"Five Books I Will Always Reread"

[Lynn McGuire]

"Five Books I Will Always Reread"
http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/

Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of those books.

My current top five reread list is:

1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber

2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster

3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein

4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein

5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold

Lynn

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

I used to re-read all the time. I must have 100 reads for each of _Raiders
From The Rings_, _Space Cadet_ and _The Zero Stone/Uncharted Stars_.

Then I bought a cache of 100 or so at a garage sale, then I got a job.
Re-reads are pretty rare nowdays..
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <ne65av$b9$3...@dont-email.me>, Lynn McGuire <l...@winsim.com> wrote:

>"Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>
>Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of those books.

I haven't read any of them, and haven't even heard of four of his
five.

>
>My current top five reread list is:
>
>1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber
>
>2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster
>
>3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein
>
>4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein
>
>5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold

Hm. _The Star Beast_ is the only one on both our lists. Mine
is rather longer, and includes Hambly's _Bride of the Rat God_,
Stevermer's _[Academic Institution] of Magics_, almost anything
by Wrede or Tolkien, all of White's Sector General books, and and
and, including a whole lot of non-SF I won't list. But I reread
a lot, in part because I don't buy many new books. (Money,
energy....)

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com

[William Hyde]

On Thursday, 7 April 2016 13:31:20 UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>
> Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of those books.

Same here. I assume you mean "Neuromancer" which I have reread, but only once.

>
> My current top five reread list is:
>
> 1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber

I'll never read anything by Rob. S. Pierre.

>
> 2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster

Never really thought of rereading this though I enjoyed it. I have a copy somewhere around here, perhaps I'll read it next.

>
> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein

If I had a copy, I would.

>
> 4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein

I do have a copy, and I should. As this wasn't in our local libraries, it's the Heinlein juvenile I've read the least (once, to be exact).

> 5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold

Under no circumstances. These were among the few books I've ever sold.

I can't reread books "forever". I have to ration my Tolkien rereads to once a decade or so. I reread Raymond Chandler too often, now I reread Ross MacDonald instead. And Ruth Rendell. When ill, I reread Christopher Rowley's "Starhammer", but that's been happening a bit too often of late, so I'll have to find something else for that role.

William Hyde

[Lawrence Watt-Evans]

On Thu, 7 Apr 2016 17:46:37 GMT, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt)
wrote:

>In article <ne65av$b9$3...@dont-email.me>, Lynn McGuire <l...@winsim.com> wrote:
>>"Five Books I Will Always Reread"
>> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>>
>>Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of those books.
>
>I haven't read any of them, and haven't even heard of four of his
>five.

I've read two out of five and don't have much interest in re-reading
either of them.

>>My current top five reread list is:
>>
>>1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber
>>
>>2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster
>>
>>3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein
>>
>>4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein
>>
>>5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold

I'd consider the Heinleins to be re-readable, but there's no way
they'd make my top five.

>Hm. _The Star Beast_ is the only one on both our lists. Mine
>is rather longer, and includes Hambly's _Bride of the Rat God_,
>Stevermer's _[Academic Institution] of Magics_, almost anything
>by Wrede or Tolkien, all of White's Sector General books, and and
>and, including a whole lot of non-SF I won't list. But I reread
>a lot, in part because I don't buy many new books. (Money,
>energy....)

My re-read list varies from day to day, depending on my mood, but I
think it includes more murder mysteries than SF.



--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[David Johnston]

On 4/7/2016 11:30 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>
> Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of
> those books.

Well, maybe you would re-read them if you had ever read them.

>
> My current top five reread list is:
>
> 1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber
>
> 2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster
>
> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein
>
> 4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein
>
> 5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold
>
> Lynn
>

1. Indian Myths and Legends from the North Pacific Coast of America
translated from the work of Franz Boas.

OK, the reason why I re-read it is because it's damn near
unreadable, but filled with fascinating folklore from a largely
unrecorded mythology. But it's as impossible to read cover to cover as
the Bible.

2. One Against the Legion by Jack Williamson

It's not that good a book, admittedly. For example, the way that
Chan Derron solves the case is bloody stupid because he's basically a
bonehead. But every time I read it, I can see the brilliant pulp
science fiction book it could have been and I love the cast. And when
the villain is revealed you can clearly see that it was the only person
it ever could have been.

3. The Nazi Occult by Ken Hite

A curious work of fake history that starts out quite factual and
steadily mutates into pure fantastic fiction intended as a gaming
resource. But I am a gamer.

4. Northwest Smith by Leigh Brackett

Conan+Lensman+H.P. Lovecraft=Win.

5. Postmarked the Stars

A seminal interstellar Free Trader novel

[art...@yahoo.com]

On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 1:31:20 PM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/

I didn't finish Neuromancer. I did finish Mona Lisa Overdrive. I was once explaining this to someone at a SF bookstore and he compared Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive to On the Road and (something else by Kerouac, the implication being that the authors improved greatly with practice) I didn't finish On the Road, either. Not finishing a book is uncommon for me.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

"art...@yahoo.com" <art...@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:b4f2bf5c-8474-4c61...@googlegroups.com:

> Not finishing a book is uncommon for me.
>

Theo only two books I've ever set down, knowing I'd never pick up
again were MIsts of Avalon (never, ever, ever again for anything by
MZB), and some book whose title I have long forgotten in which the
opening paragraph was a graphic description of a homosexual assault
(it had a nice spaceship on the cover).

My rereads are:

1) Shards of Honor/Barrayar (which only counts as one)

2) Anything Dragarean Empire by Brust. Or, rather, everything
Dragearan Empire by Brust. (When I get the bug, I'll reread all of
them in order, so it only counts as one, as well.)

3) Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy (all four books), which also only
count as one.

I'll have to think about the other two, but I suspect at least some
Discworl will be in there.

--
Terry Austin

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Lynn McGuire]

On 4/7/2016 1:20 PM, William Hyde wrote:
>> 1._Mutineer's Moon_ and_The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber

> I'll never read anything by Rob. S. Pierre.

Isn't Rob Pierre in the Honorverse books? _Mutineer's Moon_ is in the Dahakverse. But, there is a crossover:
http://www.davidweber.net/essays

Lynn

[Lynn McGuire]

_Neuromancer_ was ok but not worth a reread. Yet.

I do not think that I have read anything from your list either. Maybe the Jack Williamson.

I looked for _Northwest Smith by Leigh Brackett_ on Amazon and did not find it.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Leigh+Brackett&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Leigh+Brackett&sort=relevancerank

Lynn

[Brian M. Scott]

On Thu, 7 Apr 2016 12:30:49 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<l...@winsim.com> wrote in<news:ne65av$b9$3...@dont-email.me>
in rec.arts.sf.written:

> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/

> Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only
> read one of those books.

I’ve read _Neuromancer_, but I’ve no interest in rereading
it. Dan Abnett’s _Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero_ was fun,
and I could imagine rereading it, but I’ve no interest at
all in the Warhammer setting. (I also read his original
novel _Embedded_, which was okay but hardly worth
rereading.) I might read _Good Omens_ at some point, but I
doubt it.

> My current top five reread list is:

> 1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by
> David Weber

I might have read the first one more than once, but they’re
not even my favorite Weber.

> 2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster

I’m fairly sure that I read that one more than once, and I
do think that it’s the best one in the series and one of
his better novels, but it’s packed away, I’ve not read it
in many, many years, and don’t miss it.

> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein

I read it quite a few times many years ago, enough that I
feel no need to reread it now.

> 4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein

I’ve read this one more often than any of his other
juveniles and might reread it even now, but I don’t really
need to: I remember it too clearly.

> 5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold

Bleagh.

The only one here that might ever have been on my list is
CotG.

What I tend to reread changes over time and doesn’t
necessarily match my all time short-list. Among the books
that are on the latter, that I’ve reread often, and that I
am still likely to reread occasionally are _Busman’s
Honeymoon_, _The Witches of Karres_, _Sunshine_, _The Blue
Sword_, _Harpist in the Wind_, and _Lord of Light_.

Brian
--
It was the neap tide, when the baga venture out of their
holes to root for sandtatties. The waves whispered
rhythmically over the packed sand: haggisss, haggisss,
haggisss.

[David Johnston]

I'm sorry, C.L. Moore, not Leigh Brackett. (I also liked Skaith and
wouldn't mind giving that a reread.)

[Don Kuenz]

The stories read once by me include _Neuromancer_ from the link and
_Citizen of the Galaxy_ from your lits. :o) _Neuromancer_ informed me
about a place named Chiba City, Japan. _Neuromancer_ always appeared on
my "to be reread" list, based upon the hope that it might make more
sense the second time through. :o)

My recent rereads (in no particular order) include:

"Bob Dylan Troy Jonson and the Speed Queen" by F Paul Wilson.

_Cat's Cradle_ and "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" (original, unedited version) by Harlan
Ellison.

_Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep_ and _A Scanner Darkly_ by PKD.

"All You Zombies" by RAH.

"To Build a Fire" by Jack London.

--
Don Kuenz KB7RPU

[Brian M. Scott]

On Thu, 7 Apr 2016 15:48:43 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<l...@winsim.com> wrote in<news:ne6gu4$iq9$1...@dont-email.me>
in rec.arts.sf.written:

[...]

> I looked for _Northwest Smith by Leigh Brackett_ on
> Amazon and did not find it.

<http://www.amazon.com/Northwest-Earth-Complete-Stories-Library/dp/1601250819>

The story ‘Shambleau’ is especially well known.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambleau>

I prefer her dying Mars stories (_The Sword of Rhiannon_,
_The Secret of Sinharat_, _People of the Talisman_), and
her best book is probably _The Long Tomorrow_.

[Shawn Wilson]

On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 11:42:29 AM UTC-7, David Johnston wrote:


> 3. The Nazi Occult by Ken Hite
>
> A curious work of fake history that starts out quite factual and
> steadily mutates into pure fantastic fiction intended as a gaming
> resource. But I am a gamer.

I don't know if you are aware, but if not-

Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff podcast. Ken Hite and Robin D. Laws talk about stuff. Concentrated awesome. Multiple award winning too.

http://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <1ea34a41-2c9b-45ca...@googlegroups.com>,

William Hyde <wthyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Thursday, 7 April 2016 13:31:20 UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
>> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>>
>> Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of
>those books.
>
>Same here. I assume you mean "Neuromancer" which I have reread, but only once.
>
>>
>> My current top five reread list is:
>>
>> 1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber
>
>I'll never read anything by Rob. S. Pierre.
>
>>
>> 2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster
>
>Never really thought of rereading this though I enjoyed it. I have a
>copy somewhere around here, perhaps I'll read it next.
>
>>
>> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein
>
>If I had a copy, I would.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Heinlein+The+star+beast

Available at pretty cheap plus s/h.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <ne69gd$id5$2...@dont-email.me>,

David Johnston <Da...@block.net> wrote:
>On 4/7/2016 11:30 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
>> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>>
>> Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of
>> those books.
>
>Well, maybe you would re-read them if you had ever read them.
>
>>
>> My current top five reread list is:
>>
>> 1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber
>>
>> 2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster
>>
>> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein
>>
>> 4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein
>>
>> 5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold
>>
>> Lynn
>>
>
>1. Indian Myths and Legends from the North Pacific Coast of America
>translated from the work of Franz Boas.
>
> OK, the reason why I re-read it is because it's damn near
>unreadable, but filled with fascinating folklore from a largely
>unrecorded mythology. But it's as impossible to read cover to cover as
>the Bible.

