Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?:bow
Pretty cool so far, but definitely much different than Blade Runner.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Pretty cool so far, but definitely much different than Blade Runner.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Pretty cool so far, but definitely much different than Blade Runner.
I'm actually reading this right now too. WEIRD
Androids is one of my favorite books. Make sure you read A Scanner Darkly + Ubik also, PKD's two other best works.
Androids is one of my favorite books. Make sure you read A Scanner Darkly + Ubik also, PKD's two other best works.
I have his Four Novels of the 1960's collection (the coolest book I own), which also has Ubik. It's the last one, and I will read it next. I loved Man in the High Castle and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, the first two novels.
Guns, Germs, & Steel.
Guns, Germs, & Steel.
stop reading
It sucked. He repeated the same stuff 234776 times over the 400 pages. Pulitzer Prize my ass.
It sucked. He repeated the same stuff 234776 times over the 400 pages. Pulitzer Prize my ass.
Cajole, re-re confirmed. I would recommend skipping the follow-up, Collapse, since it does feel like a reheated version of GGS, despite having a different topic. GGS does also get yawny in the last quarter or so. And Arvie, in your search for eclecticism, I am shocked you have not checked out Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, yet. You will have contrapuntal assholes by the time you get done with that.
Me? I just nabbed a copy of The Bridge by Iain Banks. Just finished The Flanders Panel. Have the strong desire to read either The Name of the Rose or Foucault's Pendulum again, but despite being re-reads, both books are (awesome) slogs that require concentration. Also reading, heh, my microKORG manual.
It sucked. He repeated the same stuff 234776 times over the 400 pages. Pulitzer Prize my ass.
Cajole, re-re confirmed. I would recommend skipping the follow-up, Collapse, since it does feel like a reheated version of GGS, despite having a different topic. GGS does also get yawny in the last quarter or so. And Arvie, in your search for eclecticism, I am shocked you have not checked out Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, yet. You will have contrapuntal assholes by the time you get done with that.
Me? I just nabbed a copy of The Bridge by Iain Banks. Just finished The Flanders Panel. Have the strong desire to read either The Name of the Rose or Foucault's Pendulum again, but despite being re-reads, both books are (awesome) slogs that require concentration. Also reading, heh, my microKORG manual.
GEB was like in the first set of books that i put on my amazon wishlist. It's just that when ever I go to order new books it I never have the feel for it. Someday though.
I did just watch a documentary by the same author called victim of the brain. It's on google videos.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales is on my wishlists too, lol.
I have seen the movie Awakenings though. :-[ Does that count?
It sucked. He repeated the same stuff 234776 times over the 400 pages. Pulitzer Prize my ass.
Cajole, re-re confirmed. I would recommend skipping the follow-up, Collapse, since it does feel like a reheated version of GGS, despite having a different topic. GGS does also get yawny in the last quarter or so.
Have the strong desire to read either The Name of the Rose or Foucault's Pendulum again, but despite being re-reads, both books are (awesome) slogs that require concentration.:bow :bow
Have the strong desire to read either The Name of the Rose or Foucault's Pendulum again, but despite being re-reads, both books are (awesome) slogs that require concentration.:bow :bow
I took so long in buying The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana that I was able to find a cheap remaindered copy on the budget stacks. Maybe I'll dig into that after Virtual Light.
I'm midway through this 1970s photography book that sounds like it was written by some cantankerous professor, and it gets into all the nitty-gritty technical stuff and math that most books usually leave out. I keep leaving it and then coming back to it because it's such a stiff read, but I need to keep reading so that I can learn about how color film emulsions work.
What's the name? I kinda dig older photography books. It seems like most modern photography books cut out the nitty gritty in favor of saying "photography is fun and easy and everyone can do it and all the math you need to know is how to count stops and half-stops!" I like to know a bit about my scientism, even if it is not immediately useful to me.
Arvie, post your amazon wish list. I will tell you what you are missing.
No it's just fucking compulsion. Like looking at the related videos on youtube. I just keep hitting links. and worse yet when i get emails about stuff i might be interested in. :'( :'(
Your wish list is like the required reading list for Atheism 101.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513KX24505L._SS500_.jpg)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Pretty cool so far, but definitely much different than Blade Runner.
I'm actually reading this right now too. WEIRD
Dude what the fuck, we're on the same wavelength today.QuoteAndroids is one of my favorite books. Make sure you read A Scanner Darkly + Ubik also, PKD's two other best works.
I have his Four Novels of the 1960's collection (the coolest book I own), which also has Ubik. It's the last one, and I will read it next. I loved Man in the High Castle and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, the first two novels.
Just started reading the Earth's Children series.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DYZF722FL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
I like it a lot, very interesting and fun to be transported so far back in time to a totally different world and era.
What book(s) are you reading?
Right now I'm reading this:
(http://en.epochtimes.com/news_images/2004-8-2-2004-8-2-1421-cover.jpg)
I'm not sure how true it is, but it's a nice story.
I feel like a child in this thread, you guys all read "intelligent" novels and books about history/psychology/philosophy. I read a lot of 40k books and other fantasy sci fi. :-[
I feel like a child in this thread, you guys all read "intelligent" novels and books about history/psychology/philosophy. I read a lot of 40k books and other fantasy sci fi. :-[
I try and balance it between the two. That way you feel like you're learning something valuable, or at the very least, relevant, and still read what you want for pure entertainment.
I badly need to get some new books. Right now I'm reading some extremely forgettable fantasy novel my sister gave me, who's title I can't even recall. Time for a trip to Chapters.
I'm kind of in a sci-fi mood, anything new I should be looking for?
I feel like a child in this thread, you guys all read "intelligent" novels and books about history/psychology/philosophy. I read a lot of 40k books and other fantasy sci fi. :-[
I try and balance it between the two. That way you feel like you're learning something valuable, or at the very least, relevant, and still read what you want for pure entertainment.
I badly need to get some new books. Right now I'm reading some extremely forgettable fantasy novel my sister gave me, who's title I can't even recall. Time for a trip to Chapters.
I'm kind of in a sci-fi mood, anything new I should be looking for?
It's fantasy but The Name of the Wind is awesome. It's by Patrick Rothfuss.
The Vampire Genevieve.
It's a collection of Warhammer stories by Jack Yeovil about that character.
Finished Child of the Jungle, started "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club)
Maybe, I just finished it and didn't find it anything special. After Fight Club I don't think Chuck's books are my kind of thing. It was OK as a palette cleanser after the Earth's Children series and Child of the Jungle. Choke will probably be more enjoyable as a movie, which just came out I think.Finished Child of the Jungle, started "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club)
Ehhh, I liked Lullaby better.
I started that book, never finished it...That's too bad, because I just finished it and it's a very well told moving and tragic story. Gets better the further you get. Definitely recommend.
The Vampire Genevieve.
It's a collection of Warhammer stories by Jack Yeovil about that character.
:rock You read the Gotrek and Felix series? :rock
I'm about to start reading "The Kite Runner" which I've been meaning to do for a couple of years since my sister wouldn't stop talking about it, but I've searched EB and found a thread made by am nintenho shitting on it.
Should I start it or read something else?
I finished Book 2 of the Illuminatus! Trilogy. I'm on the home stretch now; Yog-Sothoth has broken free of his prison under the Pentagon and a legion of Nazi zombies are ready to roll over Europe.
I finished Book 2 of the Illuminatus! Trilogy. I'm on the home stretch now; Yog-Sothoth has broken free of his prison under the Pentagon and a legion of Nazi zombies are ready to roll over Europe.
That sounds so fucking lame. Like wilco lame.
God, it's been forever since I read Foucalt's Pendulum. I loved the nonsense with the numerology.
I'm about 50 pages away from finishing "Gardens of the Moon." A thoroughly enjoyable book, if a bit thick.
God, it's been forever since I read Foucalt's Pendulum. I loved the nonsense with the numerology.
I'm about 50 pages away from finishing "Gardens of the Moon." A thoroughly enjoyable book, if a bit thick.
you say that NOW. You'll look back at it as a mere fleeting prelude.
God, it's been forever since I read Foucalt's Pendulum. I loved the nonsense with the numerology.
I'm about 50 pages away from finishing "Gardens of the Moon." A thoroughly enjoyable book, if a bit thick.
you say that NOW. You'll look back at it as a mere fleeting prelude.
God, it's been forever since I read Foucalt's Pendulum. I loved the nonsense with the numerology.
I'm about 50 pages away from finishing "Gardens of the Moon." A thoroughly enjoyable book, if a bit thick.
you say that NOW. You'll look back at it as a mere fleeting prelude.
Still holding out on starting that book.spoiler (click to show/hide)adwd 09 or bust[close]
What I means is, I'm sick of WWZ before even reading it. Don't you ever get that way with movies - you see the trailer so many times, which give away so much of the story, that it feels like there's no point actually watching it?
What I means is, I'm sick of WWZ before even reading it. Don't you ever get that way with movies - you see the trailer so many times, which give away so much of the story, that it feels like there's no point actually watching it?
What I means is, I'm sick of WWZ before even reading it. Don't you ever get that way with movies - you see the trailer so many times, which give away so much of the story, that it feels like there's no point actually watching it?
...And unknowingly, I just added to that. Sorry!
Finished Kundera, and after 4 serious books in a row I decided it's time for some entertainment:
(http://www.alexholden.net/books/covers/The_Reality_Dysfunction_f.jpeg)
(http://thinkinginsidethebox.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/cover.jpg)Read that one a few months ago. It's interesting, intellectual and enjoyable, but ultimately not my thing. I do recommend you see the movie after you've finished the book. Very slow, understated and long (3 hours), but I think you'll appreciate it when you've read the book.
I read 90 pages in one sitting, at this rate I will finish this one in 2/3 days. Yummy.
Still reading Blood Meridian, which is awesome. Awesome and confusing; I'm constantly looking things up and re-reading passages.
god it's good. you're teacher has good taste.Still reading Blood Meridian, which is awesome. Awesome and confusing; I'm constantly looking things up and re-reading passages.
Awesome to hear this is good. I'm starting to read it for my modern lit class on Friday. :)
I'm working on downloading this right now:
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3778378/Sci-fi_and_Fantasy_Library (http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3778378/Sci-fi_and_Fantasy_Library)
It's a 5.83 GB torrent of a shitload of sci-fi and fantasy e-books. I'm sure I'll end up deleting 90% of it, but there are some great authors listed in there.
Torrenting books is like really low. There are already so many legal ways to get books cheap/free.
So like really old stuff, thats cool I guess. Ill check it out once I have internet at home.
Personally I prefer a hardcopy of a book.
Blood Meridian is great. Definitely has some sentences that make you scratch your head, but overall the writing is rather poetic.
That's something I really liked about The Road. Parts of it were like reading T.S. Eliot in novel form.
Still reading through The Dirty Pair Strike Again. It's a really short book, but it's going to take me over a year to finish. :'(
Still reading through The Dirty Pair Strike Again. It's a really short book, but it's going to take me over a year to finish. :'(
Is that the Adam Warren one? I like his take on the pair better than the original series, most days.
ALL HEADS TURN WHEN THE HUNT GOES BY
(1977)
In 1942, Clipper Bradwin, a promising young army officer from a wealthy family, plans to marry a socially prominent heiress. The lavish ceremony, which takes place at an exclusive Southern military academy, is disrupted by the mysterious ringing of a silent bell, an apparent earthquake, and the bridegroom's sudden attack of sabre-wielding homicidal mania. Although Clipper, his bride, and his demagogue father are killed, his brother Champ and young mother-in-law Nhora survive. Two years later, Champ returns shattered from the War in the Pacific to Dasharoons, the huge family plantation, accompanied by Jackson Holley, a mysterious English doctor. The tragic events that follow are traced back to unpleasant experiences Jackson and Nhora had while younger at the hands of an obscure African tribe, and a race riot-cum-massacre in which Champ's father was dishonourably involved. Farris weaves a powerful and complicated story, and delivers the best modern treatment of the lamia and voodoo themes in horror literature. The novel reflects the author's interest in Africa, the military, social history and America's power elite, as also examined in his Catacombs (1982), Son of the Endless Night (1985), and Wildwood (1987).
No frills: All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By is a unique horror novel; the strongest single work yet produced by the field's most powerful individual voice.
The title countermands the phony melodramatics of drippy gerunds or the exhausted syllabary of horror's titular cliches: dark or blood or night this or that.
"This house was built on the bodies and blood of Africans," notes the half-breed prophet of the resurgent goddess Ai-da Wedo -- a "ravishing serpent woman who waxed and grew powerful as a consequence of É sexual desire." This house is Dasharoons, wellspring of three generations of Bradwins, a sprawling Southern estate still going strong at the close of America's age of slavery. Farris' strongest theme is cultural collision, represented in the collaboration of pedigree that is Little Judge -- half Bradwin, half high priest of ancient African sorcery. Farris' juxtaposition of a partially-sunken Mississippi riverboat with a voodoo temple (secreted in the swamplands that are slowly swallowing the vessel) is the fulcrum image of this complex saga of deadly erotic obsession and racial karma debt repaid.
Far from "feel good" horror that restores order to the world by the final chapter, Farris prefers to concentrate on the evils people wreak upon themselves. The restoration of balance is not always a good or pretty thing, and the ultimately poisonous mingling of disparate cultures in All Heads Turn offers not even temporary respite -- regardless of allegiance, all of the characters are doomed. Apart from being a rare racial horror novel, the fatal magnetism of the Ai-da Wedo and of Nhora Bradwin for Jackson Holley and the cursed Bradwin clan make All Heads Turn the finest modern sexual horror novel yet written.
Most fiction employing Haitian or African magic boils down to elementary vengeance-via-voodoo, or a procedural "how-to" story about little more than its own occult research. The novel's plot is a finely tangled viper's nest of incidents into which Farris has not only deftly braided the voodoo, but dovetailed two fascinating bloodlines united by a common past. The horror elements and the character narrative are inextricably interdependent.
The succinct prose artfully forms instantaneous brain pictures for the reader. Clipper's aborted wedding turns hallucinogenic as the stuffy formalities skew into a surgically dispassionate slaughter. Farris never wallows in artificially inflated detail or masturbatory excess, yet his writing is always unflinching, specific, precise. He is not terrified of good sex between adults, or confused by it, as most of his contemporaries seem to be. The veracity of his erotic passages serves well this book's unusual story, which redefines "love" and presents to us a compelling aberrancy as pure as a genetic mutation. The closing scenes, symmetrically recapitulating the wedding which opens the book, are surreal and hypnotic. The web pulls taut and knots tight. The end is unforgettable, the blackest of fade-outs, a conclusion whose potency does not pale with repeated readings.
Farris claims that he "hated every page" of All Heads Turn while it was in-work, and that "up until the last night [of writing], I had no idea how it was going to end." That night, ironically, preceded his marriage to his second wife, and today he notes the book as his personal favorite among his own novels. "There's nothing that I've seen or heard about that's remotely like it," he says.
Likewise, when Farris is on high-burn, no one can match the skill with which he puts words together. All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By is conclusive proof. Period.
-- David J. Schow
All writers are grave robbers, but genre fiction writers are the most brazen of all. Of necessity, to write a romance or mystery or horror story means sticking to the narrow confines of a formulaic plot; exhuming stock character types; and, generally, digging up literary turf that's been worked and reworked to the point of exhaustion. :smug
i'm about a quarter of the way through Dan Simmons's The Terror:hyper
Drood is a giddy scare fest, but to tell you the truth, around page 600 or so, it became a bit wearying, like listening to someone shriek for hours and hours. Maybe that's why I was receptive to turning to tales about calm, controlled vampires in the rainy Northwest; in other words, I finally decided to investigate what all the fuss is about Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Everyone is reading these novels: from all the girls in my daughter's fifth-grade class to most of my college students and their parents. The Twilight series — which is composed of four novels about a 17-year-old human high school student named Bella Swan and her boyfriend, Edward Cullen, who is a vampire — even has been credited, along with the Harry Potter books, by the National Endowment for the Arts for boosting American reading statistics this past year. I've read two of the novels in the series so far and, I confess, I have joined the legions of the bitten and smitten.
i'm about a quarter of the way through Dan Simmons's The Terror:hyper
This was actually gonna be the book I was planning to pick up next.
How is it? I just finished Olympos and was thinking of picking it up. I've only read those + the Hyperions (which blew mah mind), but I really like the idea that he writes in different genres.
I can kinda see that. His shoe-horning of literary discussion/criticism into his hyperion/illium books were mostly successful and enjoyable, but shoe-horned nonetheless. Probably even more enjoyable to an English major rather than an Engineer like myself.i'm about a quarter of the way through Dan Simmons's The Terror:hyper
This was actually gonna be the book I was planning to pick up next.
How is it? I just finished Olympos and was thinking of picking it up. I've only read those + the Hyperions (which blew mah mind), but I really like the idea that he writes in different genres.
i'm only about 700 pages in out of 950, and aside from a few minor quibbles with specific character interactions that don't ring true along with a few expository dialogue moments, like
"...as i was told by babbage"
"charles babbage? the man who made a kind of machine for computing?"
"yes"
it's really well done and very worth reading
god it's good. you're teacher has good taste.Still reading Blood Meridian, which is awesome. Awesome and confusing; I'm constantly looking things up and re-reading passages.
Awesome to hear this is good. I'm starting to read it for my modern lit class on Friday. :)
I would tend to fully agree besides fucking Empire of the Senseless, which has an interesting point but is still nearly incomprehensible and not at all worth reading, IMO.
god it's good. you're teacher has good taste.Still reading Blood Meridian, which is awesome. Awesome and confusing; I'm constantly looking things up and re-reading passages.
Awesome to hear this is good. I'm starting to read it for my modern lit class on Friday. :)
I would tend to fully agree besides fucking Empire of the Senseless, which has an interesting point but is still nearly incomprehensible and not at all worth reading, IMO.
I have to do a presentation on Kathy Acker and Empire of the Senseless sometime next month. Just started it and it doesn't seem too bad. I'm looking forward to reading Blood Meridian once I find the time though.
The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham
The Crystal World
The Sheep Look Up
The Drive In, The Drive In 2 - Joe R Lansdale
Alas, Babylon
A Canticle for Leibowitz
The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham
The Crystal World
The Sheep Look Up
The Drive In, The Drive In 2 - Joe R Lansdale
Alas, Babylon
A Canticle for Leibowitz
No Day of the Triffids?! (by Wyndham)
That scared the bejesus out of my 12 yr old self.
edit: oh, and awesome taste, as ever. Didn't mean to come off as critical in any way :-*
(i was metal)
(i was metal)
Once it's in your blood, it's in for good. :rock
(i was metal)
Once it's in your blood, it's in for good. :rock
this past weekend I did a dramatic reading of the lyrics to the entire Death Album "Scream Bloody Gore"
Regurgitated Guts was a crowd favorite
a friend asked "why are these lyrics like this?"
i replied "they were eighteen year olds in floridia in the 80s"
i need to get the other albums.
if only to worry my roommate.
she's australian so she'll be all like "that's not a knife" and then she'll stab you in the face.
god it's good. you're teacher has good taste.Still reading Blood Meridian, which is awesome. Awesome and confusing; I'm constantly looking things up and re-reading passages.
Awesome to hear this is good. I'm starting to read it for my modern lit class on Friday. :)
I would tend to fully agree besides fucking Empire of the Senseless, which has an interesting point but is still nearly incomprehensible and not at all worth reading, IMO.
I have to do a presentation on Kathy Acker and Empire of the Senseless sometime next month. Just started it and it doesn't seem too bad. I'm looking forward to reading Blood Meridian once I find the time though.
How far in are you? Once you get further in it gets pretty fucking awful. I'm about halfway into Blood Meridian, absolutely loving the writing, even through the "boring" parts.
Just finished.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/WhatIsIntelligence.jpg)
Was alright. Fell apart in the last 20 pages or so though. Malek would probably like it.
Just started up Watchmen while finishing up Blood Meridian, and reading What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami on the side as a "relaxation" book.
Ghengis and I are fans of Bolano. He bought it, but don't know if he's yet read it.
I haven't bought it because I'm cheap and waiting for the trade.
Currently reading - Cryptonomicon by neal stephenson - 100 pages in, this might be the hardest stephenson book to read so far. (i've read the diamond age & snow crash), alot of the details about mathematics and crap are totally flying over my head. :lol
Might haft to do some research before i start reading this book again. :-\
Ulysses *smh*
American Psycho. The movie follows it amazingly closely, but as usual, the book is better.Apart from length, the other factor is that it's far too clever for it's own good.
I'd rather stick a hot poker up my ass, than read Ulysses :lol
From the very first page of David Peace's first novel, 1974, it soon becomes clear that something is rotten in the state of Yorkshire: a young girl is missing. The Yorkshire Post's young but disillusioned crime correspondent, Edward Dunford, is assigned to the story, while also coping with the recent death of his father and his return to his native Yorkshire after a brief and unsuccessful stint in Fleet Street. For the jaded Dunford, it's just another story; the only intrigue is whether the girl will be found dead or alive before Christmas--that is, until she is discovered brutally murdered, face down in a ditch with a pair of swan's wings sewn into her back. As Dunford follows the case, he begins to make a series of terrifying connections with a string of child murders, plunging him into a gut-wrenching nightmare of corruption, violence, sadism, blackmail, and sexual obsession--from the upper echelons of local government to the tacky heart of Yorkshire darkness.
As Peace's tale of corruption and conspiracy unravels, it becomes clear that 1974 is as influenced by Orwell's own bleak vision of Britain in 1984 as it is by the wonderfully evoked atmosphere of the mid '70s. The Bay City Rollers, Leeds United, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and Vauxhall Viva's all make an appearance. The novel works at several levels, from the brilliantly unsentimental homecoming of the gifted, alienated northern son to a terrifyingly accurate portrayal of an insular, tribal community. The plot is complex and frenetic, and Peace often neglects loose ends, especially as he builds to an extremely powerful climax. Yet the dialogue is fast, witty, and violent; a must-read for fans of Yorkshire Gothic. --Jerry Brotton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
I've been reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. Pretty awesome book.
Out by Natsuo Kirino
Out by Natsuo Kirino
I finished World War Z yesterday and earlier this month I finished The Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahmed. I will be starting God, Guns, Germs, etc. next and then I might read The Great Influenza due to the timeliness of the subject matter. I have 2 Iain Banks novels that I haven't started yet either.
There were a couple of neat insights, and it's a reasonably fresh treatment on zombies, but taking it from the "war is over" moment as a retrospective robs it of all suspense.Note: It's only a spoiler if you count things which show up in the Author's Forward as a potential spoiler.
What'd you think of World War Z? I was kind of underwhelmed, after all the hype.It was alright, but it definitely wore its welcome. It was very well thought out and I loved how he tied in politics into the story. I can't say I was expecting much, since it was the first zombie book that I've read.
now reading Use of Weapons:hyper
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/IainMBanksUseofWeapons.jpg)That's what I am reading now as well. I started God, Guns, Germs and Steel but I did not like the environmental deterministic tone so I stopped for now. omg, the beginning chapters of Use of Weapons are good
Starting up Bret Easton Ellis' Rules of Attraction. Am excited, loved the movie and read American Psycho about a month ago.
Starting up Bret Easton Ellis' Rules of Attraction. Am excited, loved the movie and read American Psycho about a month ago.
what'd you think of American Psycho compared to the movie?
I was little surprised at how little I got out of the first 200 pages or so of the book, since the movie did such a good job (not a slight on the book at all, more like if I had seen/read one or the other first, it would have cancelled out the other, if that makes any sense.) there were only a few key scenes in the book that expanded his character at all for me, actually.
looking forward to reading more of his stuff later, but I just ordered about 8 new books....
(http://www.connectberlin.de/bookclub/wildswans.jpg)
(http://esvaziando.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/illuminatus1.jpg)
Novels in the mystery and suspense genres often get a bad rap, with aspirations to something other than the typical being overlooked, or at most touted as "transcending the genre." The second entry in Joe R. Lansdale's series starring Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, Mucho Mojo, is a book just like that.
When Leonard's uncle Chester dies, he inherits the old homeplace. This causes complex feelings in Leonard since Chester had disowned Leonard on learning that Leonard was gay. While he and Hap are fixing up the place, they discover a large wooden box in which is found a child's skeleton and a stash of child porn magazines. Despite the obvious circumstantial evidence, Hap urges Leonard to look into alternative explanations. Meanwhile, they meet up the drug dealers across the street, a local preacher with questionable motives, and the lovable MeMaw, Leonard's neighbor who always has time (and an open invitation) for a glass of tea.
In addition to the plot involving the secret murders of several of a small town's black children, Mucho Mojo investigates such heavy subjects as relationships -- whether black-white, man-woman, gay-straight, adult-child, young-old -- and racism. And all the while Lansdale delivers a cracker of a crime novel, with a terrific ending, that continues the story of the main characters as begun in Savage Season.
but you girly men continue to read your books about elves and ray guns and shit.
Pluto is getting good. Need to go pick up volumes 2 and 3 tonight, but I probably will wait until tomorrow.spoiler (click to show/hide)The North No. 2 chapters made it enjoyable for me, I hope the story keeps this bitchin awesomeness up.[close]
Pluto is getting good. Need to go pick up volumes 2 and 3 tonight, but I probably will wait until tomorrow.spoiler (click to show/hide)The North No. 2 chapters made it enjoyable for me, I hope the story keeps this bitchin awesomeness up.[close]
i loved vol 2 of 20th cent boys
Finished Use of Weapons. What a twist on the last five pages or so. It was a bit of a difficult read, not for the prose, but the structure was hard to follow.spoiler (click to show/hide)Is there motivation for why Emel assumed Zakalwe's identity? I feel like I missed something[close]
Finished Use of Weapons. What a twist on the last five pages or so. It was a bit of a difficult read, not for the prose, but the structure was hard to follow.spoiler (click to show/hide)Is there motivation for why Emel assumed Zakalwe's identity? I feel like I missed something[close]spoiler (click to show/hide)attempt to redeem himself is my guess[close]
I'm reading Snow Crash for the first time. I'm actually almost finished it now, it's been a really enjoyable read. After this, I'll probably go back to the Bond books. They are my comfort food.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I don't know what to think of it yet.
So what you think now?
If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully lucky to be here—and by “we” I mean every living thing. To attain any kind of life in this universe of ours appears to be quite an achievement. As humans we are doubly lucky, of course: We enjoy not only the privilege of existence but also the singular ability to appreciate it and even, in a multitude of ways, to make it better. It is a talent we have only barely begun to grasp.
We have arrived at this position of eminence in a stunningly short time. Behaviorally modern human beings—that is, people who can speak and make art and organize complex activities—have existed for only about 0.0001 percent of Earth’s history. But surviving for even that little while has required a nearly endless string of good fortune.
We really are at the beginning of it all. The trick, of course, is to make sure we never find the end. And that, almost certainly, will require a good deal more than lucky breaks.
Finished Use of Weapons. What a twist on the last five pages or so. It was a bit of a difficult read, not for the prose, but the structure was hard to follow.
Recently finished this
(http://a4.vox.com/6a00d4143d5a7f685e010980c5fcf4000b-500pi)
Recently finished this
(http://a4.vox.com/6a00d4143d5a7f685e010980c5fcf4000b-500pi)
Sounded interesting, so I picked it up yesterday.
What do you mean by "Before all this "forever minus a day" copyright horseshit began" ??? I didnt hear anything about this.
I read some reader review on Eriksons books and he hit the nail in the head by saying its a political drama book dressed up as fantasy.
Finished the first four novels of '5 Great Novels by Philip K Dick'. I think Martian Time Slip and Three Stigmata are my favourites. Ubik was sort of boring though it is one of the more critically acclaimed books???
You can tell a true war story by the questions you ask. Somebody tells a story, let's say, and afterward you ask, "Is it true?" and if the answer matters, you've got your answer.
For example we've all heard this one. Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast and saves his three buddies.
Is it true?
The answer matters.
You'd feel cheated if it never happened. Without the grounding reality, it's just a trite bit of puffery, pure Hollywood, untrue in the way all such strories are untrue. Yet even if it did happen-and maybe it did, anything's possible-even then you know it can't be true, because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Absolute occurrence is irrelevant. A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. For example: Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast, but it's a killer grenade and everybody dies anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead guys says, "the fuck you do that for?" and the jumper says, "Story of my life, man," and the other guy starts to smile but he's dead.
That's a true story that never happened.
I'm reading The Wasp Factory. I picked it up a few months back when all the litfags here were plugging Banks like crazy, and I'd completely forgotten about it until the other day.
lolI'm reading The Wasp Factory. I picked it up a few months back when all the litfags here were plugging Banks like crazy, and I'd completely forgotten about it until the other day.
That's "Little Miss Litfags" to you, baby.
I'm reading Next by Michael Crichton. It's interesting enough I guess, but none of the characters are very memorable and it jumps around a lot so it's really hard to keep track of who's who.
I need another book along the lines of A Short History of Nearly Everything. Any recommendations?
Finished Freakonomics, great book but very short. Looking forward to the new one coming out in October.
I liked it, what about a new one? Some sort of sequel with the same kind of thing?
Super Freakonomics comes out in OctoberFinished Freakonomics, great book but very short. Looking forward to the new one coming out in October.
I liked it, what about a new one? Some sort of sequel with the same kind of thing?
Just started 1984.
:bow 1984 :bow2
:bow Orwell :bow2
Probably my favorite book of all-time. So perfectly horrifying and depressing.
What is the book about Kafka, I saw it lying in the bookshop the other day but got put off by the cover somehow, it seemed so pretentious.
Depicting the unsolved and ongoing serial murders of Ciudad Juárez (Santa Teresa in the novel), the Eastern Front in World War II, and the breakdown of relationships and careers, the apocalyptic 2666 explores 20th century degeneration through a wide array of characters, locations, time periods, and stories within stories.
I read The World is Flat a couple years ago. It's not exactly a page turner, but it's a good introduction to globalism. I learned a lot.
What is it that draws us to those bleak landscapes - the wastelands of post-apocalyptic literature? To me, the appeal is obvious: it fulfills our taste for adventure, the thrill of discovery, the desire for a new frontier. It also allows us to start over from scratch, to wipe the slate clean and see what the world may have been like if we had known then what we know now.
Perhaps the appeal of the sub-genre is best described by this quote from "The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridge)" by John Varley:QuoteWe all love after-the-bom stores. If we didn't, why would there be so many of them? There's something attractive about all those people being gone, about wandering in a depopulated world, scrounging cans of Campbell's pork and beans, defending one's family from marauders. Sure it's horrible, sure we weep for all those dead people. But some secret part of us thinks it would be good to survive, to start over. Secretly, we know we'll survive. All those other folds will die, That's what after-the-bomb stores are all about.
Blu how is that Wastelands book worth picking up? How is the overall quality of the stories?
Short stories from various authors based on During and Post Apocalyptic scenarios. I love the lead in message....QuoteWhat is it that draws us to those bleak landscapes - the wastelands of post-apocalyptic literature? To me, the appeal is obvious: it fulfills our taste for adventure, the thrill of discovery, the desire for a new frontier. It also allows us to start over from scratch, to wipe the slate clean and see what the world may have been like if we had known then what we know now.
Perhaps the appeal of the sub-genre is best described by this quote from "The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridge)" by John Varley:QuoteWe all love after-the-bom stores. If we didn't, why would there be so many of them? There's something attractive about all those people being gone, about wandering in a depopulated world, scrounging cans of Campbell's pork and beans, defending one's family from marauders. Sure it's horrible, sure we weep for all those dead people. But some secret part of us thinks it would be good to survive, to start over. Secretly, we know we'll survive. All those other folds will die, That's what after-the-bomb stores are all about.
Short stories from various authors based on During and Post Apocalyptic scenarios. I love the lead in message....QuoteWhat is it that draws us to those bleak landscapes - the wastelands of post-apocalyptic literature? To me, the appeal is obvious: it fulfills our taste for adventure, the thrill of discovery, the desire for a new frontier. It also allows us to start over from scratch, to wipe the slate clean and see what the world may have been like if we had known then what we know now.
Perhaps the appeal of the sub-genre is best described by this quote from "The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridge)" by John Varley:QuoteWe all love after-the-bom stores. If we didn't, why would there be so many of them? There's something attractive about all those people being gone, about wandering in a depopulated world, scrounging cans of Campbell's pork and beans, defending one's family from marauders. Sure it's horrible, sure we weep for all those dead people. But some secret part of us thinks it would be good to survive, to start over. Secretly, we know we'll survive. All those other folds will die, That's what after-the-bomb stores are all about.
