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So here we go again.
(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) 2016 (18 pages boo)
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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Reading:
Received this as a christmas present. I mainly wanted this because it was the favourite book of Wolgang Herrndorf.I am really enjoying this so far. Very funny and the translator gives extremely helpful explanations in an appendix. Also surprisingly readable.
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I'm gonna read De Landa for the first time here in a week or two, so that'll be fun.
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About to finish book 2 of Travellers Gate trilogy (it got better)
Trying out
Definitely waaay darker than what i expected. I read this out of the promise that i'll be reading a protagonist (or anti-hero whatever) that is not morally just at all. + Show Spoiler +and the first 15 pages showcases him and his group doing pillaging of innocent villages(murder, plunder, rape etc) though they didn't detail the act completely just implied or explicitly said so it's kinda bearable ? Apparently it's for some sort of important political move which i assume is trying to topple the local Baron (though i'm sure there's gonna be some sort of bigger motivation or greater good shit he's doing but he's still pretty irredeemable from the looks of things ) Not the type of book you'd just chill with and can be anger inducing
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Finally got around to getting The Girl on the Train since I've seen it everywhere so much. Hope to not be disappointed.
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Winds of Winter, hopefully.
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United States15275 Posts
After failing to finish The World of the Shining Prince out of laziness, I'm tackling Clive Sinclaire's introduction to samurai equipment and culture:
After that, I'll probably re-read The Twelve Caesars.
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This cat sure loves lasagna!
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Currently reading:
"The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (in Polish)
+ Show Spoiler +
I liked "Crime and Punishment" and I made a resolution to read more classic novels, so I decided to buy "The Brothers Karamazov" and "Anna Karenina" (well, it was on my list, but I got it for Christmas). I just started yesterday, so there's not much I can say about the book right now.
"Learning Python" by Mark Lutz
+ Show Spoiler +
I've resumed reading this book. It's very detailed so the way I'm currently learning Python is by working on some private projects of mine independently of it, and then reading the book at my own pace to fill the gaps. I would still recommend it for complete beginners, along with other sources.
"Металловедение" ("Metallurgy") by A. P. Gulyaev
I decided to brush up on my knowledge of metallurgy while improving my Russian at the same time. I'm around 60 pages in and it's surprisingly easy to read so far. It's a comprehensive textbook, very informative and well written, a book many of my professors used during their studies. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a physical copy, so I had to print it out. Some fragments are impossible to read due to the quality of the text...
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I am on this, not exactly this cover but it is fine.
+ Show Spoiler +
Also I need to finish this as well, I am half way through.
+ Show Spoiler +
next are a few Philip K. Dick novels in line. I hope I can spare more time in reading and less in playing games
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I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T
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On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T
I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation.
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On January 02 2017 19:58 Laserist wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation.
Oh, I don't mean the sci-fi part. I meant the writing part. The cardboard characters, the chaotic, disjointed narrative, the dry writing style. The premise of his books is often fresh and interesting, but the writing is quite bad, imho.
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Since I really enjoyed the witcher games, I decided to read the books and finished them last year.
Really good books. Very exciting, immersive and with a good bit of dry humour. Makes me appreciate the game even more since it did such a good job in copying the style of the books and I now know the backstory. In total there are 7 books in the series (the first 2 books feature short stories and set the stage for the 5 main books), one standalone book and then theres one book I didn't read yet which features some alternate endings.
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On January 02 2017 20:12 maybenexttime wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 19:58 Laserist wrote:On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation. Oh, I don't mean the sci-fi part. I meant the writing part. The cardboard characters, the chaotic, disjointed narrative, the dry writing style. The premise of his books is often fresh and interesting, but the writing is quite bad, imho.
Agreed. I don't really focus on writing, I mostly enjoy the imagination, at least on his work.
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On January 02 2017 20:12 maybenexttime wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 19:58 Laserist wrote:On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation. Oh, I don't mean the sci-fi part. I meant the writing part. The cardboard characters, the chaotic, disjointed narrative, the dry writing style. The premise of his books is often fresh and interesting, but the writing is quite bad, imho. Personally, I think Dick is one of, if not the, most literary authors in science fiction (literary author meaning one who implements literary devices and prose prominently in their writing AKA "not-George R.R. Martin"), and there are only a select few who can rival him in terms of technique, Le Guin being the first to come to mind. Accordingly, your critique sounds off rather oddly. So I'm curious, do you read your science fiction in English generally? I remember getting into a disagreement with a fellow English student from the Czech Republic; he maintained that Lem was the supreme master of artful science fiction writing while I told him that I really just didn't see it. We ended up coming to the conclusion that it was his ability to read Lem in Polish that really allowed the work to open up. Accordingly, you'll have to forgive my curiosity as to whether or not a similar translation issue is present here.
Another issue is that Dick wrote a shit ton of novels and I think they are of different enough quality among themselves to render sweeping descriptions of them pretty clumsy.
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On January 02 2017 22:10 farvacola wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 20:12 maybenexttime wrote:On January 02 2017 19:58 Laserist wrote:On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T I respect your opinion, for die hard sci-fi fans, his books are basically bible. You should consider when they were written and such and you shouldn't treat them as new generation. Oh, I don't mean the sci-fi part. I meant the writing part. The cardboard characters, the chaotic, disjointed narrative, the dry writing style. The premise of his books is often fresh and interesting, but the writing is quite bad, imho. Personally, I think Dick is one of, if not the, most literary authors in science fiction (literary author meaning one who implements literary devices and prose prominently in their writing AKA "not-George R.R. Martin"), and there are only a select few who can rival him in terms of technique, Le Guin being the first to come to mind. Accordingly, your critique sounds off rather oddly. So I'm curious, do you read your science fiction in English generally? I remember getting into a disagreement with a fellow English student from the Czech Republic; he maintained that Lem was the supreme master of artful science fiction writing while I told him that I really just didn't see it. We ended up coming to the conclusion that it was his ability to read Lem in Polish that really allowed the work to open up. Accordingly, you'll have to forgive my curiosity as to whether or not a similar translation issue is present here. Another issue is that Dick wrote a shit ton of novels and I think they are of different enough quality among themselves to render sweeping descriptions of them pretty clumsy.
Sometimes in Polish (as was the case with Dick's novels), sometimes in English. But I don't see how that's relevant in case of the criticism I leveled at Dick's writing style. The characters being one-dimensional or the narrative being all over the place is not something that gets lost in translation.
I've only read two books by Dick - "Blade Runner" and "The Man in the High Castle" - so I might be jumping to conclusions.
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K. Dicks novels really vary a lot in quality and style. Different people prefere different books. For example I had great expectations while reading "Man in the High Castle" (due to feedback from friends) but it turned out to be "just" ok. My two favourite books by Dick is "Solar Lottery and "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", which some of my friends do not fancy.
On the topic of translation - i am sure a lot is lost, Lem loved to invent new words and event use special writing style to pass some infomation to reader. It is even more true in regards to Dukaj (if You guys have read some of his works) he is in my opinion by far the best polish sc-fi writer, his book have different layers and present some stunning visions. Especialy great if You have good understanding of philopsophy, math and physics. Anyway, he like Lem loves to invent and twist words to convey some ideas i cant imagine english translation that would do him justice.
The success of author whose work is being translated largly depend on the quality of translators work. Thats why for example Prattchet is so loved in Poland, he has great translator.
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I remember Philip K. Dick for having both incredible and awful phrases written in the same page.
Unfortunately I don't know of any good Portuguese-language decent sci-fi books. The ones I've read completely neglect style for substance - which is stupid, because in literature style IS substance - and, by being derivative drivel, end up having neither.
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I agree with farva's comments on Dick. He's probably my favorite sci-fi author, and one of my favorite authors period. I'm surprised you find his characters one-dimensional -- I feel the opposite, and I find him extremely talented at infusing his protagonists with a humanity that is sometimes lacking in the works of other authors (he's also particularly good at conveying frustration, helplessness, confusion, exhaustion -- especially when his characters are facing systemic obstacles or absurd situations). Some of his novels still did not work for me, though (mostly some of the latest he wrote). I recommend you try a few of his short stories -- some of his most brilliant work can be found in them.
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No one's as good as Hubbard though, his work is so amazing some people choose to live in it instead of reality.
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^lol To OP : Le Rouge et le Noir is great. Mathilde is hilarious. Try la Chartreuse de Parme after, it's at least as good imo. Also PKD's the shit, but so is Lem. Reading Svevo atm, albeit slowly cause I have to grade boring maths and I had to see family for some reason. Pretty amusing so far. Also, what I read in 2016 here.122 pages a day for funsies.
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On January 03 2017 04:57 corumjhaelen wrote: ^lol To OP : Le Rouge et le Noir is great. Mathilde is hilarious. Try la Chartreuse de Parme after, it's at least as good imo.
Thanks for the recommendations! My progress so far is very slow, but I am enjoying it nevertheless.
On January 03 2017 04:57 corumjhaelen wrote:Also PKD's the shit, but so is Lem. Reading Svevo atm, albeit slowly cause I have to grade boring maths and I had to see family for some reason. Pretty amusing so far. Also, what I read in 2016 here.122 pages a day for funsies. So you are telling us that you do not have kids?
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On January 03 2017 06:34 123Gurke wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2017 04:57 corumjhaelen wrote: ^lol To OP : Le Rouge et le Noir is great. Mathilde is hilarious. Try la Chartreuse de Parme after, it's at least as good imo.
Thanks for the recommendations! My progress so far is very slow, but I am enjoying it nevertheless. Show nested quote +On January 03 2017 04:57 corumjhaelen wrote:Also PKD's the shit, but so is Lem. Reading Svevo atm, albeit slowly cause I have to grade boring maths and I had to see family for some reason. Pretty amusing so far. Also, what I read in 2016 here.122 pages a day for funsies. So you are telling us that you do not have kids? Certainly not Wouldn't be possible to read half that if I had.
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On January 03 2017 06:54 corumjhaelen wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2017 06:34 123Gurke wrote:On January 03 2017 04:57 corumjhaelen wrote: ^lol To OP : Le Rouge et le Noir is great. Mathilde is hilarious. Try la Chartreuse de Parme after, it's at least as good imo.
Thanks for the recommendations! My progress so far is very slow, but I am enjoying it nevertheless. On January 03 2017 04:57 corumjhaelen wrote:Also PKD's the shit, but so is Lem. Reading Svevo atm, albeit slowly cause I have to grade boring maths and I had to see family for some reason. Pretty amusing so far. Also, what I read in 2016 here.122 pages a day for funsies. So you are telling us that you do not have kids? Certainly not Wouldn't be possible to read half that if I had.
That is still an optimistic estimate. I have read not more than 1000 pages last year, most of that while I was traveling or ill. So be careful kids: having children really cuts into your reading time.
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On January 02 2017 04:40 goody153 wrote:About to finish book 2 of Travellers Gate trilogy (it got better) Trying out Definitely waaay darker than what i expected. I read this out of the promise that i'll be reading a protagonist (or anti-hero whatever) that is not morally just at all. + Show Spoiler +and the first 15 pages showcases him and his group doing pillaging of innocent villages(murder, plunder, rape etc) though they didn't detail the act completely just implied or explicitly said so it's kinda bearable ? Apparently it's for some sort of important political move which i assume is trying to topple the local Baron (though i'm sure there's gonna be some sort of bigger motivation or greater good shit he's doing but he's still pretty irredeemable from the looks of things ) Not the type of book you'd just chill with and can be anger inducing
Have you read any of Will Wight's other books? He seems like a great up and coming fantasy writer IMO. I liked the Elder Empire and Cradle series even more than Traveler's Gate (which I read first). + Show Spoiler +If you read his blogs, it appears they all take place in the same universe or something? Kind of like the cosmere
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On January 05 2017 00:19 Thermia wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 04:40 goody153 wrote:About to finish book 2 of Travellers Gate trilogy (it got better) Trying out Definitely waaay darker than what i expected. I read this out of the promise that i'll be reading a protagonist (or anti-hero whatever) that is not morally just at all. + Show Spoiler +and the first 15 pages showcases him and his group doing pillaging of innocent villages(murder, plunder, rape etc) though they didn't detail the act completely just implied or explicitly said so it's kinda bearable ? Apparently it's for some sort of important political move which i assume is trying to topple the local Baron (though i'm sure there's gonna be some sort of bigger motivation or greater good shit he's doing but he's still pretty irredeemable from the looks of things ) Not the type of book you'd just chill with and can be anger inducing Have you read any of Will Wight's other books? He seems like a great up and coming fantasy writer IMO. I liked the Elder Empire and Cradle series even more than Traveler's Gate (which I read first). + Show Spoiler +If you read his blogs, it appears they all take place in the same universe or something? Kind of like the cosmere No just the Travellers Gate(i'm not even done yet since i'm alternating between book 2 of it, Prince of Thorns, book 3 Malazan and Babylon Steel(idk just some weird book i picked up))
Damn so it's like cosmere ? I always liked shared universe stuff(so long as it's not between two or more authors that i don't like ). Any suggestion of his other great series ?
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Currently reading: -"Guide to Investment Strategy" by Peter Stanyer -"Inferno" by Dan Brown -"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu -"Il Principe" by Nicollò Machiavelli -"The Eye of the World" by Robert Jordan -"Red Seas Under Red Skies" by Scott Lynch -"Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner -"He's Just Not That Into You" by Greg Behrendt -"REDACTED" by REDACTED + Show Spoiler + -"Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin (yes I still havent' finished it stop judging me)
Yes I know I need to finish some of this shit.
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How are you able to read so many books at the same time? I can't manage more than one.
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England2647 Posts
On January 04 2017 19:38 Flicky wrote: 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)
Quoting myself to here because I thought were were going to use the 2016 thread a little longer.
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United States996 Posts
finished chronicles of the unhewn throne and the last unicorn recently and thought both were great
just started the blade itself and liking it so far
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Baa?21242 Posts
Maybe I should actually use this thread more regularly lol.
In December I read: JR, by William Gaddis Augustus, by John Williams The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark Jakob von Guten, by Robert Walser
Didn't read for pretty much 3 weeks of December cause of family/vacation stuff.
Starting 2017 with The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki
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So you read those four books in the 10 other days of December?
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On January 05 2017 11:03 IgnE wrote: So you read those four books in the 10 other days of December? Idk i don't think it's odd for csheep.
I've finished entire books before within a day or two. Recently i've finished travellers gate 1 recently around 3 days or something (not exactly sure but it didn't last a week)
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On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T P. K. Dick has a great imagination and invents great stories. It's just a shame his execution is bad. Unlike Clarke or Asimov, who could actually write, in addition to coming up with the story.
Michael Crichton suffers from a similar problem imho. As does Ramez Naam, whose book I just finished:
Uninteresting characters and flat prose made me enjoy this a lot less than I should have, given the plot and world building.
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I'm finally finishing Way of Kings. Started like a year and some days ago and got halfway through and stopped for whatever reason, even though I loved it. Already bought the next book in the series. It is an extremely good book and if anyone enjoys fantasy, I highly recommend it.
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On January 05 2017 19:38 SCC-Faust wrote: I'm finally finishing Way of Kings. Started like a year and some days ago and got halfway through and stopped for whatever reason, even though I loved it. Already bought the next book in the series. It is an extremely good book and if anyone enjoys fantasy, I highly recommend it. The first half is kinda not that great (alot had the same experience and i myself had difficulty getting past the earlier parts of WoK) but after that it just kept getting better and better.
You'll find the book 2 much MUCH better than book 1 (no more of that bummer parts that book 1 had)
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On January 05 2017 04:14 RvB wrote: How are you able to read so many books at the same time? I can't manage more than one. Well 6 of those books are informative so they are more about absorbing knowledge than anything else. As for the novels, I have a pretty good brain for keeping those stories apart so it never really gets confusing if thats what you mean.
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On January 05 2017 19:48 goody153 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 05 2017 19:38 SCC-Faust wrote: I'm finally finishing Way of Kings. Started like a year and some days ago and got halfway through and stopped for whatever reason, even though I loved it. Already bought the next book in the series. It is an extremely good book and if anyone enjoys fantasy, I highly recommend it. The first half is kinda not that great (alot had the same experience and i myself had difficulty getting past the earlier parts of WoK) but after that it just kept getting better and better. You'll find the book 2 much MUCH better than book 1 (no more of that bummer parts that book 1 had)
I had the same feeling about The Way of Kings, but I don't think the first half is bad per se, it's just really slow. The second half is pure awesome tho, and I think it makes the first book slightly better than the second.
