Amph What book are you reading right now?

I actually didn't like the way At The Mountains of Madness ended.

Spoiler

Or to be more accurate I was not impressed with the creature presented

 

Planet of Twilight by Barbara Hambly

 

Ooh. Did you lose a bet?

 

Even though it's still a ways to go, I'll be reading Crucible, so I can't laugh too hard.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

Beggars of Life by Jim Tully

Autobiography by a man who lived as a hobo before going on to become a successful writer in the 20's, influencing Ernest Hemingway and others. It's amazing, he's a poet and you feel like you're right there riding the rails.

 

Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno

A biography of J. D. Salinger written as accounts by different people, also including photos and excerpts from his letters.

 

Rereading Legends. All the books I own.
"Children of the Jedi" made me realize that Wendig isn't the worst SW author. I don't like hos writing and abhor how he talks to people in blogs and other things, but at least he knows character.
So far, POT isn't as bad as COTJ.

 

Hambly's Star Wars books are probably the weirdest the novels have ever gotten outside the Crystal Star IMO. Though apparently post NJO is worse. I haven't read past Dark Nest so I can't comment on them though.

 

The Book of Urizen (1794) – William Blake

Laws of peace, of love, of unity;
Of pity, compassion, forgiveness . . .
One command, one joy, one desire,
One curse, one weight, one measure
One King, one God, one Law.

Some of Blake’s mythological characters have appeared in his previous works, but I count this as the first of his mythological works, because I really tie his mythology to the events in which these characters find themselves and, of necessity, the exploration of their relations to each other. In this book, Urizen represents the intellect, the higher mind. In the time before Creation, he takes control of existence and creates our universe. But because he is a figure of pure intellect, he cannot govern except by laws, commands and absolute control; he creates the Net of Religion (one of Blake’s most powerful images) to bind mankind down with. But Los, representing passion and inspiration, breaks free and binds Urizen in an effort to free mankind, but then finds his own rule beset by problems. One of the great things about Blake’s mythology is the way in which Blake paints the characters; none of them are villains exactly, just flawed individuals bound by their natures to fail in certain ways. Urizen is not a being of evil; he is simply, by his nature, unable to rule humanity without crushing them with the Law. This is not because reason and the intellect are dangerous or evil in themselves, but only because they cannot be allowed to become ascendant over the other elements of the soul. The majority of Blake’s mythology will be taken up with this idea: the elements of humanity’s soul are only tenable when they all operate in balance with one another. Throughout countless pages of his writing, we’ll see various sides of mankind’s personality ascend to a place of primacy over the others and see everything fall apart because of this. This one is a simple poem by comparison with his other mythological works, but this one, in my opinion, really lays the foundation for all the others. 4 stars.

tl;dr – first of Blake’s proper mythological works, this conflict between reason and emotion lays the groundwork for the more complex works to come; compelling and brilliant. 4 stars.

More Book Reviews!

 

Fireborn by David Dalglish, book 2 of his Seraphim trilogy. I wasn't sure if Skyborn (book 1) was fantasy or sf with sufficiently advanced technology; Fireborn answers some of the questions raised in Skyborn and pushes the story firmly into fantasy territory. Definitely had more action than the first one, which had the burden of establishing the world and characters, and I like Dalglish's action. Dangerous foes are dangerous, not just pushovers who are supposed to be a threat even though they're not. The plot went in directions I didn't expect, but still consistent with what went before. Ditto for character development. I'm looking forward to book 3 Shadowborn, which I believe is supposed to conclude the trilogy. Personally, I hope there's more than that, cuz I love this world. Jedi are cool pilots who can swordfight, but Dalglish's Seraphim swordfight while they fly. That's what I want to do if I grow up.

 

Pride and Prejudice. A really great book, and it shows continuing development from Austen. The prose retains her voice, but it's less focused on brutally sarcastic social observation, warmer in tone to complement the fact that Elizabeth, with a stronger and wittier personality than Elinor, can do the skewering herself. And the characters are even better developed, with all the major characters commanding significant page time rather than mostly lurking off to the side like Edward Ferrars. Every character has some flaw, some more significant than others, and while some overcome them, others don't. The ending is a bit less happily-ever-after, and a bit more earned. Where Austen backed off on Willoughby, refusing to judge him entirely harshly, here Wickham and Lydia, as well as Mrs. Bennet, are pretty much chalked up as losses, and there are greater and lesser degrees of reconciliation. It makes everything feel a bit richer and deeper, more realistic and compelling. Austen also tackles a greater variety of characters. The spectacular insipidity and shallowness of Mrs. Bennet and Lydia are familiar from Sense and Sensibility, as is the rascality of Wickham, but characters like Bingley, whose eagerness to please makes him far too easily swayed; Jane, whose naive refusal to believe ill of anyone harms her; Mr. Bennet, whose complacent self-amusement is ultimately selfish and harmful; Elizabeth, who is too quick to judge the character of others, too trusting of her own opinions; and Mr. Darcy, whose determination to do the proper thing and solitary nature leads him into standoffish arrogance, are fresh and all make for interesting character types for Austen to explore. Moreover, there are a lot of relationships on display. The romances between Elizabeth and Darcy and Jane and Bingley are the most obvious, but there's also a lot of emphasis on Elizabeth and Jane's sisterly relationship, and on their other family relationships and female friendships. There's also an undercurrent of emphasis on male friendship, with the tight bond between Darcy and Bingley, each complementing the other's flaws, central to the plot. It's a great book and tremendous fun to read.

 

Finished The City. It was good. Not really sure what to make of the ending but I enjoyed it all the same.

Got a bundle on the kindle of the 2 Empire and Rebellion books so I'm now reading the Leia one Razor's Edge. When I'm done with that I'll start the Han one Honor Among Thieves.

 

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov.

 

Overall I did not like The Iron Dragon's Daughter very much. It is a brilliant idea, and good in places (I would use the word "profound" in a spot or two) but there is about 100 pages of tedium that I did not need.

Moving on to Pathfinder tales: Gears Of Faith.

 

Will Wilder 1: The Relic of Perilous Falls by Raymond Arroyo

 

The Idiot by Dostoyevsky.

You know, summer reading.

 

You've piqued my interest. How did theremin music tie into a cold war spy caper?

Also, how does my spellcheck not know theremin?

 

My spell check is nikulturny.

(Hey mods, we need a commie smiley.)

 

Star Wars: The Crystal Star by Vona N. McIntyre

 

My condolences.

 

Should we send flowers?

 

Yeah. I remember nothing from it.....and now I know why...