I haven't been here in a while, since I've been ridiculously busy and couldn't read my hemingway -_-.

I picked up a book about the Perl programming community, which is pretty funny. Other than that I've just been reading the language spec for C++ :/

nunez

Norway4003 Posts

October 09 2014 05:25 GMT

#1243

ah, c++ spec, lucky bastard.
beautful standardese...

Surth

Germany456 Posts

October 09 2014 20:51 GMT

#1244

Kojin has to wait for a month. IT'S BACHELOR TIME.

dmnum

Brazil6910 Posts

October 10 2014 03:22 GMT

#1245

So, corum, are you familiar with Modiano? If so, what book of his would you recommend?

corumjhaelen

France6884 Posts

October 12 2014 18:59 GMT

#1246

I know him by name, but I've never read him. Never read Le Clézio either, both are way too modern for me :p Plus Modiano's carrier is very long, so it's probably quite diverse either, and I have a deep distrust of Nouveau Roman. Dora Bruder seems like the best entry point in his work, I'll probably try it soon.
Finishig The World as will and representation at the moment, pretty clear Arthur is a better moralist and thorician of art than of knowledge. He can be very funny and smart, and very annoying too, but it's a better read than I expected.

babylon

8765 Posts

October 12 2014 22:10 GMT

#1247

I walked past a book fair on my way to the grocery store and left with six books. Then I went back the next day to buy two more. 50 cents per mass market paperback is a pretty good deal.

Some of the stuff I just bought to complete my bookshelves/collections, but the new books!
- Banewreaker by Carey
- Godslayer by Carey
- Roadmarks by Zelazny
- The Knight by Gene Wolfe
- The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories by Gene Wolfe

:D

Enki

United States2548 Posts

October 12 2014 23:47 GMT

#1248

Last Read:
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To Kill a Mockingbird - Finally got around to reading this. Took too long between chapters imo and I forgot some of what happened and had to read up on it. Still, easy to see why it's a classic, and also why it's banned from so many schools. Didn't expect so many racial slurs. Even though it's over 50 years old now, it's sad how relevant it still seems to be in this country.

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The Black Mirror - Batman graphic novel, and a damn good one at that. It's gritty and dark like a Batman medium should be. Would recommend this for anyone interested in this sorta thing.

Currently Reading: Nothing atm but about to start..

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Speaker For The Dead - Thinking of getting back into the Enders Game books next.

bookwyrm

United States722 Posts

October 13 2014 04:56 GMT

#1249

Netherlands12045 Posts

October 13 2014 18:47 GMT

#1250

@enki: speaker of the dead was an excellent follow up to ender game in my opinion. It explored what i liked about ender game: the psychological and philosophical journey of the characters. However it also fall short when it started touching on the religion aspect of characters. In the end the author is mortal thus his works ended up reflected his very own subjective view on a mystical mater that could not be universally translated to everyone, especially ones who came from a different background compare to the author. I finished the book quite satisfying but decided to dropped the sequeue, Xenocide, 3/4 way through because i couldnt stand the author subjective views no longer.

What I am reading:

I am considering to read Kaddish by Leon Wieseltier.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47179.Kaddish
http://www.amazon.ca/Kaddish-Leon-Wieseltier/dp/0375703624
The Author is a fascinating person, excellence philosopher, writer and political analyzer but i have a very limited knowledge about the Jewish culture so i wonder how this gona fit me.

bookwyrm

United States722 Posts

October 13 2014 19:59 GMT

#1251

I'm sure his views are distressingly subjective :p

Netherlands12045 Posts

October 13 2014 22:27 GMT

#1252

On October 14 2014 04:59 bookwyrm wrote:
I'm sure his views are distressingly subjective :p

Definitely. Im not saying all subjective are bad. Its about how much you insert them into your writing. In the Xenocide and Speaker for the dead case, the author are pretty insertive with his view on christianity and religion in general. Its to the point where at one point you could see that all the characters in the book somewhat share a common view on that matter. Orson Scott Card is also a very "critical" person who have gone public with an anti-homosexuality view. Read more about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Opinion

On the other hand, consider Leon Wieseltier. He is the literary editor of The New Republic with incredibly rich background in philosophy and religious studies. Most of his talks was him considering both side of his own critiques, considering both sides of the arguments and admitting that he himself is not perfect by pointing out his own agenda. The difference between him and Orson is that his talk is thought provoking while Orson writing considered Orson's belief as the only truth.
Read more about him here:+ Show Spoiler +

Here is Leon on the current state Ukraine:

On Colbert last week:

(or http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/episodes/w9claz/october-7--2014---leon-wieseltier)

His bio(sort of) in video form by UofCalifornia:

But yeah since i have no clue about Jewish culture and religion at all, i think this book gona give me a good feed knowledge on the matter.

bookwyrm

United States722 Posts

October 13 2014 23:48 GMT

#1253

yeah scott card is a certified crazy person. i'm just teasing, partly because i've spent the last week trying to explain to freshman that there's no such thing as "objectivity" and they should stop trying to be, or pretending that they are, "objective."

KillerSOS

United States4207 Posts

October 14 2014 17:23 GMT

#1254

On October 04 2014 00:03 farvacola wrote:

Show nested quote +

I fucking love the New Republic and this article is a perfect example of why.

For shits and giggles, here's what I'm reading

Riveting stuff, lemme tell ya.

I read that exact same edition for Civ Pro, it wasn't too bad.

Law school is silly.

dmnum

Brazil6910 Posts

October 14 2014 19:17 GMT

#1255

Reading Taipei by Tao Lin

farvacola

United States18821 Posts

October 14 2014 21:45 GMT

#1256

On October 15 2014 02:23 KillerSOS wrote:

Show nested quote +

I read that exact same edition for Civ Pro, it wasn't too bad.

Law school is silly.

Civ Pro is my favorite class so far, as the sometimes overly elaborate, abstract Supreme Court opinions match up better with my background in literature and critical theory than the other topic areas in which lower courts dominate the case law. So far, I've found the reading pretty interesting and enjoyable, though I don't sense similar attitudes among my peers lol

Roe

Canada6002 Posts

October 14 2014 22:23 GMT

#1257

Reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

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Not as philosophically dense as I expected and hoped - more of a fast-paced action/investigation novel (so far, about half way through). Still, poses some interesting ideas and I'm always excited to read the next chapter. I like how it makes you reconsider the prejudice laid out against androids. Got it for my birthday, along with the movie Blade Runner so I'm looking forward to watching it and comparing the two.

Also reading through some of J.G. Ballard's short stories:

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Upon reading many of his stories I realized how skilled he was at the style, and how I wish I could emulate him. Some of the main themes are up my alley - post-apocalyptic, psychological, philosophical. More of a descriptive author than one who uses conversation, which is somewhat in contrast to Dick's Androids which relies a lot more on interpersonal dialogue. In this way I think Ballard plays to his best strength allowing him to paint a rich landscape for each of his little universes.

bookwyrm

United States722 Posts

October 14 2014 22:43 GMT

#1258

Good shit roe