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Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Elizabeth Gilbert | 2016 | Education
9
7.8 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
So may good ideas. A writers philosophy that can be read over and over. Not preachy. (0 more)
When you are open to ideas, they will come to you. What you do with them is up to you.
This was a great book which was really helpful. This is almost like a philosophical view on what it means to be a writer and what you should do about it. I would keep an open mind when you read it though because some of Gilberts ideas might seem a bit far fetched. As a writer though, I felt I could grasp her ideas, understand them and even relate. This is a book to read over and over, even if it is just to open your mind. So many good quotes in this book, it is hard to know where to start.
  
Haggopian and Other Stories
Haggopian and Other Stories
Brian Lumley | 2011 | Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Two-dozen short stories connected (in varying degrees) to Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, highlighting Lumley's personal take on this particular milieu - he's an enthusiastic pasticheur, but much better at replicating Lovecraft's style than his substance. (He also has a go at being Robert E Howard in a couple of these stories.)

A really mixed bag, all told: there are a handful of very good stories, like the one the book is named for, and a few others contain promising imagery or moments (an oil rig drills down into something it shouldn't; Lovecraft scholars should be able to guess what), but many others become repetitive and slightly tedious. If nothing else the stories here illustrate that, bereft of the philosophy underpinning Lovecraft's own work, the Mythos trappings just become a selection of campy props and costumes that aren't particularly scary.
  
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Sara Becker (20 KP) rated Hyperion in Books

Jan 15, 2018  
Hyperion
Hyperion
Dan Simmons | 1989 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Characters, plot, settings, all of it. (0 more)
One of My All-Time Favorite Series
If you like Sci-fi and haven't read the Hyperion series yet, you're doing yourself a disservice. It has wonderful plots that intertwine with each other, vivid imagery, complex characters that are so well developed that you really care what happens to them. The series delves into many topics, such as religion, philosophy, technology, war, and science. As soon as I finished this one, I picked up the other 3 in the series, without even reading a description of them. The final book made me cry. I am just starting over with this first book again, hoping to catch things I missed the first read-through.

I can't say enough good things about Dan Simmons' detailed universe in the Hyperion Cantos.

Just read it, you won't regret it.