What are you reading?

[smittycl]

Atmospheric WWII espionage novels sounds nice (sometime in the late 70s, early 80s I read all the Alistair MacLean my library had to offer).

My Dad was a big Alistair MacLean fan so I read them all as well. That guys could write a tight story.

Lots of paperback in our house. Funny how his Harold Robbins books always opened to the same pages when set on the spine…

 

[Kaplan]

Richard Stark: The Hunter, 1962.

"If I know you, you want him for something he won't like."
"I'm going to kill him," Parker said.
She smiled, nodding. "There," she said. "That's something he won't like."

As Richard Stark Donald E Westlake wrote more than 20 Parker novels, this being the first. A revenge story, it interestingly changes its POV from the hunter to the hunted and back to the hunter. And uncharacteristically for a modern printing of an older book, this one comes with a rather attractive cover design, from The University of Chicago Press:

The ruthlessly efficient, highly amoral heist specialist inspired several movie adaptations (some French). Just from this one there was Payback with Mel Gibson from 1999 (kinda trashy but rather entertaining) and Point Blank with Lee Marvin from 1967 (a personal neo-noir favourite).

 

[Kaplan]

Robert E Howard: Kull, Exile of Atlantis, 1929-30.

"Kull might be the king of Valusia and the Pict might be an emissary to her courts, but there in the throne hall of kings, two tribesmen glowered at each other, fierce and wary, while ghosts of wild wars and world-ancient feuds whispered to each."

While an earlier text by Lord Dunsany might claim to be the source, it is with the stories of King Kull that Howard creates sword & sorcery - though the genre wouldn't get its name for another 30 years. Predating Conan, these stories are more experimental, showing Howard's interests in dream psychology and Shakespeare, but lacking some of the kinetic energy that came with Conan. This book collects everything Howard wrote about Kull: about 10 short stories, unfinished drafts and some poems. Only three Kull stories were published; one of the unsold ones (the awesome - and awesomely titled - By This Axe I Rule!) was later rewritten by Howard as the first Conan story The Phoenix on the Sword.

Like with Conan, the best edition to get is from Del Rey, an imprint of Penguin Random House, formerly Ballantine Books. This one is illustrated by Justin Sweet.

 

[smittycl]

Robert E Howard: Kull, Exile of Atlantis, 1929-30.

"Kull might be the king of Valusia and the Pict might be an emissary to her courts, but there in the throne hall of kings, two tribesmen glowered at each other, fierce and wary, while ghosts of wild wars and world-ancient feuds whispered to each."

While an earlier text by Lord Dunsany might claim to be the source, it is with the stories of King Kull that Howard creates sword & sorcery - though the genre wouldn't get its name for another 30 years. Predating Conan, these stories are more experimental, showing Howard's interests in dream psychology and Shakespeare, but lacking some of the kinetic energy that came with Conan. This book collects everything Howard wrote about Kull: about 10 short stories, unfinished drafts and some poems. Only three Kull stories were published; one of the unsold ones (the awesome - and awesomely titled - By This Axe I Rule!) was later rewritten by Howard as the first Conan story The Phoenix on the Sword.

Like with Conan, the best edition to get is from Del Rey, an imprint of Penguin Random House, formerly Ballantine Books. This one is illustrated by Justin Sweet.

Read all those as a kid. Loved the pulps too. Doc Savage, The Shadow, etc.

 

[smittycl]

When my all time fav novels. Article outside the paywall.

Edit: link not showing preview. Book is Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita.

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/bo...jz41zclf7fu&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

[Kaplan]

When my all time fav novels. Article outside the paywall.

Edit: link not showing preview. Book is Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita.

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/bo...jz41zclf7fu&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Interesting. I've seen it mentioned a couple of times by now - by my two favourite booktubers and by Adam Roberts in his The History of Science Fiction 2nd Edition, which I recently finished.

Folio has a handsome edition.

