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England2653 Posts
On December 19 2012 13:31 Days wrote:
I was wondering if anyone here has read and enjoyed the work of Wilbur Smith? Birds of Prey and Monsoon were one of my favorite books of his long series of the Courtney family.
I read Those In Peril and I think it was a real sub-par book. It's super cheesy and comes off as the worst example of an American/Western idea of the perfect life and the middle east that I can think of, which is impressive as Wilbur Smith is from Zimbabwe. There was no depth and every character was so massively unlikeable to the point that when + Show Spoiler +the daughter of the family finally gets her spoilt bitch head cut off
I just finished The Rogue by Trudi Canavan. Again she's not the best writer and the book is kind of young-adult in it's complexity and predictability but for whatever reason I still enjoyed it. None of the dark or unusual terms the book suggests ever happens. Not sure I would recommend them to anyone but they're a guilty pleasure I suppose. Not every book need be a masterpiece. It's almost twee fantasy.
I'm currently reading Persuasian by Dr. someone Cialdini and it's been fascinating so far. Would happily recommend it as of half way through.
Next up is The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris. Could be dumb or whatever but I thought I'd give it a go. I might even learn something.
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I'm trying to get through these over winter break. And maybe one day I'll finish Infinite Jest....
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Amazing book about a boy who was borned and lived in a workers camp in North Korea, and escaped to tell the tale
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On November 01 2012 01:12 Seiferz wrote:
So I finally got around to finishing 1Q84. It is best to just take your time and read it super slowly else you will get sick of it like I did.
Does anyone know where I can get the original Japanese version?
ah, i wish i had read your post a while back. had to put the book on hold... kissing down there...
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i just ended "The girl with the dragon tatoo"... im going to wait a while to read de 2nd book.
@Seiferz i just got 1Q84 yesterday, after reading norwegian woods i was really hyped about Murakami
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Finished Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams, it's fun.
Now I'm reading The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. Not very far in but it seems to have some very evocative writing, though at the same time I have stylistic issues with third person narrators that are so "tell-y" and spell every feeling out.
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Last Read:
![[image loading]](http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6244/somethinglikeanautobiog.jpg)
Something Like an Autobiography - I was actually wrong on my inital impressions. This ended up covering his life up until Rashomon pretty much. Was very interesting though from his childhood to getting into the movie business and dealing with post-war occupation (he actually enjoyed western movies more than the ones in Japan at the time). Essential reading for any fan of his movies.
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Got Fight? - Finished this pretty quick. He basically just rants about a lot of stuff, from being a better fighter to everyday stuff. Was pretty interesting and funny in some parts.
Reading Now:
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Will to Live - Les Stroud book. First heard about it he was on the Joe Rogan podcast and it sounded interesting. He talks about stories where people have survived against all odds and kinda does some commentary, like what they did right or wrong and interjects little sections during them about basic survival tips. Really interesting so far, the last chapter I read was about a plane crash in the Andes and the survivors ended up eating the people who died...yeah, its a bit darker than I expected.
Reading Next:
Dunno, this changes constantly but I got alot of good books for Christmas. Maybe Neuromancer, I have an aching for some Cyberpunk.
![[image loading]](http://onehundredonebooks.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/neuromancer-br2.jpg)
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loving it... <3 malazan
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Reading now.
Really good fantasy book. I also love the fact that its only one book. Fantasy writers these days don't seem to be able to just publish one book and be done with it.
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Read up to half of it so far which has explained how physical electrical circuits can translate into bits and logic gates which in turn translate into what we know as CPU. From scanning the 2nd half, the book is shifting to how this CPU works with programming languages and Windows OS in general.
For those who are already familiar with the mathematics and logic of binary, it's an easy casual read. Something I would pick up if you just want to learn something you can easily understand without having to think too deeply.
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I finally finished the Lord of the Rings after like 4 months of on and off reading. I started reading the Dresden Files because I have seen a few sc2 people talking about the series (day9, incontrol, idra, etc). I'm about 60 pages in and the book seems okay so far. A bit cheesy at times, but it has definitely grabbed my attention. Plus, the writing style is incredibly simple compared to Tolkien, which is a nice change. Here is the obligatory pic:
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I got of school just a week ago, and I finally got some time to catch up on some reading.
