They're better than ASOIAF, AD, though the shifting focus does cause the various story threads to get a touch muddled at times.
They're better than ASOIAF, AD, though the shifting focus does cause the various story threads to get a touch muddled at times.
If ASOIAF could be described as "the Wars of the Roses crossed with Imperial Rome", how would you describe Malazan? I've been interested in buying the first book for some time.
Bought the first Malazan book the other day, only £6 on Amazon.
I haven't a clue. They don't kill characters off for a shortage of other ideas, it is more overtly fantasy/magic (not to the point of people walking about lobbing fireballs, mind) and there is no Dragonbore.
I'll leave it up to you to decide which of those are good, bad or meh things. Oh, and he's fucking FINISHED them so you're not relying on George thinking his way out of the hole I imagine he's written himself into.
The strangest thing about it is that he'll do books with an entirely different set of characters and the one I've just read had a new character who was good reading but only made sense about 150 pages in.
If you like ASOIAF then it's worth your while at least trying the first one.
So is it LOTR with wizards etc. set during, say, the Middle Ages?
Well it's not LOTR because it doesn't have 16 pages of hairy-footed midget signalongs either.
I dunno that it has a particular obvious time period because the factions/races in it are a bit more diverse than that once you're a few books deep. Erikson is better than Martin, it's just whether you prefer the characters/setting of one over the other. I don't think the Malazan books have a character to match Tyrion, say, but there's no doubt in my mind which is the better series.
Debunking Economics by Steve Keen
One of a small number of economists both who predicated the great recession and who had a model describing why it happened, this is Professor Steve Keen's take-down of his own profession, accusing a large majority of economists (neoclassicists mainly) as ideologically-driven and obsessed with abstract models which are contradictory and fail to reflect reality.
It's very involved and technical to the point of becoming tedious in large parts, but while it may overstate its case in some instances, it's quite convincing and it's quite astonishing that there's so much hokum in mainstream circulation.
I'm really tempted to get a Kindle so I can read in bed lying on my side and without needing both hands. It's been prompted by reading Stephen King's 11.22.63 which a guy in work lent me which is a 700 or so page hardback monster. But the pretentious wanker inside me likes having proper books on shelves too much and dreams of having a proper library room one day.
20% off right now, Boyd.
I've gone through about 5 kindles now.
The voyage is a bit of a beast.
I can send people some (i.e. many thousands) of e-books if they wish to find justification for having a Kindle.
Shakespeare's Local was an interesting read if you're a suitably tedious beer bore like me. Though not enough that I'm sure I'll rush to read more of his stuff.
Now onto Half a War, the third in that trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Keen to read the second of his The First Law trilogy too. He's really good.
Nearly finished Bridge on the Drina. What a journey.
Next I'm interested in European history, mainly the empires etc before WW1 that ultimately culminated in WW1.
Any recommendations?
I've just finished Max Hastings' 1914 which is a very good account of the run-up to the outbreak with some very interesting background material. Beyond this, Montefiore's The Romanovs is meant to be very good for the Russian Imperial house.
Looks like a big wedge that.
Ever read The Three Nations trilogy by Christoph Fischer?
I haven't read either of those, but Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers used to be regarded as probably the best book about the start of it.
How've you got through so many?Originally Posted by Mahow
Reading 'All Out' by Albert Ellis at the moment. He's the creator of REBT which in large part is what is now CBT. I didn't get on with CBT as I didn't appreciate some daft bint telling me how to think, but reading about the ideas in a book is great as I can take it on its own terms. This is basically about CBT except it's all grounded in his own experiences and the shit he's been through. Recommended.
Cheers just bought it.
Jesus Christ it's a monster.
Almost finished Les Miserables. It's fucking huge. Last door-stopper for a while.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
I try to read one or two very long books per year and this had been on my list for some time. There was no competition from TV or internet in the 19th century and as such, works like this were more likely to succeed without the extensive editing that they'd get today. That's both for good and ill, I believe.
This is an engrossing, all-encompassing novel that attempts to give you a full representation of the time and place in which it's set, and a full exploration of the characters about whom it concerns. Hugo's prose (even upon translation) is majestic and his humanity is moving. On the one hand I have a greater understanding of Paris and French history than I did before, and one cannot fail to be gratified at having been through the ringer with Jean Valjean, the ex-convict turned saint who attempts to evade the law and ameliorate some of the misery around him. On the other, while it adds to the aforementioned epic experience, I can't help but wonder if the author needed several chapters dedicated to an aside on the Battle of Waterloo, and others on the history of the Parisian sewage system!
It's all probably better known to most people from the musical these days, and I had a passing familiarity with the plot going in. But there's so much more here that even if you do know how things develop, and you have the time, it's worthwhile.
The point of the 'digression' sections is that they establish the location and character of a scene before the characters themselves are placed therein. The reason why he, presumably, undertakes a history of the sewage system is so that you have a sense of where Valjean and Marius are lost - rather than it just being some generic shithole in the ground. It's the same when he provides a background for the type of location where Valjean and Cosette hide after Javert starts chasing them. He does the same thing in Notre Dame de Paris with Paris itself.
The digressions in War and Peace appear to have far less to do with establishing the scene or aspects of the plot.
Yes, I know that. As I said, they give a fuller sense of time and place - but they do drag somewhat. See also the digressions on slang and religious orders.
Tomorrow I will be starting Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Looking forward to it.
I need some summer reading, fellas. I've just started A Constellation of Vital Phenomena and it's really good but also set in Chechnya and perhaps doesn't suit my mood at the beginning of summer.
It's difficult, so my advice is to persevere...
