What you reading?

[Magill]

Glad you liked it, duckie. I really wish we could've seen more how Hunapu and Diko changed the Central American societies. I also would've been interested to see how they dealt with the Incas and North American cultures.

Since you liked an alternative history, perhaps you'd like to try The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. I wrote a big review/recommendation here. It definitely has a different structure and feel to it, so you may want to read my description before you try (not that I'm trying to plug a thread I started or anything. Honestly!).

[duckie]

BladeStarr said:

What did you think of Maps in a Mirror duckie?

I've gotten about halfway through it, have been limited to just reading it over lunch hour, or when I get free time at home. With all the travelling I've been doing, have been trying to stick to small paperbacks, to keep my briefcase lightweight (Maps is a BIG book, even as a paperback).

I have really enjoyed it so far. I think what has impressed me most has been his range of storytelling - the collection is quite diverse, but yet I don't think there has been a single story that disappointed me.

After reading Ender's Game and Lost Souls, it was interesting to read the shorts from which each of the novels was based. I'm glad that he expanded each of 'em.

My favorites so far echo those you had mentioned in an earlier thread... mortal gods, eumenides, and middle woman (haven't yet read your fourth recommendation, kingsmeat). I also really enjoyed freeway games and fat farm, thought they did a great job of showing another side of his writing.

Now I just gotta stay in town long enough to read through the rest of 'em!!! ;D

[duckie]

Magill said:

Glad you liked it, duckie. I really wish we could've seen more how Hunapu and Diko changed the Central American societies. I also would've been interested to see how they dealt with the Incas and North American cultures.

Yea, at the end, it left me wanting more. I was hoping that the storyline would have continued on... perhaps expanded into an alternate-universe series or something. Along those lines, I recently read an interview that said he's under contract to do two more Pastwatch books, maybe they'll be out in the next few years... one can only hope...

Since you liked an alternative history, perhaps you'd like to try The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. I wrote a big review/recommendation here. It definitely has a different structure and feel to it, so you may want to read my description before you try (not that I'm trying to plug a thread I started or anything. Honestly!).

I remember seeing that thread, was actually thinking about it when I read pastwatch. I'll have to go out and buy it before my next trip. ;D

[Magill]

duckie said:

Along those lines, I recently read an interview that said he's under contract to do two more Pastwatch books, maybe they'll be out in the next few years... one can only hope...

I went to his website, and evidently they will be Pastwatch: The Flood (an expansion of the Naog story in the first Pastwatch book. It's also in novella form on his website as Atlantis) and Pastwatch: The Garden of Eden. Card has allegedly said that he'll have to stop writing after that last one, as it will piss off all his fans.

[funkymartini]

I just read the Godfather novel... AWESOME book, better than the movie (in my opinion).

I tried reading Once and Future King, but only got through the first chapter... the language was somewhat hard to understand.

Not sure what I'm gonna pick up next

[Robert]

funkymartini said:

I just read the Godfather novel... AWESOME book, better than the movie (in my opinion).

I totally agree. Mom got it for me when I was bedridden. Couldn't put it down.

[funkymartini]

There's a new Godfather book coming out in the fall, they got some new author to do it.

[bladestarr]

Wow funkymartini, you're one HOT DUDE! ;D

[funkymartini]

ha, but that's not me.

[PoolMan]

Hahaha... as I once told Clare, I always think your avatar should be something that represents you, not something you'd like to throw in the back of your car and drive out to the country with.

[Head Mutant]

Except in PoolMan's case. He honestly does want to throw his sweet self into a car and elope.

[PoolMan]

If my bride bore any resemblance to me whatsoever, I'd be a sad, sad dude. Luckily, she's a slender brunette with a taste for DANGER!

Well, she's a slender brunette, anyways.

[LadyGrey]

The list of what I'm reading would be multiple pages long. So I'll edit. *sigh*

TEXTHere Be DragonsTEXT by Sharon Kay Penman, medieval historical fiction about Welsh and Norman border battles during the reign of bad King John. Why yes, I'm a raving geek. Why do you ask?

TEXTJ. R. R. Tolkien's Sanctifying MythTEXT, a discussion of Tolkien's faith/worldview and how it influenced the Lord of the Rings. Recent enough to refer to the movies, and not overly technical for the non-English majors. See above, re my being a geek.

TEXTLittle, BigTEXT by John Crowley. I know nothing about this book except that a friend recommended it to me by saying "It's like Neil Gaiman. Only not." That's enough for me.

[Head Mutant]

Welcome to the forum, stranger!

[Al]

I'm currently in the middle of Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter, a fantastic little crash-course in ancient Greek history, by Thomas Cahill. It examines in a scholarly but highly readable way what we know about the Greeks and how it's shaped the evolution of Western society. Pretty riveting stuff, especially for nonfiction.

In the fourth book in a series, starting with How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Gifts of the Jews, and Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus. Any other amatuer historians out there ever pick any of these up?

Al