Well, I read a lot of Nootka mythology in the original, back in
the lower Pleistocene when I was a linguistics major. If the
tome has an index, try and find "What Mosquitoes Are Made Of."

...

>
>4. Northwest Smith by Leigh Brackett
>
>Conan+Lensman+H.P. Lovecraft=Win.

Um? I was under the impression that C. L. Moore wrote the Smith
stories. Unless Bracket edited a collection of them.

[Moriarty]

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 3:31:20 AM UTC+10, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>
> Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of those books.

LOTR + The Silmarillion

Pride and Prejudice

That's it. There's a bunch of other stuff I re-read occasionally, but I can't say I'll always do so.

-Moriarty

[Quadibloc]

My tastes are very different: some books I remember rereading a few times are:

Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien

A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs

If This Goes On..., Robert A. Heinlein

1984, George Orwell

The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

City, Clifford A. Simak

John Savard

[lal_truckee]

On 4/7/16 10:30 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/

I intend to re-read Dracula and Frankenstein. I was surprised at how
readable each was, when I finally got around to a first read.

I find honest re-reading difficult; when I grab a favorite as re-read
fodder I end up skimming just enough to recreate in mind the passages
that made the book memorable the first few reads, which seem a fail as
an honest re-read.

Another re-read favorite is Huckleberry Finn, which I supposes fails to
make the genre cut for group discussion.

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <ne65av$b9$3...@dont-email.me>, Lynn McGuire <l...@winsim.com> wrote:

>"Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>
>Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of those books.

I have never read any of those books, although seeing the tor.com in
the link I was reminded of Jo Walton's /What Makes This Book So
Great/.

>My current top five reread list is:

I've not read anything on your list either.

As a teenager I used to reread a *lot*. In fact, I would usually
reread a book immediately after finishing it for the first time. (I
still do this sometimes, when I suspect I've missed something
significant the first time around.)

I haven't had much time for long-form reading in general over the past
several years, and I keep on accumulating more new books to read,
which keeps me from rereading many of the things that I once would
have. If I thought for a moment about things I *would* reread:

1) There's a whole pile of badly-written Lackey books that are
incredibly emotionally manipulative and for some reason satisfying
"comfort reads"; I generally reread some subset of these every autumn
before the new one comes out.

2) Jo Walton's /The King's Peace/.

3) Robin McKinley's /The Hero and the Crown/ and /The Blue Sword/.
Because somehow deep inside of me there's a horse-mad 12-year-old girl
trying to break out, or something.

4) Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson books, although I'm woefully
behind. I'll reread all of these before I try reading the next ones
in the series, because I've forgotten too much.

5) Anything by Diane Duane in one of her own settings (as opposed to a
media franchise setting).

i'm already well past "five books" so I might as well add some more:

6) Any of the Madeleine L'Engle oeuvre that I read as a teenager (/A
Wrinkle in Time/ et seq., but also non-fantasy novels like /A Severed
Wasp/).

7) Juilan May's "Saga of Pliocene Exile".

8) Haven't in a long long time, but: Elizabeth Willey's /The
Well-Favored Man/.

Stuff I used to reread very frequently but probably wouldn't any more:

a) Douglas Adams's HHGG et seq.

b) C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia

c) I don't think I've cracked the cover of a Heinlein in two decades

I'm somewhat handicapped by the fact that half my library is in piles
downstairs on the living-room floor, so this list is biased towards
the part of the alphabet that is still up here in the office.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft
wol...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program
Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993

[Greg Goss]

Lynn McGuire <l...@winsim.com> wrote:

>"Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>
>Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of those books.

I've only read one, too. Probably the same one. Neuromancer was OK,
but for the concept of cyberspace, I preferred the much earlier "True
Names." which is probably due for a reread.

>My current top five reread list is:

I'm currently working my way through Harrington again. I've done two
complete reads of the 1632 series. I don't really have a "reread
list"

>1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber

Actually never read either. I should.

>2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster

Foster's non-movie books never grabbed me.

>3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein

Star Beast and Double Star have huge numbers of fans out there. To my
mind, both are at the weak end of Heinlein. I guess that just proves
that we're all different from each other.

>4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein

OK, this one is on my list. As is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. All
the juvies get reread every fifteen years or so.

>5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold

Don't know it.
--
We are geeks. Resistance is voltage over current.

[David DeLaney]

On 2016-04-07, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My rereads are:
>
> 1) Shards of Honor/Barrayar (which only counts as one)
>
> 2) Anything Dragarean Empire by Brust. Or, rather, everything
> Dragearan Empire by Brust. (When I get the bug, I'll reread all of
> them in order, so it only counts as one, as well.)
>
> 3) Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy (all four books), which also only
> count as one.
>
> I'll have to think about the other two, but I suspect at least some
> Discworl will be in there.

I have entire _authors_ I'll reread, either when I get to them in the box
rotation, or sometimes I'll go looking for them and digging. [*] [**] These
include but are not limited to Diane Duane, Laurell K. Hamilton (don't judge
meeeee!)(oh wait I'm replying to Terry so forget that), Michelle Sagara / West,
Daniel Keys Moran, Anne Maxwell, Pratchett of course, Ellery Queen, Rex Stout,
E.E. "Doc" Smith, and various and sundry others.

Dave

[*] Alas, the box rotation has been stuck at the end of R for a couple years
now, but I'm actually doing better than I was a few years back and have hopes
of getting it back going again, and sorting some years of S paperbacks, at
least, in where they should go.

[**] One of my major ambitions is to live somewhere there's enough space to put
up enough bookshelves to SHELVE all my books, plus about two or three more for
various non-book items and stacks. Unfortunately, another major ambition is to
never have to move again, so I'm not internally consistent in my subjunctive
modes. Ah well.
--
\/David DeLaney posting thru EarthLink - "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://gatekeeper.vic.com/~dbd/ -net.legends/Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

[David DeLaney]

On 2016-04-08, Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
> 5) Anything by Diane Duane in one of her own settings (as opposed to a
> media franchise setting).

Note that her several Star Trek books also get into my rereadability chart.

> I'm somewhat handicapped by the fact that half my library is in piles
> downstairs on the living-room floor, so this list is biased towards
> the part of the alphabet that is still up here in the office.

Wait till you get older and it gets hard to actually lift the boxes... :(

Dave

[hamis...@gmail.com]

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 2:27:17 PM UTC+10, David DeLaney wrote:

> [**] One of my major ambitions is to live somewhere there's enough space to put
> up enough bookshelves to SHELVE all my books, plus about two or three more for
> various non-book items and stacks. Unfortunately, another major ambition is to
> never have to move again, so I'm not internally consistent in my subjunctive
> modes. Ah well.

I'm saving up to put another level or two on the house for my books...

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <6vGdne3fduQTrprK...@earthlink.com>,

David DeLaney <d...@vic.com> wrote:
>On 2016-04-08, Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
>> I'm somewhat handicapped by the fact that half my library is in piles
>> downstairs on the living-room floor, so this list is biased towards
>> the part of the alphabet that is still up here in the office.
>
>Wait till you get older and it gets hard to actually lift the boxes... :(

Oh, I *am* older (perhaps not as older as some here), but I haven't
yet gotten to the point of boxing them up. The art and architecture
books are probably more of a concern here as they're printed on thick
high-clay paper and probably twice as dense as ordinary novels or
expository non-fiction. I keep meaning to rent some
humidity-controlled storage space for them, but then I wonder why I'm
so attached to books that I'll probably never look at again, and why
don't I sell them, and then nothing ever happens but the piles keep on
getting higher....

[Brian M. Scott]

On Thu, 7 Apr 2016 17:15:02 -0400, "Brian M. Scott"
<b.s...@csuohio.edu> wrote
in<news:1avsdy1045frb$.1p8zz5nh...@40tude.net> in
rec.arts.sf.written:

> On Thu, 7 Apr 2016 15:48:43 -0500, Lynn McGuire
> <l...@winsim.com> wrote in<news:ne6gu4$iq9$1...@dont-email.me>
> in rec.arts.sf.written:

>> I looked for _Northwest Smith by Leigh Brackett_ on
>> Amazon and did not find it.

> <http://www.amazon.com/Northwest-Earth-Complete-Stories-Library/dp/1601250819>

> The story ‘Shambleau’ is especially well known.

> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambleau>

> I prefer her dying Mars stories (_The Sword of Rhiannon_,
> _The Secret of Sinharat_, _People of the Talisman_), and
> her best book is probably _The Long Tomorrow_.

Mental hiccup: these are of course Brackett, not C.L.
Moore. The Jirel of Joiry stories are my favorite Moore.

[Greg Goss]

David DeLaney <davidd...@earthlink.net> wrote:

>[**] One of my major ambitions is to live somewhere there's enough space to put
>up enough bookshelves to SHELVE all my books, plus about two or three more for
>various non-book items and stacks. Unfortunately, another major ambition is to
>never have to move again, so I'm not internally consistent in my subjunctive
>modes. Ah well.

My library got boxed up when I moved in 1988. I then got laid off and
lived poor for a long while. The boxes moved with me in 1989 1992,
1996, 1997. The 1997 move was intended to be long-term and didn't
have the space for a library.

The first move in 2003 specifically designated space for a library,
but we moved before any shelves could be assembled. The 2004 move
designated a small library area, but again we moved before anything
could be assembled. The second move in 2005 again designated a large
space for the library, and shelves actually got built. But my wife's
illness derailed organizing for a long time. For much of the next
decade, employment depression meant that the library area in the
basement was ignored. During this period I got into reading ebooks
and the library became obsolete.

Last November, I rented half the basement to a young couple. They
repacked the books that had been unpacked in 2005 and rearranged the
library area into a living room with knicknack shelving.

The books should be unpacked, indexed and condition-rated, and put up
on some system like ABE. I'm completely "e" these days.

[Brian M. Scott]

On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 01:34:03 +0000 (UTC), Garrett Wollman
<wol...@bimajority.org> wrote
in<news:ne71qb$oe8$1...@grapevine.csail.mit.edu> in
rec.arts.sf.written:

[...]

> 1) There's a whole pile of badly-written Lackey books
> that are incredibly emotionally manipulative and for
> some reason satisfying "comfort reads"; I generally
> reread some subset of these every autumn before the new
> one comes out.

