Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine So what are you READING?

The vast majority of the author's "revelations" are invented. Some are expansions of ideas others have had in the past; many are complete fabrications. There was an article in the Boston Globe around the time the book came out last year that outlined the most important invented plot points.

Any idea where I might be able to get a read of this Boston Globe article or any other info that quickly distinguishes fact from fabrication?

Cobalt Kid / Petey C. / Anybody else who’s interested –

For a re-interpretation of the Arthurian Legends I’d thoroughly recommend the following trilogy by Bernard Cornwell

The Winter King
Enemy of God
Excalibur

From his own website, www.bernardcornwell.net -

""Once upon a time, in a land that was called Britain, these things happened . . . ." well, maybe. The Warlord Trilogy is my attempt to tell the story of Arthur, 'Rex Quondam Rexque Futurus', the Once and Future King, although I doubt he ever was a king. I suspect he was a great warlord of the sixth century. Nennius, who was one of the earliest historians to mention Arthur, calls him the 'dux bellorum' - leader of battles or warlord. I have to confess that of all the books I have written these three are my favourites. They have been translated into a score of languages and were best-sellers in a dozen countries."


Although I have thoroughly enjoyed all of his Sharpe, Starbuck and Grail series’, his Arthur books are by far the best – in fact they’re my favourite ever series of books.

It’s a pity there are only three books, but then I suppose there’s only a fairly limited scope to play with.

They are based around the life of one of Arthurs knights, rather than being a straightforward re-telling. There are plenty of little twists on the accepted legends – some of them quite breathtaking.

I just finished up a book called "Ghost Ship" about the real life case of a 19th century merchant ship called the Mary Celeste. She was found adrift in the north Atlantic with no crew but with no clue as to what might have happened to her crew. A lot of bizarre theories have been been floated over the years about what happened, and aside from recounting the tale sans a lot of bogus "facts" that have been added over the years, the author gives another theory. It was pretty interesting, especially because I first heard the story when I was a kid since it frequently turns up in those "unexplained mystery" books.

Next up is book 6 of the Dark Tower series from Stephen King, "The Song of Susannah."

**sigh** These all sound interesting.

Two more weekend books, very light reading:

Burglar on the Prowl, latest of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series. Bernie is a used book seller and a professional thief. Always the same story, but funny. This one was a bit more forced than the others in its conclusion, but I still laughed.

The Cat Who Killed Lillian Jackson Braun, by Robert Kaplow - a raunchy, comedic spoof on the Braun "Cat Who..." series. If you've read the originals by L.J. Braun, you'll love (or hate) this. I enjoyed her early books, but they got really syrupy after a while. So I loved this sex, violence and farce take-off of her work. I don't know how authors can do these spoofs without getting sued, but they must have worked something out. Guest appearance by Philip
Roth.

Now started Souls in the Great Machine, by Sean McMullen. SF, a strange world - "...there is no more eletricity, wind engines are leading-edge technology, librarians fight duels to settle disputes, steam power is banned by every major religion, and a mysterious siren "Call" lures people to their death." The head librarian, the power behind the throne, has officials assassinated who disagree with her modernization plans...there's a giant "computer" that is run by hundreds of mathematicians at desks, like galley slaves - when they make a mistake, they're taken out and shot...that's just the preface.

Based on your description, FC, I just added Souls in the Great Machine to my Amazon.com shopping cart. Sounds like a fun book.

I've been reading 'Leaves of Grass' by Walt Whitman. Challenging, but oh so rewarding. I don't get enough poetry in my life.

Kippers, I've read "Leaves of Grass" in the past, and found it to be exactly as you put it: 'challenging, but rewarding'. There are some sections that are absolutely mind-blowing, IMO. My old English Lit Professor also reccomended that I get a taped copy of "Leaves" with Orsen Welles reading it in as boisterous a manner as he could. He really enjoyed it himself, and said that Welles really 'got' Whitman and understood the way in which it should be read (loudly ).

Numf, those books sound interesting. I love reading about the Arthurian Saga, particulurly the connection to real early Middle Age history. My favorite books on this are by Jack Whyte, of which there is now 8, called "The Camulod Chronicles". The first two chronicle the lives of two Roman Officers in Britain after the Legions leave, then the next four are about Merlyn, Uther and a large cast of others, and the latest installments deal with Arthur and Lancelot (although Lancelot is called Clothar, since the name Lancelot certainly did not exist yet). Easily the best and most fun take on the story I've ever read!

Thanks for the reccommendation!

I finished "Factoring Humanity", which I enjoyed a lot. Sawyer alwayws throws in quantum physics and this time he relates it to the idea of collective consciousness.

Last night I started "The Time Traveler's Wife."

i'm reading
SONG OF SUSANNAH - Stephen King
its an excellent read so far, only a a quarter of the way in but its THE DARK TOWER series so if you like the series you'll like this.
In a related story, when i was on my totally excellent adventure this summer i bumped into stephen king. Well actually what happened was, i was coming out of a highway burger king outside of lewiston, ME. got in the car and my brother started going around the parking lot, he says to me ... HEY, i think that was stephen king as we passed by a some guy walking to his vechicle. I looked over and thought yeah it could be him but who knows anyway, my brother LETS GO CHECK, so we go right around the lot and pull up opposite his truck, the guy is approaching the truck and my brother says...you gonna go ask him? i respond NO WAY, cause at this point i knew it was stephen king, my brother says WELL I AM, out he gets and go over as King is putting his key in his lock and says.. excuse me youre stephen king right? he responds... Yes
my brother says... my brother over there is a big fan of yours and i was wondering if i could get a picture of you with him. At this point, my head and half my body are almost out the window with excitement.
He responds, sorry not today.
i was about 12 feet away and he did look at me, and that was my brush with fame.

