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On July 05 2017 19:25 Latham wrote:![[image loading]](http://zenoagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Sanderson-SA2-WordsOfRadianceUKPB-Blog.jpg) While in the hospital, I managed to plow through all 4 books of The Stormlight Archives. I enjoyed them, although sometimes I felt they could've been a bit shorter. Let me explain: Did we really have to know just how hard Kaladin was fucked by life prior to gaining his powers? The first book almost made me feel disinterested about him just because it was "well what else can happen to Kaladin before the inevitable rise?" I think we all got it half way through the first book - Kaladin getting fucked in the ass by life. Hard. Made him feel like a martyr that didn't die. I once again enjoyed the magic system that was grounded into the world itself, like the laws of physics and gravity. Coming from Mistborn I felt right at home with the explanations of windrunners and lightweavers etc. Overall I'm looking forward to Oathbringer this winter =). Will preorder on amazon.
4 books? I only know of 2 released so far?
Anyway I agree that first book spends too much time on Kaladin's woes and I was a bit annoyed by how much of a prodigy was at everything. I think it's cool to go through the birth and rise of the bridgemen as an elite unit (which I'm sure they'll end up becoming) but I think he could've written Kaladin a bit less perfect. Master strategist, warrior, slave, and healer before becoming the Stormlight version of a Super Saiyin, all at age 25 or something. He could've made him at least 30 or something so it's a bit more believeable.
I think Adolin and Dalinar Kholin are much better written and relateable than K for example. Shallan as well. The story arch of the king with the visions is the most awesome though. All in all also looking forward to the next book. I'm not a particularly big fan of the world building (It feels a bit cartoony at times) but it's still a very well constructed story.
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Yeah it's only two books, but the ones I read were divided each into two parts, so 4 parts total. Sorry for the misunderstanding =P.
I agree that Dalinar's visions were some of the more enjoyable parts to read, and that the Kholins are in general better written than Kaladin, but I'm a big fan of Syl, so all is forgiven =3. I also didn't like much the parts about Kaladin's and Shallan's pasts. I get it, it adds depth to the main characters but they're wedged in there and detract from the "now" story a bit, I feel. But oh well, it seems like almost every contemporary book does it like this nowadays - The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Name of the Wind, The Blade Itself trilogy etc.
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Well the memories itself don't feel out of place to me because as a human being it sometimes happens that you sometimes get completely lost in memory.
Also I quite literally meant king so I was referring to someone else ;p + Show Spoiler +the death whisper farmer guy
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England2657 Posts
So I read Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth after seeing a certain someone in this thread recommend it quite a while back. Overall it was pretty good and when it goes into full rant mode it's very entertaining. I have this minor hang up with something I struggle to explain, but I'm calling it "over-jewish". At the beginning of the book the stereotypes of the jews and the family are exaggerated to the extent that it reminds me of shitty jewish comedians who have nothing else to talk about. This is just something that bugs me coming from America as we don't have this sort of thing with Jews here at all.
Anyway, some very funny parts and once it gets going, super good.
+ Show Spoiler +The suicide note was one of the funniest things I think I've ever come across.
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On July 10 2017 20:38 Flicky wrote:So I read Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth after seeing a certain someone in this thread recommend it quite a while back. Overall it was pretty good and when it goes into full rant mode it's very entertaining. I have this minor hang up with something I struggle to explain, but I'm calling it "over-jewish". At the beginning of the book the stereotypes of the jews and the family are exaggerated to the extent that it reminds me of shitty jewish comedians who have nothing else to talk about. This is just something that bugs me coming from America as we don't have this sort of thing with Jews here at all. Anyway, some very funny parts and once it gets going, super good. + Show Spoiler +The suicide note was one of the funniest things I think I've ever come across.
A bit, although having grown up in New York & Boston areas with heavily Jewish populations, many of the cliches he uses are apt and not unnecessarily outlandish. I used to live in perhaps the most Jewish town in the country and have enjoyed Roth's work (mostly goodbye, columbus. Probably his best work) simply as a matter of shared experience.
I would read Goodbye, Columbus if you liked Portnoy's Complaint even halfway. It's a step above
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It was I who recommended Portnoy's complaint, I think. I have not read Goodbye, Columbus, but I can vouch for Sabbath's Theater. Quite a fun - and funny - book. I especially enjoy how Roth alternates between the crass and the sublime in the same page.
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On July 11 2017 08:09 dmnum wrote:
It was I who recommended Portnoy's complaint, I think. I have not read Goodbye, Columbus, but I can vouch for Sabbath's Theater. Quite a fun - and funny - book. I especially enjoy how Roth alternates between the crass and the sublime in the same page.
Ah. I'll catch up on that.
I enjoyed philip roth more in my slightly younger years. If you like Roth it may be worthwhile to graduate to someone like John Updike
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England2657 Posts
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. I read the Road quite a while ago and enjoyed it, so thought reading another McCarthy book was long overdue. The way he writes (which I thought was exclusive to The Road, oh well) made this book a little odd for me. Certain parts of it I found hard to concentrate on and it wouldn't grip me; I kept having to flick back to see parts of plot I missed, characters dying or leaving or whatever. When the style fits the writing though, it's a pretty good read - especially the last eighty-odd pages. The Judge is a great character but the main character is kinda nothingy. Glad I read it, but didn't grab me in the way I hoped it would.