I completely agree that this is what makes them attractive, however after reading that article on "illusory superiority (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority)" my assumption is that while the majority of people feel they'd survive better than the average person, the reality is that they're likely lower on the curve than they suspect.
Please post more impressions as you progress. I'm thinking about ordering it so I can feel illusorily smug.
:drake
I picked up The Wasp Factory after it was recommended in this thread, and I've made it about 50 pages in so far. I'm an animal lover and a vegetarian, and the graphic cruelty in this book is making my physically ill, nauseous and upset.:rofl
I know that some people seem to think this book is great. I am trying to spend this year reading great books that do new things with language and form, but I have no respect whatsoever for the visceral reaction this book is eliciting from me.
What are some good Banks books after The Wasp Factory? Sci-fi or srs stuff, I don't care which. I hear Use of Weapons is considered to be one of his best. What else?All of the Culture novels are supposed to be good. I've read Player of Games and Use of Weapons (I also have Matter in my backlog) and both are excellent sci-fi novels.
Exploration, adventure, surviving on your own, adventure just around the corner.
The sense of the raw, untamed, possibly hostile unknown.
Stuff dreams are made off really.
Just finished this oneWhat's the difference between this and his 4 books on evolution that precede it? I'm always tempted to pick one of them up for kicks, but I don't know where to start. It probably doesn't help that I'm not too keen on nonfiction lately
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Very good read. I always marvel at the realization that everything is related and how everything evolved. It's so astonishing.
What do you think about the god of gaps, Tieno? I find it absolutely deplorable, simple, lacking in any merit what so ever. I'll bring up some funny examples from the book later.Just finished God is not Great. Hitchens is pretty ruthless, I liked it a lot. Very interesting. Good companion to the God Delusion, which tackles the subject from a different angle.
You should also read God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens. Just as effective, if not more so. Chapter 2, where he describes modern religious atrocities in the past 30 years at locations he's been to that start with the letter 'B', titled "Religion Kills" is particularly informative. This is just one letter; and yet, the descriptions are absolutely horrible. I had a :-\ :S face the ENTIRE CHAPTER.
What do you think about the god of gaps, Tieno? I find it absolutely deplorable, simple, lacking in any merit what so ever. I'll bring up some funny examples from the book later.Just finished God is not Great. Hitchens is pretty ruthless, I liked it a lot. Very interesting. Good companion to the God Delusion, which tackles the subject from a different angle.
You should also read God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens. Just as effective, if not more so. Chapter 2, where he describes modern religious atrocities in the past 30 years at locations he's been to that start with the letter 'B', titled "Religion Kills" is particularly informative. This is just one letter; and yet, the descriptions are absolutely horrible. I had a :-\ :S face the ENTIRE CHAPTER.
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Finished End of Faith too, but I liked The God Delusion the most. Actually, I prefer The Greatest Show on Earth because reading about how religion and religious thinking sucks (rightly so) doesn't really make me happy (on the contrary) even though it is very important. Glad I read them though, because I was one of those "religion is consoling, it may be beneficial for some people but I'm not religious myself, fundies are just abusing the banner"-tardsWhat do you think about the god of gaps, Tieno? I find it absolutely deplorable, simple, lacking in any merit what so ever. I'll bring up some funny examples from the book later.Just finished God is not Great. Hitchens is pretty ruthless, I liked it a lot. Very interesting. Good companion to the God Delusion, which tackles the subject from a different angle.
You should also read God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens. Just as effective, if not more so. Chapter 2, where he describes modern religious atrocities in the past 30 years at locations he's been to that start with the letter 'B', titled "Religion Kills" is particularly informative. This is just one letter; and yet, the descriptions are absolutely horrible. I had a :-\ :S face the ENTIRE CHAPTER.
(http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1843545861.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
Glad you liked it. Read The End of Faith by Sam Harris, my favorite of the three.
Dead Souls- Nikolai Gogol:bow
Glad I read them though, because I was one of those "religion is consoling, it may be beneficial for some people but I'm not religious myself, fundies are just abusing the banner"-tardsCliff's Notes on your conversion to the darker dark side?
That's always what kills me about "intelligent design." It's as though they get really far, and then some kind of arrogance steps in and says "Oh, well, that's the entirety of 'that which can be explained by science.' I mean, it has to be a divine hand in here directing this portion of..." No, no, no. You've been working just fine with evidence, why are you giving up and jumping on faith now?
Just finished No Country for Old Men, and enjoyed it. The book does a better job of not feeling like I've been dropped on my ass. The resolutions which take place in the last 5~7 minutes of the movie actually take up the last 20% or so of the book. So instead of -wait, what just happened- it's that feeling, then the remaining 20% in a dazed recovery mode. Chigurh fills the "unstoppable evil" role even better than the movie. He feels more like a tool of fate, incessant. And in the movie, Moss' wife denies him that role by refusing his offer of coin toss. The book is easily as intense as the movie.
Guess I'm on a McCarthy kick, since I moved directly (back) into Blood Meridian next.
I just cracked open One Hundred Years of Solitude. I was ailed by a particularly nasty spell of white guilt after looking at the list of books I've read within the past year, so I decided to pick it up. I fuckin love that new book smell -- another one of my (totally illogical, I know) gripes with eBook readersLighter side. Basically it boils down to the notion that faith is not a virtue, it breeds intolerance and discourages conversation and critical thought because you hold your belief on zero evidence so there's no basis for rational argument.Dead Souls- Nikolai Gogol:bowGlad I read them though, because I was one of those "religion is consoling, it may be beneficial for some people but I'm not religious myself, fundies are just abusing the banner"-tardsCliff's Notes on your conversion to the darker dark side?
gimme something new to read eb(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/TheShadowOfTheWind.jpg)
The novel, set in post- Spanish Civil War Barcelona, concerns a young boy, Daniel. Just after the war, Daniel's father takes him to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a huge library of old, forgotten titles lovingly preserved by a select few initiates. According to tradition, everyone initiated to this secret place is allowed to take one book from it, and must protect it for life. Daniel selects a book called The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. That night he takes the book home and reads it, completely engrossed. Daniel then attempts to look for other books by this unknown author, but can find none. All he comes across are stories of a strange man - calling himself Laín Coubert, after a character in the book who happens to be the Devil - who has been seeking out Carax's books for decades, buying them all and burning them. In time this mysterious figure confronts and threatens Daniel. Terrified, Daniel returns the book to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books but continues to seek out the story of the elusive author. In doing so Daniel becomes entangled in an age old conflict that began with the author himself. Many parallels are found to exist between the author's life and Daniel's and he takes it upon himself to make sure history does not repeat.
As a whole, the series is a tale of personal discovery: coming-of-age, invention, cultural complexities, and, beginning with the second book, explicit romantic sex. It tells the story of Ayla, an orphaned Cro-Magnon girl who is adopted and raised by a tribe of Neanderthals and who later embarks on a journey to find "the Others" (her own kind), meeting her romantic interest and supporting co-protagonist, Jondalar.
Short stories from various authors based on During and Post Apocalyptic scenarios. I love the lead in message....QuoteWhat is it that draws us to those bleak landscapes - the wastelands of post-apocalyptic literature? To me, the appeal is obvious: it fulfills our taste for adventure, the thrill of discovery, the desire for a new frontier. It also allows us to start over from scratch, to wipe the slate clean and see what the world may have been like if we had known then what we know now.
Perhaps the appeal of the sub-genre is best described by this quote from "The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridge)" by John Varley:QuoteWe all love after-the-bom stores. If we didn't, why would there be so many of them? There's something attractive about all those people being gone, about wandering in a depopulated world, scrounging cans of Campbell's pork and beans, defending one's family from marauders. Sure it's horrible, sure we weep for all those dead people. But some secret part of us thinks it would be good to survive, to start over. Secretly, we know we'll survive. All those other folds will die, That's what after-the-bomb stores are all about.
Sounds exactly like the type of book I could never read.It's pretty good Kosma, I dig it for its setting and timescape. But it is written by a female, if you need your fiction butch it may not be your thing though it focuses on a lot of stuff besides romance.QuoteIt tells the story of Ayla, an orphaned Cro-Magnon girl who is adopted and raised by a tribe of Neanderthals and who later embarks on a journey to find "the Others" (her own kind), meeting her romantic interest and supporting co-protagonist, Jondalar.
:dur
The story arc in part comprises a travel tale, in which the two lovers journey from the region of the Ukraine to Jondalar's home in what is now France, along an indirect route up the Danube River valley. In the third and fourth works, they meet various groups of Cro-Magnons and encounter their cultural contexts, including bona-fide technologies. The couple finally return to south-western France and Jondalar's people in the fifth novel. The series includes a highly-detailed focus on botany, herbology, herbal medicine, archaeology and anthropology; but it also features substantial amounts of romance, coming-of-age crises, and—employing significant poetic license -- the attribution of certain advances and inventions to the protagonists.
In addition, Ms. Auel's series incorporates a number of recent archeological and anthropological theories. It also suggested the notion of Sapiens-Neanderthal interbreeding, only later genetically supported[1], albeit still controversial.
As is often the case with speculative fiction, the Earth's Children series has a substantial fanbase, which organizes websites, holds meetings, and produces fan fiction. The author's treatment of unconventional sexual practices (which are central to her hypothesized nature-centered religions) has earned the series the twentieth place on the American Library Association's 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000.[2]
Sounds exactly like the type of book I could never read.QuoteIt tells the story of Ayla, an orphaned Cro-Magnon girl who is adopted and raised by a tribe of Neanderthals and who later embarks on a journey to find "the Others" (her own kind), meeting her romantic interest and supporting co-protagonist, Jondalar.
:dur
Sounds like Lost meets Clan of the Cave Bear
edit: fuck :lol
Dead Souls is good until the 'Concluding Chapter' of Dead Souls Pt 2 where Gogol goes religious crazy.Don't Gogol scholars discount part 2 because it was an early draft? I seem to remember my translation making a big deal about how it was a disservice to Gogol to include it with the original.
Has anyone read the Dark Tower series? It seems to get a lot of praise from internet nerds, but I don't think I've ever liked one of his novels from start to finish. I did enjoy the few short stories that I read, though.
Anyway, Amazon has the first 4 in a boxed set for $19 and I'm wondering whether or not I should throw it on my Christmas wish list
Has anyone read the Dark Tower series? It seems to get a lot of praise from internet nerds, but I don't think I've ever liked one of his novels from start to finish. I did enjoy the few short stories that I read, though.Dark Tower doesn't really read like Stephen King unless you've only read Eyes of the Dragon. The tone of that book is generally the closest to several of the DT books. Even so, the style of DT varies a lot from the first book to the fifth, which is the last one I read. It is a dark fantasy, and successful for marrying post-apocalypse, fantasy, western, and horror genres into an arguably coherent whole. However, King brings in various characters from his other works, at which point it felt like King's version of Marvel's Secret Wars: "Here is the resolution of a series of parallel worlds, all of which are in my mind. It is by design! (snurk, snurk, hyuk)" I like King, but the meta-continuity reads like masturbation at worst, and navel-gazing at best.
Anyway, Amazon has the first 4 in a boxed set for $19 and I'm wondering whether or not I should throw it on my Christmas wish list
It's all Malazan, all of the time in Cormacaroniville.:lol
Just finished:
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Just started:
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RofCG gets better as it goes along, and contains at least one MAJOR plot-point that you need to know to follow the series, but it still reads like Malazan fanfic. Probably less bewildering though...ironically, for the 11th or so entry in the series, it's a better jumping-on point than any of the other books in many ways. You still need to do a ton of the detective work yourself though.
It was a relief to get back to Erikson, really. A cast of 10,000 characters in 150 different locations in time and space. A plot thick enough to stand a teaspoon in. Whole chapters that pass by without a single character being identified conclusively. Aaaah.
Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman.The first book is the best, sadly. After that, there are some really nihilistic passages, and the resolution feels... off.
It's a good little book. smh at future generations at reading Harry Potter garbage instead.
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C# In Depth
Essential C# 3.0 for .NET Framework 3.5
How are these books? I've been doing a bit of work in C# lately and really enjoy it.
Dark Tower doesn't really read like Stephen King unless you've only read Eyes of the Dragon. The tone of that book is generally the closest to several of the DT books. Even so, the style of DT varies a lot from the first book to the fifth, which is the last one I read. It is a dark fantasy, and successful for marrying post-apocalypse, fantasy, western, and horror genres into an arguably coherent whole. However, King brings in various characters from his other works, at which point it felt like King's version of Marvel's Secret Wars: "Here is the resolution of a series of parallel worlds, all of which are in my mind. It is by design! (snurk, snurk, hyuk)" I like King, but the meta-continuity reads like masturbation at worst, and navel-gazing at best.Nah, I'm not very familiar with King's catalog of novels, especially the deviations from his typical horror stuff. It sounds fairly interesting and the set is pretty cheap, so I'll try it out. Besides, I don't think I've read anything remotely fantasy-ish since my Weis & Hickman binge when I was 12 or 13 :lol
Finished up You Gotta Have Wa last night, time for a new book...
Finished up You Gotta Have Wa last night, time for a new book...
What did you think? I thought it was cool, but it definitely felt dated. But I don't really know how much stuff has changed in the past 20 years.
Finished up You Gotta Have Wa last night, time for a new book...:drool
What other Murakami have you read?
After Dark is one of my least favorite Murakami novels (abstract even for him), but it's still a good read. Pretty short too. I'm honestly trying to expand beyond Murakami because he's all I've read consistently for a good 2 years. Hence, 2666.
Cajole I'm going to start reading Fahrenheit 451 this week too :rock
After Fahrenheit 451, you guys should read The Great Gatsby, Frankenstein, 1984, Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Flies and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as well.
I am reading Cat's Cradle.My favorite Vonnegut book. I actually just finished The Sirens of Titan.
Currently reading The Myth of Sisyphus and other essays by Albert Camus. Sometimes when I'm reading something I marvel how a perfect a time in my life it is for me to be reading a certain book, and this is one of those times.Ha I know that feeling. Been on a Vonnegut binge of sorts for the past year or 2 because the themes in his works resonate so soundly with me being the callow, angsty semi-adult that I am
Also, fantasy is a lot better when it's not in long series'. Doorstep trilogies are the worst the genre has to offer.
I'm not a big on fantasy/fiction novels, so when a friend who considers LotR as the pinnacle of the genre asks if I could name a better series/book nothing comes to my other than Sword of Truth and Wheel if Time (both which I haven't touched), which he still considers inferior to LotR.
Someone help me prove this Tolkientard wrong. This should be easy since this debate is as old as the Internet itself.
Fantasy is kinda gay, and mostly a dead genre.
GS, go with Game of Thrones. You won't be disappointed, I guarantee it
i am currently reading Joe Ambercrombie's The First Law trilogy which is "fantasy noir" that is; fantasy - faggotry and I'm really impressed with it. Very pulpy. Very brutish. Very dark. Very funny. So perhaps suggest that?
I think you'll get reccs for George RR Martin's stuff and Malazan, but I didn't really enjoy either of thoseQuoteFantasy is kinda gay, and mostly a dead genre.
before i started to read ambercrombie, i'd have agreed with you. this stuff harkens back to the fantasy i like.
i am currently reading Joe Ambercrombie's The First Law trilogy which is "fantasy noir" that is; fantasy - faggotry and I'm really impressed with it. Very pulpy. Very brutish. Very dark. Very funny. So perhaps suggest that?
I think you'll get reccs for George RR Martin's stuff and Malazan, but I didn't really enjoy either of thoseQuoteFantasy is kinda gay, and mostly a dead genre.
before i started to read ambercrombie, i'd have agreed with you. this stuff harkens back to the fantasy i like.
I quite enjoyed this! It's mediocre at the beginning but once you start to see where he's going with it, it becomes increasingly awesome all the way to the end. Utter trash but fun.
Fantasy is kinda gay, and mostly a dead genre. Read sci-fi instead.
Fantasy is kinda gay, and mostly a dead genre. Read sci-fi instead.
what is magical realism if not fantasy for the 'i'm to good for fantasy' set?
i just obtained a dozen or so jim thompson books, and plan on working my way through those
Cormacaroni: uhhhh, no
and that i think is the main issue
fantasy post tolkein has been coopted to this tiny shred of what fantasy can be and can do
it's just one of those things that just drives me up the wall.
Read some Philip K. DickFantasy is kinda gay, and mostly a dead genre. Read sci-fi instead.
I have zero interest in sci-fi
Shit Cajole you're fast. I haven't started reading it :-[
That's actually pretty hard to define. Strong, well-developed themes and characters together with excellent use of prose are some of the things that would go into it. Basically a work that has something to say.
What I should have asked is "give me some fantasy that you feel qualifies as real literature." I personally think that works in any genre can have literary merit, and I kinda hate the people who exclude genre fiction from consideration for top prizes like the Pulitzer.
define what real literature means to youBooks about quirky white people and their family problems.
and that i think is the main issue
fantasy post tolkein has been coopted to this tiny shred of what fantasy can be and can do
it's just one of those things that just drives me up the wall.
Absolutely. But The First Law is absolutely firmly and knowingly in this category.
That's actually pretty hard to define. Strong, well-developed themes and characters together with excellent use of prose are some of the things that would go into it. Basically a work that has something to say.
What I should have asked is "give me some fantasy that you feel qualifies as real literature." I personally think that works in any genre can have literary merit, and I kinda hate the people who exclude genre fiction from consideration for top prizes like the Pulitzer.
The Fantasy Masterworks series is a great place to start. Much of it is bordering on SF or regular literature. Multiple entries from the likes of Jonathan Carroll and M. John Harrison. I've been collecting these and have yet to be disappointed (and Eric P got one of 'em too!)
http://www.sfsite.com/lists/orion05.htm
Riftwar is trash, sorry. It may be fun but it certainly doesn't belong on the list above.
Darker Than You Think & Other Novels by Jack Williamson
"The unsettling dreams begin for small-town reporter Will Barbee not long after he first meets the mysterious and beautiful April Bell. They are vivid, powerful and deeply disturbing nightmares in which he commits atrocious acts. And, one by one, his friends are meeting violent deaths. It is clear to Barbee that he is embroiled in something far beyond human understanding, something unspeakably evil. And it intimately involves the seductive, dangerously intoxicating April, and the question, 'Who is the Child of the Night?' When he discovers the answer to that, his world will change utterly. "
Cormacaroni: uhhhh, no
Yeah. He asked for a pick between Song of Fire and Malazan, you chimed in with a hearty recommendation for the only one of the two you've read. Not much different from Willco trolling Avatar without seeing it, really. It really isn't much help, unless for some reason he respects your literary tastes wildly. Which, no offense, would be a bit of a stretch.
Uh, I've seen multiple posts from you saying how you haven't read Malazan and aren't interested. Your love of Martin is equally public. I'm not arguing with your taste, I'm just pointing out that you are unqualified to answer that question.
IN OTHER WORDS, FUCK U FANBOI
(i've read all the Song of Fire stuff too btw, but given a choice between that and Erikson...my god, it isn't even a serious discussion)
Uh, I've seen multiple posts from you saying how you haven't read Malazan and aren't interested. Your love of Martin is equally public. I'm not arguing with your taste, I'm just pointing out that you are unqualified to answer that question.
IN OTHER WORDS, FUCK U FANBOI
(i've read all the Song of Fire stuff too btw, but given a choice between that and Erikson...my god, it isn't even a serious discussion)
Fair enough.
btw, have you read Tigana?
PD - in case you missed the other message i sent, the Culture books are all standalone, jump in anywhere.kk
yeah, same order here
didn't like the ending to use of weapons
Use of Weapons is the second Culture I'd read. Player of Games introduces the Culture as a whole better.
Use of Weapons is the second Culture I'd read. Player of Games introduces the Culture as a whole better.That's the order that I read the books in also, and I agree. I think I liked Player of Games better than Use of Weapons, and not just because of the ending.
Use of Weapons is the second Culture I'd read. Player of Games introduces the Culture as a whole better.That's the order that I read the books in also, and I agree. I think I liked Player of Games better than Use of Weapons, and not just because of the ending.
i just read up on patricia highsmith
let's see - wrote comics in the 40s, bisexual, anti-semitic, hated america, alcoholic with a cruel personality
maybe i'll start on her stuff next
Uh, I've seen multiple posts from you saying how you haven't read Malazan and aren't interested. Your love of Martin is equally public. I'm not arguing with your taste, I'm just pointing out that you are unqualified to answer that question.
IN OTHER WORDS, FUCK U FANBOI
(i've read all the Song of Fire stuff too btw, but given a choice between that and Erikson...my god, it isn't even a serious discussion)
Fair enough.
btw, have you read Tigana?
Twice, actually. It's a bit Harlequin romance but there's just something about it.
I have not been reading anything. :greenshinobi
Yeah :lol I can't really blast through short stories, its like, I have to let a short sit with me for a day or two then I move on. Its sort of stalled me on reading in general, I should get a novel to read in between shorts or something. But I'm almost done with the compilation. I just finished reading another short though, which was nearly as good as the last. Very desolate and eerie (which I love), also had a nice take on motorcycle travel. It was by Elizabeth Bear and title "The Deep Blue Sea".
Been reading a bit of this every night before bed. I'm about 1/3 of the way through.
(http://www.yume.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/world-without-us.jpg)
Is the World without Us a novel or pure information/speculation?
I'll probably skip his "Underworld USA" trilogy, seems like he might be reaching a bit too far there. I can buy 1950s actors and actresses participating in depraved shit, but that series seems to be a giant conspiracy theory from what I've read about it.
Just read L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy. Was surprised how much was cut from the film (entire characters and subplots, and the novel takes place over the course of about 8 years). Liked Ellroy's jump-rhythm writing style, but he carries on too long sometimes. Probably should have started at the beginning of his "LA Quartet" series of novels, as several characters make recurring appearances across. In the middle of Crime Wave, his collection of nonfiction and short stories. Not digging that quite as much, but there are some highlights like Frank Sinatra being forced to take acid and ending up thinking he's Jesus.
Joe Pitt :gun
Which book are you on Muckhole?
girlfriend bought it for me, 1/3 of the way through, pretty good so far:Only gets better, prose is really good.
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Doctorow and Stross to Write Authorized Sequel to Atlas Shrugged
by L. Ron Creepweans
— posted @ 4/01/2010 12:01:00 AM PT
Today the estate of Ayn Rand announced that they had authorized science fiction writers Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow to write an official sequel to Rand's bestselling novel Atlas Shrugged.
"Given that the original novel features an amazing new metal alloy, a secret valley protected by force field, and an unlimited new energy source, we felt that a science fiction perspective was key to carrying forward Ayn Rand's ideas," said Rand estate spokesman Perry Leikoff. "And what better science fiction writers to chose than two collaborators who were also past winners of the Prometheus Award given out by the Libertarian Futurist Society?"
Stross, author of the Prometheus Award-winning novel Glasshouse, said that he and Doctorow (author of the Prometheus Award-winning novel Little Brother) were hesitant at first. "But then we realized that both of us shared one important trait with Ayn Rand: all three of us really, really like money. That made it much easier for Cory and I to cash the seven figure check."
The sequel, Atlas Rebound, features the teenage children of the founders of Galt's Gulch rebelling against their elders and traveling out into a world devastated by John Galt's strike, where they develop their own political philosophy with which to rebuild. That philosophy, called Rejectivism, features a centralized bureau to rebuild and control the new economy, socialized medicine, compulsory labor unions, universal mass transportation and a ban on individual automobiles, collectivized farms, a tightly planned industrial economy, extensive art subsidies, subsidized power, government control of the means of production, public housing, universal public education, a ban on personal ownership of gold and silver (as well as all tobacco products), government-issued fiat money, the elimination of all patents and copyrights, and a cradle-to-grave social welfare system.
"Plus strong encryption!" added Doctorow.
After 1,200 pages (80 of which consist of Supreme Leader Karla Galt-Taggart's triumphant address), a new Utopia is born. The final scene of the novel features the grateful citizens of the new world order building a giant statue of Atlas with the globe restored to his shoulders, upon the base of which is chiseled "From Each According to His Ability/To Each According To His Needs."
In other Rand-related news, editor David Hartwell (who lives in nearby Pleasantville) reported a weird humming emanating from the grave Rand shares with her husband Frank O'Conner in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Said Hartwell: "I think she's become a Dean Drive."
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51y7WMAw3IL._SS500_.jpg)
You should read D-Day and Citizen Soldiers with it. Easy Company is mentioned in both and both are even better than BoB but the three kind of form a trilogy.
I finished Snow Crash a couple of days ago and I'm now on 'Salem's Lot. Man, some of the scenarios with suspension in this book are off the charts good.Yeah, Salem's Lot holds its own well. I recall reading it and expecting silly old '70s horror writing, and instead being glued to the book.
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I'm not much of a fantasy reader, but this book is excellent thus far. I am about halfway through
I keep hearing good things about this. Might give it a go soonI am actually finishing it up now. It starts off really slow and doesn't pick up until over halfway through.
I keep hearing good things about this. Might give it a go soonI am actually finishing it up now. It starts off really slow and doesn't pick up until over halfway through.
I keep hearing good things about this. Might give it a go soonI am actually finishing it up now. It starts off really slow and doesn't pick up until over halfway through.
The sequel STILL isn't out yet so you can take it slow!
I've purely read Fiction for a good while now.
I've purely read Fiction for a good while now.
Do people view that as a problem? :lol
If I was that close to Derrida's brain I'd try to kill myself too.
(http://www.iain-banks.net/lib/UseofWeapons.jpg)
they're all interdependent. they only deal in the same universe but it isn't a definitive book 1 is X book 2 is y. I've skipped around and it's fine.
they're all interdependent. they only deal in the same universe but it isn't a definitive book 1 is X book 2 is y. I've skipped around and it's fine.Yeah, I've never even heard them referred to numerically, even though they of course came out at different times. Are there really only three Culture novels?
ver even heard them referred to numerically, even though they of course came out at different times. Are there really only three Culture novels?
Wow, what a trip! I actually started with Look to Windward... And have only read Player of Games. I'm happy that there are so many I've not yet read.ver even heard them referred to numerically, even though they of course came out at different times. Are there really only three Culture novels?
no, there are 8 at this time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture#Novels
who wins in a fight, CIA or MI5
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but the characters are incredibly one-dimensional.
Oh and his sister is apparently really hot in the book, but I just think of her ugly ass in the show whenever I read about her.
(http://www.metalunderground.com/images/covers/Motley_Crue_-_The_Dirt_Confessions_of_the_World%E2%80%99s_Most_Notorious_Rock_Band_cover.jpg)
(I had been looking forward to reading this trashy book for months but after reading "Our Band Could Be Your Life" I'm just not interested in hair metal)
Just got it on Kindle. You fuckers are costing me money!
(http://www.garretwilson.com/books/reviews/howtodothingswithwords.jpg):lol
J. L. Austin :bow2
(http://www.garretwilson.com/books/reviews/howtodothingswithwords.jpg)
J. L. Austin :bow2
For those of you that have read them: Collapse or Guns, Germs, and Steel? If both, what order? Does it even matter?
Trying to rekindle my appetite for nonfiction, and The World Is Flat didn't really do the trick
Lol Ive been halfway through Abarat for like 3 months now :)Hah! I've been making steady progress through it lately.
It's only about 600 when you take out the endnotes and it reads fast.
i read that book when it first came and found it to be a good cursory overview. the Barbary pirates stuff was really interesting to me
i read that book when it first came and found it to be a good cursory overview. the Barbary pirates stuff was really interesting to me
I believe I purchased that book from you a couple of years ago.
I just finished Matter, which is without question Iain Banks' best culture book. wowowowow is all I can say.
I'm reading that too, Joe. He writes very well and the plot just screams 'MOVIE BLOCKBUSTER' but cliches abound, particularly in the character backgrounds. Must every single character in a horror novel have some horrible dark past?
I finally started Perdido Street Station a few days ago. I had enough people tell me to read and enough people tell me not to read it that my interest was thoroughly piqued. So far, so good, except China Mieville sure likes to use big words when completely inappropriate. A word that means "sleight-of-hand" that is actually longer than sleight-of-hand? Fuck you!
that's the one. I wanted to reach through the page and back in time and punch him in the face as he was writing it.
that's the one. I wanted to reach through the page and back in time and punch him in the face as he was writing it.
it's a cool word though!
I'm reading The Three Musketeers. So far it's really going against my personal stereotype of boring old literature...Alexandre Dumas really does have a sense of humor sometimes. It's really a riot when I'm reading a line and catching it. :D
You should try The City & the City. I haven't read beyond the first few chapters yet, but so far it has about 70% less obnoxious prose affectation than the usual Mieville. Still :heart all his stuff though.
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Just ordered it for a fucking €25 :lol
I hope it's any good!
(http://i51.tinypic.com/2jfbwo2.jpg)
Just ordered it for a fucking €25 :lol
I hope it's any good!
$10 on Kindle!
You co-sign the series? I keep hearing good things about it, and want to start a short fantasy series before ADWD (lol :'() comes out
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Just ordered it for a fucking €25 :lol
I hope it's any good!
(http://i51.tinypic.com/2jfbwo2.jpg)
Just ordered it for a fucking €25 :lol
I hope it's any good!
Awesome book, bro.
ERIC P BAIT
[youtube=560,345]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyO2k-jApng[/youtube]
Trailer (?!) for Quirk Books' latest crime against honor and humanityspoiler (click to show/hide)Star Trek x Zombies = Night of the Living Trekkies[close]
Finished reading Freedom. The main theme seems to be that human beings are generally a shitty race of people, and that even normal, seemingly well-adjusted people can still at times do and say shitty things to people they love and care about, and these people in turn behave shittily towards other people, until there's a giant snowball of shit rolling around and causing a huge shitstorm that shits all over the place until everything is all shitted up beyond all recognition. But then maybe, just maybe, at the very end there's a tiny chance for a small piece of redemption. If the planet itself hasn't been completely shat on by then, and we're all dead.sounds like my type of book
To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.
Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.
Can't wait for the Ron Howard adaption of that book
ERIC P BAIT
[youtube=560,345]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyO2k-jApng[/youtube]
Trailer (?!) for Quirk Books' latest crime against honor and humanityspoiler (click to show/hide)Star Trek x Zombies = Night of the Living Trekkies[close]
The man in the high castle.
Why does Skippy, a fourteen-year-old boy at Dublin’s venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop?
Could it have something to do with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren, an overweight genius who is determined to open a portal into a parallel universe using ten-dimensional string theory?
Could it involve Carl, the teenage drug dealer and borderline psychotic who is Skippy’s rival in love?
Or could “the Automator”—the ruthless, smooth-talking headmaster intent on modernizing the school—have something to hide?
Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the subject of this dazzling and uproarious novel, unraveling a mystery that links the boys of Seabrook College to their parents and teachers in ways nobody could have imagined. With a cast of characters that ranges from hip-hop-loving fourteen-year-old Eoin “MC Sexecutioner” Flynn to basketball playing midget Philip Kilfether, packed with questions and answers on everything from Ritalin, to M-theory, to bungee jumping, to the hidden meaning of the poetry of Robert Frost, Skippy Dies is a heartfelt, hilarious portrait of the pain, joy, and occasional beauty of adolescence, and a tragic depiction of a world always happy to sacrifice its weakest members.
No lie, the main reason I haven't bought GoTM is because of the medivel romance cover :-\spoiler (click to show/hide)aaand i heard it's a jumbled cast of super heroes killing tons of enemies and lots of random shit thrown everywhere[close]
Plenty of romance crops up later but I can see the superhero thing. More like super high level D'n'D characters really, since that was the genesis of the whole mess. Erikson and Esselmont played a campaign for years and years until they had developed so much backstory they just decided to try turning it into novels. Once you realize that, it becomes a lot more meta-fictionally interesting.
GR can't wait for your thoughts on Gardens of the Moon. I might buy it soon. Or Wheels of Time :smug
Finished Salavtore's newest Drizzt and decided to read the whole series again before the next one comes out.
GR can't wait for your thoughts on Gardens of the Moon. I might buy it soon. Or Wheels of Time :smug
Might be a bit before I get around to it, but I'll post here when I do.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Finished Salavtore's newest Drizzt and decided to read the whole series again before the next one comes out.
Stop at Servant of the Shard, and never look back (or forward, for that matter).
Finished Salavtore's newest Drizzt and decided to read the whole series again before the next one comes out.
Stop at Servant of the Shard, and never look back (or forward, for that matter).
Gauntlgrym was pretty good because due to WOTC's changes to the FR timeline (they advanced it something like 100 years), he was forced to kill off everyone but Drizzt and Jarlaxle.
