Trevanian

[ahmed61086]

I want to pick up the shibumi book, but I was wondering if there are prequels, or books I should read before it.

[Charlie]

Shibumi you can read straight, stand-alone.

Been meaning to check out those Martin books. I'm kinda picky about my medieval fantasy.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Shibumi you can read straight, stand-alone.

Been meaning to check out those Martin books. I'm kinda picky about my medieval fantasy.

I thought they were OK, but I stopped 2 or 3 books in. I'm not a big fan of the switching-perspectives-every-chapter style of storytelling.

If you like medieval fantasy, maybe try one of Guy Gavriel Kay's novels. It's alterna-universe historical fantasy, where he'll take a place and time, juggle the map a little and rename stuff but essentially keep the flavour, and then tell a really good story with a little of the fantastical. Try "Tigana" or "A Song for Arbonne".

PS McKillip is a she.

[Charlie]

Nice zanshin, Charlie.

[ahmed61086]

Shibumi you can read straight, stand-alone.

Been meaning to check out those Martin books. I'm kinda picky about my medieval fantasy.

Me too, I have read too much of it(fantasy in general), and now only go for the good stuff. I have been having a hard time finding anything good that I havn't read, I am glad you have pointed me towards "Shibumi", I am going to pick it up ASAP, if you have other books to recommend, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

[Paburo]

shibumi is ace one of the best gifts that i ever did receive....

[Kingofmyrrh]

ttt for King of Myrrh.

About a fifth of the way into Shibumi and loving it.

I'm the worst kind of bibliophile - one that only shops at used book stores. Hey, we're watching every dime in the Kondek house!

Thanks Charlie. I'll be sure to check it out!

[Charlie]

Cheers!

You know, Ahmed, for me, I read a lot of crime fiction, history/biography, sports writing and random bits of literature. I used to read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi but am just lost when it comes to navigating my way through other genres, I'm lost. And I just don't go for series - like, one look at those Robert Jordan Wheel of Time books gives me shivers.

To tell you the truth, I'm picky about the stuff I know well, too. Like for crime fiction, I absolutely cannot stand cutesy detective novels. And I cannnot stand posturing macho-fake-Quentin-Tarantino-bullshit. Like Dennis Lahane and George Pelicanos? Unimpressed. James Lee Burke, on the other hand, Jim Crumley... I guess, for me what it is, is the prose. Many fans of genre fiction are willing to overlook mediocre prose if the genre is in a style they like. Not me. I like good reading, plain and simple. If that takes me to Trevanian, Cormac MacCarthy, those excellent Aubry-Maturin novels, whatever, that's where I go. I just love good writing - and, as a parting blow, I'd like to add that just because something is literary doesn't mean it's good - spare me the precious Iowa Writer's Workshop-type writing, I got no use for it.

I basically like virile Lit., adventure stories, history, sports stories or thrillers that are well-written. Why didn't I say that in my first sentence?

[ahmed61086]

Lol, I think I understand what you mean. You should shiver when you see the Robert Jordan Novels, he just goes on and on and on, I know, because I have read them! (I did like them for a while.....but..) Anywho, Im definitly going to give some of those authors a shot, and definitly going for Shibumi soon.

[Lloromannic]

This past year was an odd one book-wise, I had a bunch of school work and some other activities (made a magazine, woo!) which severely cut down on my reading time, but there was one good thing. I decided to give Douglas Coupland a try, I had avoided him for the longest time thinking that he was going to be hipster-bestseller pap, but i was pleasantly surprised (for those who don't know him, maybe Generation X rings a bell) I bought one of his novels (Microserfs) at a used bookstore and sat down on a park until i finished it. Since then I've read another 5 of his novels (Generation X, Shampoo Planet, Miss Wyoming, Eleanor Rigby and Hey Nostradamus!), all of which were very good, I thought Generation X was the weakest of the 6 even if Coupland will forever be advertised as "the writer of Generation X". Hey Nostradamus! is probably one of the most influential books i've read and certainly one of the saddest; probaby up there with The Stranger and Demian. I'd encourage everyone to give him a try, Microserfs or Miss Wyoming being the most accesible of the ones i've read.
.

[Charlie]

Thanks, Lloro. I had the same view of Coupland but with a recommendation like that maybe I'll give him a try.

[cesarekim]

I loved Trevanian when I read Eiger and Shibumi about 10 years ago. I must be a juvenile as far as reading is concerned. I love simple, predictable, black and white kind of stuff. I was a Louis L'Amour fan from the moment I started reading indipendently. I also liked David Eddings even though all his series are the same. Cole and Bunch were another great read... Basically all light stuff that doesn't require much brainpower.

Does anyone else like reading junk? When I was a consultant all I was reading was work-related stuff like Hammer and Oracle manuals. Now that I have a real job, I don't read much anymore besides papers and industry mags... I also work on kendo books in Korean which are a good way to lose a couple of hours with a dictionary in my hands...

[D.Benton]

Hi Charlie,

I enjoyed Eiger and should read the other Trevanian novels.

Has anyone read James Salter? I reccomend particularly Solo Faces (a book about climbing). Salter (IMHO) has a way of crafting eloquent sentences without clouding my comprehension of the story.

What about John McPhee, for his non-fiction works? I enjoyed his novel Coming into the country, about Alaska in the early 1970's. Speaking of non-fiction, Bill Bryson and A Walk in the Woods, a tale about thru-hiking the Appalachian trail(or at least his attempt) is a fairly light hearted approach to walking 2000 miles or so. Anyone read that one?

Since it's the season, check out Neil's avatar for a picture from another classic holiday author/cartoonist. If you can't guess you should probably receive a Christmas hansoku!

[Charlie]

Haven't read Salter but I was really interested in checking out that Everest book, Into Thin Air (Krakauer, I think the author is)?

Finished Shibumi. Hell of a ride. Great stuff. And wicked, biting satire. I will slap up some quotes in this thread of some of the wonderful, outlandish, cutting things it has to say. It's quite unkind to Americans and America!

[flavio]

I picked up Shibumi (based on the title) in a huge annual used books sale about 2 years ago and it turned out to be my favorite book. Trevanian's writing had a well organized flow to it and I couldn't help to like the satire at times. Trevanian also turned out to be one of my favorite writers; there are some interesting stories behind him.

After reading Shibumi (10/10), I was hooked. I went book hunting in all the used bookstores and picked up "The Eiger Sanction" (7/10, I should've read this book before Shibumi), "Hot Night in the City" a short story collection (8/10, read about half the stories), and "Summer of Katya" (my wife read it, 6.5/10). Word on the Internet is that he wrote a killer Western novel. Eventually, if I ever get in the mood for it, I'd like to read his later works, which seem to focus more on people's hardships, relationships, and circumstances

Trevanian past away this year so no more books from him but it didn't take long for Hollywood to announce that they're making a movie based on Shibumi (with who else but Keanu Reeves as the main character, big shocker there eh?). I believe Trevanian was disgusted with the film industry and did not have good things to say about the movie based on "The Main". I'd still like to watch both of those movies just to see how they turned or turn out; I'd probably end up saying, "it was good but the book was better"

Neil, glad to hear you liked some of his novels as well. If you ever want to swap some books...