What are you reading in 2022?

[dragoner]

Rome was, for the most part, successful. As much as we try to reconstruct what Carthage was, it will always be defined by trying to understand it through what the destroyers of Carthage told us.

I think yes, the ultimate victory was in their literature, and how we get to know the Romans as people, not just shadowy figures out of history. Its sort of the same historical desire for the Carthaginians, who were they as people? It does sound like a good book, and I will pick it up.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Still going thru the omnibus collection of Amber books. Just passed a page with no paragraph breaks. Yuck. I'm beginning to wonder if this is just a long, padded, story. I think I'd feel very different if I read the books as separate books, over long stretches of reading other things?

The fist 5 books is one story. The second five is a different but related story.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

The fist 5 books is one story. The second five is a different but related story.

I'd put it more like, "The first five books is one story- one of the most famous and influential stories in fantasy literature. The second five is a related story, which is fine."

That's in contrast to the Chronicles of Covenant/Land Series, which I'd put like this-

The first trilogy is one of the best and most influential trilogies in fantasy, but because of a certain choice at the beginning may not be suitable for all modern readers.
The second trilogy is related, but while controversial at the time, is arguably even better than the first.
The third quadrology wraps everything up, and exists.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I'm finishing up The Last Gentleman of War. It's the story of the SMS Emden, a German light cruiser that became a commerce raider in the Pacific and Indian oceans in WW1.

I read a lot of historical books, and one almost universal trait of books focused on German soldiers/sailors/tankers seems to be a strangely misguided thought that everybody they victimize loves them and thinks they are great (except Russians). This book was no exception.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I'd put it more like, "The first five books is one story- one of the most famous and influential stories in fantasy literature. The second five is a related story, which is fine."

That's in contrast to the Chronicles of Covenant/Land Series, which I'd put like this-

The first trilogy is one of the best and most influential trilogies in fantasy, but because of a certain choice at the beginning may not be suitable for all modern readers.
The second trilogy is related, but while controversial at the time, is arguably even better than the first.
The third quadrology wraps everything up, and exists.

I can't argue the second story is a couple letter grades below the first. Either way after book 5/10 one has a natural stopping spot if it's getting to be a drag.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I can't argue the second story is a couple letter grades below the first. Either way after book 5/10 one has a natural stopping spot if it's getting to be a drag.

I brought up the Covenant/Land comparison for a reason. It's the eternal problem of having a super-successful series/character/world.

People always want more of it.

For example, a someone who loved the Chronicles of Amber, I was thrilled to see that Zelazny returned to them with the second Chronicles (the Merlin Chronicles). And they were ... fine. But they weren't essential. And they weren't as good as the Corwin Chronicles.

It's that eternal battle- I'm glad that I got to return to a world I loved to read about, I'm glad that Zelazny got to get more checks, but it was also so inessential compared to what had come before.

It's the same with the Covenant series- although I think that you could almost say that the first two trilogies were the original, seminal work, and the recent quadrology was the belated afterthought. Sure, it was fine, and it was good to return to the place and the characters ... but it was just so monumentally inessential and lesser than what had come before.

I'm hard pressed to think of a good example of a writer returning to something after a period of time, and having it matter. I know it exists, but usually it's ... you know, fine.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I brought up the Covenant/Land comparison for a reason. It's the eternal problem of having a super-successful series/character/world.

People always want more of it.

For example, a someone who loved the Chronicles of Amber, I was thrilled to see that Zelazny returned to them with the second Chronicles (the Merlin Chronicles). And they were ... fine. But they weren't essential. And they weren't as good as the Corwin Chronicles.

It's that eternal battle- I'm glad that I got to return to a world I loved to read about, I'm glad that Zelazny got to get more checks, but it was also so inessential compared to what had come before.

It's the same with the Covenant series- although I think that you could almost say that the first two trilogies were the original, seminal work, and the recent quadrology was the belated afterthought. Sure, it was fine, and it was good to return to the place and the characters ... but it was just so monumentally inessential and lesser than what had come before.

I'm hard pressed to think of a good example of a writer returning to something after a period of time, and having it matter. I know it exists, but usually it's ... you know, fine.

I'm just trying to help a guy/gal out by telling them they need to get through half the book and then they can stop. Not critiquing the quality....since I don't know their tastes.

Blade Runner and Mad Max are two rare examples of good quality product after a long pause. I don't read fiction that much anymore so can't offer a literary suggestion.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I'm just trying to help a guy/gal out by telling them they need to get through half the book and then they can stop. Not critiquing the quality....since I don't know their tastes.

Blade Runner and Mad Max are two rare examples of good quality product after a long pause. I don't read fiction that much anymore so can't offer a literary suggestion.

That's an interesting distinction.

I think the difference with film is (or can be) this-

When a film property is revived (rebooted) after a period of time, you can get something which is as good, or superior. You can have a completely new take (Mad Max) or a visually compelling new chapter (Blade Runner) or even just a story that can now be told in a different fashion due to technology (Dune). More importantly, you almost always have completely different directors or cinematographers or approaches to the work ... Max Max might be a singular exception to that.

With literature, you often have a requirement that the original author complete the work- in the few cases I can think of where a fill-in writer came in later due to the death of the original writer, I can't think of a single example of the new writer being considered the equal, or better, than the original (think Herbert, Jordan for example). And a lot of times, writers just don't want to return ... they said what they wanted to say, and when they do return, it is often from either a feeling of obligation (the fans keep demanding it), money (the publisher keeps demanding it) or both. Regardless, the return is rarely compelling, but occasionally succeeds at being comfortable.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Still reading Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow.

Still reading The Battle for Spain by Antony Beevor.

Still reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Still reading An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire.

Still listening to Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading Critical Role: Tal’dorei Campaign Setting by Matthew Mercer.

Still reading The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones.

Still reading The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.

Still reading Black Widow: Red Vengeance by Margaret Stohl.

Still reading Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb.

Still reading Matchlock and the Embassy: A Thirty Years’ War Story by Zachary Twamley.

Still reading The Black Ice by Michael Connelly.

Still reading Rise of the King by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading The Sorcerer of the North by John Flanagan.

Still reading Ghost Story by Jim Butcher.

Finished reading ReDawn by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson.

Still reading Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin by Marieke Nijkamp.

Still reading Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.

Started reading Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson.

Started reading Defending Elysium by Brandon Sanderson.

 

[GreyLord]

Deryni Books.

Just on the first trilogy, but man...some of the actions taken by characters (especially the evil ones) are terrible and make no sense. Theoretically, they should just fail and that is that, but in the book they succeed.

The church is particularly dumb thus far in the first two books. Politically, the actions make no sense as they risk losing an entire nation and province due to their own stupid actions. It's like the church purposefully wanting to lose Germany or Spain.

Then again, they DID lose England eventually in history, but it took a LOT MORE than simply just disliking a race that the Nobility was actually part of.

What's even MORE stupid is that they are on the brink of a Holy War in the 2nd book, and instead of bolstering up the border nation's military and boostering up to defend the faith, instead they seem intent on doing everything they can to lose that nation to the enemy and threaten their holy church itself!

The first book was okay, and I enjoyed it despite the ridiculous maneuvering, but the second book has increased what bothered me in the first book by a LOT and decreased the sensibilities a LOT.

If I were the Church leadership I'd lay the smackdown on some of the Bishops by declaring them traitors to the faith by trying to ally with the infidels and betray a nation of the Church to the clutches of the enemies of the faith...because that's exactly what all this ridiculous plotting is seeming to do!

Makes me grouse a bit about the plot, at least thus far. Perhaps the third book strikes me better?