Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.
~William Hazlitt
When I think of all the various kinds of books I have enjoyed, it seems to me that the Hazlitt quotation most often applies to Fantasy books. It seems that in alien worlds and cultures, I most often find myself and my secrets.
Sensible Shoes recommended The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones since many of the stories I write are fantasy stories. I admit to one space story, too. The Guide is a dictionary of terms with snark and irony. For example:
DUKES. This is the highest form of lord, often one of the KING’s family. Very few of them are GOOD and most of them are wicked uncles at the very least. The few Good Dukes are always frantically busy and beset with cares of state. The Rule is that all Dukes, Good or EVIL, are always forty years old or more. See also REGENTS.
I see many references to things from Tolkien in Diana's guide, but I have to say that I have been very fortunate in my fantasy and science fiction reading to find wonderful worlds that are not stereotyped.
I remember puzzling through Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series many years ago. I loved Saberhagen’s sword series. See the complete list of his sword books below. The books sit beside my computer because I want to re-read them soon.
Another early set that I want to re-read began my love/fear of dragons, The Dragon Lance Chronicles by Weis and Hickman.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Dragons of Winter Night
Dragons of Spring Dawning
In other Bookflurries diaries I have listed dragon stories galore, but Pern created by Anne McCaffrey grabbed me and never let go.
I have nearly all the books by Patricia McKillip. My favorite, which is the second of a series, is The Cygnet and the Firebird. It can be read as a stand alone, I think.
Dragondoom by Dennis L. McKiernan is beautiful and haunting.
A list of dragon books that I have loved is here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Other diaries with lists of favorite scifi/fantasy authors:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
My favorite aliens are The Atevi in C. J. Cherryh’s series:
Foreigner
Invader
Inheritor
Precursor
Defender
Explorer
Destroyer
Pretender
Deliverer
Conspirator
Deceiver
I have just started a series by P. C. Hodgell that was recommended to me here at Bookflurries. The series has Dark of the Gods, 2000: contains God Stalk, Dark of the Moon, and short story Bones; Seeker's Bane, TBP July 7, 2009 from Baen: contains Seeker's Mask and To Ride a Rathorn; and Bound in Blood. I admit that the few pages I have read so far are quite dark. I will keep on for now since I have invested in the series and hope for the best.
I also bought The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith which is on my TBR pile because of Devilstower's recommendation and wondering if who agreed with him. I read an early series about the Jaran by Kate Elliott that a poster here mentioned.
Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik came in the mail, yesterday. This is the newest one in her series about Temeraire.
Temeraire series
His Majesty’s Dragon
Throne of Jade
Black Powder War
Empire of Ivory
Victory of Eagles
I was surprised as I looked at my list at how many books I have bought because they were recommended to me here. I added some to my Barnes and Noble wish list today, also.
It is your turn to praise your favorite authors and books; Pratchett, Willis, McDevitt, Silverberg, Elliott, our own Kelly McCullough, Naomi Novik, and those new to me that I will be able to add to my list. Thank you!!!
Wiki has the lists:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The Letter S
DKos authors, Karen Schwabach, Mark Sumner, R.A. Salvatore
Rafael Sabatini (1875–1950)
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The Sea Hawk (1915), a tale of the Spanish Armada and the pirates of the Barbary Coast; Scaramouche (1921), a tale of the French Revolution in which a fugitive hides out in a commedia dell'arte troupe and later becomes a fencing master (Sabatini wrote a sequel ten years later); Captain Blood (1922), in which the title character is admiral of a fleet of pirate ships (Sabatini also wrote two sequels comprising short stories); and Bellarion the Fortunate (1926), about a cunning young man who finds himself immersed in the politics of fifteenth-century Italy.
