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Ha, since this year everyone seems to be slow, I am creating the thread for this year.
(Post shamelessly stolen from thread starters of the prior years)
Previous threads:
2011 (49 pages) 2012 (58 pages) 2013 (165 pages!(!!!)) 2014 (back to 75 pages ) 2015 (54 pages We miss you, sam)
Format: 1) What you just finished reading (or gave up half way through) 2) What are you currently reading 3) What you plan to read next
Try to post both the book title in text as well as image. The Amazon images usually work well. The random google images are sometimes too big or too small.
It would also be great if you could post a little something along with the books. Did you like it, why or why not? How was the plot, how was writing style, how was the character development? What makes the book you are currently reading interesting? It’s not 100% necessary that you do so, but it tends to foster lively discussion of books, which is really what this thread is all about.
Also, please try to keep criticism of entire genres out of this thread. If you didn’t like a particular book then feel free to say so, but it’s not terribly productive to state that you dislike all of science fiction or existentialist literature etc.
Use spoilers appropriately, obviously.
Thanks to Cambiumpackrat386Surth for the OP that I basically stole from last year
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Finished:
I am mainly reading children's books to my son right now. This is a classic in Germany. I have no idea if there are any translations, but if there are and you ever have kids, go for it
Reading:
Got this as a joke present from my parents a few years back. Surprisingly fun to read. Sorry about the poor image quality.
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Actually read a lot of books since I last posted because I just never updated the other thread again, so lots of books read since last time.
Last Read:
The Martian - Watched the movie and loved it so I decided to read the book. Loved it as well, pure science fiction at it's best. I would recommend this book to anyone honestly. Ended up binging it pretty hard and finished it in like 3 days which I rarely do, it was that good.
Stalingrad - I've always kinda had an interest in WWII but never really learned about the Eastern front and this book was highly regarded. Never really knew that much about Stalingrad beforehand and this is absolutely full of information to the point of it being somewhat overwhelming, mostly from the amount of characters introduced in the book. Some interesting facts stood out. Like how the russians trained dogs to run under tanks for food and would attach anti-tank mines to them and let them loose on the Germans, or how they constructed sophisticated bunkers. Also I don't think I will ever forgot about the Don and Volga rivers because they are mentioned every page it seemed like. Still, it was a good read, and I have a new found respect for the Russians.
Killing Pablo - Ended up watching Narcos when it came out on Netflix and it was interesting. Most people know who Escobar is but like myself didn't know many details about his life or how his drug empire came to be. It was pretty amazing just how sophisticated his operation was back then and even more so how the DEA was able to catch up to Escobar and eventually corner him.
Parkland - I should preface this saying I never really believed in much of a conspiracy when it came to the Kennedy assassination. Anyways, this is basically a chronological timeline of the morning leading up the assassination and the following 3 days afterwards. There is a lot of information to take in though as you can imagine so I had to read a bit at a time as to not me overwhelmed. Still, it was interesting to learn about Oswald and Ruby from a more personal perspective, not just as murderers.
Reading Now:
Flags of our Fathers - When my grandfather passed back in August nobody wanted to take his books so my parents ended up giving them to me, this was one of them. I already saw the movie awhile back but I didn't enjoy as it got sidetracked too much, the book is much better in this regard. This book is all about Iwo Jima and the Americans who would eventually storm the island. Only about halfway through right now but it's really good. I knew that the Japanese had dug tunnels Iwo Jima but had no idea they were so advanced. A multilayered system of tunnels many large enough for a man to walk through them and holes dug into the walls where mortars could be fired from. Also interesting was the fact that they bombed the island for weeks beforehand and it didn't make a dent in their defenses as everyone was living underground, and the pillboxes and bunkers were reinforced with several feet of sand and logs each. Anyways yeah, this is way better than the movie so if the movie turned you off but you are still interested in Iwo Jima I would give this a read.
Reading Next:
Black Hawk Down - After Killing Pablo I was looking up more Mark Bowden books this of course this came up. Heard of it and have already seen the movie but I am interested to hear what it was really like.
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Last one I read:
Alice in Steamland
A spin-off of a classic story. Wonderland is now Steamland (a place that is eternally engulf by a particular steam). Steamland doesn't only exist in the real world but the steam that makes up the whole land induces hallucinations (on the level of a cocktail made with the worst hard drugs). Our Alice will have to deal with the junkies that live in Steamland (their bodies heavily modified by the constant inhale of the steam: making them look like wierd animals on the best of the cases...). In a place that can lead you up, down, foward and backward she looks to find herself.
I belive the book is only in italian, which is a shame as the book is well written and has a fast pace. It was a fun read, the book having some graphic violence and sex made it so the overall "high" experience could be enhanced in the story.
Reading now:
The Stone Gods
Pick it up yesterday for my 3 days trip-vacation on new year's holiday. I heard good things about this puppy and I do like Dystopian worlds and the book is fairly short so a perfect snack.
Firefight
Started it and left it at home before taking off to my holiday. B.S in this "The Reckoners" series wrote an insane fast paced story. Action and Suspense from start to finish!. I'm enjoying a lot the story so far and that's why I decided to not take the book with me, so I can read it at the confort of my home and get the best experience from it.
Reading Next:
Well, I have around 30'ish books on my shelf waiting to get a turn and 3 more inc. I'm still deciding on the next victim but the candidates for reading are:
Promise of Blood
The book had a quote from Brent Weeks and that writter has my respect, so I bought it. Also I belive that the author (Brian Mcclellan) has been influenced a lot by Brandon Sanderson which in my book is also a +.
Gens Arcana
Another italian exclusive about a story where we have elemental bending (fire, water, earth and air). My jam!
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Recently finished:
"Fatherland" by Robert Harris
+ Show Spoiler +
A crime story set in alternative universe where Germany had won the Second World War. Pretty good, much, much better than "The Man in the High Castle" in terms of worldbuilding.
"Treat Your Own Back" by Robin McKenzie
+ Show Spoiler +
A book on how to self-treat one's lower back pain. Rather useful.
"Carthage Must Be Destroyed" by Richard Miles
+ Show Spoiler +
A comprehensive book on the history of Carthage - from its very beginnings in Levant to its eventual downfall. Very insightful, with a surprisingly enthralling narrative. Out of convenience, I used two bookmarks - one for the main part, and another for the numerous references. A great read, highly recommended to anyone interested in ancient history. After finishing the book I had a sudden urge to kiss it, for some reason...
Currently reading:
"Азазель" ("The Winter Queen") by Boris Akunin
+ Show Spoiler +
A crime story taking place in XIXth century Russia. My first book in Russian, save for a few chapters of a book on physical metallurgy. Hoped for an easy read, but apparently scientific books in a new language are easier (when you're familiar with the topic)...
"Król bólu" ("King of Pain") by Jacek Dukaj
+ Show Spoiler +
A science fiction anthology focusing on life after Singularity, transhumanism, making contact with aliens, etc. Some stories, at 200-300 pages, could've easily been independent books. I'm rereading some of the stories and reading a few I did not read before.
Coming up next:
"Reclaiming Development: An Alternative Economic Policy Manual" by Ha-Joon Chang and Ilene Grabel
+ Show Spoiler +
A book on economic policies alternative to neoclassical mainstream. I've read a couple of books by Chang which criticize neoclassical economics, and now I would like to learn what he would have us rather do.
"Solaris" by Stanisław Lem
+ Show Spoiler +
I've read several articles on Lem and heard many good things about his books, but somehow I've never gotten to read one, until now.
Additionally, I'll probably reread "A Game of Thrones" and all its sequels in preparation for "The Winds of Winter" in the coming months. Just to refresh my memory.
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England2646 Posts
On January 02 2016 10:00 PushDown wrote:Last one I read: Alice in Steamland A spin-off of a classic story. Wonderland is now Steamland (a place that is eternally engulf by a particular steam). Steamland doesn't only exist in the real world but the steam that makes up the whole land induces hallucinations (on the level of a cocktail made with the worst hard drugs). Our Alice will have to deal with the junkies that live in Steamland (their bodies heavily modified by the constant inhale of the steam: making them look like wierd animals on the best of the cases...). In a place that can lead you up, down, foward and backward she looks to find herself. I belive the book is only in italian, which is a shame as the book is well written and has a fast pace. It was a fun read, the book having some graphic violence and sex made it so the overall "high" experience could be enhanced in the story.
Do you have any other recommendations for contemporary Italian books? None of my Italian friends seem to read Italian authors, just translations or recommend the same classic (and ridiculously complex for me) books like Calvino and Dante. I've put "Alice..." on my wishlist. Sounds very interesting!
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I'm currently working my way through Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson. It's book #8 of Malazan which I've been making my through for the last few years. It's not quite as exciting as the others so far and I'm not fond of the Tiste Andii stories or the way Anomander is talked about but the other bits are interesting. It's really fucking long though so I'm going to be here for a while.
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Toll the Hounds is not that good until the end. When it gets good though it is one of the best parts of the whole Malazan series.
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Just finished:
Reading:
Want to read next:
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currently reading and about halfway through - my mind is still processing the incredible foresight and analytical brilliance:
also this gem
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In 2015 I said i wanted to read a lot of books and now that a year has passed I'm proud of myself, I really did read a lot. I will post the list soon, good books.
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Finished :
Différence et répétition (Deleuze) Most obscure book I've finished, especially about the philosophers I didn't read, and the number of philosopher who are quoted is pretty frightening. The critic of the foundations of something one might call Western metaphysics is the best I've read, very respectful hence profound. I guess the biggest ennemy is also the most revered one - Plato. The premises of the building of an alternative are well thought-out and compelling. What I suppose is the actual building is for me mostly impossible to understand.
The Three Body Problem (Cixin Liu). Was really interesting for most of the novel, despite some small problem with narration and a few characters. Really didn't like much the last 50 pages or so. Still a very worthy read imo, and I'll be sure to read the next two. But please never again try to build suspense based on a physicist guessing what one of the most famous problem in his field might refer to :-(
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The second one is also available in English and I thought it was absolutely amazing, better than the first one definitely.
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I've bought both when I was in Canada, should read it in the coming weeks I think the third one is due very soon too.
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Currently: Gravity's Rainbow, I'm liking it a lot, especially the intersection of philosophy with hard science and statistics.
Next: Count of Monte Cristo, which will take a while at 1200 pages
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The qu'ran. + Show Spoiler +Translated, but it still counts, you faggots
It's funny. It claims that some Jews and Christians who received the old and new testaments knowingly corrupted them.
In other words, they knew that they were corrupting the word of the all mighty creator of the universe. Sounds legit.
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On January 04 2016 15:36 vOdToasT wrote:The qu'ran. + Show Spoiler +Translated, but it still counts, you faggots It's funny. It claims that some Jews and Christians who received the old and new testaments knowingly corrupted them. In other words, they knew that they were corrupting the word of the all mighty creator of the universe. Sounds legit. It also kind of sucks that by reading it you're bringing God's wrath by not believing despite the undeniable proof of the miracle of what you've read. Oh well.
Finished today: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Basically the plot premise is all there is, and in the year 2016 everyone already knows it. Not a good gothic novella and I'm not sure what else you'd be taking from it. Obviously it had a big impact in its time, but continued interest in it is odd. Fear and Trembling - Can't exactly review works of philosophy in a couple sentences so I'll just say that, even as an atheist, Kierkegaard is a thinker I feel great kinmanship with, which I think says a lot about a religious thinker.
Still reading: Count of Monte Cristo, Genealogy of Morals.
Sort of still reading but really can't be bothered: Blood Meridian.
I have plenty non-fiction planned for 2016, but I'm not too sure for my non-fiction. I want more light stuff. Sad about the Winds of Winter (non-)release announcement, but oh well. I'll maybe take some ideas from this thread.
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Canada5565 Posts
Kim Stanley Robinson's next book will be out this year
The image by Wesley Allsbrook used to promote the story[ Oral Argument], the bronze bull at Manhattan covered in moss, algae and all kinds of growing things, could be seen as a teaser to Kim Stanley Robinson's next novel coming in 2016! It will take place in a future with severe climate change and sea level rise, in a Venice-like half-submerged Manhattan. Stay tuned for more, and merry post-solstice festivities!
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that sounds amazing, I want this. I read Aurora a few months ago and really liked it. the AI narrator was really well done. I also got the whole Baroque cycle as a Christmas gift so I'll have a lot of reading to do I guess!
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interesting to see which predictions came true.. and which were wrong...
watched apocolypse now so now i'll read the book version
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Last year's topic, and the topics before it have given me plenty of great recommendations, as I've read all of your reviews and discussions, so thanks for that! In that vein, for me the last book of 2015 was:
Which was my first, but surely not last, dip into Vonnegut. Currently I am reading:
This I too picked up after the interesting discussion in the 2015-thread, and so far this book has delivered. So here is to a new year, and hopefully many new interesting reading opportunities!
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Really enjoyed this pair of series on kindle unlimited. anyony else know a good series or so in the same vein?
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Finished:
Chłopcy (Boys) by Jakub Ćwiek
A story about the Lost Boys from Neverland who have grown up. They returned to the real world where they've formed a motorcycle club/gang (Lost Boys, Neverland Original) led by Tinkerbell (who had some falling out with Peter, due to Wendy - who she calls a whore and throws fits of rage whenever someone mentions her). Kinda funny but not that great. Props to the publisher for including artwork by the author of Boli Blog (blog is super NSFW, you've been warned).
Currently reading:
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Almost done with it now. It's not a bad book but it's not particularly good either. I think like at least half of it could be cut out since it's nothing more than listing of or explanation of 80's pop culture and gaming references.
Overall it feels like worse version of Kostick's Avatar Chronicles.
Edit: Just finished it. Definitely the first 300 pages could've been streamlined a lot more. For the most part it's not that bad if not for all the exposition done wrong (think Star Wars ep 1-3 where inbetween the action everything is explained through boring dialogue).
Planning on reading next:
Achaja by Andrzej Ziemiański (link to english wikipedia under the title)
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Currently on hiatus but finishing at some point:
Marc Reisner: Cadillac Desert
Pretty good. Question: would gangsta rap be less spatial if it werent for the water history of Los Angeles?
Currently reading:
Mary Beard - SPQR
Really interesting. I want to teach a class on the writing of history now
Fredric Jameson - PoMo or why Foucault is my Favorite Hairdresser
Not sure on this one yet
Coming up Soon: THE BIBLE CARL SCHMITT
as you can see, its a very samizdat year for me.
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Repost frol the other thread cause I'm tireeed Reading :
Life A User's Manual (George Perec)
Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocqueville) One is pretty disappointing so far while the other is amazing and highly recommended. Guess which
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just excellent, translating cicero at school finally paid off :p
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I finished East of Eden, which turned out to be quite enjoyable. I might look into reading some more Steinbeck or similar authors in the future. Still, my mind craves some faster gratification, so started something that I picked up a while ago, as this series has been getting some praise recently.
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Baa?21242 Posts
Behold my tale of woe, in greentext form.
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England2646 Posts
I can probably order that to here and ship it over to you if you want Sheep.
You should read that book there. Want to know what Jerry Berry has to say.
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Just finished
Very good book. It's not quite a biography, as it goes out of its way to cover a ton of Russian political goings-on, starting in the late 80s and ending in 2013. But it is a no-holds-barred indictment of Putin's regime, and a great examination of how autocratic governments in general come into power and then maintain that power.
Starting
Already read Tess, prepared to be blown away for a second time.
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Ok I'm back I read a lot in 2015 until October then new job and then I only read Plato Republic (one of the best book I've ever read
I'm starting Soljenitsyne "the house of matriona"
Plato was really really good, way more accessible than I thought It would be. The definition of morality and justice through the study of the political system of a city still make sence 2500 years later. But it takes a lot of time to digest it, understand it and make it your own.
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A little over half way through this one and I'm loving it so far
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On January 14 2016 02:43 corumjhaelen wrote:Repost frol the other thread cause I'm tireeed Reading : Life A User's Manual (George Perec) Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocqueville) One is pretty disappointing so far while the other is amazing and highly recommended. Guess which I don't know which one you liked but I loved Democracy in America. The 2nd part is better than the first though imo.
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Currently reading: + Show Spoiler [The Black Swan: The Impact of the High…] +
I'm currently reading this book and it sure has shaken many of my beliefs. Still, I'm wondering if I'm taking what he wrote too seriously and that luck isn't that decisive. It's more interesting than I expected.
Books to read:
Candide by Voltaire in French
De la Démocratie en Amérique (Democracy in America) by Tocqueville in French + Show Spoiler +
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 150th Anniversary Edition with Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll in English
Novecento: pianiste by Alessandro Baricco in French. + Show Spoiler +
Because I keep hearing horror stories about how translations can be horrible without anyone ever noticing it because they can't compare it to the original language, I'll simply add the language I plan to read a book.