She is not a particularly good writer, but she’s an
excellent storyteller. They’re packed away now, but I’ve
read the Arrows trilogy more than once. Also _The Fire
Rose_, but I’m a sucker for decent Beauty and the Beast
retellings.

> 2) Jo Walton's /The King's Peace/.

Well written, but she just doesn’t quite work for me. And
her opinions on books tend to annoy me.

> 3) Robin McKinley's /The Hero and the Crown/ and /The
> Blue Sword/. Because somehow deep inside of me there's a
> horse-mad 12-year-old girl trying to break out, or
> something.

_The Hero and the Crown_ is good, but I consider _The Blue
Sword_ a genuine classic.

> 4) Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson books, although I'm
> woefully behind. I'll reread all of these before I try
> reading the next ones in the series, because I've
> forgotten too much.

I’ve reread some, and some of from the related Alpha and
Omega series. Likewise Ilona Andrews with Kate Daniels &
Co.

> 5) Anything by Diane Duane in one of her own settings (as
> opposed to a media franchise setting).

The ones that I reread are the ones in the _The Door into
X_ set and _Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses_. I think that I
did reread with pleasure at least one of the books in her
Harbinger trilogy, which apparently has a game franchise
setting.

> i'm already well past "five books" so I might as well add
> some more:

> 6) Any of the Madeleine L'Engle oeuvre that I read as a
> teenager (/A Wrinkle in Time/ et seq., but also
> non-fantasy novels like /A Severed Wasp/).

I’ve kept some of the fantasy on my shelves rather than in
boxes, just as I have the Narnia books, but in both cases
it’s more out of nostalgia than any great likelihood of
rereading them.

> 7) Juilan May's "Saga of Pliocene Exile".

Never really cared for it.

> 8) Haven't in a long long time, but: Elizabeth Willey's
> /The Well-Favored Man/.

I have reread the entire series at least once; it’s good.

[...]

[Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)]

On 4/7/16 4:55 PM, Brian M. Scott wrote:
> On Thu, 7 Apr 2016 12:30:49 -0500, Lynn McGuire
> <l...@winsim.com> wrote in<news:ne65av$b9$3...@dont-email.me>
> in rec.arts.sf.written:
>
>> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
>> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>
>> Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only
>> read one of those books.
>
> I’ve read _Neuromancer_, but I’ve no interest in rereading
> it.

Same here. I seem to recall liking Mona Lisa Overdrive better. But none
of Gibson's stuff makes the reread list.

>
>> My current top five reread list is:
>
>> 1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by
>> David Weber
>
> I might have read the first one more than once, but they’re
> not even my favorite Weber.

These two are my favorite Weber books, and I just reviewed them
recently on my site.

>
>> 2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster
>
> I’m fairly sure that I read that one more than once, and I
> do think that it’s the best one in the series and one of
> his better novels, but it’s packed away, I’ve not read it
> in many, many years, and don’t miss it.

I also think it's one of his best novels. I think the first three Flinx
books are solid reads.

>
>> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein
>
> I read it quite a few times many years ago, enough that I
> feel no need to reread it now.

I liked all of his juveniles. Star Beast doesn't come near the top of
the pack, though. Citizen of the Galaxy and Have Spacesuit, Will Travel
are the top ones for me.

>
>> 5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold
>
> Bleagh.
>

I wouldn't go that far, but while I enjoyed it the first time out, I'm
not sure I'll ever re-read it, which means I'll probably not buy any
other volumes even if Gerrold ever actually gets around to publishing them.


For me...

1) Lord Valentine's Castle, by Silverberg. This is a magical book for
me; I read it whenever I want something to make me feel better, and when
I mentioned this to Silverberg himself, he leaned across the table and
almost whispered, "You know what? So do I."

2) The Oz books. Having 4 kids I've been re-reading them frequently
anyway, but they were a foundational part of my childhood.

3) The Count of Monte-Cristo. One of my favorite books of all time.

4) Pride and Prejudice. My favorite Austen.

5) is a hard-fought place; I can put a lot of books here. I think I'll
go with _Little Fuzzy_, however.





--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com Blog:
http://seawasp.livejournal.com

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <XnsA5E38827884...@69.16.179.43>,

Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:

>"art...@yahoo.com" <art...@yahoo.com> wrote in
>news:b4f2bf5c-8474-4c61...@googlegroups.com:
>
>> Not finishing a book is uncommon for me.
>>
>Theo only two books I've ever set down, knowing I'd never pick up
>again were MIsts of Avalon (never, ever, ever again for anything by
>MZB), and some book whose title I have long forgotten in which the
>opening paragraph was a graphic description of a homosexual assault
>(it had a nice spaceship on the cover).
>
>My rereads are:
>
>1) Shards of Honor/Barrayar (which only counts as one)
>
>2) Anything Dragarean Empire by Brust. Or, rather, everything
>Dragearan Empire by Brust. (When I get the bug, I'll reread all of
>them in order, so it only counts as one, as well.)
>
>3) Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy (all four books), which also only
>count as one.

Um, the word "tetralogy" does also exist.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <ne85lh$msq$1...@dont-email.me>,

Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>On 4/7/16 4:55 PM, Brian M. Scott wrote:
>> On Thu, 7 Apr 2016 12:30:49 -0500, Lynn McGuire
>> <l...@winsim.com> wrote in<news:ne65av$b9$3...@dont-email.me>
>> in rec.arts.sf.written:

...

>>
>>> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein
>>
>> I read it quite a few times many years ago, enough that I
>> feel no need to reread it now.
>
> I liked all of his juveniles. Star Beast doesn't come near the top of
>the pack, though.

_Star Beast_ could be described as either a very late juvenile,
or not a juvenile at all, depending on your criteria. Note that
it was not serialized in _Boy's Life_ but in F&SF. My memory may
deceive me, but isn't that the book over which Heinlein and
Scribner's parted company because Alice wossname objected to the
concept that children could divorce their parents? Even after
Heinlein pointed out that it was legally possible to do so even
in their day?

[Richard Hershberger]

I think Emma holds up well, too.

[Richard Hershberger]

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 1:37:08 AM UTC-4, Brian M. Scott wrote:
> On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 01:34:03 +0000 (UTC), Garrett Wollman
> <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote
> in<news:ne71qb$oe8$1...@grapevine.csail.mit.edu> in
> rec.arts.sf.written:
>
> [...]
>
> > 1) There's a whole pile of badly-written Lackey books
> > that are incredibly emotionally manipulative and for
> > some reason satisfying "comfort reads"; I generally
> > reread some subset of these every autumn before the new
> > one comes out.
>
> She is not a particularly good writer, but she's an
> excellent storyteller. They're packed away now, but I've
> read the Arrows trilogy more than once. Also _The Fire
> Rose_, but I'm a sucker for decent Beauty and the Beast
> retellings.
>

I would say that she is a very poor writer, either in prose craft or in creativity, but I agree that she is an excellent storyteller. My take is that she was commercially successful so quickly that she was never obliged to work to improve her craft. Raw storytelling talent can carry a writer, but only so far. I read through a lot of her earlier work, until the limitations became too obvious to overlook. The books did not survive one of the periodic shelf purges, and I feel no regret over this.

Richard R. Hershberger

[Will in New Haven]

There was difficulty over that but the book that ended the relationship was _Starship Troopers_ Heinlein probably knew damn well that they wouldn't take it but he was ready to end it.

--
Will in New Haven
https://sites.google.com/site/gloryroadrpg/home

[Will in New Haven]

On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 1:31:20 PM UTC-4, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>
> Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of those books.

I have read _Neuromancer_ and _Good Omens_ and don't dislike either but I'm not rushing to reread them.

>
> My current top five reread list is:
>
> 1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber

Never read any Weber.

>
> 2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster

Read it, re-read it once but not in my top however many.

>
> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein
>

> 4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein

Re-read both of those often

>
> 5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold

Won't re-read that again until he does another one and probably not then.

My own? LotR, Three Hearts & Three Lions, The High Crusade, The Hoka series, John M. Ford's _The Last Hot Time_ and _Growing up Weightless_ The whole damn Chanur series, Any Vorkosigan book that is more about Cordelia than Miles, although I read the others also, the whole Chalion series, the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, War for the Oaks, Glory Road

--
Will in New Haven
https://sites.google.com/site/gloryroadrpg/home


>

> Lynn

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

David DeLaney <davidd...@earthlink.net> wrote in
news:6vGdnfLfduS_rprK...@earthlink.com:

> On 2016-04-07, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy
> <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> My rereads are:
>>
>> 1) Shards of Honor/Barrayar (which only counts as one)
>>
>> 2) Anything Dragarean Empire by Brust. Or, rather, everything
>> Dragearan Empire by Brust. (When I get the bug, I'll reread all
>> of them in order, so it only counts as one, as well.)
>>
>> 3) Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy (all four books), which also
>> only count as one.
>>
>> I'll have to think about the other two, but I suspect at least
>> some Discworl will be in there.
>
> I have entire _authors_ I'll reread,

Bujol nearly fits that description for me. I doubt I'll ever reread
Spirit Ring, though. (In fact, it left such a non-impression, I had
to actually Google to get the title right.)

> [**] One of my major ambitions is to live somewhere there's
> enough space to put up enough bookshelves to SHELVE all my
> books,

Dude, that's as much a paradox as killing your own grandfather.
There is no such thing as "enough space for all your books." The
very act of deciding, with practical intent, to create enough space
for all your current books will cause you to acquire more. By the
time you finish buidling the new space, you'll have more books than
will fit in it.

It's like freeway expansions in southern Ccalifornia. Announcing
the expansion causes more traffic on a particular freeway
immediately, by more than is predicted. The only real effect is to
slow down traffic while consturciton is going on.

--
Terry Austin

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

hamis...@gmail.com wrote in
news:b4aa5ef2-d2cf-485e...@googlegroups.com:

And to reinforce the slam to hold all the weight? There's a
Mythbusters segement in there somewhere.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote in
news:o5BF8...@kithrup.com:

It does, but that particular collection of stories is a trilogy,
with four books. (It was written as a trilogy about Merlin, and
thus, ends with Merlin's supposed death. Which is halfway through
the Arthur story, which the fans wanted to see finished. So she
finished it. The first three books stand alone, without the fourth,
as a complete story. The fourth just continues it, but it's really
a different story.)

[Phil Brown]

On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 10:31:20 AM UTC-7, Lynn McGuire wrote:

> 5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold
>

> Lynn

This is the series that prompted my policy of NEVER reading a series until it's complete.
PERIOD.

[David Johnston]

Or if you really don't like a series you could call it a teratology.

[Scott Lurndal]

I reread _The Crystal Cave_ and _The Hollow Hills_ often. Not
so much three and four, as I was more interested in Merlin's story
than Arthur's.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <ne8n5p$qgj$2...@dont-email.me>,

Yes.

