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On August 12 2011 19:04 Fleshcut wrote:
I still have some Stephen King short stories left in my bookshelf. Also
Lisa Jackson - Silence
Hunter S. Thompson - The rum diary
Matias Faldbakken - Unfun
Im also excited to see if my favorite writer Mr. Chuck Palahniuk throws something new on the bookmarket!
I re-read the rum diary a few months ago and finished it and a case of beer in two days RIP HST
Also, just finished
![[image loading]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gk-56IP5ZjI/TePBIyD7VMI/AAAAAAAAGJ4/4ADmzubZoUs/s1600/Choices%2Bof%2BOne.jpg)
and currently reading
![[image loading]](http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180540239l/1052303.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/8iBl7.jpg)
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Re-reading it for a second time, it's been a few years, excellent book.
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Edda (Poetic Form)
through it's translated and quite old
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At the risk of derailing this nice thread...
On August 15 2011 13:17 jon arbuckle wrote:Still reading Adonis. Starting into Q.E.D. by Gertrude Stein and Sophocles' Theban plays tomorrow. Show nested quote +On August 15 2011 09:14 prOxi.swAMi wrote:
I actually can defend the books on being good books because that is the one part of it that is subjective. Am I also wrong for liking donuts? Steak? StarCraft? People have differing criteria which things must meet to qualify as good. Obviously ours are different. I don't see what's left to argue about. Well, no, because de gustibus non est disputandum on its own isn't a counterargument; it's a cop-out.
It wasn't delivered as a counterargument, so it's not really a cop-out, I am more than happy to continue the discussion but I don't think that's what people are coming to the "what are you reading" thread to read. But still I am interested, do go ahead and tell me what my criteria are for liking something. I'm waiting. I struggle to imagine a fruitful or even purposeful discussion on art where you are the one who gets to define my criteria for liking something or vice versa.
What it really comes down to is that the guy basically said "you shouldn't like this book because I don't". This is not enough. Perhaps the things he dislikes are the things I like. You cannot support his position nor attack mine without telling me that I must decide I appreciate something based on a set of criteria other than my own - at this point it is no longer my own appreciation but the regurgitation of somebody else's. Nobody can have their own taste this way.
On August 15 2011 13:17 jon arbuckle wrote:Show nested quote +On August 15 2011 12:38 obesechicken13 wrote:
Rand's writing is rather awkward (russian background), and her characters aren't too original (theatre background, she watched a lot of performances) Writing in a second language does not excuse an author of being bad. Off the top of my head, Joseph Conrad certainly wasn't awful. Samuel Beckett wrote Waiting for Godot in French, and it was lean, lyrical - not awful. Vladimir Nabokov wrote English better than most anglophones.
I don't think the guy was trying to apologise for her. The mentioning of her Russian background was given as context, more of an explanation than an apology or excuse. I don't think we need to don the lab coat to see that. Do you always try to find stuff in peoples' statements which isn't actually there?
On August 15 2011 13:17 jon arbuckle wrote:Very, very, very, very few (i.e. no one, but there might be one or two in this thread, so yeah) take Ayn Rand seriously if they seriously loathe her philosophy; her books literally do not exist without Objectivism™
That's OK, her books are delivered WITH "Objectivism™". Allow me to paraphrase your statement:
"If you remove the main appeal of book X it ceases to exist".
Why stop there? Let's do more! If Lord of the Rings had no One Ring, the story would literally cease to exist! Oh god the possibilities are endless.
Book minus main theme = book minus main theme. Ground-breaking stuff.
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On August 15 2011 19:49 Longsh0t wrote:Show nested quote +On August 12 2011 19:04 Fleshcut wrote:
I still have some Stephen King short stories left in my bookshelf. Also
Lisa Jackson - Silence
Hunter S. Thompson - The rum diary
Matias Faldbakken - Unfun
Im also excited to see if my favorite writer Mr. Chuck Palahniuk throws something new on the bookmarket! I re-read the rum diary a few months ago and finished it and a case of beer in two days RIP HST Also, just finished + Show Spoiler +and currently reading + Show Spoiler +
The Rum Diary is in my top 2 favorite novels ever. I agree, good choice.
