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On July 20 2013 04:19 farvacola wrote:Show nested quote +On July 20 2013 04:15 packrat386 wrote:On July 20 2013 04:13 farvacola wrote:"Hey Atlas, why is it that Ayn Rand has such a hard time writing actual characters as opposed to idea vehicles?" Atlas ________ Your assignment, Packrat, is to fill in the above blank after finishing the book. Enjoy  I'm 100 pages in and given the amount that I know about her philosophy the way that the characters are "idea vehicles" is kind of hilarious. Also farv, help me out, ever read a good iraq war book? I don't know much about books that deal with the war in a historical sense, but Jarhead is an excellent look at it from the soldier's perspective. The movie is pretty good too.
I dunno, I started reading one called Fiasco but it was way too judgmental. I kind of just want one that will tell me what happened as opposed to spending all of its time lambasting bush. I get that it was a fuckup, but I just want a gods-eye retelling
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Was just handed:
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/84/TheShadowOfTheWind.jpg/175px-TheShadowOfTheWind.jpg)
Friend of mine told me he bought 6 copies at various rummage sales and book stores and he hands them out because he feels, "everyone who reads should read this book." We'll see...he wasn't wrong with 'The Name of the Wind,' so I trust him.
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On July 19 2013 04:00 BisuDagger wrote:I'm about a quarter of the way through. Anyone else heard of this book? The Player of Games: Iain M. Banks![[image loading]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2ojd0bWql1qzju31o1_1280.jpg)
I love this book, it's always the one I recommend to people new to the Culture. Great story and a good introduction to the universe as a whole.
If you like it, definitely check out Excession. One of my all time favorites, and pretty unanimously considered the best Culture book. It's hard to go wrong with anything by Banks though, all his books are fantastic, including the non-sci-fi ones if you're down with that kind of thing.
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Just a short question:
Has anyobody here read "The Gulag Archipelago" (Архипелаг ГУЛАГ) and
can recommend it/comment on it?
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On July 20 2013 05:01 Paljas wrote:
Just a short question:
Has anyobody here read "The Gulag Archipelago" (Архипелаг ГУЛАГ) and
can recommend it/comment on it?
It's required reading in the Soviet Union now, and it's definitely worthwhile if you want to know about that sort of thing. It reminded me of Holocaust literature and the sort, so be ready for that.
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Just finished Gibson's Neuromancer. Damn perfect novel. Next: the rest of the Sprawl, and probably the rest of Gibson.
It's required reading in the Soviet Union now,
There's no Soviet Union now.
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On July 20 2013 05:24 Sejanus wrote:Just finished Gibson's Neuromancer. Damn perfect novel. Next: the rest of the Sprawl, and probably the rest of Gibson. There's no Soviet Union now.
lol ya, noticed that mistake a bit too late 
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On July 20 2013 05:26 farvacola wrote:Show nested quote +On July 20 2013 05:24 Sejanus wrote:Just finished Gibson's Neuromancer. Damn perfect novel. Next: the rest of the Sprawl, and probably the rest of Gibson.
It's required reading in the Soviet Union now,
There's no Soviet Union now. lol ya, noticed that mistake a bit too late
farva did a DEB.
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On July 20 2013 04:48 TrickyGilligan wrote:Show nested quote +On July 19 2013 04:00 BisuDagger wrote:I'm about a quarter of the way through. Anyone else heard of this book? The Player of Games: Iain M. Banks I love this book, it's always the one I recommend to people new to the Culture. Great story and a good introduction to the universe as a whole. If you like it, definitely check out Excession. One of my all time favorites, and pretty unanimously considered the best Culture book. It's hard to go wrong with anything by Banks though, all his books are fantastic, including the non-sci-fi ones if you're down with that kind of thing.
I love this as well. Of all the series this is the easiest for anyone to get on to if they are new to Culture series.
PS just wasted my time reading this . his books are completely lost on me. I really tried Joe Abercrombie. I did. But his writing is flat, failing to be funny when he tries to be, then tries to be coarse when it comes to talking about sex and stuff but it really comes off as awkward writing. Its boring, I always try to stick till the end of the book and treally gave it a chance but........ complete waste of my day.
![[image loading]](https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQuJ3WZLHERUJa_ChaTM16X_6djt7bpfUmhQ1dw6zAx57u95ljc)
Also just re read dune series. That shit is good.
