What Movie/Tv Show did you Watch today?

[Omnipotent]

Just watched The Unforgivable on Netflix. Sandra Bullock is always amazing. Movie was grim and kinda painful but pretty well done.

watched it last night.... all these decades on, Bullock is still an A lister actress.

 

[Blurt]

"The Expanse" is another good series to binge watch... the latest season just started this week.

Futuristic series between Earth, the Republic of Mars, and the Belters (people doing the hard yards on the fringes)... good acting....great effects.... the series has legs.

I had high hopes that The Expanse would turn out to be more than just the Hatfields vs. the McCoys in space but, nah, they chose to transpose our typical human tribalism bullshit some few hundred years into the future. It's like the battle between the Democrats and the Republicans has infected the solar system. Very disappointing. The series had started out well, with alien technology opening up cosmic vistas upon hundreds and hundreds of habitable worlds, and what do they do? Focus on petty in-house squabbles. "This rock is mine!" "No! It's mine!" It's a squandered opportunity to deliver genuine science fiction. Sad. Of course, I'll watch this final season because, yeah, I'm invested in the characters. It's the same reason I slogged through the final season of Lost, one of the worst seasons of any series in the history of television.

These days I'm watching Arcane on Netflix, one of the best animation series ever produced... and I know doodly-squat about the League of Legends video game IP. The series is super well written, super well produced, and super well voiced. Bonus: one of the characters is voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo from The Expanse--you can't mistake that voice from beyond the grave with anyone else's.

 

[Frood]

"The Expanse" is another good series to binge watch... the latest season just started this week.

Futuristic series between Earth, the Republic of Mars, and the Belters (people doing the hard yards on the fringes)... good acting....great effects.... the series has legs.

I had high hopes that The Expanse would turn out to be more than just the Hatfields vs. the McCoys in space but, nah, they chose to transpose our typical human tribalism bullshit some few hundred years into the future. It's like the battle between the Democrats and the Republicans has infected the solar system. Very disappointing. The series had started out well, with alien technology opening up cosmic vistas upon hundreds and hundreds of habitable worlds, and what do they do? Focus on petty in-house squabbles. "This rock is mine!" "No! It's mine!" It's a squandered opportunity to deliver genuine science fiction. Sad. Of course, I'll watch this final season because, yeah, I'm invested in the characters. It's the same reason I slogged through the final season of Lost, one of the worst seasons of any series in the history of television.

These days I'm watching Arcane on Netflix, one of the best animation series ever produced... and I know doodly-squat about the League of Legends video game IP. The series is super well written, super well produced, and super well voiced. Bonus: one of the characters is voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo from The Expanse--you can't mistake that voice from beyond the grave with anyone else's.

For the reasons you're critical of, I've enjoyed it.

 

[Blurt]

I guess I can see that, Dinkies. It's not a bad show. It just falls short of my expectations, and my expectations are mine alone, natch.

Last night I just finished binge-watching Season 1 of the Rosamund Pike vanity production of The Wheel of Time on Amazon. I read the series of novels (well, the first seven or eight out of fifteen or so) back in the 90's when they were first published. Despite some plot shortcuts and some middle-shelf CGI, the Pike series does the novels some justice. The story--where the men of the world are under the spiritual thumb of a cabal of powerful witches--certainly provides a much needed counterpoint to the morally ponderous handmaids' tales out there (although I must admit I'm a little tired of this we-must-bind-the-Dark-One-or-the-world-shall-perish motif... it's past a fantasy cliché at this point).

 

[LotusBud]

"The Expanse" is another good series to binge watch... the latest season just started this week.

Futuristic series between Earth, the Republic of Mars, and the Belters (people doing the hard yards on the fringes)... good acting....great effects.... the series has legs.

I had high hopes that The Expanse would turn out to be more than just the Hatfields vs. the McCoys in space but, nah, they chose to transpose our typical human tribalism bullshit some few hundred years into the future. It's like the battle between the Democrats and the Republicans has infected the solar system. Very disappointing. The series had started out well, with alien technology opening up cosmic vistas upon hundreds and hundreds of habitable worlds, and what do they do? Focus on petty in-house squabbles. "This rock is mine!" "No! It's mine!" It's a squandered opportunity to deliver genuine science fiction. Sad. Of course, I'll watch this final season because, yeah, I'm invested in the characters. It's the same reason I slogged through the final season of Lost, one of the worst seasons of any series in the history of television.