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On January 15 2016 03:30 RvB wrote:Show nested quote +On January 14 2016 02:43 corumjhaelen wrote:Repost frol the other thread cause I'm tireeed Reading : Life A User's Manual (George Perec) Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocqueville) One is pretty disappointing so far while the other is amazing and highly recommended. Guess which I don't know which one you liked but I loved Democracy in America. The 2nd part is better than the first though imo. I thought the beginning was quite horrendous - worst philosophy of history is having no philosophy of history, and here it really showed - but it is getting a lot better since. Almost finished the Perec though, and I'm going to throw the word masterpiece around.
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Like it a lot so far. I've read a lot of Murakami over the last year but I can't say that I'm getting tired of it. A lot of his books revolve around the same stuff but it still doesn't get boring for some reason.
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Just finished the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson
EASILY the best fantasy book series i've ever read so far.(granted i haven't read alot of fantasy series but this one is just miles better than everything that i've read) It was so fucking good it wrapped up neatly and the depth of the characters just increased overtime.
+ Show Spoiler [Mistborn The Hero of Ages Conclusion] +The scholar(Sazed) who was preaching and studying the things about "the hero of ages" became the hero of age himself lmao. Now that's an interesting twist of things. Not Vin the expected Hero of Ages no no(though she became a god a bit) .. Not Eland no no Sazed the dude who preached it became God lol Also best surprising line ever "I am, unfortunately, the Hero of Ages." - Sazed at the end of the book
There's also a general opinion that Stormlight is better than his Mistborn series and it's still in the 2nd book . Man i can't wait to read it.
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England2646 Posts
I finished Toll The Hounds and then The Martian a few days later.
Toll The Hounds basically stayed as good as it was. Certain storylines were some of the best yet (Trygalle Caravan should be a book on its own) but I still don't enjoy other parts as much. Even in amongst the finale of the book there were some boring Tiste Andii whining thrown in. As I said before, the way Anomander Rake is referred to really bugs me for this book. + Show Spoiler +No one has a bad word to say about him ever and literally everyone's opinion is that he's the best, most infallible being of all time. Oh no one can carry this weight, oh no one can see exactly as her does etc.etc.etc. In a world where even the Gods don't really have a good idea what's happening, this Wunderkind Anomander Rake just harkens back to the world of boring fantasy where the main character is perfect. The lack of grey area (haha because they're not Edur) is just so lame in comparison.
The Martian I read in about three days which I haven't done in a very long time but it hooked me. It wasn't exactly as I expected it to be but it was still a fun read, just fell short of what it could've been. + Show Spoiler +I was expecting a book about a guy completely stranded on Mars with no way of really getting home and just had to survive while going a little bit crazy. When the book starts out that way, talking about surviving for four~ years all was well. Then suddenly we have a NASA chapter so ok fine, the book is going that way, then later we have a chapter on his crew and we become full hollywood. Watney never seems to experience any kind of emotional break, he's just pretty fine the entire time. Also nothing big ever really happens to him in the grand scheme of things so what works for comedy (his upbeat attitude) sucks for anything more complex than that - he never experiences any huge negatives for more than 5 minutes, he just carries on - not struggling, just quite easily accomplishing everything - he literally wipes out his only contact with the Earth and he's nonplussed. The book then just has him explain a bunch of (interesting) sciency stuff then go full romanticism with everything else. No one has any character depth, there's a needless romance mentioned in passing and the whole thing is ridiculously "mainstream American cinema". The whole world (of people that are very American) band together to save one American? Alright sure. If any other country wrote this book, they'd leave him to die. Anyway, the thing is, you go full realism with the science, then go full romanticism with everything else and that leaves a lot to be desired.
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I think it's important to keep in mind that the malazan book of the fallen series is only a small part in a huge history. + Show Spoiler +If you read the first book in the Kharkanas trilogy which is about the Tiste he's a lost more human and not as godlike as he is in the fallen series. Basically he's had 1000s of years of experience and development and you're only seeing the end result.
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I don't get the Martian hype at all, I thought the book read like fan fiction
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Guess I'll post the stuff I read through the end of 2015, and into the beginning of 2016.
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
This one was fun. I'm becoming a Vonnegut fan, and need to check out some more of his work. I probably liked Cat's Cradle a little better, overall.
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Neuromancer is one of my favourite novels, and I enjoyed reading through it again. Since I last read it, I've learned more about computing around the time it was written, and some of the folklore/culture that ended up influencing parts of the novel. I always found that to be one of the interesting points about Neuromancer, that William Gibson didn't really know much about computing or technology, but was able to look at the way we interact with it and extrapolate from that in the novel.
The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
I really liked this book. The world was rich and interesting, and I liked the environmental/genetics bent on science fiction. The intersection between technology and culture in the novel and how it played out in the plot was intriguing as well. I ended up picking up a copy of The Water Knife after reading this, that I'll be reading sometime.
Dance Dance Dance - Haruki Murakami
The sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase. Whereas Sheep Chase felt almost like magical realism to me, Dance Dance Dance was much more dream-like, and almost nightmarish at times. While I probably liked A Wild Sheep Chase more, I still enjoyed Dance Dance Dance.
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
This is my first Gaiman novel. I can't say I'm a huge fan of his writing style here, there were just some things that put me off a little, like his use of metaphors. On the other hand, I enjoyed the story and the themes that were presented, so I was able to look past it. I decided to try another of his novels, and so then I read:
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
I enjoyed this. I liked the short story structure of the book, with every episode being a more or less self-contained episode. After the build-up, the Jacks felt a little underwhelming, but they weren't really the focus of the story to begin with. Other than that though, I liked most aspects of the book. On a side note, I feel like I should read more novels with illustrations. Any recommendations?
Ubik - Philip K. Dick
I read through Ubik in a couple nights. I enjoyed it for the feeling of being a nightmare within a nightmare turning into itself. I liked the limited information I was presented with, and that I only really had the layers of what was happening revealed to me at the same time as Chip. This will be an interesting book to re-read. I also liked the nods towards Bertrand Russell in the novel.
The Trial - Franz Kafka
This one was interesting. You can definitely tell that the novel was unfinished, with entire sub-plots just started and abandoned. The idea of the all-encompassing and incomprehensible bureaucracy of the court set up the plot pretty well. In the end, nothing K. did seemed to have any effect on the outcome of his case, he was just too insignificant to stand against the inexorable progress of the machine.
However, while a lot of the backdrop of the Trial was interesting, I felt like I was missing a lot of social context that would have helped me understand the novel better. There were some scenarios where I didn't realize what was happening until it was brought up again later, for example the court officials trying to ask K. for a bribe, or that K. had sex with Leni on the floor of the advocate's home. There were also some interactions that didn't seem intuitive to me, like the student and the maid in the attics. I feel like this was mostly a result of being unfamiliar with the social norms of the time, and needing to become better acquainted with Kafka's writing style.
I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. Between Embassy Town and Perdido Street Station what would people here recommend as an introduction to China Mieville?
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On January 25 2016 11:15 Mr. Wiggles wrote: I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. Between Embassy Town and Perdido Street Station what would people here recommend as an introduction to China Mieville?
I think the Scar and The City & The City are both great, I found Embassytown to be a little dry.
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I'd say either THe City& The City or Perdido Streer Station.
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Any opinion on Satanic Verses ? I have a copy for now, but not much motivation...
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How is IQ84 compared to Murakami's other books?
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Changed my schedule a bit...
Just finished:
Stalowe Szczury: Błoto (Steel Rats: Mud) by Michał Gołkowski
Holy cow! One of the best books I have read in my life. Amazingly told, great story in an alternate history setting (WWI still going on in 1922). If you can read in Polish, read it immediately! If you can't, hope for the god damned translation.
Currently reading:
Stalowe Szczury: Chwała (Steel Rats: Glory) by Michał Gołkowski
The only thing better than a great book, is if there's more of it!
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+ Show Spoiler +On January 15 2016 03:59 Rizare wrote:Currently reading: + Show Spoiler [The Black Swan: The Impact of the High…] +I'm currently reading this book and it sure has shaken many of my beliefs. Still, I'm wondering if I'm taking what he wrote too seriously and that luck isn't that decisive. It's more interesting than I expected. Books to read: Candide by Voltaire in French De la Démocratie en Amérique (Democracy in America) by Tocqueville in French + Show Spoiler +Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 150th Anniversary Edition with Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll in English Novecento: pianiste by Alessandro Baricco in French. + Show Spoiler +Because I keep hearing horror stories about how translations can be horrible without anyone ever noticing it because they can't compare it to the original language, I'll simply add the language I plan to read a book.
Done reading everything except Candide and Democracy in America. The Black Swan has good points but damn is the author really arrogant and it seems like it should have been much shorter. Novecento: pianiste is short to read and was all right. Lewis Carroll is really weird for me.
To read: Candide, Democracy in America as well as
Umberto Eco, Experiences in Translation because I keep hearing about how animes and anything related to it keep having bad translations.
Umberto Eco, Le nom de la rose (Name of the Rose)
Roland Barthes, Le plaisir du texte (The Pleasure of the Text) and Mythologies
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Haven't read short stories in a long time and have only heard good things about this. I'm excited!
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So far I have read this year: 1. Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett -> Being in academia myself, I have thoroughly enjoyed it :-)
2. Dune Messiah -> It's shame to admit that I have not read it earlier. Pretty good, though not nearly as good as the "Dune"
3. Fahrenheit 451 -> A fantastic book. Really relevant for what is going today. With all that "liberal intolerance" that is spreading throughout the western world.
Next, on the reading list: 4. Dark Pools: The Rise of the Machine Traders and the Rigging of the U.S. Stock Market 5. Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
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On January 10 2016 00:59 Manit0u wrote:Planning on reading next: Achaja by Andrzej Ziemiański (link to english wikipedia under the title)
Do you think Achaja is any good? I was planning to buy it the last time I was in Poland by decided to skip on it that time.
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Baa?21242 Posts
I think I'll be doing a significant amount of re-reading this year.
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On February 04 2016 14:43 Lebesgue wrote:Show nested quote +On January 10 2016 00:59 Manit0u wrote:Planning on reading next: Achaja by Andrzej Ziemiański (link to english wikipedia under the title) Do you think Achaja is any good? I was planning to buy it the last time I was in Poland by decided to skip on it that time.
My wife loved it. I have yet to get to it. Will let you know for sure.
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On January 15 2016 03:59 Rizare wrote:Currently reading: + Show Spoiler [The Black Swan: The Impact of the High…] +I'm currently reading this book and it sure has shaken many of my beliefs. Still, I'm wondering if I'm taking what he wrote too seriously and that luck isn't that decisive. It's more interesting than I expected. Books to read: (...)
Have you already read Baudolino? If not I recommend it
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On January 31 2016 05:05 Nyxisto wrote: How is IQ84 compared to Murakami's other books?
I only read the first one. It was a couple of years ago and even before the second part got released. If I remember correctly it took quite a while until it was getting interesting. I also never read the second part.
I read almost all books by him and my favorite ones are Norwegian Wood and The.-Windup-Bird-Chronicles. The first one lacks a lot of the surreal elements that maybe stand out the most from all of Murakamis work but that's what makes it interesting and different. The second one is quite the contrast and will present you lots of surreal stuff merged into a highly exciting story. Check them out if you haven't already read them.
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On January 25 2016 11:15 Mr. Wiggles wrote: I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. Between Embassy Town and Perdido Street Station what would people here recommend as an introduction to China Mieville?
I read Perdido Street Station years ago along with another book by him and I wasn't impressed at all. I don't get the hype around these books.
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Canada5565 Posts
I'm enjoying Badhdad: City of Peace, City of Blood -- A History in Thirteen Centuries. Finished Flowers for Algernon last week. Fast read, damn good storytelling. Read fifty pages of Green Earth and couldn't get into it. I'll give it another go this summer.
On February 04 2016 20:30 JazVM wrote:Show nested quote +On January 25 2016 11:15 Mr. Wiggles wrote: I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. Between Embassy Town and Perdido Street Station what would people here recommend as an introduction to China Mieville? I read Perdido Street Station years ago along with another book by him and I wasn't impressed at all. I don't get the hype around these books.
Mieville's books are polarizing; people seem to either love his work or not care for it at all. I picked up a copy at the library, read a bit, and decided it's not for me. But he's doing his own thing, and that's great. I guess I should try him again some time. Railsea is supposed to be good.
Hope you let us know about The Water Knife, Mr. Wiggles. I loved The Windup Girl.
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Halfway through, like it a lot. The 'Eco-Hardboiled' setting is pretty cool and it's really short which spares me the gargantuan infodumps that annoyed me a little in his longer books.
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So after a short break of reading I finished After The Act by Winston Graham.
(I actually can't find a picture online of the book cover I have, but this one is close enough).
I have no idea from where I have this book or how it ended up in my small library. It looked really used even before I started reading, so I guess I got it from some second hand shop or a library sales...
I liked the book. It felt slow at times, and the resolution at the end seems unfinished, but it offers insight and keeps the suspense up.
I will probably read "Das Boot" by Lothar-Günther Buchheim next (in german).
I have it as a hardcover, legacy of my parents when they moved out. I've seen the movie years ago and it was outstanding. I hear similar things of the book.
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On January 14 2016 09:10 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:Behold my tale of woe, in greentext form. + Show Spoiler +
I have a similar problem....there's a book I want to buy, but they'll only ship it to England
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I really have to say the first hundred pages were a little hard because the invented words are a little weird, but I'm starting to like it a lot.
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time to write about violence
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What about Walter Benjamin?
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my topic is way too big already. i still might try and stuff good old walter in there i guess.
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Just finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and am working on a book called The Outlander by Gil Adamson. Any other Gaiman fans in this thread? I've read The Graveyard Book before and I really enjoy his work
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@StealthBlue: are the latter two any good? I don't really believe anybody gets access to an uncensored version of DARPA history, though...
From the title the last one sounds like the author has been drinking Ray Kurzweil's coolaid, but hope it's decent?
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On February 24 2016 05:43 Surth wrote:time to write about violence
atp is one of my favorite works- just make sure you're familiar with anti-oedipus first
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Still on Murakami myself.
Just about halfway through 'A Wild Sheep Chase'. I love it, but his style is becoming a bit too familiar for me.
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I've read six of his novels or something last year and this year I started reading IQ84 and he's starting to grind me down as well lol. I'm stuck somewhere in the second half of the first part. He's really very repetitive.
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On February 27 2016 07:54 Nyxisto wrote: I've read six of his novels or something last year and this year I started reading IQ84 and he's starting to grind me down as well lol. I'm stuck somewhere in the second half of the first part. He's really very repetitive.
This is exactly what I have done lol I think he's an amazing writer, but most style-based writers would get boring after constant exposure to their style. Its a shame and after this one i'm going to limit myself to one of his books per year, because at his best he's my favourite author.
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On February 27 2016 07:06 aRyuujin wrote:atp is one of my favorite works- just make sure you're familiar with anti-oedipus first
are you the new sam? god knows we need one!
ive already read ATP on and off, but i cant quite get into it yet. i think one day ill finally be able to read more than 10 pages of it withotu my eyes starting to glaze. until then, ill unfortunately have to trust DeLanda on it :X
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give us sam back or riot. Can someone not just banish him to the book threads?
Also Anathem is really great, shaping up to be my favourite Stephenson novel. The neologisms he came up with are a little confusing at first but work well after a while.
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Sam is on a self-imposed hiatus; whether or not he returns is entirely up to him, mod actions notwithstanding
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i know farva, i know :D I was just rereading his and koreasilvers posts on the bible today. sometimes you can find diamonds in the trashheap, where diamonds = insight and trashheap = teamliquid.
how many of you still follow any of these godforsaken "esports" games, speaking of which?
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Been pretty motivated in the past months.
Finished Nell Zink's novels, best prose of any American author in recent memory, cerebral, hilarious, plainspoken.
Made a sizable dent in Paglia's Sexual Personae. I feel like reading a summary would be better.
1/3 of the way through DeLillo's White Noise. Pretty interesting, waiting for what it's building up to.
Finished Georg Büchner- Lenz. Short story about a schizophrenic. Got it from Anti-Oedipus actually.
Read some of Lincoln Michel's short stories on a friend's tip. Really liked a few.
http://lithub.com/colony/
https://catapult.co/stories/the-room-inside-my-fathers-room
Started Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent but then saw there's a documentary so probably just gonna watch that.
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I loved Zink's Mislaid. Prose is dense with wit and insight.
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I like White Noise for the opposite reasons; the book is "fluffy" in the most charmingly kitschy way possible.
