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On October 19 2015 10:01 pedrlz wrote:
Does anyone here ever read the Book of the New Sun from Gene Wolfe? I finished it sometime ago and I really liked, although at the end I found a little tiresome and took me more time than normal to finish the 4th book.
What aspect that I totally loved about the books was that the author and the main character never patronize the reader. It is a sci-fi world that never tries to be explicit about the world since the MC doesn't have feel necessity to explains things that any other stories would throw at your face.
It is a really easy recommendation to anyone who likes literature. I'm not really a sci-fi/fantasy reader (usually, I'm not really a reader tbh t.t) but I really liked the story, the prose and the world.
I wrote all this just to ask if anyone can recommend any other book that reassemble this series. Thanks.
I have been meaning to read it.
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just wanted to say u shld keep in mind that wolfes books are meant to be read and re-read. he purposely structures his books so that you can find new meanings in re readings. ive read it the new sun twice and im still realizing new things about it. Severian purposely lies to you in some parts of the book. wolfe meant the series as a psychological exercise
im currently re-reading The Wizard Knight which is much easier and straight forward compared to new sun.
i think there are very few speculative fiction writers that are even on the same league as wolfe. im hard pressed to name them-- gaiman, leguin, card, beagle, ellison, bradbury really thats about it really.
if ur looking for epic masterpieces id suggest Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell by Susanna Clarke and American Gods by Neil Gaiman. both are fantasy and won a bunch of awards on the year of publication, similar to the New Sun books.
as for sci-fi, wolfe is really unequalled in that realm, which is why some people call him the greatest living writer today. Leguin's Hannish cycle is about as deep metaphorically as the New Sun but in a different way. the earthsea cycle is my absolute favorite fantasy thing ever written.
there are always the big 3 in scifi: asimov, heinlein, and clarke but thats kind of a given for every scifi reader.
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Yesterday I picked up Gangsters, Geishas, Monks & Me at the library and didn't stop reading until I was done with it.
The author travels to Japan, then begins training to become a Zen buddhist monk. His routine involves waking up around 4:00AM then sitting in the cold and meditating for six hours.
While he is there, he becomes friends with some Yakuza (partly because they were nice to him, while the townspeople were not). They go on some adventures together (mainly drinking and womanizing, I guess).
He has some good insights on Japanese culture.
![[image loading]](http://www.japantoday.com/images/size/x/2013/04/gangstersbook.jpg)
I really liked his discussing of what it's like to be a monk. He also did a good job talking about one part of the Yakuza. He helped me to understand how society is structured. The book doesn't really talk about geishas, though. The ones he met were more like call girls.
The author does leave a few questions open, though. For example, he never gives a good explanation for why so many Japanese men couldn't resist the urge to slap him in the balls.
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I love that book and McCarthy's prose in general. It is very violent though, but I guess it depicts a violent time.
Reading Black Swan Green from David Mitchell now, it's quite different than his other books, less 'out there'.
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I hated Blood Meridian. Whatever meaning is there was ruined by cheap gore and shocks for me. It's like if Michael Bay made Psycho if that analogy makes sense at all.
I wrote a term paper on how the book was awful. In retrospect, I'm kind of surprised I got an A for shitting on McCarthy.
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England2659 Posts
Finished Room by Emma Donoghue. Not hugely sure if I was the target audience, but I quite liked the book despite the main character annoying me periodically (he's a kid, he can't help it). The film version would probably cover everything the book does. The main problem I had with it is that the setting and everything was pretty interesting and unique but because we're seeing it through a child's eyes, we never get the depth that would be so interesting.
Also I thought the book was set in Ireland until 85% of the way through which is really disjointed.
Not sure what I'm reading next.
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aeon.co
At universities around the world, students are claiming that reading books can unsettle them to the point of becoming depressed, traumatised or even suicidal. Some contend that Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway (1925), in which a suicide has taken place, could trigger suicidal thoughts among those disposed to self-harm. Others insist that F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), with its undercurrent of spousal violence, might trigger painful memories of domestic abuse. Even ancient classical texts, students have argued, can be dangerous: at Columbia University in New York, student activists demanded that a warning be attached to Ovid’s Metamorphoses on grounds that its ‘vivid depictions of rape’ might trigger a feeling of insecurity and vulnerability among some undergraduates.
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Baa?21242 Posts
What's being depicted for the "and we drown" panel?
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I think it's him going into the house
Yeah I'm not sure what it means either
EDIT: in comments:
Thank you so much Larissa! A few people have been asking me about that last panel. I think it left some people a bit perplexed, but your interpretation is bang on! Not only did I want to suggest Prufrock’s feeling that he is falling or drowning into this soiree, the prospect of which has already caused him such anxiety, but I also wanted to subtly suggest a descent into a kind of personal Hell, and thus close the circle by reconnecting with the opening epigraph and “the abyss”. But I didn’t necessarily think people would read it that way on a conscious level, so I’m impressed you picked up on it.