These days I'm watching Arcane on Netflix, one of the best animation series ever produced... and I know doodly-squat about the League of Legends video game IP. The series is super well written, super well produced, and super well voiced. Bonus: one of the characters is voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo from The Expanse--you can't mistake that voice from beyond the grave with anyone else's.

I'm curious. What do you think of as genuine science fiction? I ask because sf goes all over the spectrum now. So what constitutes genuine in the eyes of a hardcore fan?

 

[Blurt]

I'm curious. What do you think of as genuine science fiction? I ask because sf goes all over the spectrum now. So what constitutes genuine in the eyes of a hardcore fan?

Excellent question, Lotes (and get ready for some prattle)!

I've been a lifelong science fiction fan and am old enough to have been around when the social/speculative British "New Wave" sci fi invasion first reached our shores in the late 60's and made a splash throughout the 70's and beyond. Still, like many teenagers, I cut my teeth on the wonder-filled, if hopelessly naive and rudimentary, fiction of the masters of the Golden Age... Asimov, Heinlein, van Vogt, Clarke, etc. (and I still read these folks today, mostly for their retro charm).

This being said, science fiction literature first grabbed me by the lapels and shook me hard when I read New Wave works by Delany, Silverberg, Ellison, Ballard, Brunner, Sturgeon, and other Moorcocks.

I then jumped in with both feet into the feminist sci fi of the Seventies, more attuned as it was to my own questioning of gender as a social construct. Here, Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness remains, to my mind, a crowning achievement of science fiction, even though science and technology take a back seat in that story to the human element. It's also during this period that I discovered authors such as Marge Piercy and Margaret Atwood, who tend to work at the edges of the genre.

Then came my infatuation in the Eighties with all things cyberpunk... Gibson, Rucker, Sterling, etc. It was short-lived, though. So much else was going as the genre matured and as it began to both gain a certain literary respectability and to "infect" mainstream lit (something I attribute, in large part, to the popularity of so many blockbuster science fiction films).

Then the genre exploded, creating for itself myriad micro-niches. And I devoured it all. I still do.

It would be easier for me to tell you what I think science fiction isn't rather than what I think it is.

Science fiction isn't "sword and sorcery" high fantasy (a genre I nevertheless appreciate when it's done well); it isn't horror (except when that horror is the result of science or technology run amok rather than supernatural in origin); and it isn't crime fiction, even when it's Noir.

Here's a list of genres (sub-genres, really), along with an example of each, that I believe exemplify great science fiction.

- Hard science fiction: SeveNeves, by Neal Stephenson
- Space Opera: The Skylark of Space, by Doc Smith
- "Classic" science fiction: A Mission of Gravity, by Hal Clement
- Military science fiction: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
- "New Wave" science fiction: Barefoot in the Head, by Brian Aldiss
- Feminist science fiction: The Female Man, by Joanna Russ
- Ecological science fiction: Grass, by Sheri Tepper
- Cyberpunk: Mona Lisa Overdrive, by William Gibson
- Steampunk: Infernal Devices, by K.W. Jeter
- Dieselpunk: Farthing, by Jo Walton
- Nanopunk: Blood Music, by Greg Bear
- Biopunk: Schismatrix, by Bruce Sterling (you should check out O Último Ruivo, by Clayton De La Vie, if you want to brush up on your Portuguese, Lotes)
- Alternate history: The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick
- The "New Space Opera": Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks
- The "New Weird": The Reach Trilogy, by Jeff Vandermeer, of which the first volume, Annihilation, was recently made into an excellent movie (and you should definitely check out works by China Miéville, an author I believe would be right up your political alley; his best, I think, is Perdido Street Station [and its sequels]).

I like my science fiction hard, accurate, speculative, and awe-inducing. As such, I'm no big fan of some of the sub-genres listed above (although I do still read them, just to stretch my literary horizons). The tech has to be believable, the science real (or at least possible), the story plausible, and the social and psychological effects of all these have to ring true. Plus, if the stakes are cosmic (or at least world-shattering), then all the better.

Aristotle is said to have claimed that "all philosophy begins in wonder." I think good science fiction is a great vessel for philosophy. It's a literature that, when done right, gets you to ponder. Or it should, in my view.

There's enough Star Wars-y shit out there to slake any old thirst for adventure and escape, but good science fiction makes you question the nature of your own self and of your society, along with Life, the Universe and Everything.

 

[Omnipotent]

Enemy Mine.... how come no one mention's that movie?

Dang, the Knife of Never Letting Go.