I'm not too hopeful about the upcoming movie though. It seems like they either combined Yeamon and Sanderson into one character or eliminated Yeamon. They are pretty distinctly different in the book and both have quite central thematic importance (even specifically in the differences between the two of them). Not to mention Yeamon is essentially the life of the book. So at best it seems like it has a much limited thematic range compared to the book. Which, I grant, is one of the ways to make a good movie out of a book, but I am also inclined to think of it as lowering how high they set the bar maybe unnecessarily. And I could also see it being a muddled mess. Unless of course they manage an amazing transformation to a very different but still very good story--something that might also be suggested by the fact that Depp (pushing 50) is playing Kemp who is in his late 20s in the book and whose age is also of very central thematic importance.
Finished:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
I really loved this, it captivated me. The British moors and highlands and less settled countryside in general have always been sort of a draw to my imagination (maybe since grade school reading Hound of the Baskervilles?) which is exactly the sort of feeling Wuthering Heights exploits to great effect, setting the imagination awhirl and poking at our ideas of "country" people. And the way the characters all have at least some sympathetic motives or sources of their behavior which may or may not each garner sympathy from different readers (instead of having heroes and villains) seems rather unique, or at least I haven’t seen it done so completely before.
There seem to be so many fascinating angles from which it may be looked at that I find it the most intriguing novel I’ve read in quite a while. An especially overlooked one by many people I feel like is the role of the storyteller as a character and how her contribution to the events might or might not align with the above pattern of characterization. I love trying to place the reliability of narrators and what their roles as characters are, looking from outside their eyes. I feel like Emily Brontë wrote really a deeply interesting and quite subtle one here with Nelly, which even adds to the other quite compelling draws of the novel.
Now Reading:
Dubliners by James Joyce
Primer to Joyce for me I guess. It's definitely very good so I'll move on to some of his other works sooner or later (not sure which). I can't read a lot of it at once; if I read it in bits I can appreciate the details of the characters of each story, but if I were reading it in bunches I feel like I would just come away with a mass with the only clear thought being "wow Joyce really thought Irish men were fucked up" and "I feel sorry for everyone else."
The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
I picked this up cause of the appeal of the scenic description of the American Southwest--its imaginative appeal since I haven't been to most of the specific places in the novel as well as its reminiscent appeal since I have been in the general area a couple times. It satisfies that notion to the eco-terrorist, almost anti-human extreme it seems like. I guess I'm interested enough to know whether the characters gain or portray any more interesting perspectives as it goes or if the above is the main gist of the whole thing (which I'll consider not a very great payoff).
Next:
I don't know
Ulysses?
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?
Maybe some Thomas Hardy?
Some rereads I've been meaning to do...the Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin since I read it when I was young and think I need to revisit it for the proper appreciation. Also Harry Potter #7 to cap off the movie era of the series and to recenter my regard on the books since I feel like that's what was central to my adolescent years.
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Just finished
![[image loading]](http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQTZs8WA3kUtMrwhPxfzL25zxLRhXsvQgStp-zPGG-1OKpt6XgZ)
Reading
![[image loading]](http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTnOT_Y1PypPg5Rn2QFMBit-eUWOKrtk33MxJd8QLq_I5PuvT4-9A)
And then I'll read
![[image loading]](http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS8fkpJEI-SgKGopKxHJbciLIiS9Xs_yXD5KwPB4v04VGYgpN-uhg)
Can't get enough of these, probably the best series I've ever read. Each chapter has its own cliffhanger at the end with the structure, I love it.
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On August 16 2011 13:08 ZapRoffo wrote:
Now Reading:
Dubliners by James Joyce
Primer to Joyce for me I guess. It's definitely very good so I'll move on to some of his other works sooner or later (not sure which). I can't read a lot of it at once; if I read it in bits I can appreciate the details of the characters of each story, but if I were reading it in bunches I feel like I would just come away with a mass with the only clear thought being "wow Joyce really thought Irish men were fucked up" and "I feel sorry for everyone else."
Ah, what a lovely book to work on. I love Araby and Eveline, Joyce certainly had a way with his characters - their epiphanies are never very satisfying to us, but I imagine that it's not meant to be. Also, of course, The Dead, which just sums up early Joyce.