Was it on this newsgroup or somewhere else that I recently saw
somebody calling Hubbard's ten-volume schlockfest a dreckology?

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote in

news:o5Bqy...@kithrup.com:

I would be careful about using "Schlock" as a derisive term. Howard
Tayler's fans might object. Or they might agree. It's hard to say.

[Lawrence Watt-Evans]

On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 16:54:21 GMT, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt)
wrote:

>Was it on this newsgroup or somewhere else that I recently saw
>somebody calling Hubbard's ten-volume schlockfest a dreckology?

Might have been, but I saw that label for it several places back in
the day.




--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[Jerry Brown]

On Fri, 08 Apr 2016 09:02:37 -0700, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy

<taus...@gmail.com> wrote:

>David DeLaney <davidd...@earthlink.net> wrote in
>news:6vGdnfLfduS_rprK...@earthlink.com:
>
>> On 2016-04-07, Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy
>> <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> My rereads are:
>>>
>>> 1) Shards of Honor/Barrayar (which only counts as one)
>>>
>>> 2) Anything Dragarean Empire by Brust. Or, rather, everything
>>> Dragearan Empire by Brust. (When I get the bug, I'll reread all
>>> of them in order, so it only counts as one, as well.)
>>>
>>> 3) Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy (all four books), which also
>>> only count as one.
>>>
>>> I'll have to think about the other two, but I suspect at least
>>> some Discworl will be in there.
>>
>> I have entire _authors_ I'll reread,
>
>Bujol nearly fits that description for me. I doubt I'll ever reread
>Spirit Ring, though. (In fact, it left such a non-impression, I had
>to actually Google to get the title right.)

I enjoyed it more than The Sharing Knife series and the third 5 Gods
book, but each to their own.

--
Jerry Brown

A cat may look at a king
(but probably won't bother)

[Jerry Brown]

Same for me, except that I miss out Rocketship Gallileo and Pdkayne of
Mars.

[Brian M. Scott]

On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 07:49:09 -0400, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E.
Spoor)" <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote
in<news:ne85lh$msq$1...@dont-email.me> in rec.arts.sf.written:

> On 4/7/16 4:55 PM, Brian M. Scott wrote:

>> On Thu, 7 Apr 2016 12:30:49 -0500, Lynn McGuire
>> <l...@winsim.com> wrote in<news:ne65av$b9$3...@dont-email.me>
>> in rec.arts.sf.written:

[...]

>>> My current top five reread list is:

>>> 1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_
>>> by David Weber

>> I might have read the first one more than once, but
>> they’re not even my favorite Weber.

> These two are my favorite Weber books, and I just
> reviewed them recently on my site.

I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite. _In Fury Born_ is
well up there, and I greatly enjoyed _The Apocalypse
Troll_. For sheer enjoyment I put the War God series ahead
of the Dahak trilogy. And I’m not at all sure that my top
favorites aren’t some of his novellas in the Honorverse and
a couple of his Bolo stories.

>>> 2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster

>> I’m fairly sure that I read that one more than once, and I
>> do think that it’s the best one in the series and one of
>> his better novels, but it’s packed away, I’ve not read it
>> in many, many years, and don’t miss it.

> I also think it's one of his best novels. I think the
> first three Flinx books are solid reads.

Agreed. The other one of his that I especially liked is
_The Mocking Program_.

>>> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein

>> I read it quite a few times many years ago, enough that I
>> feel no need to reread it now.

> I liked all of his juveniles. Star Beast doesn't come
> near the top of the pack, though. Citizen of the Galaxy
> and Have Spacesuit, Will Travel are the top ones for me.

I put CotG in a class by itself, with HSWT the best of the
rest. In traditional terms I think that _The Moon Is a
Harsh Mistress_ is probably his best book overall, and I
rate the not-quite-juvenile _Double Star_ very high as
well. And _Glory Road_ is just plain fun. _Stranger in a
Strange Land_, which I like very much, is sort of betwixt
and between, as is _Time Enough for Love_, which I’ve read
in its entirety at least three times, and parts more often.
And I like the late novels, though among them only _Friday_
can really be judged against traditional standards.

> For me...

> 1) Lord Valentine's Castle, by Silverberg. This is a
> magical book for me; I read it whenever I want something
> to make me feel better, and when I mentioned this to
> Silverberg himself, he leaned across the table and
> almost whispered, "You know what? So do I."

It doesn’t reach that level for me, but I’ve no trouble
understanding the reaction. I had largely given up on
Silverberg long before that one and only tried it on a
whim; it was a *very* pleasant surprise. I’ve enjoyed some
of the other Majipoor books as well.

> 2) The Oz books. Having 4 kids I've been re-reading them
> frequently anyway, but they were a foundational part of
> my childhood.

I read all of Baum’s, at least nine of Thompson’s, at least
one of Neill’s, and both of Snow’s as a kid. (I remember
finding the Mimics a bit too dark.) Mother actually had
copies of the original editions of _The Giant Horse of Oz_
and _The Yellow Knight of Oz_. But they didn’t take hold
the way Lewis Carroll did, for instance. They did take
hold enough that over the years I picked up quite a few in
paperback from various publishers, and those are still on
my shelves, not in boxes.

[...]

> 5) is a hard-fought place; I can put a lot of books
> here. I think I'll go with _Little Fuzzy_, however.

Oddly enough, it isn’t even my favorite Piper: that would
be _Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen_.

[Brian M. Scott]

On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 08:01:19 -0700 (PDT), Will in New Haven
<willre...@yahoo.com> wrote
in<news:456a9ab4-d515-40ec...@googlegroups.com>
in rec.arts.sf.written:

[...]

> My own? LotR, Three Hearts & Three Lions, The High
> Crusade, The Hoka series, John M. Ford's _The Last Hot
> Time_ and _Growing up Weightless_ The whole damn Chanur
> series, Any Vorkosigan book that is more about Cordelia
> than Miles, although I read the others also, the whole
> Chalion series, the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, War for
> the Oaks, Glory Road

The first two are books that stay on the shelves, but I’ve
read them so often that I very rarely feel the urge to
revisit them nowadays. I’m overdue to reread _The Last Hot
Time_, however; there are many books that I reread more
often, e.g., as comfort reading, but it’s one that I like
very much. The first two Five Gods books, especially the
first, are near the top of my all time short-list, but I
don’t reread them very often.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Jerry Brown <je...@jwbrown.co.uk.invalid> wrote in
news:uq2ggb59vn3oc3v1u...@jwbrown.co.uk:

If everybody liked the same thing, there would only need to be one
book. And that would suck.

[Lynn McGuire]

Of those, I have only read _Little Fuzzy_. _Lord Valentine's Castle_
does look interesting though.

I like _The Star Beast_ because of the twist at the end when it turns
out that Lummox is collecting John Thomases.

Lynn

[David Goldfarb]

In article <1fpg8xghh6c1i$.wks6w6fk...@40tude.net>,

Brian M. Scott <b.s...@csuohio.edu> wrote:
>The first two Five Gods books, especially the
>first, are near the top of my all time short-list, but I
>don’t reread them very often.

Mine too, but I hardly ever get time to re-read. New stuff is just
coming out too quickly! I'm just barely about to finish the new
Tim Powers, and then there's the McGuire novella and the new Graydon.
Then maybe I can get to one of the things that I bought last year
because of buzz around them, that went on the backlog, like
_The Watchmaker of Filigree Street_ or _The First Fifteen Lives
of Harry August_.

--
David Goldfarb |"Well, my days of not taking you seriously
goldf...@gmail.com | are certainly coming to a middle."
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | -- _Firefly_

[David DeLaney]

On 2016-04-08, Scott Lurndal <sc...@slp53.sl.home> wrote:
> Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taus...@gmail.com> writes:
>>djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote in

>>> Um, the word "tetralogy" does also exist.
>>
>>It does, but that particular collection of stories is a trilogy,
>>with four books. (It was written as a trilogy about Merlin, and
>>thus, ends with Merlin's supposed death. Which is halfway through
>>the Arthur story, which the fans wanted to see finished. So she
>>finished it. The first three books stand alone, without the fourth,
>>as a complete story. The fourth just continues it, but it's really
>>a different story.)
>
> I reread _The Crystal Cave_ and _The Hollow Hills_ often. Not
> so much three and four, as I was more interested in Merlin's story
> than Arthur's.

So, anyone have T.H. White's Arthur (The Sword in the Stone, The Queen of Air
and Darkness, The Ill-Made Knight, The Candle in the Wind, + The Book of
Merlin) on their reread-on-sight list?

Dave, how about the Alice duology?
--
\/David DeLaney posting thru EarthLink - "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://gatekeeper.vic.com/~dbd/ -net.legends/Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

[David DeLaney]

> I think Emma holds up well, too.

So did Nero Wolfe.

Dave, you're in good company

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

sc...@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) wrote in
news:BDRNy.3410$Rb4....@fx06.iad:

Three really is still Merlin's story. There's just a lot of
overlap. Four, however, is not.

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

Lynn McGuire <l...@winsim.com> wrote in

news:ne985m$tek$1...@dont-email.me:

> Of those, I have only read _Little Fuzzy_. _Lord Valentine's
> Castle_ does look interesting though.

I'll give it a big thumbs up. Written by a master at the height of
his abilities, and a hell of a good story. In a very unique world.
One of the few times that something is presented like a fantasy
story, while actually being science fiction, that really, really
works. (And I despite that gimick, as a rule.)

[David DeLaney]

On 2016-04-08, David Goldfarb <gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu> wrote:
> Mine too, but I hardly ever get time to re-read. New stuff is just
> coming out too quickly! I'm just barely about to finish the new
> Tim Powers,

read it enjoyed it

> and then there's the McGuire novella

Do you mean Every Heart a Doorway, or something else?

> and the new Graydon.

AAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA

{sfx: internet}

MINE!!

[Safely You Deliver, available through Kobo but not Apple Books because they
objected to his description as submitted and he strongly objects to them
thinking they can get spoilers in it AND to thinking they get to set the
description over all available formats]

Dave, my strategic book reserve is growing as usual. the first-responders
section lives in my car

[Brian M. Scott]

On Fri, 08 Apr 2016 17:31:37 -0500, David DeLaney
<davidd...@earthlink.net> wrote
in<news:WrCdnVWyb97UrJXK...@earthlink.com> in
rec.arts.sf.written:

> On 2016-04-08, Scott Lurndal <sc...@slp53.sl.home> wrote:

>> I reread _The Crystal Cave_ and _The Hollow Hills_
>> often. Not so much three and four, as I was more
>> interested in Merlin's story than Arthur's.

> So, anyone have T.H. White's Arthur (The Sword in the
> Stone, The Queen of Air and Darkness, The Ill-Made
> Knight, The Candle in the Wind, + The Book of Merlin) on
> their reread-on-sight list?