 

[LotusBud]

I'm curious. What do you think of as genuine science fiction? I ask because sf goes all over the spectrum now. So what constitutes genuine in the eyes of a hardcore fan?

Excellent question, Lotes (and get ready for some prattle)!

I've been a lifelong science fiction fan and am old enough to have been around when the social/speculative British "New Wave" sci fi invasion first reached our shores in the late 60's and made a splash throughout the 70's and beyond. Still, like many teenagers, I cut my teeth on the wonder-filled, if hopelessly naive and rudimentary, fiction of the masters of the Golden Age... Asimov, Heinlein, van Vogt, Clarke, etc. (and I still read these folks today, mostly for their retro charm).

This being said, science fiction literature first grabbed me by the lapels and shook me hard when I read New Wave works by Delany, Silverberg, Ellison, Ballard, Brunner, Sturgeon, and other Moorcocks.

I then jumped in with both feet into the feminist sci fi of the Seventies, more attuned as it was to my own questioning of gender as a social construct. Here, Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness remains, to my mind, a crowning achievement of science fiction, even though science and technology take a back seat in that story to the human element. It's also during this period that I discovered authors such as Marge Piercy and Margaret Atwood, who tend to work at the edges of the genre.

Then came my infatuation in the Eighties with all things cyberpunk... Gibson, Rucker, Sterling, etc. It was short-lived, though. So much else was going as the genre matured and as it began to both gain a certain literary respectability and to "infect" mainstream lit (something I attribute, in large part, to the popularity of so many blockbuster science fiction films).

Then the genre exploded, creating for itself myriad micro-niches. And I devoured it all. I still do.

It would be easier for me to tell you what I think science fiction isn't rather than what I think it is.

Science fiction isn't "sword and sorcery" high fantasy (a genre I nevertheless appreciate when it's done well); it isn't horror (except when that horror is the result of science or technology run amok rather than supernatural in origin); and it isn't crime fiction, even when it's Noir.

Here's a list of genres (sub-genres, really), along with an example of each, that I believe exemplify great science fiction.

- Hard science fiction: SeveNeves, by Neal Stephenson
- Space Opera: The Skylark of Space, by Doc Smith
- "Classic" science fiction: A Mission of Gravity, by Hal Clement
- Military science fiction: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
- "New Wave" science fiction: Barefoot in the Head, by Brian Aldiss
- Feminist science fiction: The Female Man, by Joanna Russ
- Ecological science fiction: Grass, by Sheri Tepper
- Cyberpunk: Mona Lisa Overdrive, by William Gibson
- Steampunk: Infernal Devices, by K.W. Jeter
- Dieselpunk: Farthing, by Jo Walton
- Nanopunk: Blood Music, by Greg Bear
- Biopunk: Schismatrix, by Bruce Sterling (you should check out O Último Ruivo, by Clayton De La Vie, if you want to brush up on your Portuguese, Lotes)
- Alternate history: The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick
- The "New Space Opera": Consider Phlebas, by Iain M. Banks
- The "New Weird": The Reach Trilogy, by Jeff Vandermeer, of which the first volume, Annihilation, was recently made into an excellent movie (and you should definitely check out works by China Miéville, an author I believe would be right up your political alley; his best, I think, is Perdido Street Station [and its sequels]).

I like my science fiction hard, accurate, speculative, and awe-inducing. As such, I'm no big fan of some of the sub-genres listed above (although I do still read them, just to stretch my literary horizons). The tech has to be believable, the science real (or at least possible), the story plausible, and the social and psychological effects of all these have to ring true. Plus, if the stakes are cosmic (or at least world-shattering), then all the better.

Aristotle is said to have claimed that "all philosophy begins in wonder." I think good science fiction is a great vessel for philosophy. It's a literature that, when done right, gets you to ponder. Or it should, in my view.

There's enough Star Wars-y shit out there to slake any old thirst for adventure and escape, but good science fiction makes you question the nature of your own self and of your society, along with Life, the Universe and Everything.

I really appreciate that thoughtful reply. I like SF, but having been a lit professor, and having spent most of my life reading literature, much of it in the "classics," I like to read literary-leaning SF. I have liked speculative stuff more as a result. I love Chiang's story "Story of Your Life," have enjoyed some Atwood, Asimov, etc. When things are too world-building or science/tech focused rather than story focused, I tend to snooze. I love the concept of steampunk, but have yet to find any good literary steampunk. Have you read any?

I adore magic realism, but that's a whole different world.

