I did a bunch of reading for the Great Books this past month, and very little outside of it. Overall, I read through three of Plato's dialogues, parts of three of Aristotle's works and five different plays from Shakespeare. There are worse ways to spend a month than with Plato, Aristotle and Shakespeare.
Otherwise, I think it was just two books:
Declare, by Tim Powers - This was a reread for me, but it's been so long since I read the original that it was all new to me. This book blends together legends of djinns, spy games with Kim Philby and the final resting place of Noah's Ark. All great stuff.
Consider Phlebas, by Iain M Banks - New to me, though it's from an author that I enjoy quite a bit. This is part of a far future space opera, where human civilization has come to be known as 'The Culture'. In this book, the Culture is fighting against a warrior species called the Idiran. A super-sentient AI gets lost behind enemy lines and something of a race is on to recover it. Banks does such a good job of creating a rich world with complicated people in it. This is no exception.
That's pretty much it.
Otherwise, I think it was just two books:
Declare, by Tim Powers - This was a reread for me, but it's been so long since I read the original that it was all new to me. This book blends together legends of djinns, spy games with Kim Philby and the final resting place of Noah's Ark. All great stuff.
Consider Phlebas, by Iain M Banks - New to me, though it's from an author that I enjoy quite a bit. This is part of a far future space opera, where human civilization has come to be known as 'The Culture'. In this book, the Culture is fighting against a warrior species called the Idiran. A super-sentient AI gets lost behind enemy lines and something of a race is on to recover it. Banks does such a good job of creating a rich world with complicated people in it. This is no exception.
That's pretty much it.
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