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On January 05 2017 20:18 Salteador Neo wrote:Show nested quote +On January 05 2017 19:48 goody153 wrote:On January 05 2017 19:38 SCC-Faust wrote: I'm finally finishing Way of Kings. Started like a year and some days ago and got halfway through and stopped for whatever reason, even though I loved it. Already bought the next book in the series. It is an extremely good book and if anyone enjoys fantasy, I highly recommend it. The first half is kinda not that great (alot had the same experience and i myself had difficulty getting past the earlier parts of WoK) but after that it just kept getting better and better. You'll find the book 2 much MUCH better than book 1 (no more of that bummer parts that book 1 had) I had the same feeling about The Way of Kings, but I don't think the first half is bad per se, it's just really slow. The second half is pure awesome tho, and I think it makes the first book slightly better than the second. Well yeah not really bad just shit ton of introduction of the world + Kaladin suffering(lol). I believe book is just better overall.. Also book has that really epic culminating buildup(that i won't talk about cause spoilers)
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I actually rather liked the entire Kaladin story. It's one of the stories with decent depth to it. Shallan has too shallow a story and is too far removed from the interesting parts (rectified in Words of Radiance), but in particular the bits about Szeth past the first chapter are just not that interesting. His story gets a bit better in Words of Radiance, but I still don't find him particular engaging as a character, which is a problem for a viewpoint character.
Imho, WoK is a better book than WoR, though. WoK does a good job introducing the characters and building the world, and then has this awesome ending. WoR kind of squanders that by just meandering along for pages and pages before the interesting stuff starts happening again.
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On January 05 2017 18:46 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T P. K. Dick has a great imagination and invents great stories. It's just a shame his execution is bad. Unlike Clarke or Asimov, who could actually write, in addition to coming up with the story. Michael Crichton suffers from a similar problem imho. As does Ramez Naam, whose book I just finished: + Show Spoiler +Uninteresting characters and flat prose made me enjoy this a lot less than I should have, given the plot and world building. I would take PKD's prose in Ubik, Minority Report, or Paycheck over literally anything Clarke or Asimov ever wrote, so it would seem as though consensus on literary technique in sci-fi is as elusive as we might guess
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Baa?21242 Posts
On January 05 2017 11:03 IgnE wrote: So you read those four books in the 10 other days of December?
Yes. It was more like a week for J R and 1/2 day each for the other 3. Jakob van Guten actually took a long time despite how short it is cause reading it was super slow going for reasons I can't quite explain.
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On January 05 2017 22:34 Acrofales wrote: I actually rather liked the entire Kaladin story. It's one of the stories with decent depth to it. Shallan has too shallow a story and is too far removed from the interesting parts (rectified in Words of Radiance), but in particular the bits about Szeth past the first chapter are just not that interesting. His story gets a bit better in Words of Radiance, but I still don't find him particular engaging as a character, which is a problem for a viewpoint character.
Imho, WoK is a better book than WoR, though. WoK does a good job introducing the characters and building the world, and then has this awesome ending. WoR kind of squanders that by just meandering along for pages and pages before the interesting stuff starts happening again. Oh definitely. His story and Dalinar's are my absolute favorite. They are both flawed and likable enough. Especially Dalinar, i don't think i've ever read a more balanced character than him(isn't Gary/Mary Sue)
I just meant usually people didn't like the start of Kaladin's introduction(i didn't hate it but it wasn't the part i was excited about at my first read .. well later on Kaladin and Dalinar's perspective easily became my favorite).
Idk man WoR has ALOT of stuff happening. And it's pretty fucking epic that it felt like i was reading a finale of other series even though it's still book 2
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On January 06 2017 01:05 goody153 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 05 2017 22:34 Acrofales wrote: I actually rather liked the entire Kaladin story. It's one of the stories with decent depth to it. Shallan has too shallow a story and is too far removed from the interesting parts (rectified in Words of Radiance), but in particular the bits about Szeth past the first chapter are just not that interesting. His story gets a bit better in Words of Radiance, but I still don't find him particular engaging as a character, which is a problem for a viewpoint character.
Imho, WoK is a better book than WoR, though. WoK does a good job introducing the characters and building the world, and then has this awesome ending. WoR kind of squanders that by just meandering along for pages and pages before the interesting stuff starts happening again. Oh definitely. His story and Dalinar's are my absolute favorite. They are both flawed and likable enough. Especially Dalinar, i don't think i've ever read a more balanced character than him(isn't Gary/Mary Sue) I just meant usually people didn't like the start of Kaladin's introduction(i didn't hate it but it wasn't the part i was excited about at my first read .. well later on Kaladin and Dalinar's perspective easily became my favorite). Idk man WoR has ALOT of stuff happening. And it's pretty fucking epic that it felt like i was reading a finale of other series even though it's still book 2 I actually thought Kaladin was a bit too much of a prodigy at everything. He should be like 10 years older to make his dramatic history + mad healing skills + combat skills + leadership skills + now lightning skills a bit more believable.
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On January 06 2017 01:19 B.I.G. wrote:Show nested quote +On January 06 2017 01:05 goody153 wrote:On January 05 2017 22:34 Acrofales wrote: I actually rather liked the entire Kaladin story. It's one of the stories with decent depth to it. Shallan has too shallow a story and is too far removed from the interesting parts (rectified in Words of Radiance), but in particular the bits about Szeth past the first chapter are just not that interesting. His story gets a bit better in Words of Radiance, but I still don't find him particular engaging as a character, which is a problem for a viewpoint character.
Imho, WoK is a better book than WoR, though. WoK does a good job introducing the characters and building the world, and then has this awesome ending. WoR kind of squanders that by just meandering along for pages and pages before the interesting stuff starts happening again. Oh definitely. His story and Dalinar's are my absolute favorite. They are both flawed and likable enough. Especially Dalinar, i don't think i've ever read a more balanced character than him(isn't Gary/Mary Sue) I just meant usually people didn't like the start of Kaladin's introduction(i didn't hate it but it wasn't the part i was excited about at my first read .. well later on Kaladin and Dalinar's perspective easily became my favorite). Idk man WoR has ALOT of stuff happening. And it's pretty fucking epic that it felt like i was reading a finale of other series even though it's still book 2 I actually thought Kaladin was a bit too much of a prodigy at everything. He should be like 10 years older to make his dramatic history + mad healing skills + combat skills + leadership skills + now lightning skills a bit more believable. He's not actually that "great" when it comes to medicine i thought he was just average, he just knows enough to patch wounds and all that basic stuff afaik. His leadership and combat skills make sense due to + Show Spoiler +being a windrunner who's practically meant to have lots of squares or men and leading is one of their traits.
And windrunners are practically one of the combat type Knight Radiants which are one of the two(skybreaker being the other) who has the most broken mobility ability meant for combat so far in the series
Like remember that knight radiant naturally have talent in accord to their order like with lightweaver being naturally creative and normally found in more scholastic areas.
. I mean they're supposed to be different like the special ones of mankind so i guess it makes sense
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trying to get through Radiguet's The Devil in the Flesh, don't know if it's worth but it's short.
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On January 05 2017 23:29 farvacola wrote:Show nested quote +On January 05 2017 18:46 Acrofales wrote:On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T P. K. Dick has a great imagination and invents great stories. It's just a shame his execution is bad. Unlike Clarke or Asimov, who could actually write, in addition to coming up with the story. Michael Crichton suffers from a similar problem imho. As does Ramez Naam, whose book I just finished: + Show Spoiler +Uninteresting characters and flat prose made me enjoy this a lot less than I should have, given the plot and world building. I would take PKD's prose in Ubik, Minority Report, or Paycheck over literally anything Clarke or Asimov ever wrote, so it would seem as though consensus on literary technique in sci-fi is as elusive as we might guess Yeah, despite horrid french translations, many PKDs novels seem much better than Asimov's, especially his early works, which are written by... let's say a teenage who is not Rimbaud. Very interesting ideas though
On January 06 2017 05:55 zulu_nation8 wrote: trying to get through Radiguet's The Devil in the Flesh, don't know if it's worth but it's short. I'd say it's really not, much better French lit to read out there.
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On January 06 2017 06:29 corumjhaelen wrote:Show nested quote +On January 05 2017 23:29 farvacola wrote:On January 05 2017 18:46 Acrofales wrote:On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T P. K. Dick has a great imagination and invents great stories. It's just a shame his execution is bad. Unlike Clarke or Asimov, who could actually write, in addition to coming up with the story. Michael Crichton suffers from a similar problem imho. As does Ramez Naam, whose book I just finished: + Show Spoiler +Uninteresting characters and flat prose made me enjoy this a lot less than I should have, given the plot and world building. I would take PKD's prose in Ubik, Minority Report, or Paycheck over literally anything Clarke or Asimov ever wrote, so it would seem as though consensus on literary technique in sci-fi is as elusive as we might guess Yeah, despite horrid french translations, many PKDs novels seem much better than Asimov's, especially his early works, which are written by... let's say a teenage who is not Rimbaud. Very interesting ideas though Show nested quote +On January 06 2017 05:55 zulu_nation8 wrote: trying to get through Radiguet's The Devil in the Flesh, don't know if it's worth but it's short. I'd say it's really not, much better French lit to read out there. I guess we'll agree to disagree. To be fair, I didn't read Minority Report or Paycheck, but was not impressed by the short stories of "Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep" or by "Man in the High Castle". Whereas I find Foundation a very pleasurable read. His prose is simple yet descriptive enough to make the story work.
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On January 06 2017 06:29 corumjhaelen wrote:Show nested quote +On January 06 2017 05:55 zulu_nation8 wrote: trying to get through Radiguet's The Devil in the Flesh, don't know if it's worth but it's short. I'd say it's really not, much better French lit to read out there.
Can you recommend something to me? I am trying to integrate more into France, and maybe reading some literature is useful for this. So far, the only French author I have read is Houellebecq (which I found awesome) and some novellas by Maupassant a long time ago. I have quite little time to read, so I would prefer shorter books (so no Comte de Monte-Cristo for the moment). Any recommendations where I should start?
I am still reading Le Rouge et le Noir which is great so far.
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Format: 1) What you just finished reading (or gave up half way through) I finished Pale blue dot by Carl Sagan. Amazing read, so refreshing and enlightening.
2) What are you currently reading I am reading two books. One is Shadows in paradise by Remarque.
The other is Tender is the night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
3) What you plan to read next Probably Flotsam by Remarque.
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Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky.
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On January 06 2017 21:35 123Gurke wrote:Show nested quote +On January 06 2017 06:29 corumjhaelen wrote:On January 06 2017 05:55 zulu_nation8 wrote: trying to get through Radiguet's The Devil in the Flesh, don't know if it's worth but it's short. I'd say it's really not, much better French lit to read out there. Can you recommend something to me? I am trying to integrate more into France, and maybe reading some literature is useful for this. So far, the only French author I have read is Houellebecq (which I found awesome) and some novellas by Maupassant a long time ago. I have quite little time to read, so I would prefer shorter books (so no Comte de Monte-Cristo for the moment). Any recommendations where I should start? I am still reading Le Rouge et le Noir which is great so far. Well, it's a very large question so I'm not sure where to wander... Nothing too unexpected hereafter ! If you want to look into some classic culture many French people are proud of, and remember about, or maybe even know some parts by heart you might want to look toward La Fontaine, Voltaire (Candide obviously), or some classic theater : Racine (Phèdre), Corneille (Horace, Le Cid), or obviously Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, our national pride which every middle schooler has to read at list one play (I'd go for the more serious comedy, Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope or Dom Juan). Another more recent option, and I think it is very French in an amusing way (but I still love it) his Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac. If you're more into novel, and you like Stendhal, you might look for the other big two : Balzac and Flaubert. Flaubert, well, either go with Salammbô or with Sentimental Education - I like Mme Bovary less, but this is very personnal. For Balzac, it's larger, and he has written novels, novellas and short stories of every length. I'd choose among Eugénie Grandet, La Peau de Chagrin, Le Père Goriot or Gobseck. Le Père Goriot will give you an accurate idea of the French myth of Paris. Close to that movement, you have Maupassant you talked about, if you haven't read Boule de Suif, you should ! You talk about Dumas, but he hasn't written only huge novels, even though that's a specialty. Maybe try Capitaine Pamphile or Les Quarante-Cinq. My favorite is Vingt Ans après, but you'd probably want to read the very long The Three Mousketeers before. But while we're at adventure novels, have you read Jules Verne, another true national glory ? Go for 20 000 lieues sous les mers, Le tour du monde en 80 jours or L'île Mystérieuse. A bit less well-known, our national Conan Doyle, but on a much lighter tone, Maurice Leblanc. His character, Arsène Lupin, is a dashing burglar with a great sense of humour, and his light-hearted stories with tons of unexpected developments are a pleasure to read (cf L'Aiguille Creuse, 813, or simply Les Aventures d'Arsène Lupin, a collection of very short stories). Speaking of which, maybe you think French people are mostly interested in sex and women. That's greatly exagerated, but if you want to follow that road, try Laclos and his Liaisons dangereuses. Finally, maybe you want something more modern. Here, I have less to offer, but I think Perec is well-worth a read. La vie, mode d'emploi while amazing, might be a bit long, but W ou le souvenir d'enfance could be a more sensible choice. Or wing short books and children, and just read Proust :D
Obviously, if you read 5 of those books, you'll know French literature better than 95% of French people (like, I guess not every German has read Der Process, Faust, Prinz Friedrich von Homburg, Die Räuber and Der Zauberberg), so it might not help that much to blend in !
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England2647 Posts
Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity by Carlo Rovelli
An interesting introduction to what quantum physics is and what it entails and how our universe is made up according to theory/theories. It's decently written but quantum physics is such a mind bending topic, that it's going to be very difficult to have a good way of explaining everything. It seems to do a good job, but I have come away confused in a few instances (but I'm no physicist).
If you are reasonably clever, but haven't ever learnt about quantum stuff, you could probably do a lot worse than this book.
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On January 07 2017 07:34 corumjhaelen wrote:Show nested quote +On January 06 2017 21:35 123Gurke wrote:On January 06 2017 06:29 corumjhaelen wrote:On January 06 2017 05:55 zulu_nation8 wrote: trying to get through Radiguet's The Devil in the Flesh, don't know if it's worth but it's short. I'd say it's really not, much better French lit to read out there. Can you recommend something to me? I am trying to integrate more into France, and maybe reading some literature is useful for this. So far, the only French author I have read is Houellebecq (which I found awesome) and some novellas by Maupassant a long time ago. I have quite little time to read, so I would prefer shorter books (so no Comte de Monte-Cristo for the moment). Any recommendations where I should start? I am still reading Le Rouge et le Noir which is great so far. Well, it's a very large question so I'm not sure where to wander... Nothing too unexpected hereafter ! If you want to look into some classic culture many French people are proud of, and remember about, or maybe even know some parts by heart you might want to look toward La Fontaine, Voltaire ( Candide obviously), or some classic theater : Racine ( Phèdre), Corneille ( Horace, Le Cid), or obviously Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, our national pride which every middle schooler has to read at list one play (I'd go for the more serious comedy, Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope or Dom Juan). Another more recent option, and I think it is very French in an amusing way (but I still love it) his Edmon Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac. If you're more into novel, and you like Stendhal, you might look for the other big two : Balzac and Flaubert. Flaubert, well, either go with Salammbô or with Sentimental Education - I like Mme Bovary less, but this is very personnal. For Balzac, it's larger, and he has written novels, novellas and short stories of every length. I'd choose among Eugénie Grandet, La Peau de Chagrin, Le Père Goriot or Gobseck. Le Père Goriot will give you an accurate idea of the French myth of Paris. Close to that movement, you have Maupassant you talked about, if you haven't read Boule de Suif, you should ! You talk about Dumas, but he hasn't written only huge novels, even though that's a specialty. Maybe try Capitaine Pamphile or Les Quarante-Cinq. My favorite is Vingt Ans après, but you'd probably want to read the very long The Three Mousketeers before. But while we're at adventure novels, have you read Jules Verne, another true national glory ? Go for 20 000 lieues sous les mers, Le tour du monde en 80 jours or L'île Mystérieuse. A bit less well-known, our national Conan Doyle, but on a much lighter tone, Maurice Leblanc. His character, Arsène Lupin, is a dashing burglar with a great sense of humour, and his light-hearted stories with tons of unexpected developments are a pleasure to read (cf L'Aiguille Creuse, 813, or simply Les Aventures d'Arsène Lupin, a collection of very short stories). Speaking of which, maybe you think French people are mostly interested in sex and women. That's greatly exagerated, but if you want to follow that road, try Laclos and his Liaisons dangereuses. Finally, maybe you want something more modern. Here, I have less to offer, but I think Perec is well-worth a read. La vie, mode d'emploi while amazing, might be a bit long, but W ou le souvenir d'enfance could be a more sensible choice. Or wing short books and children, and just read Proust :D Obviously, if you read 5 of those books, you'll know French literature better than 95% of French people (like, I guess not every German has read Der Process, Faust, Prinz Friedrich von Homburg, Die Räuber and Der Zauberberg), so it might not help that much to blend in ! Thanks a lot!
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Almost finished The Long Earth
Really enjoying the synergy between Baxter and Pratchett (RIP ). Pratchett brings the characters to life with his quirky humor and Baxter does the scifi world building. My main problem with Baxter's books is that they are so cold and analytical, which is mostly solved in this collaboration. There's still a bit too much of the typical Baxter fact dump, but you can feel Pratchett's effect on the characters (especially Lobsang).
