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- Thread starter sensiblesue
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Walkng to Aldebaran tickled my brain more intensely than any book I have read in recent history, perhaps ever. My only complaint is that it was too short, and perhaps, the ending was slightly anticlimactic. The premise of the story is fantastic, but also very real and plausible, and the story is told just right. This would make an excellent movie!
Thanks to @bilby for the recommendation and to @spikepipsqueak for introducing me to AT. Starting Alien Clay next. And if you know another book with a story similar to Aldebaran, I would appreciate a recommendation.
Thanks to @bilby for the recommendation and to @spikepipsqueak for introducing me to AT. Starting Alien Clay next. And if you know another book with a story similar to Aldebaran, I would appreciate a recommendation.
bilby
Fair dinkum thinkum
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ideologyhunter
Contributor
The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder (1948)
An epistolary novel on the year leading up to the assassination of Caesar. The various letter writers gossip, pontificate, and plot. It's a vivid book throughout but, I think, a largely forgotten book, and that's a pity. Here are a few excerpts from Caesar's writings, in letters to an old comrade from the campaigns:
"I can now appraise at a glance those who have not yet foreseen their death. I know them for the children they are. They think that by evading its contemplation they are enhancing the savor of life. The reverse is true: only those who have grasped their non-being are capable of praising the sunlight."
"Life has no meaning save that which we may confer upon it. It neither supports man nor humiliates him. Agony of mind and uttermost joy we cannot escape, but those states have, of themselves, nothing to say to us; those heavens and hells await the sense we give to them...I dare to ask that from my good Calpunia a child may arise to say: On the Meaningless I choose to press a meaning and in the wastes of the Unknowable I choose to be known."
An epistolary novel on the year leading up to the assassination of Caesar. The various letter writers gossip, pontificate, and plot. It's a vivid book throughout but, I think, a largely forgotten book, and that's a pity. Here are a few excerpts from Caesar's writings, in letters to an old comrade from the campaigns:
"I can now appraise at a glance those who have not yet foreseen their death. I know them for the children they are. They think that by evading its contemplation they are enhancing the savor of life. The reverse is true: only those who have grasped their non-being are capable of praising the sunlight."
"Life has no meaning save that which we may confer upon it. It neither supports man nor humiliates him. Agony of mind and uttermost joy we cannot escape, but those states have, of themselves, nothing to say to us; those heavens and hells await the sense we give to them...I dare to ask that from my good Calpunia a child may arise to say: On the Meaningless I choose to press a meaning and in the wastes of the Unknowable I choose to be known."
ideologyhunter
Contributor
That should have read 'from my good Calpurnia."
Alien Clay was a fever dream and very hard to put down. I loved it.
Cage of Souls was a fever dream of another sort and just as engaging.
Took a break from AT to read some Jules Verne. I had read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in high school, and remembered it fondly. Reading it again 60 years later felt different - some of the magic was missing. I think as children we have open minds receptive to magic and fantastic ideas, a sense of wonder with the world that dies as we age and become more informed and more cynical.
Read Children of Time which was magnificent. I don't know how Mr. Tchaikovsky does it, but he can weave magic with words. Space-faring spiders - who would have thought? The scale of the book is breathtaking in both space and time, and it builds this world from the perspective of the spiders that is so authentic. Reading Children of Ruin now, about a quarter of the way through. More AT to come, and I think he has a new book coming out in December, the third part of the series that started it all for me.
Cage of Souls was a fever dream of another sort and just as engaging.
Took a break from AT to read some Jules Verne. I had read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in high school, and remembered it fondly. Reading it again 60 years later felt different - some of the magic was missing. I think as children we have open minds receptive to magic and fantastic ideas, a sense of wonder with the world that dies as we age and become more informed and more cynical.
Read Children of Time which was magnificent. I don't know how Mr. Tchaikovsky does it, but he can weave magic with words. Space-faring spiders - who would have thought? The scale of the book is breathtaking in both space and time, and it builds this world from the perspective of the spiders that is so authentic. Reading Children of Ruin now, about a quarter of the way through. More AT to come, and I think he has a new book coming out in December, the third part of the series that started it all for me.
bilby
Fair dinkum thinkum
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I bought it months ago; Amazon promise to deliver it to my Kindle on December 8th.
As did I! That will likely be my next read.
Have you read any of the Warhammer books by AT? Can they be read on their own or do you need to read the books by the other authors first to get full immersion? I am not familiar with the series so wanted to ask before buying them.
spikepipsqueak
My Brane Hertz
I've been reading some Sabatini, Scaramouche and Captain Blood, and I think I found the book that made Patrick O'Brian go "Yeah, that was fun, but hold my beer."
WAB
Veteran Member
More Balzac. You gotta honor de Balzac.