3 out of 3 loremasters agree: reading is the best way to become a better writer. So, what's on your beside table?
I almost exclusively read nonfiction these days. The last book I finished was The Dawn of Everything, which I highly recommend (despite its length). It's a great re-examination of the rise and nature of "civilization" and its power structures. Almost immediately drives home how unimaginative most fantasy is when it comes to how societies are structured.
Currently reading The Bright Ages, which is a much more approachable tome of examples from history that dispel myths about the medieval era being a dark age without progress, learning, travel, or important figures of the not-white-dude variety.
And a few other recent recs I've read recently:
The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages - looks at how medieval Europeans perceived and communicated the notion of "race," and how those roots are still with us today.
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu - very entertaining narrative about how a single family saved thousands of books from destruction
Beowulf: A New Translation - the classic poem translated into modern language while retaining the feel it would have had to the original listeners. Begins with, "Bro!"
Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet - light but extremely informative read highlighting a few women crucial to the rise of digital culture
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States - extremely informative, will make you mad-sad.
Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art - poignant work going over the latest in what we know about Neanderthals, and how we know it.
Ah, the classic forum thread! Sadly with my studies, I do not have much time when it comes to reading, not full books anyways. But here are my current dabblings:
Stafford Library: Arcane Lore - Musings on the nature of magic, divinity, and hero quests written by the late creator of Glorantha, Greg Stafford. A fantastic guide which has aided me in generating various mytho-religious apocryphal for TES.
Ulukau - Not a book, but rather an online Hawaiian librarian coving various topics such as myths and culture. A good link to have on your bookmark bar!
I've been reading the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon again. I read it once in 2008 and I'm getting much more out of this read-through. Currently on A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Book 6/9). I appreciate these books for how real the characters and relationships are and how they handle the good & bad things that happen to them. It's amazing the author can maintain such a massive cast and each person distinctly has their own Self. My personal favorites are the depictions of early motherhood. Very relatable as I'm in that life stage myself!
Otherwise I'm currently listening to the Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas on audible when I go out on walks. I read these books before during a YA Fantasy dive I got into a few years ago and it's nice to listen to them again. I prefer to only listen to books I've read already because I can't pay enough attention to consume a brand new book that way. SJM has an easy conversational style of writing that translates well to audio too.
If you're looking for some good historical non-fiction I recommend Alison Weir. I recently read The Lady in the Tower about Anne Boleyn and it was really well done. There was a lot more information covered about her life than historians usually afford her and it was an interesting perspective.
Man, I'm still trying to get through this table-sized copy of Carl Jung's The Red Book. I've been working on that damn tome for years.
I got briefly distracted by Eugene Thacker's "In the Dust of this Planet" but that ain't exactly what I'd call "light reading."
And when my brain is fried and I can't think straight, I read "City of Stairs" by Robert Jackson Bennett, which I'd recommend, although I haven't made it more than 25% into the book. Still plenty of room for things to get average.
I don't read too much now days but I did recently pick up the 10th Planet trilogy that had the story by Christopher Weaver. I only picked it up in case there are any references to it within Starfield this November. Besides that I haven't really read a real book in a long while.
Benefactor wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 4:25 am
I don't read too much now days but I did recently pick up the 10th Planet trilogy that had the story by Christopher Weaver. I only picked it up in case there are any references to it within Starfield this November.
Benefactor wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 4:25 am
I don't read too much now days but I did recently pick up the 10th Planet trilogy that had the story by Christopher Weaver. I only picked it up in case there are any references to it within Starfield this November.
Is he involved in Starfield in some way?
He is not currently involved with Starfield but was one of the founders of Bethesda Softworks. Back in the late 90's Bethesda almost released a space game call The 10th Planet. Unfortunately they never released the game but a trilogy of books were written with input by Christopher Weaver that connects to the unreleased game.
A few other things that make me think we will get some minor references include that in the trailer for Starfield you can see a patch on a wall that has 10 planets and around it the words The Tenth Planet. Also Emil did a preview of The 10th Planet back when he was a reviewer for The Adrenaline Vault before he started working for Bethesda. It is flimsy evidence to be fair but there is always the possibility.
Have been bad about reading of late, too many other tasks & projects going on, but I've been trying to catch up on the Stephenson novels I missed out on over the years. I finally completed my collection of his works, and he's my favorite author, so it's a worthwhile endeavor.
I can't 1,000% recommend all of his books for everyone, but I do recommend at least checking out Snow Crash, Diamond Age, and Anathem. The nerdier among us would also probably love Reamde and Fall or, Dodge In Hell. Stephenson is definitely among the Gibsons of the world in his ability to anticipate humanity's evolving relationship with technology. He recently came to some more mainstream attention again because of the overuse of the term "Metaverse", which is his the way that "cyberspace" was Gibson's.
Right now I'm making my way through The Cobweb, one of Stephenson's collaborative novels written with his uncle.
I have added a few more things to my reading list. I'm once again delving into the early TES fanfictions to get a better grasp of what the community thought of the lore before Morrowind.
More interesting though I found that The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis, Speculated to be the worst fiction written, actually had a sequel and am in talks with a fanzine publisher from the 70's in getting a copy. The first part is out I am just waiting on him to get the second part scanned. I have always wondered if The Eye of Argon inspired the name of The Eye of Argonia or if it was a coincidence.
