Chenbi (08-10-2020),♥ PrettySarcastic ♥ (08-06-2020)
Been reading The Illiad and The Odyssey lately, both by Homer, of course.
I have plans to start a YouTube Channel with a mission to bring high-quality knowledge and accurate information. There is nothing like this in my country currently, so I think it has potential to go viral.
My first video will be on Literature, more spefically, on The Odyssey itself. It's such a high quality piece of World Literature that unfortunately not many people have read or even heard about.
My favorite book series however is the trilogy His Dark Materials.
As mentioned by @(you need an account to see links) earlier, the trilogy currently has an HBO TV Show (currently on it's 1st season, 2nd will go live soon and 3rd is already being filmed), a movie (it sucks, don't bother with it), two spin-off books (Lyra's Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North) as well a new trilogy which aims to expand upon the universe both before and after the events of the first trilogy.
Chenbi (08-10-2020),♥ PrettySarcastic ♥ (08-06-2020)
I read HDM a couple years ago and my heart ached when it ended. I haven't had a youth-oriented series impact me as an adult like that in a long time - I shed tears! Philip Pullman is a really wonderful author who crafts a brilliant world and rich, engaging characters you really would want to know. (Or very much not want to know.)
This said, somehow Lyra's Oxford and his new trilogy in the world escaped my notice, so thanks for bringing that to my attention!
Last edited by PrettySarcastic; 08-06-2020 at 08:11 PM.
graphics by Flordibel & Menine <3
Anaak Zahard(08-06-2020)
I think I've mentioned this on ck, but I read the first two HDM before lockdown, and was a couple chapters into The Amber Spyglass, but I kind of stopped reading as a stress reaction when it started. I've been re-listening to the first two to prep myself to finally finish. But I've honestly just had the first two on repeat for a week and I managed to be on my third listen, but hopefully my mind will quiet enough to actually read soon.
Anaak Zahard(08-06-2020),♥ PrettySarcastic ♥ (08-06-2020)
OMG YES! I also cried while reading HDM, especially after that ending.
I do intend to make a pilgrimage to Will and Lyra's bench in Oxford one day.
Definitely do go after Lyra's Oxford and the others!
Lyra's Oxford is set two years after The Amber Spyglass.
Once Upon a Time in the North is set sometime before The Golden Compass (it's the story about Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison).
La Belle Sauvage is set 10 years before The Golden Compass and tells the story of baby Lyra.
The Secret Commonwealth is set 10 years after The Amber Spyglass and 20 years after La Belle Sauvage.
There is also "The Collectors" which was originally an audiobook for Audible set in Will's world and it was later turned into a small 24 pages ebook for Kindle, but I haven't checked that yet.
Should you want the PDF to those 4 books, hit me up on PMs! It can be quite hard to find a physical copy of Once Upon a Time in the North (or even online). The others should be relatively easy.
Also give a chance to HBO's TV Show. They've got a brilliant cast including Dafne Keen, Lin Manuel Miranda and James McAvoy and it's really well-produced! They did have to make some adaptations (like making Will appear in 1st season) but that actually made the whole thing better. Philip Pullman is of course supervising the whole thing.
♥ PrettySarcastic ♥ (08-06-2020)
Okay, but I just spent the entire afternoon on my balcony finishing it. The first few chapters had the misfortune of feeling kind of slow for me co-occuring with the weirdness that was the start of lockdown, but I finally read another book in early July and that kind of made me feel ready to pick it up again.
Holy shit was that good. I knew this already from the first two, but discovering (not that I didn't know of its existence) childhood staples as an adult is always interesting. It isn't tinged with nostalgia, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
If anyone has any interest in YA urban fantasy, I've been reading the Villains series by V.E. Schwab, on the second one now, and I'm really obsessed with them. It feels dark enough I would probably bring it closer to new adult than YA. In terms of readability I'd compare it to something like ASOIAF in that it's a hefty read but the writing style moves at a fast clip without being difficult to get through. (Way shorter than ASOIAF though, thank god.)
It's really fascinating to read stuff where there are objectively no 'good person' characters or anything approaching a hero, especially in an urban fantasy that revolves around superpowers. One of the main character's ability is literally being able to psychically torture people - the books don't spend time waffling over whether he is morally just in using his abilities, he just uses them. People are fucked up and cruel and messy and it's just a fact of the universe they live in. It's grim and fun and I highly recommend it for anyone who's into emotionally fraught hateship dynamics LOL
Sanctus (06-10-2021)
This is sort of an underutilized thread so maybe I can revive it a little... I guess this probably would count as gravedigging, but having a book recs thread would be valuable IMO.
Currently I'm reading The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. It's a nonfiction book that looks at the intersection of racial inequality and the prison system/mass incarceration system in the United States. It's a pretty good read so far, though I do have some qualms about Alexander's writing style... but overall, I appreciate the arguments she makes in this book. I would say it's an eye-opener, and definitely recommend it to people who are unsure about race relations in the US (or even skeptical about why the issue matters!).
Last edited by Sanctus; 06-08-2021 at 08:54 PM.
Android (06-10-2021)
My favourite of all times, La trilogie des jumeaux by Agota Kristóf (The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels in english). First read it almost a decade ago and not a single book has topped it ever since.
TW: War (and pretty much everything else for anyone seeking recommendations and intend to read)
Sanctus (07-02-2021)
Nod by Adrian Barnes. He only published two novels before passing away but to this day it's one of my favourites, if not my favourite book. It's so descriptive and completely envelopes you in that world. I realise I'm in the vast minority but I'm personally not much of a fantasy fan so if you're like me and enjoy books that are more like episodes of Black Mirror then Nod is totally for you.
Also Mud, Sweat and Tears - Bear Grylls' autobiography is so dope. I kinda liked the guy before but that man became one of my favourite people after reading about his life. Keanu Reeves levels of just a wholesomely interesting and great dude.