My only difficulty so far, and it was the same with The Road, is understanding McCarthyism grammatical peculiarities. Doesn't take long to settle in but I don't get the point.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
I often read a lighter book while tackling something heavy to give me a break when I feel like it. This was the one I used during Les Miserables. Travel writer Bill Bryson runs through the major science subjects (including physics, cosmology, evolution, geology and so forth) giving a brief run-through of their histories and of their major discoveries. It's all a bit facile with no real depth - he declines to say anything about quantum physics on the ground that it would get too complicated for example. So while I didn't really learn much, it was an entertaining and well-written jaunt, and certainly would make a good introductory book for someone starting to read some popular science.
Found a glorious place to read my book today on the way home. It was utterly deserted and so peaceful. Always enhances my reading if I'm:
a) outside
b) in peace
c) with a great view
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The Optimistic Child, by Martin Seligman
He basically outlines how to bring up your kid in such a way that they are much less likely to become severely depressed. All very cognitive, simple and practical. Very well researched too and written in an easy style.
Making Movies by Sydney Lumet
Only just started this but it's a lovely little book by the bloke that did 12 Angry Men and Network.
Why did you read TOC?
It's very activity based, I stopped reading it as it didn't really apply to under 5s.
Just general curiosity. I want to be a children's counsellor eventually.
I don't get what you mean about under 5s. How doesn't it apply?
The activities in it.
Oh aye, they're focused more on teenagers aren't they. I guess the principles still apply in how you talk to her and stuff though?I thought some of the examples were really good, like dealing with when kids are putting themselves down or how to make any criticism local and specific rather than in general. His criticisms of the self-esteem movement was really interesting too.
Not really, it's more for when a child develops self-awareness, fully understands consequences, develops a small bit of inhibition, critical thinking and empathy.
At the moment it's just Naive, Selfish and Fair.
I mean it's still relevant in terms of how you talk to her and stuff
That's funny, my dad's just bought that the other week.
I had a go at Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow.
It wasn't much of a go really, as I barely understood a thing. I persevered through the narrative switching about twenty times between a horde of characters with comedy names, got through the frequent discussion of penises (quite enjoyed those, actually) and even managed to keep going past the scene where some deeply stereotyped black chaps come across a fella bent over the bog, decide to bum him, only for him to escape down the u-bend with no real explanation and then spend the next six or seven pages describing the various turds he finds while he's down there.
Considering I gave it another 50 pages or so after that (and I'm still about 10% of the way through), I feel I can say I gave it a good go and admit I'm not smart or, rather unexpectedly, pervert enough for it.
Definitely a new leader for the hardest to read book I've ever attempted.
You're right, that is funny!
Needs moar Hammer trolling.
I don't think I made it that far past the shit bit.
Pretty good synopsis.
Sounds ace.I only read while sunbathing; and I'm not so sure if it would be a good honeymoon read.
I'm a twit
I'll need some of your mong therapy if you keep up with that.
You're right, that is funny!
The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man by Robert M Price
Next up another one searching for the historical Jesus and the origins of Christianity. Robert M Price is a prominent advocate of the Christ-myth theory, holding that there never was a historical Jesus and that he is entirely a literary and mythological creation.
Here he deconstructs the New Testament stories, stripping away the layers of embellishment, plagiarism and sectarianism. It's an impressive feat, ending with the conclusion that none of the material is historical, and that if there is a historical figure at the root, nothing about him has been preserved.
I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced - some of Price's conclusions arrived at using his "criteria of dissmilarity" don't seem to follow - just because the gospel writers use texts that exist elsewhere or because the beliefs of proto-Christians overlap with those of cynics, stoics and so forth, don't seem to me to preclude them being historical in essence. That said, some of his arguments concerning for example, the nativity and the resurrection entirely debunk orthodox doctrines and provide a fascinating explanation for how and why they came into being in the decades following the origins of Christianity.
Overall Price has convinced me that this is an intriguing possibility, and I've learned a great deal about the whole area which I hope to continue with.
King's Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch) quickly managed to go from fairly interesting to downright insultingly bad. The first has a solid premise and flows along nicely before his usual shitty rushed ending. The second is rather dull, with no real concern for any fucker in it, but I managed to get to the end. The third is just hideous, no twists, surprises, everything is known, and the premise sounds like another book entirely which he's just banged Bill Hodges in because he couldn't think of fuck all else to finish the trilogy with. Its laughably bad, give it a go. Feels like a teenage English college assignment kinda work.
So hit and miss in recent years, probably due to age and boredom. 11/22/63 is superb though, to be fair. Still has a face like a surgically treated burns victim, the cunt.
I've only read a handful of King, but they're the sort of book I turn to when I want something that doesn't require a huge deal of engagement.
Yeah I use his books for similar, came off the biography of Chris Morris into the third installment, but the writing is so, so bad.
King was always very hit or miss, I find. I re-read The Dark Tower series a year or two ago, though, and still fucking loved it. Curious to see Elba as Roland.
I've read.... four of them I think. The amazing thing is that he keeps chopping and changing characters (the most recent I've read in particular) and yet he keeps it all tied together. It's a seriously good series of books.
I'm still chugging through Blood Meridian but it's so boring I'm finding myself reading other stuff during my commute so it's taking me an age to get through it.
The Great Gatsby is the most overrated novel of all time. I think. Read both that and Tender Is The Night a few months back and the latter shat on it.
Ah, cool that you all enjoy the Malazan books so much, that makes me want to read them.
I've been looking for something to read while waiting for Doors of Stone by Rothfuss (taking aaaages) and Winds of Winter by Martin (also aaaages), both of which have made me swear to never start a series of books that isn't already concluded ever again (but I will).
Blood Meridian is astonishingly dull. Can't remember when I was last so pleased to have finished a book.
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