Keep hearing that about them. I love SoIaF btw
I've heard good things about Acacia
http://www.amazon.com/Acacia-War-Mein-Book/dp/0385722524/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288493375&sr=1-1
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Do you like Jane Austen? If you do, you'll love this book.
If you don't, then fuck you, man. Fuck you.
Surface Detail is really cool so far.It keeps popping up in my Amazon recommendations, and I keep looking at my overflowing bookcase wistfully.
Despite a backlog of decent looking books to read, I've found myself reading the horrible Wildcard series after they were given to me. I'd never even heard of them before, but Eel had been tearing them up on an old Borecast, and curiousity got the better of me.
They really are terrible and often plodding reads, buteach time I finish one (I think I'm on the fifth now!) and promise myself I'm done with them,I find myself cracking the next one open to see where the stupidity leads, like a bad movie that you just can't turn off.
Blew through the first two books of the Obernetwyn series, I might be able to start Gardens of the Moon by the end of the week.
Blew through the first two books of the Obernetwyn series, I might be able to start Gardens of the Moon by the end of the week.
Just started the first book, thanks.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Do you like Jane Austen? If you do, you'll love this book.
If you don't, then fuck you, man. Fuck you.
ever read any Jane Austen, sorry.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Do you like Jane Austen? If you do, you'll love this book.
If you don't, then fuck you, man. Fuck you.
ever read any Jane Austen, sorry.
+1 for this - it really captures a certain 18/19th century fantastical tone that now might seem boring to some as little was spent talking about how wicked awesome something's powers were, instead keeping alot of things at a distance. It doesn't always make for a page turner, but it's pretty wonderful if you find it's your thing
(http://www.harpercollins.com/harperimages/isbn/large/0/9780060733490.jpg)
re-reading this. I've loved his books but never quite got into this one. Giving it a re-read after a stay in hospital and am liking it much much more. (I lightly browsed his website a few times looking for updates on his next book and on the forums this seemed to be in the running for their favorite, which always puzzled me)
I'm going to Half Price Books tomorrow and need a few recommendations. Here's what I'm looking for:
-Stand-alone fantasy [Basically, a self-contained fantasy story, but not something that's basically a companion story to a series of books. I want something like the Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings]
-Desert fiction [Kind of a specific request here, but I really like using a desert setting for stories, like Dune or Hammerfall]
I'm going to Half Price Books tomorrow and need a few recommendations. Here's what I'm looking for:
-Cyberpunk [Something other than Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and Software since I've got those already]
-Steampunk [There doesn't really seem to be all that much out there, unfortunately. I'd prefer a Victorian setting [like Steamboy] if such a book exists]
GR if you want steampunk if you don't read Perdido Street Station I'm coming to your house and breaking your moe doll collection.
Desert Fiction. You want adventure or survival stuff?
Anyway, don't read books because you like the setting. That road leads to DragonLance and Star Wars novelizations.
Still, desert fiction...survival...world not quite like our own...it's all screaming 'DUNE' at me
QuoteDesert Fiction. You want adventure or survival stuff?
Definitely something scifi or fantasy, not really that interested in real world stories overly. Survival can be a part of the book, but I want it set in some world that's not quite like ours, if you understand what I'm saying.
Anyway, don't read books because you like the setting. That road leads to DragonLance and Star Wars novelizations.
I usually don't, but deserts...man, gotta have 'em.Still, desert fiction...survival...world not quite like our own...it's all screaming 'DUNE' at me
Or Hammerfall by C. J. Cherryh. But I've already read both of those.
it sounds pretty dire based on research
most steampunk, cyberpunk, or anything written for genre first and narrative second is
"Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe.http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2010/11/more-about-china-mievilles-embassytown.html
Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts - who cannot lie.
Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes.
Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts."
How about the Barsoom books by Edgar Rice Burroughs?
Science Fantasy on Mars
I need some good book recommendations. I've been having a hard time getting into books lately... I need a book that'll suck me in quickly and keep me going.
Any suggestions?
FM after I finish Use of Weapons, which one should I go for next? Player of Games? The description on amazon sounds cool
I need some good book recommendations. I've been having a hard time getting into books lately... I need a book that'll suck me in quickly and keep me going.
Any suggestions?
what type of books are you into bro
FM after I finish Use of Weapons, which one should I go for next? Player of Games? The description on amazon sounds coolYes. Player of Games is the closest to explaining what the Culture actually is, and it's probably his most complete novel. Matter is really cool for the Big Science stuff, and Excession explains the minds the best.
Went and bought The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Went and bought The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Went and bought The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Best books ever. (At least the first three.)
The Bore needs to collectively get on Lee Child's Jack Reacher books. They are basically Die Hard/24 on paper. I don't think you can get much more manly than a Jack Reacher novel. Seriously, this motherfucker makes Jack Bauer look like Bertie Wooster. Do yourself a favor and read at least the first one.
Classics like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 are always good for a quick read if she hasn't already. She could check out the other Gregory Maguire books like Son of a Witch.i went ahead and got game of thrones. we'll see. i'm pretty sure she's already read both of those. thanks though
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a translation of the French memoir Le scaphandre et le papillon by journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby. It describes what his life is like after suffering a massive stroke that left him with a condition called locked-in syndrome. It also details what his life was like before the stroke.
On December 8, 1995, Bauby, the editor-in-chief of Elle magazine, suffered a stroke and lapsed into a coma. He awoke 20 days later, mentally aware of his surroundings but physically paralyzed with the exception of some movement in his head and eyes (one of which had to be sewn up due to an irrigation problem). The entire book was written by Bauby blinking his left eyelid, which took ten months (four hours a day). Using partner assisted scanning, a transcriber repeatedly recited a French language frequency-ordered alphabet (E, S, A, R, I, N, T, U, L, etc.), until Bauby blinked to choose the next letter. The book took about 200,000 blinks to write and an average word took approximately two minutes. The book also chronicles everyday events for a person with locked-in syndrome. These events include playing at the beach with his family, getting a bath, and meeting visitors.
The French edition of the book was published on March 6, 1997. It received excellent reviews, sold the first 25,000 copies on the day of publication, reaching 150,000 in a week. It went on to become a number one bestseller across Europe. Its total sales are now in the millions. Bauby died two days after the book was published, on March 9, 1997, of pneumonia.
(http://i54.tinypic.com/1z2j779.jpg)QuoteThe Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a translation of the French memoir Le scaphandre et le papillon by journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby. It describes what his life is like after suffering a massive stroke that left him with a condition called locked-in syndrome. It also details what his life was like before the stroke.
On December 8, 1995, Bauby, the editor-in-chief of Elle magazine, suffered a stroke and lapsed into a coma. He awoke 20 days later, mentally aware of his surroundings but physically paralyzed with the exception of some movement in his head and eyes (one of which had to be sewn up due to an irrigation problem). The entire book was written by Bauby blinking his left eyelid, which took ten months (four hours a day). Using partner assisted scanning, a transcriber repeatedly recited a French language frequency-ordered alphabet (E, S, A, R, I, N, T, U, L, etc.), until Bauby blinked to choose the next letter. The book took about 200,000 blinks to write and an average word took approximately two minutes. The book also chronicles everyday events for a person with locked-in syndrome. These events include playing at the beach with his family, getting a bath, and meeting visitors.
The French edition of the book was published on March 6, 1997. It received excellent reviews, sold the first 25,000 copies on the day of publication, reaching 150,000 in a week. It went on to become a number one bestseller across Europe. Its total sales are now in the millions. Bauby died two days after the book was published, on March 9, 1997, of pneumonia.
Just finishing Altered Carbon. Wow, it's been a great ride. Thanks, Cormacaroni!
Just finishing Altered Carbon. Wow, it's been a great ride. Thanks, Cormacaroni!
Is it just one book? I peaked at the wiki and the setting sounded good but didn't read too far
Just finishing Altered Carbon. Wow, it's been a great ride. Thanks, Cormacaroni!
Is it just one book? I peaked at the wiki and the setting sounded good but didn't read too far
Also, I'm thoroughly convinced Hank Moody is based off of Ellis.huh. i've been under the impression he's based off bukowski ( :-X)
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Read this per Cormacaroni's recommendation. Hard-as-nails sci-fi, absolutely loved the ending too.
Trying out the Kindle book-lending service. Post in here if you got something from me 8)
Oh yeah, Black Passenger is hella depressingI'm not too far into it yet. What gets depressing about it? Japan's situation, the author, or both?
Does anyone else here have a public library that rents out eBooks? The Seattle one does, albeit in Adobe epub format (that's not compatible with the Kindle).spoiler (click to show/hide)A certain Python app combined with Calibre solves that problem though :shh[close]
Cormac loaned me Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw, which is about Pablo Escobar, who ran the Columbian cocaine cartel.
Mental note: NEVER GO TO COLUMBIA
Needless to say I ordered another book from the same author and waiting on it now :)
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@ Mamacint: isnt the book about the whole of Canada?
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this is so fucking good so far. Harry Potter for grown-ups! Pure pleasure. Can't remember the last time I both anticipated and enjoyed a book so much. That's not to say it is of great literary worth - it is not. But it is still great entertainment, and well-written.
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Can't wait to dig into this all the way!
Just read The Windup Girl instead.
Recounting the brief, remarkable history of a unified and independent Hawaii, Vowell, a public radio star and bestselling author (The Wordy Shipmates), retraces the impact of New England missionaries who began arriving in the early 1800s to remake the island paradise into a version of New England. In her usual wry tone, Vowell brings out the ironies of their efforts: while the missionaries tried to prevent prostitution with seamen and the resulting deadly diseases, the natives believed it was the missionaries who would kill them: "they will pray us all to death." Along the way, and with the best of intentions, the missionaries eradicated an environmentally friendly, laid-back native culture (although the Hawaiians did have taboos against women sharing a table with men, upon penalty of death, and a reverence for "royal incest"). Freely admitting her own prejudices, Vowell gives contemporary relevance to the past as she weaves in, for instance, Obama's boyhood memories. Outrageous and wise-cracking, educational but never dry, this book is a thought-provoking and entertaining glimpse into the U.S.'s most unusual state and its unanticipated twists on the familiar story of Americanization.
Anyone else read Sarah Vowell's books?
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Two more weeks until it's out. Cannot wait.
Anyone else read Sarah Vowell's books?
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51htUBNziPL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Two more weeks until it's out. Cannot wait.
I just finished The Wordy Shipmates yesterday. I wish it were longer. I'm looking forward to this book, but it's going to be a while. I'm the 13th in line at my local library.
http://www.amazon.com/Company-Ogres-Lee-Martinez/dp/0765315475 perhaps?
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
(Adventures of a Curious Character)
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:piss Ender's Game
oh, read the lot, they're all great in their way including the Endymion books. Don't expect the same book another 3 times though.
oh, read the lot, they're all great in their way including the Endymion books. Don't expect the same book another 3 times though.
I loved the first two books but really hated the Endymions ... ymmv
Finished Kingkiller Chronicles 1 and 2 over the last few days. I really enjoyed them but I'd be damned if I could tell you why - they're like popcorn. SPOILER THOUGHTSspoiler (click to show/hide)The author is a good writer, not great; he relies too much on clichés but sure knows which ones to deploy for maximum effect. He reminds me of King or Crichton - pulpy, yet still substantial and addictive.
The pacing of the books (especially the second) are shot to all hell. It's like he wrote four separate 250 page novels and strung them together with the barest of connective tissue.
Lotta sex in book 2! Lotta sex.
I like the University setting and its focus on money and busking over magic and adventure. I liked the court intrigue with the Maer, too ... the Adem bored me. I called them a "Mary Suetopia" only to discover via TV Tropes I was not the first to come up with such a bon mot. The most boring section for me was killing the dragon in Book 1. I can't exactly say why I'd rather read about grinding out deck lamps in the Fishery than killing mythical beasts.
Sympathy is very similar to the magic system used in Emily Short's Savoir-Faire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoir-Faire
Really enjoy the sharp change in tone between the frame story sections and the flashbacks. I'm willing to forgive some of the rip-roaring "and then I was awesome and the best ever and fucked all the ladies" tone of the narrative because I don't really trust Kvothe as a narrator - between the frame story and the Edema Ruh background, I'm certain he's telling the best story he can, not the most true one.
Auri is mai waifu, Denna is decidedly NOT.
Looking forward to book 3! Not looking forward to books 4 and 5, should that come to pass.[close]
Reading this now:
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Just fantastic.
Anyone else read Sarah Vowell's books?
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Two more weeks until it's out. Cannot wait.
I just finished The Wordy Shipmates yesterday. I wish it were longer. I'm looking forward to this book, but it's going to be a while. I'm the 13th in line at my local library.
ITT Great Rumbler enjoys Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers immensely, will read Return of the King "eventually," decides to investigate "this Xanth thing" instead
Why is your brother such an asshole that he only gave you the one book?
Picked up Kitchen Confidential by Tony Bourdain late the other night and had real trouble putting it down. Great fun.
The Scar So far I like it better than Perdido Street Station. It has the same go for broke with every idea imaginable style, but the narrative is a little better plotted.
no - still haven't read the copy of Infinite Jest I bought approx 5 yrs ago. I'm gonna pirate a copy on Kindle 'cause I'm never gonna lug that brick around with me now, let's face it.
The Scar So far I like it better than Perdido Street Station. It has the same go for broke with every idea imaginable style, but the narrative is a little better plotted.spoiler (click to show/hide)Plus Armada is awesome[close]
i think with a kindle now i may decide to finally finish the Dark Tower series.
i've been sitting on Wolves of Calla for about 5 years now.
sigh
The City & The City - I got about half way through this book and gave up. I just don’t understand these fucking cities. His next book should be called “I’m Smarter Than You” and he can just take a shit inside it.:lol :lol :lol
lol, same here. I've stopped and started the series 3 or 4 times over the past 15 years. I was ~200 pages into The Wolves of Calla when I gave it up about 4 or 5 years ago.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Infinite_jest_cover.jpg)
on my nook
Did anyone pick up DFW's The Pale King?
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Infinite_jest_cover.jpg)
on my nook
Did anyone pick up DFW's The Pale King?
i've been reading this inbetween others for like 6 months now. it is amazingly funny, often subtly sometimes brazenly. i love it.
definitely not the ideal way to read a book but the scope of it is just so overwhelming!
Just ran into this review by Gabe at penny-arcade:QuoteThe City & The City - I got about half way through this book and gave up. I just don’t understand these fucking cities. His next book should be called “I’m Smarter Than You” and he can just take a shit inside it.:lol :lol :lol
(http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/6383266-L.jpg)
I finished reading this book. A real page turner, it basically shows how wealthy industrialists grifted and sucked the country dry for 60 years (1870-1930 - the book was written in the late 1930s) and how the government was helping them almost every step of the way, including the New Deal. It pretty much covers almost everything that the rich did, including education and philanthropic donations. It also lists how much what family gave to which candidate for what election years. The author was totally ruthless with Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover.
It's a great book and best of all, it is public domain so everyone can read if they like history. He wrote a sequel about thirty years later that I will probably check out next.
I hadn't really considered it. I was too busy laughing at a hardcover book with a fresh, steaming poop inside of it.Just ran into this review by Gabe at penny-arcade:QuoteThe City & The City - I got about half way through this book and gave up. I just don’t understand these fucking cities. His next book should be called “I’m Smarter Than You” and he can just take a shit inside it.:lol :lol :lol
not a good idea, how would we tell books apart when they are all renamed "I'm Smarter Than Gabe"?
Gabe reviews Green Eggs and Ham: "I don't get it. I guess the author's more concerned with rubbing in the fact that he's a Doctor than with writing a story I could understand.":lol
I just finished Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker. It's an account of a journalist who spent 5 years or so in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I was hesitant to pick it up because it's by a woman but the author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City (great read) praised it highly, saying how laugh out loud funny it was. I figured not reading something I'm interested in because a woman wrote it was pretty dumb so I bought it.
I should have gone with my gut. It reads like Sex in the City: Afghanistan. She's constantly talking about what she's wearing, what parties she went to, and who she is dating. I only found one line even smirk worthy and learned almost nothing about Afghan or Pakistani culture. In the end she dismisses Obama's Afghanistan policy but nothing in the book makes me value her opinion on the region. What a waste of time.
Just started The Drawing of the Three, the second book in the Darktower Series. Not bad at all so far. The Gunslinger started out slow in my opinion, so I'm glad to see this one kinda taking off.
But I do really want to read The Witcher books. Also kind want to try out those Mass Effect books as well. I feel no shame in wanting to read video game books.
Zero History is picking up nicely.
I stopped reading The Drawing of the Three - The second book in the Darktower Series - just because I never could compel myself to pick it up and read it. It was that boring to me.
I started in on the first few pages of A Game of Thrones, but I may wait to really get into it. I think my problem might be that I'm just not ready to get into a series and feel like I'm committed to finish it. I've got a few one-off books queued up to read, so I may get into a couple of them.
QuoteWuthering Heights
holy shit, a book in the book thread i've actually read (!)
not sure this is the right place, but i'm starting to amass a ton of technical ebooks that i really could do with carrying about with me so i'm looking at aquiring a kindle.
Now i'm a bit Kindle-ignorant here - but how do i get unpurchased books from my HDD onto the Kindle ? is it easy? Is now the right time to kindle? etc etc
sorry but :lol :lol :lolDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?:bow
Pretty cool so far, but definitely much different than Blade Runner.
Great great book.
I'm reading
The Club Dumas
and i'm re-reading A Storm of Swords :bow
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS 2009 :bow :bow :bow
Having said that, I have no compunctions about downloading loads of shit I already own on paper (or owned :teehee), or is out of print or whatever.
sorry but :lol :lol :lolDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?:bow
Pretty cool so far, but definitely much different than Blade Runner.
Great great book.
I'm reading
The Club Dumas
and i'm re-reading A Storm of Swords :bow
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS 2009 :bow :bow :bow
Having said that, I have no compunctions about downloading loads of shit I already own on paper (or owned :teehee), or is out of print or whatever.
Yup, I finally read Zelazny's Amber books because it was on my Kindle and not on my bookshelf as a single 1400-page 10-volume omnibus. Amber's not "officially" out as eBooks yet but I don't really "care"
I was a bit off, butsorry but :lol :lol :lolDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?:bow
Pretty cool so far, but definitely much different than Blade Runner.
Great great book.
I'm reading
The Club Dumas
and i'm re-reading A Storm of Swords :bow
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS 2009 :bow :bow :bow
infinite jest would suck because of all the foot notes.
footnotes on kindle are a total pain in the ass
preach it Eric P
I think it will go down as one of the most important books of our lifetimes.
SMH Corma :lol
preach it Eric P
I think it will go down as one of the most important books of our lifetimes.
i essentially immediately changed my diet, to the annoyance of the gf.
It is indeed very irritating to significant others,
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absolutely fascinating read.
there hasn't actually been much visible change yet. though i was running i wasn't really the best of eaters, so there hasn't been anything too dramatic.
to keep this on topic, i just finished reading the excellent Logicomix which is about Bertrand Russel and his quest for a way to demonstrate truth using logic. Very well told.
SMH Corma :lol
Yello there peanut gallery
Eat healthy shit.
It really isn't that complicated though. Eat healthy shit. Exercise.
Of course if you have no clue what's healthy then yeah you got to read up.
No?SMH Corma :lol
Yello there peanut gallery
I don't get it.
Eat healthy shit.
that's where the complications arise. what western society has been told has been "healthy" for the past 40 years with regards to low fat diets may actually be extraordinarily bad for us. the book is a thorough dismantling of bad science and bad journalism highlighting studies which were ignored because they didn't fit "conventional wisdom." Conventional wisdom which was a lot of bunk anyway.
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absolutely fascinating read.
Linkzg -
Why We Get Fat is basically the layman's version of Good Calories, Bad Calories. If you can take it on faith to an extent that what he backs up what is saying in great detail in GCBC, Why We Get Fat is a much better read. You'll buzz through it, get all the big ideas, and then you can look into GCBC for more detail if you want later.
Was wondering if the August Derleth continuation of the Cthulhu Mythos was any good and where to start so any help would be greatly appreciated.
I bought a bunch of cheap paperbacks a few weeks ago, decided to start this one:
(http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k33/GreatRumbler/lt.jpg)
I want to read something weird, something a little different and by all accounts Lord Tyger fits the bill for that. Apparently it's a deconstruction of the Tarzan mythos with lots of sex thrown in. Only just read the first few pages, so I'll see how it goes from there.
Dan Simmons’s “Flashback” is an abundantly entertaining, often outrageous right-wing fantasy about a weak, broken United States 20-odd years from now. The country is ruled over by the Japanese, lives in fear of the Islamic Global Caliphate, and its citizens mostly spend their time stoned on a drug called flashback that lets them escape to a better past. Some of the events that have occurred between now and the early 2030s can be summed up thusly:
U.S. Goes Bankrupt
Israel Destroyed by Nuclear Attack
Mexican Army Invades California
Sharia Law Rules Europe, Canada
Giant Mosque Built at Ground Zero
U.S. Down to 44½ States
There’s more, but you get the idea. And if you haven’t guessed, the blame for almost all these disasters lies with the fellow who was elected president of the United States in 2008.
Supergods is best read in short chunks, I think. It's very episodic in nature.
ha ha. yeah, flashback is glen beck porn.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-flashback-by-dan-simmons/2011/07/19/gIQA62F6lI_story.htmlQuoteDan Simmons’s “Flashback” is an abundantly entertaining, often outrageous right-wing fantasy about a weak, broken United States 20-odd years from now. The country is ruled over by the Japanese, lives in fear of the Islamic Global Caliphate, and its citizens mostly spend their time stoned on a drug called flashback that lets them escape to a better past. Some of the events that have occurred between now and the early 2030s can be summed up thusly:
U.S. Goes Bankrupt
Israel Destroyed by Nuclear Attack
Mexican Army Invades California
Sharia Law Rules Europe, Canada
Giant Mosque Built at Ground Zero
U.S. Down to 44½ States
There’s more, but you get the idea. And if you haven’t guessed, the blame for almost all these disasters lies with the fellow who was elected president of the United States in 2008.
I think if I read that book, I would become your namesake.
Caliphate? Really? There is not enough smh.
I think if I read that book, I would become your namesake.
Caliphate? Really? There is not enough smh.
me? who?
After grabbing it on a recommendation here, I've finally begun reading Tokyo Vice. I've just begun, but I enjoyed the setup/prologue, and I'm just getting through the little bits of how the author came to be working at the news agency. So far, so good!
still reading supergods. dude is going to make me buy all of The Invisibles again isn't he?
still reading supergods. dude is going to make me buy all of The Invisibles again isn't he?
I'm not a huge comics expert but the book has been really entertaining and interesting so far
Marshal Law - never heard of it before
Ellis' Stormwatch run, based on his breathless description of it as a proto-Authority.
QuoteMarshal Law - never heard of it beforeQuoteEllis' Stormwatch run, based on his breathless description of it as a proto-Authority.
buh?
Never heard of Marshal Law?
Never read Stormwatch?
Stormwatch is the (ha ha) thoughtful Authority. Authority is the "well fuck you guys! you want the pewpew up your doodoo? here it is"
edit: to be fair though, i didn't like Marshall Law when I first read it because I don't think I was in tune with its satire. I just thought it was trying to push the excesses of the "dark and gritty" for its own sake. but that was like 20 years ago or so...
ha ha. yeah, flashback is glen beck porn.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-flashback-by-dan-simmons/2011/07/19/gIQA62F6lI_story.htmlQuoteDan Simmons’s “Flashback” is an abundantly entertaining, often outrageous right-wing fantasy about a weak, broken United States 20-odd years from now. The country is ruled over by the Japanese, lives in fear of the Islamic Global Caliphate, and its citizens mostly spend their time stoned on a drug called flashback that lets them escape to a better past. Some of the events that have occurred between now and the early 2030s can be summed up thusly:
U.S. Goes Bankrupt
Israel Destroyed by Nuclear Attack
Mexican Army Invades California
Sharia Law Rules Europe, Canada
Giant Mosque Built at Ground Zero
U.S. Down to 44½ States
There’s more, but you get the idea. And if you haven’t guessed, the blame for almost all these disasters lies with the fellow who was elected president of the United States in 2008.
this is the most heartbreaking news I've ever heard, one of my favorite authors is Orson Scott card 2.0 :(
Here's the punch line: Old King Hamlet was an inadequate king because he was gay, an evil person because he was gay, and, ultimately, a demonic and ghostly father of lies who convinces young Hamlet to exact imaginary revenge on innocent people. The old king was actually murdered by Horatio, in revenge for molesting him as a young boy—along with Laertes, and Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, thereby turning all of them gay. We learn that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are now "as fusty and peculiar as an old married couple. I pity the woman who tries to wed her way into that house."
(http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1241903945l/77566.jpg)
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genius
still reading supergods. dude is going to make me buy all of The Invisibles again isn't he?
I will probably hold off on buying Invisibles again with the hope that they put them into the deluxe editions things like 100 Bullets, Preacher and the like are getting.
(http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1241903945l/77566.jpg)
(http://www.seanparnell.com/Hyperion%20Cantos/Hyperion%20Cantos%20Images/Fall%20of%20Hyperion%20Front%20Book%20Cover.gif)
genius
I loved this series when I read it years back, recently found out that an attempt is being made to turn it into a trilogy of movies. My initial reaction was "You've got to be kidding", but I'll admit that there's a tiny part of me that wants to see how it will be handled, just out of sheer curiosity. It would be a hell of a challenge to turn this into any form of usuable script IMO, with so many characters.
Or maybe they'll just turn it into a shit horror flick and focus on the Shrike. :'(
I will probably hold off on buying Invisibles again with the hope that they put them into the deluxe editions things like 100 Bullets, Preacher and the like are getting.
Man, I would rebuy Deluxe Invisibles faster than you can say "MDMA"
I will probably hold off on buying Invisibles again with the hope that they put them into the deluxe editions things like 100 Bullets, Preacher and the like are getting.
Man, I would rebuy Deluxe Invisibles faster than you can say "MDMA"
Yeah, it needs to be recolored for a start. I'm sure it will happen eventually though.
I started reading the Patrick Meaney book recently btw ('Our Sentence is Up'). I assume you have it?
ha ha. yeah, flashback is glen beck porn.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-flashback-by-dan-simmons/2011/07/19/gIQA62F6lI_story.htmlQuoteDan Simmons’s “Flashback” is an abundantly entertaining, often outrageous right-wing fantasy about a weak, broken United States 20-odd years from now. The country is ruled over by the Japanese, lives in fear of the Islamic Global Caliphate, and its citizens mostly spend their time stoned on a drug called flashback that lets them escape to a better past. Some of the events that have occurred between now and the early 2030s can be summed up thusly:
U.S. Goes Bankrupt
Israel Destroyed by Nuclear Attack
Mexican Army Invades California
Sharia Law Rules Europe, Canada
Giant Mosque Built at Ground Zero
U.S. Down to 44½ States
There’s more, but you get the idea. And if you haven’t guessed, the blame for almost all these disasters lies with the fellow who was elected president of the United States in 2008.
this is the most heartbreaking news I've ever heard, one of my favorite authors is Orson Scott card 2.0 :(
ha ha. yeah, flashback is glen beck porn.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-flashback-by-dan-simmons/2011/07/19/gIQA62F6lI_story.htmlQuoteDan Simmons’s “Flashback” is an abundantly entertaining, often outrageous right-wing fantasy about a weak, broken United States 20-odd years from now. The country is ruled over by the Japanese, lives in fear of the Islamic Global Caliphate, and its citizens mostly spend their time stoned on a drug called flashback that lets them escape to a better past. Some of the events that have occurred between now and the early 2030s can be summed up thusly:
U.S. Goes Bankrupt
Israel Destroyed by Nuclear Attack
Mexican Army Invades California
Sharia Law Rules Europe, Canada
Giant Mosque Built at Ground Zero
U.S. Down to 44½ States
There’s more, but you get the idea. And if you haven’t guessed, the blame for almost all these disasters lies with the fellow who was elected president of the United States in 2008.
this is the most heartbreaking news I've ever heard, one of my favorite authors is Orson Scott card 2.0 :(
Wow, this book sounds right up my alley... If US was ruled by the Japanese does that mean we will actually get good Japanese games localized again? :o
I came across Ender's Game on my shelf the other day and flipped through it. The idea of Peter taking over the world by making REALLY GOOD message board posts seems pretty ridiculous today.
I came across Ender's Game on my shelf the other day and flipped through it. The idea of Peter taking over the world by making REALLY GOOD message board posts seems pretty ridiculous today.
Wow, this book sounds right up my alley... If US was ruled by the Japanese does that mean we will actually get good Japanese games localized again? :o
no, but the second-hand market in Mickey Mouse watches will go through-the-roof
Wait, what did reading Cerebus do to me?
I came across Ender's Game on my shelf the other day and flipped through it. The idea of Peter taking over the world by making REALLY GOOD message board posts seems pretty ridiculous today.
Whereas in 1985, it was extremely believable!
dude, I've got 300 other books on my Kindle that are more inviting. I'm not saying I'll never finish it but seriously, I just stopped caring about what was going on. It was all so piddling and trivial.
Is there a big, fat fantasy series anyone would recommend which is either already finished or clearly headed towards an actual end?
I could say it but PD would explode
PD I am curious what massive fantasy book series' out there have you read other than ASOIAF, Middle-earth, and Harry Potter? I haven't seen you jump aboard any of the others out there to my knowledge.I could say it but PD would explode
Well yea, if you prefer a vapid series where heroes can kill thousands of enemies with the snap of their finger!
PD I am curious what massive fantasy book series' out there have you read other than ASOIAF, Middle-earth, and Harry Potter? I haven't seen you jump aboard any of the others out there to my knowledge.I could say it but PD would explode
Well yea, if you prefer a vapid series where heroes can kill thousands of enemies with the snap of their finger!
Oh and I see both Wheel of Time and Malazan mentioned. Are any of those two clearly better than the other? I have been on the fence about getting into one of those.
It's true. I read 300 pages of Gardens, but only 100 of Game of Thrones.
Use Of Weapons
Use Of Weapons
seconded. Or Player of Games.
Use Of Weapons
seconded. Or Player of Games.
Player of Games. Very good.
I'm reading the first Obernewtyn book, thanks to someone here's recommendation. About halfway in, it's beginning to get a little more interesting, and less bleak.
Use Of Weapons
(http://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Busy-Monsters.jpg)I read a review and they compared it to Pahlaniuk. Ewwww.
this is twee as fuck so far. i may not even last 100 pages.
(snip snip like a vasectomy)
I'm reading the first Obernewtyn book, thanks to someone here's recommendation. About halfway in, it's beginning to get a little more interesting, and less bleak.
That was probably my recommendation, I don't think anyone else here has read them. I'm up to the fourth book, but haven't started it yet.
about 90 pgs away from finishing Blood Reaver- Aaron Dembski-Bowden is officially my second favorite 40k author. What an amazing couple o books.
totally, Abnett rules. His non 40k stuff is apparently not that good tho, a friend of mine read Triumff and didnt like it. The books that got me into 40k books were the Grey Knights books authored by Ben Counter- also great stuff imo.
(http://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Busy-Monsters.jpg)I read a review and they compared it to Pahlaniuk. Ewwww.
this is twee as fuck so far. i may not even last 100 pages.
I don't see that at all. I think i've gotten use to the voice in this book because it's no longer annoying the living fuck out of me. I'm on page 60 or so.
People just eat and drink too fucking much.
Do we really need 500 books about that each year?
Just started reading A Clash of Kings last week. Pretty good so far.Finished it. Now moving on to A Storm of Swords
Richard Powers is one of those authors that I have to just concede defeat on. He's a brilliant individual and the ideas flow off the page. I just can't fight my way through it to save my life though.
what're you up to in AZ? I've spent the vast majority of my life both in the desert and up north.
if its just reading to take your mind off being bored, I guess what i'm reading; Princess of Mars is pretty adequate. It aint deep, just fun pulp that i'd say is ideal for sitting on a plane bored material.
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the government's exasperation at why we have a nation of fatties is becoming funnier and funnier at this point.
I went to the Bookman's in Flagstaff once, it was pretty awesome.
(http://iweb.cooking.com/images/products/enlarge/358027e.jpg)
the government's exasperation at why we have a nation of fatties is becoming funnier and funnier at this point.
Great review/counterpoint here:
http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com/2011/10/wheat-belly-toll-of-hubris-on-human.html
I haven't read the book, but this and a few other things lead me to believe he's focusing on wheat to the point of monomania, leading to some really wacky conclusions. Although the general thrust that 'we should be eating far less of it / we do great without ANY of it' seems perfectly solid based on my other reading and own experiences...