As for how I decided to shift the final frame, I was playing around with different perspectives for the last panel that would suggest the townhouse entrance hall as a yawning pit, and nothing seemed satisfactory. Then it suddenly occurred to me at some point to try tilting a panel from one of the first pages, and add Prufrock’s leg sticking out like that of the drowning Icarus in Bruegel’s painting.
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I thought some other people might enjoy the Interactive Fiction Competition. Some entries are more of a game, some are more of a story.
I personally found Cape and Duel to be rather entertaining. If anyone else finds one that is good, I would be interested in hearing it.
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Hey guys, sorry if my question comes as a little offtopic but I think this is the best place to get a possible answer.
Us/Uk amazon sites have really good bargains on used hardcover/paperback books. Insanely cheaper than at my Amazon (Italy). I would be buying so many books off of those bargains if it wasn't for the shipping taxes. Sellers won't agree to charge me less for shipping the items on the same package, so at the end of the basket I'll have a really big inflation on shipping expenses making it less worth it to buy them.
Don't get me wrong, the books are still cheaper than on my local amazon!, but yeah can't really afford to go on a book-buying-spree while beeing a college student. So I was wondering how doable was to make a person in the UK buy the books from his/her Uk-Amazon, getting the free national shipping and once all books from my wish-list had arrived, pack them togheter and send them off to me in 1 single box.
By doing it this way I'd be cutting down on the inflation I get from the sellers (that would be 1 shipping tax for each product, regarless if it comes from the same seller/warehouse) and I'd be only paying package weight + 1 travelling fee off the agency that was used for the export.
Anyone has done something similar?. I'd like to hear how the experience went, also if someone is from the Uk I would love some advice as for the best shipping agency over there (I saw there was Fed-ex but they have a horrible reputation on how they treat the costumers packages).
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Well this is one reason why I only read ebooks.
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I read through The Racketeer fairly quickly. I hadn't read a John Grisham book in a long time. I had forgotten how good he is and making a book flow.
![[image loading]](http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQY3aXArzGdfq_Z0hfbSDJqwaRQXQf4mzrBCIRSIbWnpIc0LsVB)
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ready player one
i didnt understand 70% of the 80s references but damn this book was so good. so damn fcking good.
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a couple of weeks ago I read Peter Scholl Latour's last book.
+ Show Spoiler +
it's about the whole mess in the middle east with somewhat biased, but first hand info particularly on syria/turkey. how "the wests" history of colonialism and backing of dictators makes it nearly impossible to bring meaningful change to the region.
god I am so disappointed, sad and pissed right now at the whole mess in paris...
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I've just begun reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It came highly recommended to me from a friend whom I consider a kindred spirit. He read it before we ever met, and he claimed it changed his life. The change manifested in a calmer demeanor and more thoughtful daily living.
I'm beginning to understand why, Steinbeck touches on many philosophical topics in a rather casual and easy to consume way. I'm 200 pages in and I've realized that I might just end up re-reading this novel immediately after I finish it. I'm curious if anyone else shares any of my thoughts or my friend's experiences.
For purposes of spoiler prevention, I've only just read the chapter where the sheriff visits Adam after he was shot.
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On November 12 2015 08:37 PushDown wrote:
Hey guys, sorry if my question comes as a little offtopic but I think this is the best place to get a possible answer.
Us/Uk amazon sites have really good bargains on used hardcover/paperback books. Insanely cheaper than at my Amazon (Italy). I would be buying so many books off of those bargains if it wasn't for the shipping taxes. Sellers won't agree to charge me less for shipping the items on the same package, so at the end of the basket I'll have a really big inflation on shipping expenses making it less worth it to buy them.
Don't get me wrong, the books are still cheaper than on my local amazon!, but yeah can't really afford to go on a book-buying-spree while beeing a college student. So I was wondering how doable was to make a person in the UK buy the books from his/her Uk-Amazon, getting the free national shipping and once all books from my wish-list had arrived, pack them togheter and send them off to me in 1 single box.
By doing it this way I'd be cutting down on the inflation I get from the sellers (that would be 1 shipping tax for each product, regarless if it comes from the same seller/warehouse) and I'd be only paying package weight + 1 travelling fee off the agency that was used for the export.
Anyone has done something similar?. I'd like to hear how the experience went, also if someone is from the Uk I would love some advice as for the best shipping agency over there (I saw there was Fed-ex but they have a horrible reputation on how they treat the costumers packages).
This is what I typically do. I've been living overseas for a few years (China and Korea). Amazon also typically gives free shipping on orders over a certain dollar amount if you buy them from an amazon vendor, so I usually get a nice shipment of books shipped for free to my folks back home and then ask them to ship everything in one big package overseas to me. Works WAY better than paying crazy shipping on each book to get to me.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518aJh03fdL.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img.welt.de/img/literarischewelt/crop133544637/0736604326-ci3x2s-w300-ai2x3l/Scholl-Latour-Fluch-Cover.jpg)