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You guys ever read Alain de Botton's stuff? Anything good?
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Finished Girl on the Train, probably 6-7/10. Nice intrigue, a bit repetitive, it'll make a terrible movie. Gonna mix it up with some fantasy, trying some Glen Cook
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Baa?21242 Posts
On January 12 2017 01:44 B.I.G. wrote: You guys ever read Alain de Botton's stuff? Anything good?
pop phil; glorified self help
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On January 02 2017 19:31 maybenexttime wrote: I definitely do not recommend reading P. K. Dick's novels. I tried two of them and they were just bad... T___T
I really liked "do androids dream of eletric sheeps ?" and "the man in the high castle" wasn't that great but I liked the atmosphere a lot all that talk about japanese philosophy and the quest for purpose.
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England2647 Posts
On January 12 2017 02:35 Dark_Chill wrote:Finished Girl on the Train, probably 6-7/10. Nice intrigue, a bit repetitive, it'll make a terrible movie. Gonna mix it up with some fantasy, trying some Glen Cook
I read The Black Company a few years ago and found that it was alright as a story but was very well written when in came to the battles. Intrigued to see what others think.
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I honestly really enjoyed the first three books of the black company. Easy to read, not too long, interesting characters, grey vs grey rather than black vs white... Nothing mind blowing but solid all around.
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Oh, also Obama is on the Liu Cixin hype-train
+ Show Spoiler +What are some of those books?
It’s interesting, the stuff I read just to escape ends up being a mix of things — some science fiction. For a while, there was a three-volume science-fiction novel, the “Three-Body Problem” series —
Oh, Liu Cixin, who won the Hugo Award.
— which was just wildly imaginative, really interesting. It wasn’t so much sort of character studies as it was just this sweeping —
It’s really about the fate of the universe.
Exactly. The scope of it was immense. So that was fun to read, partly because my day-to-day problems with Congress seem fairly petty — not something to worry about. Aliens are about to invade. [Laughter]
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/books/transcript-president-obama-on-what-books-mean-to-him.html?_r=0
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Baa?21242 Posts
>Obama is on the Liu Cixin train
idk how to feel about this
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Ambivalence is the only way to fly.
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Finished reading Travellers GateTrilogy by Will Wight
It was alright. Probably the fantasy series with the most combat i've read so far, like i think majority of book 2 and 3 are made up of nothing but fighting.
There was alot of trope and genre deconstruction happening(i mean it's expected the book cover for the first book literally says that) and sometimes it's unexpectedly funny moments (like one the protagonist getting angry at the enemy for doing a classic exposition/turn him in to an ally in the middle of fight )
I think the 2nd book is is the strongest point of the series.
Overall it was alright (the fights were really fun to read) and the ending wasn't great(well this rarely happens) but it was just right.
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I am still slowly making my way through le rouge et le noir. This is very rewarding for me as an immigrant to France because it gives me a lot of context and historical perspective on things I have seen here. Examples: province vs Paris, the role of catholicism and the resulting laïcité (which is still weird for me as a german)... The translation I have also contains an appendix written by the translator that is extremely helpful in that respect.
Not at all related to this, I have realized that out of the (probably) hundreds of books I have read nearly none have been written by female authors. Essentially the only exceptions that come to my mind are Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. I find this rather curious. Partly it can probably be explained by the fact that in some periods and cultures there were just no female authors, say in ancient Greece. But this is of course not a satisfying explanation for contemporary literature where there are lots of female authors. Have any of you had similar experiences? If so, do you have explanations?
In any case, I am considering mixing my reading list of French authors (thanks again corumjhaelen) with female authors. The only problem that I have is that I have no idea what I should read. So, dear TL bookthread members, what are your recommendations?
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Baa?21242 Posts
It's largely a consequence of what you read. If you read books generally considered classics/The Western Canon/philosophy/theory/scifi/etc., you're going to read overwhelmingly male authors because there aren't many canonized female authors. If you read a lot of contemporary literary fiction you're going to find your ratio much closer to 50/50. If you read romances you're like going to be reading well over 60% female authors.
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well in the sci-fi genre there's some good well known stuff. Butler, Atwood, Le Guin are all excellent and will keep you occupied. Also while we're at women writing sci-fi there's a cool recent short story by a Chinese author:
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/folding-beijing-2/
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I never miss a chance to push Woolf, and because you're a literary type, I'd say you should start with To The Lighthouse. I'd also recommend Gertrude Stein, and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is a good place to start there. If you're looking for something more contemporary, I like pretty much everything Zadie Smith writes, though On Beauty is arguably her best and most accessible novel.
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Among old stuff. Woolf obviously, she's just something else. The Brontë sisters... Well mainly Wuthering Heights I guess. La Princesse de Clèves by Mme de Lafayette, excellent novel. Or George Sand is well-known but yeah... I think there are many undervalued poetess too... (Louise Labé, Marceline Debordes-Valmore, perhaps Baudelaire biggest source of inspiration, Emily Dickinson obviously...) Sylvia Plath ?
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Authors were not really a thing in ancient Greece, but you can read Sappho's fragments if you like poetry. I find there's something about having only fragments that makes her even more appealing. This in particular, although I do not know how much credit should go to the translator:
Here under boughs a bracing spring Percolates, roses without number Umber the earth and, rustling, The leaves drip slumber.
Frankenstein also springs to mind, as does Middlemarch.
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Thank you all for your recommendations!
On January 22 2017 06:50 Nyxisto wrote: well in the sci-fi genre there's some good well known stuff. Butler, Atwood, Le Guin are all excellent and will keep you occupied.
Thanks! Any particular recommendations for these authors? I guess for Le Guin the canonical choice would be The Left Hand of Darkness? For Atwood The Handmaid's Tale? Concerning Butler I have no idea.
On January 22 2017 07:04 farvacola wrote: I never miss a chance to push Woolf, and because you're a literary type, I'd say you should start with To The Lighthouse.
Well, I am certainly not a literary type I get paid for thinking about (theoretical) computers and finite structures all day. I am only reading fiction for fun in my free time. I'll take your comment as a compliment though. Does this change your recommendations?
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As someone who had a pretty extensive training as it gets in pure mathematics, I'd say it changes nothing
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Some more female authors for you:
Talking about the classics, there's also the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. Some great, some good, some not so good, imho. But she was one of the great scifi authors of the 20th century.
I personally really like Robin Hobb. I wouldn't say that her books are literary masterpieces (but I don't think I'd say that of Le Guin either). Both the Farseer trilogy and the Liveship trilogy were well imagined and written. The latter one has a pretty good female lead.
Harry Potter is pretty famous. It's not exactly literary, but it's passable pulp reading. The books are better than the movies, imho.
That's probably it for fantasy/scifi.
I'm not quite sure why Harper Lee hasn't been mentioned yet. Insofar as I know, she only wrote one book, but it's marvellous. Read To Kill a Mockingbird.
I personally don't much like Doris Lessing, but she won a Nobel prize, so there are people out there who do. I had to read The Grass is Singing for literature class, and that was it. No more Doris Lessing for me.
Isabel Allende writes bestseller after bestseller. Insofar as I know they are all horrible (I only read one of her books, once, and decided it wasn't for me). But she keeps churning them out and people keep reading them ;P
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Baa?21242 Posts
On January 23 2017 08:28 Acrofales wrote:
I personally don't much like Doris Lessing, but she won an Oscar, so there are people out there who do.
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On January 23 2017 08:42 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:Show nested quote +On January 23 2017 08:28 Acrofales wrote:
I personally don't much like Doris Lessing, but she won an Oscar, so there are people out there who do.
Err, oops :D
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On January 23 2017 04:42 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Bought but didn't start yet. How is it so far?
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On January 24 2017 16:52 B.I.G. wrote:Bought but didn't start yet. How is it so far?
So far so good just finished the history where Dulles was in Switzerland performing OSS services + Show Spoiler +but also protecting German clients to his Brothers business empire and allowed and even helped Swiss persons continue to smuggle war material through the country via Spain to the Axis. And if FDR had lived to see the end of the war he along with his brother more than likely would have been charged with Treason.
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England2647 Posts
Just read Fight Club. Was pretty good but should probably be read faster than I did, in one or two days.
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I finished Way of Kings like last month and just started Words of Radiance and I just got to the part where + Show Spoiler +it is getting really good and I can't wait to read more.
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Reading
Gentleman Bastards (1st book of the trilogy)
It's kinda like a heist book during medieval times(kinda like Ocean's Eleven Medieval Style or so the comments others who read this before says). It gets good really fast(not a bad thing if other novels take time to start the fire and be enticing but it's a perk of this one as it becomes interesting really fast)
On February 03 2017 19:32 SCC-Faust wrote:I finished Way of Kings like last month and just started Words of Radiance and I just got to the part where + Show Spoiler +it is getting really good and I can't wait to read more. WoR one ups the epicness so you'll have so much fun on that.
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The Lies of Locke Lamora is pretty good. I like how Scott Lynch portrays how magic works in this world (as in it is highly exclusive and monopolized). It feels realistic.
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Recently gotten into the TV series of The Magicians. Anybody know if the books are good? The TV series is a bit hit and miss, and some things that seem pulled from the book seem very much aimed at teenagers (sex magic, woooo), but the reviews imply that it's aimed at adults. Is it aimed at adults in the way 50 shades of gray is aimed at adults? Or is it aimed at adults in the sense that it's a mature novel that may not shy away from sex or violence, but it's not all there is to it?
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Just finished the eye of the world (wheel of time #1). Not bad IMO. I like the fact that although it could be considered epic fantasy due to the scope it keeps it focus on few characters. Makes it a bit easier to read. I understand that although the series as a whole is pretty good except for like 4 books that were bloody awful right? Anyone here read the whole thing? Is it worth it?
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On February 04 2017 02:29 B.I.G. wrote: The Lies of Locke Lamora is pretty good. I like how Scott Lynch portrays how magic works in this world (as in it is highly exclusive and monopolized). It feels realistic. i haven't even gotten to the magic part yet ( they haven't introduced the magic system at all except the tooth thing which seems like a basic trickery) and i'm already enjoying it just with heist thing they are doing and all the complications with the setting
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On February 05 2017 23:19 goody153 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 04 2017 02:29 B.I.G. wrote: The Lies of Locke Lamora is pretty good. I like how Scott Lynch portrays how magic works in this world (as in it is highly exclusive and monopolized). It feels realistic. i haven't even gotten to the magic part yet ( they haven't introduced the magic system at all except the tooth thing which seems like a basic trickery) and i'm already enjoying it just with heist thing they are doing and all the complications with the setting
There isn't really a stated magic system at all even 3 books in + Show Spoiler +although that may change soon , it's kind of nice how locke is still down to earth so to speak.
On February 05 2017 22:04 B.I.G. wrote: Just finished the eye of the world (wheel of time #1). Not bad IMO. I like the fact that although it could be considered epic fantasy due to the scope it keeps it focus on few characters. Makes it a bit easier to read. I understand that although the series as a whole is pretty good except for like 4 books that were bloody awful right? Anyone here read the whole thing? Is it worth it?
hahaha
It's a great series IMO although it slows down a lot 7-10 (personally I thought 7-8 were good but 9 only had one significant event and 10 had literally nothing) but after that it picks up again and ends quite well. You'll be tired of all the man/woman comparisons and braid tugging but besides that it's great writing all the way through.
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On February 06 2017 16:18 Thermia wrote:Show nested quote +On February 05 2017 23:19 goody153 wrote:On February 04 2017 02:29 B.I.G. wrote: The Lies of Locke Lamora is pretty good. I like how Scott Lynch portrays how magic works in this world (as in it is highly exclusive and monopolized). It feels realistic. i haven't even gotten to the magic part yet ( they haven't introduced the magic system at all except the tooth thing which seems like a basic trickery) and i'm already enjoying it just with heist thing they are doing and all the complications with the setting There isn't really a stated magic system at all even 3 books in + Show Spoiler +although that may change soon , it's kind of nice how locke is still down to earth so to speak. So it's the detailed magic system type just the "it's magic" with mystery. I guess it's alright
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It's more that magic is part of an exclusive club that no one from outside can get into so we never learn much about the specifics.
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The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman
I know it's not technically a book, but it's amazing enough to include here. It's a must buy for everyone in my opinion. Sandman has changed the comic book world 20 years ago, and now, with this prequel Gaiman and J. H. Williams III have pretty much redefined what makes a good comic. The visuals in this one are astounding and it's pointless to get it in digital format since some of the tricks used in it (no spoilers here) require the physical printing.
It is bloody amazing. After reading that I don't think I'll ever be happy with any other comic book now that I know what you can do with it. Frames and fonts being intrinsic parts of images, pages that you read around (it's really engaging to read about the character being caught in a swirl when you have to turn the book around), images seamlessly floating from one cadre to another... It's a wonder to behold. And the story is really good too, a kaleidoscope of seemingly unrelated events that take part in different times and places (like, all around the universe and beyond) that come together perfectly as the story nears its end.
11/10
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On February 07 2017 17:49 Manit0u wrote:The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman I know it's not technically a book, but it's amazing enough to include here. It's a must buy for everyone in my opinion. Sandman has changed the comic book world 20 years ago, and now, with this prequel Gaiman and J. H. Williams III have pretty much redefined what makes a good comic. The visuals in this one are astounding and it's pointless to get it in digital format since some of the tricks used in it (no spoilers here) require the physical printing. It is bloody amazing. After reading that I don't think I'll ever be happy with any other comic book now that I know what you can do with it. Frames and fonts being intrinsic parts of images, pages that you read around (it's really engaging to read about the character being caught in a swirl when you have to turn the book around), images seamlessly floating from one cadre to another... It's a wonder to behold. And the story is really good too, a kaleidoscope of seemingly unrelated events that take part in different times and places (like, all around the universe and beyond) that come together perfectly as the story nears its end. 11/10 I love Sandman. Going to buy this. Thanks!
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On February 07 2017 18:09 Acrofales wrote:Show nested quote +On February 07 2017 17:49 Manit0u wrote:The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman I know it's not technically a book, but it's amazing enough to include here. It's a must buy for everyone in my opinion. Sandman has changed the comic book world 20 years ago, and now, with this prequel Gaiman and J. H. Williams III have pretty much redefined what makes a good comic. The visuals in this one are astounding and it's pointless to get it in digital format since some of the tricks used in it (no spoilers here) require the physical printing. It is bloody amazing. After reading that I don't think I'll ever be happy with any other comic book now that I know what you can do with it. Frames and fonts being intrinsic parts of images, pages that you read around (it's really engaging to read about the character being caught in a swirl when you have to turn the book around), images seamlessly floating from one cadre to another... It's a wonder to behold. And the story is really good too, a kaleidoscope of seemingly unrelated events that take part in different times and places (like, all around the universe and beyond) that come together perfectly as the story nears its end. 11/10 I love Sandman. Going to buy this. Thanks!
If you want a teaser, here's a nice review: http://winkbooks.net/post/139479746669/a-tale-two-decades-in-the-making-the-sandman
[...]
I absolutely believe every comics fan should read this. The story is engaging and interesting, and the artwork creatively breaks the form of comics itself. In the introduction, Gaiman mentions asking the artists to draw “impossible” things, and that shows in the unique design work. Artist J.H. Williams creates pages that are more like collages than comics panels, while Dave Stewart uses color to create the most vivid dreamscapes yet seen in Sandman. There are even two large fold-out scenes in the book (the earlier one is pictured above) that are used not only to express the scale of the scene, but are actually story points in and of themselves. Almost every page features some moment worthy of stopping just to admire how Williams made it all connect together. Overture is like reading a dream.
[...]
Edit: Oh, and get the Deluxe Edition if you can. Not only will you get all of the comics in one book, there's also 50 pages of extra content.
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Reading: The King Never Smiles
I lived in Thailand for 3 years. My wife is Thai. And this book is banned in Thailand and could wind me up in jail if I brought it there for Les Majeste. But finding anything out about the king is very difficult. This book looks under the mask of who the king was (he just died last year) and how he got so powerful in a era where the monarchy lost almost all of their power 20 years before he became king.
Finished: Fury of the First Lord
I enjoyed these books. They werent the Dresden Files but what is. I thought they were engaging. The magic was interesting. Easy reads that kept my interest. I mean wasnt complex but it didnt need to be.
Next up: The Bonehunters (book 6 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen)
I like these books. But not as much as people say I should. I have read all the WoT books twice. So I know what 13-15 book epic stores can be like. But these seem slow to me. Even slower then like book 9-10 in the WoT books. Some characters I just dont find interesting. I do like them but some parts of them are just meh to me.