T.H. White’s _The Once and Future King_ is one of the two
books against which all Arthuriana get measured; the other
is Rosemary Sutcliff’s _Sword at Sunset_. I’ve reread both
several times, the Sutcliff more often than the White, but
not recently.

I’ve read several of Mary Stewart’s romances more than
once, but not the Merlin trilogy; it just didn’t quite work
for me.

> Dave, how about the Alice duology? --

Maybe not on sight, but I’ve reread both many times and
expect to do so again.

[Brian M. Scott]

On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 21:40:52 GMT, David Goldfarb
<gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu> wrote
in<news:o5C48...@kithrup.com> in rec.arts.sf.written:

> In article <1fpg8xghh6c1i$.wks6w6fk...@40tude.net>,
> Brian M. Scott <b.s...@csuohio.edu> wrote:

>> The first two Five Gods books, especially the first, are
>> near the top of my all time short-list, but I don’t
>> reread them very often.

> Mine too, but I hardly ever get time to re-read. New
> stuff is just coming out too quickly! I'm just barely
> about to finish the new Tim Powers, and then there's the

> McGuire novella and the new Graydon. [...]

Aha! Thanks for the reminder.

[David Goldfarb]

In article <bN-dnZyVvdckqZXK...@earthlink.com>,

David DeLaney <d...@vic.com> wrote:
>On 2016-04-08, David Goldfarb <gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>> Mine too, but I hardly ever get time to re-read. New stuff is just
>> coming out too quickly! I'm just barely about to finish the new
>> Tim Powers,
>
>read it enjoyed it
>
>> and then there's the McGuire novella
>
>Do you mean Every Heart a Doorway, or something else?

Yes, that's the one.

>> and the new Graydon.
>
>AAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA
>
>{sfx: internet}
>
>MINE!!

I take it you don't follow either Dubious Prospects or File 770?
It's been out for a few days now.

(I wasn't sure whether to say "the new Graydon" or "the new
Saunders", but I decided that Graydon was his name.)

--
David Goldfarb |"Newsgroups trimmed back to rec.arts.sf.written,
goldf...@gmail.com | in the hope of subverting society's traditional
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | values in a more focussed, netiquette-aware
| fashion." -- Patrick Nielsen Hayden

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <bN-dnZyVvdckqZXK...@earthlink.com>,
David DeLaney <d...@vic.com> wrote:
>

>> and the new Graydon.
>
>AAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA
>
>{sfx: internet}
>
>MINE!!
>
>[Safely You Deliver, available through Kobo but not Apple Books because they
>objected to his description as submitted and he strongly objects to them
>thinking they can get spoilers in it AND to thinking they get to set the
>description over all available formats]

Is it also on gbooks, like the first two?

/checks quickly

Apparently not. I'll have to email him and find out where/when.

[Brian M. Scott]

On Sat, 9 Apr 2016 01:14:50 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt
<djh...@kithrup.com> wrote
in<news:o5CE4...@kithrup.com> in rec.arts.sf.written:

> In article <bN-dnZyVvdckqZXK...@earthlink.com>,
> David DeLaney <d...@vic.com> wrote:

[...]

>> [Safely You Deliver, available through Kobo but not
>> Apple Books because they objected to his description as
>> submitted and he strongly objects to them thinking they
>> can get spoilers in it AND to thinking they get to set
>> the description over all available formats]

> Is it also on gbooks, like the first two?

> /checks quickly

> Apparently not. I'll have to email him and find out
> where/when.

Google Play Books? That’s where I just got it.

<https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Graydon_Saunders_Safely_You_Deliver?id=Oju2CwAAQBAJ>

[patmp...@gmail.com]

The only books I've ever reread was the Rings trilogy. About 30 years between readings.

I wrote a book, but I couldn't stand rereading it more than once.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <1pfcfygiyjb60$.1s0r1vcpgjgd9$.d...@40tude.net>,

Brian M. Scott <b.s...@csuohio.edu> wrote:

>On Sat, 9 Apr 2016 01:14:50 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt
><djh...@kithrup.com> wrote
>in<news:o5CE4...@kithrup.com> in rec.arts.sf.written:
>
>> In article <bN-dnZyVvdckqZXK...@earthlink.com>,
>> David DeLaney <d...@vic.com> wrote:
>
>[...]
>
>>> [Safely You Deliver, available through Kobo but not
>>> Apple Books because they objected to his description as
>>> submitted and he strongly objects to them thinking they
>>> can get spoilers in it AND to thinking they get to set
>>> the description over all available formats]
>
>> Is it also on gbooks, like the first two?
>
>> /checks quickly
>
>> Apparently not. I'll have to email him and find out
>> where/when.
>
>Google Play Books? That’s where I just got it.
>
><https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Graydon_Saunders_Safely_You_Deliver?id=Oju2CwAAQBAJ>
>

Thanks!

[mcdow...@sky.com]

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 2:34:06 AM UTC+1, Garrett Wollman wrote:
(trimmed)
>
> 1) There's a whole pile of badly-written Lackey books that are
> incredibly emotionally manipulative and for some reason satisfying
> "comfort reads"; I generally reread some subset of these every autumn
> before the new one comes out.
>
That may explain my rereads of the Herald Mage Trilogy, Magic's Pawn/Promise/Price. I'm not a great fan of Fantasy, but I like some of it when it is showing idealism - in this case somebody dedicating their life to service because nobody else can do what they do.

PS - somebody mentioned reading the Bible cover to cover. I do that sometimes, partly just for a sense of achievement. Currently achieved as far as the beginning of Deuteronomy on the http://www.amazon.co.uk/NKJV-The-Orthodox-Study-Bible-eBook-ebook/dp/B000XPNVFI?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o01_ which I got cheap on some sort of Kindle offer (Don't laugh - I think most people drop out shortly after hitting Leviticus). I find the Orthodox view of the world intriguing - I get the impression that they are attempting to freeze it sufficiently far back in time to make https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Council_of_Constantinople_%28Eastern_Orthodox%29 the last word in a debate. There is also the slightly worrying thought that they may in fact have been correct about the Filioque clause - e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filioque#Anglican_Communion

[Joe Bernstein]

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 3:31:40 PM UTC-7, David DeLaney wrote:

> So, anyone have T.H. White's Arthur (The Sword in the Stone, The Queen
> of Air and Darkness, The Ill-Made Knight, The Candle in the Wind, + The
> Book of Merlin) on their reread-on-sight list?

Evidently not me. Well, not by that extreme a description anyway - back
when a ways, I lived somewhere I saw <The Once and Future King> on a
regular basis but didn't actually spend all my time reading it. (The
only book I think I've ever experienced as anywhere near that compulsive
is Gillian Bradshaw's <Dangerous Notes>, and within two weeks after I
finally bought it I found I had time to breathe and eat again.)

More seriously, a reading of the original versions of the first three
against the <Once and Future King> versions has been on either my long
or my short list for the past *two years* (since I started living most
of the time near or on a campus that *has* all three original versions)
and I still haven't gotten to it. Somehow every time it's short listed
either something else comes up, or someone checks out one of the three.

Joe Bernstein

--
Joe Bernstein, writer and tax preparer <j...@sfbooks.com>

[Joe Bernstein]

On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 11:42:29 AM UTC-7, David Johnston wrote:

> But it's as impossible to read cover to cover as
> the Bible.

Um. If you mean "read cover to cover in one sitting", well, I'm pretty
sure there would be unpleasant medical effects to doing something like
that.

If you mean "read cover to cover", well, some older (Christian) Bibles
came with calendars portioning each Testament out over the year. I once
used that portioning to read straight through, although it got awkward
because I was reading a Jewish translation of the Hebrew Bible, and
some of the verse numbering is different. (That was, in fact, my first
full reading of any Bible.) I'm pretty sure many people have followed
those calendars exactly.

If you mean "read cover to cover without reading anything else in
between", well, I'm pretty sure that's been done too, though not by me.

[Lawrence Watt-Evans]

I tried to read the whole thing, and got so bored when I got to the
later prophets that I skipped ahead to the New Testament, where I got
through the four gospels and half of Acts before deciding I was
wasting my time. I did read Revelation and parts of the Epistles at
some point, though.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <ihcigb9mvek205ks3...@reader80.eternal-september.org>,

Lawrence Watt-Evans <l...@sff.net> wrote:
>On Sat, 9 Apr 2016 09:40:59 -0700 (PDT), Joe Bernstein
><j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>
>>On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 11:42:29 AM UTC-7, David Johnston wrote:
>>
>>> But it's as impossible to read cover to cover as
>>> the Bible.
>>
>>Um. If you mean "read cover to cover in one sitting", well, I'm pretty
>>sure there would be unpleasant medical effects to doing something like
>>that.
>>
>>If you mean "read cover to cover", well, some older (Christian) Bibles
>>came with calendars portioning each Testament out over the year. I once
>>used that portioning to read straight through, although it got awkward
>>because I was reading a Jewish translation of the Hebrew Bible, and
>>some of the verse numbering is different. (That was, in fact, my first
>>full reading of any Bible.) I'm pretty sure many people have followed
>>those calendars exactly.
>>
>>If you mean "read cover to cover without reading anything else in
>>between", well, I'm pretty sure that's been done too, though not by me.
>
>I tried to read the whole thing, and got so bored when I got to the
>later prophets that I skipped ahead to the New Testament, where I got
>through the four gospels and half of Acts before deciding I was
>wasting my time. I did read Revelation and parts of the Epistles at
>some point, though.

A goodly chunk of the OT is history and genealogy. Lots of
genealogy, a study which if you're interested in it is
fascinating, and if you aren't is a crashing bore.

Lots of people, on the other hand, have read _The Silmarillion_
cover to cover, which has been described as "the Bible for
Elves." But it's shorter.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <463cee29-b3c7-4866...@googlegroups.com>,

Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 11:42:29 AM UTC-7, David Johnston wrote:
>
>> But it's as impossible to read cover to cover as
>> the Bible.
>
>Um. If you mean "read cover to cover in one sitting", well, I'm pretty
>sure there would be unpleasant medical effects to doing something like
>that.
>
>If you mean "read cover to cover", well, some older (Christian) Bibles
>came with calendars portioning each Testament out over the year. I once
>used that portioning to read straight through, although it got awkward
>because I was reading a Jewish translation of the Hebrew Bible, and
>some of the verse numbering is different. (That was, in fact, my first
>full reading of any Bible.) I'm pretty sure many people have followed
>those calendars exactly.

And the Benedictines and other religious orders chant the entire
Psalter over the course of a week... and IIRC St. Benedict's Rule
(which he calls "a little rule for beginners") says that the
*real* heavy-duty religious used to chant the entire Psalter
every day.

Possibly from memory, so they could do other things at the same
time, like hoe the garden?

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <9f6c808d-9436-49bd...@googlegroups.com>,

Could you identify the *three* versions for me? I have _The
Sword in the Stone_ and _The Once and Future King_ and a
chapter-by-chapter comparison is interesting.

