It amuses me to keep a record of the books I've read. And particularly
to recommend the ones that have left marks upon my soul.
David S. Landes, Revolution in Time
Leslie Charteris, The Saint and Mr Peel
Bill Bryson, Lost Continent
Connie Willis, ed., Nebula Awards 33
Fritz Leiber, Swords in the Mist
Fritz Leiber, Swords Against Death
Fritz Leiber, Swords and Deviltry
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The classic low fantasy Fafhrd/Grey Mouser stories. It's my
understanding that until Leiber came along, fantasy subgenres
were more or less confined to Tolkienesque high fantasy (noble
heroes save the world) and Conanesque swords-and-sorcery
(empty-headed barbarian pillages the world); Fafhrd and the
Grey Mouser originated low fantasy, where swordsmen, thieves
and rebels survive by their wits. In a surprising number of the
stories (these books are collections), their only prize is to
escape with their lives.
``Ill Met in Lankhmar'' in Swords and Deviltry
won the Hugo and the Nebula; and ``Lean Times in Lankhmar'' in
Swords in the Mist should have. They're two of
my favourite stories of any description.
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Sean Stewart, The Night Watch
Patrick O'Brian, Post Captain
Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
David S. Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations
Roger Zelazny, Knight of Shadows
Roger Zelazny, Sign of Chaos
Roger Zelazny, Blood of Amber
Roger Zelazny, Trumps of Doom
Roger Zelazny, The Courts of Chaos
Roger Zelazny, The Hand of Oberon
Roger Zelazny, Sign of the Unicorn
Roger Zelazny, The Guns of Avalon
Roger Zelazny, Nine Princes in Amber
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I was home on vacation; H.B. and Jesse and I had just been
talking about the Amber RPG and that reminded me I hadn't
reread the books in ages. So I did. (Somehow, I don't own
the last one. I'll have to fix that.) I have to say, I'm
not sure I recommend this much Amber in one go -- after
some point it begins to feel like just one damn thing after
another. Still, they have very nifty moments. Fun reading.
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Stephen Bury, Cobweb
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George McDonald, Fletch
Desmond Bagley, The Golden Keel
Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake
Paul Theroux, Riding the Iron Rooster
Iain M. Banks, The Player of Games
William Goldman, The Princess Bride
Neil Gaiman, The Kindly Ones
Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike, The Practice of
Programming
Guy Gavriel Kay, Sailing to Sarantium
Guy Gavriel Kay, Lord of Emperors
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel
Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander
Bernard Cornwell, Excalibur
Neil Gaiman, World's End
Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson,
In the Beginning There Was the Command Line
Larry Niven, The Smoke Ring
S. M. Stirling, Island in the Sea of Time
Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign
Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant
Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson, Zodiac
Connie Willis, Fire Watch
Alistair Maclean, HMS Ulysses
Neil Gaiman, Fables and Reflections
Neil Gaiman, Dream Country
Bernard Cornwell, Enemy of God
Neil Gaiman, Season of Mists
Neil Gaiman, The Doll's House
Neil Gaiman, A Game of You
Neil Gaiman, Brief Lives
Bernard Cornwell, The Winter King
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I think this is now the fourth version of the Arthurian legend
I've read, and I am somewhat bemused by how differently authors have
chosen to render the story. I didn't care much for T.H. White's
fantasyland The Once and Future King, nor for Marian
Zimmer Bradley's angry and idiosyncratic Mists of Avalon,
but I plain love Guy Kay's tragic high fantasy of Arthur, Guinevere
and Lancelot in the Fionavar books.
Cornwell's Arthur is The King that Never Was, and his Camelot is
grimly historical time of the descending Dark Ages in a land that
was never very civilised to begin with. He freely edits the legends
to fit them into a realistic vision of 400 AD, so for example, gone
is King Lot of Orkney.
The myth differs, too. Kay's tragedy of Arthur (and the one that
first marked me)
is a perfect balanced triangle of three exceptional people, any two of
whom could have been happy together, but who with the third tear
each other apart; on the other hand, Cornwell's is very much the
singular tragedy of Arthur, of a great soul undone by unwisdom in
love and an excess of ambition. His Guinevere is unsympathetic
and Lancelot is plain contemptible.
This was a Christmas present from my brother. Thanks!
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