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On February 07 2017 23:20 Onegu wrote:Next up: The Bonehunters (book 6 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen) I like these books. But not as much as people say I should. I have read all the WoT books twice. So I know what 13-15 book epic stores can be like. But these seem slow to me. Even slower then like book 9-10 in the WoT books. Some characters I just dont find interesting. I do like them but some parts of them are just meh to me. I have started those books several times but I always get stuck after finishing a few of them. And then when I restart I realize that I do not remember anything from the last few books and start rereading those, getting stuck a few books later... Since I guess I am not the only one with this problem, does anyone know a good source for summaries of the individual books? Maybe those could be useful so that I do not have to start at the beginning if I ever try it again.
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Been reading some leo strauss cuz neocons apparently eat that shit up. Dude is basically dan brown and believes in secret codes hidden in philosophical texts that were only meant for the initiated. Somehow he was able to use that to interpret Thucydides as an imperialist instead of as criticizing imperialism in HoPW. And somehow the bush administration used that to justify the war.
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On February 07 2017 17:49 Manit0u wrote:The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman I know it's not technically a book, but it's amazing enough to include here. It's a must buy for everyone in my opinion. Sandman has changed the comic book world 20 years ago, and now, with this prequel Gaiman and J. H. Williams III have pretty much redefined what makes a good comic. The visuals in this one are astounding and it's pointless to get it in digital format since some of the tricks used in it (no spoilers here) require the physical printing. It is bloody amazing. After reading that I don't think I'll ever be happy with any other comic book now that I know what you can do with it. Frames and fonts being intrinsic parts of images, pages that you read around (it's really engaging to read about the character being caught in a swirl when you have to turn the book around), images seamlessly floating from one cadre to another... It's a wonder to behold. And the story is really good too, a kaleidoscope of seemingly unrelated events that take part in different times and places (like, all around the universe and beyond) that come together perfectly as the story nears its end. 11/10
I've been looking into getting this, but I've never read any previous Sandman installments. Will I be completely lost reading this?
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Went to Shiloh National Military Park today so of course I picked up a couple of books:
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On February 14 2017 12:06 SCC-Faust wrote:Show nested quote +On February 07 2017 17:49 Manit0u wrote:The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman I know it's not technically a book, but it's amazing enough to include here. It's a must buy for everyone in my opinion. Sandman has changed the comic book world 20 years ago, and now, with this prequel Gaiman and J. H. Williams III have pretty much redefined what makes a good comic. The visuals in this one are astounding and it's pointless to get it in digital format since some of the tricks used in it (no spoilers here) require the physical printing. It is bloody amazing. After reading that I don't think I'll ever be happy with any other comic book now that I know what you can do with it. Frames and fonts being intrinsic parts of images, pages that you read around (it's really engaging to read about the character being caught in a swirl when you have to turn the book around), images seamlessly floating from one cadre to another... It's a wonder to behold. And the story is really good too, a kaleidoscope of seemingly unrelated events that take part in different times and places (like, all around the universe and beyond) that come together perfectly as the story nears its end. 11/10 I've been looking into getting this, but I've never read any previous Sandman installments. Will I be completely lost reading this?
You should just pick up the original Sandman installments too, they're great.
While we're talking about comic books, recently reread:
Still great fun and as always topical
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Finished:
Took me nearly two months. I am such a slow reader nowadays... That being said, this is a great book. Concerning the writing, I really liked the fact that there are no descriptions of landscapes, sceneries or similar whatsoever. I am always skipping those anyway so not having to was really refreshing. I also learned a lot about french society during that period. My translation has an appendix with many explanations that is very insightful. Definitely recommended.
Reading:
Just started this so not much to say. The reason why I am reading this: - It's by a French author so I might learn something about the country. - It's the same translator as Le rouge et le noir who is supposed to be really good. - It's short, I do not have much time, so hopefully I will finish this in less than two months. - And most importantly: I had this on my stack because my sister in law gave it to me as a present some time back. I am too lazy to buy books currently and not fluent enough in French to read books from the library.
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England2647 Posts
I was planning on reading In Search of Lost Time and just had a few questions here about it:
1. Is there a good version to go for, not only in terms of translation but also cost? Seven split volumes at £10 each seems like a lot. 2. Is it easy enough to read one volume, take a break and then read the next a few months later? 3. If 2 isn't great, is there a group I should make an effort to read together?
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On March 04 2017 23:12 Flicky wrote: I was planning on reading In Search of Lost Time and just had a few questions here about it:
1. Is there a good version to go for, not only in terms of translation but also cost? Seven split volumes at £10 each seems like a lot. 2. Is it easy enough to read one volume, take a break and then read the next a few months later? 3. If 2 isn't great, is there a group I should make an effort to read together? 1. Two major english translations as far as I'm aware: Scott Moncrieff and a Penguin one, in which each volume is translated by a different translator. The former is a classic, has been revised some times and remains the recommended one for a full reading of Lost Time, though Penguin's Swann's Way(vol. 1), translated by Lydia Davis - an accomplished writer - is supposed to be very good. I have read her translation of Mme. Bovary and have no complaints.
2. No idea - I read all volumes in sequence, but I guess you can always take some time off and read a summary before starting the next volume.
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Canada10904 Posts
Well, at the beginning of 2017, I finally finished War and Peace (though it fairly could be said that was largely a 2016 read). I got bogged down in the peace part of War and Peace. Aristocrats throwing snow and going on sleigh rides was not the most gripping part of the story. Once the creep Kuragin began 'courting' Natasha things started picking up again and I was pulled to the end.
I started reading a little Lovecraft, but then was lent the entire Harry Potter series from a friend (first time read for me), so I completed that in the last bit and am sort of between books. I suppose I'll go back to the Lovecraft compilation. I need a couple short books because I'm tempted to read the Count of Monte Cristo and I like to vary short book, long book, short book, etc.
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On February 14 2017 12:06 SCC-Faust wrote:Show nested quote +On February 07 2017 17:49 Manit0u wrote:The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman I know it's not technically a book, but it's amazing enough to include here. It's a must buy for everyone in my opinion. Sandman has changed the comic book world 20 years ago, and now, with this prequel Gaiman and J. H. Williams III have pretty much redefined what makes a good comic. The visuals in this one are astounding and it's pointless to get it in digital format since some of the tricks used in it (no spoilers here) require the physical printing. It is bloody amazing. After reading that I don't think I'll ever be happy with any other comic book now that I know what you can do with it. Frames and fonts being intrinsic parts of images, pages that you read around (it's really engaging to read about the character being caught in a swirl when you have to turn the book around), images seamlessly floating from one cadre to another... It's a wonder to behold. And the story is really good too, a kaleidoscope of seemingly unrelated events that take part in different times and places (like, all around the universe and beyond) that come together perfectly as the story nears its end. 11/10 I've been looking into getting this, but I've never read any previous Sandman installments. Will I be completely lost reading this?
No. It's a prequel to the others. The entire idea behind is that both people new to the Sandman and those who read all the other parts will enjoy it. There's plenty of references to the other stories that shed new light on them so the proper reading order is actually this, then all the others, then this again (and again and again, you can read it in circles).
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On January 02 2017 13:15 andrewlt wrote: Winds of Winter, hopefully.
Amen to that.
Just started Hystopia by David Means. Got looking for something like Man in the High Castle since the alternative history angle is very interesting.
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On March 05 2017 09:50 Falling wrote: I started reading a little Lovecraft, but then was lent the entire Harry Potter series from a friend (first time read for me), so I completed that in the last bit and am sort of between books. I suppose I'll go back to the Lovecraft compilation. I need a couple short books because I'm tempted to read the Count of Monte Cristo and I like to vary short book, long book, short book, etc. Yes, Lovecraft is excellent for that purpose. I mostly try to read short books/stories nowadays but from time to time there is a long book that I cannot avoid (most recently Le rouge et le noir and 2666). I also recommend Hemingway and maybe Borges as shorter reads.
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I'm currently at the last book of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, I'm kind of excited to see what's going to happen, but also kind of sad I'll have to say goodbye to Roland and his ka-tet. Just found The Fermata (on the street), which is apparantly about a guy who can stop time and uses this for his own sexual gain (voyeurism apparantly, so it's not so extreme). Kind of looking forward to that one!
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Just finished 1st book of Wheel of Time
I was in the mood to read some classic story trope of "commoner to hero " or chosen one tropes.(Yes i'm aware it's 14 books but it's alright) Apparently this is one of the most well-known when it comes to it.
I heard reputation about the female characters being annoying in this series but actually i found the male cast more annoying and i didn't find the female cast annoying actually . Well that's so far as i've read.
It picks up really fast and the pacing is great. It felt very adventurey which was what i was looking forward too. I didn't like the final conflict though it didn't feel that hyped.
+ Show Spoiler +Also the mistrust of Rand, Perrin and Mat with Moiraine+Lan got really annoying at some point cause you know both saved their asses(and some of the villagers) a million times and are fighting the dark-side very obviously but they still won't trust them . It got really annoying at some point as they dragged that kind of shit till near the end. I like the Egwene & Rand pair up . It was cute i guess but + Show Spoiler [possible series spoilers that i got sp…] +since Rand is apparently the "Dragon Reborn" or the most chosen one of the 3 or something
and i know he builds a Harem(one of them is that Elayne girl for sure which is already introduced) so maybe that pairup is probably shortlived
I had alot of fun reading and since it fulfilled my expectation i'm gonna keep reading.
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England2647 Posts
Finished two books recently, one is a beer book: Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation by Chris White & Jamil Zainasheff. It was somewhat helpful but has a lot of lab stuff near the end. Ridiculously niche for this thread, but hey.
Also finished Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie. My friend bought me the first book which was alright and promised me it got better in the second. Other people echoed this so I read the second book. Honestly there's no reason to read these books when so many better fantasy books exist. The world is clichéd (the northmen are vicious and strong, the eastern people are mysterious), the characters are boring and there's little to no development of anyone. When compared to ASOIAF or Malazan, this book is just poor. I can't understand the praise it's received. There's also this unusual problem in that I can't remember who anyone is in this book which to me is a sign that the author has messed up somewhere. I have no issues remembering people in other books but in this one I totally forgot who one of the main characters was between stories. Not to mention that + Show Spoiler +ultimately the second book changes almost nothing aside from a few small character tweaks and situation changes. As I understand it, everyone is going right back to where they were before . If anyone is interested in this series, I would say it's not really worth your time.
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I've read the first law trilogy too , yeah there are alot of other better choices and the buildup takes time and the payoff isn't really that great.
Though the bonus is some interesting POV like Glotka's
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I liked the First Law trilogy. I guess I prefer most that there is no classic good vs bad situation and the generally mature approach. And I much prefer when magic is not so omnipresent. Although the build-up is indeed slow. It is a trilogy though, without the 3rd book evaluating the overall arch does not really work. Also I dont agree at all on "no character development". E.g. the development of self-centered golden boy Jezal is one of the main story lines. Logen also has development even though his path kinda takes him full circle and he ends up where he started. Never had any trouble remembering characters. They are indeed often cliche-ed but all super different from each other.
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I loved The Heroes by Abercrombie. His many dark heros and badass northmen are some of my favorite book characters.
With that said, First Law started promising and then went down at the end. Other than Glokta, which is a great character imo, the rest is forgettable. Not a book I'd recommend to classic/high fantasy fans that's for sure.
For me its a page turner/light read, you can't go into it expecting a masterwork or you will be felt down.
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England2647 Posts
On March 11 2017 02:04 Redox wrote: I liked the First Law trilogy. I guess I prefer most that there is no classic good vs bad situation and the generally mature approach. And I much prefer when magic is not so omnipresent. Although the build-up is indeed slow. It is a trilogy though, without the 3rd book evaluating the overall arch does not really work. Also I dont agree at all on "no character development". E.g. the development of self-centered golden boy Jezal is one of the main story lines. Logen also has development even though his path kinda takes him full circle and he ends up where he started. Never had any trouble remembering characters. They are indeed often cliche-ed but all super different from each other.
I'd say that the story is still pretty black and white compared to other books. Also, development of Jezal? You mean + Show Spoiler +he's a cliché, then he gets hit with a mace and gets nicer? Such a sudden change of tone is not good development, in my opinion. .
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England2647 Posts
I've started working my way through reading recommendations including the /lit/ top 100 list that was making the rounds a year ago. I finished Ubik by Phillip K. Dick a few days ago and enjoyed it mostly. There are some weird spelling errors and that in there and in some ways, the book feels rushed. I wonder what the book could've done with an extra 100 pages to really flesh out characters and the situation. A lot of it is kind of glazed over. Anyway, the premise is interesting and really made me stop and think about what was happening and how, which is a great thing for a book. I think it kind of has a fun unreliable narrative too. A lot of the time you just can't believe the explanations given.
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Ubik is one of PKD's best, and many feel he could have done a lot more with it.
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Ubik is awesome. The scene in the beginning with the girl switching up realities during the conversation is amazing. Talking about science-fiction, this arrived in the mail today
Aurora was really good and the mars trilogy is still one of my favourite series, so I am excited
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The Catcher in the Rye Novel by J. D. Salinger xD
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England2647 Posts
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid. Was recommended the book from a blog I like. It was alright and somewhat compelling reading, but it kind of just tapers off and not a lot really happens in it. It kind of summarises someone's life without ever really explaining the whys.
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Just finished
the 3rd book of Wheel of Time out of 14 lol
oh man totally got what i expected from the series
+ Show Spoiler [I waited 3 books for this to happen] +He raised Callandor above his head. Silver lightning crackled from the blade, jagged streaks arching toward the great dome above. “Stop!” he shouted. The fighting ceased; men stared at him in wonder, over black veils, from beneath the rims of round helmets. “I am Rand al’Thor!” he called, so his voice rang through the chamber. “I am the Dragon Reborn!” Callandor shone in his grasp. He was so damn naive. Now finally
this series is so fun
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On March 15 2017 05:11 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Ironically enough I've been reading the same bio of Oppenheimer lately. Have a professor currently who co-authored it.
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ironically enough to what? seems not very ironic. coincidental maybe ...
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Alanis Morissette ironic
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like raaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnn on your wedding day? the double irony: wherein the symbolic wedding day is radiantly sunny but dreariness interrupts this fantasy; wherein rain is dreary but symbolizes radiant fertility?
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I started but stopped fairly quickly. I think you need to know the lore pretty well to appreciate it.
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I actually started reading Warhammer 40k a few weeks ago. Since I had no idea where to start, I searched online and found these recommendations. I simply started with the first book recommended which is For the background, I spent some hours in this wiki which I found very helpful.
As far as I see the books in the bundle are the Horus Heresy series. After everything I have read, this seems to be more for people who already have lots of W40k background, so probably it is not the starting point you are looking for.
Some comments on the Eisenhorn books I am reading: Generally an OK book. This is obviously supposed to appeal more to young (as in highschool) american males. I am only the latter, so some of the book is quite cheesy to me. For example, the main character is supposed to be the stoic, cool type that I guess appeals to younger guys. To reinforce this, in one encounter his facial nerves are hurt which results in him being unable to show any facial expressions (no, I am not kidding!). Most of the characters are pretty one-dimensional; everything is pretty simple good versus evil. Many of the things the characters do are neither well motivated nor intelligent (like attacking a cult nest containing an unknown number of heretics with unknown special powers with just a team of a handful people despite many more being available).
That being said, on a mechanical level it is rather well designed. I imagine that this is the kind of book you learn to write if you pay attention in writing courses. There is nothing wrong with this, easy to read, it's just very formulaic.
Overall, this is more of a guilty pleasure for me. I imagine that reading, say, 40 shades of grey or watching telenovelas must be similar for some people. I mostly started this because I wanted to see what the universe is like (kind of as expected, large but not very deep) and I needed something easy to read for a long train trip. And for this purpose these books are fine. So while I am not going crazy about this book or the world, I could see myself reading more W40k books in the future (I have more train trips coming up).
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On March 30 2017 20:53 123Gurke wrote: Overall, this is more of a guilty pleasure for me. I imagine that reading, say, 40 shades of grey or watching telenovelas must be similar for some people. I mostly started this because I wanted to see what the universe is like (kind of as expected, large but not very deep) and I needed something easy to read for a long train trip. And for this purpose these books are fine. So while I am not going crazy about this book or the world, I could see myself reading more W40k books in the future (I have more train trips coming up).
Thank you for the information. Based on your post I am skipping that bundle. I still have a 50 book backlog (due to starting to read web novels) so no rush finding more. It seems I am a huge fan of LitRPG, didn't really know that until recently when the genre started expanding and the selection increased. These are books where you can talk about guilty pleasure, I can imagine most other stuff people talk about in that style actually being less of it.
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England2647 Posts
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks - Was entertaining enough. Didn't hit me much beyond that.
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell - Don't think I have much to say about this beyond the standard response. Super interesting in some places but a little all over. Lists the history nicely and expands on the philosophy of certain points too. My issue is that certain people that Russell doesn't like or agree with get lampooned pretty heavily which leads to entire chapters being pretty weak.
