As an isolated Dorothy L Sayers novel I would also throw in 'Gaudy Night', which is a rather astonishing work. It's only nominally a mystery and is told from the point of view of Harriet Vane rather than Peter Wimsey.

Is it all about people who get up early on Sunday mornings?


At a rummage sale in my local church hall I bought for £1 a book which had obviously never been read.Entitled "Weird" it is priced at £25 and has 1126 pages and a foreword by Michael Moorcock.It consists of short stories by well known writers and I'm looking forwards to reading it.Should be finished in time for the bookswap at the Fforum in 2015.

Like many here, I read a lot of Science Fiction/Science Fantasy/Speculative Fiction. And some Michael Moorcock.

I ought to like Michael Moorcock, but I don't. Pity, he's written quite a lot, and has put a few words into the English language. (Anyone not recognise the word Cthulhu?)

I used to like Ray Bradbury, but my taste changed over 60 years. And why not. With fiction, there is no right, there is no wrong, there's only like/not like.

I'm re-reading all Samuel R Delany, specifically the Nevèrÿon series. I'm in awe of Delany.
He's Black. Meh. He's gay. Meh. He's dyslexic. Holy chirping mustard, how can he... Words fail me. I'm speechless. Him, they don't. He's not.

Moving on...

Sorry, no more. I stopped to think about the skills of the writers I admire and I became aware of just where my abilities to write fit on that scale.

<Needs joke to hide sudden feeling of inadequacy.>


Question in DVD pirating group.
"I'm having trouble copying <Latest popular movie>. How big should the disk be?"

Answer:

<------------------- This big.------------------->
(Not to scale.)

I just finished Eric in the Land of the Insects. "Erik or the small little insect book" would be a better translation. Actually I read the Dutch version.

Written back in the 30s but still a great read, even if it is a fairy tale for the younger; for some reason I missed it when I was young. Honest to say, it may appeal less to Anglosaxons because of their Alice in Wonderland privilege and also because the peculiar use of the language may get lost in translation.

A reprint is currently being given away to members of the Dutch public libraries. I'm not. I offered to buy it but still got it for free. Does that make mine an illegal copy?

MC,

I believe that "Cthulhu" comes from H.P. Lovecraft rather than Michael Moorcock.
By his own admission (boast?) many of Moorcock's books are pulp and written to pay bills. Not in itself a bad thing as surely that is what professional authors do, but not necessarily good for literary plaudits.

If you have not tried it, may I recommend "Mother London" as beautiful descriptive prose. look on the Multiverse forum for details.

I also love both "Blood" and "a much earlier work, "Gloriana" for examples of his best writing.

SM, you're right, I was wrong. I'm also old.

Neither Lovecraft nor Moorcock are on my favourites list, and I tend to lump them both together. Also Zelazny for some reason, but I like him and I've read most of his work. Strange association because they're not really alike.

The Multiverse gives me a really polite brush-off:
403 - Forbidden

SPAM - We aren't saying you are a spammer, but you've reached this page because we are trying to prevent spam. Here are a couple of reasons you might have been redirected to this page even though you aren't a spammer:

ATTN: Mobile device users. If you are using a brand new device, you may be getting this error messages. Please use your non-mobile device to report this issue here: [www.multiverse.org]

ATTN: Browser users. We also filter for spybots and the like. If you are being blocked and were redirected to this page, there's a strong possibility that your system has been compromised. Also wierd versions of browsers, or brand new browsers may be rejected. We try to stay up to date with new browsers and versions, but some do slip through the cracks.

(Later) - I was using Opera. I tried with Chrome and had no trouble. Thanks for that link.

I'll check out "Mother London." Interesting range of prices on Amazon:
48 Used from $0.24
2 New from $249.89

I think I'll get a used one.

(Later still) I can't check it because most of my library is still packed away waiting for house repairs after our (Christchurch New Zealand 2010 and 2011) earthquakes, but I have a feeling Zelazny either collaborated with or satirized Lovecraft. I know he (Zelazny) wrote something with Alfred Bester, another favourite of mine. "The Demolished Man" is right up there with the best.

(rambles more) I read "The Demolished Man" when I was about 10 years old. It was released as a 3? 4? part serial in Galaxy? SF Magazine. Monthly. A month is a huge amount of time to a 10 year old, but at least it gave me the time to save the one shilling and sixpence for the magazine.
Wish I still had them all.

(more ramble) I think I'm mixing authors again. I remember the phrase "I foul the blood of Great Russell" which I think is from Zelazny, maybe "The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth" but I've just spent a couple of minutes googling and found nothing.