 

[smittycl]

Interesting. I've seen it mentioned a couple of times by now - by my two favourite booktubers and by Adam Roberts in his The History of Science Fiction 2nd Edition, which I recently finished.

Folio has a handsome edition.

Mind the translation. Some are apparently poorly done. It’s a great novel and one that sticks with you.

 

[Kaplan]

Robert E Howard: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, 1932-36.

"Conan simply grew up in my mind a few years ago when I was stopping in a little border town on the lower Rio Grande. I did not create him by any conscious process. He simply stalked full grown out of oblivion and set me at work recording the saga of his adventures."

The stories are great fun and these awesome Del Rey editions include great fore- and afterwords, unfinished drafts, and more. This one is illustrated by Mark Schultz.

Hither Came Conan by Mark Schultz. Not from the book; all interior illustrations are in black and white.

 

[edinatlanta]

I love westerns and this is shaping up to be a good contemporary western

 

[smittycl]

I like the Oxford Very Short Introduction series. They find experts in their fields to write very readable short books. Just grabbed the latest on Climate Change.

https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/v/very-short-introductions-vsi/?cc=us&lang=en&

 

[edinatlanta]

I love westerns and this is shaping up to be a good contemporary western

View attachment 2183379

This was phenomenal. Even though it told the story of a war, the story was so intimate. I think every other page had a wonderful turn of phrase that was genuinely insightful to the characters or the historical context. Highly recommended because of the work and it is short so you can finish in a couple of days. Discussing the book with my girlfriend and i said i also appreciated that because the writer is a woman, how women live was an actual part of the story and also a good mirror to how people live. Like, i doubt a man would be able to appreciate or write about menstruation and how awful it would be on the high plains.

Wasn't sure what to expect from this one. I think i was just searched for books about the Southwest and this popped up. The start has been about the ecology of the Southwest. Im kind of anxious to get to the rest of the book.

 

[smittycl]

I’m not much of fan of Westerns but really liked this one.

 

[Kaplan]

Fritz Leiber: Swords and Deviltry, 1957-70
Fritz Leiber: Swords Against Death, 1939-70.

"Thieves and astrologers moved restlessly in their sleep, sensing the hours of night and work was drawing near."

With Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser Leiber supplied the pulps with sword & sorcery in the wake of Robert E Howard, and in 1961 he gave the genre its name. Over 50 years he would write of the duo's adventures in short stories, novellas, and a single novel. Starting in 1970 these would be published in omnibuses, attempting a chronological order - which is how I first read these, some 25 years ago (in the 1995 omnibus Ill Met in Lankhmar that collected the first two omnibuses mentioned at the top). As with Conan, reading these in publication order may make more sense, so that's what I did this time around. Especially the early stories are good fun, bringing fond memories of playing Dungeons & Dragons in the 80s (which these stories very much inspired).

A lucky find from a local shop: the first edition of the first book, with its awesome cover.

 

[smittycl]

Fritz Leiber: Swords and Deviltry, 1957-70
Fritz Leiber: Swords Against Death, 1939-70.

"Thieves and astrologers moved restlessly in their sleep, sensing the hours of night and work was drawing near."

With Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser Leiber supplied the pulps with sword & sorcery in the wake of Robert E Howard, and in 1961 he gave the genre its name. Over 50 years he would write of the duo's adventures in short stories, novellas, and a single novel. Starting in 1970 these would be published in omnibuses, attempting a chronological order - which is how I first read these, some 25 years ago (in the 1995 omnibus Ill Met in Lankhmar that collected the first two omnibuses mentioned at the top). As with Conan, reading these in publication order may make more sense, so that's what I did this time around. Especially the early stories are good fun, bringing fond memories of playing Dungeons & Dragons in the 80s (which these stories very much inspired).

A lucky find from a local shop: the first edition of the first book, with its awesome cover.

Wow, it's been ages since I've see those. Read a few as a kid.