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On March 06 2017 23:23 Manit0u wrote:Show nested quote +On February 14 2017 12:06 SCC-Faust wrote:On February 07 2017 17:49 Manit0u wrote:The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman I know it's not technically a book, but it's amazing enough to include here. It's a must buy for everyone in my opinion. Sandman has changed the comic book world 20 years ago, and now, with this prequel Gaiman and J. H. Williams III have pretty much redefined what makes a good comic. The visuals in this one are astounding and it's pointless to get it in digital format since some of the tricks used in it (no spoilers here) require the physical printing. It is bloody amazing. After reading that I don't think I'll ever be happy with any other comic book now that I know what you can do with it. Frames and fonts being intrinsic parts of images, pages that you read around (it's really engaging to read about the character being caught in a swirl when you have to turn the book around), images seamlessly floating from one cadre to another... It's a wonder to behold. And the story is really good too, a kaleidoscope of seemingly unrelated events that take part in different times and places (like, all around the universe and beyond) that come together perfectly as the story nears its end. 11/10 I've been looking into getting this, but I've never read any previous Sandman installments. Will I be completely lost reading this? No. It's a prequel to the others. The entire idea behind is that both people new to the Sandman and those who read all the other parts will enjoy it. There's plenty of references to the other stories that shed new light on them so the proper reading order is actually this, then all the others, then this again (and again and again, you can read it in circles). My bookstore finally had it, so I picked it up. First impressions are that the artwork is absolutely gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful just to look at.
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3rd of the serie, fantasy type with magic and everything, It's quite good.
Not quite as good as The Name of the Wind but still good
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Been catching up on mathematics of philosophy and 20th century problems-
Goldsteins work in every area is worthwhile if you are into philosophy/academicism in general
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Anyone here a fan of Pynchon at all?
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I have a question for you guys. I've just bought an e-reader. I want some of the paper books I own on my e-reader. I was wondering whether you buy the e-book or just pirate it since you've already bought the paper version.
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Piracy is a stealing! You wouldn't download a car would you?!
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On May 07 2017 18:06 RvB wrote: I have a question for you guys. I've just bought an e-reader. I want some of the paper books I own on my e-reader. I was wondering whether you buy the e-book or just pirate it since you've already bought the paper version.
The selection from Piracy is still better than legal for e-books I like. Though legal is slowly catching up.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/super-nebula-book-bundle
Anybody have any books they would recommend in that bundle? Recognise a few authors but havn't read any of these books.
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The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
I'm 50 pages into the first book and it's pretty much garbage so far. Don't have much hopes for this, seems way too overhyped. Also, King's style of writing isn't very good, which doesn't help.
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On May 11 2017 04:55 Manit0u wrote: The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
I'm 50 pages into the first book and it's pretty much garbage so far. Don't have much hopes for this, seems way too overhyped. Also, King's style of writing isn't very good, which doesn't help.
I had the same experience 15 years ago when I tried it out. Generally liked though so guess it has some redeeming features for others, personally not a big revolver or western fan so if I recall correctly that might be why I skipped it at roughly the same point as you.
I did like Carrie when I read that but have never felt the need to read other stuff he has written. Might need to reconsider that.
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On May 04 2017 03:56 Alucen-Will- wrote: Anyone here a fan of Pynchon at all? farva could probably write an essay about his love to Pynchon
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dark tower gets better later, coincidentially when it's not even western anymore, but I don't remember how i even managed to get that far in the first place either way, i dont recommend fighting your way through, it's long and the payoff isn't worth it imo
a friend totally hyped up the baru traitor cormoran (or something), so i'm going to read it soon enough, his recs are usually at least decent. any experiences with it?
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Just finished American Gods by Gaiman and Saturn Run by John Sandford. Both are good books. Saturn Run had some good talk about space travel and the physics behind it. Was really intrigued. American Gods had some excellent pacing but also had some weird things going on that may take another read through when I'm less busy.
Still need to finish The Gospel of Wealth by Carnegie.
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On May 04 2017 03:56 Alucen-Will- wrote: Anyone here a fan of Pynchon at all?
On May 11 2017 05:53 Paljas wrote:Show nested quote +On May 04 2017 03:56 Alucen-Will- wrote: Anyone here a fan of Pynchon at all? farva could probably write an essay about his love to Pynchon
I could indeed (and already did years ago lol). I took it upon myself to read all of Pynchon's major works while in undergrad and I'm quite glad that I did in that I think Pynchon makes a bit more sense as one immerses him or herself in his style of prose. In terms of favorites, V gets my vote as I think it strikes a nice balance between typical narrative forms and Pynchon's signature scattershot style that, in my humble opinion, fades away as Pynchon becomes more comfortable with letting all hell break loose. That'd be why I highly recommend that folks interested in Pynchon adhere to a relatively strict introductory order as they start into this kind of writing. Thus, I always recommend The Crying of Lot 49 and V before any of Pynchon's other works, especially Gravity's Rainbow. One could also start with Inherent Vice, but that'd be poor preparation for Pynchon's other works as IV is his pulpiest work by far. That said, I haven't had the chance to read his newest work, Bleeding Edge, though I hear similar things in that it's a more comfortable read than his earlier works.
Once one wets their whistle with Pynchon, I must also mention William Gaddis, as he's another Pynchon type that does the scattershot style really well and in a manner unlike Pynchon in that Gaddis dials up the satire and tones down the jargon-ridden science. JR is fucking awesome.
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England2647 Posts
Read a few books since my last post:
The Accidental Connoisseur by Lawrence Osborne. A pretty entertaining and thought-provoking book about a man heading vineyard to vineyard and sampling wines. Not a guide to wine regions by any means, but more a log of the writer's reactions to the wine world which he doesn't really know much about.
Masters of Battle: Monty, Patton and Rommel at War by Terry Brighton. Someone in one of these threads was reading it and I thought it looked interesting. Can't find the post anymore. Pretty entertaining book. Found it pretty interesting to learn about generals as people (they're petty).
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Recommended by a friend and is a lovely, light hearted fable. I enjoyed the simple message.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. A book you just want to talk about. Gets a bit bogged down at certain points but I guess that's the goal of those sections. I'm quite into unreliable narrators I think. Adds an extra dimension to a story that makes things a bit more interesting.
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I somehow convinced my 11th grade english teacher to let me do our "focus on an author" project using Bret Easton Ellis, and from then on, I've been a huge advocate for his works like American Psycho and the Rules of Attraction. The former specifically captures some of the inerrant neuroticism underlying contemporary masculinity in a way that only BEE seems able to.
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Think the book might be longer than the original copy I have. But just rereading it because it is amazing.
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On May 11 2017 04:55 Manit0u wrote: The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
I'm 50 pages into the first book and it's pretty much garbage so far. Don't have much hopes for this, seems way too overhyped. Also, King's style of writing isn't very good, which doesn't help.
What about his writing style do you find so awful? Also, the first book is kind of a difficult one for the small size it is, but the second and third book are the best in the entire series imo.
He's a pop writer that knows how to intensify his story and engage the reader with this (it's especially noticeable in the second book). It's only very rarely that he writes some nice prose, he's more focused on telling his story I guess.
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I read The Man Who Would Be Thursday by G.K. Chesterton whilst at the beach a few days ago. It's a marvelously simple yet deeply complex novel. It spends a lot of time mocking Nihilism, so it might offend your Modern/PoMo sensibilities. The prose is very pleasing, though.
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Book 3 of The Expanse. Imo the best yet by far. Especially the 2nd was a little weak. Although it did not help that I already watched the TV series before, making 1 and 2 a little boring. This feels like classic space opera in the best way. Also takes its time with the human issues of its characters and is not only concerned with problems on the galactic scale. And it is pretty intelligent overall.
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Which app do you guys use for audio books? I was thinking of Audible but I don't know if they have a good selection of books and are reasonably priced. Any experience? Want to listen on my phone.
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Canada13372 Posts
The 2017 Donner Prize winner for best book about Canadian politics and political science this year.
Really excited to read it, I have some others on order related to public policy too!
(I am boring)
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England2647 Posts
I read Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (C. K. Scott Moncrieff translation with Terrence Kilmartin revision). I managed to get the complete Remembrance of Things Past free from a colleague so that's nice.
Anyway, I'm not sure I can add anything new to this discussion but it's a beautifully written book and incredibly interesting and captures these people in such an amusing way. I've noticed a great many of my character traits appearing in characters which reminds me of a quote I recently dug up from Philip Seymour Hoffman (the exact quote is about the joy of finding something written down, but I think you need the full context).
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Just finished reading The Dark Forest (Cixin Liu) and was quite disappointed.
+ Show Spoiler + Firstly, I think his representation of society in the crisis era is quite unrealistic, with the wallfacers' ideas getting torpedoed because they build doomsday devices instead of "ways of winning the war": if MAD is an acceptable strategy for all the world's superpowers why would it not be for war with the Trisolarians?
Secondly, Zhang Behai's "future history" was a stupid and unnecessary reference to Foundation. Foundation works because psychohistory is a bit handwavy, but is the setup for the rest of the story. Meanwhile this book tries to adhere to strict scifi rules, but then throws "future history" in en passant for no real reason.
Finally, it had too many irrelevant plotlines. Especially the 3 chinese neighbours... I still haven't figured out why I should care about them OR their tie-in to Da Shi. But to a certain extent, following the other 3 wallfacers was also just not done in an engaging manner.
In closing, not even close to Three-body Problem quality, although I did like the game theoretic solution to galactic sociology and the Fermi paradox.
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Baa?21242 Posts
On May 23 2017 19:40 Acrofales wrote: Just finished reading The Dark Forest (Cixin Liu) and was quite disappointed.
[spoiler] Firstly, I think his representation of society in the crisis era is quite unrealistic, with the wallfacers' ideas getting torpedoed because they build doomsday devices instead of "ways of winning the war": if MAD is an acceptable strategy for all the world's superpowers why would it not be for war with the Trisolarians?
there was also a huge global economic depression that plays into it.
Secondly, Zhang Behai's "future history" was a stupid and unnecessary reference to Foundation. Foundation works because psychohistory is a bit handwavy, but is the setup for the rest of the story. Meanwhile this book tries to adhere to strict scifi rules, but then throws "future history" in en passant for no real reason.
lol, that's what you took reference with, and not the actual explicit reference to Foundation?
book 2 is far better than book 1 tbh. book 1 just got a lot of media attention in the west for the focus on the cultural revolution
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I actually really liked the second one, too. Had a lot more humane characters and was my favourite book in the series
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Currently reading:
This'll take some time, Wallace is a legend and his breadth is remarkable in being able to even develop such a book that would normally so obtruse to even those of the highest caliber.
Will help for my philo phd apps tho. well maybe
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On May 23 2017 18:58 Flicky wrote:I read Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (C. K. Scott Moncrieff translation with Terrence Kilmartin revision). I managed to get the complete Remembrance of Things Past free from a colleague so that's nice. Anyway, I'm not sure I can add anything new to this discussion but it's a beautifully written book and incredibly interesting and captures these people in such an amusing way. I've noticed a great many of my character traits appearing in characters which reminds me of a quote I recently dug up from Philip Seymour Hoffman (the exact quote is about the joy of finding something written down, but I think you need the full context).
Good stuff; Next to Nabokov, I've not read a writer whose prose contains the lyricism of Proust.
Maybe some english romantic poets, but even then
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La Recherche is just my favorite book. Nice you got on the humour Flicky, that's what make reading the other six a walk in the park Rereading one by one slowly too, having gone through it all once makes it all more amazing, especially Combray, already something incredible in itself.
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So, in the Cost of Rights Cass Sunstein says that: "Admittedly, the current economic boom in China suggests that, when suitably integrated into the world economy, a society without a strong court system can use kinship and other informal networks to breed credible commitments even in the absence of reliable judicial enforcement of property rights." (p. 75).
I'm interested in reading more about this system. Does anyone have a recommendation? Kinda of a long shot but worth a try, I guess.
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On June 02 2017 17:27 dmnum wrote: So, in the Cost of Rights Cass Sunstein says that: "Admittedly, the current economic boom in China suggests that, when suitably integrated into the world economy, a society without a strong court system can use kinship and other informal networks to breed credible commitments even in the absence of reliable judicial enforcement of property rights." (p. 75).
I'm interested in reading more about this system. Does anyone have a recommendation? Kinda of a long shot but worth a try, I guess.
I was talking to a few people about this quotation and the book Trust by Francis Fukuyama came up.
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it's just corruption and nepotism
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On June 05 2017 08:50 Jerubaal wrote:Show nested quote +On June 02 2017 17:27 dmnum wrote: So, in the Cost of Rights Cass Sunstein says that: "Admittedly, the current economic boom in China suggests that, when suitably integrated into the world economy, a society without a strong court system can use kinship and other informal networks to breed credible commitments even in the absence of reliable judicial enforcement of property rights." (p. 75).
I'm interested in reading more about this system. Does anyone have a recommendation? Kinda of a long shot but worth a try, I guess. I was talking to a few people about this quotation and the book Trust by Francis Fukuyama came up. Reading the synopsis it sounds like what I was looking for. Thanks a bunch.
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Corruption and nepotism is so deep rooted in China that it often works counter productive. An strong example given was how gas and electric companies worked together to deliberately fuck up eachothers wiring and piping when doing "maintenance" to leech more money from the government. They consider themselves to be quite clever for this.
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England2647 Posts
Just finished:
Misbehaving by Richard Thaler. A history of behavioural economics. Pretty interesting overall, but lost me during finance chapters (not that interested in those numbers).
The Plague by Albert Camus. I don't think I enjoyed this book as much as I thought I would. It wasn't bad by any means, but it went a different direction to how I thought at the start and sometimes that's enough to mess with me for the duration of a book. Still looking forward to reading more Camus though.
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Usef to be in love with Camus but never read the Plague front to cover, just 3 of his plays and 3 of his other novels, plus that famous little essay. I'm really less interested today, but I think the only novel which I still love as much is The Fall.
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The Fall is his best by far.
I like The Plague but I think I like it better as ethico-theological framework than novel, per se.
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Baa?21242 Posts
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England2647 Posts
Letters From a Stoic by Seneca - A collection of letters from Seneca to Luicillius (or just essays) which are full of insights that are so simple that I almost find it tragic to think that I hadn't thought of them myself, some 2000 years after they were written. Seneca is much more human in his thought than Aurelius and his branch of stoicism is much more appealing to me. There's the occasional bizarre idea (he's pretty strongly against people who don't wake up early/in the daytime) but on the whole it's rather great.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse - I read this in German and I loved it. Stayed up until the following morning (come at me Seneca) and really enjoyed it. I still find the notion of a book dripping in eastern philosophy being written in German in the 20s slightly odd, but it's a lovely story and a book you could recommend to almost anyone. Some beautiful passages and one has the air of a classic fable. Has slipped into my top books list I think and I'm pretty happy I got through it in German with almost no issue.
Also, will be reading The Fall and The Outsider/Stranger at some point in the future. Three votes for The Fall is something I'm not going to ignore.
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I like Siddhartha a lot too but the "eastern philosophy as imagined by a Western writer" criticism is quite common, but taken as it is it's a great story. Der Steppenwolf is great too.
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I only read Das Glasperlenspiel and really enjoyed it.
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Baa?21242 Posts
On June 17 2017 05:46 corumjhaelen wrote: I only read Das Glasperlenspiel and really enjoyed it. it's his best book
siddhartha and steppenwolf are very middling hesse works but get disproportionately praised ; [
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I've never really been a big fan of Hesse, though I think my general distaste for relatively shallow Eastern spiritualism is the main reason. Siddhartha was very much a stepping stone book for me in a vein similar to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
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Baa?21242 Posts
glass bead game is legitimately a canonical masterpiece though
narcissus and goldmund is really good too
but they barely get read compared to siddhartha and steppenwolf ; [
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England2647 Posts
On June 17 2017 21:03 farvacola wrote: I've never really been a big fan of Hesse, though I think my general distaste for relatively shallow Eastern spiritualism is the main reason. Siddhartha was very much a stepping stone book for me in a vein similar to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
So I've read both of those and enjoyed them a lot, but I've never been much more interested in eastern philosophy beyond those points, so I imagine that's kind of a fair criticism.
Also, I'm guilty of only knowing about Siddhartha and Steppenwolf, so sorry cheep. I'll be reading Glasperlenspiel at some point though, now I'm aware of it.
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Baa?21242 Posts
i think calling hesse's stuff "eastern spiritualism" is comparable to calling ulysses "odyssey rewrite"; i.e. superficially enticing and often regurgitated, but belies/is misleading as to the actual content of the books
hesse uses eastern spiritualism crap as a veneer. he was certainly very interested in the stuff but the actual genius of his works has very little to do with his shallow understanding/portrayal of eastern phil and much more to do with his empathetic treatment of societal alienation and overarching ideals of a civilization.