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I dislike Cormac McCarthy's writing style, but Blood Meridian is where it bothers me least, so to each their own I suppose. I find The Road quite boring and not substantively interesting enough to justify its punctuation apocalypse, whereas Blood Meridian lines up pretty nicely with the likes of Zane Grey and other western writers in terms of matching a style of prose with the circumstances of the story it tells.
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Currently reading.
+ Show Spoiler +
Its pretty good however as European i am convinced Kissinger is wrong on some points regarding European history and therfore i am not sure how much i should belive him when he writes about other regions. Also its obviously from American perspective so not necessarily i agree with his agenda.
Just finished:
+ Show Spoiler +
Its pretty good. I greatly enjoyed parts in Mughals Empire. Parts in Florence where mostly broing, which is quite an achievment considering the "actors" he used for his book. I mean how did he mange do make Machiavelli, Medicie etc. boring...
Also:
+ Show Spoiler +
Sadly i dont think its translated into english. OK book if You dont know the context. Great if You understand how author got it trough censorship and managed to criticize Comunist government with this dystopian sc-fi book.
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Finished:
![[image loading]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51WW20v3hmL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
I had read this before, but since it has only roughly 100 pages, I decided to reread it. It is a dreamy little book, like a weird dream where at the end the main character wakes up and the monsters that haunted her are gone. I should reread 2666 at some point, but I simply have too little time. Maybe when teaching starts again and I have to travel there...
I have also reread all Chandler books except The Long Goodbye (mostly in the train). One thing that I had not realized before because I had never read them chronologically is the significant drop in quality after the first two or three books. The Long Sleep and Farewell, My Darling are amazing but after that the books get worse and worse. I will take a pause before The Long Goodbye to recover but from what I remember and what I have read, it is at the level of the first books.
Currently reading:
![[image loading]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/917lYLzZbBL.jpg)
Just a good book to reread from time to time.
I realize that I am nowadays mostly rereading things and very rarely touch new books that I have not read before (this year this was only American Gods and the Warhammer 40k book I read). I guess I am getting old and conservative...
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Just finished:
![[image loading]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/Death%27s_End_-_bookcover.jpg)
What an epic tour de force. By far the best book in the trilogy, although the whole collection paints an extremely bleak view of the universe.
That said, the philosophy doesn't quite hold up under close scrutiny, but it makes for great scifi reading. Blew my mind a couple of times throughout the book. Shoe-in to win the Hugo, imho (without having read any of the other nominees).
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Oooh, now that I've got some free time, I think I'll read that trilogy. I like bleak futures 
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On July 27 2017 20:06 farvacola wrote:Oooh, now that I've got some free time, I think I'll read that trilogy. I like bleak futures
Maybe I painted a wrong picture, it's not about a dystopian future. In fact, most of books 2 and 3 are quite utopian in terms of how they describe human civilization, and book 1 plays in "present day". But... well, if you like scifi, I highly recommend reading them anyway
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On July 27 2017 20:04 Acrofales wrote:Just finished: What an epic tour de force. By far the best book in the trilogy, although the whole collection paints an extremely bleak view of the universe. That said, the philosophy doesn't quite hold up under close scrutiny, but it makes for great scifi reading. Blew my mind a couple of times throughout the book. Shoe-in to win the Hugo, imho (without having read any of the other nominees).
You know thats a huge point of argument with our own polish sci-fi award "Zajdel" many people vote without reading all the nominated books. Some do vote with reading only one and some even without reading any just for their favorite author. This skims results towards known and liked authors and severly impacts unknown aythors chances. This is also the case with Hugo.
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Just read:
![[image loading]](http://www.kamil78.dami.pl/pliki/vaterland.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Annihilation_by_jeff_vandermeer.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Mieville_Embassytown_2011_UK.jpg)
I liked Vaterland best and Embassytown least. Still all were good.
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On July 27 2017 20:06 farvacola wrote:Oooh, now that I've got some free time, I think I'll read that trilogy. I like bleak futures
You're a socialist, after all. ;-)
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Halfway through the second book in the wheel of time series. The overarching story is not bad and I think the main antagonist is pretty well done but..
My god Robert Jordan I get that you want to describe a matriarchal society but holy shit like 50% of the book is women being stern and controlling and wearing scarves that match their wise and ageless eyes and men being total tools that think women are the biggest mystery ever and have apparently a total lack of testosterone in their bodies. Seriously is there no man who would just for once tell a know-it-all bitch like nanive or however you write it to just shut the fuck up? I wonder what his childhood looked like to get a worldview like this.
Seriously I think I'm just gonna have to call it quits because I seriously have a hard time handling these man-woman dynamics haha.
Edit: Can't put it better than this hilarious review forum.malazanempire.com
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EPT![[image loading]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51raqpzhUQL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
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