kesher on Dec 27, 2013 8:01:15 GMT -6
Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins. There's a surprisingly large amount of game-useable material in there...
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Post by thorswulf on Dec 27, 2013 14:28:05 GMT -6
Wolf of the Steppes by Harold Lamb. Lots of fun!
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Chainsaw
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 303
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Post by Chainsaw on Dec 27, 2013 14:50:48 GMT -6
I am re-reading Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Iliad. I would appreciate opinions regarding better translations of Homer. On translations, remember that there is natural a friction between accuracy and poetic beauty. You can't really have a translation that is 100% accurate that also captures 100% of the spirit and poetic beauty of the original. This trade off is especially pertinent when we're talking about something like Ancient Greek to modern English, where you have a 2,500+ year gap. If you're serious about analyzing one of these books but don't know Ancient Greek, I'd say to read a page from a good literal translation (like Lattimore) and then a page from a good poetic translation that aims to capture the spirit of the story according to the translator (like f*gles or Fitzgerald). You'll get the best of both worlds (and probably realize you missed some super cool nuance the first time around - these are books meant to be ready slowly and thoughtfully). If you just want something that is really accessible and entertaining, then probably f*gles or Fitzgerald alone is fine. Just know that the more the translator aims to capture the "spirit and beauty" over the actual words, the more you find yourself soaking up one guy's interpretation, which means taking liberties with the translation. You get what I'm saying, I'm sure. If you ask classics professors the translation question, you'll get a different answer from every one. As you can imagine, there are whole schools of thought dedicated to furthering certain interpretations over others. Shocking, I know. As for me, I majored in Latin and Ancient Greek in college, then taught high school Latin for a year after that. In college, I usually translated Ancient Greek directly from the Liddell and Scott dictionary with a Loeb as my guide. Loeb's a series of books that has the actual Latin/Greek text on the left page and a very literal translation on the right page. Very useful as a double-check against what you're looking up in L&S (but not necessarily an exciting read). You're sort of like, "Oh, well, the word is X in L&S, but that doesn't make sense. OK, Loeb's using Y instead, which is listed as the 4th most common meaning in L&S. I wonder why that is. Oh, I see, it's probably because blah blah blah, as listed in the Loeb translation footnotes." Plus, they're just super cool. Anyway, based on my background, I'd probably read Lattimore, but also own Fitzgerald and f*gles. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2013 0:35:44 GMT -6
Gene Wolfe, Fifth Head of Cerberus.
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monk
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 237
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Post by monk on Dec 31, 2013 0:44:12 GMT -6
This is really helpful to me. Thanks for posting it! Read Lattimore's Od and Il in college and enjoyed them. Maybe I'll try Fitzgerald next time around and see how I like it. |
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Torreny
Level 4 Theurgist
Is this thing on?
Posts: 171
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Post by Torreny on Dec 31, 2013 4:14:32 GMT -6
Recently returned to my copy of the Mabinogion. Always a good read.
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Chainsaw
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 303
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Post by Chainsaw on Dec 31, 2013 22:18:56 GMT -6
This is really helpful to me. Thanks for posting it! Read Lattimore's Od and Il in college and enjoyed them. Maybe I'll try Fitzgerald next time around and see how I like it. Cool man. I'll take 1/184.  |
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Post by Vile Traveller on Dec 31, 2013 22:32:14 GMT -6
The Wagner Story Book by Henry Frost.
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monk
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 237
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Post by monk on Dec 31, 2013 22:34:43 GMT -6
Hmm. Well, Brieseis and I have, um, spent some time together, so to speak. Her cheeks aren't so fair anymore...  |
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Post by kesher on Jan 7, 2014 13:53:24 GMT -6
The Book of the SubGenius for the umpteenth time. There's more gaming goodness in there than you can shake a pipe at.
In one of my campaign worlds, yetis live in a giant DobbsHead carved out of mountain, known in their sacred language as b'AHBhome...
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jan 7, 2014 18:21:23 GMT -6
The Book of the SubGenius for the umpteenth time. There's more gaming goodness in there than you can shake a pipe at. In one of my campaign worlds, yetis live in a giant DobbsHead carved out of mountain, known in their sacred language as b'AHBhome... I have yet to read the first book. The only one I have read had a lot of references to X Day but then maybe they all do? |
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I'm reading Playing at the World