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I don't think that comparison makes much sense in that Ulysses (or pretty much any Joyce work aside from Portrait) is far more impressionistic and tailored towards "high art" than any Hesse book is. Accordingly, its ceiling for "good" interpretive allowance is incredibly high and is likely a big part of why literary snobs the world throughout continue to hold Ulysses in such high esteem.
In that sense, a comparison between Hesse and Joyce would be like comparing Courbet with Seurat. While there is certainly a basis for doing so, realists and post-impressionists each implemented their technique with very different attitudes towards focus, color, and composition. With realists like Courbet, the vehicles for expression are fairly plain, obvious, and striking in their pointedness; put another way, the shapes, colors, and style of realist paintings lend themselves to a select few interpretive viewpoints by way of their definiteness.
Example: + Show Spoiler +
Impressionists and post-impressionists on the other hand, the latter being the artistic forerunners to Modernist authors like Joyce, utilize technique in a way that really opens up the interpretive background of a work, particularly relative to feeling and visual assembly.
Example:+ Show Spoiler +
With all that in mind, I don't think my criticism of Hesse (though perhaps I should limit it to Siddhartha and Steppenwolf, because The Glass Bead Game is indeed quite good and rather unlike the rest of Hesse imo) is unfounded; Buddhism and western engagements with non-Christian spirituality lie at the very base of Siddhartha and are unavoidable as concepts during a read through. In a sense, Hesse utilizes reference to Eastern Spirituality without really delving into the meat of what that would entail in a manner very similar to those espoused by 60s and 70s counterculture figures like Ram Dass. Similarly, Steppenwolf does a lot of "take drugs, have sex, be free" angles that seem to encourage a borderline solipsistic attention paid exclusively towards the inner path. To be clear, I think Hesse is pretty closely following the German tradition in prose a la Goethe, only I prefer the latter by orders of magnitude.
IMO Siddhartha was the OG "go find yourself in the East and don't really engage with the politics, interfaith mixtures, or actual substance of the religion you so choose" text. Thus, as a former counterculture kid largely in a state of enmity with "that which opposes," I can't help but be reminded of those festival shitbag kids, each with his own take on what constitutes buddhavacana. All that said, it should be clear that my attitude towards his works is heavily colored by my own life experiences, so oh well, agree to disagree
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Baa?21242 Posts
the pseudo buddhism/spiritualist crap in hesse can mostly be safely ignored without missing anything desu
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Anyone have any of a good Historical and/or Biographical books on Greek Monarchs especially that of George I, in English.
I already have the book by John Van Der Kiste. But it's only 186 pages
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Bought it cheap at my local bookstore and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Things never really went like you expected, really good fantasy heist book.
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I just read the Red Rising trilogy. The author did a good job portraying the injustice and sense of powerlessness the main character and his people feel in the society that opresses them without writing endless paragraphs about feelings. It's imaginative, action packed, and manages to stay surprising. I wouldn't call it game of thrones-esque like some do but there is no plot armor and there is a good chance your favorite character will die a pointless, inglorious death. Most importantly, there is a well plotted out story arch over the three books and characters in the book make sense and do things that make sense.
Don't expect to be mind blown with philosophical insight but if you read this as a story of a hero to an underdog people that leads an uprising against a dominant and tyrannicall upper class based purely on race and heritage you can imagine how many revolutionaries in reality that are frowned upon or considered straight up evil nowadaus can be considered heroes if you just hear the story from them and their people's perspective.
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England2647 Posts
Just finished 2666 by Roberto Bolaño - My enjoyment of the book reached a peak when I felt I understood the structure of it for real and it seems ripe for a re-reading in the future. A lot of great stuff in it, once I accepted it.
For me I feel like the book captured the feeling of living different lives (Blaubär style) and I kind of saw it as how you meet people and they become incredibly important to you for a short while and the next they are estranged and you never hear from them again. Whereas the stories themselves aren't every really finalised and closed off, the severance of relationships is (at least from the reader's point of view) - once you stop hearing from someone here, that's it.
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The book is amazing. The worst/best part is when it hits you with these one or two page long backstories of the murdered women
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Just finished Nabokov's memoir
Commenting on something like Nabokov's work seems almost superfluous; everything he touched in the world of literature speaks so ebulliantly for itself. Genius
Just started IQ84. Enjoyable start so far
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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.
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Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided By Tests by Steve Freeman and Nat Pryce
Very good book.
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Baa?21242 Posts
2666 is really good, wished it was finished :|
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England2647 Posts
On July 05 2017 06:31 Nyxisto wrote: The book is amazing. The worst/best part is when it hits you with these one or two page long backstories of the murdered women
Yeah, the sheer number of them is pretty harrowing. Most of my favourite parts of the book were in the final part. I even wrote down a quote (which is rare for me): "like the minutes of women who've just given birth and condemned to die, who understand that more time isn't more eternity and nevertheless wish will all their souls for more time". Some of the stuff in the final part is so wonderful, I can only imagine Bolaño was really grappling with his mortality at that point. I'll definitely be reading some more of his work in the future.
I also read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald today. It cost me 20p and was short enough to finish in a day.
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Baa?21242 Posts
unfortunately none of bolano's other stuff is as good as 2666. savage detectives has some charm and i really liked by night in chile, but his other works as a whole pale either in scope, or execution, or both, to 2666
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On July 05 2017 19:25 Latham wrote: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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England2647 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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England2647 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:
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:
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:
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:
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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I've just learned that Kirsten Dunst is directing a movie version of The Bell Jar starring Dakota Fanning.......holy shit I wish nothing but utter failure and disrepute on everyone involved.
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Finished:
I wanted something short for a 3 day trip with the family and I found this at my father in law's place. I enjoyed this quite a lot. It we short enough to finish it within three days even though I spent a lot of time with the kids.
Now reading:
I always promise myself to not read any long books anymore at least while the kids are young, but I am slightly ill so I have not much else to do and decided to just go for it. So far I am roughly 75 pages in and the eponymous character has not appeared yet. I am already enjoying this a lot, seeing how the story slowly unfolds.
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England2647 Posts
Just finished Il Cavaliere Inesistente by Italo Calvino. I attempted to read it before, but the way Calvino writes is very hard for an intermediate Italian speaker due to his extensive use of vocabulary. Once it clicked, it's a really nice fairy tale of sorts with some really lovely prose.
Also, that review of Wheel of Time is pretty hilarious. I've never felt the urge to read it and that review has really made me happy about that.
@123Gurke: Presuming your English is pretty good, how do you decide when to read a German translation over and English one? Is it just because you're more comfortable with it?
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On August 10 2017 02:16 Flicky wrote: @123Gurke: Presuming your English is pretty good, how do you decide when to read a German translation over and English one? Is it just because you're more comfortable with it? Well, German is simply my native language. So yes, I am more comfortable with it France is merely my country of residence. Since there are now excellent translations of the classics into German, it makes no sense whatsoever for me to read a book that is Russian in the original in any other language than German.
The question of translations becomes more difficult for me when the original text is in a foreign language that, unlike Russian, I am somewhat competent in, so for me English or French. For those texts several factors come into play:
- What is the "literary level" of the text? While I am spending most of my time working in English, I am not used to reading more subtle literature (in the sciences you should always try to avoid all subtleties in your writing which has the side effect of making things more readable for non-native readers). So generally if books are easy to read, I will read the original, otherwise I prefer translations. So for example, I read the Warhammer 40k book at the beginning of the year in English, because it was essentially written in a language for third graders. On the other hand, I am planning to reread Moby Dick in a few years, and I am not even thinking about reading the original. I rather trust someone more competent in English to do the translation for me.
- Is the translation good? For example, the short stories by William Gibson that I like a lot have a terrible German translation, so I prefer the original by far even though it is hard to read. For many classics this is not an issue. In particular, the translator of Anna Karenina is a well-known literary translator who has won several awards for her work. The translation of Le Rouge et le Noir that I read earlier this year has won the highest award there is for translations in Germany. Safe to say that these translations are very, very good.
- Which version is available to me? Always a tricky question for an expat like me. I get lots of books (mainly comics) from the local library and of course they are all in French. Also some books are only available as downloads in English.
- What is my mood at the moment? For example, I read half of A Song of Ice and Fire in English and the other half in German. No real reason for this. Just a question of mood. Considering that I have all of my daily communication except for that with my wife and my kids (who are still learning to speak) in non-native languages, relaxing by reading a book in German is often just pleasant. I do like the language after all.
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On August 10 2017 02:16 Flicky wrote: @123Gurke: Presuming your English is pretty good, how do you decide when to read a German translation over and English one? Is it just because you're more comfortable with it? Not him but for me there is just no reason to go for English over German if both are translations. I like German in literature but I also think almost anyone would prefer his native language. Because you will always appreciate good writing more the deeper your understanding of the respective language is.
Only if the original is in English I will go for that. Other than that the only reason to choose English is if you want to broaden your knowledge of the language.
Btw I just started to read The Three-Body Problem in English and kinda regretting it. I am not sure if the translation is bad or if it is the original style of the author that I dont like. The way the characters talk (and act) just seems so contrived.
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On August 09 2017 21:49 123Gurke wrote:Finished: I wanted something short for a 3 day trip with the family and I found this at my father in law's place. I enjoyed this quite a lot. It we short enough to finish it within three days even though I spent a lot of time with the kids. Now reading: I always promise myself to not read any long books anymore at least while the kids are young, but I am slightly ill so I have not much else to do and decided to just go for it. So far I am roughly 75 pages in and the eponymous character has not appeared yet. I am already enjoying this a lot, seeing how the story slowly unfolds.
Good choices-I've yet to read through Turgenjew's work. Anna Karenina is a masterpiece and the the finest piece of russian literature outside of Pushkin (obviously). This of course excludes Nabokov. I would probably reccomend reading Chekhov's short stories and Gogol if you haven't already.
I'm finishing the last of Murakami's fiction. Today nearly marks the one month mark (the 13th of July) since I started with Norwegian Wood. Since that day I've read every single novel he's published, cover to cover. Including 1Q84 twice and Norwegian Wood twice. Needless to say I'm impressed and somewhat let down that I hadn't gotten around to him earlier.
If you haven't the normative order of his work is something like this (novels)
1. 1Q84 2. Norwegian Wood 3. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 4. Dance, Dance, Dance 5. Kafka on the Short/The Colorless TT
Everything else in more or less descending order that is less clear. His first three novels are of a markedly inchaote, but talented mind. Still worth reading if you like him. The experimental novel Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World was quite interesting, but ultimately somewhat of a letdown. The topic matter is bound to hinder this opinion, though.
His short stories are decent, although less impressive than novels. I find several of his collections to be incomplete, or weaker forms of characters and ideas developed in the novels. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is undoubtedly his most impressive short story collections, he withdraws more heavily and the metaphysical uncertainty makes the stories worthwhile and come off as somewhat of a Koan at times.
His nonfiction is quite worthwhile, too. I've read through his running memoir and scrolled through his conversations with Seji Ozawa. Reccomended
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Just finished The Drawing of Three in The Dark Tower. I started reading them after I saw the trailers for the movie, finished the first two books in less than a week. Loving them so far :D
Had so much more action than the first book, but damn I'm devastated that the movie (which I actually didn't end up seeing) HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BOOKS. It's like the writers read a wikipedia synopsis of the books one time, and then poorly tried to stitch the story back together from memory. Just devastating. Either way, excited for the next books in the series!
Edit: I feel a little out of place with all the high class literature the rest of you are reading, but my brain is too tired after work to read smart things
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Book of new sun part 1. One quarter in and it's a total snooze fest. Endless chatter about delicate books and how the protagonist has the hots for a prisoner. Is anything actually gonna happen eventually?
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Baa?21242 Posts
On August 17 2017 13:45 B.I.G. wrote: Book of new sun part 1. One quarter in and it's a total snooze fest. Endless chatter about delicate books and how the protagonist has the hots for a prisoner. Is anything actually gonna happen eventually?
oh man you gotta start over and read it more carefully, botns is fucking amazing but you're gonna miss everything if you just treat it as a typical sci fi novel. the plot is almost never actually spelled out for you directly you need to read between the lines
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Well it's not like I didn't pay attention. I guess I just have to stick with it a bit before understanding why stuff is relevant.
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I finished reading James Bond's "Die another Day" It's exactly like the movie right down to every detail but I still enjoyed reading it even though I've seen the movie two-three times in the last decade...
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England2647 Posts
Das Parfum by Patrick Süskind. This is effectively my favourite book and finally I feel my German is good enough to read it in the native language. I'm not really one for re-reading so this was an interesting experience. The book seemed a little bit funnier in German to me, but that may just be my being older when I read it this time. I still get a little bored re-reading books when I know how things happen (I don't mind knowing what happens already, but when I know how, things get a little dull). Still a wonderful book though, glad I could see it as it originally was, although the translation is still absolutely incredible so don't worry that you're missing out.
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. I read Lolita a few years ago and for some reason waited to read anything else. Lots of great prose and wonderful passages but it took a little while to grip me. Also, I'm not sure if the following irks me or if it's fine, but I wanted to discuss something that I've noticed in my (admittedly minuscule) experience with Nabokov and literature overall:
This is what I'm calling the Nabokov Option Select. Effectively, this is something that works for readers of all levels and gives the author a nice cop-out should they need it: The mentally unsound (or unreliable) genius as the storyteller. When you utilise a character like this, I feel like you can get away with just about anything. If you make a mistake referencing something, or have a line or something flop completely, it immediately gets written off by the reader as being a symptom of the narrators flaws and when you nail it, well that's the genius part coming through. It seems like when you utilise this archetype, you cannot mess up your writing. Any mistakes are justified and only go on to strengthen the flaws you've written in. Additionally an intermediate reader (like myself) can just brush off any references they don't get as being mistakes on behalf of the narrator. It's a win-win for everyone.
I'm not suggesting that anyone who uses this is actually a weak writer, I'm not sure I would ever have the knowledge to accuse Nabokov of that, but it's something I've noticed and I'm not sure how I feel about it. The characters are great, but it seems so... cheeky to use it.
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Just made it through "Eloquent Javascript" and I must say this was the most enjoyable foray into programming that I could have imagined.
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Baa?21242 Posts
On September 01 2017 19:32 Flicky wrote: Das Parfum by Patrick Süskind. This is effectively my favourite book and finally I feel my German is good enough to read it in the native language. I'm not really one for re-reading so this was an interesting experience. The book seemed a little bit funnier in German to me, but that may just be my being older when I read it this time. I still get a little bored re-reading books when I know how things happen (I don't mind knowing what happens already, but when I know how, things get a little dull). Still a wonderful book though, glad I could see it as it originally was, although the translation is still absolutely incredible so don't worry that you're missing out.
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. I read Lolita a few years ago and for some reason waited to read anything else. Lots of great prose and wonderful passages but it took a little while to grip me. Also, I'm not sure if the following irks me or if it's fine, but I wanted to discuss something that I've noticed in my (admittedly minuscule) experience with Nabokov and literature overall:
This is what I'm calling the Nabokov Option Select. Effectively, this is something that works for readers of all levels and gives the author a nice cop-out should they need it: The mentally unsound (or unreliable) genius as the storyteller. When you utilise a character like this, I feel like you can get away with just about anything. If you make a mistake referencing something, or have a line or something flop completely, it immediately gets written off by the reader as being a symptom of the narrators flaws and when you nail it, well that's the genius part coming through. It seems like when you utilise this archetype, you cannot mess up your writing. Any mistakes are justified and only go on to strengthen the flaws you've written in. Additionally an intermediate reader (like myself) can just brush off any references they don't get as being mistakes on behalf of the narrator. It's a win-win for everyone.
I'm not suggesting that anyone who uses this is actually a weak writer, I'm not sure I would ever have the knowledge to accuse Nabokov of that, but it's something I've noticed and I'm not sure how I feel about it. The characters are great, but it seems so... cheeky to use it.
it only really happens in pale fire though, it doesnt exist at all in other "key" nabokov works like pnin, invitation to a beheading, ada or ardor. even lolita i dont think really does this in the same way as pale fire and maybe something like the gift
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What do you guys think the function of fantasy races is in fiction? Many times I don't really see the added value in them as they are often just exaggerated human tribes or civilizations.
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Canada10904 Posts
Does it need a function beyond having it for its own sake? I suspect for many they are following well-worn paths without thinking very carefully about how to implement them in their particular story and so perhaps they seem to not add so much value.
But after reading some older faerie stories like Sir Launfal and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, I'd say there's something very fascinating about beings and places that are wholly Other, mysterious and incomprehensible. It's the medieval explanatory stories for what goes bump in the night- explain the unexplainable- armies march for battle, but the battle is never seen. Hunters are heard but never seen or vanish mysteriously. The entrance to faerie land may be difficult to find, but once you do, strange things happen.
Tolkien understood this what with the hart chased by unseen hunters and the disappearing elf feasts in The Hobbit. Or the strange passage of time in Lorien and the hidden nature of most elf cities- they aren't really places that you just have roads going to.
