EPT
Will do better for my next haha. Anyway, there's 3 parts. Enjoy!Part 1 - What book should I read?
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My recent birthday has left the pile of books on pic above in its aftermath. Some old ones I still had lying around, some that I've borrowed plus some that I got as gifts or bought from the celebration's spoils.
I love reading, have an academic background in English literature, have a pretty wide interest, try to juggle between modern stuff and older classics, but, and here's the crux, my reading tempo is really fucking slow. I read like 30 pages an hour which I hate. So much to read, so little time
It is therefore that I turn to you TL, advice me on what my next book(s) should be. Here's a brief rundown (poll at the end)Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged
Borrowed this from a friend a couple of weeks ago and read about 250 pages so far. It's really good but there's also so many more pages ;_; Got a copy myself so returned his book so there's no more pressure to finish it fast.
Paul Gallico - Poseidon Adventure
The Snow Goose is one of my favourite books ever. As a result I now suddenly own about a dozen Gallico books. Only read 2 of them though. Poseidon Adventure would be the third, wonder how he'll do in a more action-packed(?) book. Haven't seen the movie and dunno whether this has any literary value.
Ian Fleming - Live and Let Die
Recently reread Casino Royale in English - I read all James Bond books in Dutch when I was12 or so - and it was quite good. I picked up and am currently reading Live and Let Die (I'm about half way) and am kind of anxious to finish it so I can watch the movie again and see what they changed etc. (For some reason I can never remember what it is that made the bad guy the bad guy in James Bond films - with the exception of Goldfinger. Am I alone in this or does that happen to more people lol).
Richard Dawkins - The Greatest Show on Earth
I've become fairly interested in the works of Dawkins, Hitchens and Sam Harris off late and heard about this book being one of Dawkins' finest works. Though I'm not a biologist, and am sort of anxious about my ability to understand everything in it. From what I understand though he's Dawkins is pretty good at explaining stuff to the layman.
Salmon Rushdie - The Satanic Verses
Think everyone heard about it. Bought it mainly to see what all the fuss is about.
George RR Martin - A Game of Thrones
Yeap, haven't read this yet. And now that everyone is yapping on about the HBO series I bought it cause I need to read it before I watch a film version. Which I need to do cause I hear there's boobs. GFX team's new boy wonder Hydro says I just reread it in a single night. That makes me jealous and him a freak of nature imo. My version is 700 pages which, with my reading speed, is a big commitment ~_~.
Frank McCourt - 'Tis
I loved Angela's Ashes - very good and moving book. Dunno much about its sequel - will it live up to its predecessor?
The Bible
Should finish reading this sometime. Think I'm at Judges or something. It's kinda dry but I wanna have it read just for the sake of it.
William Shakespeare - Macbeth
Want to reread this cause epic. Should only take 2 or 3 hours though and probably doesn't belong on this list.
Chris Cleave - The Other Hand
Got this as a gift from my boss. She usually gives me Dutch books and I end up never reading them (I only read English) but this one is in English so I thought I should give it a try maybe. Usually I don't go for books that don't have some kind of renown though. The review snippets on the first pages etc seem to really really like this book but then again the same holds for Karin Slaughter and that's the worst trash I've ever read.
Milton - Paradise Lost
I've started in this 4 or so years ago and got halfway through it. It's superduper epic but pretty hard to read. Is it worth giving it another try?
Malba Tahan - O Homen que Calculva - Translates to "The man who could do math" I think.
Got this as a gift as well and I'm about halfway through it. It's basically an intermingling of fiction and mathematic puzzelry. It's kinda cool to try your wits at the mathematic problems but I feel there isn't much of a point to the whole of it.
But yeah that's it pretty much. Looking for some pointers as to which books are worth reading, plus maybe some more insights
I'll put up a poll!Poll: What should I read first? :o
Atlas Shrugged (11)
35%
A Game of Thrones (8)
26%
The Greatest Show on Earth (6)
19%
Paradise Lost (4)
13%
The Satanic Verses (1)
3%
O Homen que Calculava (1)
3%
Poseidon Adventure (0)
0%
Live and let Die (0)
0%
'Tis (0)
0%
The Other Hand (0)
0%
31 total votes
A Game of Thrones (8)
The Greatest Show on Earth (6)
Paradise Lost (4)
The Satanic Verses (1)
O Homen que Calculava (1)
Poseidon Adventure (0)
Live and let Die (0)
'Tis (0)
The Other Hand (0)
31 total votes
Your vote: What should I read first? :o
(Vote): Atlas Shrugged
(Vote): Poseidon Adventure
(Vote): Live and let Die
(Vote): The Greatest Show on Earth
(Vote): The Satanic Verses
(Vote): A Game of Thrones
(Vote): 'Tis
(Vote): The Other Hand
(Vote): Paradise Lost
(Vote): O Homen que Calculava
Part 2: Achievement unlocked! FXO fanboyism
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This baby arrived in the mail two days ago :3 It's really super comfy and big hearts <3333 to deL ^_^
The backside lists me as FXO Fanboy so I guess it's official now. FXO Hwaiting! :D
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Part 3 - Rings?
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For thos who care about my ring related endeavours there hasn't been a whole lot I've been up to. I'd like to show one thing though. The usual chainmail weaves for sheet are of either European or Japanese origin. A third category of weaves are called "Persian" but they are mainly used for chains (necklaces etc). The reason Persian isn't often used for sheets (even though it's possible) is that it's inherently slanting/skewed. I gave it a go anyway and the result is actually really cool. Even though I made a straight arm band, you can see the weave's diagonal nature. Pics!
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Thanks for reading