Haven't been in the mood to read anything too deep recently. I just finished a book on the Everly Brothers and next I'll probably tackle one of the Doctor Who novels I picked up in San Diego.

OMG!!

Did SONG OF SUSANNAH really come out already??

How did I miss this?

I think it's been out for around a month or so, but it kind of seems like the Dark Tower books don't get much publicity. I get the impression that King and his publishers view the DT series as an "acquired taste" and don't promote it as heavily as they would a regular King release.

I won't be reading it now, though. Due to not being able to get to the library in time to renew it before it was overdue I had give it back since someone else had it on hold. Apparently that's one of those obscure library rules I didn't know about. Live and learn. I read about 1 page. But it was good.

I am reading Life of Pi by Yan Martel. Good book so far.

Also I am trying to get through The Devil in the White City. This book is set turn of the century Chicago when the city is about to host the World's fair. The book is about the industrializing of America, the rise of big business, the isolation/lack of socialization/anonymity of people in big cities, set against what could be considered America's first serial killer to appear publicly.

Yah, there is a reason I haven't finished that book yet.

rtvu2, I read Life of Pi last year. When I picked it up I thought it might become a little tedious, given that most of the story takes place in a lifeboat with a tiger. However, I found it to be well-paced and contains some of the most vivid (and truly heart-breaking) passages I've ever read (e.g. the zebra scene).

I also have Devil in the White City in my bookcase waiting to be read. Maybe after I finish The Time Traveler's Wife.

hey Semi,

With Life of Pi, I am finding it more interesting when the author is writing about his meetings wiht Pi now. Also I enjoyed the book more when he was still in India. Did yo hear the M. Night Shaylman (director of Sixth Sense, The Village) is set to adapt the novel for a movie?


how good is The Time Traveler's Wife? Been meaning to pick that up.

I'm liking Time Traveller's Wife a lot. It's written as a series of vignettes - because Henry (the time traveller) keeps popping in and out of various time periods. He has to become very adept at survival because he always appears buck naked when he travels. Often he ends up visiting a younger version of himself and teaching him survival tricks. There's a cute scene in a museum where he teaches his 6 year old self how to pick a pocket.

At first it's a bit confusing figuring out what he knows when, but gradually, you get the overall picture of his life. The writer enjoys shocking the reader with the practical realities of the time traveller's situation (for example, if you visited a 3 month younger version of yourself, and you were both 15 and horny, would you have sex with yourself. Henry did.)- and he's no goody-goody, although he is quite likeable.

I'm currently reading In the Garden of Iden, forget the author's name. It is one Caroline read and I picked it up after she finished. Interesting time travel concept of taking inhabitants from the past and 're-engineering' them to become immortal so they can spend their lives saving things lost to time (artwork, books, plants, animals, etc).

Prior to that I read three of Dan Brown's books but not the DaVinci Code. I'm saving that one for some reason.

And before I read the Browns I read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, one of the best books I've ever read. Ever. In fact it was the first novel (re: non-technical) book I've picked up in over five years. I loved it so much it made me start reading for pleasure again. Now I'm trying to track down the comics that Chabon did. Already got a collection of the first stories through the Sci-Fi Book Club.

Really didn't like Kalavier and Clay that much but loved Wonder Boys by Charbon, even better then the movie which I think is great. Also liked his anathology of short stories Werewolves in their Youth.

Thanks for the mini review Semi for Time Travler's Wife. Guess I will pick it up now.
Is it out in paperback yet?

I just checked Amazon, and Time Traveler's Wife is now out in paperback.

Scott, I loved "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," too. I'm surprised that it's not required reading for all lovers of the golden and silver age eras of comics. The only part I found jarring was the interlude in the Antarctic during the war. The betrayal of the dogs really got to me.

Devil in the White City - looked fascinating, but I couldn't get into it. Kavalier & Clay - enjoyed it although I hadn't expected to. Time Traveller's Wife sounds like fun...

Just wrapping up The Scar, by China Miéville. Best/favourite fiction book I've read this year.

hey Cramer, what is the Scar about?

I just picked up "History Lessons". It shows how history textbooks from around the world portray US History.

I'm re-reading Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep.

rtvu2, The Scar is a fantasy/sci fi novel, but far beyond the usual wizards and warlords/Camelot/LotR imitations. Miéville has constructed an incredibly complex world, with its own languages, science, magic, sentient races - but anchored enough in our own world to make it accessible. His first book was Perdido Street Station; the Scar takes place in the same world, with all different characters.

Perdido St. was about the power of love; the Scar is about the loyalty & betrayal, and concepts of reality. The main character, Bellis, is a linguist on the run from the city of New Crobuzon, headed across the ocean to a colony. The ship she is on is taken by pirates and transported to the city of Armada, a collection of ships, offering refuge to malcontents, misfits, convicts... Bellis will do anything to return home, with very tragic consequences....

What makes both Perdido and The Scar incredible is the excellent writing, the "hitherto unimagined creatures" (quoting reviews here), "relentlessly, stunningly inventive: a conceptual breakthrough of the highest order". One reviewer called it "steampunk genre" - Victorian technology meets sci fi.

Cactus people, 6-foot high mosquito people, winged people, Crayfish people - not just described, but well thought out, with their own cultures and customs; sentenced criminals are "remade", with strange appendages or machinery grafted onto their bodies as punishment, to humiliate or to make them useful slaves ... there is science, but there is magic too, and they blend together. It's hard to describe the complexity.

Sounds most intriguing, FC. I'll have to keep an eye out for that.