Finished Lucky Wander Boy (http://www.luckywanderboy.com/) last night. It's Ready Player One if it was good instead of bad, written by a po-pomo Tim Rogers with a brutal editor.
It cuts to the truth of gaming geekdom - that it is a solitary, self-destructive hobby we endure for its rare moments of meaning and transcendent wonder - moments we can never share, or even fully explain, to anyone else. A life dedicated to videogames is monastic and self-flagellating, not some kumbaya shared cultural moment where we all hold hands around our Dukes of Hazzard lunch boxes.
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach by Stuart Russell & Peter Norvig
Finished Lucky Wander Boy (http://www.luckywanderboy.com/) last night. It's Ready Player One if it was good instead of bad, written by a po-pomo Tim Rogers with a brutal editor.
It cuts to the truth of gaming geekdom - that it is a solitary, self-destructive hobby we endure for its rare moments of meaning and transcendent wonder - moments we can never share, or even fully explain, to anyone else. A life dedicated to videogames is monastic and self-flagellating, not some kumbaya shared cultural moment where we all hold hands around our Dukes of Hazzard lunch boxes.
Like getting a super-rare drop in Diablo?
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach by Stuart Russell & Peter Norvig
Are you taking the online class?
As for me, I'm taking a break from Infinite Jest to read Hyperion by Dan Simmons. I have to say that I absolutely adore the opening paragraph. Also, this Shrike sounds like a scary piece of work.
Prague Cemetery is really interesting. I'm loving the melding of fact and fiction.
Finished Lucky Wander Boy (http://www.luckywanderboy.com/) last night. It's Ready Player One if it was good instead of bad, written by a po-pomo Tim Rogers with a brutal editor.
It cuts to the truth of gaming geekdom - that it is a solitary, self-destructive hobby we endure for its rare moments of meaning and transcendent wonder - moments we can never share, or even fully explain, to anyone else. A life dedicated to videogames is monastic and self-flagellating, not some kumbaya shared cultural moment where we all hold hands around our Dukes of Hazzard lunch boxes.
Like getting a super-rare drop in Diablo?
Yes! :drool
But try explaining that to someone who doesn't game...
I've been having trouble getting motivated to read AFFC here lately. I can't tell if I got burnt out on reading so much so fast, or if I really just didn't like the opening.
Using the Kindle book lending thing i rented The Hunger Games
about a quarter way through. it's not bad. the writing is pretty dry and some of the sentence structure is a bit awkward but it's decent. i'm waiting for the actual hunger games to begin.
I've been having trouble getting motivated to read AFFC here lately. I can't tell if I got burnt out on reading so much so fast, or if I really just didn't like the opening.
Yeah, I flew through ASOIF up to ASOS and now I'm finding A Feast For Crows a lot less engaging. It's very slow-paced which is a little jarring, especially after the ridiculously action-packed ASOS.
Really enjoyed that first book, not so much the sequels.
Really enjoyed that first book, not so much the sequels.
they really bad? i finished it and it sucks that it ends on a cliffhangery note.
edit: seems it goes with a "revolution" angle. kinda figured as much
Quality diminishes as ones goes on, at least that's how I feel. Not so much bad but didn't go in a direction I cared for. Don't let that stop you if you enjoyed the first though.
I've been having trouble getting motivated to read AFFC here lately. I can't tell if I got burnt out on reading so much so fast, or if I really just didn't like the opening.this. i powered through the first three in about a week each but AFFC took me like 2 months (partially due to exams). it was actually just as satisfying in the end i thought. probably just the milieu of new characters and an initial scaling back of the action that slowed me down.
Araby :bow2this is the name of the chapter i stopped at. i take it i'm in for a treat?
got IQ84 sitting my shelf, absorbing it through osmosis
maybe i'll get to read it over break
but I'm starting to suspect, with the amount of books I buy a year vs. how many I actually read (about 20 : 0 ratio), that I like the idea of books better than reading them themselves. So I know enough to know that IQ84 is probably a wonderful book and that Murakami is one of my favorite writers, but I'm just too damn distracted. not sure if that makes sense!
it's terrible though, makes some people think I just want to have books on my shelves to look smart. I only took books I haven't read to my apartment when I moved out, so people come over, pick out books, ask me how they are and I'm all "I dunno"
Holy fuck, that was one of the best chapters in the history of literature.
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I missed that you were reading these. I love the Stark books. Ruthlessly pragmatic and efficient.
Let me know if you're interested in that era of crime fiction (40s - 70s post-pulp paperback era) because I've recently started reading a hell of a lot of them and can shoot you some links.
have you read any Joe Lansdale? He does all kinds of stuff, but his crime fiction is top notch.
Check out the Hap and Leonard series. The first book is kind of weak but 2 -5 are great. After that they kind of fall into series overreach territory.
Fredric Brown was an amazingly prolific writer. He did a lot of crime stories but he also did a lot of sci-fi, almost all of them in the pulps. His books are hit and miss. When they hit, they're omfg amazing, when they miss they're still kind of entertaining, but as the dude was just cranking these out, it's not too surprising.
This will get you started http://www.munseys.com/detail/mode/author/fredric_brown Check out The Screaming MiMi and The Fabulous Clipjoint. The Screaming Mimi is the basis for like every Italian horror film ever.
David Goodis is a guy I just started reading. I really liked Night Squad. I have Cassidy's Girl lined up at some point in the near future. http://www.munseys.com/detail/mode/author/David_Goodis
i've been reading Under the Dome by Stephen King for the last month or so (only reading for about 40minutes to and hour a day at the most)
I'm enjoying it but King takes sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long to get going and his writing is sooooooooooooooooooooo long winded. i'm about half way through it and it's picking up considerably.
it's clearly very much in the same vein as The Mist, which I like.
also it seems to me that the book was written in a very "movie" like fashion. every chapter is a small scene that I could see easily being adapted to a tv show or a mini-series. i'm not really up on all Stephen King beyond The Dark Tower so i dunno if this is just how he writes.
Ive always been a fan of Kings shorter books and short stories. Even liked his new stuff like Cell and Duma Key.
The sheer size of this books puts me off, plus I remember some review said it's focussed on US politics, is this true?
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410A553CR8L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)Cute book but to put it up against stuff like Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, A Song of Ice and Fire, etc?
Should be done tonight. Probably the best fantasy book I've ever read.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410A553CR8L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpgCute book but to put it up against stuff like Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, A Song of Ice and Fire, etc?
Should be done tonight. Probably the best fantasy book I've ever read.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410A553CR8L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)Cute book but to put it up against stuff like Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, A Song of Ice and Fire, etc?
Should be done tonight. Probably the best fantasy book I've ever read.
I will never understand why people put LotR on such a pedestal and this is coming from a fan of the series. Those books are horrifically paced and written.It basically invented the modern fantasy genre.
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Should be done tonight. Probably the best fantasy book I've ever read.
At the time they were written, the books had a very unique style. The slow pace made the world pop even more, and given that world was a pretty new one, it bowled people over. It's not hard to see how the series got put on that pedestal.
How they've stayed there is just hype and tradition.
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Should be done tonight. Probably the best fantasy book I've ever read.
It's ok I guess but Harry Potter is tons better. I'm sure the film will be better
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Should be done tonight. Probably the best fantasy book I've ever read.
It's ok I guess but Harry Potter is tons better. I'm sure the film will be better
The lore in Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, is refreshing for a fantasy novel. The amount of details in the novel rivals Tolkien, except without the fluff.
I realize that Jonathon Strange is not for everyone. It constantly goes into random, lengthy footnotes which for all intents and purposes add to the lore of the book. But unlike say, Lord of the Rings, which constantly drops its random loot, Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell builds upon lore after lore, making the world rich with details. The fact it exists in our own world makes it even more approachable and enticing.
Still, I think the book has a lot of personality and I enjoy the writing. It's an interesting novel in that it takes place in a specific period but the story is not in any defined by the period. Very Harry Potter-esque and certainly different from other fantasy. I find it refreshing that it's not wave your wand and have fire shooting out the tip fantasy, but fantasy with a far more grand scale, almost godly, if I were to use a random descriptor.
Factor all of this in with comedy addled social commentary which reeks of Jane Austen and you have a book that I adore.
i'm curious what you would consider the best then.
It's understandable how it was put on a pedestal, mostly due to the world and the details of that world. But to me mentioning Lord of the Rings in a best fantasy novel discussion is akin to bringing up Final Fantasy VII in a best rpg discussion.
Best fantasy novel is just a tallest midget contest anyway. Harlequin Romances have a better quality average.
reading The Wasp Factory. WUT
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Should be done tonight. Probably the best fantasy book I've ever read.
It's ok I guess but Harry Potter is tons better. I'm sure the film will be better
The lore in Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, is refreshing for a fantasy novel. The amount of details in the novel rivals Tolkien, except without the fluff.
I realize that Jonathon Strange is not for everyone. It constantly goes into random, lengthy footnotes which for all intents and purposes add to the lore of the book. But unlike say, Lord of the Rings, which constantly drops its random loot, Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell builds upon lore after lore, making the world rich with details. The fact it exists in our own world makes it even more approachable and enticing.
Still, I think the book has a lot of personality and I enjoy the writing. It's an interesting novel in that it takes place in a specific period but the story is not in any defined by the period. Very Harry Potter-esque and certainly different from other fantasy. I find it refreshing that it's not wave your wand and have fire shooting out the tip fantasy, but fantasy with a far more grand scale, almost godly, if I were to use a random descriptor.
Factor all of this in with comedy addled social commentary which reeks of Jane Austen and you have a book that I adore.
I was hoping for a different response to that troll :-\
reading The Wasp Factory. WUT
JUST WAIT!
I've actually never made it through the LOTR books. It's not the quality of the prose in general, but the tendency to give long, detailed descriptions of the physical setting. For whatever reason, my brain just can not deal with it. I'll hit a certain part of the book (*cough* Tom Bombadil) and realize that I've been scanning the words for a couple pages without actually processing any of it. Love The Hobbit, though.
Just finished Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. Wonderful introduction to Susanna Clarke and I'm really anticipated to read The Hunger Games trilogy.
Just finished Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. Wonderful introduction to Susanna Clarke and I'm really anticipated to read The Hunger Games trilogy.
I enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy. It was definitely geared towards young adults and has A LOT of innocent teenage sexual tension though.
Just finished Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. Wonderful introduction to Susanna Clarke and I'm really anticipated to read The Hunger Games trilogy.
My 13 year old niece was reading The Hunger Games over the holiday break. Enjoy :-\
It's about teenage girls. I wouldn't trust fistful's rec on this one.
I am currently reading THE HUNGER GAMES as this months Amazon Prime freebie. This is classified as young adult fiction, right? Because the vocab feels like a 5th grade reading level.Yeah its young adult, surprisingly enjoyable though. I dismissed it as a sort of Twilight but all 3 books were pretty decent.
It's about teenage girls. I wouldn't trust fistful's rec on this one.
I was going to read it after All She Was Worth, but I think I'll read Life of Pi or Daughter of Smoke and Bone next. Thanks!
I am reading You Are Not So Smart which is a terrifying book.
It's about teenage girls. I wouldn't trust fistful's rec on this one.
I was going to read it after All She Was Worth, but I think I'll read Life of Pi or Daughter of Smoke and Bone next. Thanks!
the life of pi is so, so, so, so awful
It's about teenage girls. I wouldn't trust fistful's rec on this one.
I was going to read it after All She Was Worth, but I think I'll read Life of Pi or Daughter of Smoke and Bone next. Thanks!
the life of pi is so, so, so, so awful
I remember liking parts of Life of Pi, but the "moral" at the end was ::) and ultimately the whole thing seemed kinda pointless
i read a buncha pulp horror crap, none of which was really good.
the two best books i read on break were (in order) "blindsight" by peter bates, which is the best piece of hard first contact sf i've read in ages; and "altered carbon", a sci-fi classic i've had sitting around on my nook for some time and never really got around to reading.
i really, really second patel's recommendation of "blindsight". much like "you are not so smart," it makes a compelling case AGAINST sentience as a competitive advantage. MUST READ FOR NEUROPSYCH AND SEMIOTICS/LINGUISTICS NERDS. could we ever actually get along with something intelligent that we don't -- and can't -- understand, when we can't even get along with the intelligent life forms we slightly understand -- ourselves? it asks.spoiler (click to show/hide)no. duh. :derp[close]
also PLAUSIBLE AND AWESOME SPACE VAMPIRES.
I read that as You Are Not So Smart, Eric P and thought, whoa, Eric P has some real enemies.
Just finished Snow Crash and quite liked it. If I were to read another Stephenson book, which should it be?
i read a buncha pulp horror crap, none of which was really good.
the two best books i read on break were (in order) "blindsight" by peter bates, which is the best piece of hard first contact sf i've read in ages; and "altered carbon", a sci-fi classic i've had sitting around on my nook for some time and never really got around to reading.
i really, really second patel's recommendation of "blindsight". much like "you are not so smart," it makes a compelling case AGAINST sentience as a competitive advantage. MUST READ FOR NEUROPSYCH AND SEMIOTICS/LINGUISTICS NERDS. could we ever actually get along with something intelligent that we don't -- and can't -- understand, when we can't even get along with the intelligent life forms we slightly understand -- ourselves? it asks.spoiler (click to show/hide)no. duh. :derp[close]
also PLAUSIBLE AND AWESOME SPACE VAMPIRES.
I'm currently reading Michael Moorcock's The Black Corridor.
Thomas M Disch called this one of the best horror / sci-fi books in a back issue I have of The Twilight Zone Magazine. As I found myself without anything immediately jumping off my shelf, I grabbed this to read. Don't quite know what to make of it just yet.
I think a guy has fled the Earth to the stars with his family in hypersleep so they can escape a poisonous political climate only to go insane.
This is another super short one (166 pages), so I may finish today or tomorrow.
The term is supposed to refer to young girls as objects of desire from an older man's point of view, or one that's sexually precocious beyond their years; not that they're necessarily promiscuous. You're just thinking of the word incorrectly.
Finally finished Marukami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It was tough to push myself through the last third. Now onto Haldeman's Forever War. Pretty good so far. I like the idea of female soldiers being legally obligated to have sex with their male counterparts.
Finished Dune last night. Loved it, but I did think it got a bit weaker closer to the end. Tempted to check out Dune Messiah. What do you guys think of the sequels?
Starting You Are Not So Smart based on the recommendation of the thread. Seems like some solid pop-psych.
Finished Dune last night. Loved it, but I did think it got a bit weaker closer to the end. Tempted to check out Dune Messiah. What do you guys think of the sequels?
Starting You Are Not So Smart based on the recommendation of the thread. Seems like some solid pop-psych.
Messiah's OK, but call it a day after that.
quick question about eink readers: if I buy a nook touch, is there a way I can still use the amazon service? I like the nook touch more than the kindle touch, but Amazon seems like a way better seller and all that.
Also, robo's explanation still doesn't make the term lolita any less creepy, as Humbert, who finds Delores desirable, is a pedophile. Unless of course, the term predates the novel.
quick question about eink readers: if I buy a nook touch, is there a way I can still use the amazon service? I like the nook touch more than the kindle touch, but Amazon seems like a way better seller and all that.
anyone have experience with it?
I ended up buying more physical sherlock books out of habit. I want to go digital already and save space.
Finished The Forever War. Found it on the NPR beginners' guide to sci-fi and fantasy that was posted here some time ago. Loved it! Great military sci-fi. Some really interesting concepts and of course a good (if a little simple) allegory. My first thought after reading it (besides "awww" [and how many military sci-fi books can you say that about?]) was that it would make a good movie. And it looks like Ridley Scott is making one! Hurray!
Finished The Forever War. Found it on the NPR beginners' guide to sci-fi and fantasy that was posted here some time ago. Loved it! Great military sci-fi. Some really interesting concepts and of course a good (if a little simple) allegory. My first thought after reading it (besides "awww" [and how many military sci-fi books can you say that about?]) was that it would make a good movie. And it looks like Ridley Scott is making one! Hurray!
What book(s) are you reading?
What book(s) would you like to be reading?
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:bow
OMFG why did I wait so long to start reading this
And why are all the lame gamers who read one game/geek media-related book a year (looking at YOU Ready Player One // Hunger Games // Game of Thrones!) not creaming all over this? It's the most interesting exploration of game design I've seen yet.
just finished consider phelbas. It was OK.
just finished consider phelbas. It was OK.
The best book. And it's by Martin Gilbert.
http://www.amazon.com/First-World-War-Complete-History/dp/0805047344 (http://www.amazon.com/First-World-War-Complete-History/dp/0805047344)
Meet Dr. Thomas Silkstone, an intriguing addition to the annals of detective fiction.
In eighteenth-century England, the murder of Sir Edward Crick sends a torrent of gossip breezing through Oxfordshire; although, aside from his sister, Lady Lydia Farrell, few mourn the young man. When Lady Farrell's husband becomes the prime suspect in the murder, she enlists the help of Dr. Thomas Silkstone--an anatomist and pioneering forensic detective--to solve the murder and prove his innocence.
Though Dr. Silkstone studied medicine in England under the foremost surgeon in the region, his unconventional methods and unfamiliar field of study have made him an outsider. Still, he agrees to examine Sir Edward's corpse, but the keenest blade he will use is his intellect. He must determine both the cause and motive of this suspicious death in what will be the first of many cases.
Did I mention I finished this?
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Mother of Christ this book fucking owned. Wish I read it ten years ago. Holy shit.
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I really, really regret buying this. I'm not a big fan of Jay-Z but there's no substance to be had with this book. While I do think Jay-Z has some entrepreneurial skills, it seems to be discussed in a surface manner. I wanted some real in depth shit. My fault.
The Big Payback takes us from the first $15 made by a "rapping DJ" in 1970s New York to the recent multi-million-dollar sales of the Phat Farm and Roc-a-Wear clothing companies in 2004 and 2007. On this four-decade-long journey from the studios where the first rap records were made to the boardrooms where the big deals were inked, The Big Payback tallies the list of who lost and who won. Read the secret histories of the early long-shot successes of Sugar Hill Records and Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC's crossover breakthrough on MTV, the marketing of gangsta rap, and the rise of artist/ entrepreneurs like Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs.
300 industry veterans-well-known giants like Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, the founders of Def Jam, and key insiders like Gerald Levin, the embattled former Time Warner chief-gave their stories to renowned hip-hop journalist Dan Charnas, who provides a compelling, never-before seen, myth-debunking view into the victories, defeats, corporate clashes, and street battles along the 40-year road to hip-hop's dominance.
The best book. And it's by Martin Gilbert.
http://www.amazon.com/First-World-War-Complete-History/dp/0805047344 (http://www.amazon.com/First-World-War-Complete-History/dp/0805047344)
Does it cover the aftermath of the war and its effects on us today?
The best book. And it's by Martin Gilbert.
http://www.amazon.com/First-World-War-Complete-History/dp/0805047344 (http://www.amazon.com/First-World-War-Complete-History/dp/0805047344)
Im trying to be all smart- put down the warhammer for a book, reading East of Eden- good book so far.
Im trying to be all smart- put down the warhammer for a book, reading East of Eden- good book so far.
I've had this book for years but every time I picked it up it's been at the wrong time that I've never in the mood for delving into something non goofy.
A mind-bending novel in which an alternate history of 9/11 and its aftermath uncovers startling truths about America and the Middle East
11/9/2001: Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners. They fly two into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh. The fourth plane, believed to be bound for Mecca, is brought down by its passengers.
The United Arab States declares a War on Terror. Arabian and Persian troops invade the Eastern Seaboard and establish a Green Zone in Washington, D.C. . . .
Summer, 2009: Arab Homeland Security agent Mustafa al Baghdadi interrogates a captured suicide bomber. The prisoner claims that the world they are living in is a mirage—in the real world, America is a superpower, and the Arab states are just a collection of "backward third-world countries." A search of the bomber's apartment turns up a copy of The New York Times, dated September 12, 2001, that appears to support his claim. Other captured terrorists have been telling the same story. The president wants answers, but Mustafa soon discovers he's not the only interested party.
The gangster Saddam Hussein is conducting his own investigation. And the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee—a war hero named Osama bin Laden—will stop at nothing to hide the truth. As Mustafa and his colleagues venture deeper into the unsettling world of terrorism, politics, and espionage, they are confronted with questions without any rational answers, and the terrifying possibility that their world is not what it seems.
Acclaimed novelist Matt Ruff has created a shadow world that is eerily recognizable but, at the same time, almost unimaginable. Gripping, subversive, and unexpectedly moving, The Mirage probes our deepest convictions and most arresting fears.
Dance with Dragons spoiler theory question:spoiler (click to show/hide)Is Coldhands Benjen Stark?[close]
A mind-bending, genre-twisting debut novel
In West Akron, Ohio, there lived a reclusive elderly man who always wore mittens, even in July. He had no friends and no family; all over town, he was known as the Man from Primrose Lane. And on a summer day, someone murdered him.
Fast-forward four years. David Neff, the bestselling author of a true-crime book about an Ohio serial killer, is a broken man after his wife’s inexplicable suicide. When an unexpected visit from an old friend introduces him to the strange mystery of “the man with a thousand mittens,” David decides to investigate. What he finds draws him back into a world he thought he had left behind forever. And the closer David gets to uncovering the true identity of the Man from Primrose Lane, the more he begins to understand the dangerous power of his own obsessions and how they may be connected to the deaths of both the old hermit and his beloved wife.
Deviously plotted and full of dark wit, James Renner’s The Man from Primrose Lane is an audacious debut that boasts as many twists as a roller coaster. But beneath its turns, it’s a spellbinding story about our obsessions: the dangerous sway they have over us and the fates of those we love.
Finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Wow. I've had the opportunity to read a lot of books on this deployments. A lot of them have been really good. Some have been entertaining, some have been interesting, some have been informative, but this is the most interesting book I've read in the last year. It took me a little longer than usual because I couldn't read it straight through. I could only read a chapter or two, and then I would have to put it down and think about it for just as long as I read for. I don't think I've ever actually read any books on philosophy before, unless Sidartha counts. Consider me mindfucked.
Finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Wow. I've had the opportunity to read a lot of books on this deployments. A lot of them have been really good. Some have been entertaining, some have been interesting, some have been informative, but this is the most interesting book I've read in the last year. It took me a little longer than usual because I couldn't read it straight through. I could only read a chapter or two, and then I would have to put it down and think about it for just as long as I read for. I don't think I've ever actually read any books on philosophy before, unless Sidartha counts. Consider me mindfucked.
Finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Wow. I've had the opportunity to read a lot of books on this deployments. A lot of them have been really good. Some have been entertaining, some have been interesting, some have been informative, but this is the most interesting book I've read in the last year. It took me a little longer than usual because I couldn't read it straight through. I could only read a chapter or two, and then I would have to put it down and think about it for just as long as I read for. I don't think I've ever actually read any books on philosophy before, unless Sidartha counts. Consider me mindfucked.
That book rocked my tiny, teen-aged mind back when I read it in high school.
Well it just rocked my tiny mid-20s mind. :(
What would be the Asimov books I really need to check out? I've already gone through most the Foundation series, and although I felt there was quite a drop off after the first couple of books I wasn't dissapointed in any of them. I've also read Fountains of Paradise which I really enjoyed, but after that I'm a blank slate and wouldn't mind checking out more of his stuff.
I, Robot?
Finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Wow. I've had the opportunity to read a lot of books on this deployments. A lot of them have been really good. Some have been entertaining, some have been interesting, some have been informative, but this is the most interesting book I've read in the last year. It took me a little longer than usual because I couldn't read it straight through. I could only read a chapter or two, and then I would have to put it down and think about it for just as long as I read for. I don't think I've ever actually read any books on philosophy before, unless Sidartha counts. Consider me mindfucked.
(http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.3510764.1328626915!/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/display_600/image.JPG)QuoteA mind-bending novel in which an alternate history of 9/11 and its aftermath uncovers startling truths about America and the Middle East
11/9/2001: Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners. They fly two into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh. The fourth plane, believed to be bound for Mecca, is brought down by its passengers.
The United Arab States declares a War on Terror. Arabian and Persian troops invade the Eastern Seaboard and establish a Green Zone in Washington, D.C. . . .
Summer, 2009: Arab Homeland Security agent Mustafa al Baghdadi interrogates a captured suicide bomber. The prisoner claims that the world they are living in is a mirage—in the real world, America is a superpower, and the Arab states are just a collection of "backward third-world countries." A search of the bomber's apartment turns up a copy of The New York Times, dated September 12, 2001, that appears to support his claim. Other captured terrorists have been telling the same story. The president wants answers, but Mustafa soon discovers he's not the only interested party.
The gangster Saddam Hussein is conducting his own investigation. And the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee—a war hero named Osama bin Laden—will stop at nothing to hide the truth. As Mustafa and his colleagues venture deeper into the unsettling world of terrorism, politics, and espionage, they are confronted with questions without any rational answers, and the terrifying possibility that their world is not what it seems.
Acclaimed novelist Matt Ruff has created a shadow world that is eerily recognizable but, at the same time, almost unimaginable. Gripping, subversive, and unexpectedly moving, The Mirage probes our deepest convictions and most arresting fears.
I just started it on the train today, so I don't have a solid opinion yet. It reads very quickly though and I am quite enjoying it and am curious to see how it turns out.
(http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.3510764.1328626915!/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/display_600/image.JPG)QuoteA mind-bending novel in which an alternate history of 9/11 and its aftermath uncovers startling truths about America and the Middle East
11/9/2001: Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners. They fly two into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh. The fourth plane, believed to be bound for Mecca, is brought down by its passengers.
The United Arab States declares a War on Terror. Arabian and Persian troops invade the Eastern Seaboard and establish a Green Zone in Washington, D.C. . . .
Summer, 2009: Arab Homeland Security agent Mustafa al Baghdadi interrogates a captured suicide bomber. The prisoner claims that the world they are living in is a mirage—in the real world, America is a superpower, and the Arab states are just a collection of "backward third-world countries." A search of the bomber's apartment turns up a copy of The New York Times, dated September 12, 2001, that appears to support his claim. Other captured terrorists have been telling the same story. The president wants answers, but Mustafa soon discovers he's not the only interested party.
The gangster Saddam Hussein is conducting his own investigation. And the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee—a war hero named Osama bin Laden—will stop at nothing to hide the truth. As Mustafa and his colleagues venture deeper into the unsettling world of terrorism, politics, and espionage, they are confronted with questions without any rational answers, and the terrifying possibility that their world is not what it seems.
Acclaimed novelist Matt Ruff has created a shadow world that is eerily recognizable but, at the same time, almost unimaginable. Gripping, subversive, and unexpectedly moving, The Mirage probes our deepest convictions and most arresting fears.
I just started it on the train today, so I don't have a solid opinion yet. It reads very quickly though and I am quite enjoying it and am curious to see how it turns out.
I thought that Osama (http://www.amazon.com/Osama-ebook/dp/B005OSXJO2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1333567697&sr=8-3) was a much better, more haunting take on very similar themes. Would strongly recommend (free to read for Prime members!)
Bookmarked The Man on Primrose Lane for later. Have also heard good things about The Drowned Girl.
I'm finishing up The Name of the Rose (for the first time, believe it or not) now. Somehow nobody told me it was a about an AWESOME SCIENCE DETECTIVE investigating the MYSTERY OF THE LIBRARY TESSERACT and mostly focused on how accurately it depicted 14th century complines zzzzz.
On a Vance kick; books in the Vance Integral Edition started getting converted to $6 eBooks, so that's rad.
Picked up Anathem for $1.99, though apparently I should just skip to REAMDE by all accounts.
Use Of Weapons is generally regarded as the best jumping point to enter the series right? I loved that book
http://www.pulitzer.org/ what's up with there being no award for fiction?
yeah i remember reading how gr was too obscene to win or something along those lines and also they worried if pynchon would even show uphttp://www.pulitzer.org/ what's up with there being no award for fiction?
There's a panel that selects finalists for each category and then the finalists are presented to the Pulitzer board. If the board doesn't like any of the nominations, then no one wins. (I know this from reading about Gravity's Rainbow, which was unanimously nominated by the fiction panel, but then rejected by the board)
Here's the three finalists for fiction:
http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2012-Fiction
"Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell (Alfred A. Knopf), an adventure tale about an eccentric family adrift in its failing alligator-wrestling theme park, told by a 13-year-old heroine wise beyond her years
I don't remember when or how I got it (doesn't look like I paid for it), but I read The Score by Richard Stark on my kindle over the two days. Fun lil story. I'll have to look into the other Parker novels.
Also finished Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes last week. I had read about a third of Good Calories, Bad Calories last year, but all the in depth research and medical descriptions made me lose interest. This was a much more straightforward read. Now I'm back to avoiding carbs and checking the nutrition facts on everything. :lol
I need more books. I haven't been too into games lately. :(
i too am struggling to decide between this and pale kingHere's the three finalists for fiction:
http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2012-FictionQuote"Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell (Alfred A. Knopf), an adventure tale about an eccentric family adrift in its failing alligator-wrestling theme park, told by a 13-year-old heroine wise beyond her years
:fbm
I keep saying I'm going to start The Name Of The Wind but I never do, despite the rave reviews
Back when, she could go weeks without anything more complicated than a pout. Now she was laying some heavy combination of face ingredients on him that he couldn't read at all.also excitedly imagining how the proposed PTA/RDJ adaptation will turn out.
Also finished Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes last week. I had read about a third of Good Calories, Bad Calories last year, but all the in depth research and medical descriptions made me lose interest. This was a much more straightforward read. Now I'm back to avoiding carbs and checking the nutrition facts on everything. :lol
I need more books. I haven't been too into games lately. :(
(http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/food/10642013-large.jpg)
100 pages in and it's already depressing me.
For some reason I bought the horrible Game of Groans book- its so bad.
For some reason I bought the horrible Game of Groans book- its so bad.
Good Lord, MAF. Why are you reading that and not something by Terry Pratchett?
it wasnt till I read through several bad fart jokes that I realized what id done :(
Go get Bored of the Rings. At the very least, there are several sophomoric sex scenes, which is more in line with a Game of Thrones parody than LotR.
Go get Bored of the Rings. At the very least, there are several sophomoric sex scenes, which is more in line with a Game of Thrones parody than LotR.
Frodo X Sam?
Imagine books written by a 13 year old boy and you've got bored of the rings and game of groans
Imagine books written by a 13 year old boy and you've got bored of the rings and game of groans
Imagine books written by a 13 year old boy and you've got bored of the rings and game of groans
Or the Game of ThronesTV script. :teehee
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WJ3n96%2BQL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)Just finished this. I probably facepalmed through the whole chapter about the handling of our nukes. :usacry
Excellent read- does a good job identifying the key events that created an environment where things like Iran-Contra, military privatization, and the gradual militarization of the CIA can occur, and how disconnecting americans from the sacrifice of war has promoted endless engagements.
I think my favorite thing about this book is how she pretty much skipped the beaten-to-death 9/11-post 9/11 GW Bush era issues to focus on what's currently going on in the Obama admin (drones, strike on osama in pakistan, etc..).
This book is more about the current American attitude towards war and how it got this way- not about right versus left. We ALL suck! Also its easy to read for people like me who buy more WarHammer 40k books than anything else ;)
Just finished this. I probably facepalmed through the whole chapter about the handling of our nukes. :usacry
i don't usualy read books,but if i wanted to pick one,do you guys have any good mysteries/murder mysteries you would recomend? the kind that would feature a very distinguished mentally-challenged plot twist? i find myself loving those when they come to videogame and i wouldn't mind trying to expand this to books
i don't usualy read books,but if i wanted to pick one,do you guys have any good mysteries/murder mysteries you would recomend? the kind that would feature a very distinguished mentally-challenged plot twist? i find myself loving those when they come to videogame and i wouldn't mind trying to expand this to books
or alternatively something funny,a nice comedy
distinguished mentally-challenged like mind blowing or distinguished mentally-challenged like it's cheap and cheating?
i find myself loving those when they come to videogame
The plot of the novel is Drogo's lifelong wait for a great war in which his life and the existence of the fort can prove its usefulness. The human need for giving life meaning and the soldier's desire for glory are themes in the novel. Drogo is posted to the remote outpost overlooking a desolate Tartar desert; he spends his career waiting for the barbarian horde rumored to live beyond the desert.
