Books!

The Lankhmar series of short stories by Fritz Lieber. Details the careers of Fafrhd and the Grey Mouser, a heavy-drinking, not-above-thievery, sometimes-sell-swords, patronised-by-universe-traveling-sorcerers, women-loving, Death-defying, magic-meddling, disguise-donning pair of adventurers. They have been re-published in chronological volumes. The best place to start is with White Wolf Publishing's Ill Met in Lankhmar, but the best stories in the series, so far for me, are contained within the second volume: Lean Times in Lankhmar.

A Confederacy of Dunces. It's been years since I read it, but as I recall it's about a delightfully entitled, pompous, fat author who has delusions of grandeur and several debilitating dependencies. He lives at home with his mother in her house in New Orleans. He's basically a neck-beard, but from before the time of the internet. The main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, waddles  through one uncomfortable situation after another. From the outrage he expresses towards his mother's attempts to get him to find a job, to his complete inability to actually work, to his decidedly un-healthy relationship with his girlfriend: an intellectual of the worst kind. It's hilarious and fun.

I'm glad to see Fritz Lieber get recognition for something beyond Canticle for Liebowitz - a great book which seems to have overshadowed anything else he did.

I actually couldn't stand Confederacy of Dunces. The author committed suicide before it was published and I nearly committed suicide before I finished it. I found nothing cheerful or illuminating in it.

I don't remember the book being cheerful or illuminating either, I remember it for the risible main character's many amusing foibles.

You have to be in the right type of mindset to enjoy a book with a main character you can't sympathize with. Terry Pratchett makes one of his main characters, Rincewind, a cowardly me-first type, yet with his pluckiness and pitch-perfect sense of his place in the lower echelons of the universe, you can't help but love the guy. I need characters I can love. I can't love anyone in Confederacy of Dunces.

For this reason I also have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy The Great Gatsby. I can enjoy if as a satire of the hollow lives of a particular age, but I'm not being pulled through by love of the characters. I just don't care about any of them.

Yeah I get it. Books can have a powerful influence over your mood and thoughts, more so than any other medium, I think. If a book is clouding my mind with unpleasantness, than to hell with it!

I remember that reading The Troop, a horror story about a group of Boy Scouts and their Troopmaster being caught on an island with a government-created super-tapeworm, really brought my mood down. It was so dark and grim.

Im reading "Look Back in Anger" by John Osbourne. The way he can put his feelings into words is so refreshing. He says what Im feeling ( if I was in that situation) & uses such a variety of words. I swear I hear Richard Burton as I read. I saw the film yonks ago when I was a wee lad & Burton played it with his trade mark fierceness Im only 70 pages in at the moment but, I can really feel the mood, the passion & pent up anger from the main character. The pages do feel alive & Im kept thinking how this will go. I can see the lives of the characters so easy in my head thanks to the dialogue. so far, a dam good read

{{ Never read any of his stuff, but you do make it sound very tempting to give it a go Az }}

Isn't that a play?

Yes, Forest, It was a play then a film with Richard Burton playing the angry man who seems to blame everyone & life itself. The way the book reads is refreshing & honest, I like the criticism & sarcasm, it doesn't beat about the bush but 'says' what we think & wished to say

Ah so Osbourne made it into a book then.

Excuse me Master Halfwise, thine half that is not the wise part hath said that which is not so much the true thing. Lieber certainly did not write Canticle for Liebowitz; it was written by the author Walter M. Miller Jr.

I was just scrolling through this page when I saw your comment and, having talked with a friend about how he had been reading Canticle, was taken aback that my friend and I had missed an opportunity to bond over our shared interest in Lieber. Alas, no such common interest exists: Lieber is not the author.

Anyway, I came here to ask if anyone had read this book? I first heard of William Morris in John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War, wherein he is described as a precursor to Tolkien both as a fantasy author, as well a man who shared some of his views about the evils of industrial revolution, and the loss of simpler values and antiquated worldviews.



It just arrived and I've added it to my substantial reading list. A list that has, unfortunately, been delayed longer than it should have by the trial that is the seventh Dark Tower book. It's really dampened my enthusiasm for reading.

Yeah, Lieber/Liebowitz, it's easy to slip into a wrong attribution. If I had actually read anything by Fritz Lieber it wouldn't be possible since Miller doesn't really use fantastical elements.

Though I've read about the Well at the World's End, I haven't read it; and to me the title recalls an oral rendition told by a tale-teller in a dark cloak and bushy eyebrows...don't remember where I heard it but the story itself was very memorable. But it was not Morris's story, it was his own involving frogs and princesses and was quite hysterical. I may have to sit down and bang it out from memory. I wonder if it will work as well on the written page as recounted with different voices and such. Likely not.

A darkly-cloaked storyteller eh? Have you spent time in a fairy tale yourself?

Once I get around to this book, anyway, I'll share what I think.

Well I started it at least, as you can tell from my signature. I had a little trouble adjusting to the cadence of the writing, which is much more medieval than Tolkien's writing, but now it's going well.

