What Are You Reading 2013 - Page 165

Carnivorous Sheep

Baa?21242 Posts

December 30 2013 20:12 GMT

#3281

Bloom's most famous work might now be on the Western Canon, but I'm fairly certain most academics consider Anxiety of Influence to be his most important work. It is predominantly focused on poetry, but it is very short, and if you have the interest I'd recommend it.

I personally like Bloom, so yeah. Kickin' it old school~ I share his disdain for the School of Resentment for lack of a better term (and yes I'm aware of how much of a generalization it is, but...) Mainly I just appreciate Bloom for his focus on actually reading instead of dissecting every last bit of historical and social context. By no means am I disparaging the latter, but too many engage heavily in the latter with a lack of regard to the former. Damn I sound like a less vitriolic Bloom right now I'm just gonna cut myself off right now,

zulu_nation8

China26351 Posts

December 30 2013 20:40 GMT

#3282

yea I like his school of resentment label, at a certain point you just wanna read something good instead of different. I think it's the educational institutions that emphasize, and usually too much, the importance of diversity and pluralism.

corumjhaelen

France6884 Posts

December 30 2013 23:05 GMT

#3283

Les Mots et les choses, Michel Foucault
Great first chapter.

Dirkzor

Denmark1944 Posts

January 03 2014 19:09 GMT

#3284

On December 30 2013 17:50 snotboogie wrote:
I haven't read fantasy in years, so lately I decided to go back and re-read three of my favourite fantasy series to see if they still hold up. I still was in high school the first time I read these series, so I was a bit afraid that I would have outgrown some of them (and the genre). I'm relieved to say I needn't have worried, because I'm having a blast - at least for the moment. The series are GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire, Steven Erikson'sMalazan Book of the Fallen, and Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards. (NB: Please don't spoil Republic of Thieves for me, I haven't read it yet!)

I've worked out a rotation, so that I read one book in one series, then one in the next, then one in the next, and then reset the cycle. I'm on my 2nd rotation now, and doing it this way really highlights the differences between each author and reminds me how diverse good writing can be. All three series are fantastic in different ways, and I suppose this applies to all authors, everywhere.

Also, it's just really fun to revisit old friends. I've only recently realized the importance and joy of re-reading; previously I considered it a waste of time. Now I know there are such riches to be mined when you go through a text multiple times.

Nice idea. =) I re-read a lot. Some books more than 5 times. You enjoy books more when you know what will happen. You notice details you didn't the first time and a funny part is funny way before it was ever funny the first time because you know how it ends up.

If you had to choose, which series is best?