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A bit less reading the last two weeks, holiday implies no commute... Still finished Plutarch's Parallel Lifes after two years of irregular reading, great stuff, read the two most famous Eco novels before he died, managed to rget through 200 pages of Descartes without opening my wrists, and I have to confess I hate Lewis Caroll who seems to me like the most boring guy who has ever taken a pen. Plus a few little things I can't remember right now. On the other hand, I'm halfway through Boccaccio's Decameron, which is a great light-hearted and fun read. Middle-Ages clearly weren't that bad (if you were rich, classic condition though).
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Was really looking forward to read Cixin Liu's Death's End this summer, but Amazon has moved it to Oktober : ( Now I'm sad
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I recently finished
Solid urban fantasy, where the MC is not an OP mage that can trash everybody in a fight. Instead he is a deviner and has to use planning and depends on outwitting his opponents. An easy read for inbetween. I think I will read the next books, but not immediately.
Currently reading:
About a guy that will be reborn as the same person every time he dies, while retaining his memory. He tries a different approach in every life to find out why this happens. He discovers that there are more of his kind and it gets pretty interesting. Not that far into it yet, but it seems really good!
What I will read next:
I saw Hotbid recommend this on twitter and am looking forward to it. About a future on Mars and how how humanity got devided into classes. The MC is from the lowest class and joins the ranks of the the elite in their elite school. There are noble houses too I think. Should be a good YA novel.
Reading for me is mainly entertainment and relaxing. So I'm sorry, but I won't post too much "valuable" or world literature .
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East Gorteau22261 Posts
Red Rising is great, I hope you'll enjoy it! The sequel, Golden Son, was even better in my opinion. I have you have the potential to set a night aside, because Brown's books are very binge-friendly. I finished Morning Star, which is the last part in the trilogy, a couple of weeks ago, and I just ate through it in a single sitting. It's that kind of series.
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On March 14 2016 07:34 Zealously wrote: Red Rising is great, I hope you'll enjoy it! The sequel, Golden Son, was even better in my opinion. I have you have the potential to set a night aside, because Brown's books are very binge-friendly. I finished Morning Star, which is the last part in the trilogy, a couple of weeks ago, and I just ate through it in a single sitting. It's that kind of series.
Okay, good to know, ty! I easily get addicted to those kind of books and can't stop until I finished the whole series. Might've to wait a bit until after my exams at the end of this month. Or finish them right now in a few days before I get serious about studying .
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I just read Alloy of Law, 4th book of the Mistborn by Brandon sanderson. When i finished Mistborn some time ago i refused to read the "300 years after the event" sequel of it since the trilogy ended well and i was scared that the sequel might ruin the satisfying end it had.
So after awhile eventually i tried it out and oh how wrong i was. Reading the 4th book The Alloy of Law was a treat, it's set in a time where there are gunpowder, trains and the use of electricity expanding while the original trilogy was set in a medieval time.
It was a surprise since the characters from the trilogy and sequel was completely different (not because it's 300 years after lol but he wrote different type of people ) the original trilogy being + Show Spoiler + a bunch of revolutionaries trying to end slavery and ended up governing the government itself at the second book and trying to stop the end of the world
stuff like that and the sequel character are like crimefighters/detective/cowboys.
I enjoyed the book and binge read it through around 6 hours? It was short but enjoyable
(Also before i forget to mention Wayne is god and Wax & Wayne main character combo is fun as fuck.)
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The Magicians by Lev Grossman
I'm about 150 pages into the first book. It's pretty much Harry Potter for adults. Pretty good so far.
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England2646 Posts
Finished: The Black Itself - Joe Abercrombie - Another fantasy book that is meh for the first 90% then picks up at the end for the sequel... Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain - Worth a read. I'm enjoying this "sort of biopic" style book recently. It peters out a little bit nearer the end and loses focus, but it's still a great insight into something I was almost part of. Business For Punks - James Watt - Had to read it for work. I can't recommend it. The Game - Neil Strauss - Really enjoyable book. I think anyone nerdy would get a kick out of it and to see a world so completely consuming itself is something to behold.
Reading: Sake Confidential - John Gauntner - So far, it's teaching me a decent amount about sake and that's why I bought it.
Will read: Trust Me, I'm Lying - Ryan Holiday
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What have you learned about sake that we (I) should know?
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Bourdain is a better writer than many expect.
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Anybody know if any of the books in the new humble bundle is worth getting? https://www.humblebundle.com/books/booktrope-scifi-thriller-novels Mostly interested in the Sci Fi ones.
As for what I am reading. Started reading Chinese/Korean/Japanese stuff a bit before new years and have kept it up since then. Can recommend the first book of The Lazy King and the entirety of The Legend of Sun Knight. The rest I could recommend is still ongoing or being translated. Which is what I am currently reading, following 26 translations.
Also read The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett whose main problem is trying to make you care and understand too much. It has decent action scenes and characters in a setting I love. The problem is that it takes half a book to explain a character's background and personality instead of letting you get to know it as the story progresses. So each book feels like 100 pages of info dump somewhere in it (still interesting but delaying the main plot).
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Apparently people who read Rene Girard also read self-help books and Ayn Rand
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Sounds legit. René Girard -> random french intellectual -> Claude Levi Strauss -> Bricolage -> self-help book -> stupid shit -> Ayn Rand. On topic : Anti-Oedipus (the fuck) and In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower's third or fourth rereading.
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haha i have anti-oedipus here as well, not sure what to think of it so far. i got braudels structure of everyday life and im loving that so far
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I love Anti-Oedipus but I think I'm biased given my childhood spent in exasperated psychologists' offices
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Finished Reading: The Lowland Started Reading: The Fountainhead Will read: No idea what!
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England2646 Posts
On March 15 2016 13:02 IgnE wrote: What have you learned about sake that we (I) should know?
The book basically explains the terms, what they mean and clears up a bunch of misconceptions about Sake. The way the guy talks about sake isn't far off from how I talk to customers about beer (drink everything).
It's a great introduction to a drink I don't get much interaction with.
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How is the 2nd book? Seems interesting to me. Might put it on my plan to read list. Although that list is already massive.
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I like the book a lot. Clark is an immensely knowledgeable author and I think he hits a good balance between being informative and being entertaining. It's not a dry book at all. It's also a somewhat controversial book in Germany because some historians here have accused him of being a revisionist in regards to WW I ("Sonderweg" explanatations have always been very popular among historians here) so it's a somewhat controversial book as well.
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Right now I'm reading Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson... It's decent so far, but nothing special. Interesting magic system. I also started reading Inne Piesni from Jacek Dukaj... Didn't work out for me. It's a tough read(at least for me). Maybe when I have more time I will give it another try.
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On March 23 2016 07:22 Pr0wler wrote: Right now I'm reading Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson... It's decent so far, but nothing special. Interesting magic system. I also started reading Inne Pesni from Jacek Dukaj... Didn't work out for me. It's a tough read(at least for me). Maybe when I have more time I will give it another try.
Dukaj is probably my favorite author. What language did you read it in? :-)
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On March 23 2016 07:49 maybenexttime wrote:Show nested quote +On March 23 2016 07:22 Pr0wler wrote: Right now I'm reading Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson... It's decent so far, but nothing special. Interesting magic system. I also started reading Inne Piesni from Jacek Dukaj... Didn't work out for me. It's a tough read(at least for me). Maybe when I have more time I will give it another try. Dukaj is probably my favorite author. What language did you read it in? :-) Bulgarian. The book starts with many names and is full with some kind of greek terminology. The world is kind of confusing . It's really different... The book is praised by many, so I will definitely give it another shot. But later Also I really liked the cover of the bulgarian edition + Show Spoiler +
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On March 23 2016 08:18 Pr0wler wrote:Show nested quote +On March 23 2016 07:49 maybenexttime wrote:On March 23 2016 07:22 Pr0wler wrote: Right now I'm reading Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson... It's decent so far, but nothing special. Interesting magic system. I also started reading Inne Piesni from Jacek Dukaj... Didn't work out for me. It's a tough read(at least for me). Maybe when I have more time I will give it another try. Dukaj is probably my favorite author. What language did you read it in? :-) Bulgarian. The book starts with many names, the world is kind of confusing. It's really different... The book is praised by many, so I will definitely give it another shot. But later Also I really liked the cover of the bulgarian edition + Show Spoiler +
I am surprised that there is a Bulgarian translation, to be honest. His books are rather difficult to translate, as he's very creative with words and grammar. But I guess it's still easier to translate it to any given Slavic language than to English. Most of his books are this difficult - you dive into a different world and have to gradually make sense of it. In "Other Songs" most of the new words are never explicitly defined; you just learn their meaning from the context. It would be even hard for him to explain them, because some concepts are so foreign.
The cover reminds of the cover of another book of his, "Perfect Imperfection":
+ Show Spoiler +
Is it possible to ship a Bulgarian copy of the book to Poland? I have two Bulgarian friends living in the Netherlands whom I might visit this year.
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On March 23 2016 08:37 maybenexttime wrote:Show nested quote +On March 23 2016 08:18 Pr0wler wrote:On March 23 2016 07:49 maybenexttime wrote:On March 23 2016 07:22 Pr0wler wrote: Right now I'm reading Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson... It's decent so far, but nothing special. Interesting magic system. I also started reading Inne Piesni from Jacek Dukaj... Didn't work out for me. It's a tough read(at least for me). Maybe when I have more time I will give it another try. Dukaj is probably my favorite author. What language did you read it in? :-) Bulgarian. The book starts with many names, the world is kind of confusing. It's really different... The book is praised by many, so I will definitely give it another shot. But later Also I really liked the cover of the bulgarian edition + Show Spoiler + I am surprised that there is a Bulgarian translation, to be honest. His books are rather difficult to translate, as he's very creative with words and grammar. But I guess it's still easier to translate it to any given Slavic language than to English. Most of his books are this difficult - you dive into a different world and have to gradually make sense of it. In "Other Songs" most of the new words are never explicitly defined; you just learn their meaning from the context. It would be even hard for him to explain them, because some concepts are so foreign. The cover reminds of the cover of another book of his, "Perfect Imperfection": + Show Spoiler +Is it possible to ship a Bulgarian copy of the book to Poland? I have two Bulgarian friends living in the Netherlands whom I might visit this year. Yes, it's possible. From the site of the publisher. http://www.colibri.bg/eng/
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Hey guys, first post here!
Anyway I'm a rather avid fantasy reader, so here it goes;
1) What you just finished reading (or gave up half way through) I decided to reread the Discworld novels in order this time, what with Terry Pratchett dying and all, and I can say while there are some that I felt were a bit of a drag, it was for the most part the same Pratchett that I was raised on.
2) What are you currently reading I'm currently reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson. I'm on Fires of Heaven, which is the 6th book.
3) What you plan to read next I'm thinking to take a break from fantasy, and read what some of my friends have recommended. The first recommendation I got was to read The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. The second was The Book of Five Rings.
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@Pr0wler
Thanks, I contacted the publisher. Awaiting their response (I would like to know how long the shipment would take).
@SepthSilver
I read "The Prince" and did not find anything insightful in it. I think this was mainly due to the fact that most of what he wrote is either common knowledge now or was common sense back then.
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"The Prince" certainly is no "The Secret." If you want occult knowledge of power that's the book you need.
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On April 01 2016 15:38 SepthSilver wrote: 2) What are you currently reading I'm currently reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson. I'm on Fires of Heaven, which is the 6th book.
How do you like it? I kind of dropped it after the first book.
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On April 02 2016 00:58 IgnE wrote:"The Prince" certainly is no "The Secret." If you want occult knowledge of power that's the book you need. + Show Spoiler + Nice to see that even a thread as "serious" as this can benefit from a bit of April Foolery
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On April 02 2016 01:14 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Frederic the Great was one weird dude but he deserved his byname.
Make sure you read Christopher Clark's "Iron Kingdom" if you like the topic. I absolutely loved that book. Well researched, intelligent and light-footed despite its weighty content.
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How do you like it? I kind of dropped it after the first book.[/QUOTE]
Some parts are a drag I'd agree, though I enjoy it enough to keep reading. I particularly like the sense of scale and depth of the world.
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On April 02 2016 13:37 SepthSilver wrote: How do you like it? I kind of dropped it after the first book.
Some parts are a drag I'd agree, though I enjoy it enough to keep reading. I particularly like the sense of scale and depth of the world.[/QUOTE] Clearly, Nynaeve hasn't tugged her braid enough yet.
Books 1-6 and 11-14 are good. 7-10 he just gets mired down in explaining all this depth to the world and elaborating on all the uninteresting characters in the hundreds of different storylines the books got bogged down in. With book 10 being the low point.
He's just not a good enough author to pull off the slow parts without it getting frustrating.
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Finished :
Les Jardins statuaires (Jacques Abeille), very good book who has had a pretty success of word of mouth among a specific kind of french lit amateur. It is therefore often linked with Junger's Auf den Marmorklippen, Buzzati's The Tartar's Steppe and Gracq's The Opposing Shore. The difference is the setting, who seems closer to fantasy than the other three books, who still have afinity with that genre.The strange utopia that is described in the book is centered aroung growing statues in a garden. The ending is simply excellent.
Colonel Chabert and L'Interdiction two short novellas (~70 pages) written by Balzac around the same themes (a virtuous man, an ambitious and cold woman and the judiciary word). Both are pretty good and easy readings, I have a preference for the second one. Not as good as his best novels though.
Anti-Oedipus (Deleuze and Guattari). Worst Deleuze I've read, still interesting passages, but way too much repeating the same very unclear points over and over.
Currently reading : -a compilation of semiotic essays by Eco, first one was pretty good. Thanks to my dearest for taking this book for me at the library.
- a compilation of ~15 Sagas of Icelanders, starting with Egill's Saga. The introduction was awesome, Régis Boyer is a hero. So far it's a pretty good read, tons of expectation for this.
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Reading now:
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Nyxisto you're in for a treat. A depressing, depressing treat.
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I've read Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein, Eric by Pratchett, and The Two Towers by Tolkien recently. Stranger was interesting, probably the first Heinlein I've read. + Show Spoiler +It ages well, it's curious that I expected the man from Mars to act as an explorer of humanity almost Trek style, holding a mirror up to humanity. Rather, Heinlein developed an interesting interplay between his two worlds.
Eric is a Rincewind Discworld novel, good popcorn reading.
This is my first reading of Lord of the Rings, + Show Spoiler +I got caught up at the last act of Two Towers for a good while, pretty much after the Black Gate I was in dread of Smeagol's eventual betrayal and knowing it was coming, I jumped ahead into ROTK for a bit before coming back and wrapping up. Merry and Pippin hanging out eating a sandwich and smoking a pipe on the drowned remains of the gate of Isengard is my favorite image. Tolkien's writing and way with names gives this the feel of a classic epic. Looking forward to what is coming.
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I'm reading Among Others by Jo Walton. I I picked up another of her books, saw the awards for this, and came into it in the dark. Not that deep into it yet, but the style provides a beautiful window into this world. I'm definitely emotionally involved already, I cut off my first sitting early to switch to The Space Merchants by Pohl. His characters are a touch soulless, so as this has been on my 'read eventually' list, I knew it was a safe switch. Intriguing, I'll see where it goes.
I'm listening to Aces High of the Wild Cards series on audiobook. The fiction leaves something to be desired, but it's a fresh twist of a universe and the characters are worth following.
And of course, riding to Gondor in The Return of the King.
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For the plan to read, I've got a bio, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong which I'd like to read. The last bio I delved took longer to read than I would like.
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On April 03 2016 23:07 Snorkels wrote: I'm listening to Aces High of the Wild Cards series on audiobook.
Damn I read these I think more than 20 years ago and totally forgot about them. Was quite heavy stuff as a child. I think I will reread them, will be interesting to see how it compares to memory. Thanks for the reminder.
Also did not even know GRRM was involved there.
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Those books are about the everyday life of a German artist/musician who is living together with a speaking communistic kangaroo. Short funny, satiric and or political episodes. Should be available in English soon.
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Finished this one some time ago. It was an interesting read for sure. Recommend it
Finished these last year, but didn't think of posting in here at the time:
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
1Q84
Not sure what I'll pick up soon. Maybe publish my second book and read that?
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On April 03 2016 16:27 Surth wrote: Nyxisto you're in for a treat. A depressing, depressing treat.
I am a little intimidated I have to admit but everyone who has recommended it to me seemed to be in awe
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Baa?21242 Posts
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Honestly, I did not find it depressing at any point, not even in the part with the dead women. And many parts are simply hilarious. Definitely the one of the best books I read last year.
