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<p class="lead blog-description">Random musings on books, code, and tabletop games.</p>
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<article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/11/15/2003-11-15/" class="u-url">Recent Viewing</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/11/15/2003-11-15/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-11-15T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-11-15 00:00">2003-11-15 00:00</time></a></p>
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<li>
<p><cite>Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World</cite>. Inspired by the
novels by Patrick O'Brian, directed by Peter Weir, screenplay by Peter
Weir and John Collee. This is a good movie, providing a vivid and
realistic depiction of life on board a frigate in the British Royal
Navy of the Napoleonic era, and that is its primary merit. Although it
is not based on any one of the novels directly, drawing on events from
several novels, the resulting story is reasonable, and reasonably
focused. The movie does capture to some degree the relationship
between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, but it is less successful
here, since most of the formative events in their friendship take
place long before the movie starts, and would take too much time to
explore in full.</p>
<p>In the end, I think <cite class="series">Aubrey and Maturin</cite> would have been
better served by a film of the the book <cite>Master and Commander</cite>.</p>
</li>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/11/11/2003-11-11/" class="u-url">Recent Reading</a></h2>
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<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/11/11/2003-11-11/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-11-11T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-11-11 00:00">2003-11-11 00:00</time></a></p>
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<li><p><cite>The Shining Company</cite>, by Rosemary Sutcliff, 1990, Recorded Books,
1994, read by Ron Keith. Based on <cite>The Gododdin</cite>, the earliest
surviving North British poem, this is the story, seen through the eyes
of a young shield bearer, of the British resistance in the 7th century
to the Saxon invasion of North Britian. As usual, Rosemary Sutcliff
does an excellent job of bringing us back in time. Ron Keith does a
very good reading of the story.</p></li>
</ul>
<section id="section-1"><h2>2014-11-04</h2>
<p>I ought to find and read more Rosemary Sutcliff books.</p>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/11/10/2003-11-10/" class="u-url">Recent Reading</a></h2>
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<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/11/10/2003-11-10/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-11-10T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-11-10 00:00">2003-11-10 00:00</time></a></p>
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<li><p><cite>Eagle in the Snow</cite>, by Wallace Breem. Well written but depressing
novel of "General Maximus and Rome's last stand", to quote the cover.
I'll have to look for his other books, <cite>The Leopard and the Cliff</cite> and
<cite>The Legate's Daughter</cite>.</p></li>
</ul>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/11/09/2003-11-09-the-road-to-middle-earth/" class="u-url">Recent Reading</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/11/09/2003-11-09-the-road-to-middle-earth/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-11-09T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-11-09 00:00">2003-11-09 00:00</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2003/11/09/2003-11-09-the-road-to-middle-earth/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2003/11/09/2003-11-09.html">Comments</a>
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<li><p><cite>The Road to Middle-Earth</cite>, Revised and Expanded Edition, by Tom
Shippey. (Copyright 2003). Most literary critics have regarded
Tolkien's fiction with disdain, denied that it could have any merit
for an adult reader, and have consistently misunderstood and
misinterpreted it, when they <em>have</em> bothered to read it at all. In
Shippey's words, it makes “[...] many literary critics avert their
eyes, get names wrong, write about things that aren't there, and miss
the most obvious points of success.” Shippey's book starts with the
idea that this disdain may be a reflection of the antipathy between
the proponents of “Lit.” and “Lang.”, between the literary
critics and teachers of literature on the one hand and the
philologists, including Tolkien, on the other hand. Shippey examines
how Tolkien's professional background led to and influenced the
creation of <cite>The Lord of the Ring</cite> and shows the subtleties involved
in that creation that are almost inevitably missed by the literary
critics.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Science fiction and fantasy often regarded with disdain by literary
critics, frequently even more than other “genre” fiction. I think
literary critics are looking for certain specific criteria when they
judge a work and are not willing to consider that their criteria may
<em>not</em>, in fact, be universally useful in judging all works. In effect,
they are blinded by their preconceived notions and miss the things
that make some science fiction or fantasy good.</p>
<p>In practice I think that the criteria for judging science fiction and
fantasy and the criteria for judging literature are overlapping sets:
some criteria are shared, but there are additional criteria that must
be considered when judging science fiction or fantasy, and some of the
criteria for literature don't apply.</p>
<nav><ul itemprop="keywords" class="tags">
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/11/04/2003-11-04/" class="u-url">Recent Reading</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/11/04/2003-11-04/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-11-04T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-11-04 00:00">2003-11-04 00:00</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2003/11/04/2003-11-04/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2003/11/04/2003-11-04.html">Comments</a>
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<ul class="simple">
<li><p><cite>Wildtrack</cite>, by Bernard Cornwell. One of his modern period nautical
adventure novels, written early in his career. Enjoyable.</p></li>
<li><p><cite>Quicksilver</cite>, by Neal Stephenson. Quirky and interesting historical
exploring seventeenth century scientific thought and political
intrigue; rather prolix, as one would expect from the ground it tries
to cover. Enjoyable to those who don't mind a big book.</p></li>