Edit: the "Greenway" and "leafless tree" symbol you can read in my signature are fun little ideas that get repeated in Tolkien's writing, if only as a matter of happenstance.

Is anyone still reading books for pleasure?
I've put The Well at the World's End on a kind of hiatus, and am continuing the second Conan anthology I have:


The first one was made up of short stories, while this second volume has three longer stories in it. I'm in the middle of the second one, which details Conan's overthrow by sorcery and his loss of his Aquilonian throne. The story is not yet done though, so we shall see what happens in the end...
I am so thankful that I got into Conan. If I only ever watched the movies and got little tidbits of the lore from checking out different Conan TTRPG sourcebooks and rulesets I would have missed out on the delicious crunch and pulp of this iconic character.

And just started the Aubrey-Maturin series with Master and Commander.

(My hard-cover has the same artwork but a different layout)


Oh yeah, that reminds me, I still have a whole final volume of Fafrhd and the Grey Mouser stories. I've been keeping it out of reach while I work through other stuff, but the thought of it waiting for me is like knowing that you have a strawberry cheesecake waiting for you after dinner.

Forest Shepherd wrote:Excuse me Master Halfwise, thine half that is not the wise part hath said that which is not so much the true thing. Lieber certainly did not write Canticle for Liebowitz; it was written by the author Walter M. Miller Jr.

I was just scrolling through this page when I saw your comment and, having talked with a friend about how he had been reading Canticle, was taken aback that my friend and I had missed an opportunity to bond over our shared interest in Lieber. Alas, no such common interest exists: Lieber is not the author.

Anyway, I came here to ask if anyone had read this book? I first heard of William Morris in John Garth's Tolkien and the Great War, wherein he is described as a precursor to Tolkien both as a fantasy author, as well a man who shared some of his views about the evils of industrial revolution, and the loss of simpler values and antiquated worldviews.



It just arrived and I've added it to my substantial reading list. A list that has, unfortunately, been delayed longer than it should have by the trial that is the seventh Dark Tower book. It's really dampened my enthusiasm for reading.

I have always admired William Morris, he began the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with Rossetti. I am studying the Arts and Crafts Movement which he also founded.

I should give Conan a try, pulpy stuff is fun.  And at some point I'll pick up William Morris.

Does Conan count as Victorian literature?  Funny thing about that period - you've got Frankenstein and Tarzan all speaking in very erudite sentences, and have to wonder how they got that way. I shall be very disappointed if Conan speaks the same way.

Conan first came out in the... 1920s? Let me check.

He first appeared in Weird Tales in 1932. So he's definitely not Victorian. Written by a Texan as well, so not British. And I can attest that Conan speaks English well enough, but does not sound very erudite.

Mrs Figg wrote:


I have always admired William Morris, he began the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with Rossetti. I am studying the Arts and Crafts Movement which he also founded.

Oh yes? I had no idea! Was he very influential then?

Forest Shepherd wrote:

Mrs Figg wrote:


I have always admired William Morris, he began the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with Rossetti. I am studying the Arts and Crafts Movement which he also founded.

Oh yes? I had no idea! Was he very influential then?

Oh a Massive influence all over nineteenth century Europe and America. He was an artist, socialist, writer, and craftsman. He basically began not only the Pre-Raphaelites, but also the way women were represented in art ,and the whole European and American Arts and Crafts Movement, he is big news today with crafters. it is hard to think of anyone who was as influential, not even John Ruskin can compete. Morris was definitely a precursor of Tolkien with his interest in Icelandic sagas and also the Victorians love of the Mediaeval world which turned away from industrialism.

When you do the dinner party thing where you imagine the 20 people you would most like to meet in history to invite to dinner, he is definitely on my list of one of the most interesting and charismatic people.

Very cool, thanks for sharing that.

Just started re-reading the Hamish Macbeth mysteries. I really love the descriptions of Sutherland and I believe the tv series was filmed in the village of Plockton which looks just how I imagine Lochdubh. Although Lochdubh doesn't really exist, which is a shame. Hamish reminds me of Petty. Also there is a female character in the book which is spookily like myself, she is called Angela Brodie the doctors wife. Totally undomesticated and head in books, allowing the cat to walk over the dinner. I love these books.

{{ Iv enly ever seen the tv series, which I loved, but no idea how close it is to the books or if the characters are true. Was great fun to watch though. I should look the books out sometime, a recommendation from you Figg is high praise indeed and makes it worth seeking out. }}

{{edit add turns out there all on youtube! }}

Looks like the books and the tv series are totally separate entities, it might be called Hamish Macbeth and set in Scotland, but that's it. it says based on the books, and they really mean it. I guess its ok to enjoy both, as they are both so different.
The characters are unrecognisable. It isn't the real Hamish. if you read the first book called Death of a Gossip, you will understand what I mean.

{{ Thats actually kind of good, means when I read the books having seen the tv series wont spoil them for me, and when I ever rewatch the tv series I can get good and crabbit about what theyve done to the books! }}