I finished In Cold Blood, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and I Married a Communist.
Currently working on De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage.
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Finally got back to reading the Dresden Files, finished the second book and immediately started the third.
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Just finished A Dance With Dragons a couple weeks ago.
I'm going to start the Lord of the Rings trilogy soon, but first I want to read a couple other books. Preferably modern fiction of high merit. Any suggestions?
I've been thinking about reading something by Cormac McCarthy. I've already read the Road, so I was considering Blood Meridian.
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On December 11 2012 16:03 Kenshin_915 wrote:Show nested quote +On December 05 2012 07:06 TrickyGilligan wrote:On November 25 2012 17:27 Kenshin_915 wrote:
The Hydrogen Sonota
I've been waiting for this book to come out, and I just picked it up two weeks ago at my local Chapters finally. Having read all the other Culture novels I'm enjoying this one quite a bit now. I hope to hell Mr banks keeps writing for years to come. Damnit, I can't keep up with him. Not used to authors that I really like actually releasing books regularly... To anyone who's read it, how does it compare to some of the other recent Culture books? Still awesome I take it? I'm on page 360~ out of 520~ and I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. It deals with a civilization (The Gzilt) that was one of the founding members of the Culture that's about to Sublime. An event occurs that might interfere with the Gzilt Subliming, so the Culture has to decide how much to help/interfere. I will say the book is lacking action until later on, but learning more about the Sublime, which is never gone into in other books is pretty cool. It has quite a bit of Mind dialogue like Excession (Well, more than most of the other books), but other than that I can't really think how to compare it to the other books. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, and I can't wait to see how the story pans out, because it's hard to tell how things will develop.
Gonna update my opinion here as I finished the book. The ending, I think, is a little bit bland compared to the punchy endings revealed in the likes of Use Of Weapons or Surface Detail. The book was by no means bad, and the ending does say some subtle things about the Culture, but it doesn't feel as coherent and thought out as his earlier work. For example, I like The Player Of Games much better than this book. The prose was clear and concise, the plot brilliantly executed and straightforward, and there are still twists and intrigue later on in the book. I feel The Hydrogen Sonata lacked some of these qualities. I give it a 7/10 on my first reading.
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Re-reading the Dresden Files for the second time. Definitely my all-time favorite series and the only one I've ever even thought about re-reading.
On December 28 2012 14:48 Zesty CheF wrote:+ Show Spoiler +I finally finished the Lord of the Rings after like 4 months of on and off reading. I started reading the Dresden Files because I have seen a few sc2 people talking about the series (day9, incontrol, idra, etc). I'm about 60 pages in and the book seems okay so far. A bit cheesy at times, but it has definitely grabbed my attention. Plus, the writing style is incredibly simple compared to Tolkien, which is a nice change. Here is the obligatory pic:
It gets better as you go on, in my opinion. After reading the entire series, the first book really didn't seem too special.
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Atm i'm just reading the Naruto manga! ;]
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On December 28 2012 14:48 Zesty CheF wrote:I finally finished the Lord of the Rings after like 4 months of on and off reading. I started reading the Dresden Files because I have seen a few sc2 people talking about the series (day9, incontrol, idra, etc). I'm about 60 pages in and the book seems okay so far. A bit cheesy at times, but it has definitely grabbed my attention. Plus, the writing style is incredibly simple compared to Tolkien, which is a nice change. Here is the obligatory pic:
it gets a million times better as the series progresses. he maintains the interesting ideas and fun story but actually learns to write. and keeps a funny amount of cheesy.
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And The Hippoes Were Boiled In Their Tanks
Bill Burroughs/Jack Kerouac
First writing by both authors; account of life in New York and events that took place in late 40s, namely a crime they both were indirectly associated with.
Also Doyle Brunson, The Godfather of Poker. Very interesting read of the Texas/Las Vegas underground poker scene in the 40s/50s.
And constantly re-reading Samuel Beckett Molloy/Malone Dies/The Unnamable and various poker books, most notably Gus Hanson's book when he won the Australian Open in 'o7 or something and wrote his thought process for every hand he played.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://redditorschoice.com/img/code-hidden-language-computer-hardware-software_3626_500.jpg)
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