The Books/Reading Thread
- Thread starter Matt
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suckerleaf
Active Member
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
Einherjar86
Active Member
Einherjar86
Active Member
On here to do a bit of promotion. Bedford/St. Martin's recently published a brand new (second) edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it's edited by my dissertation advisor, John Paul Riquelme. I already own the first edition, and can testify to its incredible quality. For the academic-minded, there are critical essays that address the text via various methodologies; but for those less concerned with postcolonialism and queer theory, Riquelme also includes copious footnotes that clarify and illuminate the more archaic or esoteric terms/passages.
If you're already a fan and interested in learning more about the book, or if you've never read it and are looking for a good edition, I can't recommend it enough:
...and wouldn't you know, the cover's blue happens to be the same hue as the background of UM.
If you're already a fan and interested in learning more about the book, or if you've never read it and are looking for a good edition, I can't recommend it enough:
...and wouldn't you know, the cover's blue happens to be the same hue as the background of UM.
suckerleaf
Active Member
EspaDa
Damage Case
Einherjar86
Active Member
Picked up a used copy of this the other day. And yes, it's also the source of my signature...
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
EspaDa
Damage Case
Einherjar86
Active Member
Most of my reading nowadays is for work/research. I finally decided to pick up something purely for fun, so I got this:
Internally Deformed
Farseer of the Paranormal Abysm
Most of my reading nowadays is for work/research. I finally decided to pick up something purely for fun, so I got this:
Let me know if that's good, will you? I've had a copy lying around for a while, but I find it hard to commit myself to space opera without some prior reason for optimism. Tried reading some Peter F Hamilton and was traumatised by how bad it was.
Einherjar86
Active Member
Will do. I bought it because it was recommended based on my Peter Watts purchases, so that's a good sign.
no country for old wainds
Active Member
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i found it uninvolving emotionally, but weird enough to remain fairly interesting. plenty of quite distinctive ideas in there.
i'll take this opportunity to pimp my all-time favourite space opera, stephen donaldson's GAP series. it's pretty dark, close-to-the-bone stuff with an outstanding cast of characters, tightly constructed plot etc - but not for the faint of heart, nor for folks who care more about concepts than storytelling. some of you will be familiar with the author from THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, but this is a lot more of a page-turner and IMO his greatest work.
i'll take this opportunity to pimp my all-time favourite space opera, stephen donaldson's GAP series. it's pretty dark, close-to-the-bone stuff with an outstanding cast of characters, tightly constructed plot etc - but not for the faint of heart, nor for folks who care more about concepts than storytelling. some of you will be familiar with the author from THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, but this is a lot more of a page-turner and IMO his greatest work.
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Einherjar86
Active Member
Thanks for the rec! I've never read anything by Donaldson, but I'll keep an eye out for this.
I'm actually not a huge fan of space opera, but I always appreciate imaginative SF that incorporates some principles of hard science. A couple years back I read a SF novel called Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, which I thought was very good. But in the past decade or so, I don't think anyone does compelling hard SF better than Peter Watts. If you like dark SF, Watts is the darkest; his novels Blindsight and Starfish are soul-crushing. Turns out that science is cool, but it doesn't give a fuck about us.
Watts also wrote a short story inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing from the perspective of the Thing, available here: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/
I'm actually not a huge fan of space opera, but I always appreciate imaginative SF that incorporates some principles of hard science. A couple years back I read a SF novel called Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, which I thought was very good. But in the past decade or so, I don't think anyone does compelling hard SF better than Peter Watts. If you like dark SF, Watts is the darkest; his novels Blindsight and Starfish are soul-crushing. Turns out that science is cool, but it doesn't give a fuck about us.
Watts also wrote a short story inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing from the perspective of the Thing, available here: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
rms
Active Member
Anyone have a good resource to keep up with new released nonfiction books on politics/philosophy/history as well as recommending contemporary (~20th century and onwards) books of the same genres? Academic/university press is no problem and likely preferred..
Einherjar86
Active Member
I'm not aware of any official central resource for those topics (for literature there's the MLA international bibliography), but I can think of a few options for keeping up with publications.
1. If you have access to academic databases, look for premier journals in each field of study. Journal issues always include book reviews and occasionally even lists of current publications. If you're not sure of the premier journals, university library websites usually have options to search them.
2. You can visit university press websites directly, if you have certain ones in mind. Some of my favorites are Duke UP, U of Minnesota P, UChicago P, Cornell UP... but again, I use these to look for literary criticism and theory, mainly. But I know that Duke publishes a lot of contemporary philosophy.
There are probably equivalents of the MLA for the fields you mention, I just don't know what they are.
1. If you have access to academic databases, look for premier journals in each field of study. Journal issues always include book reviews and occasionally even lists of current publications. If you're not sure of the premier journals, university library websites usually have options to search them.
2. You can visit university press websites directly, if you have certain ones in mind. Some of my favorites are Duke UP, U of Minnesota P, UChicago P, Cornell UP... but again, I use these to look for literary criticism and theory, mainly. But I know that Duke publishes a lot of contemporary philosophy.
There are probably equivalents of the MLA for the fields you mention, I just don't know what they are.
rms
Active Member
Hmm, I think i'm going to lose my access to Boulder's library system (or already have) but yeah..history is solid from Oxford and a few other presses so that might be a good option.
One thing that is 'similar' would be GoodReads but hard to gauge review styles and the vast amount of fiction on there as well
One thing that is 'similar' would be GoodReads but hard to gauge review styles and the vast amount of fiction on there as well
Vegard Pompey
ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO YOU
Alright, you've convinced me.
Ordered a bunch of books that have been on my list for a long time. Pretty excited to read all of these. Also included in the order was the first Vinland Saga hardcover but it was shipped separately and hasn't arrived yet.
