faetal on 10/7/2015 at 10:33
Dumas is just some of the most wonderful characterisation I've ever read. The dialogue and the attitude of Dartagnan and his chums was absolutely addictive. I felt bereft when the book was done.
acquisto on 26/7/2015 at 13:19
I finished New Defenders last week. It was okay. The art wasn't spectacular, but it was serviceable. The villains were pretty lame, but it was nice to see Beast, Iceman and Angel on a team in the early 80s that didn't involve some half-baked idea about hunting mutants as a cover to save mutants. Now reading the pricey Legion of Superheroes vol 5 Archive.
Yakoob on 1/8/2015 at 23:34
Finished
Perdidio Street Station - what a depressingly fitting ending. While the latter half dragged a bit and suffered one too many deus ex machinas, it was still an excellent book and China Meville has a knack from creating peculiar and captivating worlds. Reminded me a lot of Planescape Torment mixed with Pathologic.
Now started on Anthony's Bourdain (
http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Confidential-Updated-Edition-Adventures/dp/0060899220)
Kitchen Confidential, which touts itself as an honest look at underbelly of restaurants - "There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices. Talking about why you probably shouldn't order fish on a Monday, why those who favor well-done get the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel, and why seafood frittata is not a wise brunch selection..." It's intriguing, but I am too early into it to tell if it's any good.
demagogue on 21/10/2015 at 15:07
Just chiming in to say I finished the Forever War today. Good book.
I found it funny that for as many centuries as Mandella was at it, he was involved in only 3 battles, and the first two he was knocked out within the first 5 minutes. So he really saw action for just one battle, for all that.
But 'salright. It was all the culture around the actual war that the book was really about. And I can't criticise the blithe irreverance, but it still managed to have a few genuine reflective & touching moments.
So the movie is coming sometime. I'd recommend reading it if you want to compare. It read faster than I expected.
Sulphur on 22/10/2015 at 12:39
Let's hope it doesn't end up as muted as the Ender's Game movie. Ridley seems to be back in the game, so we'll see.
Meanwhile, I'm reading Conan the Barbarian. Figured I might as well see what the fuss was about the one that popularised it all. And it reads... well, like I thought it would. Somewhat overcooked prose notwithstanding, it's imaginative and propulsive and pretty damn entertaining. Surprisingly, the bits that stand out for me aren't the action but the horror - there's a vivid sense of terror and dread in some of the setups, and even the follow-through.
Of course, its laboured descriptions of steely thews and tiger-like men get old fast, and its blunt racist/sexist overtones probably would have called for a casual pelting with halfbricks if the stories were released in this day and age*. But the table-setting and tightly controlled narration make up for that, and it's a wild ride with all the sex and violence present and correct, as advertised.
*'But it's about barbarians in a made up world that mirrors primitive civilisation! They were racist and sexist!'
'Well, no one says we're not racist and sexist today, but we're not stupid enough to write about it just to stir the pot. Now hold still while we brain you with this bust of Sarah Palin for the PC police.'
Severian_Silk on 22/10/2015 at 14:04
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Of course, its laboured descriptions of steely thews and tiger-like men get old fast, and its blunt racist/sexist overtones probably would have called for a casual pelting with halfbricks if the stories were released in this day and age*. But the table-setting and tightly controlled narration make up for that, and it's a wild ride with all the sex and violence present and correct, as advertised.
*'But it's about barbarians in a made up world that mirrors primitive civilisation! They were racist and sexist!'
'Well, no one says we're not racist and sexist today, but we're not stupid enough to write about it just to stir the pot. Now hold still while we brain you with this bust of Sarah Palin for the PC police.'
Funny thing is I remember reading that Howard's stories are considered feminist, especially by the standards of his time. He also wrote this:
"You're right; women are great actors. But I cant agree with you in your statement that the great women can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Men have sat at the feet of women down the ages and our civilization, bad or good, we owe to the influence of women."
More here: (
http://theblogthattimeforgot.blogspot.com/2010/06/howard-what-he-really-thought-of-women.html)
I'd say he wasn't misogynist at all. It's just that he was writing for the crowds. Too bad he didn't live long enough to write something more than pulp fiction :( .
His works are very racist, though. Sometimes even overly so, like Skull-face. Still I remember reading somewhere that he met with African-Americans in his hometown and listened to their stories for inspiration.
Sulphur on 22/10/2015 at 15:25
Interesting letter. I'm no expert on all of Howard's writing, but the first volume of Conan tales doesn't come off as particularly open-minded where women are concerned.
I'm not implying misogyny, just that it seems a fair bit tone-deaf when it comes to gender. Some of the women in these stories cavort around naked or half-naked all the time; the strong ones swoon for the hero at the very sight of him (one comes back from the dead to save him even though all he did was murder a bunch of her men and give her some really good sex); and some of them spend their time quivering in fright and then running away from or towards Conan (or, in one case, both), but he manages to save them just the same.
Severian_Silk on 22/10/2015 at 15:34
You're totally right and I guess that's what 1920's american men wanted to read about. Some strong female characters that save Conan's ass should appear later on, though ;) .
Tocky on 31/10/2015 at 05:35
Coincidentally I've been reading a compilation of Weird Tales in which Howard is featured. I think what we have to realize is that he was one of the FIRST in his genre of sword and sorcery and that many of the standards of later years were just being invented by him. Still, his male characters are more one dimensional than his females in many ways and he was a man of his age.
On the other hand you underestimate the power of laying pipe when it comes to the influence upon women. Even today it works wonders beyond rational expectation. I'm not saying it can make today's woman completely stupid but somewhat addled in decision making isn't completely untrue. I'm trying desperately not to sound womanizer here and indeed the reverse can be said in great number as well. This isn't exactly a new discovery though and I don't see it changing even with social parity.
Yakoob on 5/12/2015 at 19:39
Just finished reading Space Merchants - I LOVED the world, the themes and ideas behind it, but its a shame they were all wrapped in a book that was, IMHO, pretty terrible. The whole story arch is just weird, it tries to set up mysteries out of things that aren't mysterious at all (like Mitch's obsession with Hester, a character introduced very late and dying literally a chapter later), has a protagonist pull a complete allegiance\motives shift out of the blue despite his inner monologue suggesting the opposite, and does a bad job of explain wtf is actually going on a few times.
The pacing is also odd, sometimes spending few pages going into boring events, other times summing up big events in a single paragraph. And there's something about the writing style that didn't quite click with me, felt more like a college freshmen writing than accomplished author. Also reminded me of 1984 sans the repetitive mentions of endless mystery.