Everyone also needs to read Enders game before it comes out. On 2nd thought.. MAYBE not. Sometimes books are much better than the movies.. im so scared the movie is gonna suck. HAHA
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On July 20 2013 10:01 kellymilkies wrote:Show nested quote +On July 20 2013 04:48 TrickyGilligan wrote:On July 19 2013 04:00 BisuDagger wrote:I'm about a quarter of the way through. Anyone else heard of this book? The Player of Games: Iain M. Banks I love this book, it's always the one I recommend to people new to the Culture. Great story and a good introduction to the universe as a whole. If you like it, definitely check out Excession. One of my all time favorites, and pretty unanimously considered the best Culture book. It's hard to go wrong with anything by Banks though, all his books are fantastic, including the non-sci-fi ones if you're down with that kind of thing. I love this as well. Of all the series this is the easiest for anyone to get on to if they are new to Culture series. PS just wasted my time reading this . his books are completely lost on me. I really tried Joe Abercrombie. I did. But his writing is flat, failing to be funny when he tries to be, then tries to be coarse when it comes to talking about sex and stuff but it really comes off as awkward writing. Its boring, I always try to stick till the end of the book and treally gave it a chance but........ complete waste of my day. Also just re read dune series. That shit is good. Everyone also needs to read Enders game before it comes out. On 2nd thought.. MAYBE not. Sometimes books are much better than the movies.. im so scared the movie is gonna suck. HAHA
Crazy you didn't like Abercrombie. The First Law Trilogy I think is fantastic. Best Served Cold is his best stand alone book imo even though it is kind of like a sequal to the trilogy so if you didn't like that you probably wont like the trilogy.
I too am super excited about the Ender's movies. Probably give at least the first book a reread before the movie comes out.
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Hey packrat quick question.
How are you able to read so quickly? According to your posts since the 14th you have read A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, Alice in Wonderland, Dr. No and are now reading Atlas Shrugged. I thought I read quickly but you take it to another level. I mean The two ASOIAF books plus Alice in Wonderaland alone has to be more than 2000 pages.
So I'm just curious as to how your able to churn through books like that. Is it just alot of free time completely devoted to reading?
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On July 20 2013 23:09 Syn Harvest wrote:
Hey packrat quick question.
How are you able to read so quickly? According to your posts since the 14th you have read A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, Alice in Wonderland, Dr. No and are now reading Atlas Shrugged. I thought I read quickly but you take it to another level. I mean The two ASOIAF books plus Alice in Wonderaland alone has to be more than 2000 pages.
So I'm just curious as to how your able to churn through books like that. Is it just alot of free time completely devoted to reading?
I'm not the guy in question, but I read all five ASOIAF books in about two weeks, so it's definitely doable. You just sit down and read for awhile. I used to do it in the evenings until I went to bed.
OT: I read Murakami's Wind-up Bird Chronicle awhile ago; first Murakami book I'd ever read. I thought it was pretty good, despite being really confusing/surreal and despite having a literary style that I didn't care for (I hate postmodernism with a passion). It was just a book that felt really good to finish. It elicited feeling rather than philosophical quandaries, which is cool.
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... Peter Pan ...
How is it? I've been wanting to put it on my 'to do' list, but haven't found anyone who'd actually read it (as opposed to have seen the film ^^).
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Anyone read The Divine Comedy? Just finished Inferno. Required reading for uni.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/y8tF4u1.jpg)
edit - actually it's motivated me to start playing some warcraft 3 again, especially the frozen throne. Something about the demonology. Hellscapes abound in both.
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Yeah, and some books are definitely faster to read than others. I'm pretty sure that when I read Martin I'm twice as fast as when I read Proust, and I'm nto even talking about Kant.
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On July 20 2013 23:46 ohsea.toc wrote:Anyone read The Divine Comedy? Just finished Inferno. Required reading for uni. edit - actually it's motivated me to start playing some warcraft 3 again, especially the frozen throne. Something about the demonology. Hellscapes abound in both.
I did - a much bigger and illustrated version by Botticelli. Quite fun, although the references and analogies require a solid understanding of medieval italy - especially the whole holy roman empire vs pope dual that occured in dante's days.
Still, quite an interesting work. A bit tedious at times but some of the analogies and torture methods are... quite diablo-esque, although i guess diablo should be referred to as ''dante-esque''. All in all - good book.
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On July 20 2013 23:46 corumjhaelen wrote:
Yeah, and some books are definitely faster to read than others. I'm pretty sure that when I read Martin I'm twice as fast as when I read Proust, and I'm nto even talking about Kant.