F'rinstance, in both versions Wart and Kay visit a magic castle
made of food. In _Sword_ it's made of modern delicacies such as
chocolate. In _King,_ White goes back to original sources with
the comment, "The Oldest Ones of All were gluttons. Probably it
was because they seldom had enough to eat," and quotes several
verses listing how the castle is made of butter and curds and
lard and other pork products. It's all gone rather rancid, and
rather than being tempted to eat, Wart and Kay are tempted to run
away.

So I would be interested in knowing about version three.

[David Johnston]

On 4/9/2016 10:40 AM, Joe Bernstein wrote:
> On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 11:42:29 AM UTC-7, David Johnston wrote:
>
>> But it's as impossible to read cover to cover as
>> the Bible.
>
> Um. If you mean "read cover to cover in one sitting", well, I'm pretty
> sure there would be unpleasant medical effects to doing something like
> that.

Assuming that it was a 1200 page book I could read continuously like say
the Lord of the Rings, that would take me about six to eight hours with
no distractions. I could do it in a Sunday. But no, I just meant
"continuously when you have time to read". As opposed to breaking it up
into digestible chunks and stopping not because something else
intervenes but because you are experiencing reader fatigue. And of
course I also meant "for me". With sufficient religious dedication I'm
sure someone could marathon the Bible. I'm just not that someone.

[J. Clarke]

In article <ihcigb9mvek205ks3...@reader80.eternal-
september.org>, l...@sff.net says...

>
> On Sat, 9 Apr 2016 09:40:59 -0700 (PDT), Joe Bernstein
> <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>
> >On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 11:42:29 AM UTC-7, David Johnston wrote:
> >
> >> But it's as impossible to read cover to cover as
> >> the Bible.
> >
> >Um. If you mean "read cover to cover in one sitting", well, I'm pretty
> >sure there would be unpleasant medical effects to doing something like
> >that.
> >
> >If you mean "read cover to cover", well, some older (Christian) Bibles
> >came with calendars portioning each Testament out over the year. I once
> >used that portioning to read straight through, although it got awkward
> >because I was reading a Jewish translation of the Hebrew Bible, and
> >some of the verse numbering is different. (That was, in fact, my first
> >full reading of any Bible.) I'm pretty sure many people have followed
> >those calendars exactly.
> >
> >If you mean "read cover to cover without reading anything else in
> >between", well, I'm pretty sure that's been done too, though not by me.
>
> I tried to read the whole thing, and got so bored when I got to the
> later prophets that I skipped ahead to the New Testament, where I got
> through the four gospels and half of Acts before deciding I was
> wasting my time. I did read Revelation and parts of the Epistles at
> some point, though.

I have a crazy cousin who used to read the Bible constantly and no other
book. I am not clear on whether this behavior was the cause or the
effect with regard to his insanity.

[mcdow...@sky.com]

In "Psalms: The Prayer book of the bible", Bonhoeffer says

In the ancient church it was not unusual to memorize "the entire David." In one of the eastern churches this was a prerequisite for pastoral office. The church father St Jerome says that one heard the Psalms being sung in the fields and gardens in his time.
(end quote)
Very interesting book (almost short enough to be a pamphlet). Bonhoeffer argues the value of a regular schedule of prayer independent of the prayer's perceived needs and not intended to be the supernatural version of calling in an air strike. He says that the Psalms can be used as such a schedule. Also the last book legally published by Bonhoeffer under Nazi rule: they weren't impressed with him applauding a Jewish portion of the Bible.

[Joe Bernstein]

On Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 10:30:03 AM UTC-7, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

> In article <9f6c808d-9436-49bd...@googlegroups.com>,
> Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:

> >On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 3:31:40 PM UTC-7, David DeLaney wrote:

> >> So, anyone have T.H. White's Arthur (The Sword in the Stone, The Queen
> >> of Air and Darkness, The Ill-Made Knight, The Candle in the Wind, + The
> >> Book of Merlin) on their reread-on-sight list?

> >More seriously, a reading of the original versions of the first three
> >against the <Once and Future King> versions has been on either my long
> >or my short list for the past *two years*

> Could you identify the *three* versions for me? I have _The
> Sword in the Stone_ and _The Once and Future King_ and a
> chapter-by-chapter comparison is interesting.

[example]

> So I would be interested in knowing about version three.

There isn't one. There are multiple versions of at least three of the
books, but no more than two versions of each book.

<The Sword in the Stone> - > part one of <The Once and Future King>,
"The Sword in the Stone"

<The Witch in the Wood> - > part two of <The Once and Future King>, "The

Queen of Air and Darkness"

<The Ill-Made Knight> - > part three of <The Once and Future King, "The
Ill-Made Knight"

The problematic case is that <The Book of Merlyn> wasn't accepted for
publication, so when <The Once and Future King> was prepared, a new book,
"The Candle in the Wind", became its fourth part. Since I haven't done
that comparative reading yet, I'm not sure whether any of it was based
on <The Book of Merlyn>; certainly some of "The Sword in the Stone" (as
opposed to <The Sword in the Stone>) was based on <The Book of Merlyn>.
However, much of "The Candle in the Wind" was essentially new, I'm sure
of that.

[Cryptoengineer]

David Johnston <Da...@block.net> wrote in news:nebf4i$opb$1...@dont-email.me:

They're no where near equivalent. LotR is about 455k words, the KJV 788k

pt

[Robert Carnegie]

One has large chunks repeated.

One has appendixes that you may not be counting.

[Greg Goss]

I once tried. I was pretty obsessive about stuff as a late teen,
early twenties type. I read 2.5 gospels, Genesis and part of Exodus
before I ran out of steam.

I was an atheist at the time, but the bible is a major part of our
cultural heritage. (I went back to quiet theist, then obnoxious
proselytizing atheist, then back to quiet atheist since then.)
--
We are geeks. Resistance is voltage over current.

[Chrysi Cat]

On 4/7/2016 11:30 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>
> Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of
> those books.
>
> My current top five reread list is:
>
> 1. _Mutineer's Moon_ and _The Armageddon Inheritance_ by David Weber
>
> 2. _The Tar-Aiym Krang_ by Alan Dean Foster
>
> 3. _The Star Beast_ by Robert Heinlein
>
> 4. _Citizen of the Galaxy_ by Robert Heinlein
>
> 5. _A Matter for Men_ by David Gerrold
>
> Lynn
>

I haven't read a single _one_ of your list, and of the article's, only
_Good Omens_ (which I own in paperback and think I've reread bits and
pieces of). It's probably on my "would reread again" list, along with
_American Gods_; one of these days, I need to track down Coraline and
all Neil's work after it. As for the Pratchett side, haven't even
finished the entire Discworld once over yet.

I'm going to be ridiculed for my list, which starts with the entire
Harry Potter heptalogy.

Behind it:

_1632_ and just about everything in its universe (Flint, of course!);

_Island in the Sea of Time_ (but interestingly, a lot less interest in
the Emberverse side of that reality) and its sequels;

the _Joe's World_ series (though it's been so long since I read _The
Philosophical Strangler_ that I'd have to reread it just to remember
most of it!);

the Web-serial "Hell on $5 a Day", if it's even still up anywhere;

Oops. Even counting each _series_ as a 'book', that's 5, and I haven't
even hit Worldwar/Colonization/Homeward Bound yet. Though that might be
because of my having turned on Turtledove when he basically D-ex-M'd the
Confederacy into its destruction when even with the rump US on board,
the Central Powers should have been toast in "The Great War" and its
sequels.
--
Chrysi Cat
1/2 anthrocat, nearly 1/2 anthrofox, all magical
Transgoddess, quick to anger
Call me Chrysi or call me Kat, I'll respond to either!

[David DeLaney]

On 2016-04-10, Chrysi Cat <chry...@gmail.com> wrote:
> the Web-serial "Hell on $5 a Day", if it's even still up anywhere;

Web-serials I will happily reread, and have: Sam's _Ra_ and _Fine Structure_,
both at qntm.org; Yudkowsky's _Harry Potter & the Methods of Rationality_,
which has been finished for some time now and appears not to have transformed!
the! world.

Web-serial I want to reread at some point: Wildbow's _Worm_, at
parahumans.wordpress.com . (Warning: good; supervillains; VERY VERY LONG)

Web-serial I probably won't reread but am happy to _have_ read:
_Luminosity_ (and its sequel, _Radiance_), basically "what if Bella from
Twilight could actually -think-, rather than mostly reacting and emoting?",
see http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6137139/1/Luminosity .

Oh, I think that means scifigrl47's Toasterverse series of Avengers-film
fanfic, and her Tales of the Bots series in a slightly different Avengers
world, count. Hmmm.

And I am completely unsure if the Hitherby Dragons collection/group/committing
of stories counts as a 'webserial', but Jenna's stuff is nicely rereadable for
me as well.

(Finally, I've recently finished, after they moved to a new website but did
not bring along (yet) all the old fanfiction of the setting, a reread of the
canon Whateley Academy stories - high school superhero setting with a
specialty on transgender folks.)

Dave, that oughta hold the little ... readers!

[Brian M. Scott]

On Sat, 9 Apr 2016 19:17:56 -0600, Chrysi Cat
<chry...@gmail.com> wrote
in<news:fRhOy.10801$JK7....@fx35.iad> in
rec.arts.sf.written:

[...]

> I'm going to be ridiculed for my list, which starts with
> the entire Harry Potter heptalogy.

> Behind it:

> _1632_ and just about everything in its universe (Flint,
> of course!);

I prefer some of Flint’s other work, including some of his
collaborations.

> _Island in the Sea of Time_ (but interestingly, a lot
> less interest in the Emberverse side of that reality)
> and its sequels;

The IitSoT trilogy isn’t bad; I was especially interested
because while he was working on it, he was actively posting
to a historical Indo-European linguistics list largely
inhabited by professionals and knowledgeable amateurs, and
the results are apparent in the novels.

[...]