Since then, I think a lot of the faerie has disappeared from the elves. They are only vaguely different than humans, in the same way the civilizations in Age of Empires were too were only vaguely different- but the asymmetrical RTS (Starcraft) is still possible.
What can fantasy races do? The same thing that can happen in Stranger Things- of course that's more firmly established in the horror genre, but there's something in the mysterious Otherness that faerie stories with other races can do.
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On September 04 2017 17:04 B.I.G. wrote: What do you guys think the function of fantasy races is in fiction? Many times I don't really see the added value in them as they are often just exaggerated human tribes or civilizations. Falling answered well. I'd just like to add that in science fiction, other races are usually used to
(1) Establish an obvious basis for conflict that doesn't need much further explanation: Specieism. (2) Establish a completely foreign biology, philosophy, culture.
Both are explored extremely well in Ender's Saga (although if you're not into esoteric religious stuff, probably skip Xenocide and Children of the Mind), but Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead do a great job of using the Other to explore the morality of conflict.
Vernor Vinge does a fantastic job as well with Fire Upon the Deep, and Deepness in the Sky.
And another of my favourite explorations of the otherness of alien races is Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "A Mote in God's Eye".
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I am reading: At the Existentialist Café
it's a really good book. I have bought quite a few philosophical books on this topic but they were neither extremely difficult or not relateable.
This book is basically a history of existentialism told in a very human way. There are difficult concepts but often mixed with personal dramas. (Sarter for example has a very open relationship with Beauvoir, they have other partners, some of those are children, some of those are married to the one who is cheating with another etc.)
The most prodominate figures are Sarter, Beauvoir and Camus (plus many others of cause), and I now understand the significance of their work. Mostly because I have never considered the time and age it was written under.
A lot of them are from France and had went through pre-war and war time to liberating France in WW2. Their work provide a beacon of light to those who are struggling to cope with the rapid change in society.
I am close to finishing it, after this I will be going back to the books of these existentialists.
Highly recommended even if you are not into philosophy, but there is a high chance you will like philosophy after reading the book
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England2647 Posts
Just ordered that book ETisME, sounds good!
Just finished A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Loved it. The nadsat was pretty fun to read but I'm not sure what it would be like for people with no knowledge of Russian or slavic words at all (most of it I knew from Croatian).
Anyone got recommendations for other books by Burgess?
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Baa?21242 Posts
you'll probably dislike other burgess books since they're not that similar to ACO
burgess himself didnt like ACO that much, he half assed it in two weeks to get paid
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England2647 Posts
On September 11 2017 05:05 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: you'll probably dislike other burgess books since they're not that similar to ACO
burgess himself didnt like ACO that much, he half assed it in two weeks to get paid
wow, thanks for the faith in me cheep, dang.
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Baa?21242 Posts
lol well its just burgess' other novels are either spy novels or joyce pastiches/homages, both of which are pretty different from aco
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England2647 Posts
Animal Farm by George Orwell. So yeah it's a classic and all that so my criticism isn't really worth sharing, but I really didn't get much out of it. It's just a brief and obvious allegory. That's really it. Why read it over a history book? It doesn't go into personal detail in any satisfying way and it's not full of delicious writing. It's just kind of a summary of what happened almost beat for beat. I can't help feeling it would've been significantly better if it was completely original or actually explained things in detail (like a history book would). I guess it was probably a lot more interesting before people learnt about the Russian revolution in school.
Not sure if there's any reason to read this, especially when 1984 exists.
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What are some good hard sci-fi novels from this decade?
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Not sure on your definition of hard sci-fi, but The Expanse -series is pretty good. I also really liked (And I think many readers in the previous iterations of this topic did too) Seveneves by Stephenson.
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I liked Red Rising. Not particularly deep but the story drags you in and the characters are memorable. I listened to the audio books and I must say the writer in combination with this narrator made for an excellent combo. The emotions were quite vivid and relatable.
Just checked and the narrator was Tim Gerald Reynolds FYI.
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On September 13 2017 21:54 rbetenoire wrote: What are some good hard sci-fi novels from this decade?
Blindsight, Peter Watts. It's a little older than a decade but it's really great.
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On September 13 2017 21:54 rbetenoire wrote: What are some good hard sci-fi novels from this decade? The Expanse series by James Corey (TV series is also good) the Three-body Problem and its sequels by Cixin Liu
Less hard: The Long series by Baxter and Pratchett The children of the sky (Vernor Vinge)
Haven't read seveneves yet, but it looks promising.
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Baa?21242 Posts
is TBP really considered hard sci fi?
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Just started three body problem yesterday. Especially interesting because I've also lived in China for a couple of years.
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I had the problem that I could never take TBP serious. The "science" did not make sense to me and the characters and their behavior just seemed so unrealistic. Maybe that is because it is from a different culture but I was never able to suspend disbelief even a little.
Liked The Expanse much more, read all 6 published so far. It is like classic hard sf but politically modern. I love how it champions science and you sometimes have simple "boring" scientists as the heros (same is true for TBP even more to be fair). Although I got less happy with it towards the later books. The main characters started to annoy me because it is always the same few people that solve the universe's problems while the rest is rather useless. And their relationships are stale and boring.
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Just finished the 3 body problem. I think it was quite a cool story that kept its fiction close enough to modern scientific knowledge to be believable. I am not scientifically literate at all but I do follow it enough to be broadly familiar with most of the concepts and problems described in this book. Even though the characters, as many people mentioned, are quite one-dimensional I don't really think it matters because they are essentially just "tools" for the writer to tell his story of civilization and the impact of science and politics.
The only problem I had with it is that + Show Spoiler +I didn't really like the part where he describes the POV of the Trisolarians. I understand he needed it for some scientific exposé on how they checkmated us, and to show parallels between Wang Jie and Listener 1300 something, but they are still from a planet far far away so I don't understand how they could so easily figure out how to politically manipulate people from earth. Perhaps he should've highlighted how ETO explained them how to exploit humanities weaknesses or something. Otherwise a great and refreshing read.
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On September 13 2017 18:48 Flicky wrote: Animal Farm by George Orwell. So yeah it's a classic and all that so my criticism isn't really worth sharing, but I really didn't get much out of it. It's just a brief and obvious allegory. That's really it. Why read it over a history book? It doesn't go into personal detail in any satisfying way and it's not full of delicious writing. It's just kind of a summary of what happened almost beat for beat. I can't help feeling it would've been significantly better if it was completely original or actually explained things in detail (like a history book would). I guess it was probably a lot more interesting before people learnt about the Russian revolution in school.
Not sure if there's any reason to read this, especially when 1984 exists.
I find Orwell a fascinating character. There's so much underlying tension in his works. Like he's trying to be honest and good, but he realizes he's a misanthrope more interested in his own ideas than people. He tries to warn us of the dangers of authoritarianism while defending his socialism. He expounds on the danger of colonialism while holding the actual colonized peoples and cultures with barely concealed contempt.
I don't say this to denigrate him. He's halfway there. He just doesn't quite use all of his keen observations to reassess the world.
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On September 13 2017 18:48 Flicky wrote: Animal Farm by George Orwell. So yeah it's a classic and all that so my criticism isn't really worth sharing, but I really didn't get much out of it. It's just a brief and obvious allegory. That's really it. Why read it over a history book? It doesn't go into personal detail in any satisfying way and it's not full of delicious writing. It's just kind of a summary of what happened almost beat for beat. I can't help feeling it would've been significantly better if it was completely original or actually explained things in detail (like a history book would). I guess it was probably a lot more interesting before people learnt about the Russian revolution in school.
Not sure if there's any reason to read this, especially when 1984 exists.
Why would anyone suggest reading Animal Farm over history book? Its satire obviously, its not meant to replace actual history knowledge of any kind. Also You need to remember when the book was written. At the time many people (even intelectuals) were in love with communism. Your todays perspective is tottaly different than what people were thinking back then. Its easy to see all the flaws of communism after the fall of Soviet Union, not so much when book was first published.
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Anyone have a good suggestion for social dynamics books? Ive done:
Captivate - Vanessa van Edwards (pretty good) You are a badass - Jen sincero Influence - Robert Cialdini
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On October 07 2017 11:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: Pfft "soccer"
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Finished "We are legion - We are Bob". Fun little book about a nerdy engineer who gets turned into an A.I. controlling a Von Neumann machine. Apart from the whacky adventures the concept of how such a machine could work is pretty cool. Definetely recommended for people who like sci fi as this story continuously winks at sci fi tropes.
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England2647 Posts
On September 04 2017 19:47 ETisME wrote: I am reading: At the Existentialist Café
it's a really good book. I have bought quite a few philosophical books on this topic but they were neither extremely difficult or not relateable.
This book is basically a history of existentialism told in a very human way. There are difficult concepts but often mixed with personal dramas. (Sarter for example has a very open relationship with Beauvoir, they have other partners, some of those are children, some of those are married to the one who is cheating with another etc.)
The most prodominate figures are Sarter, Beauvoir and Camus (plus many others of cause), and I now understand the significance of their work. Mostly because I have never considered the time and age it was written under.
A lot of them are from France and had went through pre-war and war time to liberating France in WW2. Their work provide a beacon of light to those who are struggling to cope with the rapid change in society.
I am close to finishing it, after this I will be going back to the books of these existentialists.
Highly recommended even if you are not into philosophy, but there is a high chance you will like philosophy after reading the book
Read this, very much enjoyed this as well! Thanks for the recommendation. Going to read a number of the books mentioned within.
Also read Break it Down and Almost No Memory by [b]Lydia Davis. Some stories really resonate with me, others not so much. Nothing goes to either extreme or being amazing or terrible and they're so short they are pretty much incapable of overstaying their welcome.
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I really liked Living With Jackie Chan by Jo Knowles. It's honestly one of those books that I expected to be super boring but it turned out to be pretty damn good.
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Rereading
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Do you guys think stories that are written toward certain scenes are necessarily bad? E.G. the author wants a big showdown between good guy and bad guy in the end and to make that happen he perhaps sometimes had to let characters make unrealistic choices (like Lord of the Rings).
I often feel that doing exactly this is the biggest reason for shitty stories with frustratingly stupid characters. Idiot driven plots I call them where drama and action is almost purely created by main characters make unrealistically stupid choices. But when writing fiction is there really another alternative to "backward engineer" a story from the ending scenes?
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On November 05 2017 16:04 B.I.G. wrote: Do you guys think stories that are written toward certain scenes are necessarily bad? E.G. the author wants a big showdown between good guy and bad guy in the end and to make that happen he perhaps sometimes had to let characters make unrealistic choices (like Lord of the Rings).
I often feel that doing exactly this is the biggest reason for shitty stories with frustratingly stupid characters. Idiot driven plots I call them where drama and action is almost purely created by main characters make unrealistically stupid choices. But when writing fiction is there really another alternative to "backward engineer" a story from the ending scenes? Not really. Even if they don't do that it could still be susceptible to stories having a lack of focus and the story go all over the place and when the actual main story comes it may look really weak and out of the blue(not in a good way) when they go the center everything around the character.
I think it could work either way whether they made it via "backward engineering" as you would say or build the story around a consistent character and just bump that character with events/etc to show his responses.
And maybe the stupid glorified "good vs evil" that you dislike might actually be fun for the next person (like i sometimes actually want to read stuff that i consider stupid at other times). Enjoyment out of stories still depends on the personal taste after all.
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Lord of the Rings as an example of that is pretty bad. One of the main criticisms is that there is no real showdown, and while the hobbits have far too hard a time getting to Mordor, the solution to the problem is "too simple". Sauron and the Nazgul could be said to have a bit of stupid, but we also don't really know the extent of their power. The main plot idea is that Sauron cannot fathom someone wanting to destroy the ring rather than use it for their own benefit, which is what he's so afraid of, so he simply does not think of the very obvious weakness that is the volcano in his own back yard. You can call that stupidity, but it's a believable flaw, imho.
That said, it depends a bit on the book. Plot-driven stupidity is really irritating. But I'd say that authors who cannot come up with believable motives for their characters to act the way they do would fail at writing decent fiction regardless of how they set up their story. They fail to create believable characters when writing towards a big scene, but would very probably fail just as badly if following "realistic" character development and just create a meandering story that fizzes out without any real conclusion at all.
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Baa?21242 Posts
On November 05 2017 16:04 B.I.G. wrote: Do you guys think stories that are written toward certain scenes are necessarily bad? E.G. the author wants a big showdown between good guy and bad guy in the end and to make that happen he perhaps sometimes had to let characters make unrealistic choices (like Lord of the Rings).
I often feel that doing exactly this is the biggest reason for shitty stories with frustratingly stupid characters. Idiot driven plots I call them where drama and action is almost purely created by main characters make unrealistically stupid choices. But when writing fiction is there really another alternative to "backward engineer" a story from the ending scenes?
easy solution: stop reading genre fiction ^_^
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England2647 Posts
On November 05 2017 16:04 B.I.G. wrote: Do you guys think stories that are written toward certain scenes are necessarily bad? E.G. the author wants a big showdown between good guy and bad guy in the end and to make that happen he perhaps sometimes had to let characters make unrealistic choices (like Lord of the Rings).
I often feel that doing exactly this is the biggest reason for shitty stories with frustratingly stupid characters. Idiot driven plots I call them where drama and action is almost purely created by main characters make unrealistically stupid choices. But when writing fiction is there really another alternative to "backward engineer" a story from the ending scenes?
Sounds like you're just reading shitty books. The entire Malazan series seems to be written so that all the characters meet that need to meet at a certain point, do so and it's amazing. I don't think you can blame the process, just author for being sub-par.
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So happens I read all of the Erikson books and halfway through the Esslemont books. I'm not saying they are all bad (far from it), I mean that when fiction goes wrong it often is because of the stated reason IMO.
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On November 06 2017 19:19 Flicky wrote:Show nested quote +On November 05 2017 16:04 B.I.G. wrote: Do you guys think stories that are written toward certain scenes are necessarily bad? E.G. the author wants a big showdown between good guy and bad guy in the end and to make that happen he perhaps sometimes had to let characters make unrealistic choices (like Lord of the Rings).
I often feel that doing exactly this is the biggest reason for shitty stories with frustratingly stupid characters. Idiot driven plots I call them where drama and action is almost purely created by main characters make unrealistically stupid choices. But when writing fiction is there really another alternative to "backward engineer" a story from the ending scenes? Sounds like you're just reading shitty books. The entire Malazan series seems to be written so that all the characters meet that need to meet at a certain point, do so and it's amazing. I don't think you can blame the process, just author for being sub-par.
I'm kinda part of the minority who didn't really find Malazan great as others did. I did find Chain of Dogs arc from the 2nd book very impressive but other than that it was just ok. If i'm being honest i actually liked WoT setups alot more than malazan's. Probably just my personal preference
But yeah i kinda agree that it's not the process that's the problem but probaly just the author or could also be the preference of the reader.
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I've read all the preview chapters of Sanderson's Oathbringer and I can't wait to read the full book next Tuesday!
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I didnt read them recently but still i have to recommend them: 1) El Baradei - Age of Deception: The author was a IAEA director general from ~98 to 09 and in this book he reflects his experiences. I came across this book when i was looking for information about the recent Iraq.(~80s to pre isis). This book gives an insight in the IAEA itself, international diplomacy (he made me understand how important and fundamental customs can be) and the proceedings with iran, iraq and north korea. I can highly recommend this book. Informative and also well writen.
2)Hans von Sponeck - A Different kind of war: v. Sponeck was UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq for about 2 years (98 to 00) before he resigned in protest of the UN sanctions vs Iraq. In this rather technical book (lots of tables and data) he describes the UN sanctions against iraq and their impacts. Though its not the most pleasent to read some of it made my jaw drop. And again it gives detailed insight in real diplomacy and politics.
(totally forgot my favorite book ) 3) Peter Fröbing Idling - Pol Pots Lächeln: (quick look and i couldnt find it in english) During the brief but cruel and devastating rule of the khmer rouge in cambodia one of the few officially welcomed and accepted visitors of cambodia was a small swedish delegation of diverse people. They took a guided tour through the land, came home and were excited about the cambodian experiment. Years later, the author follows their steps through cambodia while he talks to survivors, residents and some of the delegates to understand how it was possible that the swedes did not see the regime for what it was or at least a small fraction of their cruel rule. Excellent book. I really recommend it. I hope its available in english.
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Vatican City State732 Posts
I'm on a bit of a Chesteron kick. Recently read Heretics, Orthodoxy, and The Man Who Was Thursday. I love the joy of his writing...one gets the impression he loved every word he wrote, even when writing about the most serious of topics. His command of the language and his humorous turns of phrase are also quite enjoyable, though at times a bit overly much.
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England2647 Posts
I read At the Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima. It's probably the first book in ages I didn't really enjoy and felt more like I was reading it as a school assignment than for pleasure. Some pretty descriptions and stuff, but I didn't get anything out of the main character or his thoughts and feelings.
