Reading List...

Started by Bison, January 30, 2012, 04:19:35 PM

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Bison

Finished up Cornwell's Arthur series awhile back and it was awesome.  A completely different take on the ol' legend and was very refreshing because of it.

I've been browsing Amazon looking at picking up a couple of books for some long sit and wait sessions I have coming up soon.  I really want to re-read Dune, but the purchase button is so freaking hard to push for a $15 ebook. 

And I cued up a couple of Thomas Sowell books too, but they are in the same price range. 

Perhaps I'll go with the free classics.  Lots of those I can either re-read or read for the first time.   Except Moby Dick.  I hate that damned book. Best American book ever written my ass.

Martok

If you couldn't stand Moby Dick, then I urge you in the strongest possible terms to stay the hell away from anything written by James Fenimore Cooper.  He makes Tolkien sound terse/succinct in comparison. 

I read one of Cooper's books (The Pathfinder, I think?) in high school, and the man devoted almost an entire chapter describing -- I shit you not -- the goddamn trees of the forest Hawkeye was passing through.  He's verbose to the point of inducing comas. 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Bison

I actually liked Last of the Mohicans, but your write he's a wordy bastard.  And in all honesty, I'm not sure if I could go back and read it again.

Martok

Quote from: Bison on March 23, 2012, 02:57:28 PM
And in all honesty, I'm not sure if I could go back and read it again.
I wouldn't recommend it.  I think Cooper's "classics" can be safely read just the one time (if at all). 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Staggerwing

Quote from: Martok on March 23, 2012, 02:53:26 PM
If you couldn't stand Moby Dick, then I urge you in the strongest possible terms to stay the hell away from anything written by James Fenimore Cooper.  He makes Tolkien sound terse/succinct in comparison. 

I read one of Cooper's books (The Pathfinder, I think?) in high school, and the man devoted almost an entire chapter describing -- I shit you not -- the goddamn trees of the forest Hawkeye was passing through.  He's verbose to the point of inducing comas.

I remember my Junior-High lit teacher reading an essay by none other than Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) tearing down James Fenimore Cooper. Some of it was pretty funny:

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns/indians/offense.html

QuoteCooper's gift in the way of invention was not a rich endowment; but such as it was he liked to work it, he was pleased with the effects, and indeed he did some quite sweet things with it. In his little box of stage-properties he kept six or eight cunning devices, tricks, artifices for his savages and woodsmen to deceive and circumvent each other with, and he was never so happy as when he was working these innocent things and seeing them go. A favorite one was to make a moccasined person tread in the tracks of a moccasined enemy, and thus hide his own trail. Cooper wore out barrels and barrels of moccasins in working that trick. Another stage-property that he pulled out of his box pretty frequently was the broken twig. He prized his broken twig above all the rest of his effects, and worked it the hardest. It is a restful chapter in any book of his when somebody doesn't step on a dry twig and alarm all the reds and whites for two hundred yards around. Every time a Cooper person is in peril, and absolute silence is worth four dollars a minute, he is sure to step on a dry twig. There may be a hundred other handier things to step on, but that wouldn't satisfy Cooper. Cooper requires him to turn out and find a dry twig; and if he can't do it, go and borrow one. In fact, the Leatherstocking Series ought to have been called the Broken Twig Series.

There's a lot more.  ;D
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

LongBlade

<chuckle>

Who doesn't love Mark Twain?
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Martok

Quote from: Staggerwing on March 23, 2012, 07:09:40 PM

I remember my Junior-High lit teacher reading an essay by none other than Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) tearing down James Fenimore Cooper. Some of it was pretty funny:

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns/indians/offense.html

[snip]

There's a lot more.  ;D
That's some great stuff there!  I only got about halfway through Clemens' essay (that you linked) before I had to stop for want of air, as I was laughing so hard.  Thanks for sharing that! 



Relevant to the topic, this part especially caught my attention: 
Quote
In addition to these large rules, there are some little ones. These require that the author shall:


12. Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.

13. Use the right word, not its second cousin.

14. Eschew surplusage.

15. Not omit necessary details.

16. Avoid slovenliness of form.

17. Use good grammar.

18. Employ a simple and straightforward style.

The literary "rules" I highlighted in bold are ones that Cooper is particularly guilty of violating IMO, although I concur with Clemens' assessment that he has broken all of those listed above to at least some degree. 

There are a number of authors of supposed "classics" who I have never understood why they are so hailed, and Cooper is definitely one of them.  Indeed, I find nearly all early 19th-century American authors -- Thoreau, Melville, Hawthorne, etc. (in fact, Poe is the only exception I can think of) -- to be guilty of having written so much drivel, and I will be forever mystified as to why they are included among the literary giants of the age. 





Quote from: LongBlade on March 23, 2012, 07:13:27 PM
<chuckle>

Who doesn't love Mark Twain?
Indeed.  He remains one of my favorite authors of the 19th century (probably second in my heart only to Dumas). 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Silent Disapproval Robot

Cooper's fiction might not measure up, but his works of naval warfare are still great to read.

