Current / Recent Books

[Moon68]

Finished up the Revelation Space series...again. Now to find something else. Maybe some Arthur C. Clarke?

[UltraBudgie]

reading some classic heinlein short stories

[quintessentone]

Reading "Immortal poems of the English Language" (Shakespeare, Eliot, Milton, Frost, Whitman, Yeats, Auden, Keats etc.)


Reading William Shakespeare's poems:


'No Longer Mourn for Me"

No longer mourn for me when I am dead

Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell

Give warning to the world that I am fled

From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell; 

Nay, if you read this line, remember not

The hand that writ it; for I love you so, 

That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot, 

If thinking on me then should make you woe.

O, if (I say) you look upon this verse, 

When I (perhaps) compounded am with clay,

Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,

But let your love even with my life decay,

Lest the wise world should look into your moan, 

And mock you with me after I am gone."

[sahgwa]

Finished up the Revelation Space series...again. Now to find something else. Maybe some Arthur C. Clarke?

I have a giant book of his Collected Short Stories, I have to give it a shot. I was not very impressed with his novel 2010.  Maybe his style is more suited to short fiction.
Asimov so far, I feel does equally well in both formats.
I have another Clarke novel I haven't started, it's kind of out of place since it's a standalone, I think, Hammer of God....

[sahgwa]

reading some classic heinlein short stories

[Image: https://denyignorance.com/uploader/image...115449.jpg]

Cannot help but think of fictional work of fiction, from Mad Men TV show, Kinsey (?)'s script Attack On Negron 6 or whatever. lol

[Moon68]

I have a giant book of his Collected Short Stories, I have to give it a shot. I was not very impressed with his novel 2010.  Maybe his style is more suited to short fiction.
Asimov so far, I feel does equally well in both formats.
I have another Clarke novel I haven't started, it's kind of out of place since it's a standalone, I think, Hammer of God....

I liked the Space Odyssey series but I concur that 2010 was the weakest of the four.

I'm thinking his Time Odyssey trilogy: Time's Eye, Sunstorm and Firstborn.

Edit to add: Rendezvous with Rama is a classic but I don't currently have the other three books. Childhoods End is another good one.

[Maxmars]

I think 2010 was the product of vision which grew from 2001, but wasn't the same spirit.

I did appreciate the resurrection of HAL... who transcended into conscious reality because of the original sin of "lie."

Not sure the metaphor is apt... but upon it's release, that's what I thought.

I was almost wondering then, if the industry didn't coerce him into that sequel...
maybe he wasn't ready...

[sahgwa]

I finished Farrell's (Dr Joseph P) book MICROCOSM AND MEDUIM and it was a real whopper doozy! 
Highly recommended, if you want an eye into mind control outside of technological means and moving into the esoteric, that is, psychological, sociological and cultural.

Now I am starting my new nonfiction, Otto Rahn's Crusade Against the Grail.  - The Struggle between the Cathars, the Templars, and the Church of RomeSo far I am learning about troubadours, and 'nobility' of the South in Europe, how they were not of noble lineage per say, but became noble through their behaviour, and love of the Divine Feminine.

The Minne, or non-sexual and actual Divine love, was sung about and practised by these gentlemen mostly in Spain, France, and Portugal. But parts of Germany as well.

Also learnt some fascinating historical tid bits regarding Richard the Lionheart of England and Saladin, and the eternal push for War by the Papacy. 
I can't believe this book was not translated until 2006!

Amazon link

[mangust96]

Hi, my favorite genre is people who end up in the USSR, the latest is "God Mode" about a guy who ends up in 1979 with a phone and access to the Internet in 2015, but without SMS, calls, chats. It consists of 3 parts by one author and is continued by another author, so far from 1 (in fact 4) to 10 (13) genre wiki https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_travel need an online translator https://samlib.ru/s/sks/05.shtml

[UltraBudgie]

Hi, my favorite genre is people who end up in the USSR, the latest is "God Mode" about a guy who ends up in 1979 with a phone and access to the Internet in 2015, but without SMS, calls, chats. It consists of 3 parts by one author and is continued by another author, so far from 1 (in fact 4) to 10  genre wiki https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_travel need an online translator https://samlib.ru/s/sks/05.shtml

This is a fun genre! "Redo" or "Second Chance" fiction.

The old classic is Replay by Ken Grimwood. Great!
Also one of the few Steven King books I like, 11/22/63

I've just finished Dead Tired by RavensDagger:

In the distant past, a time of magic and swordplay, there lived Harold, the mightiest lich of all, a master of arcane sciences, and a challenger of gods. After reaching the pinnacle of his power and finding it surprisingly bland, Harold waged a cataclysmic war against the gods, aiming to shatter the very system that confined him.

Then, he took a nap.

An incredibly long nap that ends with a jolt, thanks to an unwitting adventurer who trips into Harold's crypt. Blinking into the torchlight, Harold finds a world he barely recognizes. No more swords and sorcery, but a universe buzzing with cultivation, celestial sects, and far too many pretentious dialogues about the path to godhood.

Harold is no naïve cultivator, he's an ancient lich with a single ambition: to slide back into his uninterrupted eternal slumber. But the cacophony of quarreling sects and smug martial artists seems determined to keep him awake.

The main character likes puns! Oh-hohoho!