Fred Saberhagen (1930-2007)
Complete Book of Swords has
First, Second, Third Books
Lost Swords: First Triad
Woundhealer’s Story
Sightblinder’s
Stonecutter’s
Lost Swords: Second Triad
Farslayer’s
Coinspinner’s
Mindsword’s
Lost Swords: End Game
Wayfinder’s
Shieldbreaker’s
Louis Sachar Sideways Stories From Wayside School series, Holes
Oliver Sacks (born 1933) Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962) Passenger to Teheran
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence, Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science
Angie Sage Septimus Heap series
J. D. Salinger (born 1919) The Catcher in the Rye
R.A. Salvatore (born 1959) The DemonWars Saga, Forgotten Realms novels, and Vector Prime, the first novel in the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
George Sand (1804–1876) Rose et Blanche (1831, with Jules Sandeau)
Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) Abraham Lincoln, Remembrance Rock
Lawrence Sanders (1920 – 1998) The Anderson Tapes
Brandon Sanderson Elantris, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
Mari Sandoz (1896 – 1966) Cheyenne Autumn, These Were the Sioux, Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
C. J. Sansom (born 1952)
Dissolution
Dark Fire
Sovereign
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–1944) The Little Prince
Jose Saramago The Double
William Saroyan (1908 – 1981) The Human Comedy
May Sarton (1912 – 1995) Faithful are the Wounds
Jean Paul Sartre Being and Nothingness
Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967) Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
John Saul (born 1942) Suffer the Children
Margaret Marshall Saunders (1861–1947) Beautiful Joe
Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957 Lord Peter Wimsey series, Whose Body?
Elizabeth Scarborough
Songs from the Seashell Archives vol. I
Song of Sorcery
The Unicorn Creed
Vol. II
Bronwyn’s Bane
The Christening Quest
The Godmother
The Godmother’s Apprentice
The Godmother’s Web
Richard Scarry (1919–1994) The Busiest Firefighters Ever
Jack Schaefer (1907 – 1991) Shane
Bernhard Schlink The Reader
Marion Schreiber The Twentieth Train
Budd Schulberg (born 1914) What Makes Sammy Run?
Karen Schwabach
A Pickpocket's Tale
Hope Chest
and coming in December, The Storm Before Atlanta
Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)
Ivanhoe
Lady of the Lake
The poem is here:
http://www.online-literature.com/...
Lisa Scottoline
Everywhere that Mary Went
Final Appeal
Legal Tender
Running from the Law
Rough Justice
Dead Ringer
Mistaken Identity
Devil’s Corner
Dirty Blonde
Killer Smile
Daddy’s Girl
Stephen Sears
Gettysburg
Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam
Alice Sebold (born 1963) The Lovely Bones
David Sedaris Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Kate Sedley
Holy Innocents
Weaver’s Tale
Plymouth Cloak
Lisa See (born 1955) Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love
Erich Segal (born 1937) Love Story
George Selden (1929–1989) The Cricket in Times Square
Maurice Sendak (born 1928) Where the Wild Things Are
Rod Serling (1924-1975) The Twilight Zone
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Vikram Seth
Two Lives
An Equal Music
A Suitable Boy
From Heaven’s Lake
Anya Seton (1904 – 1990)
Green Darkness
The Hearth and Eagle
My Theodosia
Katherine
Diane Setterfield The Thirteenth Tale
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991)
The Cat in the Hat
Horton Hatches an Egg
Horton Hears a Who
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
The King’s Stilts
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Anna Sewell (1820–1878) Black Beauty
Jeffrey Shaara (born 1952)
Gods and Generals
Last Full Measure
Michael Shaara (1928 – 1988) The Killer Angels
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
William Shakespeare (c. 1564–1616) I have not been listing poets or playwrights unless they wrote a book, but I have to make an exception here.