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pssss, dont give it away! i read this book wtihout knowing literally ANYTHING about it except my brother telling me drunkenly that he loved it. so when the part about the murders kicked in, i was just. well, youre right, its not depressing really, but it just floored me.
my favorite reviews, incidentally, are both negative reviews of the book, and they accentuate exactly what i love about the book
"Consider Detective Kessler once more, whose role in the novel is admittedly small but emblematic of so many of its weird organizing principles. Readers of 2666 with strong memories and perhaps too much time on their hands may vaguely recall that, 300 pages before he is invited to investigate the murders of section four, a white-haired man named Kessler is provided a confusing 3-page cameo in section three. In that quick walk-on, Kessler delivers a monologue on what he’s learned from the Mexican murders about cultural responses to death. Observing the media’s historical tendency to ignore mass slaughter but sensationalize isolated crimes, he remarks, “words back then were mostly used in the art of avoidance, not revelation.”
The scene is so perplexing that it must have been designed to evade understanding. Section three takes place later in time than section four: this means that when we read Kessler’s conclusions on the murders he investigated (1) we don’t know who Kessler is and (2) we don’t know what the murders are. By the time the necessary context is granted (let me repeat: 300 pages later), the short scene has been buried so deeply beneath the debris of names and bankrupt information that it’s impossible to unearth any connection without engaging in something akin to biblical exegesis. This is the art of avoidance that Bolaño practices, literally the art of voiding any comprehensible patterns that might emerge from his stories. Echoes abound in 2666, but they only make you aware of the emptiness of the surroundings."
"His books often read as though writing them was the third most important thing he had to do that day."
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Stumbled upon this memoir by accident, has anyone read it? I like that the author doesn't care for insight and only recounts his life:
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I'm hoping for some reading recommendations, I havent read much recently, but If enjoy some "realistic fantasy" if that exists. I like when it's about more than a couple people and what's going on in their head, and there's interactions with society.
To give an idea of what kind of things I enjoy and have enjoyed in the past:
Moving Picture: Enjoy: Game of Thrones, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Vikings On the edge: Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings Dislike: Hannibal, Star Wars, Life of Pi, Marvel Movies
As for reading, for the last four years my midnight reading book of choice has been one of many engineering textbooks, and so while I have a good idea of the governing dynamics behind most physical processes, I'd enjoy something to stimulate my imagination a little bit.
Back when I was a young teenager I enjoyed books like Lord of Flies, The Giver, City of Ember, Hunger Games, Enders Game (a bit too fantasy though), and also Artemis Fowl.
If you guys have been at that point before and know what you've liked going forward, or simply are familiar with some of those artistic works and can offer recommendations to a slightly matured audience from that list, I'd be much appreciated.
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Enders Game too much fantasy, but you like Artemis Fowl? :D
Anyway, if you like realistic fantasy, Neal Stephenson is quite awesome. I wouldn't start with Anathem, although I really liked it, but Snow Crash is a pretty amazing book (it's cyberpunk, though, not fantasy). There's also Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle (which people think is too slow, but I loved), which are historical fiction/fantasy.
If you like the world building aspect of things like GoT and LotR, you should try Patrick Rothfuss. His output is frustratingly slow (somewhat comparable to GRRM), but both the Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear were absolutely excellent, especially for their world building (you could maybe get into Robert Jordan too, but that is, imho, not something you use to get your feet wet in the genre, and you would probably consider that too much fantasy).
Another author who writes fantasy, but ignores most of the fantastical aspects, is Joe Abercrombie. You might also like Robin Hobb, although that might be straying too far into fantasy land again.
If you want something "similar" to Artemis Fowl, there's the Dresden Files which are, imho, significantly better than Artemis Fowl. There's also the Alcatraz series by Brandon Sanderson, which I found very similar, and approximately just as pulpy as Artemis Fowl. I would recommend Mistborn, though, if you plan on reading something by Sanderson.
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Regarding realistic fantasy I really liked Abercrombie's First Law trilogy and it should fit quite well with the things Fiwifaki enjoys. It has a surprising amount of (dark) humour for the genre.
Patrick Rothfuss' stuff is excellent writing, but for me personally the main character is too much of a Mary Sue and some aspects reminded me of Anime themes.
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Artemis Foul was kind of in the same boat as Ender's game, should have been more clear on that.
The background information of Snow Crash sounds really good to me, and Baroque Cycle also sounds like a topic that'd I enjoy reading about (though I'd probably like to read a three book series at most just to test the waters that more of this kind of reading is what I'd like to do). I like slow - at least when it comes to TV shows, whenever someone complains that something moves too slow, usually I like that a lot (when it's subtle character building material, and not just filler).
I think you read my preferences quite well - Name of the Wind interesting too (the topic at least more so than Wise Man's Fear in my opinion). I think Dresden Files and Alcatraz sounded alright too, but what really resonated with me is the Mistborn series, I'd like to give that a try also.
The First Trilogy looks good, and it seems realistic in the sense that the minds of the people are rational and have a believable sense of values, but I think my biggest gripe is that I've seen quite a few TV shows about things that are based on European history from 300BC-1500AD~, and something a bit more imaginative while still keeping the people behaving rationally (that's very important to me), but incorporating some magical elements, or some starting conditions that force people to behave differently (apocalypse type stuff, or just a different world altogether).
Anyway, I'm probably explaining myself poorly, I just mean that I have no problem if you write about a world where gravity goes up and not down, but the repercussions of it need to be consistent. Just how in GoT I have no problem with there being Dragons or White Walkers, as long as society in that situation changes appropriately.
Also a couple more visual media things I enjoyed were Gattaca and I, Robot (also Snowpiercer was alright, but kind of meh), but I didn't like the TV series Supernatural or the new TV series Lucifer. How do you guys find these books and choose to read the books anyway? I feel like I have this tendency to have my preconceived notions, and I think I might judge the book (after all, I need some info about what I'll be reading), and in the process I might discard some very good books simply because thinking it's not for me. It's hard for me to analyze my current ability as I haven't read too much of this kind of stuff besides short stories recently... But I know back in junior high (I'm 22 now for reference), I always thought oh, this book will be dumb or whatever, but I was made to read it, and then I really got into the story a chapter or two in.
Anyway, I think I'll go to a public library and try to find Snow Crash as a first introductory reading, and report my findings on the book when I finish it A lot of good books on this list from my first impressions, so maybe as I go through this book I'll gain a better understanding about myself and will make my next selection easier. Much harder to decide whether you'll like a book than to decide whether you'll like a movie as it's difficult to get the writing style of a book from reading the plot or background, while a lot easier to see how a movie is done by watching a trailer.
Thank you very much for the help Acrofales and Redox!
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No, read Anna Karenina. When in doubt, always go for Anna Karenina
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Done reading:
Pretty decent book. Gives a decent introduction to classical liberalism. That's all you can expect of it though.
Pretty good. Gives a different perspective on the Nordic countries and the consequences of social democracy practised there.
Reading now:
I love Coase. The book is alright as well. Even if you don't agree with his ideas publishing a book when you're 102 makes you a hero in my eyes
Hayek. I love this guy. Progress is pretty slow though in this book but it's good as expected.
Next up will be Keynes 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money'. It'll be a reread but I'm looking forward to it.
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England2646 Posts
On January 02 2016 10:00 PushDown wrote:Last one I read: Alice in Steamland A spin-off of a classic story. Wonderland is now Steamland (a place that is eternally engulf by a particular steam). Steamland doesn't only exist in the real world but the steam that makes up the whole land induces hallucinations (on the level of a cocktail made with the worst hard drugs). Our Alice will have to deal with the junkies that live in Steamland (their bodies heavily modified by the constant inhale of the steam: making them look like wierd animals on the best of the cases...). In a place that can lead you up, down, foward and backward she looks to find herself. I belive the book is only in italian, which is a shame as the book is well written and has a fast pace. It was a fun read, the book having some graphic violence and sex made it so the overall "high" experience could be enhanced in the story.
Hefty spoilers.
I just finished this book. I'm not the best at Italian, so please take my review with a pinch of salt - I probably missed some of the less explicit points. I thought the book was OK, not the best, but it has the same thing that Dune has, in that certain parts of the book suddenly happen. Suddenly Alice is an adept fighter, suddenly loses an arm, suddenly makes out with a woman then falls in love with a man (apparently). It's all kind of cooky like that. I guess the drug/steam thing explains that but I didn't like it that much. The section near the end when she talks to Algernon was wonderful though and effectively saved the entire book in my eyes. Really well written and really cool ideas. However, the retard being the hero cliche and the forgetful nature of the book let me down.
Other gripes that I think are down to me being English:
1. Alice and felice don't rhyme, even in Italian. Alice should still be said the same way, especially when it's referencing an establish character. 2. The book kept referring to them speaking English when it's all Italian and saying things like "Hmmm, there's no word for that in English", while in Italian. Also, what happened to the Steamland language? She learnt it and then never used it. 3. The all powerful telepath (mentioned in passing) was called "Alan". 4. FrangIncanto is the worst name for a sword in the history of literature.
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I think I'ma read some Badiou this summer, anyone got a recommendation?
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Holy shit this book is long :|
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On April 18 2016 09:56 farvacola wrote: I think I'ma read some Badiou this summer, anyone got a recommendation? Why would you do that ?^^ Just ask samizdat maybe
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just finished vol 1 on braudels Civilization and Capitalism. pretty fuckin cool. now on to
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England2646 Posts
Farmhouse Ales - Phil Markowski Wildbrews: Beer Beyond the Influence of Brewer's Yeast - Jeff Sparrow
Both highly recommended for people wishing to know more about specifics of these styles of beer. Despite being 11~ years old, still very relevant.
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On April 19 2016 04:17 corumjhaelen wrote:Show nested quote +On April 18 2016 09:56 farvacola wrote: I think I'ma read some Badiou this summer, anyone got a recommendation? Why would you do that ?^^ Just ask samizdat maybe Yeah, I'll do that And I'm looking for a sadomasochistic summer distraction from legal reading, and Badiou seems like he fits the bill
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Well yeah, makes sense, just that Badiou seems like quite a fraud seen from here, but I haven't read him, so what do I know. Finished :
Laxdaela saga : really fucking great. Best saga I've read yet.
The Leopard (Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa) : Really great too. A really vibrant and intelligent political novel, very poetic too. Starting :
Nostromo (Joseph Conrad)
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I quoted The Leopard in my most recent paper!
I didn't read it or anything, but you know, i quoted it!
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While I slowly progress through 2666 which is very brilliant but also a little morbid (not in a bad way though) I've picked up some other books as well:
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On April 23 2016 01:25 Surth wrote: I quoted The Leopard in my most recent paper!
I didn't read it or anything, but you know, i quoted it! What did you quote ? Too much time spent writing essays, not enough spent reading books
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oh that quote about "if you want things to stay the same things are gonna have to change". im not even sure where i initially found that. was writing about de landa and violence actually :D
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England2646 Posts
Finished: Tasting Whiskey by Lew Bryson - I can't speak for other whisky books, but this covers all the major styles and has a great outlook on how to approach whisky, while teaching you everything you need to know to get started. A great book and refreshing to see whisky material that doesn't just focus on scotch (like everything in England).
In the Dust of this Planet by Eugene Thacker - Reads like a bunch of disjointed Philosophy essay questions answered by a student. Has some interesting points and then just tangents into a load of other stuff that doesn't really address the theme of the book very well.
Edit: If anyone has some recommendations for books by English authors in the last 5~ years, they'd be most welcome.
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Has gotten some mixed reviews but pretty excited about this one
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On April 24 2016 15:44 Surth wrote: oh that quote about "if you want things to stay the same things are gonna have to change". im not even sure where i initially found that. was writing about de landa and violence actually :D In the movie ? You should also see it Finished my Bulgakov, and in the middle of my 15 sagas. Now Grettir's it is, and I'm even starting to laugh out loud at some stuff, and to like the violence That's some really smart litterature too, even though the "lesser" sagas tend to have pretty akward passages.
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I've finally finished The First book of Stormlight Archives, The Way of Kings
Took me quite a while to finish 1252 pages (compared to the authors other work the first mistborn book is just like 500+pages took me around a week or so to finish ).
I would say it was fantastic so far it fulfilled the hype that other Sanderson fans has exclaimed about it being better than the mistborn trilogy. And the scale of this thing is big and it's still the first book out of 10 i believe.
+ Show Spoiler [Cosmere shit] + What the fuck is hoid doing here ? He also seems to have an important role in this unlike in the mistborn trilogy
Also that end chapter perspective of Wit. That was good. Almost as good cryptic good as the end of the 2nd book of mistborn. Man i'm so hyped to look for the 2nd book and read it + Show Spoiler +that last few chapters were all characters are set up bound to meet in the same place holy shit i'm hyped.
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Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða is among the best short story I've ever read. And now I'm one third into Njáls saga, and it is fucking amazing. Njall, Gunnar and Hallgerðr are incredible characters. After 1200 pages of getting to slowly understand the mind of those Icelanders, the friendship between those two characters is something to behold. Non stop action too.
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On May 11 2016 14:26 goody153 wrote:I've finally finished The First book of Stormlight Archives, The Way of Kings Took me quite a while to finish 1252 pages (compared to the authors other work the first mistborn book is just like 500+pages took me around a week or so to finish ). I would say it was fantastic so far it fulfilled the hype that other Sanderson fans has exclaimed about it being better than the mistborn trilogy. And the scale of this thing is big and it's still the first book out of 10 i believe. + Show Spoiler [Cosmere shit] + What the fuck is hoid doing here ? He also seems to have an important role in this unlike in the mistborn trilogy
Also that end chapter perspective of Wit. That was good. Almost as good cryptic good as the end of the 2nd book of mistborn. Man i'm so hyped to look for the 2nd book and read it + Show Spoiler +that last few chapters were all characters are set up bound to meet in the same place holy shit i'm hyped.
That's funny I just finished reading this as well. I recommend it.
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Finished readingThe Hidden Oracle
I quite liked it, enough to make me unfortunately hyped for the next book which is gonna be pain since i'll have to wait 1 year i believe.
I've read like 10 books(11 now) from this author i have to say this has to be the one i laughed the most, as evidence i read it in around 2 days. All those pre-chapter Haiku is quite nice.
Next to Read: The Word of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (book 2 of Stormlight Archives)
Priceless by Charlie Daniels - some random book i brought , it was on sale and is short compared to other books so why not.(Apparently this book was based on the authors experience herself about the life of prostitution)
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First Pynchon novel, am excited!
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That's a good one to start with, though it's rather different as compared to his earlier works. Check out The Crying of Lot 49 if you like what you read.
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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (60th anniversary edition)
Going to re-read this classic.
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I just started on "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" http://hpmor.com/ . I havn't laughed as much since I read the Sun Knight series. Very funny Harry Potter novel that breaks far away from the original in Potter's personality and background, thus has cascading effects on everything else. Fixing up plot holes while of course creating new ones.
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Njall's saga will probably have been the best book I've read this year. I quite enjoyed Nostromo and Jude the obscure, been somewhat perplexed by Dante's Inferno, and read a random French book which has apparently a cult following ; Maurice Pons' Les Saisons. I'm reading Snorri Sturluson's Edda, which is pretty cool. Most importantly though, I'm reading the Bible, not in its entirety, but I guess its most well-known parts the Gospels, the Acts which were great, the Apocalypse, and most "historic" and poetic books of the Old Testament. Pretty cool stuff, and at the same time I can, thanks to the Collège de France, listen Thomas Römer explain why I should care about Terah's age (205 or 145 ?), the reasons why the same story is told three times, the possible meanings of those boring genealogies, or why Jerusalem is never mentionned in the first five books. Which is plain awesome.
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Oooh yeah, we'll have to talk about that sometime, I love me some good biblical exegesis :D
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I have something like 24h of podcast just on Abraham's story. I cant really believe I find it that fascinating !
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Absolutely loved the Malazan books. And this one is starting out quite strong so far. Brilliant writer.
Paints South Africa as arguably a prettier place under Apartheid than "free".
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Picked up Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons on the recommendation of my MFA friend who writes sci-fi/cyberpunk, after reading the first few pages I'm thoroughly confused. Also got Bachelard's Psychoanalysis of Fire.
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Just remember that sugar is not a vegetable
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sounds...perverse. Any other tips? I'm really confused atm. I just know it's cubism. My friend literally told me he wants to write like she does in the book.
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Hmm, I'd say it'd be helpful to focus on the word sounds as you read the lines aloud. It may be "cubist" in the sense that it relies on obtuse lexical arrangements that tend to coalesce into the shape of images taken from "real life," but the poetry of authors like Gertrude Stein or Ezra Pound "makes the most sense" when I read it as the work of lyricists looking to make unusual forms out of phonetic arrangements in the spirit of the early 20th century.
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Gertrude Stein is dumb, all the modernist poets are dumb. Fuck 'em!