 

[Seamajor]

I love this stuff.

 

[Blurt]

Enemy Mine.... how come no one mention's that movie?

Dang, the Knife of Never Letting Go.

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Now there's an excellent science fiction novel! Many of its literary qualities transferred to the film of the same name, too. Worth the read. Worth the watch.

 

[LotusBud]

Enemy Mine.... how come no one mention's that movie?

Dang, the Knife of Never Letting Go.

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Now there's an excellent science fiction novel! Many of its literary qualities transferred to the film of the same name, too. Worth the read. Worth the watch.

I have meant to read that for years.

 

[Blurt]

I really appreciate that thoughtful reply. I like SF, but having been a lit professor, and having spent most of my life reading literature, much of it in the "classics," I like to read literary-leaning SF. I have liked speculative stuff more as a result. I love Chiang's story "Story of Your Life," have enjoyed some Atwood, Asimov, etc. When things are too world-building or science/tech focused rather than story focused, I tend to snooze. I love the concept of steampunk, but have yet to find any good literary steampunk. Have you read any?

I adore magic realism, but that's a whole different world.

If you like literary science fiction, I have several suggestions for you, Lotes:

- The above-mentioned Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (author of The Remains of the Day)
- 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami
- Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (the 2012 film based on this novel is good, too, but you'll need to watch it at least twice if you've never read the book)
- Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
- Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany (this one is challenging but ultimately provides an extremely rich and rewarding reading experience)
- Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Glass Bead Game, by Herman Hesse
- Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
- Cosmicomics, by Italo Calvino
- Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (bring your own antidepressants)

These are good for starters in the literary science fiction genre. You may have read most of them already, Lotus, who knows? There are a great many web sites out there that list science fiction works of exceptional literary merit. Just don your mental space suit and go explore. There's a ton of great reads out there.

As for steampunk, you might want to start with a major influence on the genre, The Difference Engine, co-authored by cyberpunk wunderkinds William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. The novel is sort of the granddaddy of the genre. You could do worse, too, than seeking out Homunculus, by Jim Blaylock and, especially if you like your steampunk with a sprinkling of nanodust, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.

And, yes, I enjoy magical realism, too, Lotus. I'm not very well versed in the genre, though. Can you recommend a few titles? So far, I've read Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits; Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges (one of my all-time fave authors); Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury (an absolute must-read!); The Mistress of Spices, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (one of my fave novels--part fantasy, part magical realism); The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass; Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin (I've read this one a few times already... it's a wondrous love letter to New York City, and I love New York City!); One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez (the granddaddy of the genre?); and a few others, can't think of any more titles right now. I've seen (and loved) the film The Milagro Beanfield War, based on the novel by John Nichols, but I've yet to read that work. Might just be I'll cue it up on my Kobo.

Damn, Lotus. So many books, so little time. So little time.

 

[LotusBud]

I really appreciate that thoughtful reply. I like SF, but having been a lit professor, and having spent most of my life reading literature, much of it in the "classics," I like to read literary-leaning SF. I have liked speculative stuff more as a result. I love Chiang's story "Story of Your Life," have enjoyed some Atwood, Asimov, etc. When things are too world-building or science/tech focused rather than story focused, I tend to snooze. I love the concept of steampunk, but have yet to find any good literary steampunk. Have you read any?

I adore magic realism, but that's a whole different world.

If you like literary science fiction, I have several suggestions for you, Lotes:

- The above-mentioned Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (author of The Remains of the Day)
- 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami
- Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (the 2012 film based on this novel is good, too, but you'll need to watch it at least twice if you've never read the book)
- Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
- Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany (this one is challenging but ultimately provides an extremely rich and rewarding reading experience)
- Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Glass Bead Game, by Herman Hesse
- Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
- Cosmicomics, by Italo Calvino
- Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (bring your own antidepressants)

These are good for starters in the literary science fiction genre. You may have read most of them already, Lotus, who knows? There are a great many web sites out there that list science fiction works of exceptional literary merit. Just don your mental space suit and go explore. There's a ton of great reads out there.

As for steampunk, you might want to start with a major influence on the genre, The Difference Engine, co-authored by cyberpunk wunderkinds William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. The novel is sort of the granddaddy of the genre. You could do worse, too, than seeking out Homunculus, by Jim Blaylock and, especially if you like your steampunk with a sprinkling of nanodust, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.

