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On March 08 2014 06:13 se7en247 wrote:Just started this behemoth of a book. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DYvWMGC.jpg)
Words of Radiance....wow what to say?
Finally finished it, and it was everything I could have hoped for and more.
Absolutely stunning.
However, one recommendation. In order to really get an appreciation for what Sanderson is doing, you really should read all his other series.
GIANT F'ING SPOILER (Not for WORDS specifically. read if you want to have your head explode! But if you do not desire such glorious intervention and wish to have the thrill of discovering layer upon layer on your own (didn't hurt my experience much - actually enhanced it) then check this out! And be amazed):
+ Show Spoiler +Ok. Look. I didn't really see it either, besides Wit/Hoid (figured that one out on my own, hehe). But one day, I decided to google Brandon Sanderson works. And one thing led to another, and I googled "The Cosmere." And then I found out what THAT was.
And then I googled the "16 Shards..."
And my head exploded. In pure awesomeness.
And then I read all the works he's written in HIS own series.
And my head exploded even more.
Oh, and even better? So my friend and I were going to hang out tomorrow - Saturday, at the UW. Catch up and all that shit. Out of boredom, or excitement - because I just couldn't sleep after finishing WORDS - I went to Brandon Sanderson's website and checked his tour dates.
And tomorrow....Saturday, the 8th...Brandon Sanderson is at the UW Library from 12 to 3.
It's destiny. O_O.
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On March 08 2014 07:29 Qwyn wrote:Words of Radiance....wow what to say? Finally finished it, and it was everything I could have hoped for and more. Absolutely stunning. However, one recommendation. In order to really get an appreciation for what Sanderson is doing, you really should read all his other series. GIANT F'ING SPOILER (Not for WORDS specifically. read if you want to have your head explode! But if you do not desire such glorious intervention and wish to have the thrill of discovering layer upon layer on your own (didn't hurt my experience much - actually enhanced it) then check this out! And be amazed): + Show Spoiler +Ok. Look. I didn't really see it either, besides Wit/Hoid (figured that one out on my own, hehe). But one day, I decided to google Brandon Sanderson works. And one thing led to another, and I googled "The Cosmere." And then I found out what THAT was.
And then I googled the "16 Shards..."
And my head exploded. In pure awesomeness.
And then I read all the works he's written in HIS own series.
And my head exploded even more.
Oh, and even better? So my friend and I were going to hang out tomorrow - Saturday, at the UW. Catch up and all that shit. Out of boredom, or excitement - because I just couldn't sleep after finishing WORDS - I went to Brandon Sanderson's website and checked his tour dates. And tomorrow....Saturday, the 8th...Brandon Sanderson is at the UW Library from 12 to 3. It's destiny. O_O.
You lucky bastard. I took the 4th off and finished it that day but it seems like no authors ever come to south Florida.
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Philebus was nice, better than every other antique stuff I've read on hapiness at any rate.
Started and finished The Prince, it's obviously a good book.
Reading Sophocles' tragedies atm, Women of Trachis is ok, Ajax is better, Electra is on par with that, and Antigone/Oedipus Rex are simply excellent. I might like Aeschylus a bit better though, not sure yet 
Also started Aragon's Aurélien, I'm a bit distrustful toward it so far though, and it's pretty long.
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Kafka on the Shore was good, but not better than Sputnik Sweetheart. But that doesn't matter now because this just arrived:
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/UlyssesCover.jpg)
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Is it just me or is the best book by Murakami the one you read first?
In my case it's the Wind up bird chronicles followed by Norwegian snow that I consider the best. Kafka on the Shore and Sputnik sweetheart were good as well, but the sparkling magic was kind of gone when I read them.
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On March 14 2014 15:50 lungic wrote:
Is it just me or is the best book by Murakami the one you read first?
In my case it's the Wind up bird chronicles followed by Norwegian snow that I consider the best. Kafka on the Shore and Sputnik sweetheart were good as well, but the sparkling magic was kind of gone when I read them.
Not the case for me. I read the same first two as you, but Windup Bird didn't really catch me though Norwegian Wood did. I did a re-read of Windup Bird a few years later and enjoyed it a lot more though.
My favourite Murakami books are probably Dance Dance Dance and South of the Border, West of the Sun and I'd chalk that down completely to how I was feeling at the time I read those books.
Currently reading Five Billion Years of Solitude by Lee Billings.
![[image loading]](http://scienceblogs.com/principles/files/2014/02/five_billion_years.jpg)
Never has it been laid before me just how small and insignificant our world is in the grand scope of things. I've come across descriptions of the time scale that we're talking about when referring to human civilization before but for me it takes some time to accept that my mind simply can't really understand what a billion years really means.
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On March 14 2014 15:50 lungic wrote:
Is it just me or is the best book by Murakami the one you read first?
In my case it's the Wind up bird chronicles followed by Norwegian snow that I consider the best. Kafka on the Shore and Sputnik sweetheart were good as well, but the sparkling magic was kind of gone when I read them.
Haha, I think it may just be that. I loved Norwegian Wood, but Kafka on the Shore will probably be my favorite Murakami.
Just a few days when I was relaxing, I found this nice documentary on Murakami
+ Show Spoiler +
Sadly, I have been slacking a bit by reading way manga, but I am going to resume my studies by reading Richard Posner for this class now that spring break is about to start.
This is the book recommended by the professor
![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41osCWbDmkL.jpg)
Also, why are some books so bloody expensive?
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If I had to guess, they're probably used as textbooks at some college/university and that's why their so expensive. I might be wrong though, and the publishers might just be charging a fortune.