I've always been a huge Andrej Sapkowski fan, and I come from a medieval history background, so I picked up his Hussite Trilogy. I've yet to read them completely, but I have no doubts I'll love them. ALong that same vein, one of my favorite series that I've ever read is Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales series. It's an amazing historical fiction epic that follows one man trying to wrestle with his allegiances, while also just being a friggin badass. I highly recommend it.
It's funny to see Sovaliah mention Sarah J. Maas, because I just finished reading book one of her new Crescent City series! It was super fun, and took place in this contemporary fantasy setting that honestly was so delightful. I wanted to live in that universe while reading it. I got a big Shadowrun feel to that first book, and have the second book sittin in my Kindle library!
I'm back at university now, so all my reading is textbooks, but I've been going through an audiobook kick. I'm listening to stereotypical fantasy novels before I start on new topics. Kushiel's Dart trilogy, Game of Thrones, Name of the Wind, Lord of the Rings. Things I've read before. Once done, I'm going to pick up some historical reading, starting with Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great by Elizabeth Carney. I listened to the Hardcore History podcast about her, and I'm enthralled by her story. I also love ancient Greece, Macedon, Rome, etc.
Some titles from the last months. (I've read most longer prose in German translations, but shorter pieces and some poetry in the English originals).
The second part of Cervantes' Quixote (published in 1615, ten years after the first. I waited a few years as well before continuing, and this was a good idea since it strikes a different, more serious and reflected tone in some regards.)
Gogarty, As I Was Going Down Sackville Street. A Phantasy in Fact. An anecdotal, wonderfully vivid, witty, idiosyncratic "novel-memoir-commentary", in lack of a better term for this artistical composition on Irish literature, politics, tragedies and memorable figures of 19th & early 20th century.
Manto, Black Margins. Short and even shorter stories – bitter, relentlessly realist, tragically absurd, excellently composed – against the background of the Partition of India.
Tolkien, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun.* Lesser known sidepieces from his brief engagement with breton folklore.
A historical biography on Robert Guiscard, the 11th century Norman conqueror of Southern Italy. "He was called Guiscard [= the Clever, the Resourceful, the Fox], for his cunning was greater than that of Cicero or the crafty Ulysses", as his chronciler wrote.
Rulfo, El Llano in Flames (≈, various tales). I came here because these are probably the only other stories that might accompany the small wonder of Pedro Páramo, his most famous (and only!) novel.
Figes, The Whisperers. Private Life in Stalin's Russia. A product of oral history & extensive archive research,this tries to grasp the effects of stalinist re-education, totalitarian terror and paranoia even in the most everyday and (no longer) personal relations.
And currently Thackeray's Barry Lyndon (probably best known by the refined Kubrick film).
I've been a little terrible at keeping up my reading, but this is what I'm currently working through:
Listening: Valis, by Philip K Dick
Finally getting around to the recommendation given to me by HQ. Trippy book. The narrator is probably the most unstable narrator I've ever read. The empire never ended.
Reading: Virgins of Venice: Broken Vows and Cloistered Lives in the Renaissance Convent, by Mary Laven
Picked this up in the bargain section of the Half Priced books in my area for chump change. Really interesting look at the lives of the women who populated the convents of Venice. So many nuns -- some 60% -- were noble daughters forced into convents because of a combination of skyrocketing dowry prices and class bigotry.
Reading: Jews of a Saharan Oasis: Elimination of the Tamantit Community by John Hunwick
A very slim volume, looking at the destruction of a Jewish community living in the Saharan oasis town of Tamantit (from the map looks like it would fall into Algeria today) during the 15th century. Not too far into this one yet, but its purpose is to provide a counterpoint to the often overstated tolerance of Muslim rulers towards dhimmi populations.
Reading: The Seeds of Life: From Aristotle to Da Vinci, from Sharks' Teeth to Frog's Pants, the Long and Strange Quest to Discover Where Babies Come From, by Edward Dolnick
The easiest read on this list. I was originally pointed this way after a spectacular episode of the podcast The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong (if you haven't listened to this podcast, and you like history or science, give it a listen!). The premise behind this book is that an idea everyone knows the answer to today - where do babies come from - was actually an intensely difficult problem that transfixed scientists for centuries. And it was only solved very recently... in 1875. Entertaining and fast-paced.
Fiore - some very interesting inspiration there, may have to steal.
HQ - but which version, though? I recently had to look up a verse for a joke and realized that some of them have apparently been translated so heavily all the medieval poesy is gone.
As for me, I'm about halfway through Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister. Started it because the fantastic BBC series just wrapped its second season, but it also happens to be topical for pride month.
I picked up Roadside Picnic in Scotland and now I have nothing else to read that's nearly as important as this. I love this damn story. It's a new translation as well, which is awesome.
RottenDeadite wrote: ↑Wed Jun 08, 2022 1:46 pm
Oh shit, HQ is here? Now it's a party.
I picked up Roadside Picnic in Scotland and now I have nothing else to read that's nearly as important as this. I love this damn story. It's a new translation as well, which is awesome.
I read that pretty recently! It was good, an interesting look at just how incomprehensible alien technology might really be. Though I drove myself sort of crazy trying to figure out where it took place (though the general consensus seems to be either Canada or the UK).
Currently, I'm reading The Farthest Shore. I read (and enjoyed) the first two volumes of The Earthsea Trilogy (the first one) a few years ago, but for whatever reason I never got around to the third. Glad to finally be remedying that.
I don't read as much as I should, but in the relatively recent past I've read Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, and Silence by Shusako Endo.