And, yes, I enjoy magical realism, too, Lotus. I'm not very well versed in the genre, though. Can you recommend a few titles? So far, I've read Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits; Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges (one of my all-time fave authors); Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury (an absolute must-read!); The Mistress of Spices, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (one of my fave novels--part fantasy, part magical realism); The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass; Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin (I've read this one a few times already... it's a wondrous love letter to New York City, and I love New York City!); One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez (the granddaddy of the genre?); and a few others, can't think of any more titles right now. I've seen (and loved) the film The Milagro Beanfield War, based on the novel by John Nichols, but I've yet to read that work. Might just be I'll cue it up on my Kobo.

Damn, Lotus. So many books, so little time. So little time.

Ficciones (Borges is a stunner, to be sure) and Solitude are two of my all-time faves.

Two books I especially love, which might be considered speculative sf/magic realism (categories blur) are How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu; and A Brief History of the Dead, by Kevin Brockmeier. I also loved The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, by Murakami. I saw the movie of Winter's Tale and liked it a lot, have always meant to read that as well. The Moths, by Helena Maria Viramontes, is a brilliant short story. Márquez' A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, another brilliant, classic short story. Also really enjoyed Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel; Midnight's Children, Rushdie; Beloved, Toni Morrison. The Portuguese writer José Saramago does magic realism as well. His books are on my shelf, soon to be read. lol

Another all-time favorite book is Moby-Dick, and I think that it is a precursor to magic realism in many ways. Brilliant fucking book.

Yeah, read The Road. Not crazy about it. I couldn't get through Station Eleven -- not sure why. I can be super picky.

 

[DDT]

Gayniggers from Outer Space.

 

[Blurt]

I really appreciate that thoughtful reply. I like SF, but having been a lit professor, and having spent most of my life reading literature, much of it in the "classics," I like to read literary-leaning SF. I have liked speculative stuff more as a result. I love Chiang's story "Story of Your Life," have enjoyed some Atwood, Asimov, etc. When things are too world-building or science/tech focused rather than story focused, I tend to snooze. I love the concept of steampunk, but have yet to find any good literary steampunk. Have you read any?

I adore magic realism, but that's a whole different world.

If you like literary science fiction, I have several suggestions for you, Lotes:

- The above-mentioned Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (author of The Remains of the Day)
- 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami
- Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (the 2012 film based on this novel is good, too, but you'll need to watch it at least twice if you've never read the book)
- Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
- Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany (this one is challenging but ultimately provides an extremely rich and rewarding reading experience)
- Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Glass Bead Game, by Herman Hesse
- Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
- Cosmicomics, by Italo Calvino
- Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (bring your own antidepressants)

These are good for starters in the literary science fiction genre. You may have read most of them already, Lotus, who knows? There are a great many web sites out there that list science fiction works of exceptional literary merit. Just don your mental space suit and go explore. There's a ton of great reads out there.

As for steampunk, you might want to start with a major influence on the genre, The Difference Engine, co-authored by cyberpunk wunderkinds William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. The novel is sort of the granddaddy of the genre. You could do worse, too, than seeking out Homunculus, by Jim Blaylock and, especially if you like your steampunk with a sprinkling of nanodust, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.

And, yes, I enjoy magical realism, too, Lotus. I'm not very well versed in the genre, though. Can you recommend a few titles? So far, I've read Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits; Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges (one of my all-time fave authors); Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury (an absolute must-read!); The Mistress of Spices, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (one of my fave novels--part fantasy, part magical realism); The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass; Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin (I've read this one a few times already... it's a wondrous love letter to New York City, and I love New York City!); One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez (the granddaddy of the genre?); and a few others, can't think of any more titles right now. I've seen (and loved) the film The Milagro Beanfield War, based on the novel by John Nichols, but I've yet to read that work. Might just be I'll cue it up on my Kobo.

Damn, Lotus. So many books, so little time. So little time.

Ficciones (Borges is a stunner, to be sure) and Solitude are two of my all-time faves.

Two books I especially love, which might be considered speculative sf/magic realism (categories blur) are How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu; and A Brief History of the Dead, by Kevin Brockmeier. I also loved The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, by Murakami. I saw the movie of Winter's Tale and liked it a lot, have always meant to read that as well. The Moths, by Helena Maria Viramontes, is a brilliant short story. Márquez' A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, another brilliant, classic short story. Also really enjoyed Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel; Midnight's Children, Rushdie; Beloved, Toni Morrison. The Portuguese writer José Saramago does magic realism as well. His books are on my shelf, soon to be read. lol

Another all-time favorite book is Moby-Dick, and I think that it is a precursor to magic realism in many ways. Brilliant fucking book.