I thought about posting that, but I think it's more fair to say "imagine books written by a fat middle-aged pedophile".
i don't care about how stupid and contrived you get as long as you surprise me
so i guess a bit of both,and great rumbler isn't your book kindle only? i was thinking about a book i could find on a library or something like that
i don't usualy read books,but if i wanted to pick one,do you guys have any good mysteries/murder mysteries you would recomend? the kind that would feature a very distinguished mentally-challenged plot twist? i find myself loving those when they come to videogame and i wouldn't mind trying to expand this to books
or alternatively something funny,a nice comedy
i don't usualy read books,but if i wanted to pick one,do you guys have any good mysteries/murder mysteries you would recomend? the kind that would feature a very distinguished mentally-challenged plot twist? i find myself loving those when they come to videogame and i wouldn't mind trying to expand this to books
or alternatively something funny,a nice comedy
This is completely distinguished mentally-challenged but very amusing nonetheless. Insane twists and wacky situations ahoy
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lTam0GZ2L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-67,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)
and great rumbler isn't your book kindle only? i was thinking about a book i could find on a library or something like that
(http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/food/10642013-large.jpg)
100 pages in and it's already depressing me.
Just got the kindle version of this as well.
I started on Perdido Street Station.
I'm not very far in, but from what I gather, a winged dude rides a barge into a massive shitpile of a city. Then a large black man who works as a science professor spends some time fucking a woman who has the head of a beetle. Then this beetle lady rides a chocobo taxi to a river area that's all sorts of fucked up.
I'd probably stop here if I hadn't been told that the book gets really good later on.
What's this song of youth stuff?
Somehow I got the entire Wheel of Time series on my kindle. I read the first two books over the course of some long waiting periods during the past few days.
People say that George R.R. Martin needs an editor? Holy shit, he has nothing on Robert Jordan. You could literally tell the exact same stories using 30% as many words. The biggest issue is that he doesn't know how to just cut to the next scene. Every single event that happens needs to be described in painstaking detail.
Also, his prose is pretty mediocre most of the time.tbh, if you don't like it after the first handful of chapters I doubt you'll like the rest either. I mean there's more plot and action and stuff later on, but I think the world, society etc. is the big attraction so if you're not feeling that, you probably won't get a ton out of the book.
I did like the world a lot. I'm taking the book on an upcoming plane ride, and I definitely plan to finish it.
I finished the book I was reading today, recommend what I read next:
Count Zero - William Gibson
The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury
The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Software - Rudy Rucker
Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
The Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Perdido Street Station - China Meiville
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
I forgot that I had one more book in my reading queue:
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami
Makes it an even ten.
I finished the book I was reading today, recommend what I read next:
Count Zero - William Gibson
The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury
The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Software - Rudy Rucker
Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
The Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Perdido Street Station - China Meiville
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami
(http://www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/4/4c/MLO1765.jpg)
i finished this last night and i absolutely cannot say enough nice things about it.
absolutely wonderful short stories in a variety of genres.
Cormac, Eel and Treesong should definitely become familiar with him if they're not already.
Since everyone basically recommended a different book, I started reading The Fall of Hyperion, since that was kind of what I was leaning towards anyway. Really good so far, picks up nicely from the previous book left off and introduces a few new things to keep it all going. One thing I really like about the Hyperion books is how detailed the universe is, all the little nuances and new terms the book casually uses, without feeling overwhelming.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ku7IvIHML._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Finished my book on things that are real and important- back to SPACE MARINES
Fandom: Jurassic Park
“what are those?” Lunge Claw asked pointing at her breasts.
“they’re called ‘nipples’,” She replied, “they’re for feeding human babies, mostly because human babies don’t have…teeth.” Sarah then realized that was flirtatious question and not out of curiosity.
Lunge Claw laughed, “didn’t expect that from a dinosaur, did ya?”
“You little reptilian pervert,” Sarah blushed, “I don’t whether to kill you or kiss you.”
So many thoughts ran through their heads at that moment, most of them revolved one question: a human and a dinosaur, in love?
By nightfall, Sarah was lying down underneath lunge claw, lunge claw had his penis unsheathed and held it close to her vulva.
“I’m ready,” Sarah said.”
:roflQuoteFandom: Jurassic Park
“what are those?” Lunge Claw asked pointing at her breasts.
“they’re called ‘nipples’,” She replied, “they’re for feeding human babies, mostly because human babies don’t have…teeth.” Sarah then realized that was flirtatious question and not out of curiosity.
Lunge Claw laughed, “didn’t expect that from a dinosaur, did ya?”
“You little reptilian pervert,” Sarah blushed, “I don’t whether to kill you or kiss you.”
So many thoughts ran through their heads at that moment, most of them revolved one question: a human and a dinosaur, in love?
By nightfall, Sarah was lying down underneath lunge claw, lunge claw had his penis unsheathed and held it close to her vulva.
“I’m ready,” Sarah said.”
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BSdOHPG7L._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Out this next week- grabbed it today from the bookstore. Cool so far- nice n different.
As far as I can tell this was not written for "young adults" so I don't know what the deal is.
As far as I can tell this was not written for "young adults" so I don't know what the deal is.
that's funny, i thought you were reading a fantasy book.
BOOM
NAILED IT
I will bless that joke with lol. But.As far as I can tell this was not written for "young adults" so I don't know what the deal is.
that's funny, i thought you were reading a fantasy book.
BOOM
NAILED IT
it is very much Harry Potter for hipsters
I will bless that joke with lol. But.As far as I can tell this was not written for "young adults" so I don't know what the deal is.
that's funny, i thought you were reading a fantasy book.
BOOM
NAILED IT
TB has a point, Rothfuss starts basically transferring his unrequited love somewhere in first book, and goes overboard in book two. It's a fun read, if you factor in MASSIVE empowerment, and serious lack of the essential pairing words with pictures skill it's a fun read.
If it was a cheese, it'd probably be ripe Brie.
Trying to read CLASSICS so when people ask what ive read I can say Steinbeck and not just DAN ABNETT. Plus I love Steinbeck's writing style- gives me a literary boner.
to be fair, Grapes of Wrath is totally like this time a group of Imperial Guard got detached from their main formation during a planetary reclamation and the orks knocked over their temporary base and they had to go run to Caleephonya to try to get their orders, but all they found were a bunch of people in the same boat, because someone had sold them out to the forces of chaos. It was really sad.
to be fair, Grapes of Wrath is totally like this time a group of Imperial Guard got detached from their main formation during a planetary reclamation and the orks knocked over their temporary base and they had to go run to Caleephonya to try to get their orders, but all they found were a bunch of people in the same boat, because someone had sold them out to the forces of chaos. It was really sad.
it is very much Harry Potter for hipsters
I really loved The Magicians, but then the way I chose to read and interpret it was perhaps more self-aware than it was intended. I dunno.
and yes, Kvothe is the Mary-Sue from Hell. OTOH, he fucks up massively and often. And he has terrible luck.
I read it of a piece with Among Others, so it really seemed to me like a book about our relationship with Fantasy, why we read Fantasy, and how that relationship changes as we grow older (and how that's not necessarily a bad thing). I dunno, FFVIII's my favorite Final Fantasy! I like insufferable prick protagonists as long as it's in service of an interesting story. Magicians reminded me of a Bret Easton Ellis novel.and yes, Kvothe is the Mary-Sue from Hell. OTOH, he fucks up massively and often. And he has terrible luck.
He does, but even those setbacks are always in service of the Greater Good of showing how awesome Kvothe is. Minor thematic spoilers:spoiler (click to show/hide)The tone is SO different in the frame story, and there's SUCH an emphasis throughout on storytelling, song, and narrative technique, that I'm mightily convinced very little of the back story went down the way Kvothe claims - that he's embellishing and improving his role because he's embarrassed by what actually happened. I could be totally wrong, but I'm still expecting a huge "yeah, I made it all up basically" headfake in book 3.[close]
In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients ? dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups ? from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif ? the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by the state's electronic security force, putting his clients and his own neck on the line. Then it turns out his lover's new fianc? is the ?Hand of God, ? as they call the head of state security, and his henchmen come after Alif, driving him underground. When Alif discovers The Thousand and One Days, the secret book of the jinn, which both he and the Hand suspect may unleash a new level of information technology, the stakes are raised and Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and unseen.
to be fair, Grapes of Wrath is totally like this time a group of Imperial Guard got detached from their main formation during a planetary reclamation and the orks knocked over their temporary base and they had to go run to Caleephonya to try to get their orders, but all they found were a bunch of people in the same boat, because someone had sold them out to the forces of chaos. It was really sad.
There's basically no way he can make it a trilogy proper. The end of the third book, it'll basically have some sort of cliff-hanger.
I also now know why GRRM has been taking ages to actually finish ASOIAF/HBO's Game of Thrones:
It's pretty obvious that it's leading up to a huge awesome battle between dragons and the ice vampires, but GRRM has no proper game plan. He can't describe big action scenes for shit, so he's going to bide his time, and sip inspiration from HBO. The HBO series is also several MASSIVE levels above the entertainment his books put out. But maybe that's just HBO being AWESOME.
just wrapped Caliban's War, the second book in The Expanse and I enjoyed it even though I know it's absolute pew pew garbage.
to make up for this sin of reading for enjoyment, I shall be reading Alif The Unseen next.QuoteIn an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients ? dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups ? from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif ? the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by the state's electronic security force, putting his clients and his own neck on the line. Then it turns out his lover's new fianc? is the ?Hand of God, ? as they call the head of state security, and his henchmen come after Alif, driving him underground. When Alif discovers The Thousand and One Days, the secret book of the jinn, which both he and the Hand suspect may unleash a new level of information technology, the stakes are raised and Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and unseen.
it promises to be orientalism of the highest calibre!
I'm about halfway through The Brothers Karamazov. It's pretty good, albeit extremely long-winded at times.
It's too bad I didn't read this back in college. I think I would have gotten a lot out of it back then, and I'm realizing that in many ways I'm basically the 21st century American version of Ivan Karamazov.
WELL IM GLAD YOU ARE ALL SMARTEY MEN BOOKS BUT IM GONNA SLUM IT WIT SOME FEIST RE-READZ YO
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/Feist_-_Magician_Coverart.png)
I read it of a piece with Among Others, so it really seemed to me like a book about our relationship with Fantasy, why we read Fantasy, and how that relationship changes as we grow older (and how that's not necessarily a bad thing). I dunno, FFVIII's my favorite Final Fantasy! I like insufferable prick protagonists as long as it's in service of an interesting story. Magicians reminded me of a Bret Easton Ellis novel.and yes, Kvothe is the Mary-Sue from Hell. OTOH, he fucks up massively and often. And he has terrible luck.
He does, but even those setbacks are always in service of the Greater Good of showing how awesome Kvothe is. Minor thematic spoilers:spoiler (click to show/hide)The tone is SO different in the frame story, and there's SUCH an emphasis throughout on storytelling, song, and narrative technique, that I'm mightily convinced very little of the back story went down the way Kvothe claims - that he's embellishing and improving his role because he's embarrassed by what actually happened. I could be totally wrong, but I'm still expecting a huge "yeah, I made it all up basically" headfake in book 3.[close]
Pretty sure it's going to be Kvothe shaking off all his tragedies and remembering how awesome he is actually.
I'm 250 pages into Alif and I was enjoying the hell out of it until the author introduced a blond-hair, blue eyed convert who rails against discrimination that she's faced since converting.
this is our author
(http://www.tatteredcover.com/files/tatteredcover/G_Willow_Wilson.jpg)
WELL IM GLAD YOU ARE ALL SMARTEY MEN BOOKS BUT IM GONNA SLUM IT WIT SOME FEIST RE-READZ YO
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/Feist_-_Magician_Coverart.png)
Loved this in my teens :bow2
You follow her on twitter? She's very nice, doesn't beat that drum much at all actually. Talks more about WoW than you'd expect
In Wuthering Heights, heroine Catherine Earnshaw "enjoys bondage sessions" with Heathcliff while sleuth Sherlock Holmes has a sexual relationship with his sidekick Dr Watson in the new e-book.
David Foster Wallace, when he wants to be, is probably the funniest modern American writer. His non-fiction essays are to-die-for.Yeah, I was very surprised. I assumed it would insightful, but dour. Instead, I get this excellent POV of being inside the head of an addict, ending with something that felt like a scene from a Buster Keaton movie. The suspense in the opening scene was also well handled, and the payoff there as well.spoiler (click to show/hide)was :'([close]
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5142ES9VS1L._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
I'm reading Rainbow Six it's my first Tom Clancy book and I'm willing to guess that it's probably not the best one to start with. It's really dry and kinda boring.
However it got me thinking. Are there any books that deal with the world post some sort of apocalypse, not like zombies or whatever. something like The Stand but more serious? I've already read The Road.
I finally dove into some DFW myself, over the weekend, in the shape of Consider the Lobster. Man, he's good.
Also recently enjoyed Lev Grossman's The Magician Kings and Jack McCallum's book on the Dream Team. Still spend most of my reading time on those books with the pictures though.
Does anyone have the second Kingkiller Chronicle book on Kindle that I could borrow?
The City & The City
Finished- was awesome.
Let me sum it up for you: Cade, the President’s vampire, must save the United States from an Al-Qaeda zombie attack.
Perpetrated by Dr. Frankenstein.
Who is an ex-Nazi.
http://lavietidhar.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/al-qaeda-zombies-and-american-vampires-on-christopher-farnsworths-blood-oath/
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_xOUGSl1wm7g/TGI7-7GhhhI/AAAAAAAAALk/QkaaMHHB75k/s320/Blood+Oath.jpg)QuoteLet me sum it up for you: Cade, the President’s vampire, must save the United States from an Al-Qaeda zombie attack.
Perpetrated by Dr. Frankenstein.
Who is an ex-Nazi.
SOLD
http://storybundle.com/
Are any of these any good?
http://storybundle.com/
Are any of these any good?
Um... obviously not?
Mike Kayatta is a 27-year-old science-enthusiast who owns a Darth-Vader-shaped spatula and all of Fraggle Rock on DVD.He's terrible at guitar, but tries to make up for it by writing books, Choose Your Own Adventures, and videogame news and reviews for Escapist Magazine. Someday he's going to build a robot.
I read this in one three hour sitting after being unable to fall asleep again having been shocked awake by a nightmare most likely caused by ill-advised complimentary coffee at 5 PM.
Nice Guy Noir, I suppose is one way to put this. A man; polite, pragmatic, thoughtful tries to convince the rest of the police organization in Concord that a suicide isn't a suicide but rather a murder. The issue is that no one really cares as they have more pressing concerns, that of a 6 kilometer wide meteor which will slam into the earth in mere months.
This is a fairly good plot, seemingly designed for film (the book is the first part of a trilogy). I don't think it really handles the "end of the world and thus the end of society" angle very well, but as this takes place in a very small city, there is a degree of isolation and thus believability that not too much craziness has hit this particular location.
The characters are fairly well done aside from a woman who exists to be fridged (Jesus, really? it's 2012). The final reveal on the murderer seems somewhat out of place from what we see of them in the book and their own explanation for the events doesn't quite gel right (which kind of ties into the whole not a very good handling of pre-apocalypse).
The main issue with this book is that though the lead character is in danger several times and has guns pulled on him, gets severely beaten, etc you know that as the first part of a trilogy that nothing bad will really happen to this character. You still have to sell two more books.
Worth a read but don't really expect anything mind-blowing. I'll probably track down the author's other books to see what they're like.
"Words and emotions are simple currencies. If we inflate them, they lose their value, just like money. They begin to mean nothing. Use 'beautiful' to describe a sandwich and the word means nothing. Since the war, there is no more room for inflated language. Words and feelings are small now-clear and precise. Humble like dreams"
jesus christ, the prose in this book.
Random quote from a page I just read (I could grab like one per page if I wanted)Quote"Words and emotions are simple currencies. If we inflate them, they lose their value, just like money. They begin to mean nothing. Use 'beautiful' to describe a sandwich and the word means nothing. Since the war, there is no more room for inflated language. Words and feelings are small now-clear and precise. Humble like dreams"
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51mLPYxW41L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)
I followed this pretty closely when it went down, but there were still some new revelations in there for me. I was neutral to Jimmy Kimmel before, but I thought he came out looking better than anyone else in the end. I was also surprised to the extent that Jerry Seinfeld is an NBC sycophant.
so JK Rowling's Casual Vacancy sounds as awesome as the Harry Potter books
http://storify.com/requireshate/the-casual-vacancy
"She had a way of moving that moved him as much as music, which was what moved him most of all."
Amazing.
My brain can't take more text-book reading, I need to be reminded of how fun reading used to be. I need a suggestion, any suggestion, as long as it's not 500-page fantasy book from an ongoing series. Biography suggestions are more favorable, fwiw.
What are some good horror books? One I've seen that looks interesting is "The Terror".
Need something new for my new Kindle and i havent touched the horror genre in books yet.
probably something slow and more methodical would be my taste.
Because this page is fairly representative of the whole:
(http://i.imgur.com/sfhzU.jpg)
Because this page is fairly representative of the whole:
(http://i.imgur.com/sfhzU.jpg)
huh... how does that even work?
My brain can't take more text-book reading, I need to be reminded of how fun reading used to be. I need a suggestion, any suggestion, as long as it's not 500-page fantasy book from an ongoing series. Biography suggestions are more favorable, fwiw.
(http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333579868l/13030260.jpg)
read the hell out of this
probably something slow and more methodical would be my taste.
:omg :o :hyper
At the Mountains of Madness, then.
yeah thats fine.
Finished The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, recommended by Prole.
Holy shit, this exactly what I wanted to read, mature, no coming of age, anti heroes. Great stuff, I read 300 pages in one go last night. Went out today to buy the second book in the trilogy, Before They Are Hanged. Already 70 pages in...
I'm reading Byron Crawford's Mindset of a Champion. Crawford is a long time hip hop blogger and this book is essentially grimey street tails about being a blogger. Pretty funny stuff to read. Very short, very fast read.
His blog is also great if you like Hip Hop
http://www.byroncrawford.com/
NSFW though.
The Western tradition of genre writing has certain demands. It requires plot – it requires action – it requires active, not passive, heroes. And while Giant Thief fits into the recognisable mode of traditional Western fantasy it also… doesn’t.
I’ll call it Slacker Fantasy. I’m not quite sure what to call this novel. It might have the feel of sword and sorcery, but it has little interest in either sword or sorcery. It isn’t really a Biblical epic. It isn’t really epic in any sense of the word, certainly not Epic Fantasy with its multiple cast of characters and large scale fantasy-world (usually the size of Wales, admittedly) conflict.
There isn’t even much conflict as such in this book. There’s just Damasco, the thief, dragged along into events he has no control over and no real interest in. Even Bilbo Baggins set of to steal a treasure of his own volition. Easie, here, just wants to be left alone.
And this is interesting to me. This is not Thomas Covenant battling the question of reality, and it isn’t the everyman character who discovers a magical London or wherever and is dragged into its mysteries.
More than anything, what Giant Thief does with its reluctance of agency is resemble a host of slacker movies, featuring sympathetic but essentially passive characters. Dude, Where’s My Car? or Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure seem to me to be the precursors to this tale of slacker fantasy.
I'm reading Byron Crawford's Mindset of a Champion. Crawford is a long time hip hop blogger and this book is essentially grimey street tails about being a blogger. Pretty funny stuff to read. Very short, very fast read.
His blog is also great if you like Hip Hop
http://www.byroncrawford.com/
NSFW though.
Well he basically just doesn't have any overreaching goals other than "try to survive on a day to day basis." He's in the situations but they're not of his doing. He just wants to chillax but life won't let him. I'm about 40% of the way through and it's fairly entertaining. It's not a major work of fiction or anything, but it's a fun little romp.
I always thought an interesting fantasy 'hook' would be to tell a story from the perspective of a weapon maker. Someone who helps facilitate wars, hero quests, death, murder, etc. But has an intimate relationship with the people he provides to.
Well he basically just doesn't have any overreaching goals other than "try to survive on a day to day basis." He's in the situations but they're not of his doing. He just wants to chillax but life won't let him. I'm about 40% of the way through and it's fairly entertaining. It's not a major work of fiction or anything, but it's a fun little romp.
That does sound basically like the Arthur Dent/Rincewind template though
abercrombie's "red country," which is a fantasy western. so far, so good.
abercrombie's "red country," which is a fantasy western. so far, so good.
i have that on my kindle ready to go but i dunno if i can jump from fantasy to fantasy
abercrombie's "red country," which is a fantasy western. so far, so good.
I saw that book somewhere in a bookshop but thought it might be tripe... might have to reconsider now.
Has anyone here ever read any Clive Barker stuff? I'd like to try out but don't know where to start.
I saw that book somewhere in a bookshop but thought it might be tripe... might have to reconsider now.
Has anyone here ever read any Clive Barker stuff? I'd like to try out but don't know where to start.
I saw that book somewhere in a bookshop but thought it might be tripe... might have to reconsider now.
Has anyone here ever read any Clive Barker stuff? I'd like to try out but don't know where to start.
I think Imajica is a stunning piece of work. I've read it about 4 times. It's a huge epic fantasy though, and you don't seem to like those so much. Weaveworld is a similar thing but a tad more grounded and smaller scale. If you just want horror, then the Books of Blood are the place to start.
I'm currently reading Adam Nevill's The Ritual which just won the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror and it's kind of fucking me up.
4 dudes in their 30s who have been lifelong friends take a hike together in Sweden. The weather is awful, half of them are out of shape, so they're having a miserable time the other half are tired of putting up with the fat half and to make things worse they get lost in a fairly primeval part of the forest looking for a shortcut that doesn't exist. Then they come across the totem and shit goes downhill really fast.
I'm about 20% in but it's already gotten my attention with the characters, the situation and some fairly brilliant perspective shifts into 2nd person when BAD THINGS are happening.
it should still shit the bed, of course, but daaaaaaaaamn so far this is pretty great.
I saw that book somewhere in a bookshop but thought it might be tripe... might have to reconsider now.
Has anyone here ever read any Clive Barker stuff? I'd like to try out but don't know where to start.
His kiddie stuff, the Abarat series is actually pretty good.
(http://i.imgur.com/gYpYg.jpg)
He also did the illustrations.
the damnation game is a little raw, but it's the best post-industrial vampire tale on the market.
The Last Policeman, a book I very much enjoyed, is $3 on Kindle right now
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0076Q1GW2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0076Q1GW2&linkCode=as2&tag=boiboi0b-20
no idea how long that price will last
The Twelve
Got this biznas loaded up on my nook and ready to go.
I enjoyed that book quite a bit though I didn't really like the ending.
http://0.tqn.com/d/scifi/1/0/p/y/0/-/Between-Two-Fires_Buehlman.JPG
And yoooooooooooooo Between Two Fires is amazing. It is basically the tale of a disgraced excommunicated knight on a quest, to protect a girl while she makes her way to Avignon during the plague years. It treats both the Heavenly Host and the Fallen as unknowable cosmic horrors with humanity caught in the middle between two uncaring factions in the absence of God. Things which are "good" cause madness as just as well as those things which are "evil." It's a really interesting take on both Paradise Lost and Cosmic Horror. So if you're a fantasy nerd, you should probably check this out, if you're a horror/Lovecraft/Cosmic Horror nerd, you should probably check this out and if you're a Lapsed Catholic you should check this out. I'm not finished with it, but it is VERY GOOD and gets my recommendation thus far.
Still showing it on sale for me, so I just gifted it to you.
(http://i.minus.com/jbjQXhqxrxltYM.jpg)
I thought you read those ages ago!
ah yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Both of those are pretty dense with new info for most people so you'll definitely gain a lot from re-reading it after some time digesting it/reading other material in the same field/observing how people around you eat + exercise etc
So, just how many pounds did you pack on playing Steam games then
I should subscribe to that as well. I listen to Podcasts during my work day. Would definitely keep me thinking about what I eat during the day.
So, yeah, I decided to pick up a book from the Gor fantasy series today because it was one dollar and, hey, it might be good for a few laughs.
So, yeah, I decided to pick up a book from the Gor fantasy series today because it was one dollar and, hey, it might be good for a few laughs. It was actually the 18th in the series, maybe there's even more than that, I don't really know, but it probably doesn't matter. Well...uh...WOW. It was far worse than I thought was ever possible. You know, people accuse the Conan stories of being misogynist, and that's not an unfair claim, but this book ratchets that up to truly inconceivable heights.
The bulk of that angle centers around female slavery. Basically, taking women and humiliating them in the worst ways possible before collaring them and making them into sex slaves for men. There's not really anything new about that with the low-rent barbarian fantasy genre, except that it's not the bad guys doing that. It's EVERY man, including the "hero," aka Gor the dude from Earth. The book is in first-person, so obviously the narrator doesn't have any problems with that. He yammers constantly about how cool it is to enslave women. But it gets worse. The few named female characters in this story [there aren't many] all act like becoming a sex slave to a man is the greatest thing that's ever happened to them, including the one woman that was kidnapped from Earth. See, she was a slave back on Earth and didn't know it. Being a REAL slave is so liberating! Also, Gor, the hero, uses a naked woman as bait to try to catch some wild animal at one point in the story. Any slave that doesn't please her master is useless, and worthy only of being left behind to die in the wilderness.
The worst part is that the writing is so painfully bad and the dialogue is stilted, repetitive, and so, so dull. 90% of the story is just people talking on and on [which is mostly comprised of men talking about enslaving women and women talking about how great it is to be a sex slave] and there's much repetition within all that dialogue. Most of the lines of dialogue are just a few words that get repeated over and over, but sometimes there's a big long speech but it's still just the same stuff repeated over and over [again, generally about female slavery]. I tried reading some of it, but, like, nothing actually happened. NOTHING. It was just Gor treating women like dirt for 450 pages. Maybe a monster showed up, but why bother wading through a million pages of slop to find out if one ever does? Even within the realm of low-rent barbarian fantasy, the writing is really low. It makes Robert E. Howard read like Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction.
And it doesn't even have any good sex scenes. The story always cuts away before anything actually happens. Shame on you, John Norman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorean
that should help you sleep at night
free ebooks from nightshade press
http://www.nightshadebooks.com/ebook-giveaway/
Username: freestuff
Password: myanprophecyaverted
At the beginning of this year I made a goal to read 50 books. I got to 40.
I may get to 41 depending on my mood, but suffice to say, I have not read so much in one year before. I've learned so much on so many subjects. Even though I didn't make my goal, I still feel really proud of myself.
i literally never leave the house without a book
I read about 60 books this year and I work some ridiculous hours. A few of them were very dry 800+ page reads.
I thank the Kindle App for that. I read when taking a dump, during a boring teleconference, before I go to sleep, during some boring weekend stretches, etc. I mean, it has never been easier and more convenient to read. Even buying books from Amazon is painless. Just one click and you're done.
The Paperwhite's ability to tell me how long in minutes I have until the end of a chapter is fucking GLORIOUS. And it's completely accurate too. I've tested it several times and it's spot on every time.
I read generally slow and I HATE stopping before the end of a chapter so I mostly never bring my kindle around with me beyond the bus rides to work. I need a nice long stretch so I can at least get through a chapter or two.
The Paperwhite's ability to tell me how long in minutes I have until the end of a chapter is fucking GLORIOUS. And it's completely accurate too. I've tested it several times and it's spot on every time.
i literally never leave the house without a book
i literally never leave the house but when i do, it's with an ebook
(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSzk7LaXCWOeOBlUiLbRhenSffSA4lfKITJnOJibagpi912T3mRvA)
Wow, what a bunch of creepy garbage. If I put "Warning, Adult Children Play Here" at my work, I hope I get shitcanned.
Basically the story is about a woman who moved to Seattle with her husband who dies. She gets promoted to lead a group of disgruntled people and was given a strict deadline by her hardass boss to improve morale. Feeling trapped, a revelatory moment happens when she stumbles across this creepy sounding fish market (does this place even exist?) where every sentence spoken is cringe inducing and probably made up. In fact, I think the whole story was made up. So she tries to adopt this extremely cheesy way of management that she witnessed in the fish market, resulting in hard shelled motherfuckers having emotional breakdowns and crying as to why they are such meany doodoo heads to everyone else. Everything turns around magically in a short order; everyone heaps masturbatory praise over this woman, who now every competitor wants to hire away for a high price.
That last sentence is probably why management wants to adopt this shitty program: it's a way for management to wholly reap the benefits while having their subordinates be all wacky and kooky and crazy and zany. Then as you sacrifice your dignity to be considered a manchild, your boss gets hired away to your competitor for double the pay.
In the trash it goes!
(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSzk7LaXCWOeOBlUiLbRhenSffSA4lfKITJnOJibagpi912T3mRvA)
Wow, what a bunch of creepy garbage. If I put "Warning, Adult Children Play Here" at my work, I hope I get shitcanned.
Basically the story is about a woman who moved to Seattle with her husband who dies. She gets promoted to lead a group of disgruntled people and was given a strict deadline by her hardass boss to improve morale. Feeling trapped, a revelatory moment happens when she stumbles across this creepy sounding fish market (does this place even exist?) where every sentence spoken is cringe inducing and probably made up. In fact, I think the whole story was made up. So she tries to adopt this extremely cheesy way of management that she witnessed in the fish market, resulting in hard shelled motherfuckers having emotional breakdowns and crying as to why they are such meany doodoo heads to everyone else. Everything turns around magically in a short order; everyone heaps masturbatory praise over this woman, who now every competitor wants to hire away for a high price.
That last sentence is probably why management wants to adopt this shitty program: it's a way for management to wholly reap the benefits while having their subordinates be all wacky and kooky and crazy and zany. Then as you sacrifice your dignity to be considered a manchild, your boss gets hired away to your competitor for double the pay.
In the trash it goes!
ahahaha are you serious? This is for "leadership"? Really?
Another example of how us white folk will buy damned near anything...
(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSzk7LaXCWOeOBlUiLbRhenSffSA4lfKITJnOJibagpi912T3mRvA)Pikes? Yeah, it exists and they do all sorts of wacky shit there.
Wow, what a bunch of creepy garbage. If I put "Warning, Adult Children Play Here" at my work, I hope I get shitcanned.
Basically the story is about a woman who moved to Seattle with her husband who dies. She gets promoted to lead a group of disgruntled people and was given a strict deadline by her hardass boss to improve morale. Feeling trapped, a revelatory moment happens when she stumbles across this creepy sounding fish market (does this place even exist?) where every sentence spoken is cringe inducing and probably made up. In fact, I think the whole story was made up. So she tries to adopt this extremely cheesy way of management that she witnessed in the fish market, resulting in hard shelled motherfuckers having emotional breakdowns and crying as to why they are such meany doodoo heads to everyone else. Everything turns around magically in a short order; everyone heaps masturbatory praise over this woman, who now every competitor wants to hire away for a high price.
That last sentence is probably why management wants to adopt this shitty program: it's a way for management to wholly reap the benefits while having their subordinates be all wacky and kooky and crazy and zany. Then as you sacrifice your dignity to be considered a manchild, your boss gets hired away to your competitor for double the pay.
In the trash it goes!
I just started The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner because I saw a character in Mad Men reading it as well. Have to find out about books somehow!
New/last Wheel of Time book is out today. :yuckspoiler (click to show/hide)I'll probably read it :fbm[close]
I just started The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner because I saw a character in Mad Men reading it as well. Have to find out about books somehow!
That's the first book that made me feel dumb. :lol My 14 year old brain was not ready for that.
From what I read about it it relies heavily on stream of consciousness which I very much enjoy, I haven't been this excited to read something in a long time.
Just started The Three Christs of Ypsilanti - a pyschologist takes three institutionalized men that each believe they are Jesus and put them together for a few years and logged the results - I've only just started yet I'm not sure if he's doing it FOR SCIENCE, for lolz or just because 1950s.
"No other party in Germany came near to attracting so many shady characters. As we have seen, a conglomeration of pimps, murderers, homosexuals, alcoholics and blackmailers flocked to the party as if to a natural haven. Hitler did not care, as long as they were useful to him."
"But the brown-shirted S.A. never became much more than a motley mob of brawlers. Many of its top leaders, beginning with its chief, Roehm, were notorious homosexual perverts. Lieutenant Edmund Heines, who led the Munich S.A., was not only a homosexual but a convicted murderer. These two and dozens of others quarreled and feuded as only men of unnatural sexual inclinations, with their peculiar jealousies, can."
"'I know Esser is a scoundrel,' Hitler retorted in public, 'but I shall hold on to him as long as he can be of use to me.' This was to be his attitude toward almost all of his close collaborators, no matter how murky their past—or indeed their present. Murderers, pimps, homosexual perverts, drug addicts or just plain rowdies were all the same to him if they served his purposes."