As You Like It
Macbeth
Hamlet
King Lear
Antony and Cleopatra
The Tempest
Romeo and Juliet
Julius Caesar
Ntozake Shange (born 1948) Betsey Brown
James Shapiro A Year in the Life of Shakespeare...1599
Irwin Shaw (1913 – 1984) Rich Man, Poor Man
Wilfrid Sheed (born 1930) Square's Progress, The House that George Built with a little help from Irving, Cole and a Crew of about Fifty
Gail Sheehy
Passages
Understanding Men’s Passages
Samuel Shellabarger (1888 – 1954) Captain from Castile
Mary Shelley (1797–1851) Frankenstein
Carol Shields (1935 – 2003) The Stone Diaries
Anita Shreve (born 1946) The Weight of Water, The Pilot’s Wife
Nevil Shute (1899–1960) A Town Like Alice, On the Beach, Pied Piper
Anne Rivers Siddons (born 1936) Peachtree Road
Hampton Sides Ghost Soldiers
Leslie Silbert The Intelligencer
Alan Sillitoe (born 1928) The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Robert Silverberg (born 1935)
A Time of Changes
Sorcerers of Majipoor
Lord Valentine’s Castle
Majipoor Chronicles
Valentine Pontifex
Longest Way Home
Night Wings
Conglomeroid Cocktail Party
Shel Silverstein (1930–1999) The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends
Clifford D. Simak (1904 – 1988) City
Paullina Simons
Bronze Horseman
Tatiana and Alexander
Summer Garden
Dan Simmons (born 1948) Hyperion
Upton Sinclair (1878 – 1968) The Jungle
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902 – 1991) Enemies, a Love Story
Israel Joshua Singer (1893 – 1944) The Brothers Ashkenazi
Jane Smiley (born 1949) A Thousand Acres
Adam Smith (1723–1790) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Alexander McCall Smith
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Club
Tears of a Giraffe
Morality for Beautiful Girls
Kalahari Typing School for Men
Full Cupboard of Life
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Blue Shoes and Happiness
Good Husband of Zebra Drive
Betty Smith (1896 – 1972) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Cordwainer Smith (1913-1966) The Best of Cordwainer Smith (short sf stories)
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Dodie Smith (1896–1990) I Capture the Castle, The Hundred and One Dalmatians
E. E. Smith (1890 – 1965) First Lensman
Lee Smith (born 1944) Fair and Tender Ladies, Family Linen
Wilbur Smith (born 1933) primarily known for his novels based in South Africa.
Monsoon
Leopard Hunts
Flight of Falcon
Man of Men
Burning Shore
Paths of Perambulator
Moment of Magician
Tobias Smollett (1721–1771) The Adventures of Roderick Random
Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events
Dava Sobel Galileo’s Daughter
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (born 1918) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Gulag Archipelago, The Cancer Ward
Somerville and Ross The Irish RM
Susan Sontag (1933 – 2004) In America
Muriel Spark (1918–2006) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Elizabeth George Speare The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) Social Statics
Wen Spencer (born 1963) Wolf Who Rules
Mickey Spillane (1918 – 2006) I, the Jury
Jerry Spinelli Loser, Stargirl, Maniac Magee, Crash, Wringer
Johanna Spyri (1827–1901) Heidi
Dana Stabenow
Break Up
Killing Grounds
Midnight Comes Again
Cold Blooded Business
Blood Will Tell
Singing of the Dead
Fine and Bitter Snow
Cold Day for Murder
Fatal Thaw
Deeper Sleep
Whisper to the Blood
Brian Stableford (born 1948)
Swan Songs 6-in-1
Halcyon Drift
Rhapsody in Black
Promised Land
Paradise Game
Fenris Device
Swan Song
General Edward J. Stackpole They Met at Gettysburg
Madame de Staël (1766–1817) Corinne ou l'Italie
Jean Stafford (1915 – 1979) Boston Adventure
Doug Stanton In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/...
Synopsis
A harrowing, adrenaline-charged account of America's worst naval disaster at sea -- and of the heroism of the men who, against all odds, survived.
On July 30, 1945, after completing a top secret mission to deliver parts of the atom bomb "Little Boy," whichwould be dropped on Hiroshima, the battle cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained, undetected by the navy, for nearly five days. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to survive, fighting off hypothermia, sharks, physical and mental exhaustion, and, finally, hallucinatory dementia. By the time rescue -- which was purely accidental -- arrived, all but 321 men had lost their lives; 4 more would die in military hospitals shortly thereafter.