Yeah, read The Road. Not crazy about it. I couldn't get through Station Eleven -- not sure why. I can be super picky.

Thanks for the recs, Lotus!

Been meaning to get into Yu for a while now.

You're gonna kill me, Lotes, but I've never read Moby Dick. In my defense, having grown up in a Francophone environment, and school being en français (up to university), Moby Dick was never on the curriculum. On the other hand, we had to read the French classics, from the playwrights such as Molière and Racine, all the to novelists such as Victor Hugo and Emile Zola (with a little Jules Verne thrown in for good measure, natch).

The White Whale is on my list, I swear!

 

[Omnipotent]

My neighbour bought me a novel I was curious about, The Crimes of Charlotte Bronte by James Tully.

I haven't started it yet.

I prefer reading period novels. I love the Bronte sisters work. You can get the original movie Jane Eyres on Netfix starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Wells... Don't even bother watching remakes... the original and best version covers Jane Eyres early childhood and Elizabeth Taylor stars as Jane's only childhood friend, Helen Burns. Elizabeth Taylor was one of the planet's most beautiful children.

Movie was made in 1943.

 

[Omnipotent]

I really appreciate that thoughtful reply. I like SF, but having been a lit professor, and having spent most of my life reading literature, much of it in the "classics," I like to read literary-leaning SF. I have liked speculative stuff more as a result. I love Chiang's story "Story of Your Life," have enjoyed some Atwood, Asimov, etc. When things are too world-building or science/tech focused rather than story focused, I tend to snooze. I love the concept of steampunk, but have yet to find any good literary steampunk. Have you read any?

I adore magic realism, but that's a whole different world.

If you like literary science fiction, I have several suggestions for you, Lotes:

- The above-mentioned Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (author of The Remains of the Day)
- 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami
- Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (the 2012 film based on this novel is good, too, but you'll need to watch it at least twice if you've never read the book)
- Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
- Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany (this one is challenging but ultimately provides an extremely rich and rewarding reading experience)
- Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Glass Bead Game, by Herman Hesse
- Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
- Cosmicomics, by Italo Calvino
- Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (bring your own antidepressants)

These are good for starters in the literary science fiction genre. You may have read most of them already, Lotus, who knows? There are a great many web sites out there that list science fiction works of exceptional literary merit. Just don your mental space suit and go explore. There's a ton of great reads out there.

As for steampunk, you might want to start with a major influence on the genre, The Difference Engine, co-authored by cyberpunk wunderkinds William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. The novel is sort of the granddaddy of the genre. You could do worse, too, than seeking out Homunculus, by Jim Blaylock and, especially if you like your steampunk with a sprinkling of nanodust, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.

And, yes, I enjoy magical realism, too, Lotus. I'm not very well versed in the genre, though. Can you recommend a few titles? So far, I've read Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits; Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges (one of my all-time fave authors); Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury (an absolute must-read!); The Mistress of Spices, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (one of my fave novels--part fantasy, part magical realism); The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass; Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin (I've read this one a few times already... it's a wondrous love letter to New York City, and I love New York City!); One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez (the granddaddy of the genre?); and a few others, can't think of any more titles right now. I've seen (and loved) the film The Milagro Beanfield War, based on the novel by John Nichols, but I've yet to read that work. Might just be I'll cue it up on my Kobo.

Damn, Lotus. So many books, so little time. So little time.

Ficciones (Borges is a stunner, to be sure) and Solitude are two of my all-time faves.

Two books I especially love, which might be considered speculative sf/magic realism (categories blur) are How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu; and A Brief History of the Dead, by Kevin Brockmeier. I also loved The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, by Murakami. I saw the movie of Winter's Tale and liked it a lot, have always meant to read that as well. The Moths, by Helena Maria Viramontes, is a brilliant short story. Márquez' A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, another brilliant, classic short story. Also really enjoyed Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel; Midnight's Children, Rushdie; Beloved, Toni Morrison. The Portuguese writer José Saramago does magic realism as well. His books are on my shelf, soon to be read. lol

Another all-time favorite book is Moby-Dick, and I think that it is a precursor to magic realism in many ways. Brilliant fucking book.

Yeah, read The Road. Not crazy about it. I couldn't get through Station Eleven -- not sure why. I can be super picky.

Thanks for the recs, Lotus!

Been meaning to get into Yu for a while now.