I'm also reading that - read bits of it years ago in high school but picked it up recently during a Kindle sale. Agreed on the homo talk - it really does equate to evil in his mind, like wearing a black hat in a western. No more need be said!
I'm also reading that - read bits of it years ago in high school but picked it up recently during a Kindle sale. Agreed on the homo talk - it really does equate to evil in his mind, like wearing a black hat in a western. No more need be said!
Bu.. bu... but wouldn't that mean that so many Boritos are evil, or at least leaning heavily toward evil? At a slanted angle, like they were leaning into an overwhelming wind?
I'm also reading that - read bits of it years ago in high school but picked it up recently during a Kindle sale. Agreed on the homo talk - it really does equate to evil in his mind, like wearing a black hat in a western. No more need be said!
Bu.. bu... but wouldn't that mean that so many Boritos are evil, or at least leaning heavily toward evil? At a slanted angle, like they were leaning into an overwhelming wind?
well 'evilbore' was your first clue Sherlock
Double post up in this bitch!!!
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I think Eric P might well like that 'new' Tolkien book, The Children of Hurin. I found it quite gripping and there is a very EB-friendly twist in there.
http://requireshate.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/jim-butcher-chauvinist-and-talentless-stunning-combo/Yeah, thanks for that. I also followed the link at the bottom, and there was more of the same from other people, but the article you've linked calls out exactly all the passages where I was feeling my Spidey-sense tingling. It puts to rest my concerns about whether it's a problem with the narrator, or just with the author. It's the author.
Have you read Patricia Highsmith's
QuoteHave you read Patricia Highsmith's
the answer is always "yes." i went through a bit of a...phase with her in the 90s.
http://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sandman-slim-by-richard-kadrey/
Crack open a pedophile’s piñata and Cherry Moon is the candy that falls out.
I liked Mike Carey's Felix Castor series
avoid Sandman Slim like the fucking plague.
http://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sandman-slim-by-richard-kadrey/
Urban fantasy is well known for being a cess-pit of terrible writing produced by stunted, illiterate racists:lol :lol :lol
The absolute worst is when Kadrey tries to be funny, as he shares Jim Butcher’s almost savant-like talent for terrible jokes. Unfortunately Stark is one of those “witty” characters who uses cheesy one-liners the way most people use commas so we end up with this shit on damn near every page.FFFUUU...! Why did I buy this? Why? WHY?
http://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sandman-slim-by-richard-kadrey/
:roflhttp://ronanwills.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sandman-slim-by-richard-kadrey/
:rofl
Crack open a pedophile’s piñata and Cherry Moon is the candy that falls out.
Currently listening to the first Dresden Files book, Storm Front. It's a first-person, urban fantasy noir novel, following the first-person format of those old crime novels to a T, so it's not clear if all the sexy ladies in it are because Jim Butcher is sexist, or if the character Harry is just prone to only noticing pretty women, or if Butcher is just following that particular noir trope without updating it for modern times. This is read by James Marsters of "Buffy" fame, and he does quite well with the material.
Finished Storm Front, will not be continuing the series, and won't immediately be starting Sandman Slim, or prioritizing it in any way. Butcher finished the book in a weirdly mediocre way. I think Harry is just a fucked up geek, who was bullied, and wants to bully back, but at most will just be passive-aggressive when offered an opportunity for righteous revenge, but doesn't want to get his hands dirty. In the end, Harry ends up making fun of an enemy who actively saves his life... I think it was supposed to be funny, but it was sad.
http://requireshate.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/jim-butcher-chauvinist-and-talentless-stunning-combo/
But surely that’s too harsh. Vicious, even. Surely it can’t be that bad. Let the text, then, speak for itself.
[Susan] had tricked me into meeting her eyes at the conclusion of our first interview, an eager young reporter investigating an angle on her interviewee. She was the one who had fainted after we had soulgazed.
Oh yeah, this is how hardcore Harry Dresden is. He can “soulgaze” women into fainting.
Never let it be said that Fiddy didn't make the most of this opportunity. He took this beef to the next level, dragging all kinds of family members into it. You might remember the videos he made with one of Rawse's babies' mothers, Tia. He flew her up to New York and took her out shopping. He bought her a fur coat. Let's just say you could tell it was the only fur coat she ever owned. (No shots.) There's a classic photo of her and Fiddy in what may or may not have been a post-coital embrace, not unlike the way Birdman and Lil Wayne held each other on the cover of the 10th anniversary issue of XXL.
The corn you eat with your dinner was probably delivered in a truck driven by a guy who takes showers in restaurants. Even if you don't eat corn, you probably eat something with corn in it. No Boutros. I heard like half the shit in the grocery store has corn in it, which is why we're so fat. Which doesn't make sense to me, because corn is healthy and delicious. The Native American Indians ate it for thousands of years and they didn't get fat.
Tried the Dresden Files a few years ago, gave up halfway through the second book. A friend whose taste overlaps with mine but is generally less nitpicky read a bunch of the books in a row but also gradually got annoyed with it and quit.
Which isn't to say the books don't get better or aren't decent beach reads or whatever. Though that soulgaze/fainting quote isn't "old fashioned." It's just asinine.
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(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41e06j8BwTL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-52,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)
I finished reading this after getting it a month ago because it's kind of a crappy book. It's $2.99 on Kindle. I think it is crappy because I prefer my history reads to be dry and the target audience for this book is the type of people that buy crap like "Why Do Men Have Nipples?" Still, I guess it shows how vital salt was in preserving perishables. If this book is to be believed, it seemed like entire civilizations were based on cultivating salt. The same author wrote a book about Cod and Oysters, probably written in the same style. It would be a great reads for high school history class and that's about it.
Isn't The Man in the High Castle being made into a movie? I'll be curious how they slaughter this PKD.
i really enjoyed salt but then i love salt and never read history so its populist style probably suited me. tonnes of fun anecdotes and while that may've been all it was i know others (all women) who've enjoyed it.
today finished the man in the high castle for probably the 20th time but the first in years. this has to be philip k dick's most coherent novel right? it has none of the gaudiness or irreverence of his other sci-fi or the schizophrenia of the last works. i've never read any of his mainstream fiction, can anyone recommend something?
started riddley walker by russel hoban wen i got hoam an got far as the splitting of Addom. quite excited to continue.
why have i only rediscovered my appetite for fiction as soon as i've returned to school? :s
Africa, 1952.
The swastika flies from the Sahara to the Indian Ocean. Britain and a victorious Nazi Germany have divided the continent. The SS has crushed the native populations and forced them into labour. Gleaming autobahns bisect the jungle, jet fighters patrol the skies. For almost a decade an uneasy peace has ensued.
Now, however, the plans of Walter Hochburg, messianic racist and architect of Nazi Africa, threaten Britain’s ailing colonies.
Sent to curb his ambitions is Burton Cole: a one-time assassin torn between the woman he loves and settling an old score with Hochburg. If he fails unimaginable horrors will be unleashed on the continent. No one – black or white – will be spared.
But when his mission turns to disaster, Burton must flee for his life.
It is a flight that will take him from the unholy ground of Kongo to SS slave camps to war-torn Angola – and finally a conspiracy that leads to the dark heart of THE AFRIKA REICH itself.
Guy Saville has combined meticulous research with edge-of-the-seat suspense to produce a superb novel of alternate history.
He meticulously researched how much Nazis hated black people and came up with "a lot".
He meticulously researched how much Nazis hated black people and came up with "a lot".
He meticulously researched how much Nazis hated black people and came up with "a lot".
He meticulously researched how much Nazis hated black people and came up with "a lot".
Before Ian Fleming there was Dennis Wheatley. A best-selling spy novelist at the outset of World War II, Wheatley became a master of deception for Great Britain, turning pulp fiction fantasies into real-life espionage. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Tina Rosenberg tells the amazing true story of one man who applied the plots of his own novels to the battlefield—and changed the course of history.
Sick of manly men maiming mainly menacing nazis, i picked up D for Deception which is about Dennis Wheatley's wartime work for the British War effort and it's kind of fascinating how a social climber turned novelist was able to get his current job and basically sit there and theorize ways to manipulate Nazi expectations to get the desire result from false intelligence and then dream up of ways that the Nazis would invade the UK which could then be prevented.
It's $2 and a very quick read.QuoteBefore Ian Fleming there was Dennis Wheatley. A best-selling spy novelist at the outset of World War II, Wheatley became a master of deception for Great Britain, turning pulp fiction fantasies into real-life espionage. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Tina Rosenberg tells the amazing true story of one man who applied the plots of his own novels to the battlefield—and changed the course of history.
I heard about it through Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, a weekly podcast featuring two RPG designers talking about...well stuff. History, gaming, culture and esoterica.
interview w/ author
http://harpers.org/blog/2012/12/d-for-deception/
the book on kindle
http://www.amazon.com/D-Deception-Kindle-Single-ebook/dp/B008S1267S
the Ken and Robin episode (2nd segment)
http://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/index.php/episode-30-ring-tailed-and-fructivorous/
Chris Hollaway was born in St. Johns, Michigan, in 1975. In 1977, his family settled in Idaho, where he has lived ever since.
In school, he read as much as he could, usually a book a day. This was in between dodging the larger students, who were particularly fond of placing him in the trash can. Armed with a brain chock-full of Science-Fiction and Fantasy, two grants,some loans, and a small scholarship, he stormed in to the University of Idaho. Nine months later, (No, I know what you're thinking, but no.) he returned to his hometown after the worst year of his life.
He tried his hand in the Manufacturing sector, helping build farm machinery. Three months later, after a seasonal layoff, he moved to the big city. After interviewing twice at a large semiconductor manufacturing company, and waiting, he failed an interview at the Dairy Queen because he laughed when the interviewer quite seriously asked, "Where do you see your career taking you here, at Dairy Queen?'. Fast forward fourteen years, where constant night shift work at a retail grocery chain, a new wife and two kids, selling phone service and vacuums on the side, and finally, more night shifts at the semiconductor company that *finally* gave him the third interview, have finally caused our hero's... Ahem. Our author's brain to start leaking some of the leftover Fantasy/Adventure out in some typing practice.
Chris started writing in earnest in 2008, devoting lunches, breaks, and whatever time he could manage to squirrel away at home to his first book. In 2010, he started shopping his manuscript around. Discovering that most Literary Agents, Editors, and Publishers were mostly frauds, and probably the same lady with a powerful robo-e-mailer and a long form letter with horrid misspellings, he gave up.
Instead of trying to impress random people with the quality of his work, he found local talent to help him improve it. Friends and an actual editor read and re-read, and Chris polished the manuscript until he was happy with it. Then he immersed himself in studying marketing, promotion, and self publishing. Unable to fully concentrate on the business side, he began working on the second book in the series.
In 2012, he discovered Kindle Direct Publishing, formatted and submitted 'Apprentice Swordceror'. Cover art, print versions, and a second book in the 'Blademage Saga' are forthcoming.
i bet he sells what i would consider a fuckton off that daily deal spotlight, too :maf
I'm going to finish The Dream Metropolis by MH Cressman over the break, I've decided. Will post a review when I'm done. I read the first few dozen pages, and it's pretty good so far.God I'd love that.
How tough would it be to get Cressman a spot in one of those Daily Deals?
How tough would it be to get Cressman a spot in one of those Daily Deals?:bow
Apprentice Authoriter:rofl
A friend of mine highly recommended The Way Of Kings. I've never read any of Sanderson's shit, anyone familiar with this? The amazon write up is interesting...
(http://i.imgur.com/gp8CWkr.jpg)
wait you mean gargantuan multi-billion dollar industries DON'T have our best interests at heart?
why, that's crazy.
(http://i.imgur.com/gp8CWkr.jpg)
wait you mean gargantuan multi-billion dollar industries DON'T have our best interests at heart?
why, that's crazy.
i read about 60 pages of it last night and everything i read is just "ugh"
if i weren't already in the "no processed foods" category, I would be there post-haste
it's just utterly disgusting
i read about 60 pages of it last night and everything i read is just "ugh"I have a friend who is all about this book and rails on about how the food industry has pulled the wool over our eyes and we should all wake up. He also wants the FDA and FCC disbanded and wants no government in business.
if i weren't already in the "no processed foods" category, I would be there post-haste
it's just utterly disgusting
And what about all this talk about fighting obesity? asked an analyst from Prudential Securities. How was the company going to meet its projected sales growth of 3 percent if it was worrying about people's waistlines? "You've obviously made a statement on obesity," this analyst added. "but can you clarify the company's efforts in achieving a volume increase? You're going to try to grow your volume 2 to 3 percent domestically, it's almost got to make us fat."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10049454/Dont-make-fun-of-renowned-Dan-Brown.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10049454/Dont-make-fun-of-renowned-Dan-Brown.html)
She was as majestic as the finest sculpture by Caravaggio or the most coveted portrait by Rodin. I like the attractive woman, thought the successful man.:rofl
I read I, Claudius. Now I'm reading Claudius the God, and if I'm not yet tired of reading about people getting fucked and murdered, I'll probably read The Twelve Caesers as well.
Iain Banks dies of cancer aged 59
Iain Banks Iain Banks was best known for his novels The Wasp Factory, The Crow Road and Complicity
Continue reading the main story
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Iain Banks statement in full
Author Banks has terminal cancer
Author Iain Banks has died aged 59, two months after announcing he had terminal cancer, his family has said.
The Scottish writer revealed in April he was suffering from terminal gall bladder cancer and was unlikely to live for more than a year.
He was best known for his novels The Wasp Factory, The Crow Road and Complicity.
In a statement, his publisher said he was "an irreplaceable part of the literary world".
I enjoy his sitcom but I think a book would get tiringI've never seen his sitcom, but I do enjoy the podcast. That said, eeeeehhhhh don't think I would read a book.
Alternating between nineteenth-century England and present-day New York, this is the story of renowned British painter J. M. W. Turner and his circle of patrons and lovers. It is also the story of Henry Leiden, a middle-aged family man with a troubled marriage and a dead-end job, who finds his life transformed by his discovery of Turner’s The Center of the World, a mesmerizing and unsettling painting of Helen of Troy that was thought to have been lost forever.
This painting has such devastating erotic power that it was kept hidden for almost two centuries, and was even said to have been destroyed...until Henry stumbles upon it in a secret compartment at his summer home in the Adirondacks. Though he knows it is an object of immense value, the thought of parting with it is unbearable: Henry is transfixed by its revelation of a whole other world, one of transcendent light, joy, and possibility.
Back in the nineteenth century, Turner struggles to create The Center of the World, his greatest painting, but a painting unlike anything he (or anyone else) has ever attempted. We meet his patron, Lord Egremont, an aristocrat in whose palatial home Turner talks freely about his art and his beliefs. We also meet Elizabeth Spencer, Egremont’s mistress and Turner’s muse, the model for his Helen. Meanwhile, in the present, Henry is relentlessly trailed by an unscrupulous art dealer determined to get his hands on the painting at any cost. Filled with sex, beauty, and love (of all kinds), this richly textured novel explores the intersection between art and eroticism.
Clerks meets Buffy the Vampire the Slayer in this original urban fantasy eBook about Geekomancers—humans that derive supernatural powers from pop culture.
Ree Reyes’s life was easier when all she had to worry about was scraping together tips from her gig as a barista and comicshop slave to pursue her ambitions as a screenwriter.
When a scruffy-looking guy storms into the shop looking for a comic like his life depends on it, Ree writes it off as just another day in the land of the geeks. Until a gigantic “BOOM!” echoes from the alley a minute later, and Ree follows the rabbit hole down into her town’s magical flip-side. Here, astral cowboy hackers fight trolls, rubber-suited werewolves, and elegant Gothic Lolita witches while wielding nostalgia-powered props.
Ree joins Eastwood (aka Scruffy Guy), investigating a mysterious string of teen suicides as she tries to recover from her own drag-your-heart-through-jagged-glass breakup. But as she digs deeper, Ree discovers Eastwood may not be the knight-in-cardboard armor she thought. Will Ree be able to stop the suicides, save Eastwood from himself, and somehow keep her job?
Check out the sequel to Michael R. Underwood’s Geekomancy, Celebromancy, out on July 15 from Pocket Star:
Things are looking up for urban fantasista Ree Reyes. She’s using her love of pop culture to fight monsters and protect her hometown as a Geekomancer, and now a real-live production company is shooting her television pilot script.
But nothing is easy in show business. When an invisible figure attacks the leading lady of the show, former child-star-turned-current-hot-mess Jane Konrad, Ree begins a school-of-hard-knocks education in the power of Celebromancy.
Attempting to help Jane Geekomancy-style with Jedi mind tricks and X-Men infiltration techniques, Ree learns more about movie magic than she ever intended. She also learns that real life has the craziest plots: not only must she lift a Hollywood-strength curse, but she needs to save her pilot, negotiate a bizarre love rhombus, and fight monsters straight out of the silver screen. All this without anyone getting killed or, worse, banished to the D-List.
Biography
Michael R. Underwood grew up devouring stories in all forms. He holds a B.A. in Creative Mythology and East Asian Studies from Indiana University and an M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon, which have been great preparation for writing speculative fiction.
Because he abhors boredom, Michael went immediately from finishing his M.A. to the Clarion West Writers Workshop. He landed in Bloomington, IN, but is now living in Baltimore as the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books. In his rapidly-vanishing free time, he games, dances, and studies historical martial arts.
He holds a B.A. in Creative Mythology and East Asian Studies from Indiana University and an M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon
(http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ive-made-a-huge-mistake-gob-arrested-development.gif)QuoteHe holds a B.A. in Creative Mythology and East Asian Studies from Indiana University and an M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon
Now there's some degrees that'll take you places.
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I stumbled across this book while reading about the sovereign citizen movement. I have an uncle who likes to send extreme right stuff through e-mail and I've heard about the fringe movements like these so this book is interesting to me. Nobody else will probably give a shit.
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I stumbled across this book while reading about the sovereign citizen movement. I have an uncle who likes to send extreme right stuff through e-mail and I've heard about the fringe movements like these so this book is interesting to me. Nobody else will probably give a shit.
http://www.humblebundle.com/
ebook bundle 2
Cory Doctorow Little Brother
Cherie Priest Boneshaker
Robert Charles Wilson Spin
Lois McMaster Bujold Shards of Honor
it's worth paying whatever the minimum is for Spin. If you pay more than $10 (good lord why?) you get a Wil Wheaton book and The Last Unicorn
Eric, did you read The Chronolithsnope. tried that leftist post-america novel though and hated it. it was like reading daily kos bloggers predict the future under g w bush
Minor character spoiler:loathed that character. take yourself out of the novel.
The Shining Girls
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I stumbled across this book while reading about the sovereign citizen movement. I have an uncle who likes to send extreme right stuff through e-mail and I've heard about the fringe movements like these so this book is interesting to me. Nobody else will probably give a shit.
it's being pushed HARD as "this year's Gone Girl" or The One Book For People To Read This Year Who Only Read One Book a Year
We think of the Renaissance as a shining era of human achievementa pinnacle of artistic genius and humanist brilliance, the time of Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and Montaigne. Yet it was also an age of constant, harrowing warfare. Armies, not philosophers, shaped the face of Europe as modern nation-states emerged from feudal society. In Furies, one of the leading scholars of Renaissance history captures the dark reality of the period in a gripping narrative mosaic.
As Lauro Martines shows us, total war was no twentieth-century innovation. These conflicts spared no civilians in their path. A Renaissance army was a mobile city-indeed, a force of 20,000 or 40,000 men was larger than many cities of the day. And it was a monster, devouring food and supplies for miles around. It menaced towns and the countryside-and itself-with famine and disease, often more lethal than combat. Fighting itself was savage, its violence increased by the use of newly invented weapons, from muskets to mortars.
For centuries, notes Martines, the history of this period has favored diplomacy, high politics, and military tactics. Furies puts us on the front lines of battle, and on the streets of cities under siege, to reveal what Europes wars meant to the men and women who endured them.
I'm reading this series called Wool. It's a sci-fi series about a race of super-intelligent sheep who discover their natural fibers can be used as an energy source for time travel. I like it!
I'm enjoying it. It's broken up quite a bit so he will cover themes and will tell you about stuff at various points in time that reinforce the theme rather than this happened then this happened then this happened then this, etc.
I don't consider it a slog at all. It's not quite pop history but it's not a dry academic text
my girlfriend's bookgroup is contemplating reading Ender's Game.
:fbm
currently reading Hollywood and Hitler 1933 - 1939MAAAAAAAANNNNNDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAARK GET IN HERE AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF
say, can you guess who was a lot more willing to work with Nazis than they like to let on?
if you said American Jews in Hollywood, you're right!
I got the new Pynchon on my Kindle and ready for my upcoming flight. YEAH BOYEEEE
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i have been reading mostly comic books and manga at the expense of prose books but I've been devouring the above
War in Europe never ending and it fucking suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked even if you were a wealthy noble.QuoteWe think of the Renaissance as a shining era of human achievementa pinnacle of artistic genius and humanist brilliance, the time of Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and Montaigne. Yet it was also an age of constant, harrowing warfare. Armies, not philosophers, shaped the face of Europe as modern nation-states emerged from feudal society. In Furies, one of the leading scholars of Renaissance history captures the dark reality of the period in a gripping narrative mosaic.
As Lauro Martines shows us, total war was no twentieth-century innovation. These conflicts spared no civilians in their path. A Renaissance army was a mobile city-indeed, a force of 20,000 or 40,000 men was larger than many cities of the day. And it was a monster, devouring food and supplies for miles around. It menaced towns and the countryside-and itself-with famine and disease, often more lethal than combat. Fighting itself was savage, its violence increased by the use of newly invented weapons, from muskets to mortars.
For centuries, notes Martines, the history of this period has favored diplomacy, high politics, and military tactics. Furies puts us on the front lines of battle, and on the streets of cities under siege, to reveal what Europes wars meant to the men and women who endured them.
Just started this. The Years of Rice and Salt is an alternate history novel written by science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson and published in 2002. The novel explores how subsequent world history may have been different if the Black Death plague had killed 99% of Europe's population, instead of a third. Divided into ten parts, the story spans hundreds of years, from the army of the Muslim conqueror Timur to the 21st century, with Europe being re-populated by Muslim pioneers, the indigenous peoples of the Americas forming a league to resist Chinese and Muslim invaders, and a 67 year long world war being fought primarily between Muslim states and the Chinese and their allies. While the ten parts take place in different times and places, they are connected by a group of characters that are reincarnated into each time but are identified to the reader by the first letter of their name being consistent in each life.
The novel explores themes of history, religion, and social movements. The historical narrative is guided more by social history than political or military history. Critics found the book to be rich in detail, realistic, and thoughtful. Robinson had previously published several other science fiction novels and short stories which had won him several Nebula, Hugo and Locus Awards. The Years of Rice and Salt won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2003. In the same year it was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, a Hugo Award, and a British Science Fiction Award.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/TheYearsOfRiceAndSalt%281stEdUK%29.jpg)QuoteJust started this. The Years of Rice and Salt is an alternate history novel written by science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson and published in 2002. The novel explores how subsequent world history may have been different if the Black Death plague had killed 99% of Europe's population, instead of a third. Divided into ten parts, the story spans hundreds of years, from the army of the Muslim conqueror Timur to the 21st century, with Europe being re-populated by Muslim pioneers, the indigenous peoples of the Americas forming a league to resist Chinese and Muslim invaders, and a 67 year long world war being fought primarily between Muslim states and the Chinese and their allies. While the ten parts take place in different times and places, they are connected by a group of characters that are reincarnated into each time but are identified to the reader by the first letter of their name being consistent in each life.
The novel explores themes of history, religion, and social movements. The historical narrative is guided more by social history than political or military history. Critics found the book to be rich in detail, realistic, and thoughtful. Robinson had previously published several other science fiction novels and short stories which had won him several Nebula, Hugo and Locus Awards. The Years of Rice and Salt won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2003. In the same year it was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, a Hugo Award, and a British Science Fiction Award.
Just started it. Alternate history has always intrigued me but I usually avoid it since it always seems to have a whiff of "fan fiction" about it. This one sounded promising though. Plus, no CACs
cracker-ass cracker (aka whiteys, honkeys, snow niccas)I laughed until I couldn't stop coughing. THANKS, ADAMA.
cracker-ass cracker (aka whiteys, honkeys, snow niccas)I laughed until I couldn't stop coughing. THANKS, ADAMA.
can someone please recommend some sort of horror thing to me. maybe sci-fi maybe not. just need something to start october off and also to use my new kindle.
can someone please recommend some sort of horror thing to me. maybe sci-fi maybe not. just need something to start october off and also to use my new kindle.
Over the course of two award-winning collections and a critically acclaimed novel, The Croning, Laird Barron has arisen as one of the strongest and most original literary voices in modern horror and the dark fantastic. Melding supernatural horror with hardboiled noir, espionage, and a scientific backbone, Barron’s stories have garnered critical acclaim and have been reprinted in numerous year’s best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards.
Barron returns with his third collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. Collecting interlinking tales of sublime cosmic horror, including “Blackwood’s Baby,” “The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven,” and “The Men from Porlock,” The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All delivers enough spine-chilling horror to satisfy even the most jaded reader.
I read that for one of my University courses.
I did a comparison of it to the movie Lost Boys :lol
Read Methland and Peter Hook's Joy Division memoirs on my holiday. Both were pretty interesting. Hook is kind of a cunt though.
Reading Hard Magic (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8643407-hard-magic) by Larry Correia. I like urban fantasy, crime fiction, and film noir, so I'd been pretty hopeful when I approached The Dresden Files: Storm Front, which turned out to be complete crap. The hope which was mislaid there seems to have been better applied here. The book is a lot of fun, with good pacing, an interesting set of characters, and good writing, at least perfectly suited to the hardboiled genre tone.
Started on Foucault's Pendulum.It's been a long time since I read it, but I recall feeling it was not as awesome as everyone made it out to be. Hope you find it delectable.
Started reading:
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Non-fiction book about the history of conspiracy theories in American society/politics. Should be good.
Started reading:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/615cS5WkcvL.__.jpg)
Non-fiction book about the history of conspiracy theories in American society/politics. Should be good.
reading this now. Still in the introduction so I don't have much to report. As a dumb kid I loved conspiracy theories because they presented a kind of magical thinking. I wasn't a huge believer in them pretty much knowing that the world was too chaotic to really be dictacted by something so beautifully simple as the Illuminati or what have you.
is our machines learning?
finished the Conspiracy book and the final segments were about liberal media bias, not conspiracies. But editor of Reason Mag, whatchagonna do? (at least it was interesting and informative in how the left portrayed the Right Wing violence spree of the past few years compared to the actual numbers)The genesis of the book was this article and expanded from there after he started researching all the stuff people have believed: http://reason.com/archives/2009/09/15/the-paranoid-center
Libba Bray's Beauty Queens (2011) made me laugh out loud a half-dozen times. A dark, slapstick comedy about teenage pageant competitors stranded on a desert island while a bumbling Evil Corporation does Evil Stuff in the background. Ms. Bray takes wonderful pokes at reality television, consumer culture, nepotism, television, the South,... pretty much everything. But beneath it, there's a really lovely positive message about doing what you love and being yourself - whoever you are. Very highly recommended, both as a charmingly progressive book and a hilarious one.
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This took about three weeks but the last 500 pages I burned through because it's so entertaining. Also ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Yeah, I agree, Kvothe is too perfect. Made me hesitant to pick up the second book.
On Fox News, the tedious personages of workaday politics are reborn as heroes and villains with triumphs and reversals — never-ending story lines. And the beauty of it is that Ailes's viewers — the voters — are the protagonists, victims of socialist overlords, or rebels coming to take the government back. The viewers, on their couches, are flattered as the most important participants, the foot soldiers in Ailes's army.
I'm reading Glamorama, which is about fucks and shits and girls with no tits. I like it!
I had this on my Amazon wishlist for years but I'm worried I've aged past enjoying Ellis.
I've heard very good things about that book.
Earlier (wayyyy earlier) in this thread, I posted my disappointment in the Jim Butcher Storm Front novel, and someone posited that urban fiction is a stronghold of racist chauvinists. I thought that was a bit strongly worded, but now I'm reading Larry Correia's Monster Hunter Vengeance, which was a $1 download from Audible. He's using a mixed racial background as his protagonist, so I've been cutting him some slack, but between the strong gun-nut/anti-government/libertarian tones and now a pack of "urban" garden gnomes who ape black culture as comic relief, I'm finally seeing the pattern.
Is this really that common a theme?
How is it that it carries through the genre?
Armor is really fucking good.
Got the e-book (Armor), starting on it now. Loved The Forever War, aside from the homophobic stuff. Never actually read Starship Troopers, but I liked the movie.
attention Joe
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IC7C3G2
spoiled for sizespoiler (click to show/hide)(http://i.imgur.com/lLv1Ubv.jpg)[close]
“From the wells of night to the gulfs of space, ever praise and abundance to the Black Goat of the Woods. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Goat with a Thousand Young!”
With this prayer in the ‘The Whisperer In Darkness’, Lovecraft introduced the world to the mighty and terrible Shub-Niggurath, the fertility deity of his then-fledgling Cthulhu Mythos. A being of primal lusts, overwhelming fecundity, and soul-blasting horror, the Black Goat is regularly invoked, entreated, and mentioned in furtive whispers within the pages of most Mythos fiction. And yet, for all that she is a cornerstone of the Mythos, readers encounter her rarely.
Now, with ‘Conqueror Womb: Lusty Tales of Shub-Niggurath’, Martian Migraine Press and editors Justine Geoffrey and Scott R Jones bring you 18 pulpy tales of fertility and fear, hot sex and chilling sacrifice! Stories that squelch, tales that both titillate and terrify, from some of the best writers working in Lovecraftian horror and mind-bending erotica today: Wilum H. Pugmire, Molly Tanzer, Don Webb, Christine Morgan, Kenton Hall, Brian M. Sammons, Jacqueline Sweet, Copper Sloane Levy, Annabeth Leong, and Christopher Slatsky, along with fresh new voices.
From nighted glades where frenzied orgiasts work unholy magic to slick urban dungeons of unbridled pleasure; from fertility clinics to fevered dance clubs; from the misty depths of the past to the unthinkable future, join us as we offer praise and abundance! Iä! Shub-Niggurath!
Table of Contents...
This Human Form – Lyndsey Holder
That Hideous Thing – Ran Cartwright
Unsatisfied – Brian M. Sammons
Mater Annelida – Victoria Dalpe
The Potboiler Sigil – Luke R. J. Maynard
All This For the Greater Glory of the 7th and 329th Children of the Black Goat of the Woods – Molly Tanzer
Babymama – Kenton Hall
Our Child – Annabeth Leong
Boy – Don Webb
Pieces (2) for String Octet – Copper Sloane Levy
The Whisperer in the Vagina – Shon Richards
Obsidian Capra Aegagrus – Christopher Slatsky
Dirtymag – Jonas Moth
With Honey Dripping – Christine Morgan
In the Down Deep Down – Jacqueline Sweet
The Scarlet Scripture – Ambrosius Grimes
Within Your Unholy Pit of Shoggoths – Wilum H. Pugmire
Blossom – Rose Banks
The Conqueror Womb: Parsing Shub-Niggurath (essay) – Scott R Jones
I've recently harnessed the power of The Goetia.
I've recently harnessed the power of The Goetia.
Aleister Crowley lived into his 70's, so maybe you can hang in there too, breh.
"Fine, fine," Fischer replied playfully. "Let's have an honest discussion. Rid yourself of the weight of that golden crown and I'll set aside this pesky jester's hat. What is it, specifically, that you'd like to know?"
The merchant gave a gummy smile. "Perhaps one day we'll return to a place where the streets are paved with gold and all you need to succeed is a good idea, a strong work ethic, and some kind of boostraps. Or perhaps we'll continue to move in the opposite direction." The merchant pondered this for a second and then stood. "Personally, I like the place with the golden streets. And believe it or not, I like you, Mr. Kalinske. But my answer is no."
13. Maupassant's archetype: The reference is to Maupassant's story, "An Idyll," in which a nursing mother shares a railway compartment with a hungry peasant boy. The breasts of the woman, who is traveling without her baby, swell up agonizingly, until the boy gratefully relieves her of her milk.
(ELZEVIR throws herself around PIERRE's neck and he kisses her staidly, conscious of his working-class dignity.)
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Conservatives are poutraged over this book for casting St. Ronnie in a very dim light, so I figure it's probably pretty good.
So far what I've read is that the Nixon administration was really good at using POW's as political props to distract people from how shitty the Vietnam War was going, and then waited until after the election to declare "peace with honor", even though we were still bombing civvies down in Cambodia, but nobody wants to hear the truth, they want to hear what makes them feel good, and what makes Americans feel good is AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM, GREATEST NATION IN THE WORLD, so instead of talking about dead Vietnamese children, here's a "victory" parade for the returning POW heroes and doesn't it feel good!