I took some courses in the Slavic Department for the past couple of years, and had this one really awesome prof in a couple of them. In the Nabokov class that he taught, he would frequently allude to/compliment Proust's In Search of Lost Time, and Nabokov apparently thought it was one of the best things of the 20th century. So I'm sad to say that I haven't read it. I wish I was better at French, honestly; it would be cool to read it in the original language. That said, are the translations good enough that it retains the super-awesomeness that everyone describes it as possessing, since I'm looking for something to read? 
I did - a much bigger and illustrated version by Botticelli. Quite fun, although the references and analogies require a solid understanding of medieval italy - especially the whole holy roman empire vs pope dual that occured in dante's days.
Still, quite an interesting work. A bit tedious at times but some of the analogies and torture methods are... quite diablo-esque, although i guess diablo should be referred to as ''dante-esque''. All in all - good book.
Divine Comedy is probably one of the top three works ever in terms of breadth, sophistication, lasting influence, and creativity, in my opinion. When you consider that it pretty much created (legitimized/increased it to the level of a "prestigious" language) modern Italian and subsumed pretty much every genre, it's hard not to love it .
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Just finished a complete reread of the Wheel of Time series, really refreshing to start with Eye of the world and just bang them out in a little less than a month.
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On July 21 2013 00:01 Shiori wrote:Show nested quote +On July 20 2013 23:46 corumjhaelen wrote:
Yeah, and some books are definitely faster to read than others. I'm pretty sure that when I read Martin I'm twice as fast as when I read Proust, and I'm nto even talking about Kant. I took some courses in the Slavic Department for the past couple of years, and had this one really awesome prof in a couple of them. In the Nabokov class that he taught, he would frequently allude to/compliment Proust's In Search of Lost Time, and Nabokov apparently thought it was one of the best things of the 20th century. So I'm sad to say that I haven't read it. I wish I was better at French, honestly; it would be cool to read it in the original language. That said, are the translations good enough that it retains the super-awesomeness that everyone describes it as possessing, since I'm looking for something to read?
Well, I have obviously not read any translation, but I'd probably pick one up if the book thread wass revived and decided to pick up Swan's way. My understanding is that there is an older translations (Montcrieff) that is quite good, and that there is a more recent one in which each volume is translated by a different person. I've heard very good things about the modern Swan's way translation. My advice would be to go to a library or a book shop, read a few pages of each, and pick up the one you like the most. If your French is pretty good, you could even read some passages in parallel in French, I quite like bilingual version when I can pick them up. You can even ask me which passages are worth it if you want
As for wether it's worth it, even translated, my answer is definitely yes, no doubt about it. For one thing, there have been many people who have read it in English and loved it. Secondly, I'm sure some of Proust style is translatable, even though it is very particular. Finally, some people have, and I used to have an image of Proust as someone who liked style over substance. Nothing is further from the truth, it's just that the substance is not for everyone, not because it is particularly obscure, but because it requires a specific form of sensibility I think. But if Proust talks to you, then it's totally worth it.
I actually wrote something much more enthusiastic at first, but I don't want to hype you up to a disappointment. Anyway, everyone who likes reading should try Proust in my opinion. At worst it's not your stuff, but if it is...
Oh yeah, and 2013 is the 100th anniversary of the parution of the first volume, Du Côté de chez Swann, so that's one more good reason to try it !
Edit : also, if the 2500 pages scare you, you can start by just reading the first's volume second part Un Amour de Swann, which is almost autonomous and avoid having to deal with the young narrator sometimes annoying attitude, which is off putting for some people.
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Hey guys, I realize this must have been asked about a hundred times already in this thread and the previous ones (from the past years) but could someone recommend me the The Black Company series by Glen Cook?
I've heard very mixed reviews about it personally from a few friends. Some claim to be brilliant, dark and very captivating, while others claim it to be bland, with a hard to grasp plot and overall badly written as far as fighting and character development goes.
I know I should read it myself and make up my own mind about it, but I'm ordering books ATM and am wondering whether they're worth ordering as well.
And just for the sake of being on topic , I just picked up:
![[image loading]](http://booklips.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/joyland-premiera.jpg)
and am waiting for a fair price on Dan Brown's Inferno. ATM in Poland they're sold for 100 PLN and only available in hardcover editions (which is a lot, considering a normal books goes for anything between 20 to 40 PLN).
edit: Joyland will be a small interlude for me between Wizard and the Glass and Wolves of Calla
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EPT