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <f21b7939-1f2e-40c0...@googlegroups.com>,

Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>On Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 10:30:03 AM UTC-7, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>
>> In article <9f6c808d-9436-49bd...@googlegroups.com>,
>> Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>
>> >On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 3:31:40 PM UTC-7, David DeLaney wrote:
>
>> >> So, anyone have T.H. White's Arthur (The Sword in the Stone, The Queen
>> >> of Air and Darkness, The Ill-Made Knight, The Candle in the Wind, + The
>> >> Book of Merlin) on their reread-on-sight list?
>
>> >More seriously, a reading of the original versions of the first three
>> >against the <Once and Future King> versions has been on either my long
>> >or my short list for the past *two years*
>
>> Could you identify the *three* versions for me? I have _The
>> Sword in the Stone_ and _The Once and Future King_ and a
>> chapter-by-chapter comparison is interesting.
>
>[example]
>
>> So I would be interested in knowing about version three.
>
>There isn't one. There are multiple versions of at least three of the
>books, but no more than two versions of each book.
>
><The Sword in the Stone> - > part one of <The Once and Future King>,
>"The Sword in the Stone"
>
><The Witch in the Wood> - > part two of <The Once and Future King>, "The
>Queen of Air and Darkness"
>
><The Ill-Made Knight> - > part three of <The Once and Future King, "The
>Ill-Made Knight"

Ah, right; those were published separately before they were all
compiled into _King_.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <3r-dnSVqg-eOWJTK...@earthlink.com>,

David DeLaney <d...@vic.com> wrote:
>On 2016-04-10, Chrysi Cat <chry...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> the Web-serial "Hell on $5 a Day", if it's even still up anywhere;
>
>Web-serials I will happily reread, and have: Sam's _Ra_ and _Fine Structure_,
>both at qntm.org; Yudkowsky's _Harry Potter & the Methods of Rationality_,
>which has been finished for some time now and appears not to have transformed!
>the! world.
>
>Web-serial I want to reread at some point: Wildbow's _Worm_, at
>parahumans.wordpress.com . (Warning: good; supervillains; VERY VERY LONG)
>
>Web-serial I probably won't reread but am happy to _have_ read:
>_Luminosity_ (and its sequel, _Radiance_), basically "what if Bella from
>Twilight could actually -think-, rather than mostly reacting and emoting?",
>see http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6137139/1/Luminosity .
>
>Oh, I think that means scifigrl47's Toasterverse series of Avengers-film
>fanfic, and her Tales of the Bots series in a slightly different Avengers
>world, count. Hmmm.
>
>And I am completely unsure if the Hitherby Dragons collection/group/committing
>of stories counts as a 'webserial', but Jenna's stuff is nicely rereadable for
>me as well.
>
>(Finally, I've recently finished, after they moved to a new website but did
>not bring along (yet) all the old fanfiction of the setting, a reread of the
>canon Whateley Academy stories - high school superhero setting with a
>specialty on transgender folks.)
>

I read a good many webcomics, but the only one I'm willing to go
back to Page One and reread in its entirety is _Breaking Cat
News._

(When I consider that _Schlock Mercenary_ has been running, daily
and Sundays, without a single break, for *ten years*.....)

[Moriarty]

On Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 1:01:21 AM UTC+10, Will in New Haven wrote:

> Any Vorkosigan book that is more about Cordelia than Miles,

Having just finished _Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen_, I can confidently say I'll never bother to re-read it, let alone have it on a list of things I'll always re-read.

YMMV but a book should contain SOME conflict to make it interesting.

-Moriarty

[Moriarty]

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 11:57:54 PM UTC+10, Richard Hershberger wrote:
> On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 6:45:59 PM UTC-4, Moriarty wrote:

> > On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 3:31:20 AM UTC+10, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > > "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
> > > http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
> > >
> > > Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one of those books.
> >

> > LOTR + The Silmarillion
> >
> > Pride and Prejudice
> >
> > That's it. There's a bunch of other stuff I re-read occasionally, but I can't say I'll always do so.
> >
> > -Moriarty
>
> I think Emma holds up well, too.

So do I. Will I re-read it? Dunno.

I just love P+P. Not just the book but also the various iterations on screen. In the last few years I've watched the Olivier/Garson one, the two BBC versions (1982 and 1995) and Keira Knightly's Hollywood one from a few year's back.

My favourite is the Fay Weldon BBC dramatisation from 1982 with Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul, though I see why others prefer the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle.

Sadly, the BBC version from 1952 starring Prunella Scales as Lydia (!) and Peter Cushing as Mr Darcy (!!) is lost to us.

-Moriarty

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <58483837-1d4b-4d9b...@googlegroups.com>,

Moriarty <blu...@ivillage.com> wrote:
>On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 11:57:54 PM UTC+10, Richard Hershberger wrote:
>> On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 6:45:59 PM UTC-4, Moriarty wrote:
>> > On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 3:31:20 AM UTC+10, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> > > "Five Books I Will Always Reread"
>> > > http://www.tor.com/2016/03/31/five-books-i-will-always-reread/
>> > >
>> > > Wow, not a single one on my list. In fact, I have only read one
>of those books.
>> >
>> > LOTR + The Silmarillion
>> >
>> > Pride and Prejudice
>> >
>> > That's it. There's a bunch of other stuff I re-read occasionally,
>but I can't say I'll always do so.
>> >
>> > -Moriarty
>>
>> I think Emma holds up well, too.
>
>So do I. Will I re-read it? Dunno.
>
>I just love P+P. Not just the book but also the various iterations on
>screen. In the last few years I've watched the Olivier/Garson one, the
>two BBC versions (1982 and 1995) and Keira Knightly's Hollywood one from
>a few year's back.
>
>My favourite is the Fay Weldon BBC dramatisation from 1982 with

>Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul ....

Mine too. The way he just perceptibly winces when Elizabeth
turns him down is a masterpiece of subtlety.

[Robert Carnegie]

On Monday, 11 April 2016 00:30:03 UTC+1, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> In article <58483837-1d4b-4d9b...@googlegroups.com>,
> Moriarty <blu...@ivillage.com> wrote:
> >On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 11:57:54 PM UTC+10, Richard Hershberger wrote:

> >> [The Works of Jane Austen]

> >> I think Emma holds up well, too.
> >
> >So do I. Will I re-read it? Dunno.
> >
> >I just love P+P. Not just the book but also the various iterations on
> >screen. In the last few years I've watched the Olivier/Garson one, the
> >two BBC versions (1982 and 1995) and Keira Knightly's Hollywood one from
> >a few year's back.
> >
> >My favourite is the Fay Weldon BBC dramatisation from 1982 with
> >Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul ....
>
> Mine too. The way he just perceptibly winces when

...spoilers? ;-)

It's like Doctor Who, isn't it - I like thr role as performed
by Jennifer Ehle, and the rest of the family. Actually I kind
of have, had, a thing for Julia Sawalha, at least from
_Absolutely Fabulous_.

In real life she's just a few years younger than me.
It could work.

[Alie...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 9:27:17 PM UTC-7, David DeLaney wrote:

> I have entire _authors_ I'll reread, either when I get to them in the box
> rotation, or sometimes I'll go looking for them and digging. [*] [**] These
> include but are not limited to Diane Duane, Laurell K. Hamilton (don't judge
> meeeee!)(oh wait I'm replying to Terry so forget that), Michelle Sagara /
> West, Daniel Keys Moran, Anne Maxwell, Pratchett of course, Ellery Queen,
> Rex Stout, E.E. "Doc" Smith, and various and sundry others.

Entire authors indeed. For me it's the Big Ideas specialists that I found during my own personal golden age- Doc Smith and John Campbell (during their Duelling Superscientists years especially), Niven, Laumer, Williamson, Clement, whoever could come up with something outrageously physically large or conceptually overwhelming(footnote). I cheerfully admit that plot, characterization, and all of that litr'ry stuff was secondary (but the big idea had to be what I considered well-handled)- infodumps were my candy. (If I continue to fail to find a Tech Manual for the Ringworld I may have to write it some day...)

I consider most of HPL to be SF so him too.

I liked having my mind stretched, and still do, but after I got past age twenty or so it got harder to find something extreme enough to do the job. Pratchett was a really nice surprise.

After some taste-influencing from my wife, I add Braun (_The Cat Who..._) and Rita Mae Brown (coauthor Sneaky Pie), but they're not for not-cat-persons.

I have a soft spot for Heinlein because his _Red Planet_ was my very first SF book, but he's not on my All By That Author list. IMO his best Big Idea was TNOTB which is on my reread list.

(Dirty Secret admission- wife and I read all of Hubbard's _Mission Earth_ knowing full well it was the worst sort of pulpy crap, but hey, it did fulfill our "mindless fast-paced adventure" need for the rest of our lives. And no, we'll never touch it again.)

> [*] Alas, the box rotation has been stuck at the end of R for a couple years
> now, but I'm actually doing better than I was a few years back and have hopes
> of getting it back going again, and sorting some years of S paperbacks, at
> least, in where they should go.

Dude. E-readers. I am coming to love this century. I have one of the older Kindles and this little notepad-sized gadget hold at least two 4-foot physical shelves worth of my favorite kinds of books. I think of it as a practical smaller-size PADD. The e-books I don't have loaded on it at a given time are "shelved" on our 2 TB backup drive.

Somebody should make a larger, full-color e-reader format to hold my _Amazing Cross Sections_ books. Maybe I'll just pick up an older-generation tablet and dedicate it to that.

> [**] One of my major ambitions is to live somewhere there's enough space to
> put up enough bookshelves to SHELVE all my books

GUCS has the right rede of that- the universe forbids it.

(footnote) Similar suggestion gratefully accepted.


Mark L. Fergerson

[David DeLaney]

On 2016-04-10, nu...@bid.nes <Alie...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 9:27:17 PM UTC-7, David DeLaney wrote:
>> I have entire _authors_ I'll reread, either when I get to them in the box
>> rotation, or sometimes I'll go looking for them and digging. [*] [**] These
>> include but are not limited to Diane Duane, Laurell K. Hamilton (don't judge
>> meeeee!)(oh wait I'm replying to Terry so forget that), Michelle Sagara /
>> West, Daniel Keys Moran, Anne Maxwell, Pratchett of course, Ellery Queen,
>> Rex Stout, E.E. "Doc" Smith, and various and sundry others.
>
> Entire authors indeed. For me it's the Big Ideas specialists that I found
> during my own personal golden age- Doc Smith and John Campbell (during their
> Duelling Superscientists years especially),

Yes and yes, though I encountered Campbell _years_ before Doc Smith; the E.
Cleveland main branch library stacks had an omnibus of the three Arcot, Wade,
and Morey stories (with a green and purple cover (of course)) and many short
story collections from the magazines along the lines of Analog [number].

> Niven, Laumer, Williamson, Clement,

Yes, can't stand to read the retief stories any more because the idiocy of the
other "diplomats" makes me want to scream but otherwise yes, gods yes, and good
grief yes.

> (If I continue to fail to find a Tech Manual for the Ringworld I may have to
> write it some day...)

Kevin Stein wrote _The Guide to Larry Niven's Ringworld_ but I don't recall
offhand if it's a tech-manual type like those very old Star Trek ones?

> I consider most of HPL to be SF so him too.

My neighbor's girlfriend just finished reading through mine; she likes horror
(more than I do). I then at his request pulled a copy of Frankenstein off of
gutenberg.org; he was amazed, AMAZED i tell you!

> After some taste-influencing from my wife, I add Braun (_The Cat Who..._)

I bought and read about the first eleventy-three of those, and then had five
or six (?) more sitting in my to-read piles, and then stopped buying them.
Maybe someday.

> (Dirty Secret admission- wife and I read all of Hubbard's _Mission Earth_

I read whichever one was the single-volume one - was that it? - but not the
ten-volume posthumous one. Whichever one it was I read, I don't own, so that
sort of tells you my opinion on its rereadability, since that was when I was
old enough to be buying books for my own library...