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Baa?21242 Posts
i just finished reading (finally got around to it) mishima's sea of fertility actaully and i liked it. haven't read his other stuff but from what i understand the themes are pretty consistent over his career. what didnt you get?
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England2647 Posts
On November 10 2017 01:49 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: i just finished reading (finally got around to it) mishima's sea of fertility actaully and i liked it. haven't read his other stuff but from what i understand the themes are pretty consistent over his career. what didnt you get?
Don't think there was anything I didn't get, just that it wasn't giving me much. The main character wasn't that strange and unique person that is present in all my preferred books and didn't have a big charisma or anything to drive me through it. He also doesn't present a new way of looking at things that I could learn from and he was just kind of uninteresting and I couldn't relate to him at all. The way he acts and behaves (especially around people and specifically women) just seemed foreign to me and didn't leave me with much.
On a side point, I started going to the Library again and I just need to whinge about it for a moment. The place is really awkwardly laid out (general classics being put in LGBT because they have a gay character in them) and full of almost nothing of use to me. I have successfully located and borrowed exactly zero books in the last two months. Everything has either been stolen (due 2011, not returned), was never part of the library or if I'm lucky, out on loan. I tried to secure a book out on loan (reserving it) and was told that the person didn't bring it back. I started going because I need to save money and so stopped buying books but I'm out of books and have almost nothing to go with. There's one book left on a book share shelf, then I'm totally out.
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On November 10 2017 21:32 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Is it good?
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On November 14 2017 23:53 Flicky wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2017 01:49 Carnivorous Sheep wrote: i just finished reading (finally got around to it) mishima's sea of fertility actaully and i liked it. haven't read his other stuff but from what i understand the themes are pretty consistent over his career. what didnt you get? Don't think there was amazing I didn't get, just that it wasn't giving me much. The main character wasn't that strange and unique person that is present in all my preferred books and didn't have a big charisma or anything to drive me through it. He also doesn't present a new way of looking at things that I could learn from and he was just kind of uninteresting and I couldn't relate to him at all. The way he acts and behaves (especially around people and specifically women) just seemed foreign to me and didn't leave me with much. On a side point, I started going to the Library again and I just need to whinge about it for a moment. The place is really awkwardly laid out (general classics being put in LGBT because they have a gay character in them) and full of almost nothing of use to me. I have successfully located and borrowed exactly zero books in the last two months. Everything has either been stolen (due 2011, not returned), was never part of the library or if I'm lucky, out on loan. I tried to secure a book out on loan (reserving it) and was told that the person didn't bring it back. I started going because I need to save money and so stopped buying books but I'm out of books and have almost nothing to go with. There's one book left on a book share shelf, then I'm totally out. Honestly, get an e-reader and download stuff if you dont have the money for books.
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Bought this set today, looking forward to reading it later this week. + Show Spoiler +
On November 16 2017 11:52 Thermia wrote: Oathbringer was great!
That series has been on my list for ages.
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First Law trilogy is awesome. I'd put them on top of a must-read fantasy list any day.
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On November 23 2017 10:40 B.I.G. wrote: First Law trilogy is awesome. I'd put them on top of a must-read fantasy list any day. + Show Spoiler [don't read if hyped for these bo…] + They actually disappointed me with how they got hyped. They're not bad, but imho there's a lot better contemporary fantasy. Both in terms of world building and in terms of interesting character development. And the conclusion is laughably bad.
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I really liked first law. It is kind of different from classic fantasy and takes a lot from other genres. Also does not care about the good / bad dichotomy. Although it is sometimes too long and surely not as finely crafted as something like Kingkiller I still liked it better. Not even sure why. I think it is the grittyness.
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I wasn't hyped before reading so went in neutral. + Show Spoiler +I actually thought it was quite brilliant how he set up these borderline cliché characters that even with all the evidence to the contrary subconsciously make the reader fit them into the hero roles and character development he expects them to, only to have it completely shattered in the end. People aren't caterpillars that are waiting to burst out of their cocoon of harsh character growth into noble and heroic butterflies, they are bastard coated bastards with bastard filling.
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England2647 Posts
I've said it before, but I read the first two books and didn't think much of either.
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I respect your completely wrong and misguided opinion ;p
In all seriousness did you think it was poorly executed or just not your cup of tea?
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I have been reading Yuval Noah Harari:
And in the same vein:
For the layman these are excellent readings on what may lie ahead of us in the not too distant future.
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Finished this up. I don't say this often, but the movie will almost certainly be better. Its ideas are way more interesting than its prose. I dig how Lovecraftian it is, though.
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On November 23 2017 10:40 B.I.G. wrote: First Law trilogy is awesome. I'd put them on top of a must-read fantasy list any day.
Man I read the first two book in the blink of an eye and I'm halfway through the second. You were not kidding, awesome trilogy indeed!
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Funny how people's tastes differ. I read the first book and found it to be the most generic fantasy, with prototypical, cardboard characters. ;-)
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Genre fiction tends to be more in the eye of the beholder than other sorts, I've found.
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Yeah I am one of the few people that likes fantasy but not Sanderson. Also was annoyed by Kingkiller chronicles although I acknowledge it is really well written.
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On November 30 2017 06:41 maybenexttime wrote: Funny how people's tastes differ. I read the first book and found it to be the most generic fantasy, with prototypical, cardboard characters. ;-)
You're not wrong though and it doesn't surprise me how it's quite polarizing. I came into the book from a certain angle and it just clicked with me, the generic fantasy and characters all help to make it work as I see things from their angle. But on another day it could also have complete turned me off.
+ Show Spoiler +The characterization does become much better in the second book personally.
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Can anyone recommend books on some of the following historic subjects: -Hannibal Barca -Charlemagne -Theodoric the great -Anything on the early European "tribes" like the visigoths, osthrogoths, etc
Thanks!
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Netherlands19121 Posts
- Oathbringer - Metro 2035 - Deadhouse Landing - The first fifteen lives of Harry August
Are the books I read the last 6 weeks. All great stuff for their respective franchises. Oathbringer takes the cake though. That awesome series, can't wait for the next 7 books :D.
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On December 05 2017 19:13 Nyovne wrote: - Metro 2035 Is it better than 2034? Because that one was pretty boring and kind of all over the place imo.
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England2647 Posts
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir. Despite some of the leaps I don't quite understand, the general outdatedness of some of the sections and the heavy use of literature "as evidence", I found it immensely interesting and very enlightening. A very long read, but well written and something you just want to discuss for hours afterwards. So many of the feminist arguments I've never put much belief behind are clearly explained and justified. I'd recommend it.
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give us one feminist argument you had never put much belief in and on which you have now changed your mind
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England2647 Posts
On December 08 2017 00:59 IgnE wrote: give us one feminist argument you had never put much belief in and on which you have now changed your mind
I guess as foolish as it makes me sound, I never really thought about sexual freedom as being something so important to overall freedom of women, but the way it's laid out here, it makes so much sense to me now.
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Baa?21242 Posts
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Has anyone read "The Subtle Art of not Giving a F**K" and if so any reviews?
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Just finished reading Artemis, was disappointed. I really enjoyed The Martian, but this was nowhere near as good. + Show Spoiler +The plot was ok, the characters were sort of unidimensional, some of the dialogue just seemed forced and unnecessary, the ending was pretty predictable and cliche. There were so many pop culture references, why? One thing I enjoyed about The Martian was how easy and natural the science was mixed with the narration, here it felt almost too much. Also (too much) welding! Also, the number of permutations for a 4 digit number where you know the actual numbers and one repeats itself is not 54
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Currently reading:
I have finished my Chandler project for this year (all seven books that I own) and since I am in hardboiled mode, I am continuing with Hammett. This is an extremely entertaining book that read very quickly. Definitely recommended.
This is more to learn a little more about French history. So far it looks very well made.
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On December 04 2017 12:30 B.I.G. wrote: Can anyone recommend books on some of the following historic subjects: -Hannibal Barca -Charlemagne -Theodoric the great -Anything on the early European "tribes" like the visigoths, osthrogoths, etc
Thanks!
For Hannibal maybe "The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars". It starts of with the first Punic war but quickly moves on to the second.
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England2647 Posts
Finished Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust (part 2 of A Remembrance of Things Past (the translation I'm reading). As with the previous part, it's undeniably beautifully written, but I enjoy sections where he talks about others primarily than those where he follows the main character. I found the sections where others tell him about their views on the world/art etc. and then he immediately disparages them on the next page pretty funny. However, the constant descriptions of girls and love are so manipulative and insincere that I was starting to get bugged by them. Would be really nice if someone could just fuck. There's too much tension at parts in these long passages for me sometimes, haha.
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On December 18 2017 01:17 Ysellian wrote:Show nested quote +On December 04 2017 12:30 B.I.G. wrote: Can anyone recommend books on some of the following historic subjects: -Hannibal Barca -Charlemagne -Theodoric the great -Anything on the early European "tribes" like the visigoths, osthrogoths, etc
Thanks! For Hannibal maybe "The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars". It starts of with the first Punic war but quickly moves on to the second. I think Norman Davies' book Vanished Kingdoms might also be worthwhile to check out for a few of those topics, but it also covers more modern topics as well:
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Just started reading. Its different than most popular books on science cuause it actualy contains a lot of math and doesnt explain that much. Its based on three lectures Penrose gave at Princton so material so the target is not exactly general population. You need to know SOMETHING about physics and math if You want to read it. Good book so far. Maybe too much refernces to other parts of text.
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Finished:
From time to time I like reading westerns. This one is about nature and its destruction, greed, insanity and all that good stuff. Recommended.
Just started:
I have read this two or three times before, but I like rereading Gibson. This one reads like he spent some years learning about fashion to write a book. If I remember well, the ending is quite bad (most of his endings are), but I am enjoying it anyway.
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I don't think I understood half of Neuromancer before I had read it twice. Gibson writes in a really fast paced way. His latest book, periphery, is really good too
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It was pretty much what I expected. Same style as A Song of Fire and Ice. Dunno if it's just me, but the last one, The Mystery Knight, seemed a bit different than the previous two, wasn't as straightforward, had more twists and turns, bit more complex. There was something that bothered me though, the character Dunk was a bit too flat, predictable. I would have expected him to be a bit more ballsy and less idealistic since he grew up an orphan in the mean streets of Flea Bottom. Overall, an enjoyable read while waiting for the main course (that keeps getting delayed).
Have a question, how do you guys choose what to read next? Do you go after something like the New York Times Best Selling books or like Goodreads recommendations or something else?
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On December 25 2017 01:05 Nyxisto wrote: I don't think I understood half of Neuromancer before I had read it twice. Gibson writes in a really fast paced way. His latest book, periphery, is really good too Yes, Neuromancer is really fast-paced. This is generally something I like a lot. Good to know that his latest book is good as well. I have actually not read the last two, but I should get them at some point I guess.
On December 25 2017 02:54 nukem1 wrote:It was pretty much what I expected. Same style as A Song of Fire and Ice. Dunno if it's just me, but the last one, The Mystery Knight, seemed a bit different than the previous two, wasn't as straightforward, had more twists and turns, bit more complex. There was something that bothered me though, the character Dunk was a bit too flat, predictable. I would have expected him to be a bit more ballsy and less idealistic since he grew up an orphan in the mean streets of Flea Bottom. Overall, an enjoyable read while waiting for the main course (that keeps getting delayed). I read that one as well a few year back and I really enjoyed it. I had read his last ASOIAF book before, where over hundreds of pages I had the impression that nothing really happened. Having those two directly after another, I am now convinced that the series is just too long for him. He really seemed better, more focused in this shorter format. I guess he will never finish the series as he seems to be totally lost.
On December 25 2017 02:54 nukem1 wrote: Have a question, how do you guys choose what to read next? Do you go after something like the New York Times Best Selling books or like Goodreads recommendations or something else? I usually ask people I trust. I have some friends who can give me good recommendations in different areas. Then there are things I try more or less randomly, books that are discussed in newpapers and so on. There are also some translators I trust to choose good books. Also, when in doubt, choose the classics. If books have been around for a long time and are still read, chances are that they are in fact good.
You can also ask around here. Some of the people in this thread have read a lot of books and there are specialist for different (obscure) areas, so if you give them an idea what you might like, then you might get good recommendations.
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Read as a gift given to me
Well i expected it to be young adultish and it is indeed. And generally it was ok and it had some interesting parts. It did have a really interesting cliffhanger setup. So maybe i'll continue reading just because of that.
Friend encouraged me to read this one and well it was very "human". It did not disappoint.
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I keep a list on goodreads and just keep adding as recommendations come by and usually add faster than I can read.
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I just started "Ice" from Jacek Dukaj.
This is the bulgarian cover, I don't think that it has english version. Two months ago I finished another one from him - "Inne pieśni"(Other songs) and I still am not exactly sure what happened at the end . So I hope this one is similar in that aspect.
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England2647 Posts
On December 25 2017 02:54 nukem1 wrote: Have a question, how do you guys choose what to read next? Do you go after something like the New York Times Best Selling books or like Goodreads recommendations or something else?
A bunch of things, but this thread, friend recommendations (if I know we have some taste in common), using one of the /lit/ top 100s, general wikipedia browsing and also (as someone else said) picking what a good translator likes is surprisingly effective.
Goodreads hasn't been too helpful for me and bestseller lists can contain a lot of really average fiction (endless crime books) so I don't put much stock into that really.
One thing I've tried which didn't work out for me was nobel prize winners. Chasing those did not work, but coming across an author who won one doesn't put me off.
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On December 27 2017 04:36 Flicky wrote:Show nested quote +On December 25 2017 02:54 nukem1 wrote: Have a question, how do you guys choose what to read next? Do you go after something like the New York Times Best Selling books or like Goodreads recommendations or something else? One thing I've tried which didn't work out for me was nobel prize winners. Chasing those did not work, but coming across an author who won one doesn't put me off. Man, what a sobering reality this was when I tried the same thing. That said, it was nice to see Ishiguro win this past year, and yeah, every once in a while they get it right. I can't ever forget that they snubbed Virginia Woolf though :D
This thread and its yearly predecessors are a pretty good resource, I'd try some searches and see what turns up.
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I went on a similar quest to read all the Pulitzer winners (novels). It was about 50/50.
If you buy a lot of books online you will get tons of recommended ones from whatever marketplace you use. I always look at those recommendations and end up reading a very small percentage but it is where I get a lot of my new reads in last few years.
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@atreides
how many did you end up getting through?
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On December 27 2017 08:57 IgnE wrote: @atreides
how many did you end up getting through?
30-something. Most of the ones from 1940s-1960s were pretty good. There are some obvious great titles in that list which is what got me started on the idea in the first place. (Basically "The Old Man and the Sea" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" are in my personal all time greats list and gave me the whole idea.) I mostly gave up because I read 4 or 5 of the ones post 1990 and really just werent that interesting to me. "Olive Kitteridge" was pretty good, very different but I liked it. "Independence Day" by Richard Ford is the one that killed my interest finally, but it was kind of my own fault. When I looked into it it was part of a series of sorts so I tried to read the whole thing and I should have just read the one book.
To be honest, with a couple exceptions most of the ones that I thought were really good were ones I had at least heard of before. I read a couple books that I was familiar with the name of, but saw them on the list and was like "Huh, I didnt know that won the pulitzer" that turned out to be really good. (Lonesome Dove for example, which was nothing like I expected tbh) So I kind of decided that the pulitzer prize itself wasnt a very good determining factor. The books on the list that were really great had reputations independent of that, and the little known ones were kind of like I said 50/50, Its not the worst way to pick some reads though.
I havent read a book just because it was on the list for 5 years or so though.
The main appeal is if you want to read some more serious "American Literature" that isnt just bestseller stuff. I had just finished up a stint of European classics before I started it.
The problem comes from the fact that I mostly like novels, and the category is really just "fiction" and so a lot of the pieces arent really novels especially in last 30 years.
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Just finished Reaper's Gale, Steven Erickson's 7th entry of the Malazan series and I've got to say the man gets better with every book he writes. Which was by now has become pretty impressive. Malazan might actually be the best fantasy series I've read since Riddle Master. Although for an archeologist writing fantasy he has surprisingly little understanding of strategy. I hope someone wrote him a letter and the great sawtooth formations stop happening in the next book.
On December 04 2017 12:30 B.I.G. wrote: Can anyone recommend books on some of the following historic subjects: -Hannibal Barca -Charlemagne -Theodoric the great -Anything on the early European "tribes" like the visigoths, osthrogoths, etc
Thanks! Enjoyed Gisbert Haef's Hannibal, but I read it in German and neither wikipedia nor duckduck could tell me if there's an English version.
As weird as that may sound, Ad Astra - Scipio to Hannibal is a manga that leans on original sources about Hannibal and doesn't do bs either on strategy part nor in the political area as far as I can tell, and I've read a bit up on both parts. So if that's your thing, I enjoyed the read greatly. It doesn't seem to get translated any further or got cancelled though, but it depicts most of his Italy expedition until Cannae where it ends.
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