They say the memory is the second thing to go. I forget the first thing.

Hard to follow the unfollowable but I'm currently reading 'Dust And Shadow' by Lyndsay Faye (one of the Baker Street Babes), and it's not bad at all. It's also a little grim, just like the other 'Sherlock Holmes meets Jack the Ripper' story 'Murder By Decree'.

Re: Can anyone recommend anything upbeat, imaginative, & well-written? I've just been through all the TN books in a row.Looking for good heroine Posted by: TheMadBlonde

I'm in the middle of reading The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. The hero is male (PI & wizard) but there are some strong women in it. Harry Dresden's role can be a bit formulaic in that he is always only just able to beat the baddie when he's almost dead. But they're crackin'plots, good humour, imagination etc.

Hi there, Sir Fflint. Welcome to the... place where we... thing... about stuff. Pull up a small child, sit, rest, and enjoy.
Worry not about your deceptive Nom de TypingThing. My HideBehind of MistyCat implies female, seductive and svelte, when IRL I'm 67, male, very near to... that thing where you forget those... symbols of talking things... words!

Your "TheMadBlonde" reference reminded me of Ben Elton's "Blonde Bombshell," which I recently read.
I was indifferent to Elton for quite a while, but then I discovered that he was praised for his intelligence and wit by people such as Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Rowan Atkinson and others whose opinions I respect, so I started to read his books.

Worthwhile.

Read "Blonde Bombshell." I did. It wasn't not unlike failing to waste a lack of otherwise unuseful time. Possibly.

I got Sir Fflint from wikipedia when I looked up Flintshire.

When I left the UK, Flintshire did not exist and it reminded me of the Cheshire cat or the Cat Formerly Known as Cheshire or Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat. But I couldn't remember what the county's name was as it has been 30 years since I emigrated to Australia.

I was astonished to find that it is now (since 1996) Flintshire again or should I say the Unitary Authority of Flintshire.

What was an absolute gift was the county's name in Welsh "Sir y Fflint". How could I miss the double Ff. So may full nom de Bookworld is Sir Ysbaddaden Fflint.

Sir FFlint'

I see from the map that you are from north of the mythic peoples countryside.

Did you ever venture into the dark country of the hills and valleys?

Did you hear any singing?

Was it a mythic choir or a rugby team on a tour?

Could you tell the difference?

Whatever happened to Max Boyce?

He ran away to Leek or was it with a leek... not sure.

Just looking at the name of this thread: 'reading reading' - is it the town that was so good they named it twice?


Just a mild question probably caused as a result of the little white pills meeting the bigger orange pills meeting the other pills and the injections. Do NOT seek any intelligence in anything I write.

Then it may be that simply I am mad, which is the explanation to the least complexity.

" We're all mad" said someone. To recognize madness in others is a reassurance and a confirmation of one's status in whichever universe you happen to be in.

Somewhere in this fforum is a thread we started on upbeat but well written novels. We'd got a bit fed up with all the "100 books you must read" lists being full of doom and gloom and misery, so thought we would make our own.

Obviously we didn't ever agree and the whole thing quite rightly descended into chaos, but I think there were some good books on there.

I'll try and find it for you when I have more time - I think it was about 3 years ago, maybe.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2014 02:17AM by geg.

chaos: when I studied propositional logic it was deemed that if the result was
'p & not p' then anything was possible.

Now i see Chris Mortensen has written a book on inconsistent figures, etc., which seems to indicate that there is structure in the chaos.

Just shows that nothing ever stays the same. I'm going back to the certainties of quantum mechanics!


Which, coincidentally, mirrors the fforums. Nothing remains the same regardless of our desires and attempts to stay on topic. Isn't it nice to have some certainties in life?

I'm just relieved the committee has got back to normal.

I'm just relieved the committee has got back to normal.

Normal? You young whippersnappers keep on using these strange new words I don't know.

Quote:

...attempts to stay on topic...

Things like that. "On Topic"
I think I've heard about that, but I'm not P-completely sure what it means.

I don't want to sound intractable, but I believe a problem is not P-Complete until you've shaken the last few drops from... Oh, look! Something shiny!

I am rereading Sherlock Holmes short stories and they now seem exceedingly bad.

I am increasingly vexed by his use of 'deduction' which is almost as accurate as a political election claim.


And on a different topic, does anyone else feel as I do that one of the biggest prats in literature along side Bertie Wooster is Captain John Harding, associate of Poirot? He learns nothing in 40 years of being shown to be a dickhead.

Comments please.