Reading My Ántonia for uni right now, which is okayish. I really wish I felt like I had the time to read Bolanos Savage Detectives by now :X
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England2646 Posts
Read:
The Innocent Killer by Michael Griesbach - Interesting story but the hook at the end of the blurb is pure clickbait (It describes Stephen Avery's wrongful conviction, then second conviction and ends with an "Or did he?" - regarding the second conviction. This "Or Did He?" is never even alluded to at the end of the book.)
Paradise Lost/Regained by Milton - I enjoyed it. I've not read an English poem/story that approaches bible stories this way and I enjoyed it. Easy enough to read and with some very interesting ideas and some pretty cool parts.
The Audacity of Hops by Tom Acitelli - A history of the growth of craft beer in America from it's origins in 1965 to about 2012. Unfortunately it misses the massive growth experienced in the last four years but the key information otherwise is all there. Gets a bit unfocused in the middle but works out.
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On June 01 2016 08:48 Manit0u wrote:Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (60th anniversary edition) Going to re-read this classic. Haha. Me too.
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So is it still as boring as I remember ? Starting :
Journey to the West (Wu Cheng'En ?) Hope it's half as good as Water Margin !
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United Kingdom10443 Posts
some girl I like mentioned this book so I started reading it, pretty awesome.
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Which recent William Gibson novel would you guys recommend?
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I enjoyed Pattern Recognition a fair bit, but it's already a bit out dated I feel.
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Thanks, I read some reviews for The Peripheral and got the impression it was so-so.
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Baa?21242 Posts
On June 20 2016 07:57 farvacola wrote: I enjoyed Pattern Recognition a fair bit, but it's already a bit out dated I feel.
gibson doesnt seem to age well ~_~
not as prescient or as insightful as he'd like to be, perhaps? ~~~
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Yeah, his stories have this dirty 80s sci-fi feel that they just can't seem to shake.
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I only read Gibson two years ago or so for the first time and while the ideas are of course not exactly new I like the dense and "information overload" writing style a lot because it actually fits the stories a lot better. Still enjoyed it a lot. For some reason I just can't work myself through these thousand page long tomes any more.
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And yeah, I forgot that Fahrenheit 451 had far better ideas than writing, but it was still a fun reread.
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Los Detectivos Salvajes (Roberto Bolaño).
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I finished the 2nd Mistborn sequel after the original trilogy(Alloy of Law, Shadow of Self, Band of Mourning last book of the series still not out yet) though i would say that it's still decent and has a different style compared to the original trilogy. It's definitely not as good as the Mistborn Trilogy imo, the first trilogy was just grand, complicated and explosive.
The 2nd one didn't have the feeling that they were facing an unstoppable adversary that the trilogy always gave the feeling of.
Well i'm reading the first book of Malazan of the Fallen , it's a bit difficult to get into my proress is slow(but people say it gets better later)
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Making Money by Terry Pratchett
No other author can write in the way that you not only don't know how the story will end but you don't even know how the current sentence will end and still create a wonderful and cohesive story. Best author ever, re-reading some of his novels now that I discovered 10+ of them gathering dust on one of my shelves.
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200 pages into the book, I like it a lot although I remember it getting some mixed reactions when it came out. Seems to be more focused on the plot and less heavy on the infodumps which I welcome
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On June 30 2016 02:41 Nyxisto wrote:200 pages into the book, I like it a lot although I remember it getting some mixed reactions when it came out. Seems to be more focused on the plot and less heavy on the infodumps which I welcome
It's a good techno-thriller. Well worth reading those 1k pages.
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After finishing Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series I read (with some intermezzos) Night of Knives, Return of the Crimson Guard, Forge of Darkness, Dancer's Lament, and currently Stonewielder. This Malazan journey has already taken more than two years and I still have like 10 books to go. Although overwhelming and arduous at times its still fascinating to discover this huge world they created.
In the mean time I read a lot of other books like The Black Company, the Powder Mage, The Way of Kings, and The Six-Gun Tarot. Out of all I've read in 2016 so far I mostly recommend Dancer's Lament to Malazan lovers. Surprisingly good and Esslemont is truly becoming a match for Erikson in writing IMO.
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This gave me a new way to look at Tibet. It's not all giant mountains, there are green jungles, and wild rivers, including the deepest canyon in the world.
The book is structured as a mandala. First, it approaches the topic, then dives into it more deeply, then reveals its full secrets at the end.
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I actually enjoyed Reamde quite a lot. Can anybody recommend me something along the same lines? I've read most of Stephenson's other stuff. Is Gibson's The Peripheral any good?
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Acrofales: I think Kraken is kind of like China Mievilles version of Terry Pratchett, if that makes sense. Not ony of my favorites of his, but still great fun.
Last read was Bolano's Savage Detectives. Corum is Ulises Lima and I am Garcia Madero, I think.
Latest bookhaul:
reading these two right now. I dont understand a lot in the book about Robustness and Evolvability yet but what little I do understand I want to incorporate into my delandian idea of history. Mieville's worldbuilding I think doesnt work as well in short stories as it does in full novels.
Bought but not yet begun to read:
based on the cover alone, this cant be as good as 2666. seriously, what an ugly cover!
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On July 13 2016 05:54 B.I.G. wrote: After finishing Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series I read (with some intermezzos) Night of Knives, Return of the Crimson Guard, Forge of Darkness, Dancer's Lament, and currently Stonewielder. This Malazan journey has already taken more than two years and I still have like 10 books to go. Although overwhelming and arduous at times its still fascinating to discover this huge world they created.
In the mean time I read a lot of other books like The Black Company, the Powder Mage, The Way of Kings, and The Six-Gun Tarot. Out of all I've read in 2016 so far I mostly recommend Dancer's Lament to Malazan lovers. Surprisingly good and Esslemont is truly becoming a match for Erikson in writing IMO. I just started Dancer's lament this week (60 pages in). Liking it si far and Dancer and Kellanved are two of the best characters in the series imo. Crimson Guard and Forge of Darkness were good as well. Always nice to see all the crossovers of different characters. The Malazan universe is very enjoyable imo. It's size is massive and there's a lot of mystery in it.
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I read Neuromancer again a few days ago. I guess this was about the fifth time (if not more) and I still like it a lot. First time I read it in English and compared to some of his short stories which I had read before, I was surprised how easy to read it was. I do not agree at all with the opinion that Gibson has not aged well. I have no idea why anyone would think so.
After that I read a version of Moby Dick for children to improve my French. The text was really bad, but the pictures were gorgeous. I would link the version I read so you can have a look, but I do not find it on amazon. I read somewhere that Moby Dick is a book for men who are at least 40, so I decided to reread it in a few years (not the version for children). I have already decided which translation. Waiting a few years will have the advantage that probably I will have more time to read when the kids are older.
I also read two of the Malazan books recently. I have been reading the series on and off for roughly eight years right now. I really enjoy the books from time to time, but they are just too long to finish the series when I have so many other things to do.
Is Los Detectivos Salvajes good? I read (most of) 2666 last year and it was definitely one of the two best books I read in a very long time (the other one being Herrndorfs cancer book www.wolfgang-herrndorf.de; I do not think that this has been translated, but if you read German, read this now).
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With Gibson I don't think it's the content or the age but the style that is off-putting. When I picked up Neuromancer for the first time a few years ago I thought I had forgotten how English worked because I read thirty pages and understood absolutely nothing.
Most of contemporary sci-fi is simply much more digestible.
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Gurke: The Savage Detectives is great! In a way its even weirder than 2666, although I think that one will remain my favorite.
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On July 24 2016 14:05 Nyxisto wrote: With Gibson I don't think it's the content or the age but the style that is off-putting. When I picked up Neuromancer for the first time a few years ago I thought I had forgotten how English worked because I read thirty pages and understood absolutely nothing.
Most of contemporary sci-fi is simply much more digestible.
OK, thank you for your answer. I guess I know now where we disagree I really like the language aspect in Neuromancer. Writing the way he does makes everything move fast without any delays by boring descriptive parts.
On July 24 2016 23:52 Surth wrote: Gurke: The Savage Detectives is great! In a way its even weirder than 2666, although I think that one will remain my favorite.
Thanks! I am going to Germany in a few days. If I have the time, I will try to get a copy.
Edit: WTF. I just realized that the paperback version is supposed to cost 18 EUR. No way I will spend that much for a paperback.
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Huh, I got a practically new edition for 6,67. it was via amazon marketplace though. Buchpreisbindegesetz has been having the opposite effect of what it should be doing ever since the internet got big...
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The Savage Detectives is written for men in their 20s.
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Second time reading Russian literature after Vladmir Nobokov's infamous Lolita. Am exactly 50% through this current book and I'm enjoying it a lot. Russian literature is looking very promising for me This book basically rekindled my love of reading after two years of university where I barely completed 5 books
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That looks like a crazy cover for a Dostoyevsky book, but yes, good stuff Check out The Idiot next imo.
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18 euros is already the best market place price I see.
On July 25 2016 07:39 IgnE wrote: The Savage Detectives is written for men in their 20s.
Oh, so I guess I am too old anyway. I should rather start reading books about getting old and preparing to die then and leave those other books to you youngsters. More Hemingway for me...
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On July 25 2016 07:39 IgnE wrote: The Savage Detectives is written for men in their 20s. Do explain.
Not disagreeing, just curious as to your reasoning
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Also why am Ulises Lima ? Reading Hobbes' Leviathan, I hate it even though it's sometimes comically stupid in the consequences (chapter 28 was therefore quite enjoyable). Only 250 pages left and I'll be able to start some Henry James
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oh man i had a course where one of the readings was James, hated it :X what are you reading by him?
Reading Taleb's Antifragility, its... mediocre. The style is readable but also incredibly annoying, and his way of arguing seems to be to show lots and lots of examples and alleging that they are all isomorphic without doing any of the necessary work to unearth their genealogies. Oh well, it is a new york times bestseller after all that purpots to be "the secret to success".
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On July 25 2016 17:25 Surth wrote:Show nested quote +On July 25 2016 07:39 IgnE wrote: The Savage Detectives is written for men in their 20s. Do explain. Not disagreeing, just curious as to your reasoning
It stirs a longing for cosmopolitan adventure that is best received in your 20s, because by your 30s it might only accentuate a perceived lack of personal freedom. Or you might dismiss its silly romance. Or resent the literary pretensions of adolescents growing up in the slums. It's a love story but it's not a marriage story, and so has a youthful subversiveness that might not be fully appreciated by the stodgy.
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I see. I was fearing you were going to compare it to On the Road or some one of the other terrible beat poets! I think, for one thing, the descriptions of Garcia Madero masturbating and fucking are simply hilarious in their ridiculousness. Oh, and that discussion about poets and their degrees of queerness (the german word used is "schwuchtel", which might be "fag" in the english translation. no idea what barrage of words is used in the spanish original). In general, I find poets and youthful rebelliousness terribly boring. If I met a character like Ulises Lima or Rayuela's Oliveira I'd probably get drunk very quickly and hate myself for not punching them. I just really really like the way Bolano writes.
It also just occurs to me that I had one course this semester writing about 1,500 words on literature every single week, and yet I can offer no analysis of the savage detectives. I hate analysing books. Art is so fucking shallow.
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Yes the sexual stuff and the revolted youth part are hilarious. That meeting with Octavio Paz is almost as good as Garcia Madero getting a blowjob ! Also going to read The Golden Bowl Surth, I quite liked Portrait of a woman, but I like most of XIXth century bourgeois novels, and James is close enough.
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On July 26 2016 17:09 Surth wrote: I see. I was fearing you were going to compare it to On the Road or some one of the other terrible beat poets! I think, for one thing, the descriptions of Garcia Madero masturbating and fucking are simply hilarious in their ridiculousness. Oh, and that discussion about poets and their degrees of queerness (the german word used is "schwuchtel", which might be "fag" in the english translation. no idea what barrage of words is used in the spanish original). In general, I find poets and youthful rebelliousness terribly boring. If I met a character like Ulises Lima or Rayuela's Oliveira I'd probably get drunk very quickly and hate myself for not punching them. I just really really like the way Bolano writes.
It also just occurs to me that I had one course this semester writing about 1,500 words on literature every single week, and yet I can offer no analysis of the savage detectives. I hate analysing books. Art is so fucking shallow.
Is it youthful rebelliousness that bores you or rebelliousness per se? You like the life stamped out of your subjects, maybe. Kafkaesque resignation.
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I like rebellions, but rebelliousness usually doesnt usher in rebellions :X
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So I have the completed works of Kafka in my possession and after reading The Trial, I've landed on The Castle, which is really difficult to get through, since it's more or less the same thing imo. Question: is all of Kafka's work like this? His writing style is interesting, in that he can explain something extremely elaborate, even if it's the smallest thing, which produces huge sentences that can be quite hard to get into sometimes. I love the page long monologues, but sometimes it just doesn't progress the way I want it to. Maybe that's what he wanted to stir in the reader: frustration.
Also reading The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, real fun stuff, currently finishing Wizard and Glass. It doesn't have the same epic feel to it as his first 3, but I guess it's a nice love story. Any opinions about that? Anyone read the series to completion?
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On July 27 2016 06:38 Surth wrote: I like rebellions, but rebelliousness usually doesnt usher in rebellions :X
Visceral realism is a rebellion, man.
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Done with the final book. Hmm i kinda like the clear scars of war type of ending.
+ Show Spoiler + And i knew Marina was gonna kiss John. Like in the epilouge when they met
They both lost their signifact other, it made sense in a way that they start gravitating towards each other.
Also i like how five ended up alone and adam is stuck in the prison for mogadorians to prevent people from just massacring the remains of his people who already surrendered.
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On July 27 2016 10:51 IgnE wrote:Show nested quote +On July 27 2016 06:38 Surth wrote: I like rebellions, but rebelliousness usually doesnt usher in rebellions :X Visceral realism is a rebellion, man. how old are you anyway! what are the books of your generation, old man?! :D
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I'm trying to get through DeLillo's White Noise, but it's just so, boring. Does anything happen later? I feel like something has to happen cuz everything seems to be building up to something happening. Maybe it's because the book is old, and the themes of consumerism, trappings of suburban life have come and gone already. I appreciate the way he writes, but it starts to become less impressive after a hundred pages or so.
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Haven't read White Noise but I've read his new book Zero K when it came out a few months ago and I wasn't impressed either. The whole theme of the book was interesting but there's nothing about his writing that does anything for me. I feel like he's not even enjoying writing his books. I read Falling Man years ago and had a similar reaction.
Also new Mieville novel coming out tomorrow. Almost missed that one, plot sounds absolutely crazy
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On July 20 2016 16:40 Surth wrote: Acrofales: I think Kraken is kind of like China Mievilles version of Terry Pratchett, if that makes sense. Not ony of my favorites of his, but still great fun. ....
I'd say very Gaimanesque, but I didn't get much Pratchett. I liked it, but since I have also read The City and the City, which is very different and I enjoyed it more; particularly the conclusion was great.
Right now I am reading:
I chickened out from reading it in its original Spanish, but am enjoying Maria Jolas' translation. She took quite some liberties with the text, but it seems to work.
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United States15275 Posts
On August 06 2016 03:02 zulu_nation8 wrote: I'm trying to get through DeLillo's White Noise, but it's just so, boring. Does anything happen later? I feel like something has to happen cuz everything seems to be building up to something happening. Maybe it's because the book is old, and the themes of consumerism, trappings of suburban life have come and gone already. I appreciate the way he writes, but it starts to become less impressive after a hundred pages or so.
I always found DeLillo to be an academic's idea of "insightful": a verbose style substituting for lucidity and power, clumsy metaphors everywhere and a scattershot attempt of covering themes at the expanse of exploring them. Some of the parallels he attempts to draw in White Noise border on the laughably absurd.
Maybe I'm being overly critical because I'm currently reading The Complete Works of Saki, and he seems to be effortlessly more insightful about the culture and class he skewers, yet never spiteful or overreaching (which is remarkable considering the deliberate ludicrousness of his short stories). It's a sad thing H.H. Munro isn't taught in schools. Unlike 90% of the standard high school curriculum, he manages to be stylistic and funny at the same time.
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Saki is great, props on that
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On August 07 2016 12:30 CosmicSpiral wrote:Show nested quote +On August 06 2016 03:02 zulu_nation8 wrote: I'm trying to get through DeLillo's White Noise, but it's just so, boring. Does anything happen later? I feel like something has to happen cuz everything seems to be building up to something happening. Maybe it's because the book is old, and the themes of consumerism, trappings of suburban life have come and gone already. I appreciate the way he writes, but it starts to become less impressive after a hundred pages or so. I always found DeLillo to be an academic's idea of "insightful": a verbose style substituting for lucidity and power, clumsy metaphors everywhere and a scattershot attempt of covering themes at the expanse of exploring them. Some of the parallels he attempts to draw in White Noise border on the laughably absurd.