I can kinda see why conservatives might not be a fan.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xgXuFzJOL.jpg)
Conservatives are poutraged over this book for casting St. Ronnie in a very dim light, so I figure it's probably pretty good.
So far what I've read is that the Nixon administration was really good at using POW's as political props to distract people from how shitty the Vietnam War was going, and then waited until after the election to declare "peace with honor", even though we were still bombing civvies down in Cambodia, but nobody wants to hear the truth, they want to hear what makes them feel good, and what makes Americans feel good is AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM, GREATEST NATION IN THE WORLD, so instead of talking about dead Vietnamese children, here's a "victory" parade for the returning POW heroes and doesn't it feel good!
I can kinda see why conservatives might not be a fan.
snip.Camus' library is some A-tier #sadboy shit, compulsory reading for anyone who hates themselves and their lot in life.
Camus' library is some A-tier #sadboy shit, compulsory reading for anyone who hates themselves and their lot in life.
Up-front look at the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1937. Extremely interesting and eye opening. Orwell had some balls.My favorite part of that is how it's decided what brigade/army Orwell gets assigned to. And that's like the most important component in how his experience plays out.
How does it define "natural"?
Up-front look at the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1937. Extremely interesting and eye opening. Orwell had some balls.My favorite part of that is how it's decided what brigade/army Orwell gets assigned to. And that's like the most important component in how his experience plays out.
I have an Audible.com subscription, but I may cancel because I'm not able to keep up with the books I've bought so far.
I also find it surprising how much a narrator can influence my enjoyment of a book. Oliver Wyman is off my list of acceptable readers now, because he has a few reading quirks which are really annoying to me, a limited set of voices for character types, and now I keep associating him with Larry Correia's work, and there's only so much fantasy I can deal with: government-sponsored werewolf hunters? Sure. Libertarian gun porn? No, thanks.
On the other hand, Tim Curry and Alan Rickman have read a few things for them, and those have been luscious.
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Conservatives are poutraged over this book for casting St. Ronnie in a very dim light, so I figure it's probably pretty good.
So far what I've read is that the Nixon administration was really good at using POW's as political props to distract people from how shitty the Vietnam War was going, and then waited until after the election to declare "peace with honor", even though we were still bombing civvies down in Cambodia, but nobody wants to hear the truth, they want to hear what makes them feel good, and what makes Americans feel good is AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM, GREATEST NATION IN THE WORLD, so instead of talking about dead Vietnamese children, here's a "victory" parade for the returning POW heroes and doesn't it feel good!
I can kinda see why conservatives might not be a fan.
Good work hosting that pic on imgur instead of direct linking Wikipedia so only people who already know about Sorry, only registered users can see this content. Please Login or Register. can get the joke. :mynicca
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xgXuFzJOL.jpg)
Conservatives are poutraged over this book for casting St. Ronnie in a very dim light, so I figure it's probably pretty good.
So far what I've read is that the Nixon administration was really good at using POW's as political props to distract people from how shitty the Vietnam War was going, and then waited until after the election to declare "peace with honor", even though we were still bombing civvies down in Cambodia, but nobody wants to hear the truth, they want to hear what makes them feel good, and what makes Americans feel good is AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM, GREATEST NATION IN THE WORLD, so instead of talking about dead Vietnamese children, here's a "victory" parade for the returning POW heroes and doesn't it feel good!
I can kinda see why conservatives might not be a fan.
I just finished this. It is a great read but I found it inferior to Nixonland. Which isn't a criticism against the book but Nixonland was so good and it perfectly captured the changing political environment in a way that I haven't found in any other book. The Invisible Bridge tries to do the same thing but seems to be incomplete. While Perlstein went really deep into Nixon for Nixonland, it seems like Reagan only got a surface level treatment by comparison, which I think does the book a disservice. The book's strength, like Nixonland, is that is it very objective. There is no real slant and I think Perlstein goes to great lengths to make sure that the book is as factual as possible.
I will probably check out the first book in the trilogy about Goldwater.
I'm reading John Scalzi's Old Man's War, which is enjoyable, but not great.
And just started in Chuck Palahniuk's Choke, I'm not sure what to think of it yet.
Couldn't be argued that Reagan was a significantly less complex character than Nixon? I haven't read The Invisible Bridge but I'm not surprised that it only offers a surface look at such a vapid man. Whereas Nixon is like a multi-layered character from a great piece of literature.
for Joe.
someone takes the Cthulhu mythos and has turned it into a tongue in cheek kinda sorta spiritual self help book
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J4EOLPI
During 2009-2012 the vultures feasted gluttonously in the Fed’s killing fields.:lol
ideologies preoccupied with human freedom secretly draw from the same well even though we wouldn't be caught dead together at the club.Or Marx gets them get kicked out like Bakunin. (http://i.imgur.com/SzofHCB.png)
Or Marx gets them get kicked out like Bakunin. (http://i.imgur.com/SzofHCB.png)
"This is not a book for the faint-hearted. In chilling detail, David Harsanyi exposes the brutal and bloody dangers looming ahead during Obama’s second term. Harsanyi outlines how the Nanny State progressive-in-chief has enabled the four horsemen of debt, dependency, national decline, and the culture of death. Yes, it is apocalyptic. No, it is not irreversible. Conservatives must pray, pick themselves up, and pull together to turn our country back from Obama’s highway to hell. America must heed Harsanyi’s prophetic work!"
—Michelle Malkin, New York Times bestselling author of Culture of Corruption
Thank you for giving me so much love for my country, June 5, 2014
By Chisholm - See all my reviews
I read this book for a Sociology class, and I can say that I have never read a book that I disliked this much. From the get-go, Howard Zinn’s, “A People's History of American Empire” carries a tone nothing short of disapproval towards America and its people. Zinn opens the prologue by going so far as to imply, or at least, agree with certain individuals, who say that the United States is “an empire of terrorists.” Yes, America has done horrible things for the sake of our nation—but so has every country. But Howard Zinn devotes every chapter to a past mistake of our country: the Wounded Knee Massacre of Indians, the “savior complex” of the soldiers fighting in the Spanish American War, the powerful money-making companies and their treatment of their workers, the treatment of blacks during wartimes, and the domination of the Philippines. Zinn poses his viewpoint in the most negative of lights. I had a hard time focusing the content after a while, because he was so blatantly portraying his opinions as facts. Furthemore, this book does not tell the story of an "empire", but rather, the story of minorities and other small groups of people. Zinn only focuses on fights between small groups of individuals. The poor vs. Robber Barons, himself, the civil rights activists, the poor people of Vietnam, American soldiers. There is no single America. This is a book solely describing the "battles" fought by and within America.
Also Zinn should change the title of this book from a "history" to "my opinions", because this book is jam-packed with bias and little jabs at America, the "terrorist nation". Zinn lets emotions guide this book far more than facts (I really need to see where he gets his information from, because half of these stories seem like they're relying on only one individual "witness"), and this is evidenced in the fact that he not only includes himself as narrator, but also as an activist, almost on the same page with MLK Jr.! He elevates his own "fight" against the American people. Then, in the way he portrays himself as narrator--single person on a stage, bright lights, podium, and cheering crowd--shows that he believes his ideas to be almost exalted. Overall, this book rubbed me the wrong way. If you want to read something to dampen your American patriotism feel free to read this book.
If you're a communist, you'll love this book, January 10, 2014
By Ltb "ltb" (USA) - See all my reviews
Parents need to beware of the books their children are reading in history classes, because so much misinformation and so many lies are being disseminated in our public schools, which have become nothing more than indoctrination centers for socialism/liberalism/progressivism/communism. Zinn, in particular, is polluting the minds of American youth with trash like "A People's History of the United States," which is not so much history as it is one big piece of steaming pro-communist propaganda. If your child is required to read this book, complain loudly and complain continuously until your school removes it from its required reading list.
A Simpleminded, Cynical & Very Angry Book, September 15, 2009
By Eliot (Palo Alto, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
There are three simple-indisputable-facts about Howard Zinn's book.
1) Jews appear only as big hearted victims.
2) Israel took not a single inch of Arab land.
3) Palestinians do not exist.
Zinn's many fans will explain away this simply enough. They will tell you that, although somewhat regrettable, American military aid for Israel is a minor issue. Although sad, the Israeli Palestinian conflict is not particularly significant or relevant to current events!
Is that what Howard Zinn and his loyal readers consider intellectual integrity? I wonder who the true racists really are.
Here are a few more questions to ponder as you read the book.
If the exploitation and enslavement of people of color is such an ingrained aspect of American culture why are so many people of color trying to enter America, and in some instances literally risking their lives to do so? Are we to assume that nonwhites are so lacking in intelligence that they are easy pray for the more sophisticated people of European decent?
If the views about class warfare Zinn expounds are really so blatantly obvious why are Zinn's political beliefs not more popular with working class Americans? Are we to assume that working class Americans, and those recently arrived in America, are the intellectual inferiors to the more established and affluent Americans and are thus easily taken advantage of and duped?
If, as Zinn maintains, America really did have advanced knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor and was responsible for our entry into World War II why doesn't Zinn side with the people who claim that 9/11 was an "inside job" engineered by the CIA? Is it possible that not all criticism of America is legitimate?
If America is really all about preserving the privileges of the rich and denying basic care for the working class why do we have a black President? A President who grew up without privilege and who has made public healthcare the focal point of his administration? Why was such an "un-American" man with such "un-American" views even elected President in the first place?
Excellent format for teaching kids to HATE AMERICA, August 28, 2011
By Natalie Harper - See all my reviews
This comic book is interesting and fun to read. But MY GOD, is it anti-American. People here keep saying "truth", but it's truth from a slanted view. Each short story is strictly about the bad stuff America did. Nothing about the other side of things, nothing about the good stuff America did do, etc. Add to that graphic depictions of horror on people's faces and tragic dramatizations, and you've got a great book for convincing young people to hate their country.
Can't Believe in Him Anymore, November 23, 2008
By Blue "lacestuff" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
After reading that Howard Zinn does not think it is important to investigate 9/11, I will have nothing more to do with him. I don't care how renowned he is. If he doesn't think it's important to stop the false flag operations that have gone on for many, many decades that have thrust us into wars that were instigated by interested 3rd party investors to cash in on the vast fortunes made when they finance both sides of a war, then he will get no support from me. Wake up people! Aren't you tired of being played like a puppet on a string. Watch "JFKII: The Bush Connection" and "Empire of the City: Ring of Power" on YouTube.
Zinn worked as the series editor for a series of books under the A People's History label. This series expands upon the issues and historic events covered in A People's History of the United States by giving them in-depth coverage, and also covers the history of parts of the world outside the United States. These books include:
A People's History of the Supreme Court by Peter Irons with Foreword by Zinn
A People's History of Sports in the United States by Dave Zirin with an introduction by Howard Zinn
A People's History of American Empire (American Empire Project) by Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki, and Paul Buhle
The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World by Vijay Prashad
A People's History of the American Revolution by Ray Raphael
A People's History of the Civil War by David Williams
A People's History of the Vietnam War by Jonathan Neale
The Mexican Revolution: A People's History by Adolfo Gilly
A People's History of Australia from 1788 to the Present edited by Verity Burgmann. A four-volume series that looks at Australian history thematically, not chronologically.
A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks by Clifford D Connor.
A People's History of the World by Chris Harman. It is endorsed by Zinn.
A People's History of Christianity by Diana Butler Bass.
That McCarthy mention reminded me, since I said something similar on GAF recently, why do people always run to McCarthyism? It seriously wasn't that bad compared to the fucking Red Scare which happened all over the West, imprisoning immigrants, the underclass, writers, union leaders, etc.
But a few actors get blacklisted (mainly from HUAC, not McCarthy even) and it's like the worst thing to ever happen in America.
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Talk about poppin boners over Chief Justice Hughes brehs (the other recent book on this topic (http://www.amazon.com/FDR-Chief-Justice-Hughes-President/dp/1416573283/) is even worse)
James Scott taught us what's wrong with seeing like a state. Now, in his most accessible and personal book to date, the acclaimed social scientist makes the case for seeing like an anarchist. Inspired by the core anarchist faith in the possibilities of voluntary cooperation without hierarchy, Two Cheers for Anarchism is an engaging, high-spirited, and often very funny defense of an anarchist way of seeing--one that provides a unique and powerful perspective on everything from everyday social and political interactions to mass protests and revolutions. Through a wide-ranging series of memorable anecdotes and examples, the book describes an anarchist sensibility that celebrates the local knowledge, common sense, and creativity of ordinary people. The result is a kind of handbook on constructive anarchism that challenges us to radically reconsider the value of hierarchy in public and private life, from schools and workplaces to retirement homes and government itself.
Beginning with what Scott calls "the law of anarchist calisthenics," an argument for law-breaking inspired by an East German pedestrian crossing, each chapter opens with a story that captures an essential anarchist truth. In the course of telling these stories, Scott touches on a wide variety of subjects: public disorder and riots, desertion, poaching, vernacular knowledge, assembly-line production, globalization, the petty bourgeoisie, school testing, playgrounds, and the practice of historical explanation.
Far from a dogmatic manifesto, Two Cheers for Anarchism celebrates the anarchist confidence in the inventiveness and judgment of people who are free to exercise their creative and moral capacities.
John D. Eigenauer wrote a 5,500-word summary of the book in 2004, available online
MJ: If you could time-travel, which era would you most want to visit?
WG: If could have any information from our future, I would want to know not what they're doing but what they think about us. Because what we think about Victorians is nothing like what the Victorians thought about themselves. It would be a nightmare for them. Everything they thought they were, we think is a joke. And everything that we think was cool about them, they weren't even aware of. I'm sure that the future will view us in exactly that way.
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I was reading some heavy stuff recently and am about to delve into a book about how slavery propped up (and thus continues to prop up) American capitalism, so I'm taking a light detour through some absolute crap. I'm reading a book called Bird Box which sounded interesting in review, but the book it actually kind of crap, but it reads fast and is acting a spacing between my series of books on the evils of racism.
I was reading some heavy stuff recently and am about to delve into a book about how slavery propped up (and thus continues to prop up) American capitalism, so I'm taking a light detour through some absolute crap. I'm reading a book called Bird Box which sounded interesting in review, but the book it actually kind of crap, but it reads fast and is acting a spacing between my series of books on the evils of racism.
I was reading some heavy stuff recently and am about to delve into a book about how slavery propped up (and thus continues to prop up) American capitalism, so I'm taking a light detour through some absolute crap. I'm reading a book called Bird Box which sounded interesting in review, but the book it actually kind of crap, but it reads fast and is acting a spacing between my series of books on the evils of racism.
This argument never held any water for me. American Capitalism was basically born and thrived most in the free states. The South was a backward agrarian buttfuck backwater.
This argument never held any water for me. American Capitalism was basically born and thrived most in the free states. The South was a backward agrarian buttfuck backwater.
GDP per (non-slave) capita in the South was like half of what it was in the North...
As a group slaveholders were extremely wealthy in the South. Their average wealth in 1860 was $24,748, almost fourteen times greater than that of nonslaveholders ($1,781). They accounted for 26 percent of the white population in 1860 and they owned 93 percent of "agricultural wealth." Historians have emphasized the growing concentration of slaves in the possession of the largest slaveholders. John Boles pointed out that between 1850 and 1860 slaveholders with more than 20 slaves increased from 10 percent of the total slaveholding group to 12 percent. William J. Cooper and Thomas E. Terrill pointed out that these elite 12 percent owned 48 percent of the slaves in the South.
Household wealth: The difference between slaveholders and nonslaveholders appears sharp, perhaps because slaves were counted as personal property and a part of overall household wealth. Almost 60 percent of the slaveholders were valued at more than $10,000 in household wealth, while nearly the same percentage of nonslaveholders were valued at less than $10,000. Other patterns, however, deserve attention. Some nonslaveholders managed to acquire significant wealth: 31.1 percent of them owned between $2,000 and $4,999; 28.1 percent owned between $5,000 and $9,999; 22.4 percent owned between $10,000 and $19,999; and 18.4 percent owned more than $20,000. We have routinely assumed that such large aggregations of wealth must represent the high valuations of personal property in slaves, but this data might make us look more closely at the kind of wealth and property that nonslaveholders accumulated. (Some of these points might be eventually connected to the slaveholders census and might change the data analysis) Other forms of wealth must have existed in greater concentration than expected. In particular, financial instruments, such as bonds and debt agreements, accounted for some individual's personal property wealth. In addition, large holdings of cash may also explain high figures for personal property. Widows with large cash holdings, town professionals--lawyers, merchants, even barbers--accumulated cash and other financial instruments as assets.
30% done with Storm of Swords
really good so far but I've been neglecting it for like 3 weeks :goty2
I was reading a bad book and got mad at it (or to be precise, it made me mad at myself) because I didn't realize it had just been a retelling of Xenophon's Anabasis until they got to the sea and the narrator literally exclaimed, "The sea!" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalatta!_Thalatta!) :comeon
They motley crew even started their journey in a desert and worked their way into the mountains. :snoop
Be familiar with ancient Greek writing brehs. :shaq2
Finished reading Clive Barker's Books of Blood. It was good. I think my favorite story was In the Hills, the Cities just because of how crazy it was.
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How is Seconds?
Also a bunch of comics (as usual), currently about 2/3rds through Mark Waid's Irredeemable/Incorruptible.
In the first ten pages or so he chides American conservatives for (in short) making "liberal" an epithet while not realizing their "support" of American tradition is support of liberal principles so bonus points.Isn't this just semantic drift? Not even big L liberals in America today follow Classical/Enlightenment Liberalism to a tee.
Also a bunch of comics (as usual), currently about 2/3rds through Mark Waid's Irredeemable/Incorruptible.
Irredeemable gets amazingly fuckstupid. :bow
It loses a lot of steam at one point. If it didn't go 2001 on you at the end (that's not a spoiler), it'd be an utter disaster.
As for my absence from Comic-Bore, I learned a long time ago that being the kind of consumer who seeks out comics based on how ridiculous they are puts me out of step with your average internet comic fan so I keep to myself in the shadows and occasionally emerge to drop truth bombs like "Daniel Way's Deadpool is the best Deadpool run" so I can watch the galaxy burn.
Isn't this just semantic drift? Not even big L liberals in America today follow Classical/Enlightenment Liberalism to a tee.Did you mean Europe? I think most big L liberal parties there are far closer to old skewl liberalism than the Democratic (or Republican) Party. Even in places like Sweden and Denmark. They just are realistic about the status of the social welfare state. (And even less concerned about that in somewhere like Estonia.) Though they (like the socialist parties) all have the bonus of being able to be more "pure" and still govern in short-term coalitions unlike the two-party system.
Also, if we're talking about haut liberalism, Estonia should be nowhere in the conversation. Denying people citizenship exclusively because of their parentage is about as illiberal as you can get.Wasn't talking about the country as a whole, but they have some of the most old skewl liberal parties that regularly wind up in government amongst European nations.
Did you mean Europe? I think most big L liberal parties there are far closer to old skewl liberalism than the Democratic (or Republican) Party. Even in places like Sweden and Denmark.Oh definitely, I'm just saying that the definition of what liberal is has changed through time (and, now that you mention it, geographically as well). It just seems like an odd appeal to tradition/equivocation to chide American conservatives because they denote things like the social welfare state/a large(r) federal involvement in the economy/believing in science as 'liberalism' when they themselves exemplify what 'liberalism' has meant to people in the past.
With liberalism having "won" to the point that nearly all parties in modern democracies are liberal.I mean yeah, the idea of a democracy in post-1789 Western society doesn't really allow for anything that doesn't resemble classical liberalism in some way. By definition it treats things like civic participation, market capitalist economies, empiricism, progressivism and enfranchisement (for those with political capital) as foregone conclusions.
I was just talking about how American conservatives have managed to make that semantic drift stick to where when they characterize Democratic positions to an extreme socialist position they still tirade against it as liberal when what they're imaginary defending is closer to liberalism for the majority of its life as an ideology. (And thus, Americans in polls are loathe to call themselves liberals.)yeah this kind of boogeyman effect is interesting. In effect, the exonym has a lot more to do with defining what the proximal group isn't than what the actual group they're calling is. One that I find illustrative is the use of 'pagan'; it conjures up general ideas relating to vague polytheistic beliefs, taboo and atavism but it's really just a tool to denote what is and isn't socially acceptable behavior for a certain worldview, it's a relative term that only means "not Christian." No concrete religious systems fall under the term 'paganism,' no one throughout history has identified themselves as a 'pagan' without intentionally using it in contrast with the Christian Church. Liberal occupies that same space in contemporary American political discourse, albeit much less intensely. Idk where I'm going w/ this, just what I've been thinking about.
former subsidiaries of the CPSU could simply rebrand themselves as social democratic parties and win elections. Even in Poland.This is one of my favorite things in the post-Soviet countries. Especially when it's the same people who were just Party Secretary getting elected praising multi-party democracy and social freedom. :lol
Oh definitely, I'm just saying that the definition of what liberal is has changed through time (and, now that you mention it, geographically as well). It just seems like an odd appeal to tradition/equivocation to chide American conservatives because they denote things like the social welfare state/a large(r) federal involvement in the economy/believing in science as 'liberalism' when they themselves exemplify what 'liberalism' has meant to people in the past.I think it's odd that "liberal" was seemingly willfully chosen as the epithet, was like "socialist" too harsh until recent years or something? Too confusing with "communist" which would be pro-Soviet and thus anti-American? Especially when you're going to ascribe basically socialist positions to the "liberals" in order to denounce them.
ethno-nationalism plays a much bigger role in European mass politics than the US *source: anything that happened on the continent between 1917 and 1947.I think the source would be more like "forever." One of the factors in WW I was this because of simply how the Austrian-Hungarian Empire was setup at that point due to centuries of events. :lol
nlrb are having a sale: http://www.nybooks.com/books/wintersale/ the international shipping is a piss take though
“My dear,” he said lightly. “You must allow me the privilege of a certain quaint hypocrisy. A gentleman never does his nut in the presence of a lady.”
one of those crazy papers where the person is all "math is a racist social construct created by Europeans to keep down the blacks"i now know this is a real thing people say :-\ :'(
In 1919, [U.S. Steel President "Judge" Elbert H. Gary] had faced down the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and come out on the winning side of a three-month strike. Mrs. E.H. Gary, invited to become an honorary member of the Women's Steel Striker's Auxiliary of Gary [, Indiana, named after Elbert] in November 1919, telegraphed her regrets. To reporters she explained, "I am entirely in sympathy with the stand Judge Gary has taken against the steel strikers, not because he is my husband, but because it is the only right stand to take if we do not want to get in the grasp of the Bolsheviki and have labor override the country with unreasonable demands.:ussrcry
Another critic, Senator Harry New, Republican of Indiana, demanded what business the federal government had in trying to override the biblical injunction that seven lean years would follow seven fat ones.
The legislative imposition of permanent surnames is particularly clear in the case of Western European Jews who had no tradition of last names. A Napoleonic decree "concernant les Juifs qui n'ont pas de nom de famille et de prenoms," in 1808, mandated last names59. Austrian legislation of 1787, as part of the emancipation process, required Jews to choose last names or, if they refused, to have fixed last names chosen for them. In Prussia the emancipation of the Jews was contingent upon the adoption of surnames60. Many of the immigrants to the United States, Jews and non-Jew alike, had no permanent surnames when they set sail. Very few, however, made it through the initial paperwork without an official last name that their descendants carry still.footnotes refer to Le nom: Droit et historie by Anne Lefebvre-Teillard and Names: Medieval Period and Establishment of Surnames by Ribert Chazon in the Encyclopedia Judaica (along with a snip about Aryan-Semitic naming differentiation by the administration during the Reich), respectively
am currently through the Gallic ones with Césaryou reading the Commentaries? I've seen some historians handle the late republic pretty well but they can't quite immerse you like the primaries can
Guess it will tingle benji and Karakand only, but I will been reading Raymon Aron's Essay on Imaginary Marxisms, from one holy family to another (Translation my own, unaware if it has been published in english). I'll be honest and say that half of the time it was hard to parse through some of the text (ontology, dialectic, etc...) for me, but it was still an interesting read. It's a text for its time (May 1968 and whereabout), and the controversies looks for as futile as they are (and were) but it was amusing to read how Aron pointed out in a thesis confirmation how the decline in the rate of profit that is so vital to Marx and its scientificity had never been really calculated in a century despite the horde of rigid adherents to the doctrine.
am currently through the Gallic ones with Césaryou reading the Commentaries? I've seen some historians handle the late republic pretty well but they can't quite immerse you like the primaries can
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d1/Griftopia_bookcover.jpg/315px-Griftopia_bookcover.jpg)This is the same book as The Great Deformation. Well, not literally as it's 1/3rd the size and replaces the extended history of the financial system with a bunch of Michelle Bachmann's craziest statements.
"[N]ow we have the federal government taking over ownership or control of 51 percent of the American economy. This is stunning. Prior to September of 2008, 100 percent of the private economy was private."
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has introduced a resolution in the House "that would bar the dollar from being replaced by any foreign currency."
...
Contacted by Greg Sargent, Bachmann's spokesperson said the representative understands the situation and is "talking about the United States."
"This legislation would ensure that the U.S. dollar remain the currency of the United States," added the spokesperson.
So I decided to re-pick up The Count of Monte Cristo (love me some Dumas)what direction/tone do you want?
And I am starkly reminded how little I know about French history.
Any good books/podcasts on the subject?
So I decided to re-pick up The Count of Monte Cristo (love me some Dumas)
And I am starkly reminded how little I know about French history.
Any good books/podcasts on the subject?
SUPER GLASS-STEAGALL :deadYes, you're welcome for me choosing this source: https://larouchepac.com/20150214/stockman-super-glass-steagall-or-else
So I decided to re-pick up The Count of Monte Cristo (love me some Dumas)
And I am starkly reminded how little I know about French history.
Any good books/podcasts on the subject?
Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse - this is pretty amazing
Underworld, then stop.I'll just leave this here:
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Clive Barker's sequel/follow-up/whatever to The Hellbound Heart/Hellraiser is out.
I'm interested in some nerdy fantasy shit. I'm a big Michael Moorcock fanboy so what I haven't read is in my backlog, so no recs on that. What I was wondering about were stories about that Drizzt guy, specifically the Icewind Dales stuff. Worth it?I read a collection of short stories about/surrounding him, and was surprised how much I liked it.
Started the Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark, seems a mammoth.I read that as mentioned in this thread, it's a tough build up because he establishes so many players, especially obscure Serbian and Austrian politicians. They all blur together at one point. Then the crisis goes Europe-wide and the pace goes up.
He wrote a book on the Commune? :leon
Once Upon A Time in Russia: The rise of the oligarchs, a true story of ambition, wealth, betrayal, and murder - Ben Mezrich; sounds like a feel good book about post-Soviet Russia to me.I've never looked up the lit on New Russia. I wanna believe it's just an excuse to spend pages detailing Yeltsin's alcoholism
But I am afraid to say that over the years I have come to detest hygge somewhat. It wasn’t the cheap, fizzy beer (how did they ever have the nerve to claim it was ‘probably the best’? It’s like claiming Sunblest is the best bread), the curried herring or the communal singing in which the Danes inevitably indulge when more than two of them gather together and which can drag out a formal Danish dinner to interminable lengths, that ultimately turned me against hygge; it was more hygge’s tyrannical, relentless drive towards middle-ground consensus; its insistence on the avoidance of any potentially controversial topics of conversation; its need to keep things light and breezy – the whole comfortable, self-congratulatory, petit bourgeois smugness of it all.
British anthropologist Richard Jenkins has described hygge as ‘normative to the point of coercive’.
It was only as I walked back down the street and looked again at the names of the shops that I noticed something curious. My heart sang! The shop names! They were quite extraordinarily prosaic, almost aggressively mundane or, as the Danes would say, tilbageholdende (back-holding, or ‘reserved’), devoid of even the slightest suggestion of promotion or branding.
The hairdresser’s was called, baldly, ‘Hair’. The pub was called ‘The Pub’. The shop that sold clothes and shoes ventured to grab the attention of passers-by with the razzle-dazzle name ‘Clothes and Shoes’; the bookshop was Bog Handler or ‘Book Dealer’. Clearly affronted by its neighbours’ shameless self-promotion, one retailer had simply taken to naming itself ‘No. 16’; another, clearly wary of accusations of hubris, had plumped simply for Shoppen, or ‘The Shop’. These retailers were not merely lacking in marketing skills, they defiantly renounced all conventional notions of salesmanship.
Only one shop dared to break free from the herd and boldly proclaim the eponymity of its owner and risk standing out from the Nykøbing retail crowd: ‘Bettina’s Shoes’.
‘Watch out, Bettina,’ I thought to myself, as I carried on down the high street. ‘They aren’t much for that kind of showboating in these parts.’
In Danish, the word for tax (skat) also means ‘treasure’ and ‘darling’. Meanwhile, the word for poison (gift) also means ‘married’. After all these years, I still do not really know what to make of this.
Count of Monte Cristo Finished this. I know it's important to say you like some big stuffy book to be your favorite books, something either hamfisted or incredibly esoteric. I have to admit though that the Count of Monte Cristo really is one of my favorite books. :yeshrugI've had that Mormon book on my shelf for a while now, and have been meaning to read it. One of my uncles is a lapsed Mormon, and the other is a current Mormon. I cannot remember which one is which, so I never bring up the the topic for fear of committing an epic famial faux pas.
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein Finished this too. It was ok.
Under the Banner of Heaven In the middle of this one. After so many former mormons telling me I had to read it I finally got to it. I can see why so many mormons are terrified of this book.
I recently found out Frankenstein was written under the influence of absinthe. I had no idea M-Shell was so cool. :uguuyour absinthe sempai :expert
What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
Clive Barker's The Scarlet Gospels, a sequel of sorts to The Hellhound Heart/Hellraiser and The Last Illusion (movie). It features the cenobite commonly called "Pinhead" and Harry d'Amour, a private eye who appeared in the under appreciated Last Illusion movie, which was creepy as hell.
I'm a fan of the first two Hellraiser movies and the Scott Bakula movie (the same-titled short story has little to do with the movie), but the book is a weird mismatch to them. There is an oddly constant gallows-humor which seems out of place for the kind of situation in which the characters find themselves. To a degree, private detective Harry d'Amour's group resembles nothing else so much as an adventuring party in a dungeon delve, cracking wise as they make their descent into The Temple of Elemental Evil.
I'm disappointed, but hope Barker can pull it out of the fire, so to speak, by its end.
Jesus wept.I'll save the second of your spoilers for when I'm finished, but did you read the other D'Amour novel? (I didn't realize it featured him, so I haven't read it yet.)
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Jesus wept.I'll save the second of your spoilers for when I'm finished, but did you read the other D'Amour novel? (I didn't realize it featured him, so I haven't read it yet.)
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Jesus wept.I'll save the second of your spoilers for when I'm finished, but did you read the other D'Amour novel? (I didn't realize it featured him, so I haven't read it yet.)
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I read the short story that he was in from Books of Blood (the one Barker made into Lord of Illusions).
how do i become a better reader? i used to be really good about reading for hours and even staying up all night to finish a good book. now i can't do more than read for a few minutes while i shit.
Jesus wept.I'll save the second of your spoilers for when I'm finished, but did you read the other D'Amour novel? (I didn't realize it featured him, so I haven't read it yet.)
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I read the short story that he was in from Books of Blood (the one Barker made into Lord of Illusions).
That connection is pretty tenuous; I meant the novel, Everville, which featured him.
I just finished the book; read your second spoiler: your version is better. And funnier. Which I wouldn't think would be a thing, because t Barker was actually going for some humor in this, so it's doubly sad to me that you've identified where he was unintentionally funny.Jesus wept.I'll save the second of your spoilers for when I'm finished, but did you read the other D'Amour novel? (I didn't realize it featured him, so I haven't read it yet.)
(http://i.imgur.com/OFEx0rj.gif)
I read the short story that he was in from Books of Blood (the one Barker made into Lord of Illusions).
That connection is pretty tenuous; I meant the novel, Everville, which featured him.
Nah, I haven't read any of Barker's novels except the Abarat books.
Started A Canticle for Leibowitz, and I'm surprised at how much of a slog the first few pages are. I had some trouble. Hopefully it picks up.I decided to read Brahm Stoker's Dracula after Frankenstein. I'm sorta surprised at how little actually happens.