You're gonna kill me, Lotes, but I've never read Moby Dick. In my defense, having grown up in a Francophone environment, and school being en français (up to university), Moby Dick was never on the curriculum. On the other hand, we had to read the French classics, from the playwrights such as Molière and Racine, all the to novelists such as Victor Hugo and Emile Zola (with a little Jules Verne thrown in for good measure, natch).

The White Whale is on my list, I swear!

Kurt read the book and always wants me to watch the movie but I saw the movie as a child and have no wish to revisit it. I can't bear watching disasters at sea. I have a mental vision of Moby Dick still stuck in my head 50 yrs or 5 decades on.

 

[Blurt]

The White Whale is on my list, I swear!

I can't bear watching disasters at sea. I have a mental vision of Moby Dick still stuck in my head 50 decades on.

Mythic cetaceans or no, we should all be lucky to live so long.

 

[Omnipotent]

The White Whale is on my list, I swear!

I can't bear watching disasters at sea. I have a mental vision of Moby Dick still stuck in my head 50 decades on.

Mythic cetaceans or no, we should all be lucky to live so long.

haha...funny typo... I'll fix it.

 

[Blurt]

Please don't, Cas!

I'm warming up to the idea that you'll be crushing some cojones here for another 450 years!

 

[Omnipotent]

For some reason my smart TV keyboard only let's me type 1 letter and then the pop-up keyboard goes down and I have to wait 2 seconds before I can type another letter and it and it's very tiring and frustrating and it makes me Agro but at the moment I'm using my voice thing on my phone these devices drive me nuts

 

[Omnipotent]

For some reason my smart TV keyboard only let's me type 1 letter and then the pop-up keyboard goes down and I have to wait 2 seconds before I can type another letter and it and it's very tiring and frustrating and it makes me Agro but at the moment I'm using my voice thing on my phone these devices drive me nuts

 

[Mr. Whipple]

the new adventures of old Christine

 

[LotusBud]

I really appreciate that thoughtful reply. I like SF, but having been a lit professor, and having spent most of my life reading literature, much of it in the "classics," I like to read literary-leaning SF. I have liked speculative stuff more as a result. I love Chiang's story "Story of Your Life," have enjoyed some Atwood, Asimov, etc. When things are too world-building or science/tech focused rather than story focused, I tend to snooze. I love the concept of steampunk, but have yet to find any good literary steampunk. Have you read any?

I adore magic realism, but that's a whole different world.

If you like literary science fiction, I have several suggestions for you, Lotes:

- The above-mentioned Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (author of The Remains of the Day)
- 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami
- Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (the 2012 film based on this novel is good, too, but you'll need to watch it at least twice if you've never read the book)
- Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
- Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany (this one is challenging but ultimately provides an extremely rich and rewarding reading experience)
- Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Glass Bead Game, by Herman Hesse
- Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
- Cosmicomics, by Italo Calvino
- Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (bring your own antidepressants)

These are good for starters in the literary science fiction genre. You may have read most of them already, Lotus, who knows? There are a great many web sites out there that list science fiction works of exceptional literary merit. Just don your mental space suit and go explore. There's a ton of great reads out there.

As for steampunk, you might want to start with a major influence on the genre, The Difference Engine, co-authored by cyberpunk wunderkinds William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. The novel is sort of the granddaddy of the genre. You could do worse, too, than seeking out Homunculus, by Jim Blaylock and, especially if you like your steampunk with a sprinkling of nanodust, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.

And, yes, I enjoy magical realism, too, Lotus. I'm not very well versed in the genre, though. Can you recommend a few titles? So far, I've read Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits; Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges (one of my all-time fave authors); Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury (an absolute must-read!); The Mistress of Spices, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (one of my fave novels--part fantasy, part magical realism); The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass; Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin (I've read this one a few times already... it's a wondrous love letter to New York City, and I love New York City!); One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez (the granddaddy of the genre?); and a few others, can't think of any more titles right now. I've seen (and loved) the film The Milagro Beanfield War, based on the novel by John Nichols, but I've yet to read that work. Might just be I'll cue it up on my Kobo.

Damn, Lotus. So many books, so little time. So little time.

Ficciones (Borges is a stunner, to be sure) and Solitude are two of my all-time faves.

