Books
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I was thinking about 634 and its inspiration by Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary dual-wielding samurai who wrote A Book of Five Rings after his retirement, where he became a cave-dwelling ascetic monk-like figure. There was a serial biography written about him in Japan by Eiji Yoshikawa. It goes through his life from young adulthood through his battles, culminating with his final battle with Sasaki Kojirō and his nodachi (Japanese version of a claymore). I read it long ago and have resolved that it’s time to read it again. Highly recommended for Japanophiles or people who just think medieval Japanese culture and samurai are cool.
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Not really a fantasy fan usually, but I was recommended Robin Hobb's "The Assassin's Apprentice" recently and it's excellent.
If you like Heinlein-style space opera, I recommend Elliott Kay's "Poor Man's Fight" series. He also has an excellent series of urban fantasy X (light) eroticism novels…
If you like a light Space Opera Neal Archer has written some fun stuff (I read them all early lockdown).
When I was younger I really liked Roger Zelazny, his Amber books were fun but Lord of Light and Creatures of Light and Darkness had much more depth. Short stories were good too (A Rose for Ecclesiastes)
Talking of which currently re-reading the exact same edition of Mr Pirsig's famous work. 41 years after the first and I still get lots from it.
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Glad you mentioned it @JDelage . I loved The Martian and also enjoyed Artemis (the setting took me back to Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, a favorite) and was not aware he had another one yet.
Next in queue in Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story. Big fan of The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan but never got around to this one.
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Super Sad is great — Absurdistan is definitely my fave of his. There have been very few books thatve made me howl out loud with laughter in recent memory, and that’s one of them. Sam Lipsyte’s Home Land and Nathan Hill’s The Nix are a couple others that come to mind. I’m a real sucker for that almost slapstick misanthropy.
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Yep indeed; there's a certain, very Russian wry fatalism that Shteyngart conveys like no other, especially in Absurdistan.
Speaking of books that hurt my stomach and make me LOL (even after repeated reads), A Confederacy of Dunces takes that crown for me. Good lord what a hilarious book. I think that Ignatius J. Reilly would have to be my favorite comedic character in literature, at least so far. So tragic that John Kennedy Toole killed himself, thinking himself a failure. How could the publishers not see the brilliance? I would have loved to see what else he could have come up with. And it paints such a great portrait of New Orleans and her people, including how they speak (phonetic spellings to convey the diction) and how some of the crazier among them act.
And speaking of dystopian books, I am somewhat intrigued by The Five Books of (Robert) Moses by Arthur Nersesian. Interesting writer and premise, but it is a biggun and a commitment.
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Oh god yeah, Confederacy of Dunces is so great, and his story is indeed so tragic. Didn't his mom take it to a publisher after his death and tell them they should read it? I think that's how it goes… oy, rough.
EDIT ah yep, just looked it up. Took it to many publishers, widely rejected until she convinced Walker Percy to read it.
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Yep exactly, Walker Percy being a brilliant writer himself (check out The Moviegoer if you haven’t) saw the genius for what it was. His preface on some editions is worth a read.
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…@jordanscollected just recently read this one, might be up your alley 'Minnesota Kid'!
...a little adventure involving a pool hustler and his stakehorse. Written by the stakehorse who I believe just recently passed away.
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Just finished up "The Chestnut Man" which was a solidly paced murder mystery, looking forward to starting "Chasing the Boogeyman" by Richard Chizmar, like a true crime conceit. I've been really deep diving into horror/mystery recently
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Read any Paul Tremblay @Joberwocky ? He's good.
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Sent you a PM @steelworker . One book, but I'd be interested in more. You have a best of?
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Thanks for tagging me @vaquero357, for some reason I didn't get a notification. I'll look into it as it's right up my alley. I love every intricate detail of billiards and I'm sure this book will be an interesting read.
Excellent pool should look really simple, because the shooter moves the cue ball around the table with such precision that it set's up the next shot with ease. that's the goal every game.
I play with some of the best players in the state, and a team in my league called "CR's classics" (named after a pool hall in Coon Rapids), just won the world masters tournament in Las Vegas a couple months back.
the Minnesota Kid has rough nights when we play those guys.
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…you're going to enjoy this book then. Guaranteed!
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…you're going to enjoy this book then. Guaranteed!
The tag on @jordanscollected wasn’t coded.
If you are using Tapatalk writing the “@“ first will not code the user name as a mention/tag. This is because Tapatalk and the forum engine use different codes. It is dumb and a PITA.
If you use the desktop version and don’t hit the highlighted name or write the name incorrectly, it won’t get coded as a tag.
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Got myself some new reading materials today. Anyone familiar with these?
The Blue Blooded one is particularly beautiful: turns out the cover is actually made of denim! I hadn't realized when I ordered online. It also has a feature on Iron Heart and a short interview with @Giles.
If anyone can recommend any additional denim-related "essential reading," I'm all ear!
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I was intruiged by the podcast but can't for the life of me listen to one… So I just ordered the book instead...
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/renegades-barack-obama-and-bruce-springsteen/1139886910