Portrait is not a bad follow up but I found Ulysses to be nearly impossible and, as much as I hate to admit it, I've never finished Finnegan's Wake - I don't think I'm a strong enough reader.
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On August 16 2011 13:16 S.O.L.I.D. wrote:Just finished Reading And then I'll read Can't get enough of these, probably the best series I've ever read. Each chapter has its own cliffhanger at the end with the structure, I love it.
Same ^^. Fantastic series as a fantasy fan for over a decade i don't know how i didn't know about them till the tv series came up. Shame on me.
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I just finished this:
![[image loading]](http://www.pontas-agency.com/Fotos/Llibres/Foto1_151.JPG)
I really liked it. The flashbacks that explain the guy's life are great, it covers a lot of important happenings in the 20th century.
Now reading:
![[image loading]](http://media.scholieren.net/assets/images/1250178276.jpg)
I started in this but i'm not that motivated to continue. It's on a world where life only lasts one day, and the only way to continue your life and to be able to repeat things is to end up in hell.
Planning on reading:
![[image loading]](http://joedonatelli.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/AtlasShruggedBK.jpg)
I think i heard about this book in this thread, and i've been wanting to read it ever since. Too bad it seems to always be loaned from the library when i want to pick it up, and no bookstore i've been to has it.
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On May 27 2011 10:58 Cambium wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On April 25 2011 05:16 Cambium wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2011 12:16 Cambium wrote:On January 12 2011 08:13 Cambium wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Just finished: Too Big to Fail![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/O3tYZ.jpg) Currently reading: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: ![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/i9nNd.jpg) Next in line: Fool's Gold![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/HB2ba.jpg) Just finished: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: + Show Spoiler +Currently reading: Fool's Gold+ Show Spoiler +Next inline: TBD Deciding between some North Korea book and The Big Short. + Show Spoiler +Just finished: Fool's GoldCurrently reading: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader![[image loading]](http://www.ebook3000.com/upimg/201101/21/054815370.jpeg) Next in line: Probably Game of Thrones? I really dislike fictions though... Maybe the big short? Just finished: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly LeaderCurrently reading: Game of Thrones (I want to watch the series ASAP) ![[image loading]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v0yoSMhLEnA/TaiXhQwTMvI/AAAAAAAAAcc/0uqkA6ceUU0/s1600/Game-of-thrones.jpg) Next in line: Catch me if you can![[image loading]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5lAtTp1vda8/TK6nAvHtUOI/AAAAAAAAAS8/35y9oNYrNRg/s1600/catch-me-if-you-can-abagnale.jpg)
Just finished: Storm of Swords, and I'm not sure if I want to continue reading Feast of Crows, since I don't plan on buying Dance of Dragons until the paperback comes out.
![[image loading]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9XzDGnDAGDc/TLUPthqARKI/AAAAAAAAAQo/4TyE3OmViqg/s1600/055357342X.jpg)
I've been wasting way too many hours reading this series, which is something I almost never do, as I'm more of a nonfiction kind of person.
I think I'll read Catch Me If You Can next
![[image loading]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-si-5jNZx7tQ/TZVKY9oMwHI/AAAAAAAAD4A/lWA6UbgtvrQ/s1600/ts.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://img2.fkcdn.com/img/561/9780099554561.jpg)
Just finished reading "Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami. Usually I don't read many books at all and I bought this one randomly at an airport bookstore to have something to read during my flight. It's very touching and sad but I really enjoyed this book and reading through it was very addictive.
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Russian Federation1849 Posts
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Joyce: I enjoyed Portrait, Finnegan's Wake was just beyond me (last attempt 5 years ago), and I have ambitions of getting through Ulysses before I die.
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finished
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/The_Diamond_Age.jpg)
reading
![[image loading]](http://images.betterworldbooks.com/055/Snow-Crash-9780553380958.jpg)
I like the Diamond Age better than Snow Crash... something about the characters is just so much more captivating.
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^ Do you recommend the diamond age? I'm considering reading that in lieu of feast for crows.
I read snow crash a long long time ago, and I thought it was okay, I didn't love it like many of my friends did at the time...
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EPT
![[image loading]](http://image2.archambault.ca/2/5/C/4/ACH002475145.1307577115.580x580.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511-RyPX1PL.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man.jpg)
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