02-04-2011, 12:01 PM | #8101 |
Omnivorous
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Life and work have taken a large bite out of my reading time. Already falling behind on my 100 books for 2011.
Finished the first book in Joe Abercrombie's First Law series, "The Blade Itself" this morning. After a slow start the action picked up and the book ended with a bang. I've already picked up the second in the series, "Before They Are Hanged" and hope things quiet down enough to get into it. |
02-04-2011, 12:59 PM | #8102 |
Is that a sandwich?
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02-04-2011, 03:56 PM | #8103 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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I think the metadata changes will eventually catch up with the digital sales. It does look like my best bet is the Mobileread copy. (If the copyright holder isn't going to make anything from the sale, I don't see why anyone else should when there's a good free alternative.)
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02-04-2011, 06:48 PM | #8104 | |
Indie Advocate
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Quote:
I actually just finished reading A Room with a View this morning. I gave it 3 stars, but it feels a bit more like a 2.75 stars to me. I enjoyed it - and have to admit reveling in the ending a little. However, I'm not going "off the deep end" in rapture over it. Just about to start Under the Amoral Bridge by Gary Ballard. Regards Caleb |
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02-04-2011, 08:38 PM | #8105 | ||
Is that a sandwich?
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Quote:
Quote:
One would expect a book published in 1908 to be in PD everywhere. |
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02-04-2011, 09:02 PM | #8106 |
Indie Advocate
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It makes the whole notion of taking advantage of PD books a bit of a nightmare really. You have this big store saying "Get your (legal) Public Domain books here" not really noticing the small print that you have to research before you touch anything.
I mean you can get anything you want on the internet if you look hard enough. But illegal distributions are usually a bit more clear than in Gutenberg/MobileRead etc... Quite frustrating really and I'm not sure how much I'm going to be bothered to be honest. Regards Caleb |
02-04-2011, 09:21 PM | #8107 |
Wizzard
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Personally, if the author's been dead for longer than I've been alive, and/or the book was published before my grandparents were born, I'm not overly concerned if I happen to pick up a PD title that turns out to not quite fall under Canada's Life+50 rules.
At that point, I figure the estate has made its money off the original books, and I'll happily allocate mine to something else where at least some of the creators are still alive to benefit. Case in point, my current book is a graphic novel edition of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, adaptation and art done by Ian Edgington and I.N.J. Culbard. It's very cartoony in a gritty way (think Mike Avon Oeming on Powers) and an awesome and surprisingly cute take on Holmes' adventures. I love it and plan on finding the rest at the library and buying the entire series (this one came with a preview of A Study in Scarlet and apparently there are more planned) when the local comic shops have their sales. |
02-05-2011, 02:27 AM | #8108 | |
It's Dr. Penguin now!
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02-05-2011, 02:46 AM | #8109 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Quote:
George Orwell died in 1950. E. M. Forster died in 1970. There was a big fuss about an illegal copy of "1984", but no-one worries about "A Room With A View"? Perhaps it just goes to show how bad a life+70 copyright law is. |
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02-05-2011, 02:07 PM | #8110 |
ZCD BombShel
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I just started The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime. But - I just bought Mary Stanton's Angel's Verdict, and am jones'ing to read it (hers is one of the few series I can't "hoard" I have to read them, they're like crack to me). So I may put Victoriana on hold and read that first.
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02-05-2011, 06:23 PM | #8111 |
Is that a sandwich?
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Finished Earth Abides today and I did find some of it thought provoking. Especially the mental conflicts Ish experienced. While it is not everyone's cup of tea I am glad to have read it. It is essential to remember that it was written in 1949 and takes place during the 40s.
I requested Ringworld by Niven from the library but it hasnt arrived yet. So I'm currently book-less until then. |
02-05-2011, 07:18 PM | #8112 |
Zealot
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I am reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
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02-05-2011, 07:43 PM | #8113 |
Wizard
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At the moment I'm going through Andre Norton's Witch World series and exploring H.Beam Piper. Most of Piper's work is available free from the Gutenberg Science-fiction bookshelf.
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02-05-2011, 09:57 PM | #8114 |
Wizzard
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Received in the mail and read the new hardcover of Barbara Hambly's Blood Maidens, the latest in her Asher & Ysidro series which started with Those Who Hunt the Night, which in my opinion, is one of the best period vampire stories ever.
Although it's a bit annoying that publisher Severn House seems to be windowing UK and North American releases with a delay of roughly 6 months (I hope they stop this practice soon and start sending out the books at the same time), I'm very pleased that they've been picking up long-running series by authors with a following which the original publishers have since dropped and printing new tales. This installment continues the Edwardian-era vampire/Oxford don/medical doctor team-up murder mystery/spy thriller focus of the series, with a trip to St. Petersburg and the obligatory guest appearance by the guy-most-likely-to-spot-vampires-who-happens-to-be-living-in-Russia which I think is pretty much de rigueur for anything vaguely occultish in that time period. It's very referential to the 2nd book in the series, dealing with a certain amount of fallout for that. Very spoilery for exactly what happens there, and the mentions seemed a bit on the unnecessarily heavy-handed side. However, Travelling with the Dead is now very out of print and I'm not sure if a totally new reader would welcome knowing what exactly happened last time around, or prefer to have it more vaguely alluded to so it can be more of a surprise should they manage to read the rest. Overall, it was a very fun and entertaining adventure, with a few twists and turns and an interesting motivation, not to mention a few more details about the past lives of our regular characters. I'm unsure how to take one particular character revelation, which seems somewhat ungrounded and slightly out of nowhere. This was apparently a longstanding and deeply-held personal grief that wasn't even vaguely hinted at in the earlier books and thus it comes across as perhaps mildly inconsistent with previous established characterization. That had the decided feel of having been shoehorned in in order to give that character a "moment" where they can be astounded by the unexpected mystic insight of one of the guest stars. But it's not totally out of line, though frankly, I'd have been perfectly happy without it, as would that character, I suspect. Otherwise very enjoyable and highly recommended for people who like eccentric Oxford dons, Edwardian-era female doctors, Continental travel adventures, and spy thrillers, with or without vampirism as seen from a medical perspective involved. Though if you can lay hands on copies of the preceding two books, you really should read those first. |
02-06-2011, 04:57 AM | #8115 |
Mysteriarch
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I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it was much better than I remembered! Although I would still like to know (spoiler-alert, don't read this if you don't want to know the ending!):
Spoiler:
I'm not completely sure what to read next. It's a close call between The Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch) and Avempartha (Michael J. Sullivan). |
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