Have you read...can you recommend...

Discussion of fine arts and literature.
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elengil
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by elengil »

My book order with Wise Child arrived last night!

Except... it was missing Wise Child. :doh:

That, at least, Amazon does do well, it took me about 3 minutes on customer service chat to get a replacement order. What Amazon sucks at is letting the customer submit a ticket to replace an actual missing item (it is simply not an option), and they don't make it easy for you to find the customer service chat to talk to a rep.

I give Amazon Customer Service 3 1/2 stars.
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF
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RoseMorninStar
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by RoseMorninStar »

:doh:

Maybe it would be easier for me to scan in my library copy and share.

Out of curiosity, are public libraries a thing in Australia (or whatever country you are from)? I was surprised that not all countries have public libraries. One of those things I take for granted. We have a wonderful public library.
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elengil
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by elengil »

I'm in the US but one of the few areas that doesn't have county public libraries, only city, so to check out a book I'd have to make an account at the city library and then pay a whopping library card fee since I don't pay those city taxes. It sucks. But I like owning books, and it's not like I read them terribly quickly...
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF
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RoseMorninStar
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by RoseMorninStar »

Wow. I don't live in town but I don't pay a fee to use the library. It must be figured into our taxes. One really nice thing about our library is that it is a SHARE library. It coordinates with.. I dunno.. maybe 30 or more libraries in the area so if my local library doesn't have something but one of the others do, they order it sent to my local library for pick up.
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Frelga
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Frelga »

If you haven't discovered https://bookshop.org/, I highly recommend them. They sell new and used books, and ebooks, and distribute profits among the network of independent stores. And they have affiliate links, in case V is interested.

On that note, this is supposed to be a rediscovered SF gem combining alternative history and fantasy.

https://bookshop.org/books/the-dragon-w ... 1250269010
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.

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elengil
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by elengil »

Oh nice!
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF
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RoseMorninStar
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by RoseMorninStar »

Very nice Frelga. Thanks!
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Inanna
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Inanna »

Thanks, Frelga.

India does not have public libraries. Schools do and Army Units do (what we survived on), but after I flew the nest I had to buy all my books. We have boxes of them. After moving to the US, I didn’t buy a book For YEARS - it is just so incredible!
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
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Impenitent
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Impenitent »

Frelgita, thank you for the new book discovery!

Rose, yes, Oz does indeed have public libraries, lots and lots of them: municipal libraries, special interest libraries, mobile libraries (in rural areas), and our fabulous State libraries which hold EVERYTHING (more than 5 million books, manuscripts maps, enewspapers, ejournals, streaming, etc).

Most public libraries are free or charge a nominal, tiny fee for membership, and all public libraries offer inter-library loans.

My husband has membership (free) at the State library so he has access to all international enewspapers.

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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by RoseMorninStar »

Impy: AWESOME! Inanna, it's so interesting to find how different countries handle things we take for granted. :read: I don't recall what TORc'er I was conversing with who said their country didn't have public libraries, maybe Truehobbit/Germany? It blew my mind. When I was a teenager I lived kittycorner from the public library for a short time. I spent Sooo much time there.
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Frelga
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Frelga »

I found that Kindle has complete works of prominent Russian writers in a single Kindle file for the 0.99 to 3.99. Also Russian translations from other languages. I'm slightly ambivalent, because most of these works are in public domain and should be free, but it so dashed convenient. And could be helpful for a language learner.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.

Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
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Impenitent
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Impenitent »

Are they also available in English translation? I don't pretend to have a single language learning gene in my body.

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Frelga
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Frelga »

Impish, I haven't seen similar English-language compilations. But I haven't looked.
Russian collections include SF classics like Belyaev, whom I haven't seen in English translation, and Bulgakov, whose Master and Margarita I did see translated, although not to my satisfaction.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.

Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
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Impenitent
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Impenitent »

Ah well. It's not like I have a dearth of reading material.

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Inanna
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Inanna »

You don’t? What are you reading right now? I’m re-reading the Raksura series.
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
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elengil
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

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Impenitent wrote:Ah well. It's not like I have a dearth of reading material.

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I'll have Juniper in the post to you shortly. Wise Child will follow whenever it manages to actually arrive, as I am sure I will devour that book quite quickly.

Interesting that I don't recall having read Juniper but there are several things that I recognize out of it so I'm not sure if she reused a few snippets of ideas from Wise Child or if I am mixing the two books up in my head and just have forgotten. Either way, I am loving her writing and am so very glad I have re-found it :)
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF
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RoseMorninStar
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by RoseMorninStar »

I was able to order Juniper and Coleman from the library. I'm holding on to Wise Child to reread before I have to return it.
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Impenitent
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Impenitent »

Inanna, I'm reading The Stormlight Chronicles by Brandon Sanderson, the series Alatar recommended some time ago (thank you Al :) ). A complex, deeply thought-out world and vivid characters. I ocassionally have to speed read through battle scenes, but the interwoven story threads are compelling and his writing is excellent.

Elengil, you are very generous! I look forward to reading it.

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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Inanna »

Ah, I just finished those. I didn't find the first book compelling at all, but by the end of the first book I liked it enough to have read the remaining. Not a favorite of mine, though.
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
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Frelga
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Re: Have you read...can you recommend...

Post by Frelga »

You could read fanfiction. You'll never run out.

This post is a brought to you by me learning that Naomi Novik, winner of both the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, was the founder of the largest repository of fan fiction, AO3, and posts there under a pen name.

Or, if you haven't read Naomi Novik, you could do that.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.

Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
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