Huh, weird, I love that book. But then, I am an academic. I don't think its particularly insightful (although I find SIMUVAC hilarious), but then in general I dont think art is very insightful ever. Also, the themes of consumerism have come and gone already? Thats just what consumerism wants you to think D: really liked Libra as well.
I'd say very Gaimanesque, but I didn't get much Pratchett. I liked it, but since I have also read The City and the City, which is very different and I enjoyed it more; particularly the conclusion was great.
Fair enough. I was mostly thinking of Good Omens, so that seems accurate.
I'm on break from books mostly for three weeks, but I picked up Braudel again. And I bought Ortega's book about the Masses in spanish to help me immerse myslef in the language more, hah
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United States15275 Posts
On August 08 2016 06:39 Surth wrote: Huh, weird, I love that book. But then, I am an academic. I don't think its particularly insightful (although I find SIMUVAC hilarious), but then in general I dont think art is very insightful ever. Also, the themes of consumerism have come and gone already? Thats just what consumerism wants you to think D: really liked Libra as well.
I found his critique of consumerism shallow, but then again it's also passe in the sense that White Noise came out in '85. There are probably certain aspects of consumerism now that were not ubiquitous back then. However, the attempts to tackle such material come off as goofy. They often come across as a complete lack of familiarity with his subject matter. Insinuating supermarkets provide emotional nourishment? Completing missing the point and nature of advertising? He could've just read the fourth section of Ways of Seeing and copied it verbatim; it would've been more effective.
His prose style is also grating to me. That's a personal thing though.
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Currently reading musashi after I read the manga Vagabond but it was never finished and now I can finish the story.
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Picked up Endymion and Rise of Endymion. Hyperion is one of my favorite books and given that these are somewhat controversial I've been holding out until now
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So at the moment I am reading "The Warded Man" (AKA The Painted Man) by Peter V. Brett after someone recommended it (thought it was this thread but cant find the post)
Disclaimer: I haven't finished it yet.
The premise in short is a world where demons rule the night. The demons are essentially unstoppable slaughter machines that want nothing more then to fuck humanity in to the ground. The only thing that humanity can do is use wards. Good ol' wards where you make a fancy drawing that creates a magic barrier that 100% effectively keeps the demons out.
As long as people don't fuck up.
See there starts my problem with a story like this. It reminds me a bit of The Walking Dead where the baddies are scary and dangerous for sure but there seem to be so many ways to effectively fix the problem practically permanently (tree huts, moats, greased up slopes anyone?). The story makes it clear that people have categorized the kinds of demons and how they work pretty well. They know where they appear and under what circumstances, what kinds there are and how they react to things.
You know where it goes wrong most often in this story? People being too fucking negligent to check the wards around their house. That's right. Any normal human being would check that shit 10 fucking times a day but no here they can't be bothered "I checked them last winter so I don't see what could go wrong?! It's not like a failed ward will mean the most horrible and gruesome death for me and my entire family!"
What bothers me about that is that any REAL human society would use those wards in a much more systematic and effective way to "fix" the problem ("demons can't rise on pavement? guess what we are doing!") Same as in Walking Dead where everything goes to hell because of some emotional bullshit where someone throws a tantrum and forgets to lock the door and lets all the zombies in. I call it a stupidity driven plot and as you probably gathered by now I do not like it too much.
On the plus side I do like the idea of the oh so dark and dangerous outside world. They should just have packaged in a more of an eternal conflict kinda way (like the Stormwall for those who've read Malazan books) and make warding something only very unique individuals can do. Characters have been written well and I do really like the main characters. The thing that confuses me though that the simplicity of the story, the colorful descriptions of the demons (they kinda sound like Pokemon sometimes), and the age of the main characters makes me think its a book aimed at 14-16 year olds. Then again you also have passages where one of the main characters hears her mother bang another dude while her dad is sleeping next doors, as well pretty gory details.
I will finish the book first before my final judgement but I would say that it is a book that seems to be targeted to a younger crowd (which in many parts makes sense) but then someone decided to make it more mature by adding some gore and sex.
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Been reading a lot of Asian novels recently and just read one I want to recommend: https://distractedtranslations.wordpress.com/the-girl-who-ate-death/
The basic plot is that a child that is starving to death eats a death god (Shinigami) when it comes for her. From this she gains a lot of power and sets out to eat good things and get revenge for her village's destruction. What I really liked about this story is that an ending is said and confirmed multiple times during the story. Making one wonder how it gets there and if it is just a lie or not.
I especially got emotionally involved with the story, laughed at a few points and cried near the ending.
A bad point is that the last half of the ending lost its translation in some site migration. Thus it ends on an open note instead of closing up all points. The open ending is likely better though since one can imagine what one wants into it.
A disclaimer is that the English translation isn't perfect, it improves as the story goes along but expect a spelling mistake or grammar mistake a chapter.
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It was somewhat amusing, but I imagine it would get really fucking old really quick.
I went to the Nimitz museum in Fredericksburg a few years ago. It was neat.
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Canada5565 Posts
Love these threads. Thanks to you guys, I have a huge backlog!
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What's the best JM Coetzee novel for someone who hasn't read any of his works? Where do I start?
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Idk but look out for the new Nell Zink coming out 10/4, the one she got a 6 figure advance for and will be one of the most hyped drops of the year, similar to yeezys but in the literary world.
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I read her last book. It was good.
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Baa?21242 Posts
On September 30 2016 12:57 IgnE wrote: What's the best JM Coetzee novel for someone who hasn't read any of his works? Where do I start?
go with the famous ones.
Disgrace, Foe, Life and Times of Michael K
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the question is which one?!
fuck it i'm getting Foe and Life and Times of Michael K
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Baa?21242 Posts
I didn't like Michael K that much but I also read it when I was really young and missed the whole "oh apartheid is a thing" thing.
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I must admit Coetzee isn't anywhere near my to read list. Finally got a copy of Death's End I still need to read 280 pages of Infinite Jest before (it's depressing and funny, but merely good so far), and I have a lent Braudel (first part of "Material civilisation etc") I'll need to plunge into soon. I'm headed toward 100+ read book again this year, 5-6 only really great though. Oh and Polybius is a fascinating read for the interested in imperialism 'n stuff.
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i saw a quote from this book on /r9k/ and decided to read it. I liked it.
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On October 01 2016 17:17 corumjhaelen wrote:I must admit Coetzee isn't anywhere near my to read list. Finally got a copy of Death's End I still need to read 280 pages of Infinite Jest before (it's depressing and funny, but merely good so far), and I have a lent Braudel (first part of "Material civilisation etc") I'll need to plunge into soon. I'm headed toward 100+ read book again this year, 5-6 only really great though. Oh and Polybius is a fascinating read for the interested in imperialism 'n stuff.
I did actually forget that Death's End is out, I've been waiting for this for a year or something thanks for the reminder
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Baa?21242 Posts
Death's End is gr8. I still think Dark Forest is better overall but both are excellent~
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Mild spoiler about Death's End + Show Spoiler +I like the "never trust women with nuclear weapons" subtext
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Yes, those feminised societies are up to no good lol. I like the book, am three quarters through. I think the second one had a more interesting protagonist and a more interesting personal story, but this one is just really astonishing in scope. Also as usual some really crazy ideas in there. Is there more Chinese Sci-Fi that's this good?
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How the fuck did Bob Dylan win the Nobel Prize.
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Baa?21242 Posts
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I'm happy for Dylan, and watching the "literary" community rip their hair off over the Nobel for the coming months is going to be absolutely hilarious.
It could only be better if Pynchon won and sent another comedian to receive the prize.
On October 14 2016 00:19 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2016 23:06 zulu_nation8 wrote: How the fuck did Bob Dylan win the Nobel Prize. Indeed. And the Q&A is the most vapid nonsense ever. https://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2016/oct/13/nobel-prize-in-literature-2016-liveblogShow nested quote +Q: He’s not written novels, not poetry in the usual sense, you have widened the horizon. Danius: It may look that way but really we haven’t in a way if you look back, far back, 2500 years or so, you discover Homer and Sappho and they wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to. They were meant to be performed, often together with instruments, and it’s the same way with Bob Dylan. But we still read Homer and Sappho and we enjoyed it [sic], we enjoy it and the same thing with Bob Dylan he can be read and should be read and he is a great poet in the English tradition, in the grand English poetic tradition. Did she just equate the Iliad with Blowin in the Wind?
I don't think she did; she only highlighted that the line between music and literature is not a clear one. But that has been known at least since the early 20th century(see Pound).
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On October 13 2016 23:06 zulu_nation8 wrote: How the fuck did Bob Dylan win the Nobel Prize. Indeed. And the Q&A is the most vapid nonsense ever.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2016/oct/13/nobel-prize-in-literature-2016-liveblog
Q: He’s not written novels, not poetry in the usual sense, you have widened the horizon. Danius: It may look that way but really we haven’t in a way if you look back, far back, 2500 years or so, you discover Homer and Sappho and they wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to. They were meant to be performed, often together with instruments, and it’s the same way with Bob Dylan. But we still read Homer and Sappho and we enjoyed it [sic], we enjoy it and the same thing with Bob Dylan he can be read and should be read and he is a great poet in the English tradition, in the grand English poetic tradition.
Did she just equate the Iliad with Blowin in the Wind?
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On October 14 2016 00:33 corumjhaelen wrote: I approve of Bob Dylan. The uproar it has caused in literary circles alone justifies it. Some people almost make it a life mission to decry awards as unimportant, but when someone they deem undeserving wins a prize they sure get upset.
As someone on reddit said: He speaks in your voice, Music Lyrics, and there's a prize in his eyes that's halfway hilarious.
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Now I'm just waiting for Tom Waits to win.
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Baa?21242 Posts
On October 14 2016 00:38 dmnum wrote:The uproar it has caused in literary circles alone justifies it. Some people almost make it a life mission to decry awards as unimportant, but when someone they deem undeserving wins a prize they sure get upset. As someone on reddit said: He speaks in your voice, Music Lyrics, and there's a prize in his eyes that's halfway hilarious.
I've spent years defending the importance/relevance of the Nobel lit prize. It's not the end all be all but I always thought it did well as the standard bearer of literature's impact and place in society.
2016 just makes me feel like an idiot. Everyone who has said the Nobel is a farce has been proven correct.
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On October 14 2016 00:19 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2016 23:06 zulu_nation8 wrote: How the fuck did Bob Dylan win the Nobel Prize. Indeed. And the Q&A is the most vapid nonsense ever. https://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2016/oct/13/nobel-prize-in-literature-2016-liveblogShow nested quote +Q: He’s not written novels, not poetry in the usual sense, you have widened the horizon. Danius: It may look that way but really we haven’t in a way if you look back, far back, 2500 years or so, you discover Homer and Sappho and they wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to. They were meant to be performed, often together with instruments, and it’s the same way with Bob Dylan. But we still read Homer and Sappho and we enjoyed it [sic], we enjoy it and the same thing with Bob Dylan he can be read and should be read and he is a great poet in the English tradition, in the grand English poetic tradition. Did she just equate the Iliad with Blowin in the Wind?
lol they were meant to be listened to cuz writing hadn't been invented.
I guess it'll be Patti Smith's turn next year.
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That Q and A is embarrassing lol
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Pynchon despises the spotlight and everyone associated with it.
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He wouldn't show up to receive the prize and would probably make a mockery of it, like he did with the National Book Award.
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Baa?21242 Posts
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On October 14 2016 01:41 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2016 00:38 dmnum wrote:On October 14 2016 00:33 corumjhaelen wrote: I approve of Bob Dylan. The uproar it has caused in literary circles alone justifies it. Some people almost make it a life mission to decry awards as unimportant, but when someone they deem undeserving wins a prize they sure get upset. As someone on reddit said: He speaks in your voice, Music Lyrics, and there's a prize in his eyes that's halfway hilarious. I've spent years defending the importance/relevance of the Nobel lit prize. It's not the end all be all but I always thought it did well as the standard bearer of literature's impact and place in society. 2016 just makes me feel like an idiot. Everyone who has said the Nobel is a farce has been proven correct. If the Nobel were a serious prize Borges would've won. But alas, he supported the right wing dictatorships of South America. I'm not gonna lecture you about the fact that the Nobel is as political as it is technical because you already know that. But look at the last two winners: a journalist and a musician. It is obvious that the committe is challenging traditional notions of what constitutes literature.
Also, it is a big fuck you to every American critic who has whined for the last 20 years about Bloom's Big Four not being awarded the Nobel. They already said why they didn't win - American literature is too insular -, but people kept pestering them, saying it was a travesty that Roth or Pynchon was not a laureate(as if there weren't a ton of other countries with equally worth writers in them).
I'd not be surprised if Stephen Sondheim or some screenwriter wins it in the coming years.
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fuck music, when will forum posts be worthy of nobel consideration?
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I read Inherent Vice earlier this year and thought it was pretty good, but this is really driving me nuts. I think I'm 90 pages in or something and I have absolutely no clue what's going on. There's new characters on every page, they're called Eigenvalue and McClinticSphere, people are hunting alligators in the sewers, I was pretty sure 'V' was a person but then it also seems to be a nightclub and I have absolutely no idea whether the story is taking place in New York or Egypt at the moment. Also there are sentences that just never end, and suddenly people start to sing in Italian
This book might be too much for me
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England2646 Posts
Speaking of Pynchon, I read The Crying of Lot 49 recently and I've no idea how much I liked it. Not sure how I'd do in a second language reading it. I read it to see if reading Gravity's Rainbow was worthwhile but I'm not sure if I can get through a 760 page book if it's going to be as much as Crying of Lot 49 was. I do like the self-contained world being immediately self-referencing but yeah. Who knows.
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Gravity's Rainbow is significantly more difficult to get through than TCoL49, so be prepared for exhaustion. The beginning has stuff about banana pancakes and smoking tropane alkaloid laden plants, so there's that to look forward to
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I'm of the opinion that there are a lot of other books, long or short, easy or difficult, pomo or not, that have more to offer than Gravity's Rainbow. I guess what I enjoyed and got from it was mostly already in the Crying, which has obvious advantages if you disregard content.
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I prefer McCarthy and Roth.
Sabbath's Theater and Blood Meridian kick ass, and Portnoy's Complaint is the funniest book I've read. It's not that Pynchon is bad, but in my view he's in a level below.
Anyway, I'm reading this:
It's pretty good, there are a lot of misconceptions about learning out there.
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what's the biggest misconception you had that the book enlightened you on
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Mainly that spaced rereadings is the best way to learn(the best way is spaced retrieval, i.e. trying to remember what you studied) and that quizzes should be done after studying a topic, but not before(studies show that you learn more if you do quizzes before and after studying).
Edit: also that you learn better when the studying is easy(it's better to have some difficulty, as long as you can overcome it).
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On October 19 2016 10:22 dmnum wrote: Mainly that spaced rereadings is the best way to learn(the best way is spaced retrieval, i.e. trying to remember what you studied) and that quizzes should be done after studying a topic, but not before(studies show that you learn more if you do quizzes before and after studying).
Edit: also that you learn better when the studying is easy(it's better to have some difficulty, as long as you can overcome it).
the bolded seems contradictory to me
and i'm not sure what your edit means
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Sorry, was in a rush and couldn't reply properly.
Anyway, on the quizzing before and after testing, they basically did a study where they made one group students try to solve a problem before being told the answer, while another group was presented with the answer being made to solve the problem. One month later they did quizzed both groups and the first one did better than the second.
The part about studying being better when it's hard branches into a lot of studies, so I won't cite them all, but here's two examples: once again they took two groups of people to teach how to play hockey: one practiced a part of the game(skating, for example) until they had mastered it, and then moved on to the next task(let's say shooting the puck), while the other practiced a little bit of skating, then moved on the shooting the puck, and so on, before training skating again. The latter group felt frustrated about being made to move on to another thing before mastering the first because, according to them, that made them feel like they learned almost nothing; however, on latter tests, they did better than the first group; On another test, they made one group read a topic twice, while another group read it once and then tried to remember what they read without looking at the book; the second group learned better.
There's a bunch of examples, and all the studies mentioned in the book were published in peer reviewed periodicals, so it's credible.
This article presents some of the points made in the book: https://info.maths.ed.ac.uk/assets/files/LandT/what_works_what_doesnt.pdf
Of course it doesn't go in depth into the topics, and the book contains a lot more information, but it's only 8 pages so it's worth a quick read.