<li><p><cite>The Shadow of the Lion</cite>, by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Dave
Freer. A very good, though demanding, historical fantasy of magic,
religion, politics, and romance in a richly imagined Venice of an
alternate 16th century. While I am reminded to a certain degree of the
Merovingian Nights shared-world anthologies (there were some close but
not exact parallels) this is ultimately a very different story.</p></li>
</ul>
<nav><ul itemprop="keywords" class="tags">
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/10/18/2003-10-18/" class="u-url">Recent Reading</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/10/18/2003-10-18/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-10-18T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-10-18 00:00">2003-10-18 00:00</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2003/10/18/2003-10-18/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2003/10/18/2003-10-18.html">Comments</a>
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</header><div class="e-content entry-content">
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><cite>Master of Rain</cite>, by Tom Bradby. This is an interesting murder mystery
set in the late 1920s in Shanghai.</p></li>
<li><p><cite>Sign of the Unicorn</cite>, by Roger Zelazny. This is the the third novel
in the first Amber series. I listened to the unabridged audio version
from Sunset Productions over the course of a week or so in my car
going back and forth to work, and enjoyed it immensely.</p></li>
</ul>
<nav><ul itemprop="keywords" class="tags">
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/10/15/2003-10-15/" class="u-url">Recent Reading</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/10/15/2003-10-15/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-10-15T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-10-15 00:00">2003-10-15 00:00</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2003/10/15/2003-10-15/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2003/10/15/2003-10-15.html">Comments</a>
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<ul class="simple">
<li><p><cite>Point of Honor</cite>, by Madeleine E. Robins. This is a “hardboiled
Regency romance”, with an intelligent, resourceful heroine living
living as an outcast from society, murder, blackmail, political
intrigue, ranging from low stews to high society balls. Very well
written.</p></li>
</ul>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/10/14/2003-10-14/" class="u-url">Recent Reading</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/10/14/2003-10-14/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-10-14T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-10-14 00:00">2003-10-14 00:00</time></a></p>
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<li><p><cite>Nice Princes in Amber</cite>, by Roger Zelazny. This is the first book
in the first Amber series. I listened to this unabridged audio
version from Sunset Productions, read by the author, in my car of
the course of a couple of weeks. I've always enjoyed the Roger
Zelazny's fiction, and the Amber books in particular, so it was
interesting to see how they stood up in their audio versions;
overall, quite well. I <a class="reference external" href="pages/notes/#rereading-books">reread</a> both Amber series every five to ten
years or so.</p></li>
</ul>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/10/12/2003-10-12/" class="u-url">Recent Reading</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/10/12/2003-10-12/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-10-12T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-10-12 00:00">2003-10-12 00:00</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2003/10/12/2003-10-12/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2003/10/12/2003-10-12.html">Comments</a>
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<li><p><cite>The Iron Hand of Mars</cite> and <cite>Poseidon's Gold</cite>, by Lindsey Davis. It's
interesting to see Falco in Gaul and Germania in the first book, and
to see how Falco deals with his absentee father in the second.</p></li>
<li><p><cite>Orlando: A Biography</cite>, by Virginia Woolf. (Surprisingly, if I recall
correctly, the film version is a fairly good adaptation.)</p></li>
</ul>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2003/10/09/2003-10-09/" class="u-url">Recent Reading</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2003/10/09/2003-10-09/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2003-10-09T00:00:00-05:00" title="2003-10-09 00:00">2003-10-09 00:00</time></a></p>
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<li><p><cite>Silver Pigs</cite>, <cite>Shadows in Bronze</cite>, and <cite>Venus in Copper</cite>, and I'm
working on <cite>The Iron Hand of Mars</cite>, by Lindsey Davis. Prompted by
reading one of the later books in the series <a class="reference external" href="posts/2003/10/03/2003-10-03/#one-virgin-too-many">One Virgin Too Many</a>, I've been re-
reading Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didius Falco books. So far I've re-read
the first three, and I'm working on the fourth. These are all very
good books.</p></li>
<li><p><cite>Shadow Warrior, Book 1: The Wind After Time</cite>, <cite>The Shadow Warrior,
Book 2: Hunt the Heavens</cite>, and <cite>Shadow Warrior, Book 3: Darkness of
God</cite>, by Chris Bunch. Adequate space opera.</p></li>
<li><p><cite>Titan</cite>, <cite>Wizard</cite>, and <cite>Demon</cite>, by John Varley. Fantastically
inventive, these are wonderful books.</p></li>
</ul>
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<h4>About</h4>
<p>Lacking Natural Simplicity is one, not particularly flattering,
definition of sophisticated.
This blog chronicles my journey through our at times too complicated
and sophisticated world. </p>
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<p>This site uses no cookies directly, but I expect the <a href="https://disqus.com/">Disqus</a> comments use cookies at disqus.com.</p>
<h4>Links</h4>
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<li><a href="pages/about-the-blog/index.html">About the Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="pages/colophon/index.html">Colophon</a></li>
<li><a href="pages/typographical-conventions/index.html">Typographical Conventions</a></li>
<li><a href="pages/static-pages-index/index.html">Pages</a></li>
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<a href="http://tkb.tx0.org/">My tx0.org web page</a>
<br> Mostly empty
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<li>
<a href="http://consp.org/">consp.org</a>
<br> Rises from the dead!
<br> <a href="http://consp.org/blog/blog.html">microblog</a>
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