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#101 Ash

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Posted 25 January 2010 - 10:04 PM

Ahh... no Kathulu fan can go without Hornblower. But Honorverse you say is similar? Hmm... I'll reaserch into that one...


Honorverse is basically Hornblower...inSPACE! David Weber drew more than a lot of inspiration from it. The Star Kingdom of Manticore is basically the sixteenth century United Kingdom with twenty-fourth century firepower. He did diverge from the formula when he realised how much his fanbase loved most of the characters who were actually supposed to be killed off but were left alive. Honor Harrington herself being one of those characters who were marked for death. Not that she hasn't been maimed severely in most of the books...

The best thing about Weber is he and his publisher actually put most of his/their books up for free. Baen are like the stardock of the literary world. A few of the Honorverse series are available. Start at the beginning with On Basilisk Station. They only get better from that point on. I'm basically peeing myself waiting for the next instalment.

#102 Puppeteer

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 03:43 PM

Puppeteer casts resurrection.
Just finished reading A Picture of Dorian Gray. I can't help but feel that there's some paradoxical depth lurking in it, aside from the obvious morality. I'll read the novel's introduction and think on it more...
Also, my next book will be Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre.

#103 Allathar

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 04:35 PM

Started with the Sword of Truth series, so far pretty good.
It has been reported that some victims of rape, during the act, would retreat into a fantasy world from which they could not WAKE UP. In this catatonic state, the victim lived in a world just like their normal one, except they weren't being raped. The only way that they realized they needed to WAKE UP was a note they found in their fantasy world. It would tell them about their condition, and tell them to WAKE UP. Even then, it would often take months until they were ready to discard their fantasy world and PLEASE WAKE UP

#104 Mathijs

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 05:08 PM

Puppeteer casts resurrection.
Just finished reading A Picture of Dorian Gray. I can't help but feel that there's some paradoxical depth lurking in it, aside from the obvious morality. I'll read the novel's introduction and think on it more...
Also, my next book will be Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre.

Nausea is pretty good.

Currently reading A Short History of Decay by Emil Cioran. I fear it may kill me.

No fuel left for the pilgrims


#105 Vortigern

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 05:29 PM

Just finished the Saga of the Jómsvíkings, not sure where my literary adventure is headed next. Anyway, pretentious five!
Posted Image

Also, any recommendations? I am open to interesting suggestions and for the next three months have a whole lot of free time.
I hope I am a good enough writer that some day dwarves kill me and drink my blood for wisdom.

#106 mike_

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 06:04 PM

Again, I heavily recommend The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. They're a series of novels set in modern-day Chicago, featuring the eponymous Harry Dresden as the sole openly practicing Wizard and Private Investigator in the world. He has sundry connections to the various magical superpowers in the world, such as Faeries, Vampires (three kinds), and all other manner of tomfoolery. The novels have a great sense of humour and far-reaching plotlines, both of which I love :)

#107 Gen.Kenobi

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 08:40 PM

Yesterday i read "Para Viver Um Grande Amor" - Vinicius de Moraes.

For school :)

kudos to Pasidon for this awesome avvy and siggy!


#108 MirkwoodArcher

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 09:27 PM

I'm reading the second book of Eragon: Eldest.
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#109 {IRS}Athos

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 09:41 PM

Ingredient: Paolini Book
Effects: Drain Intelligence 10 points for 10 years
Drain Personality 20 points for 10 years
Drain Strength 5 points for 10 years
...

You get the picture.

I'm almost finished with T.H. White's The Once and Future King. I love his use of comedy in the book: the ants' government system, vaguely reminiscent of 1984 and Nazi Germany, King Pellinore (just Pellinore in general, really), and of course Merlyn's constant references to anachronisms. I also admire the way he managed to transition what was a book mostly full of laughs to a truly serious work... and make it convincing, no less.
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#110 Caspa

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 10:18 PM

Busy reading the text on my monitor.
Hostile is a cunt.

Thought I'd have that here to save time.

#111 MirkwoodArcher

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 11:06 PM

Ingredient: Paolini Book
Effects: Drain Intelligence 10 points for 10 years
Drain Personality 20 points for 10 years
Drain Strength 5 points for 10 years
...

You get the picture.

I'm almost finished with T.H. White's The Once and Future King. I love his use of comedy in the book: the ants' government system, vaguely reminiscent of 1984 and Nazi Germany, King Pellinore (just Pellinore in general, really), and of course Merlyn's constant references to anachronisms. I also admire the way he managed to transition what was a book mostly full of laughs to a truly serious work... and make it convincing, no less.



