I don't know what the heck to call this thread!

[CaptainCanada]

Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K. Massie

Robert Massie is a somewhat significant author for me in that his Dreadnought was one of the first major history books I read (I was probably twelve or thirteen at the time); but this is the first time since that I've picked up something else he wrote. This won the Pulitzer in 1981 and was reissued this year to coincide with its "sequel", Catherine the Great, which I plan to read at a later date. It's a mammoth (850+ pages), but exceptionally well-written, and I cover it in a couple of days. Russian history isn't an area I'm especially familiar with (at least, farther back than the 20 century), and this was a big step forward. It has aged quite well, apart from some references to the Soviet Union. Like the best biographies of major figures, it's less about an individual than a history of Russia and the European state system (it's full of very engaging sketches of other figures in the period; indeed, he spends a whole chapter introducing the world of the Ottoman sultan, for instance).

[Libaax]

I find Burroughs very easy to read. Much easier than a number of his contemporaries. And light years easier than folks who were writing even twenty years earlier.

Yeah i have read some of his contemporary in similar genres that feel very old compared to him. Writers decades after in pulp era,paperback are not near as easy,dated as well.

Having finished the novel i enjoyed it very much. John Carter is an original hero that is hard to capture fully today in similar stories. He is both heroic,brutal. Not too dark,gloomy anti-hero that is popular today in SF,Fantasy.

If i didnt have such a huge reading pile at the moment i would instantly buy book 2,3.

Really amazing how much he created,invented in so relatively few pages like 150 or so pages.

[Moriarty]

The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower by Robert Graysmith

[Libaax]

Im reading Devil all the Time by Donald Ray Pollock. Which is a literary strong noir novel about two poor rural communities. A book that have many desperate, some truly sick low lifes characters. Its like a contemporary Jim Thompson in Winter's Bone type setting.

[Roquefort Raider]

Halfway through A rising thunder, I'm happy to report that this latest installment in the ongoing adventures of Honor Harrington is not as much of a bore as some early reviews on Amazon had led me to think. It's true that David Weber's real stength is in describing SF military operations, and that this book is mostly about politics. It's true that it suffers from bringing together too many sub-plots from too many parallel series (the Torch of freedom and Shadow of Saganami series). Nevertheless, things do happen; new alliances are made while old ones break apart, and there is a sense of impending resolution to the whole thing rather than a sense of treading water. There is also a lot less of the soap opera aspect that had plagued some of the slower books. Finally, the book is a brisk 450-odd pages and not a plodding 800+.

[dan bailey]

I'm about 45 percent of the way through Stephen King's Duma Key. As I mentioned awhile back in some thread or other, for some reason it never grabbed me the first couple of times I tried to read it, to the point that I never got more than maybe 15 pages into it. Picked it up yesterday & didn't put it down again till 280-odd pages later, & then only because it was time for bed.

[dupersuper]

At work I finished Divine Misfortune, read 2007s Nebula Awards short story collection, and I'm over 1/3rd into I Caught Flies for Howard Hughes. At home I took a quick break from my backlogged comic pile to read through a bunch of funny books quickly: I'll start with This is a Book by Demetri Martin.

[KingOfCups]

I just finished Goethe's Faust: Part One. Classic literature that seems to work it's way into Christian theology is just interesting to me. Literature such as The Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, and Faust.

[Libaax]

I just finished Goethe's Faust: Part One. Classic literature that seems to work it's way into Christian theology is just interesting to me. Literature such as The Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, and Faust.

Christian theology is not very interesting to me but Faust, Divine Comedy,Paradise Lost are great works of art i will read fully. I have read only parts of DV and Paradise Lost in lit classes. Faust because Goethe is a new fav of mine. I remembered enjoying reading how Dante wrote about hell in Divine Comedy.

Nice to see readers like you reading those books because if quality classic lit and not because you must for school.

[KingOfCups]

Christian theology is not very interesting to me but Faust, Divine Comedy,Paradise Lost are great works of art i will read fully. I have read only parts of DV and Paradise Lost in lit classes. Faust because Goethe is a new fav of mine. I remembered enjoying reading how Dante wrote about hell in Divine Comedy.

Nice to see readers like you reading those books because if quality classic lit and not because you must for school.

It's not even so much about being into Christian theology, it's just how works of straight up fiction become intertwined with religious beliefs (obviously any religion's credibility is subject to debate). The big example of the three is Paradise Lost. The Christian bible doesn't expand too much on the subject of Satan and the Angels fall, and I was raised Christian so fallen angels did come up, so it's interesting that a concept mostly conceived in literature found its way into religious teachings.

And of course there's the plain old fact that they are great reads, so theological reasons or not, they're still amazing.

[Libaax]

It's not even so much about being into Christian theology, it's just how works of straight up fiction become intertwined with religious beliefs (obviously any religion's credibility is subject to debate). The big example of the three is Paradise Lost. The Christian bible doesn't expand too much on the subject of Satan and the Angels fall, and I was raised Christian so fallen angels did come up, so it's interesting that a concept mostly conceived in literature found its way into religious teachings.

And of course there's the plain old fact that they are great reads, so theological reasons or not, they're still amazing.

Yeah i found Paradise Lost to be very interesting when it comes to the subject of satan, the angels fall. When religion is used well in literature it can be very interesting topic.

For example i read Herman Hesse's Siddharta that used Buddha and Buddism really well.

Despite i dont have a natural interest for most religious beliefs it is a great concept in books because its a part of being human. Writers like Milton, Dante wanted to say something about the bible, their religion.

Reading Dante's version of Hell was more horrific, real than best horror stories hehe.

[CaptainCanada]

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Much less interesting than a synopsis makes it sound, though it has its moments (there's a great line about aging/maturity, in particular).

[berk]

Carmen, short story by Prosper Mérimée. Same story the opera was based on. Very impressive, even knowing the basic story beforehand. Mérimée's one of the best short story writers I've come across, which is a little surprising because he only wrote a handful and doesn't seem to have thought highly of fiction writing as an art. Any short story afficionados out there who haven't tried Mérimée yet should definitely pick up a good anthology (I've been reading the Oxford ppb).

[Moriarty]

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

[dan bailey]

Yeah i found Paradise Lost to be very interesting when it comes to the subject of satan, the angels fall. When religion is used well in literature it can be very interesting topic.

We were assigned Paradise Lost my senior year in high school, & for some idiotic reason I put off reading it till the night before we had to write an essay or take an exam or something ... so I wound up reading it in one sitting.

Not my smartest move ever, I have to say.