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October Reading 2018 - The chill in the air, the whisper on the wind.


RedEyedGhost

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I finished Roger Crowley's excellent narrative history Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World. A brief read, but thoroughly engaging narrative of the struggle for control of the Mediterranean between Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the middle of the 16th C. Roger Crowley was never on my radar, but all of his works are now on my TBR list.

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7 hours ago, Astromech said:

I finished Roger Crowley's excellent narrative history Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World. A brief read, but thoroughly engaging narrative of the struggle for control of the Mediterranean between Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the middle of the 16th C. Roger Crowley was never on my radar, but all of his works are now on my TBR list.

I loved that book! I may consider a reread of it soon.

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On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 3:49 AM, Peadar said:

I loved that book! I may consider a reread of it soon.

Yeah, one of the podcasts I listen to is the Pirate History Podcast. I'm on the episodes dealing with the Mediterranean and the Barbarossas. Crowley's book was mentioned so I picked it up.

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On ‎10‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 1:57 PM, The Marquis de Leech said:

Finished off Justine, by the Marquis de Sade.

Well.

300 pages of dull torture porn, interspersed with philosophical rants against God and Law. The ending is a deliberate piss-take of the eighteenth century moral novel, but I am unconvinced by the argument that de Sade was parodying Rousseau's philosophy. That gives him far too much credit. It's really a troll novel, mixed with misotheistic rants, from an author who was clearly getting off at points. I read a translation, but the prose is... unique too. De Sade describes scenes that'd freak out Ramsay Bolton, but does it in a ridiculously round-about way. No naughty language in this torture porn!

I'm pleased I read it though - it's the book that got de Sade locked up by Napolean, and was the most infamous work published in de Sade's own lifetime. The more famous (and unfinished) 120 Days of Sodom was only rediscovered in the early twentieth century.

I tried reading 120 Days of Sodom, and gave up very early on, it was so turgid.

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I finished Record of a Spaceborn Few. It's, er, a little odd. It was interesting I suppose but there's not really much of a narrative, just a series of events in the lives of the characters connected by the setting and a general air of melancholy.

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11 hours ago, ljkeane said:

I finished Record of a Spaceborn Few. It's, er, a little odd. It was interesting I suppose but there's not really much of a narrative, just a series of events in the lives of the characters connected by the setting and a general air of melancholy.

That was my impression too. The series of events is well-written, by all means, but I really started wondering when something would happen. Only two of the characters have any sort of narrative arc, and for one it goes nowhere while the other takes all book to treat the simple question: "what am I going to do when I grow up?". Most of the characters don't even meet.

I really like the series, but I hope the next book will be more like the first one (one definite story per character, plus more aliens present) or the second (two overarching stories) than this one.

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Read and really enjoyed The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jack Arnopp and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.  Jack Sparks felt quite similar to Paul Tremblay's works, so if you've read those, definitely check it out (and it's only $2.99 on kindle as I'm typing this!).  Now working on Seed by Ania Ahlborn, very nice start so far.

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Finished The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian, #8 in the Aubrey/Maturin series.  Very well written but the plot was a bit meandering and largely pointless/unresolved.  Not enough dramatic tension or much naval action.  But that happens sometimes in this series.  It's less focused and climax-oriented than, say, the Sharpe series.  Still very enjoyable.

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Finished Dark Tower 5 last weekend.  One of the weaker installments, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly.  Still wish I would have known that book 8 was set between 4 & 5 before I started it, so will continue to read in publishing order.  Also watched Salems Lot since it was spoiled pretty heavily in book 5.  Started up book 6 on Sunday and am about 1/3rd of the way through.

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1 hour ago, Darth Richard II said:

Book 8 is really non essential the whole thing. Not that it's bad, but you defiantly don't need to read it in between 4 and 5.

Yeah, I just would have liked to since that's where it's set.  From what I've read it's mainly a flashback sequence, which I really enjoyed in book 4.

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14 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Unfortunately the quality continues to decline.

can't remember which one is no.5 but Wolves of the calla was by far the most disappointing instalment for me by a long shot.

I'm doing a reread of Bakker's warrior prophet in the form of an audiobook. It's definitely a book that can be experienced quite differently when you know what certain characters will do and are capable of and how they were manipulating people much earlier on than I had originally thought

it's also much more apparent now how Kellhus uses people's love of others (usually by stealing that love) as a way of breaking those who resist his will

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