I must admit that Paolini could have been a little more creative with names. He took things from The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings (with only a letter or two changed i.e. Elessari=Elessar, Beor Mountains, Furnost=Fornost, Melian=same) and he took Hrothgar straight from Beowulf. A few of the stories sound like Tolkien's work, too, like how the Dwarves came to be...

Creative, interesting, but he should have really thought about better names and not used the great ones' ideas as much as he did.
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#112 Mathijs

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 11:21 PM

I don't get how you can recognize such blatant unoriginality and not put down the book.

No fuel left for the pilgrims


#113 {IRS}Athos

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Posted 12 June 2010 - 01:01 PM

To say nothing of the plot of Star Wars mashed into a fantasy setting...
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#114 Allathar

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Posted 12 June 2010 - 01:55 PM

If Star Wars and Lord of the Rings were to have a one-night stand, Eragon would be the unwanted child...
It has been reported that some victims of rape, during the act, would retreat into a fantasy world from which they could not WAKE UP. In this catatonic state, the victim lived in a world just like their normal one, except they weren't being raped. The only way that they realized they needed to WAKE UP was a note they found in their fantasy world. It would tell them about their condition, and tell them to WAKE UP. Even then, it would often take months until they were ready to discard their fantasy world and PLEASE WAKE UP

#115 Puppeteer

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Posted 29 June 2010 - 07:39 PM

Well, while I was waiting for Dostoyevsky's "Notes from the Underground" to arrive at my local library, I chose to read the "Diary of a Young Girl", edition (b), by Anne Frank - at a literary level, it demonstrates that tragic irony and that which is not written are the most harrowing aspects of it all. Although, even without reading the book, one contrives an imbued sense of loss automatically. Context and prior knowledge turn a whole bildungsroman in unfortunate circumstances into a historical and moral tragedy, a tragedy of doomed survival and illusory hope, as words themselves aren't the only means of establishing a novel's tone.
Anyway, I've started to read "Specters of Marx" by Jacques Derrida, and not just for my personal statement (though I may quote him - my sentiments on history and the future were expressed perfectly by him: "Even if the future is its provenance, it must be, like any provenance, absolutely and irreversibly past"). I'm finding it tough already, though I suspect after the Injunction the Hamlet references will ease up, as I haven't read it! I suspect that all such discourses are written so as to confuse!

Edited by Puppeteer, 29 June 2010 - 07:44 PM.


#116 Paladin58

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Posted 29 June 2010 - 08:16 PM

I've always had a bit of an obsession with Asimov's work, so I went and picked up a copy of Nightfall at the local giganto-bookstore a couple weeks back. It's not the short story compilation, it's a full book by Asimov and Robert Silverburg, I think? I always enjoyed the short story, so seeing it extended so much is fascinating.

OLD SIG
When history witnesses a great change Razgriz reveals itself,
first as a dark demon. As a demon it uses it power to rain death upon the land,
and then it dies. However after a period of slumber Razgriz returns
As the demon sleeps, man turns on man.
Its own blood, and madness soon cover the earth.
From the depths of despair awaken the Razgriz.
Its raven wings ablaze in majestic light.
Amidst the eternal waves of time
From a ripple of change shall the storm rise
Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon
Behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath
The demon soars through the dark skies
Fear and Death trail its shadow beneath
Until Men united wield a hallowed sabre
In Final Reckoning, the beast is slain.
Razgriz intrerpretation

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#117 Vortigern

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Posted 29 June 2010 - 09:03 PM

Currently reading Western Shore by Juliet E. McKenna. Pretty standard easy reading fantasy stuff, except that the world is more detailed than any other I have ever read. The attention to detail is definitely comparable to Lord of the Rings, as is the diversity of the political and religious systems described. I'd recommend her work as a case study in description through storytelling.
I hope I am a good enough writer that some day dwarves kill me and drink my blood for wisdom.

#118 {IRS}Athos

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Posted 29 June 2010 - 10:07 PM

I'm reading the Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb. Also somewhat standard fantasy, but I think her characterizations in particular are to be lauded. Her antagonists are realistic and sympathetic, to the point where sometimes you wonder if they're actually antagonists at all. Over the two-year timeline of the books so far, I've ssn a lot of development, which few authors pull off successfully. Overall, an enjoyable series of reads.
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#119 MirkwoodArcher

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Posted 29 June 2010 - 10:27 PM

I'm reading J.R.R. Tolkien Architect of Middle Earth by Daniel Grotta-Kurska. The title's pretty self-explanatory. :p It's a biography on Tolkien.
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#120 {IRS}Athos

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Posted 30 June 2010 - 02:59 AM

I love how you say it's self-explanatory and then explain it to us, Mirk. :p
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