I'm re-reading Andy McNab's series of novels about Nick Stone, a former SAS soldier now working for Brit intelligence on deniable ops.  They're great reads.  Stone's character is pretty much the anti-James Bond.  He's kind of a sad sack loser who's constantly getting screwed over by his employers, his exes, and pretty much life in general. 

I'm also reading Mark Zeuhkle's 3rd book on the Canucks on and after D-Day, Breakout from Juno.  As with all his books, it's a little disjointed but a good read.  The Canucks usually only get a passing mention in the more general histories of D-Day so it's good to read a series of books focussed mainly on them.

Ulfang

#38
Quote from: Bison on January 30, 2012, 04:19:35 PM
Time to purchase a couple of new books for the Kindle.  I'm continuing with the stories of Gordanius the Finder and pick up the second set of short stories. A Gladiator Only Dies Once http://www.amazon.com/Gladiator-Dies-Only-Once-ebook/dp/B003J48C1S/ref=pd_sim_kstore_6?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2 and perhaps the forth book in the series Arms of Nemisis http://www.amazon.com/Arms-Nemesis-Ancient-Novels-ebook/dp/B0046H9UEA/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2. (I have what my wife calls a "weird obsession" to read the books of a series in order.  Even though I got 3 other books in the series for Christmas; I just cannot read them yet.  There are five books to read before the first of the Christmas gifts should be read.)

Now here is where I'm torn.  I cannot decide if I want to stay in the past and start Bernard Corwell's Arthurian Series with The Winter King http://www.amazon.com/Winter-King-Arthur-Books/dp/0312156960/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3W0TP3JXH0VVD&colid=2FKFYHODI459L or move into the future and read Joe Haldman's The Forever War http://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1UHXTN58EWLUW&colid=2FKFYHODI459L or re-read one of my favorite books of all time Frank Herbert's Dune http://www.amazon.com/Dune-40th-Anniversary-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B001F0WXY0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1ZDDPODI8OLTP&colid=2FKFYHODI459L

The Kindle was without question my best purchase in 2011.  I love it so much.  Now if I could only decide which books to read next.  ;D

Strangely enough I'm half way through Excalibur that is the third book in Cornwell's Warlord Trilogy and they are a fantastic read. I love how he's taken the fantastic legend and made it historically plausible. I also love how many of the characters are the complete opposites of what we know through the Legends. Too read this.

I've lined up more Cornwell as my next read.... The Last Kingdom
Xfire: Ulfang
Steam/PSN/Xbox: Gavmundo

LongBlade

I've had The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille on my wishlist for quite some time but never popped the $16 for the paperback.

Yesterday (for the first time) it showed up as an ebook and was priced at a quite reasonable $3. I jumped on it. Haven't started reading yet, but this is one I've been looking forward to for a while.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Martok

Am currently about a third of the way way through Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies.  I'm almost done with the series now; Hornblower and the Atropos is the only one I have yet to read! 




Quote from: Ulfang on March 28, 2012, 09:04:17 AM

I've lined up more Cornwell as my next read.... The Last Kingdom
I love his "Saxon Tales" novels.  It's probably my favorite historical fiction series thus far (although the Hornblower books are now probably a close second). 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Bison

OT: The Hornblower series put out by A&E is outstanding.

TheCommandTent

QuoteI love his "Saxon Tales" novels.  It's probably my favorite historical fiction series thus far (although the Hornblower books are now probably a close second).

I really enjoyed that series.  I've read all of them except for the last one published, for some reason my library does not have it.


I'll have to check out these Hornblower books.
"No wants, no needs, we weren't meant for that, none of us.  Man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is."

Martok

Quote from: Bison on March 28, 2012, 04:05:07 PM
OT: The Hornblower series put out by A&E is outstanding.
I've heard as much.  I remember seeing commercials for it back in the day, although at the time I was (sadly) unaware of what it was all about. 




Quote from: TheCommandTent on March 28, 2012, 06:50:18 PM
QuoteI love his "Saxon Tales" novels.  It's probably my favorite historical fiction series thus far (although the Hornblower books are now probably a close second).

I really enjoyed that series.  I've read all of them except for the last one published, for some reason my library does not have it.
Like David Weber and his Honor Harrington books, I just hope Cornwell manages to finish the series before he dies!  Robert Jordan's death has made me quite paranoid... 



Quote from: TheCommandTent on March 28, 2012, 06:50:18 PM
I'll have to check out these Hornblower books.
Even if you're only a modest fan of the "Wooden Ships and Iron Men" genre, they're almost certainly a must-read. 


"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

Arctic Blast

So, finished reading The Hunger Games. It actually wasn't bad in terms of teenage melodrama. Solid read...I'd give it somewhere around a 3 to a 3.5 out of 5.

There are 2 other books in the series. I have no idea what the Hell they'll possible be about.

Now, I'm on to Waiter Rant. I love expose type books in the food industry.  ;D