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none of this has anything to do with learning
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On October 19 2016 14:48 dmnum wrote:Sorry, was in a rush and couldn't reply properly. Anyway, on the quizzing before and after testing, they basically did a study where they made one group students try to solve a problem before being told the answer, while another group was presented with the answer being made to solve the problem. One month later they did quizzed both groups and the first one did better than the second. The part about studying being better when it's hard branches into a lot of studies, so I won't cite them all, but here's two examples: once again they took two groups of people to teach how to play hockey: one practiced a part of the game(skating, for example) until they had mastered it, and then moved on to the next task(let's say shooting the puck), while the other practiced a little bit of skating, then moved on the shooting the puck, and so on, before training skating again. The latter group felt frustrated about being made to move on to another thing before mastering the first because, according to them, that made them feel like they learned almost nothing; however, on latter tests, they did better than the first group; On another test, they made one group read a topic twice, while another group read it once and then tried to remember what they read without looking at the book; the second group learned better. There's a bunch of examples, and all the studies mentioned in the book were published in peer reviewed periodicals, so it's credible. This article presents some of the points made in the book: https://info.maths.ed.ac.uk/assets/files/LandT/what_works_what_doesnt.pdfOf course it doesn't go in depth into the topics, and the book contains a lot more information, but it's only 8 pages so it's worth a quick read.
none of those methods really make sense for self-study of philosophy and theory. they are memorization techniques. and they shit on "marking the text". what am i to do?
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you are to burn down university! i cant tell you why until next year, but i thought "burn down university" was a snappy title for a thesis. ill find the reasons later.
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+ Echopraxia, those were two pretty depressing books. Great reads though.
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Baa?21242 Posts
i did it guys, i finally beat literature
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too bad it ends right where it starts
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On November 13 2016 08:53 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:i did it guys, i finally beat literature
What's that book about?
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is goodreads good? ima make an account if having people see what i read will make me read more
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you can post here bro. ill see you what you read.
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Baa?21242 Posts
On November 13 2016 10:37 zulu_nation8 wrote: is goodreads good? ima make an account if having people see what i read will make me read more
idk it seems pretty bad/worthless to me. i dont really use it/update it. the community/social aspect seems pretty geared towars YA. ymmv
On November 13 2016 09:27 IgnE wrote:Show nested quote +On November 13 2016 08:53 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:i did it guys, i finally beat literature What's that book about?
some guy taking a dump
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German intellectual history of the last 250 years or so.
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Cheep, you should try Bottom's Dream next.
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Baa?21242 Posts
On November 13 2016 15:40 dmnum wrote: Cheep, you should try Bottom's Dream next.
i preordered it the moment it was announced. i've been flipping through random pages. not doing a cover to cover read yet but i'm "reading" it.
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England2646 Posts
On November 14 2016 06:31 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:Show nested quote +On November 13 2016 15:40 dmnum wrote: Cheep, you should try Bottom's Dream next. i preordered it the moment it was announced. i've been flipping through random pages. not doing a cover to cover read yet but i'm "reading" it.
I don't know much about these kinds of books but I was trying to figure out how you'd translate a book like that. Then I read up on John E. Woods. He translated Perfume, which is the absolute best translation I've ever read, so if anyone could do it, it's him. Cool guy.
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Baa?21242 Posts
John E Woods is an absolute beast. His work with Mann is also top notch.
I've read one of Schmidt's earlier books (Nobodaddy's Children, a compilation of three of his early novellas) and it was quite interesting. John Woods translated large portions of Schmidt's work prior/alongside with his more famous endeavours like Suskind and Mann.
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I use goodreads for book reviews and my own to read list. Have like 30 books in there at any given time that I choose from when I finished my current book and am looking for something new.
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Wanted to read some SciFi again and saw a later book in this series got some SciFi award so its probably not so bad. Well turns out it actually is bad. It is an epic saga involving many alien species and hundreds of characters. But the characters are so bland, all are predefined as either good or bad guys. Who is what you figure out after one sentence usually. Similar with the factions. And the things happening in this universe make little sense, a mix of hard sf with its technology and then tons of spiritual fantasy-like stuff.
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Kevin J. Anderson is a terrible author. Almost as bad as Peter F. Hamilton. Both absolutely awful with their bland pseudo scientific fantasy space opera bullshit. No interesting characters, no interesting plot, terrible world building and shitty writing. Stay away.
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Saw this at an airport and remembered reading it at like 10 or so. Back then it was pretty hard stuff. Pretty funny that this started as super hero RPGs that GRRM and some fellow writers played. At some point they had the idea to monetize their game stories and made books from it. Generally the super hero thing always feels a little silly to me, but this is a rather mature take on it (although still silly at times). Tries even harder to be dark than other super hero stories. It is well written and the characters are interesting. Am now reading the 2nd book in the series and it is even more fun.
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Can we talk about how awful the job market for humanities PHDs is? It seems like professors have the moral obligation to discourage students from attending grad school. For any given non-TT job in the US there are probably a few hundred extremely well qualified applicants.
Blog about the Classics job market: http://famaevolent.blogspot.com/
Leiter Reports has good advice on Phil grad schools, which comes down to: if you don't get into a top 20 institution then don't bother. Though his own rankings are a bit strange. For example CUNY is ranked high but lower everywhere else, they do have the smartest living person in the world though, but who's about to retire soon, Kripke.
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That's why I went to law school
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L. Ron Hubbard might have been a con-artist and his followers batshit crazy but this book is pretty much a masterpiece of the Science Fiction genre that I am again rereading.
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Idk I think it is rather trashy, pulp style SciFi. The hero is this super human character I rather want to punch in the face than see succeed. I read this as a kid and liked it but when I tried to reread I could not finish it. If one likes these stories full of action Phillipp Jose Farmer is infinitely better imo.
I kinda liked the first book of Mission Earth though, mainly because the bad guy was fun. The 2nd became too boring to read though and the main character again became unbearable.
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On November 19 2016 05:00 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:L. Ron Hubbard might have been a con-artist and his followers batshit crazy but this book is pretty much a masterpiece of the Science Fiction genre that I am again rereading.
The film was better.
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On November 17 2016 20:49 zulu_nation8 wrote:Can we talk about how awful the job market for humanities PHDs is? It seems like professors have the moral obligation to discourage students from attending grad school. For any given non-TT job in the US there are probably a few hundred extremely well qualified applicants. Blog about the Classics job market: http://famaevolent.blogspot.com/Leiter Reports has good advice on Phil grad schools, which comes down to: if you don't get into a top 20 institution then don't bother. Though his own rankings are a bit strange. For example CUNY is ranked high but lower everywhere else, they do have the smartest living person in the world though, but who's about to retire soon, Kripke.
But what if you do get into a top 20 institution?
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you have more than a 1% chance of getting a job after if you finish, dropout rates are high.
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On November 20 2016 03:08 IgnE wrote:Show nested quote +On November 19 2016 05:00 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:L. Ron Hubbard might have been a con-artist and his followers batshit crazy but this book is pretty much a masterpiece of the Science Fiction genre that I am again rereading. The film was better. Holy shit. Glad I never read the book then.
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Anyone use an e-reader? I grabbed the paperwhite on cyber monday without researching beforehand. I kinda don't want it if it doesn't show page numbers like on the kindle software.
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you can display page numbers on the paperwhite.
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I refuse to use an e-reader. I'm a man of principle.
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I am using Kindle for 3 years now and almost never use anything else to read. Biggest advantage is all the space you safe when not having physical books. And you never need to search for a book, you just have it instantly.
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about to finish book 3 of Malazan series (not as heartbreaking as book 2 so far surprisingly)
and afterwards i'm gonna be reading
Mort , Death series(book 1) from Discworld by Terry Pratchet
idk i've been long curious about his work and i hear alot of good things about it being inspiring, funny and having to have good reread value
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On November 30 2016 07:50 Redox wrote: I am using Kindle for 3 years now and almost never use anything else to read. Biggest advantage is all the space you safe when not having physical books. And you never need to search for a book, you just have it instantly.
unless you lose your kindle?
i dont mind reading on kindle but i prefer a pen to their clumsy highlighting system
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United States15275 Posts
I enjoy the physical sensation of a book too much.
Heian Japan is such an odd culture compared to what I usually read about.
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On November 30 2016 10:27 IgnE wrote:Show nested quote +On November 30 2016 07:50 Redox wrote: I am using Kindle for 3 years now and almost never use anything else to read. Biggest advantage is all the space you safe when not having physical books. And you never need to search for a book, you just have it instantly. unless you lose your kindle? i dont mind reading on kindle but i prefer a pen to their clumsy highlighting system I have all books on PC as well of course. Calibre is a fantastic program for organizing your ebooks.
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I use an e-ink device (Kobo) specifically for reading things that I can't easily buy/find on paper, and that I don't want to print out.
I work in computing science, so there's lots of online resources that you can't easily (cheaply) get physical copies of. This usually includes pdf versions of textbooks/references only available online or easily accessible through my University library account, conference proceedings/papers, and the occasional PhD thesis.
I actually find that the e-ink is very pleasant to read from, and is a decent enough substitute for paper. I use the following software: https://github.com/koreader/koreader to provide nicer formatting options and margins for what I'm reading. It works well enough on plain pdfs.
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I recently started the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Just finished the 3rd book, The Dragon Reborn, yesterday and I have started the 4th book, The Shadow Rising. Absolutely in love with the series. The last couple chapters of book 3 had me enthralled until 2 am. Apparently book 4 is one of the best in the series, so I'm looking forward to it.
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Baa?21242 Posts
oh yeah everyone should read The Recognitions by William Gaddis
one of the best book I've read in years
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Gaddis is fucking awesome.
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On November 30 2016 22:48 IVOie wrote: I recently started the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Just finished the 3rd book, The Dragon Reborn, yesterday and I have started the 4th book, The Shadow Rising. Absolutely in love with the series. The last couple chapters of book 3 had me enthralled until 2 am. Apparently book 4 is one of the best in the series, so I'm looking forward to it.
If you can make it through the 7-10 slog (honestly I thought 7/8 were fine, 9 was slow but some important stuff happened at least, and 10 was almost entirely pointless), knife of dreams and the books by Sanderson are all great.
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my kindle paperwhite arrived today, first time using a kindle, I'm surprised that e-ink looks like it's a DOS era technology that's 10x less responsive than a tablet and regularly turns the screen into a photo negative when I press on it too much. Not sure how anyone manages to read on this thing.
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do you have the brightness turned all the way down? I think it's much easier on the eyes than a tablet screen.
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It's way better than a tablet screen.
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I've been trying to read PDF scans that have been converted to MOBI and almost all of them become unreadable once converted. Are other e-readers or e-reader formats better for PDFs?
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On December 03 2016 21:22 zulu_nation8 wrote: I've been trying to read PDF scans that have been converted to MOBI and almost all of them become unreadable once converted. Are other e-readers or e-reader formats better for PDFs? I've never had problems with mobi (at least, I think that's what calibre converts to for kindle). Then again, my kindle is first or second generation, so maybe things were different. Don't new kindles read pdf directly? Anyway, just try. Convert to epub (which is basically html) and see if you like it better.
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On December 03 2016 21:22 zulu_nation8 wrote: I've been trying to read PDF scans that have been converted to MOBI and almost all of them become unreadable once converted. Are other e-readers or e-reader formats better for PDFs?
PDFs are just a bitch to read on almost any device. The optical recognition and/or reformatting is not great. Amazon makes some of the public formats intentionally hard to use I think. Protect IP rights and all that.
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Well, it does depend on the PDF. If it's a PDF created of images of pages, then that is horrible (and will look horrible on anything). If it's a PDF with actual text (could be OCR or generated directly in any number of ways), PDF is fine.
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I imported the PDFs in their original format and they were surprisingly readable. It would be nice if there was a zoom-in feature but not a big deal. I'm still having trouble justifying keeping the Kindle though as its biggest advantage over my tablet seems to be the lack of distraction. The screen is nice but I doubt my eyes can get any worse.
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I've been getting back into Sci-Fi recently, namely Space Operas. I've finished Peter F. Hamilton's Fallen Dragon which wasn't half bad, and now I'm half way through his Pandora's Star. Rejuvination sounds like such a cool concept :3
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Baa?21242 Posts
On December 01 2016 07:47 farvacola wrote: Gaddis is fucking awesome.
happy birthday \o/
going through JR right now and it's hilarious.
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Wanted to give Sanderson a try as some people praise him a lot. I am half way through the book and have trouble finishing it though. Not my thing at all. Author seems to be constantly putting forward his political ideas in a fantasy setting which is annoying. And the good guys are all way too flawless which makes them boring and unlikable to me.
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On December 10 2016 04:00 Redox wrote:Wanted to give Sanderson a try as some people praise him a lot. I am half way through the book and have trouble finishing it though. Not my thing at all. Author seems to be constantly putting forward his political ideas in a fantasy setting which is annoying. And the good guys are all way too flawless which makes them boring and unlikable to me. I'm an avid reader of Sanderson books so i'll warn that's not one of his more polished works
i suggest mistborn trilogy or stormlight archives(if you don't mind with there being only two books out of 10) those are like his best work so far (just go for those books they're the actually refined ones)
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what are his political ideas? out of curiosity
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On December 10 2016 04:18 goody153 wrote:Show nested quote +On December 10 2016 04:00 Redox wrote:Wanted to give Sanderson a try as some people praise him a lot. I am half way through the book and have trouble finishing it though. Not my thing at all. Author seems to be constantly putting forward his political ideas in a fantasy setting which is annoying. And the good guys are all way too flawless which makes them boring and unlikable to me. I'm an avid reader of Sanderson books so i'll warn that's not one of his more polished works i suggest mistborn trilogy or stormlight archives(if you don't mind with there being only two books out of 10) those are like his best work so far Was about to say. I like Sanderson, but found Elantris borderline unreadable. It gets better in the second half of the book. I'd definitely read the Mistborn trilogy, though. In particular the first book is amazing, but the whole trilogy is great. I quite liked warbreaker too.
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Btw just realized that Blizzard's WoW city Suramar is heavily inspired by Elantris.
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On December 10 2016 05:18 IgnE wrote: what are his political ideas? out of curiosity
you not gonna answer that question?
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Am a little lazy but ok. :D
For example he heavily emphasizes how a person just needs work (even if menial tasks) to find purpose in his life and he will find his way out of despair. Goes on to show that giving handouts instead to those poor people is very counter productive. Workers need to get a share of their labour's fruit and their effectiveness will multiply. He demonstrates how hate against certain groups is channeled and used to convert people to certain beliefs and control them. But he also shows that religion can be a force for the good when paired with a message of love and serenity.
It is not that I object to these notions. But in the end the whole plot is politics. How to win people's allegiance, how to sway them this way and that way. Which is not bad per se, but I find it misplaced in a fantasy setting and it is overly simplified.
Just googled and I am not super surprised to find he is a Mormon. There are indeed similarities to Orson Scott Card when it comes to the moralizing.
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On December 11 2016 05:27 IgnE wrote:Show nested quote +On December 10 2016 05:18 IgnE wrote: what are his political ideas? out of curiosity you not gonna answer that question? srry
it would be wayy too long if i specified everything but it's safe to say he has ALOT of political/society/whatever ideas he implements on his every series
like in stormlight archives he has this woman in the story like do all kinds of scribing, art, academic stuff while men are commonly encouraged to do the more brute stuff like being a soldier (and men are actually frowned upon when they learn to write and to scholastic stuff)
in warbreaker we have these walking gods and not just a conceptual higher being that watches over the people
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but that's the stuff stories are made of right?
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Read "Abolition of the Species" by Dietmar Dath (who is, by the way, one of the most interesting authors in germany). Reading it was both a chore and a pleasure. Dath's willingness to write and think about stuff which is actually interesting and new makes it worth a read
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I've manage to finish another book before the year ends
book 1 out of 3 from the "Travellers Gate" trilogy by Will Wight . It's alright i guess, i had fun reading but the book cover description totally lured me into reading.
Simon can only watch, helpless, as his family is killed and his friends captured by enemy Travelers—men and women who can summon mystical powers from otherworldly Territories. To top it off, another young man from Simon's village discovers that he's a savior prophesied to destroy evil and save the realm.
Prophecy has nothing to say about Simon. He has no special powers, no magical weapons, and no guarantee that he'll survive. But he sets off anyway, alone, to gain the power he needs to oppose the Travelers and topple their ruthless Overlord. It may not be his destiny, but Simon's determined to rescue his fellow villagers from certain death.
Because who cares about prophecy, really?
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Finished:
Honestly, this has been one of the most frustrating books I have ever read. The setup is interesting, you can clearly see that Gaiman knows how to tell a story and everything is very readable. And then he messes it up completely by cheating the reader in a really lame way. Admittedly, cheating people is kind of the main topic of the whole book, so in a weird way it even makes sense. But doing this to your readers after several hundred pages? Definitely not recommended. Stay away from this book!