The captain's subsequent and highly unusual court-martial left many questions unanswered: How did the navy fail to realize the Indianapolis was missing? Why was the cruiser traveling unescorted in enemy waters? And perhaps most amazing of all, how did these 317 men manage to survive?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) Declaration of Sentiments
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Suzanne Staples
Shabanu
Haveli
Wallace Stegner (1909 – 1993) Angle of Repose
William Steig Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Gertrude Stein (1874 – 1946) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
John Steinbeck (1902 – 1968)
Grapes of Wrath
East of Eden
Of Mice and Men
Cannery Row
The Pearl
The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights
My Life in Letters
Neal Stephenson (born 1959)
Snow Crash
Cryptonomicon
Anathem
Bruce Sterling (born 1954) Islands in the Net
Laurence Sterne (1713–1768) The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Mary Stewart (born 1916)
The Crystal Cave (1970)
The Hollow Hills (1973)
The Last Enchantment (1979)
The Wicked Day (1983)
Rory Stewart
Places in Between (Afghanistan)
Prince of Marshes (Iraq)
R. L. Stine (born 1943) Monster Blood
S. M. Stirling (born 1953) time travel/alternate history Nantucket series
Frank R. Stockton (1834 – 1902) Rudder Grange
Bram Stoker Dracula
Irving Stone (1903 – 1989) Lust for Life (Vincent van Gogh), The Agony and the Ecstasy (Michelangelo Buonarroti)
Rex Stout (1886 – 1975) Fer-de-Lance
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 – 1896) Uncle Tom's Cabin
Lytton Strachey (1880–1932) Eminent Victorians
Gene Stratton-Porter (1863 – 1924) A Girl of the Limberlost, Freckles
Peter Straub (born 1943) Ghost Story
Jonathan Stroud The Bartimaeus Trilogy
Jesse Stuart (1906 – 1984) Taps for Private Tussie
Theodore Sturgeon (1918 – 1985) More Than Human
William Styron (1925 – 2006) The Confessions of Nat Turner, Lie Down in Darkness, Sophie’s Choice
Mark Sumner
Devil’s Tower
The Evolution of Everything: How Selection Shapes Culture, Commerce, and Nature
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Gulliver’s Travels
Wladyslaw Szpilman The Pianist
I have read 89 of the authors.
Diaries of the Week
What Latinos Are Saying At Netroots Nation
by Elisa
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Thursday Classical Music OPUS 4: Major versus Minor
by Dumbo
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Write On! Of rerererevisions.
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
To Tell The Truth: From Blog to Book
by Word Alchemy
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Is There More Than One Of Everything?
by Rimjob
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Medieval history in the making
http://www.independent.co.uk/...
John Lichfield
The Château de Guédelon (in Burgundy, France) is not a film set; it is not a restoration; it is not a hey-nonny-no-medieval theme-park. It is an exercise in archaeology in reverse: discovery by building up, not by digging down. By 2023, it will be a full-sized castle with battlements and a moat and six towers...
The 50 or so labourers work in medieval clothes. A committee of academic experts advises on what is medievally correct. Most of the materials, and many of the tools, are quarried, gathered or made on site: the stones, the mortar, the ropes, the nails, the saws, the timber, the wooden lifting-engines. There are no cranes or bulldozers or breezeblocks or pneumatic drills or load-bearing steel joists. The chapel tower contains the first rib-vaulted roof to be made with purely medieval techniques for 600 years.
Five pictures here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/...
A medieval village has sprung up with a forge, a rope-maker, a tile-maker, a wood-carver, a mason's yard and a weaver to provide the materials for the castle. Wooden rafts loaded with masonry are lifted to the battlements by rope pulleys driven by a worker in a wooden treadmill or "squirrel cage". This is a Roman design lightly amended, with a wooden brake, to take account of 21st-century health and safety regulations. An updated 13th-century version, driven by two "peasants" at one time, is on order from Bohemia (aka the Czech Republic).
NOTE: plf515 has changed his book talk to Wednesday mornings early.
sarahnity’s list of DKos authors has grown so much that she has her own diary.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
sarahnity says:
It turns out that we have quite a few authors hanging out here who have published books in the real world. A while ago, I started keeping a list of books by Kossacks, former Kossacks and Kossacks-once-removed. I was posting it each week to the diary series What Are You Reading and Bookflurries, but the list has grown long enough, that I've decided to turn it into a diary and post it as a weekly series on Tuesday evenings.
Not all Kossack authors may wish to lose their anonymity, so I am only including the author's UID if he has outed herself here (gender confusion intended). If you'd like to be included on the list, or if you know of an author who is left off, please leave a comment or email me.
(sarahnity@gmail.com)