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A number of factor goes in but most importantly textbooks take a lot of time to write and generally sell less, so the publisher ends up charging more.
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Zzzz...I cannot even afford to buy textbooks for my current classes. Time to resort to Wikipedia and Libcom.
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On March 14 2014 10:23 dmnum wrote:Kafka on the Shore was good, but not better than Sputnik Sweetheart. But that doesn't matter now because this just arrived:
Is this turning out to be as heavenly as you expected?
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On March 15 2014 04:09 IgnE wrote:Show nested quote +On March 14 2014 10:23 dmnum wrote:Kafka on the Shore was good, but not better than Sputnik Sweetheart. But that doesn't matter now because this just arrived: Is this turning out to be as heavenly as you expected?
On some parts, yes. On others(the majority) I dont get 50% of what Joyce is trying to say, but I went into it expecting this so I dont intend on giving up or picking up a guide. The prose is wonderful, though. Even when I dont understand it, just reading it out loud is fun enough.
So I would say its turning out as expected for a first read. I can grasp enough to understand the plot and some of the references but sometimes often I am lost.
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I'm little bit interested in Ulysses. What makes you lost reading it? Can I prepare for it somehow?
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On March 08 2014 07:29 Qwyn wrote:Words of Radiance....wow what to say? Finally finished it, and it was everything I could have hoped for and more. Absolutely stunning. However, one recommendation. In order to really get an appreciation for what Sanderson is doing, you really should read all his other series. GIANT F'ING SPOILER (Not for WORDS specifically. read if you want to have your head explode! But if you do not desire such glorious intervention and wish to have the thrill of discovering layer upon layer on your own (didn't hurt my experience much - actually enhanced it) then check this out! And be amazed): + Show Spoiler +Ok. Look. I didn't really see it either, besides Wit/Hoid (figured that one out on my own, hehe). But one day, I decided to google Brandon Sanderson works. And one thing led to another, and I googled "The Cosmere." And then I found out what THAT was.
And then I googled the "16 Shards..."
And my head exploded. In pure awesomeness.
And then I read all the works he's written in HIS own series.
And my head exploded even more.
Oh, and even better? So my friend and I were going to hang out tomorrow - Saturday, at the UW. Catch up and all that shit. Out of boredom, or excitement - because I just couldn't sleep after finishing WORDS - I went to Brandon Sanderson's website and checked his tour dates. And tomorrow....Saturday, the 8th...Brandon Sanderson is at the UW Library from 12 to 3. It's destiny. O_O.
You should check out 17thshard forums if you want some more info and crazy theories.
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Baa?21245 Posts
On March 15 2014 06:35 Ryndika wrote:
I'm little bit interested in Ulysses. What makes you lost reading it? Can I prepare for it somehow?
Joyce is very obtuse in what's he's saying, a lot of wordplay and language manipulation, no clear narrative, makes you work for everything.
Knowing The Odyssey is good, possibly even necessary, to read Ulysses. Read Dubliners + Portrait of the Artist in preparation, don't jump into Ulysses as your first Joyce. Background/knowledge in Irish history around that time + the years before is helpful.
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On March 15 2014 06:35 Ryndika wrote:
I'm little bit interested in Ulysses. What makes you lost reading it? Can I prepare for it somehow?
Stream of conciousness is simply hard to read. I would recommend reading Dubliners or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(or Both) before. They are short(150/250 pages) and amazing. I dont think reading either of them will make Ulysses that much easier but at least you will get excited to tackle it and the chances of giving up will go down.
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I've just looked into some pages of Ulysses, it seems really fucking hard to read, and I've read quite a few obtuse works :/ I'll really try one of these days though.
Those last days I finished every Plato dialogue except Laws and The Republic. Skip Timaeus if you ever do that, it's quite the chore, but apart from that, it's really great.
Started :
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/20/The_Birth_of_Tragedy.jpg/200px-The_Birth_of_Tragedy.jpg)
The Birth of Tragedy. Following my reading of Sophocles. Philoctetes was a really great surprise btw.
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On March 15 2014 06:24 dmnum wrote:Show nested quote +On March 15 2014 04:09 IgnE wrote:On March 14 2014 10:23 dmnum wrote:Kafka on the Shore was good, but not better than Sputnik Sweetheart. But that doesn't matter now because this just arrived: Is this turning out to be as heavenly as you expected? On some parts, yes. On others(the majority) I dont get 50% of what Joyce is trying to say, but I went into it expecting this so I dont intend on giving up or picking up a guide. The prose is wonderful, though. Even when I dont understand it, just reading it out loud is fun enough. So I would say its turning out as expected for a first read. I can grasp enough to understand the plot and some of the references but sometimes often I am lost.
The thing about Ulysses is that he uses words (I'm including proper nouns) that I've never seen before. And quite frequently at that. It's amazing how many words he uses, but it's hard to figure out what the point is sometimes. Like what'd the point of this long list of names in the middle of a conversation?
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I'm almost done with Brave New World. It's great imo. Don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as Nineteen Eighty Four. Still, Aldous Huxley writes great satire and there were a lot of funny names and not so subtle jokes in it. Definitely glad that they I had to read it for school this year.
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finished reading:
![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DR37M0naL.jpg)
pretty fucking great.
![[image loading]](http://www.versobooks.com/system/images/22/original/9781844670536-frontcover.jpg)
pretty good, although, since TheLastPsychiatrist has basically soaked all of the most important ideas of the book, nothing that really struck me as new.
Coming up... at some point:
Homer's Iliad
Random stuff by Dostoevsky
Theory of The Leisure Class by Veblen for a paper.
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EPT