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not that i necessarily disagree but how does he cheat the reader?
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+ Show Spoiler +He builds up this whole "new gods versus old gods battle" story line and then all of this is just a plot by Wednesday and Loki and finally the whole thing does not even happen. I was beyond annoyed when I finished this. Also the whole horror missing children thing. He builds up the tension really well, and then the main character just leaves the village for a few hundred pages and finally it was the damn Hinzelmann? And he killed one child each year for more than a hundred years and no one thought that there was something fishy going on?
Don't get me wrong: I really like the buildup of most of the story lines, but the conclusion is beyond overwhelming for all of them.
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I actually read this book earlier this year for a book club. I wrote up some preliminary thoughts on it a couple months ago that I will paste here if you are interested. It was difficult for me to really think about the book without wanting to pull my hair out because of what I think are its many failings, but foremost among those is an incoherence that goes beyond mere inconsistency. I suppose it could be my failing, but it put me off reading anything else by Neil Gaiman. The following borrows heavily from Zizek's On Belief so if you hate Zizek you've been warned. It is what it is.
+ Show Spoiler +Old Gods, New Gods, but no ChristWithin the first couple hundred pages or so American Gods seems to be pretty straightforward: the new gods (internet, money, tv, media) are displacing the old gods in America. The obvious metaphor being that crass consumerism is driving out religion, and perhaps a sense of the sacred, in the land of the free. Gaiman is somewhat ambivalent on whether this might amount to an agnosticism, but he stretches the major conceit a bit thin in suggesting that technology, like the internet, or the acne-ridden "technical boy," actually functions as a god alongside the host of attention-siphoning technologies and media that have been gamely anthropomorphized for us. How technology might be the same kind of thing as Jesus Christ is maybe superficially interesting, but I think the analogy breaks down upon scrutiny. In the appendix of my version of the book the editor included an apocryphal chapter featuring Jesus, who plays a rather muted role throughout the whole thing despite being the preeminent American god. Gaiman says: I'd been looking forward to writing the meeting of Shadow and Jesus for most of the book: I couldn't write about America without mentioning Jesus, after all. He's part of the warp and the weft of the country. And then I wrote their first scene together in chapter fifteen, and it didn't work for me; I felt like I was alluding to something that I couldn't simply mention in passing and then move on from. It was too big. So I took it out again. I nearly put it back in, assembling this author's preferred text. Actually, I did put it back in. And then I took it out again, and put it here. You can read it. I'm just not sure that it's necessarily part of American Gods.
The appendix here is a good indication that Gaiman doesn't really care about making the anology work, or about having a consistent ontology of belief. The mechanics of how belief functions in this world aren't clearly explained. The selection of gods for inclusion in the story is arbitrary. If anything, belief seems to be functioning more like attention than any of the more commonly understood categories of belief. The appendix only makes things murkier. In the lost chapter with Jesus talking to Shadow on the tree he mentions "The god of the guns. The god of bombs. All the [new] gods of ignorance and intolerance, of self-righteousness, idiocy, and blame." Admittedly, this is somewhat ambiguous. It is possible Gaiman is referring to the technological gods that have already been discussed: things, networks, ideas that pull attention from mortals (and in the process profanes the old world gods). The technical boy is ignorant, and arguably idiotic. But the more natural rendering of this apocryphal fragment is that "ignorance" or "self-righteousness" themselves, the abstract ideas, function as gods. How this would work is beyond me. Jesus further mystifies the situation when he says, regarding his success, "It has a cost [. . .] Like I said. You have to be all things to all people. Pretty soon, you're spread so thin you're hardly there at all. It's not good." So apparently not all attention is good attention, and maybe not all belief is good belief? The Role of BeliefIt is interesting here to consider the distinction Slavoj Zizek makes between "belief" and "faith." Faith is a "symbolic pact" between two parties, a binding engagement with a dimension beyond simple "belief in." One can believe in ghosts or spirits or demons without having faith in those things. Likewise, the converse of that is that one can have faith in something (i.e. "believe") without actually believing in something. This is the role of the Big Other: we do not have to believe in it in order to believe it. It exerts a powerful pull on us because it structures the symbolic order that we, as subjective human beings, live in. This way of looking at belief presents a new angle on the apparent conflict within the novel, and perhaps clears up some plausibility hurdles along the way. The "old gods" represent a fading symbolic order that is being displaced by the "new gods" which have reoriented Americans' minds in deep and lasting ways. It's not a simple belief in technology as god. It's a changing of ways of life, values, sensibilities; it's a changing of the set of givens that structures our very thought. When looked at this way, the preposterousness of anyone believing in Odin becomes a non-issue (despite inconsistencies within the narrative, where Gaiman decides he needs to find someone who believes in Odin. In fact, the kind of belief I've been talking about above operates in precisely the opposite fashion: belief is always displaced onto a fictitious subject "supposed to belief," as Zizek would say. There is no need to find some crazy Odin worshiper in North Dakota). So what to make of the plot twist? The most straight-forward manner of interpreting Odin's/Loki's conspiracy is that they are just bringing about a neo-Ragnarok, fulfilling their role in the cycles of history, and refreshing the symbolic order that they represent. One thing to note is that the book was written right after the dot-com crash of the late 90s and right before 9/11. So the fundamentalist version of belief, terrorism, and the much-discussed "clash of cultures" narrative that have dominated media discourse since 9/11 are mostly absent. There is, further, a relation between the techno-utopianism or trans-humanism beginning to surface at the end of the 20th century in America and gnostic heresy (i.e. the belief in two opposed divinities, secret knowledge, etc.). Increasing immersion into cyberspace and hopes of transcending our natural bodies echo gnostic beliefs in the sacred immaterial soul woefully trapped in abject, fleshy bodies. And so you get the straightforward metaphor: orthodoxy struggling to eliminate the techno-heresy. But what to make of the Buffalo man and the thunderbirds? What to make of Shadow/Baldr thwarting Odin/Loki? Seen in the light of the dot-com crash, does not Odin, god of fire, gallows lord, and all-father resemble the embodiment of American Capitalism, refreshing the flames of faith through creative destruction? And is not The Land the anthropomorphized pre-capitalist, First-Nations' spirit that Gaiman opposes to it? Baldr - Love, Peace, JusticeShadow is eventually revealed to be Baldr, the son of Odin, the god of Love, Peace, and Justice (at least according to wikipedia). He, in the end, comes to oppose the naked aggrandizement of Odin/Loki. The neo-Ragnarok that Odin/Loki have set in motion can be seen as the bloody bottom of a bear market as the new gods of Pets.com and Yahoo wrestle with the old, hopefully leading to a "back to basics" restructuring of the economy and disillusionment with the "new gods". Wednesday and the old gods are Old World intruders on American lands, bringing with them the entrepreneurial spirit and industry of Europe, and function as symbols of a particular way of life. Their plot can be seen as a reaction to the disruptive effects that technology has on modernity, even as America turns away from the Protestant work ethic and towards fetishistic emblems like Western Buddhism and New Age nostrums. The inconsistent story that Gaiman has been telling about belief, about the battle of the old and the new, is further wrinkled by the introduction of the Land as pseudo-god in its own right. When we first encounter the Buffalo man he "smelled like wet cow" and tells Shadow that, "If you are to survive, you must believe." Believe what? " Everything," roared the Buffalo man. It is questionable of course whether Shadow can do anything other than believe, given that he is confronted with the existence of gods walking through extra-dimensional planescapes, and that he seems to sleepwalk like a robot on default throughout most of the story, but what the Buffalo man, who says, "I am the land," seems to be telling Shadow is that he must be the "subject supposed to belief." Shadow is the one who "believes in" these anthropomorphized gods that Americans have faith in without necessarily "believing in". He exists as the symbol (god) upon which the rest of the symbolic order hangs. It is a fitting role for the god of justice to occupy, "For it is never reason that decides on the justification of means and the justness of ends: fate-imposed violence decides on the former, and God on the latter." Because Shadow is the hinge upon which belief is built in the book he has to fulfill a certain destiny. Fate calls to him to complete the cycle and he can only obey: I don't really believe, Shadow thought. I don't believe any of this. Maybe I'm still fifteen. [. . .] And yet he could not believe that either. All we have to believe with is our senses: the tools we use to perceive the world, our sight, our touch, our memory. If they lie to us, then nothing can be trusted. And even if we do not believe, then still we cannot travel in any other way than the road our senses show us; and we must walk that road to the end. The story is just rife with this kind of hapless submission, including his willingness to return to the Slavic god of darkness to have his head smashed in. The parallels to the mythological Baldr, bound and passive as the gods hurled axes, spears, and mistletoe at him, are clear. He's all too ready to work as Wednesday's henchman, climb the world tree as a man sentenced to death, and doesn't even end up thwarting the bad guys: Laura (who is a bit of an engima) ends up killing Loki herself. The Land as Site of ResistanceSo Shadow ends up as a cog in what turns out to be an elaborate Rube-Goldberg Machine. A machine that was seemingly constructed not by the allfather, but by the Land. How do they relate? Wednesday knew about Shadow's dreams, and that should have tipped him off that something outside of his Thought and Memory might be happening, but apparently he missed it. The quote above Chapter Twelve can provide some clues: America has invested her religion as well as her morality in sound income-paying securities. She has adopted the unassailable position of a nation blessed because it deserves to be blessed; and her sons, whatever other theologies they may affect or disregard, subscribe unreservedly to this national creed. -Agnes Repplier, Times and Tendencies America's religion hasn't invested in sound income-paying securities. It is a religion with belief in sound income-paying securities. And Wednesday is here to refresh the fire when the markets slump. Schumpeter's famous maxim, that the "gale of creative destruction" describes the "process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one" seems also to describe precisely what is at play in the neo-Ragnarok of the novel. Loki (who has taken the pseudonym Mr. World perhaps as a nod towards increasing globalism) and Odin aim to (re)institute a new symbolic order, a reconsolidation of American belief in the American Dream itself. The Land opposes this because Wednesday seeks a reconsolidation around the core American religion: income-paying securities. The dot-com boom and the subsequent jobless recovery required a restructuring of the economy. Americans at the turn of the millennium increasingly turned to the gnostic beliefs of the cyberspace heresy, or Eastern "mindfulness" practices that convinced them that as long as they focused on what was "really important" that they were not simply reproducing an exploitative system that left them unsatisfied. The faith in the American Dream was waning, and Odin/Loki's power with it. When looked at this way, the Land becomes a site of resistance to this reconsolidation around a failing mythos. The dreams Baldr experiences are the cracks that betray the Real under the shimmering surface of the symbolic imaginary that structures our thoughts. The Land wants Shadow to believe in everything, and that paradoxically includes challenging the hegemonic position of the gods themselves. Freedoms and PropensitiesWe are given a Shadow without a history; he comes out of jail with a dead wife and sparse memories and is set on a path. We don't really know who Shadow is until much of the novel has passed. Shadow, on autopilot, manages to fulfill his function while being led by the nose the whole way, and we aren't given much insight into why he is the way he is. F.W.J. Schelling's notion of the "primordial decision-differentiation", which is an "unconscious atemporal deed by means of which the subject chooses his/her eternal character, which afterwards, within his/her conscious-temporal life, is experienced as the inexorable necessity, as 'the way s/he always was'," is useful in explaining both Shadow's origin and the road that he "must walk [. . .] to the end." It is also useful in relating to the cyber-gnosticism elaborated above, which Gaiman places in opposition to orthodox American religions, including Christianity. To quote Zizek at length: Does this mean that the primordial decision forever predetermines the contours of our life? Here enters the "good news" of Christianity: the miracle of faith is that it IS possible to traverse the fantasy, to undo this founding decision, to start one's life all over again, from the zero point – in short, to change Eternity itself (what we "always-already are"). Ultimately the "rebirth" of which Christianity speaks (when one joins the community of believers, one is born again) is the name for such a new Beginning. Against the pagan and/or Gnostic Wisdom which celebrates the (re)discovery of one's true Self – the return to it, the realization of its potentials or whatsoever – Christianity calls upon us to thoroughly reinvent ourselves. Kierkegaard was right: the ultimate choice is the one between the Socratic recollection and the Christian repetition: Christianity enjoins us to REPEAT the founding gesture of the primordial choice. One is almost tempted to put it in the terms of the paraphrase of Marx's "thesis 11": "Philosophers have been teaching us only how to discover (remember) our true Self, but the point is to change it." And THIS Christian legacy, often obfuscated, is today more precious than ever. So the question of Shadow's (non)freedom becomes enmeshed in the brewing battle. He must choose a side, but there is clearly some ambiguity in the book about how much of a choice he really has in the matter. What kind of freedom he must exercise is important. Freedom is polyvalent and includes such potential meanings as "formal freedom" and "actual freedom". Formal freedoms are the typical negative freedoms of liberal thought, which most often means the freedom to play by the rules. Actual freedoms are freedoms that allow one to question the rules, to "posit the presuppositions" of one's activity. The central freedom of American liberal ideology is that increasing insecurity should be looked at as opportunities for new freedoms: the "flexibility" to change jobs often and to move to different cities, relying on short-term contracts, "lifelong learning" as skill acquisition to remain competitive in a hypercompetitive labor pool, the opportunity to choose spending more for healthcare or to take risks, etc. While Shadow mostly acts as a pawn, it is through him that the Land, and his wife Laura, who ultimately open up possibilities of "actual" freedom, that is, freedom from the hegemonic ideology of Odin/Loki. As the Buffalo man said: You made peace. You took our words and made them your own. They never understood that they were here—and the people who worshiped them were here—because it suits us that they are here. But we can change our minds. And perhaps we will. This may be the crux of the conflict. The question is what degree of freedom do the rest of us have? "We can change our minds. And perhaps we will." If that "we" is understood as "we, Americans" the Land is giving voice both to the hope, and to the ambivalence, of the many. It is especially in times of crisis, when the Real itself ruptures our comfortable ways of life and calls into question the symbolic forms that structure our imaginations, that ambivalence about "the way things are" and hope about "the way things could be" present themselves.
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Thank you for your thoughts on American Gods. Even though I do not agree with (or even understand) everything, this was very interesting. Interestingly, we seem to come away from this book with totally different ideas on what it is all about.
+ Show Spoiler +To me the central notion of the book is that of misdirection. Essentially, it is all a cheap coin trick that the author plays on us. He points the reader to the cool things like epic battles between gods (neo-Ragnarok as you call it). But all of this is just the 5$ violin that the author sells us for 20k$ as in the end it is all a swindle. It is all just misdirection from the start. The author shows us explicitly what he is doing (coin tricks from the first few pages, Wednesday earning his life by cheap tricks/fraud, even explaining all of this to Shadow and the reader) but he makes us look in the wrong direction like a magician performing a coin trick. So in the end there is no neo-Ragnarok, there is no epic battle of old gods versus new, all there is is a cheap trick and all of the supposedly important things are completely inconsequential.
Of course, an artist is free to play such a trick on the reader. It makes total formal sense as there are these tricks on several levels of the book. But to me it was beyond frustrating: I invested several hundred pages into this just to get the equivalent of a 5$ violin. So no, I really don't like this book.
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Has anyone jailbreaked their kindle before? I'm trying to read a bunch of djvu files and converting them to pdf bloats the file size.
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Wow im just 200 pages into the Eye of the World (Wheel of Time) and I already completely get the critique of how Robert Jordan has a very black and white description of the "clashes of gender". Seems like all women are infuriatingly stubborn and bossy bitches and all men are gullable or easily controlled dimwits.
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England2646 Posts
I finished Er Ist Wieder Da by Timur Vermes not long ago and I'm not hugely sure on how I felt about it. I read in German but I am not German which means a lot of the contemporary German references flew over me, but I'm not sure I'd be hugely into those anyway (I'm not a fan of easy satire). Anyway, a lot of issues I have with the book is how it goes so slowly to begin with and the lengthy Hitler monologues while not much is going on. Having Hitler talk about modern things is just too straight forward. Not to say I didn't laugh at some of these things.
For me the book became great when Hitler was portrayed as human and in his interaction with other people he cared for, and in Hitler's playing of the TV system to become famous. These parts were very enjoyable and there were points where I was hoping Hitler would work things out with his assistant. Those bits were enjoyable.
Aside from that, not a whole lot happens in the 400 pages. I'd much rather the lengthy monologues in the start were taken out or dispersed and there was more actual story, thought I'm glad they didn't go full fish out of water with it. Also, about 50 pages before the end there's an entire chapter of Hitler's thoughts on things.
Hey, decent read. Would be better if I was German. (Ps. writing the Berlin accent phonetically is horrible to read)
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