Two books I especially love, which might be considered speculative sf/magic realism (categories blur) are How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu; and A Brief History of the Dead, by Kevin Brockmeier. I also loved The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, by Murakami. I saw the movie of Winter's Tale and liked it a lot, have always meant to read that as well. The Moths, by Helena Maria Viramontes, is a brilliant short story. Márquez' A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, another brilliant, classic short story. Also really enjoyed Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel; Midnight's Children, Rushdie; Beloved, Toni Morrison. The Portuguese writer José Saramago does magic realism as well. His books are on my shelf, soon to be read. lol

Another all-time favorite book is Moby-Dick, and I think that it is a precursor to magic realism in many ways. Brilliant fucking book.

Yeah, read The Road. Not crazy about it. I couldn't get through Station Eleven -- not sure why. I can be super picky.

Thanks for the recs, Lotus!

Been meaning to get into Yu for a while now.

You're gonna kill me, Lotes, but I've never read Moby Dick. In my defense, having grown up in a Francophone environment, and school being en français (up to university), Moby Dick was never on the curriculum. On the other hand, we had to read the French classics, from the playwrights such as Molière and Racine, all the to novelists such as Victor Hugo and Emile Zola (with a little Jules Verne thrown in for good measure, natch).

The White Whale is on my list, I swear!

I read a bunch of those Frenchies in translation back in the day, plays and books, including Proust. I would love, love, love to be able to read them in French.

The white whale is an absolute must. A story to drown in.

 

[LotusBud]

I really appreciate that thoughtful reply. I like SF, but having been a lit professor, and having spent most of my life reading literature, much of it in the "classics," I like to read literary-leaning SF. I have liked speculative stuff more as a result. I love Chiang's story "Story of Your Life," have enjoyed some Atwood, Asimov, etc. When things are too world-building or science/tech focused rather than story focused, I tend to snooze. I love the concept of steampunk, but have yet to find any good literary steampunk. Have you read any?

I adore magic realism, but that's a whole different world.

If you like literary science fiction, I have several suggestions for you, Lotes:

- The above-mentioned Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (author of The Remains of the Day)
- 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami
- Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (the 2012 film based on this novel is good, too, but you'll need to watch it at least twice if you've never read the book)
- Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
- Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany (this one is challenging but ultimately provides an extremely rich and rewarding reading experience)
- Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Glass Bead Game, by Herman Hesse
- Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
- Cosmicomics, by Italo Calvino
- Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (bring your own antidepressants)

These are good for starters in the literary science fiction genre. You may have read most of them already, Lotus, who knows? There are a great many web sites out there that list science fiction works of exceptional literary merit. Just don your mental space suit and go explore. There's a ton of great reads out there.

As for steampunk, you might want to start with a major influence on the genre, The Difference Engine, co-authored by cyberpunk wunderkinds William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. The novel is sort of the granddaddy of the genre. You could do worse, too, than seeking out Homunculus, by Jim Blaylock and, especially if you like your steampunk with a sprinkling of nanodust, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age.

And, yes, I enjoy magical realism, too, Lotus. I'm not very well versed in the genre, though. Can you recommend a few titles? So far, I've read Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits; Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges (one of my all-time fave authors); Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury (an absolute must-read!); The Mistress of Spices, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (one of my fave novels--part fantasy, part magical realism); The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass; Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin (I've read this one a few times already... it's a wondrous love letter to New York City, and I love New York City!); One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez (the granddaddy of the genre?); and a few others, can't think of any more titles right now. I've seen (and loved) the film The Milagro Beanfield War, based on the novel by John Nichols, but I've yet to read that work. Might just be I'll cue it up on my Kobo.

Damn, Lotus. So many books, so little time. So little time.

I decided to order IQ84 since I can order it here in English. It'll take a month to get it, but it'll be in my pile soon enough. Thanks for the rec.

 

[Breakfall]

For some reason my smart TV keyboard only let's me type 1 letter and then the pop-up keyboard goes down and I have to wait 2 seconds before I can type another letter and it and it's very tiring and frustrating and it makes me Agro but at the moment I'm using my voice thing on my phone these devices drive me nuts

Reboot your smart TV and use the help function where needed. It’s smart for a reason.

 

[Aylana]

 

[The Scoundrel]

Here's a good film for those who like thier viewing a little more intelligent and out there. Ghost World.

You'll enjoy.

 

[TheHaze]

[QUOTE="Omnipotent,

The Revenant....10/10. Great movie. The Bear sceen was horrific.
[/QUOTE]

Reminded me of " A Man Called Horse " both great movies,tonight will be watching "OLD BOY" with Josh Brolin.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[Jeannie]

ive started watching a BBC series called 'doc martin' after watching martin clunes in a great movie called 'A is for Acid' about britains first documented serial killer

great movie and even on available on YT v