I’ve only just finished Prelude to Foundation (the first in the full Foundation series) but I quite like it! Not to get too punny on you, but it’s a foundational work in sci-fi so I’m really enjoying it partly because it’s fun to see what influences later authors draw from!
I haven’t gotten far enough into it to really say much beyond that it’s good and I like it, but I’ll try to post about it again in a few novels time.
I’m reading the Foundation series chronologically in-universe instead of in order of how they were written.
All 3 people I asked advised otherwise buuuut they also read Narnia in order of how it was written so I’m ignoring them. I kinda regret not starting with the Empire trilogy or Robots series because I didn’t know they were also in-universe??
Reading is hard.
If you are an american and haven’t read The Things They Carried in school, go do that immediately.
If you aren’t an american and haven’t read The Things They Carried, go do that immediately.
It’s a methodical book, not difficult to comprehend, though the plot lines twist and snake around each other with no regard for the standard order of time. Deeply informative without remaining too factual, the novel reveals some understanding of a generation of men that came of age in combat, killers and soldiers and mourners. It’s not a fun book. Not conceptual, no clever plot twist, but it gives those up to connect with the base reality experienced by the men in Vietnam, and it hits true
For class I read a Joyce Carol Oates short story based on the Tucson murders (and partially inspired by a Bob Dylan song.) It’s grippingly uncomfortable and heartbreaking. I saw a strange, almost supernatural element during my first reading but I think the work becomes more powerful once that is revealed as historical context.
It was 1963, and 16-year-old Bruce McAllister was sick of symbol-hunting in English class. Rather than quarrel with his teacher, he went straight to the source: McAllister mailed a crude, four-question survey to 150 novelists, asking if they intentionally planted symbolism in their work. Seventy-five authors responded. Here’s what they had to say.
(via chickinanugget)
stellar-kevin replied to your post: So I have gathered up recommendations and outside…
“Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s etc.” Very very good series. Also another favorite series is the ‘Chronicles of the Necromancer’. It’s similar. Also the Dragon Nimbus novels are good. I’ve only read the first three, but I think there are a bunch.
Ooh, haven’t heard of those. If I like the series I will try to add these to the rapidly growing list!
mkstvns replied to your post: So I have gathered up recommendations and outside…
Raymond E Feist shouldn’t be left off any fantasy list (unless you’ve read him already, I suppose).
Actually grabbed some used part of the Riftwar saga last month! Thanks for reminding me! I’ll punch that up a bit higher.
So I have gathered up recommendations and outside of school my reading list (roughly in order) goes:
Poor Discworld keeps getting bumped back because it’s a big series. This will all take some time ‘cause when I’m doing a bunch of boring class reading I tend to not be as book thirsty. Still I think that’s should cover this year! Tell me if there’s something good I’m missing, but yeah I have several years of backlog after this plus not really factoring in rereading and I wanna eventually get through more Hugo and Nebula winners god do you want to know the best thing?
I already know of enough books I want to read to last at maybe 5 years and then I haven’t even really fleshed out my knowledge of classics or magical realism and there are so many basics of sci-fi I missed goodness
books are cool because when you get overwhelmed you can just roll around in piles of them.
catnip-o-houlihan replied to your post: If you enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods”, here…
… I’m writing a 15 page paper on ‘American Gods’ and am now in love with you. Anansi Boys is really good, and the Beowulf-esque follow-up in Fragile Things is alright. I need to reread it because I think I misread it. Alas.
That sounds like a really cool paper! We should talk more after I have finished those two books. My friends warned me that Anansi Boys is somewhat different, but we shall see!
Alas, indeed. I like the actual Beowulf story fine but after reading Larry Niven’s adaptation (oh it was bad) I just don’t have a very high bar set anymore. Hopefully Gaiman will dazzle me anyways.
If you enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods”, here are some recommendations I have for further reading!
If you want to read continue in the theme of old gods in America, try “From the Files of the Time Rangers” by Richard Bowes. If you want something in a more serious vein, try “Winter’s Tale” by Mark Helprin, a coming age story intertwined with America (specifically, New York City) and flavored with the fantastic. If you want more of Gaiman’s eloquent reflections on worship and deities, read “The Sandman” series or for more of the disjointed questing aspect, read Gaiman’s “Neverwhere”.
There’s also another in-universe novel “Anansi Boys” and a follow-up short story in Gaiman’s “Fragile Things”, both of which I’m excited to read! I’ll update my recommendations after finishing these.
Neil Gaiman is a storyteller. Not all writers are, but he is. He writes a particular type of magic, trickster magic, straight out from carnivals and shadows. Though he works in fantasy, he understands that magic! well magic is flashes and bangs and fireworks but the story is told in emotions and the relationships between two characters. His stories are more than just tales, they are truths about what it means to be human.
So yes, I deeply enjoyed American Gods. It was delightful.
dentaldam replied to your post: I had a very nice birthday, people remembered it…
happy (belated?) birthday! also: how do you like american gods? it has been recommended to me twice now and i am looking for something to read, having just finished asoiaf for the third time through.
Nope, made it by ten minutes! Thanks so much! I’m only a third of the way through American Gods. ASoIaF doesn’t have the sort of uh, fantastical element found in some of Gaiman’s works. George R.R. Martin has a very forceful, very powerful “voice” and he works by a reliable set of in-universe rules. His universe just happens have a fantasy setting.
Gaiman has a more poetic style. He writes with gravitas but ventures more into surreal, supernatural territory. Or at least that’s what I’ve seen in what I’ve read of him (The Sandman series, Neverwhere, Good Omens, and a couple miscellaneous graphic novels). I still would absolutely recommend him, but not necessarily as someone very similar to Martin! I’ll have a better sense of how they compare once I’m a bit further along, I hope!
ladylinencloset replied to your photo: Reading out the riot act
what are you really reading there?
I’m rereading Castle Waiting Volume II, it’s a really nice brain cleaner! I wanted to know if I could reccommend it to my cousin yet but I think it should wait another 5-10 years.
It’s basically fairy tales but with bearded nuns + Iron Heinrich + plague doctors etc. There’s a distinctly modern feel and some more adult side jokes. I also really like how the author does faces. They’re very expressive!
