The Books/Reading Thread

51wiI7011jL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


The Book of the New Sun V. I: Shadow and Claw

@CASSETTEISGOD I'd recommend this if you haven't read it already.
 
Yeah, Book of the New Sun is great. Funny, but when I first saw the cover I thought it was The Black Company (for some reason I confuse Gene Wolfe and Glen Cook), which is excellent if you're into dark epic fantasy (also influential on the Malazan series):

The-Black-Company-cover.jpg
 
I started reading Reynolds's Revelation Space a while back, made it a couple hundred pages and then didn't finish. Wild fucking book, serious far-future hard sci-fi. I loved it, it was just so much to keep up with. Have to return to that someday...
 
It's a good series. Was thinking about going through them again later in the year but I think after re-reading all the original Dune books it's gonna be a while before I go through anything of significant length for a second time. Found out the other day that he'd just released a sequel to The Prefect so I'll probably do that next.
 
same. definitely super weird and full of interesting ideas, but it left me pretty detached. i'm not really a hard sci-fi guy though.

Detachment is definitely one effect that books achieves, I think. Typically I'm a fan of detachment (or estrangement) in fiction, especially science fiction; but that book handles it pretty coldly, I'll admit.

I get really into hard sci-fi when it's done well. Arthur C. Clarke excels at it, in my opinion. As far as contemporary writers go, I'm tempted to say that Ted Chiang and Peter Watts are two of the best in general, not just in hard sci-fi.
 
Must be out of print. Is it any good...?

There's a really big divide over Marx that has less to do with politics than methodology. Economists and philosophers simply don't agree on what his work is; economists see it mostly as bad economics, and philosophers see it as good philosophy. Given that divide, I'm not surprised a book on critical assessments of Marx's economics didn't sell well.

There's a very good collection of essays titled Reading Capital, compiled by Louis Althusser. Althusser's essay goes to heart of the controversy over Marx, basically saying it's because contemporary critics misidentify exactly what his work is/is doing.
 
I actually don't remember if it's any good, didn't get around to reading it tonight.
I remember enjoying it when I first read it though, I think it had some good stuff he wrote against Malthusianism or something.

Honestly it's been ages, sorry. My ex gave it to me so long ago.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Einherjar86
I've gone through four Alastair Reynolds' books in the past year: House of Suns, Pushing Ice, The Prefect, and Diamond Dogs Turquoise Days. I would rank them in that order, too. House of Suns, especially, just blew me away
 
Since I know a few of you are into Ligotti and weird fiction in general, the founders of www.ligotti.net (whom I've known about as long as I've been on this forum) are beginning their own literary journal and are preparing to print the first issue via Kickstarter. I've backed it and would recommend it:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/867956165/vastarien-a-literary-journal

As a journal, our interests include but are not limited to the following subjects:

  • Supernatural horror (both fiction and film)
  • Philosophical pessimism
  • Gnosticism
  • Buddhism
  • Nihilism
  • Surrealism
  • Decadent and fin de siècle literature
  • Pessimistic and morbid poetry (Trakl, Thomson, Brennan, Leopardi, Larkin, Wiloch, Barnitz, etc.)
  • Aberrant psychology (depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, anhedonia, depressive realism, etc.)
  • Euthanasia/Right to Die Horror in the visual arts
  • Antinatalism
  • L’école belge de l’étrange
  • Corporate degradation
  • The architecture and topography of Detroit and its suburbs
  • Horror and pessimism as it relates to most any field (geography, psychology, astronomy, music, film, etc.—kind of a catchall category)

lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: unknown