>> [*] Alas, the box rotation has been stuck at the end of R for a couple years
>> now, but I'm actually doing better than I was a few years back and have hopes
>> of getting it back going again, and sorting some years of S paperbacks, at
>> least, in where they should go.
>
> Dude. E-readers.

I haz one. My brother gave it to me several years back; I +finally+ got around
the technical issue of the helpfile for the Kobo NOT BEING LOADED ON SAID KOBO
to start out with, but having to be downloaded, when it's what I needed to
consult to figure out WHERE everything on the frikkin' thing WAS so that I
COULD download stuff to start with. Since then I've stripmined gutenberg.org
and bought a _few_ books for it. I could start buying _new_ series for it as
long as they're priced LESS THAN THE PAPERBACKS; however, the kobo store seems
to me to have little or no good way to -browse- books to see what's new, or
what I might want.

Now once there's an e-reader that I can set a book I _already own_ on, and it
will non-destructively scan it somehow and give me a copy on the e-reader? For
all the stuff I _already own_? Then come talk to me. Kids starting out today
don't have tons of stuff already in different formats, and I've lived THROUGH
cassette tapes, 8-track tapes, 45-rpm small records, various audio formats
before .mp3, CDs, and DVDs, and have no wish at my time of life to decide
whether to buy everything I own in another format AGAIN (and no spare cash to
do it either). I just missed 16-rpm and 78s, too, it seems.

> I have one of the older Kindles and this little notepad-sized gadget hold at
> least two 4-foot physical shelves worth of my favorite kinds of books.

Oh yes; I luv my liquid book. BUT it does NOT have everything I want on it,
or even available FOR it, regardless of cost.

Dave, morose, car engine troubles, bah

[Brian M. Scott]

On Mon, 11 Apr 2016 19:17:32 -0500, David DeLaney
<davidd...@earthlink.net> wrote
in<news:49qdndOaTsgBo5HK...@earthlink.com> in
rec.arts.sf.written:

> On 2016-04-10, nu...@bid.nes <Alie...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> On Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 9:27:17 PM UTC-7, David
>> DeLaney wrote:

>>> I have entire _authors_ I'll reread, either when I get
>>> to them in the box rotation, or sometimes I'll go
>>> looking for them and digging. [*] [**] These include
>>> but are not limited to Diane Duane, Laurell K.
>>> Hamilton (don't judge meeeee!)(oh wait I'm replying to
>>> Terry so forget that), Michelle Sagara / West, Daniel
>>> Keys Moran, Anne Maxwell, Pratchett of course, Ellery
>>> Queen, Rex Stout, E.E. "Doc" Smith, and various and
>>> sundry others.

[...]

>> Niven, Laumer, Williamson, Clement,

> Yes, can't stand to read the retief stories any more
> because the idiocy of the other "diplomats" makes me
> want to scream but otherwise yes, gods yes, and good
> grief yes.

With the exception of Magnan, who is occasionally sane,
albeit with great reluctance.

[...]

>> (Dirty Secret admission- wife and I read all of
>> Hubbard's _Mission Earth_

> I read whichever one was the single-volume one - was that
> it? - but not the ten-volume posthumous one.

I suspect that you’re thinking of _Battlefield Earth_, a
fairly long one-volume novel. The hero is Jonnie Goodboy
Tyler, the main villains are the Psychlos, and the
secondary villains are intergalactic bankers.

I read it and probably have a copy in one of the umpteen
unlabelled boxes containing most of my dead tree books. It
was silly, mindless entertainment, but I’ve read worse.

[Jesper Lauridsen]

On 2016-04-08, David DeLaney <davidd...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> [**] One of my major ambitions is to live somewhere there's enough space to put

> up enough bookshelves to SHELVE all my books, plus about two or three more for
> various non-book items and stacks. Unfortunately, another major ambition is to
> never have to move again, so I'm not internally consistent in my subjunctive
> modes. Ah well.

Just install something like this
https://bruynzeel-storage.com/portfolio-item/university-split/

[Lynn McGuire]

I am listening to _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_ on audiobook
in my truck right now. Third time through. Plus the movie twice.

HP and the *** will be a octalogy soon.
http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Cursed-Child-Parts/dp/1338099132

I have reread _1632_ twice??? And the Weber collaboration, _1633_.

Lynn

[michael]

On Thu, 07 Apr 2016 23:27:14 -0500, David DeLaney

<davidd...@earthlink.net> wrote:

>[**] One of my major ambitions is to live somewhere there's enough space to put
>up enough bookshelves to SHELVE all my books, plus about two or three more for
>various non-book items and stacks. Unfortunately, another major ambition is to
>never have to move again, so I'm not internally consistent in my subjunctive
>modes. Ah well.

I understand completely about the desire to have all of one's books
available at your fingertips. I also love the smell of a good
library, as it is connected in my brain to some of the best days of my
childhood.

In 1999, a lightning strike caused my home to go up in flames -
including somewhat in excess of 300 boxes of books. I had been
hoarding books (mostly SF & F) since early childhood, and quite a lot
of the items lost were probably one of a kind. It had been my dream
to hold those items in trust until the technology had developed to the
point where they could be transferred to digital form for the future.
Alas, just as the tech was coming online to get them converted, they
were gone - probably forever.

Since that time, I've found that I don't really feel the need to have
vast quantities of paper books. I replaced many of my favorites, but
for the most part they sit in their boxes (only 20 or so) while the
vast majority of my reading is in ebook form. It turned out that I
wasn't really in love with the physical books at all - I loved the
stories. Since I went almost entirely over to ebooks, I read more
than ever - and the convenience of the ebook format is a huge plus. I
carry a tablet that is loaded with several thousand ebooks, and reload
it with fresh material as I go through my "on-board" stash. Almost
all new books are available in ebook form, and I'm set up at home to
transfer a beloved vintage item to digital if I want to add it to my
e-library. I don't get the same tactile feel as I did with a paper
book, but the system works very well.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <hr8thb5nufrbqlef2...@4ax.com>,

michael <m...@here.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 07 Apr 2016 23:27:14 -0500, David DeLaney
><davidd...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>>[**] One of my major ambitions is to live somewhere there's enough space to put
>>up enough bookshelves to SHELVE all my books, plus about two or three more for
>>various non-book items and stacks. Unfortunately, another major ambition is to
>>never have to move again, so I'm not internally consistent in my subjunctive
>>modes. Ah well.
>
>I understand completely about the desire to have all of one's books
>available at your fingertips. I also love the smell of a good
>library, as it is connected in my brain to some of the best days of my
>childhood.
>
>In 1999, a lightning strike caused my home to go up in flames -
>including somewhat in excess of 300 boxes of books. I had been
>hoarding books (mostly SF & F) since early childhood, and quite a lot
>of the items lost were probably one of a kind. It had been my dream
>to hold those items in trust until the technology had developed to the
>point where they could be transferred to digital form for the future.
>Alas, just as the tech was coming online to get them converted, they
>were gone - probably forever.

Bummer.

I also have a great many paper books, which take up a lot of
space, but although the tech probably exists by now to scan each
one to pixels, I don't have said tech, nor the money to acquire
it.

And people keep telling me "Oh, just get a Kindle, and then you
can get all the books you want on it," but most of the books I
want to reread are old, forgotten by most people including all
publishers, and not available by epub.

Oh, well, in Heaven I'll have them all. I auote Jo Walton:

I dreamed I went to Heaven, and in the bookshop there,
I went, the way I always go, to R
even though I've all the Renault, even though it isn't fair,
even though I know there won't be any more.

And there were six new Renault, six new books I'd never seen,
six unknown books she'd written since she died
and I picked them up and held them, feeling happy as a queen,
and a voice said "Have you looked the other side?

"There are four new Tolkiens waiting, he could never write them
fast,
there are thirty Heinleins, written at his best,
there is Piper, there's Dunsany, there's more Sayers here at
last,
and O'Brian, and Zelazny, and the rest."

And I staggered there in Heaven, as my arms and eyes spilled
o'er,
and I said "Now where to start, I just don't know,
I am rich in wealth of Heaven's books, here gathered on the floor
and four hundred years of Shakespeare still to go."

[Lynn McGuire]

+1,000,000,000

Lynn

[Alie...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 7:00:04 AM UTC-7, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

(books lost to disasters)

> Oh, well, in Heaven I'll have them all. I auote Jo Walton:
>
> I dreamed I went to Heaven, and in the bookshop there,
> I went, the way I always go, to R
> even though I've all the Renault, even though it isn't fair,
> even though I know there won't be any more.
>
> And there were six new Renault, six new books I'd never seen,
> six unknown books she'd written since she died
> and I picked them up and held them, feeling happy as a queen,
> and a voice said "Have you looked the other side?
>
> "There are four new Tolkiens waiting, he could never write them
> fast,
> there are thirty Heinleins, written at his best,
> there is Piper, there's Dunsany, there's more Sayers here at
> last,
> and O'Brian, and Zelazny, and the rest."
>
> And I staggered there in Heaven, as my arms and eyes spilled
> o'er,
> and I said "Now where to start, I just don't know,
> I am rich in wealth of Heaven's books, here gathered on the floor
> and four hundred years of Shakespeare still to go."

ALMOST makes me want to get religion...


Mark L. Fergerson

[Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy]

djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote in
news:o68uC...@kithrup.com:

> And people keep telling me "Oh, just get a Kindle, and then you
> can get all the books you want on it," but most of the books I
> want to reread are old, forgotten by most people including all
> publishers, and not available by epub.
>

Plus, the idea triggers your technophobia for reasons you can't, or
won't, articulate, and rational discussion of the subject with you is
impossible.

--
Terry Austin

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Robert Carnegie]

> And I staggered there in Heaven, as my arms and eyes spilled
> o'er,
> and I said "Now where to start, I just don't know,
> I am rich in wealth of Heaven's books, here gathered on the floor
> and four hundred years of Shakespeare still to go."

For those for whom this does work,
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0786900>
should give access to about 45 minutes of streamed sound
discussion of "the books which inspired Shakespeare",
which does not, after all, mean /exclusively/ those
that he cribbed stories from wholesale.

But what dreams may come if his spiritual essence
has got its immaterial hands on Jonathan Swift,
Jane Austen, and Jules Verne!

[William December Starr]

In article <1fbd73d8-06be-48f1...@googlegroups.com>,

"nu...@bid.nes" <Alie...@gmail.com> said:

> (If I continue to fail to find a Tech Manual for the Ringworld I
> may have to write it some day...)

1. Are you a ruthless hyper-intelligent improviser?

2. If 'no,' you may as well stop reading right now.

-- wds

[William December Starr]

In article <nehhp5$7k6$1...@dont-email.me>,

N.B.: Install it in your *basement*.

-- wds