Yeah, the first section in Dracula's castle is great, and it gets going again towards the end, but you have a solid 200 pages in the middle that are really slow.
The Dracula's castle section though :lawd
I love everything about that ~100 pages.
about to start on The Windup Girl.I just want to re-iterate the fact that this is one of the best sci-fi novels in years (RPO sounds fucking painful though)
Started A Canticle for Leibowitz, and I'm surprised at how much of a slog the first few pages are. I had some trouble. Hopefully it picks up.Yeah the castle part is really incredible but then it's like "mehhhhhhh"I decided to read Brahm Stoker's Dracula after Frankenstein. I'm sorta surprised at how little actually happens.
Yeah, the first section in Dracula's castle is great, and it gets going again towards the end, but you have a solid 200 pages in the middle that are really slow.
The Dracula's castle section though :lawd
I love everything about that ~100 pages.
"With the possible exception of the Ku Klux Klan," Bryan Burrough tells us on page 26, "the US had never spawned a true underground movement committed to terrorist acts." In this myopic perspective lies the book's distortion of its subject. The terrorism running throughout American history has been so successfully expunged from public record that one can almost forgive a Wall Street Journal writer for knowing nothing of the Molly Maguires, the "Black Patch" nightriders of the Kentucky tobacco country, the Chicago anarchists. (But surely he's heard of John Brown?) Depending upon one's definition of terrorism, the Boston Tea Party was certainly viewed as such by the good burghers of Wall Street in their day. And considering that so much of US terrorism has been localized - like night riders of Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee, or Bald Knobbers of Missouri - it would take a committed historian to do it justice.
I say almost, but in the end Burrough is not a committed historian.
I give it two stars for effort, as a thorough exposition of hard-right premises and thinking. Of course, I believe it's mistaken to the core philosophically. But I'll confine my critique to the specific issues Horowitz raises.:lawd S-tier invective brehs, like Zinn if Zinn was coherent and well read
His main thesis is that the Right is too soft, too rational, too understanding, uninclined to play black/white, zero-sum politics. This is totally false, and makes his argument one big victim's whine of being bullied and misunderstood: a position supposedly despised by conservative "winners." From the Tea Party to Fox News to Congress, I see the Right as consumed by knee-jerk reactions, irrational prejudices (Sharia Law, Obama's birth certificate): as being on the attack with destruction and obstruction the only objectives.
As for the Left's strategy of "government dependence for all", this seems to be evil only when it embraces the "losers." When corporations and banks are subsidized this is, of course, facilitating the free market. Dependence on law ("corporations are people") and on the military are somehow not part of "government," analagous to saying arms and legs are not really part of human anatomy. Dependence on private wealth is thus a "positive good." We should embrace our billionaires as "job creators" as they slash wages and are "forced" to export those jobs to tax-free non-American zones. Why import cheap labor to bust unions when you can just export the jobs to those truly grateful for them?
If the Liberal fight for contraception is really about women's liberation, then most surely is the Conservative anti-abortion movement about preserving male property in the form of heirship "rights." (God being always on the side of those who have.) Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, "food stamps" and welfare are all false entitlements for the undeserving, of course. We know true entitlement comes with a property deed, duly inherited under law, and thus a sign of Divine favor.
The real problem with the Conservative position is that it has always based itself on privilege. Protecting its followers' sense of "exceptionalism" under various twists of philosophy and politics has been its central task. Historically it positioned itself against racial equality, votes for women, the rights of labor, and religious tolerance. Attempts to create a populist base for its policies of privilege by appealing to minorities, women, struggling working families, or siding with Israel are made possible only by the Left's struggle to integrate this demographic majority into American society against the Right. The Right can "win" its anti-Left crusade only if it could truly marshal these groups on its side. Yet being welded to privilege, the gated side of the social divide, it can't bridge the moat it must have to keep the hordes at bay. No need to take prisoners when an entire society is behind bars.
David Horowitz' advice comprise the tactics of the Russian Right of a century ago, which did as much as Lenin to usher in Bolshevism. As a former "Red" himself, Horowitz should know this. Perhaps that remains his goal: by kicking the legs from under the center, playing the politics of extremist aggression, he trusts to emerge on the winning side regardless. ;)
Those of us ancient enough to remember the original superhero incarnations always look at these "resurrections" with a jaundiced eye. Joe Johnston, Kevin Feige, and writers Markus and McFeely put more than a little heart and effort into this one. The result is not only proverbial "action-adventure entertainment" but deepwater exploration into the nature of human good and evil.
The premise is that a 4-F with a good heart is transformed by science into the man he ought to be: an ubermensch whose capabilities match his conscience. Thus armored in soul and body he sallies forth to battle pure evil - the Red Skull of Hydra, who seems ready to outdo Hitler and take over the Evil Empire for himself. The reconstruction of time, place and culture is superb, especially as contrasted to his end-film resurrection in the 21st century. The humility of his transition from circus performer to action hero is also poignant, and necessary: a modern audience tends to mock men in tights who wrap themselves in the flag, just as the frontline soldiers who initially reject the CA shtick. It takes a crisis to make Captain America more than a clown image.
That said, there are a few rather absurdist premises in the film. Blacks or Native Americans of the period might have a problem with a white man in flag-drag symbolizing a force for good throughout the world, when experience at home teaches differently. The defected German scientist would, in reality, have been as Nazi as the bad one allied with Red Skull, turning a new leaf only through the losing course of war. And CA's stint as a USO performer would have been unnecessary - the whole operation in "real life" would have been conducted under the OSS, the CIA's predecessor. There'd have been no qualms about using a natural bully for genetic guinea pig.
As a good if old-fashioned gung-ho war film, and a probe into the human psyche, this effort is one of the better recreations of the comic-book genre: not a satire, not self-righteous, and not "dark." I haven't yet seen the sequel. I hope it doesn't trash this original effort too badly.
Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama
by Ann Coulter
Edition: Hardcover
Price: $23.98
120 used & new from $0.01
9 of 44 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Sheets Calling Pillowcases White, March 10, 2013
There is such a thing as reverse discrimination - preferencing A will disadvantage B, with or without malevolence, as a basic law of physics. But this author is not the one to be making said point, as she is as provocative, demagogic, and one-dimensional as she accuses her adversaries. Her advocates seem to endorse a new twist on Orwell's epigram: "Slavery was freedom, if only the dumb b-s had the sense to know it."
In Applebaum's pages the postwar world has indeed shifted its axis: the sun rises in the West and has set in the East. There is no inkling of the postwar satellite regimes on the other side of the curtain, established under Western occupation in Greece, South Korea, or South Vietnam; or the retro colonial wars of Kenya or Algeria. While totalitarianism was shedding its jagged edges in east-central Europe after 1956, it was just beginning in Latin America, where it would reach zenith in the national security states of the South American cone. This "oversight" of broader context is understandable: her husband, Polish expat and Oxford scholar Radek Sikorski, was the National Review's Angola point man, broker for Poland's entry into NATO, and now its foreign minister who has lauded Germany as Europe's "indispensable nation." Amazing how even Oxford scholars and Polish patriots can also twist historical memory to serve expedient ends.tee hee
Applebaum has focused on three states of the Western periphery of the old Soviet bloc: the German Democratic Republic, Poland, and Hungary. Despite her disclaimer she concentrated on these three precisely *because* of their similarities. They were the most Westernized, industrialized, and middle class nations of the bloc which seamlessly entered the Communist period under direct postwar Soviet occupation. Even in the rawest period of regime consolidation they were never cookie-cutter imitations of Moscow, nor was Poland ever equivalent to Albania. They were not "destroyed," as she writes; and she admits as much by later conceding it's "not an accident" that "the most successful postcommunist states are those that managed to preserve some elements of civil society throughout the communist period" (p. 468).
But Applebaum is likely right in disagreeing with the revisionists over Stalin's agenda in the region. Rather than a mere reaction to the Marshall Plan, Stalin set out to establish postwar Soviet-friendly regimes with longterm strategic interests in mind. When American journalist Edgar Snow asked a Romanian woman official in 1945 how long before the Communists are "running things," he was told, "Two years", with a "sweet smile." Stalin informed the Yugoslav Communist Milovan Djilas that victors must impose their own ideology and social systems "as far as their armies can reach." Scholars like Applebaum and NATO-adviser husband have worked hard to fulfill this dictum.
17 of 68 people found the following review helpful:dead :dead :dead :dead :dead
5.0 out of 5 stars
Basically sound history, December 16, 2009
By R. L. Huff
This review is from: Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture (Paperback)
The five stars are to give the work a much-deserved boost. My true rating wiuld be a four, however. In the second edition by SoftSkull Press the publisher and author state the book was victim to a well-organized trashing campaign by the gun lobby, and to judge by the reviews on this site it seems ongoing still: the Tea Partiers' bash-in before Obama.
Bellesiles is an iconoclastic contrarian of '60's mold, and at times - only a few - he may swerve too far in stating his case. But his premise is sound: that early America was not the home of universal firearm ownership, and that its "public liberties" did not flow from the barrel of a privately-owned, unregistered gun.
In a rural, non-manufacturing society like America, colonial and Federal, gun ownsership was equivalent to owning a wagon or horse: an ideal not realized by all, and possessed in modest quantities. The gun as a "consumer item" was not possible until the rise of mass production under the necessity of arming Federal troops for the Civil War.
My own grandfathers' arms history is proof: one lived in Pennsylvania and New England, and never owned a gun. The other, however, grew up in frontier Louisiana, and his "stockpile" consisted of an elderly shotgun and one "Spanish revolver." These were his only firearms, all dating from the 1890s, which he kept his entire life. As a boy in the 1880s he could remember men who still used muzzle-loading rifles, which had been passed on from father to son, and made their own bullets. Thus gun ownership, while more common among American farmers than Europeans, was low-caliber, varied from region to region, and was limited by general poverty.
It's no accident that the "frontier" we see portrayed in TV and film is nearly always confined to the post-Civil War era, the time of Colt "peacemakers" and Winchesters. Whole movies were devoted to "guns that won the West." If a "Western" were (ever) to be made on the Great Lakes Indian wars, or the outlaw gangs of the Old Southwest, its writers would be at a loss. Few of the symbols and weapons they associate with the "frontier" would have been availiable. One must wonder how much the NRA has influenced the scripting of the very frontier history Bellesiles justifiably took to task.
Major complaint I have is his overuse of "blinkered" especially in titles of the reviews.it stands out so painfully, "_____ but blinkered" is def entering my lexicon
Good list of stuff I'd probably like to read though.for sure, all the early soviet stuff on there is p much gospel. the Kurzman book on Iran is good, would recommend
One of the recurrent themes of Western historiography on the Russian Revolution has been how it could have turned out better for the West. Likely it could not have; nor could it really have done so for Russians. In the period under Professor Smith's review, Russian society was already too polarized for the center-left solution of parliamentary democracy; hence the ease with which the Constituent Assembly was swept aside after Russia's first free elections. If the Bolsheviks had not done so, the "White" army officers surely would have, as witness the fate of the PSR-led Constituent Assembly in Exile of Siberia, overthrown by Admiral Kolchak with British blessings. The Eastern Front policy of the "Komuch" was only a rehash of the Provisional Government's duplicitous pro-war program, already decisively repudiated by the country's majority.http://www.amazon.com/Captives-Revolution-Socialist-Revolutionaries-Dictatorship/dp/0822962829
The dilemma of the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries echoed that of the peasants to whom it most appealed. The poor ones split to the left, aligning with the Bolsheviks against land capitalism; the wealthier aligned with the right in favor of property; while the mass played the middle in benevolent neutrality. In this was captured - to use Smith's excellent term - the fate not only of the PSR but of the peasants, the Revolution, and Russia itself. Its fate was not unlike that of the Ukrainian nationalists of the 1940s, caught in a two-front war. Victory would go to those forces who knew who they were, what they wanted, could maintain themselves in the field the longest - and lucked out on the chessboard of global politics.
But it's hard to see how Smith can call the Bolshevik linkage of the PSR to "capitalist imperialism" a "trope," when the PSR leadership actively sought such linkage and was disappointed at its limited offering - even when betrayed by these Allies in favor of the White armies and their commissioned officers. As Smith says, no civil war is a neat either-or split. One can point to America's own, with anti-Lincoln draft rioters in New York or Unionist guerrillas in East Tennessee. But while these backcurrents complicate facts on the ground, they never overcome the central protagonists or replace the main dividing lines of conflict. Neither could the Russian PSR.
The Constituent Assembly-in-Exile failed for the same reason as the Provisional Government: obsession with legality over the nuts and bolts of power. The Bolsheviks were not mere democratic phrasemongers and coup-plotters like the adventurist PSRs; but embedded themselves in the social authority of the soviets, through which they gained access to the state, its treasury, and its transportation/communication systems. In the end the Red Army prevailed in 1920 for the same reasons it did in 1944: an atrocious enemy and the lack of a viable alternative. This ambiguity would haunt Soviet Power throughout its existence.
The fate of the PSR did symbolize the lost hope of any plurality in the Soviet state. When faced with suggestions in 1921 of legalizing the PSR as a Soviet party, allowing it freely-elected participation - or, as the Cheka's Feliks Dzherzhinsky advocated, "We must condemn the SR idea to languish in darkness" - Lenin unhesitatingly chose the latter. Dzherzhinsky's warnings prophesied the self-fulfilling pitfalls of glasnost: ideological regeneration of opponents was not in the Bolshevik interest, for doing so would only "unify and regenerate" the opposition within a "year and a half or so," changing the regime's single-party nature and creating the conditions for "counter-revolutionary restoration." Lenin's solution - the New Economic Policy - was to address the social grievances fueling SR support while outlawing the party and tightening his own. A lean-and-mean Communist Party would have to travel a long road before reaching the senile corpulence that, finally, allowed power to be stripped from its feebled grip.
Enjoying the Laird Barron short story collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. These shorts are surprisingly varied in style. I am looking forward to reading more work by him. Three years younger than I am, makes me weep for my own meandering creative life.
Enjoying the Laird Barron short story collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. These shorts are surprisingly varied in style. I am looking forward to reading more work by him. Three years younger than I am, makes me weep for my own meandering creative life.
Laird Barron is pretty good and he has an eye patch. :rock I've been meaning to check out this collection.
Obvious Proof of the Unarguable Muslim Hatred of Jews
This material should especially interest academics familiar with the frenzied activities in recent years on behalf of the rights of Palestinian scholars by such ostensibly academic groups as the American Studies Association or the Middle East Studies Association. Israeli shows how these institutions are in reality close in spirit and intention to the German universities of Freiburg and Gottingen of the 1930s as described in Max Weinreich's Hitler's Professors: The Part of Scholarship in Germany's Crimes against the Jewish People.[1] Today, most Islamist academicians, like their Nazi predecessors, ably demonstrate the truth of Gandhi's saying that "the greatest deceivers are the self-deceivers."
A Much Needed Feminist Foreign Policy
Just as Suzanne Gershowitz, of the American Enterprise Institute, said Chesler, a psychologist by training and a self-identified feminist, sets out to explain how and why the movement she once associated with has gone awry. Those most commonly identified as feminists today have, she argues, become "marginalized" and "irrelevant" due to their obsession with multiculturalism and isolationism. Chesler at once condemns women's studies in the academy and leftist protestations against U.S. democratization efforts in the Muslim world. At times, Chesler's passionate defense of both the United States and Israel--a defense of democracy and denunciation of Islamism--overwhelms her core arguments about feminism. But she clearly establishes the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and the feminism with which she identifies. Her ultimate goal, she says, is to create a feminist foreign policy.
The first chapters document the crises that feminism faces today: the liberal feminist hijacking of the academy, the lack of independent thinking among women, and the stifling of dissident feminist views. Using a mix of personal anecdotes, statistics, and excerpts from other sources, Chesler documents the closed-mindedness among feminists--and their hypocrisy: "the chilling of free speech has been unilaterally imposed by those who claim to act on its behalf," she argues. She also provides psychological explanations for this situation.
Chesler identifies the turning point of feminism, when it finally became "suicidally intolerant," as "the reaction and non-reaction of Western academics and intellectuals to the 2000 intifada against Israel--and to 9/11." Indeed, Chesler's main complaint against today's feminism is its reflexive anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism. She shares personal anecdotes about conversations on feminist Internet listservs she is a part of, where irrelevant rants condemning the "person who believes in the development and protection of a Jewish nation occupation" and "America's support for it" become commonplace. She, also, discusses consequences she has faced as a result of feminist's single-mindedness in politics, such as the time prominent feminist Muriel Fox, cofounder of NOW, warned her not to vote for President Bush in 2004. Chesler argues that a "suicidal" result of these tendencies is its failure to speak out against the crimes committed against women around the world in the name of Islam. Chesler's final chapters focus largely on Islamism and why it should be the foremost concern for feminists today.
End This Nonsense Now!
As David Gordon stated in Mises.org, supporters of Keynesian economics sometimes claim it to be a crude caricature of the Master that he thought the government has only to spend more money to get us out of a depression and that getting us into debt doesn't matter because we owe it to ourselves. Keynes, it is alleged, was a vastly more sophisticated thinker than this caricature portrays him to be. These defenders may find End This Depression Now! disconcerting. Krugman, who whatever his faults certainly is not lacking in technical sophistication, defends pretty much the cartoon version of Keynesianism that we are told is oversimplified.
He makes unmistakably clear the lesson he intends to convey: the government needs to spend a great deal of money to extricate us from our depressed economic conditions.
I'll never really get why super pro-Israeli peeps get so :umad about the Second Intifada. It ended the two-state solution for the foreseeable future and it's not like any of them give a crap about a just conclusion to the situation or an end to the killing.you'll notice our friend opens each of their reviews with something from mises.org or the Daniel Pipes founded Middle East Quarterly (in the exact same template no less). Some in the field are way more interested in drawing normative conclusions about the fanatical brown other than producing actually interesting scholarship. Thankfully, I haven't met any of them.
Norman Davies Europe: A History. Pretty sparse and uninteresting now.I see God's Playground brought up a lot wrt general histories of Poland, not sure where Davies slots in with the rest of Western Cold War historiography.
Flash boys : a Wall Street revolt / Michael Lewis. - "but in the end, Flash boys is an uplifting read. here are people who have somehow preserved a moral sense in an environment where you don't get paid for that" :lolThese two were really interesting. I was wrong about Shakespeare, it's a more of fake identities, false purchases and working with "retired" arms dealers to chase up the food chain. The government may still have killed all the brown people involved, but the book didn't say.
....
Operation Shakespeare : the true story of an elite international sting / John Shiffman. - Bunch of dudes go after stolen military technology, and I assume kill all the brown people involved. I liked this guys other book about art heists or something.
Nick Hornby has been a football fan since the moment he was conceived. Call it predestiny. Or call it preschool. Fever Pitch is his tribute to a lifelong obsession. Part autobiography, part comedy, part incisive analysis of insanity, Hornby’s award-winning memoir captures the fever pitch of fandom—its agony and ecstasy, its community, its defining role in thousands of young men’s coming-of-age stories. Fever Pitch is one for the home team. But above all, it is one for everyone who knows what it really means to have a losing season.
Norman Davies Europe: A History. Pretty sparse and uninteresting now.
Read The Expanse first novel, Leviathan Wakes. I've been off hard SF for a while, and this has been good fun in the old "what is happening here?" vibe that old Larry Niven used to provide for me in childhood, which Kim Stanley Robinson has filled for me in adulthood. Add to that a private detective side to the story, and it has hit just about every note that I find enjoyable in prose.
Read The Expanse first novel, Leviathan Wakes. I've been off hard SF for a while, and this has been good fun in the old "what is happening here?" vibe that old Larry Niven used to provide for me in childhood, which Kim Stanley Robinson has filled for me in adulthood. Add to that a private detective side to the story, and it has hit just about every note that I find enjoyable in prose.
I need to check that out. I enjoyed the first few episodes of the SciFi show but I feel I would enjoy it more in book form.
And once I'm finished with Aurora I'm gonna burn through all of Kim Stanley Robinson other stuff. The Mars Trilogy sounds super cool.
Read The Expanse first novel, Leviathan Wakes. I've been off hard SF for a while, and this has been good fun in the old "what is happening here?" vibe that old Larry Niven used to provide for me in childhood, which Kim Stanley Robinson has filled for me in adulthood. Add to that a private detective side to the story, and it has hit just about every note that I find enjoyable in prose.
I need to check that out. I enjoyed the first few episodes of the SciFi show but I feel I would enjoy it more in book form.
And once I'm finished with Aurora I'm gonna burn through all of Kim Stanley Robinson other stuff. The Mars Trilogy sounds super cool.
It was your post that encouraged me to write that.
The TV show is different than the novel, but still reasonably faithful. The most surprising thing for me is how so few of the characters are likable in the show. It increases the "DRAMA" level, but doesn't improve the story. It /does/ help get the character interaction out of their heads and into dialog.
If you have any interest in identity/consciousness and neuroscience, you should give Blindsight a spin as well. Bleak though.
I want to read a few good murder mysteries. Any good recommendations?T. Jefferson Parker's The Blue Hour was very solid.
I second this Blindsight recommendationYeah, Watts himself said something in the afterword to that effect. Echopraxia is an impressive work, but Blindsight is a tour de force. I was also enamored of the Rifters series, but I was less fond of the final reveal, and felt like it lost a little steam. Still, an impressive body of work.
the "sequel" Echopraxia aint bad either, but its a bit meandering and even more depressing.
In order to engage me in a civil discussion on Amazon you will need to be able to work out and understand all of the problems solved by George Boole in chapters 16-21 of his "The Laws of Thought" (1854).Demonstrate such a capability and I will be most happy to discusss my work on Keynes's " A Treatise on Probability " with you.Thanks for your comment.
QuoteImpressing the way Keynsians unabated contnue their love-fest for this sharlatan..I agree with you that Murray Rothbard was a charlatan.Thanks for your comment
Empires of EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online is the incredible true story of the dictators and governments that have risen to power within the real virtual world of EVE Online.
Since 2003, this sci-fi virtual world has been ruled by player-led governments commanding tens of thousands of real people. The conflict and struggle for power between these diverse governments has led to wars, espionage, and battles fought by thousands of people from nations all over the world. There have been climactic last stands, wars for honor and revenge, and spies who caused more damage than a fleet of warships.
Empires of EVE is the history of how political ideas first began to take hold in EVE Online, how that led to the creation of the first governments and political icons, and how those governments eventually collapsed into a state of total war from 2007-2009.
Read and loved Brighton Rock this week. 'Twas awesome. There will be more Graham Greene.
Bought a copy of this in Berkeley today, based on its rep. I'm expecting a hoot.
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/511cLfIhCvL._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/22/books/review-white-trash-ruminates-on-an-american-underclass.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
This review sold me on this:
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Reading that book, was there ever a time when England wasn't a miserable festering shithole? Serious question.
One of my favorite Rothfuss quotes was at a Comic Con panel with him alongside GRRM, Diana Gabaldon, and Joe Abercrombie. He was basically saying that because of LOTR/Tolkien's influence a lot of fantasy writers redo various shit "just because" Tolkien did it. World maps/size and languages being one of the biggest offenders. He pointed out Tolkien was a linguist and was also well versed on geography. Most fantasy writers aren't either. So his advice was to instead geek out on something you actually give a shit about. In his case, currency.
GRRM has mentioned that before in terms of fans expecting Tolkien type shit, wanting a complete world map for instance. It's like people don't want any mystery, and certainly no "there be dragons" explanation for why a complete world map doesn't exist for a medieval fantasy world.
One of my favorite Rothfuss quotes was at a Comic Con panel with him alongside GRRM, Diana Gabaldon, and Joe Abercrombie. He was basically saying that because of LOTR/Tolkien's influence a lot of fantasy writers redo various shit "just because" Tolkien did it. World maps/size and languages being one of the biggest offenders. He pointed out Tolkien was a linguist and was also well versed on geography. Most fantasy writers aren't either. So his advice was to instead geek out on something you actually give a shit about. In his case, currency.
GRRM has mentioned that before in terms of fans expecting Tolkien type shit, wanting a complete world map for instance. It's like people don't want any mystery, and certainly no "there be dragons" explanation for why a complete world map doesn't exist for a medieval fantasy world.
And Erikson's is anthropology/archeology. You know knowing about ancient unknowable peoples and how, now, non-existant cultures lived and differ from each other.
But geeking out about coins is cool too.
One of my favorite Rothfuss quotes was at a Comic Con panel with him alongside GRRM, Diana Gabaldon, and Joe Abercrombie. He was basically saying that because of LOTR/Tolkien's influence a lot of fantasy writers redo various shit "just because" Tolkien did it. World maps/size and languages being one of the biggest offenders. He pointed out Tolkien was a linguist and was also well versed on geography. Most fantasy writers aren't either. So his advice was to instead geek out on something you actually give a shit about. In his case, currency.
GRRM has mentioned that before in terms of fans expecting Tolkien type shit, wanting a complete world map for instance. It's like people don't want any mystery, and certainly no "there be dragons" explanation for why a complete world map doesn't exist for a medieval fantasy world.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Hyperion_cover.jpg)
Criticism for the novel has generally centred on Rajaniemi's sparse "show, don't tell" writing style. Brown notes that "the author makes no concessions to the lazy reader with info-dumps or convenient explanations." Niall Alexander, of the Speculative Scotsman, states that "had there been some sort of index, [he] would have gladly (and repeatedly) referred to it during the mind-boggling first third of The Quantum Thief", while proclaiming the novel to be "the sci-fi debut of 2010."
I have a ton of small Russian and Soviet novels to go through, thanks to the library in the city I moved in.
I have a ton of small Russian and Soviet novels to go through, thanks to the library in the city I moved in.
Keep us updated as to what you are reading. I really enjoy books about Russia and the USSR.
Fierce in its imagining and stupefying in its scope, Jerusalem is the tale of everything, told from a vanished gutter.
In the epic novel Jerusalem, Alan Moore channels both the ecstatic visions of William Blake and the theoretical physics of Albert Einstein through the hardscrabble streets and alleys of his hometown of Northampton, UK. In the half a square mile of decay and demolition that was England’s Saxon capital, eternity is loitering between the firetrap housing projects. Embedded in the grubby amber of the district’s narrative among its saints, kings, prostitutes, and derelicts, a different kind of human time is happening, a soiled simultaneity that does not differentiate between the petrol-colored puddles and the fractured dreams of those who navigate them.
Employing, a kaleidoscope of literary forms and styles that ranges from brutal social realism to extravagant children’s fantasy, from the modern stage drama to the extremes of science fiction, Jerusalem’s dizzyingly rich cast of characters includes the living, the dead, the celestial, and the infernal in an intricately woven tapestry that presents a vision of an absolute and timeless human reality in all of its exquisite, comical, and heartbreaking splendor.
In these pages lurk demons from the second-century Book of Tobit and angels with golden blood who reduce fate to a snooker tournament. Vagrants, prostitutes, and ghosts rub shoulders with Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce’s tragic daughter Lucia, and Buffalo Bill, among many others. There is a conversation in the thunderstruck dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, childbirth on the cobblestones of Lambeth Walk, an estranged couple sitting all night on the cold steps of a Gothic church front, and an infant choking on a cough drop for eleven chapters. An art exhibition is in preparation, and above the world a naked old man and a beautiful dead baby race along the Attics of the Breath toward the heat death of the universe.
An opulent mythology for those without a pot to piss in, through the labyrinthine streets and pages of Jerusalem tread ghosts that sing of wealth, poverty, and our threadbare millennium. They discuss English as a visionary language from John Bunyan to James Joyce, hold forth on the illusion of mortality post-Einstein, and insist upon the meanest slum as Blake’s eternal holy city.
Hardcover: 1280 pages
Finally finished reading Mistborn Book 2 by Brandon Sanderson after a couple of months. It's entertaining enough, but really is a C+ grade Game of Thrones politicking fantasy and suffers from middle book in a trilogy issue where the last 200 pages are essentially just setting up the story for the 3rd book. Will read some other stuff and then finish out the 3rd book and see how the plot is overall. First book was better for sure even if it was a bit Star Wars a New Hope x Fantasy.
Let me know if Midway's PS2 Joust reboot is in there. That was my last project before jumping ship to Japan.
Reading these two. American Gods I'm reading through for the second time, but I've never read the 10th anniversary edition. Which I am reading now.
(http://imgur.com/yFqg2PW)
(http://imgur.com/wzkCPah)
- 9/11
- Abortion Holocaust
- Being Adopted
- Biblical Literalism
- Cats
- Chemtrails
- U.S. Corporate Tax Policy
- Disabling Quantum Cryptography
- Divorce
- Eating Disorders
- Fluroide and Mind Control
- Gamergate
- Georgia O'Keeffe
- Global Warming
- The Gnostic Gospels
- Grand Unified Theory
- Hippies
- Hosting a Dinner Party
- Immigration
- ISIS
- Jesus
- Learning to Drive
- Miscegenation
- The Moon Landing Hoax
- The Moral Majority
- The New World Order
- Objectivism
- Online Dating
- P versus NP
- Phrenology
- Planning for Retirement
- Political Correctness
- Postmodern Architecture
- Project MKUltra
- The Rand Corporation
- Recursive Evaluation Functions in Neural Networks
- The Riemann Hypothesis
- Santa Claus
- Scientology
- Secret Minecraft Techniques
- Sharia Law
- Social Justice Warriors
- States Rights
- The Teapot Dome Scandal
- The Afterlife
- The Articles of the Confederacy
- The Lost Tribes of Israel
- The Tunguska Event
- Thimerosal
- Third Wave Feminism
- The person who believes in the development and protection of a Jewish nation Menace
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/711KFfadFGL.jpg)
very much like the SNL and ESPN books (Live From New York and Those Guys Have All The Fun) where it's 95+% interview content as oral history, not paragraphs of story and/or analysis
covers the founding to about 1992
the first modern music videos were apparently devised by British bands so as to avoid having to actually show up and play on various TV programs that all wanted them to appear over and over
laziness :rejoice
snipSo I wanna come back to this post because finals just ended last week
The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work.Pace the above Word of God, Middle-Earth is not entirely reducible to tolkiens catholicism, but it was undoubtedly informed by it. At any rate, here's what I've come up with.
The West is a promise after death.This is untenable, per Letter 237:
The passage over Sea is not Death. The 'mythology' is Elf-centered. According to it there was at first an actual Earthly Paradise, home and realm of the Valar, as a physical part of the earth.From this and the 2 articles from the literature I looked at, Aman, or the 'Undying Lands', is closer to Eden after the expulsion than Celestial Paradise as such. So, a real, physical place on Arda, not a transcendent afterlife. The emendation "there was at first" is important here, Aman/Valinor was submerged after the numenoreans tried to reach it in the Silmarillion. It still exists, and is what Frodo and Bilbo sail towards, it's just been in occultation since the Second (I think?) Age. From letter 325:
The ‘immortals’ who were permitted to leave Middle-earth and seek Aman — the undying lands of Valinor and Eressëa, an island assigned to the Eldar — set sail in ships specially made and hallowed for this voyage, and steered due West towards the ancient site of these lands. They only set out after sundown; but if any keen-eyed observer from that shore had watched one of these ships he might have seen that it never became hull-down but dwindled only by distance until it vanished in the twilight: it followed the straight road to the true West and not the bent road of the earth’s surface. As it vanished it left the physical world. There was no return. The Elves who took this road and those few ‘mortals’ who by special grace went with them, had abandoned the ‘History of the world’ and could play no further part in it.
The angelic immortals (incarnate only at their own will), the Valar or regents under God, and others of the same order but less power and majesty (such as Olórin = Gandalf) needed no transport, unless they for a time remained incarnate, and they could, if allowed or commanded, return.
As for Frodo or other mortals, they could only dwell in Aman for a limited time — whether brief or long. The Valar had neither the power nor the right to confer ‘immortality’ upon them. Their sojourn was a ‘purgatory’, but one of peace and healing and they would eventually pass away (die at their own desire and of free will) to destinations of which the Elves knew nothing.
It's why "The West" works as arc words: you're not literally going in a cardinal direction -iirc, he explicitly laid out that if you did, you still wouldn't reach Aman- you're passing a threshold from this world to a far green country with white shores and a swift sunrise.Is also not true. You are actually going due west, it's just that this isn't physically possible for mortals who haven't been beknighted with divine favor. Whether that's an actually meaningful distinction I'll leave for the reader to decide. You are still passing a threshold though. Once you've gone, you exit history, which makes that last paragraph interesting: if Frodos not dead yet, and still mortal, the only thing left for him to do is willingly kill himself to reach a "destination of which the Elves know nothing." Whether that undiscovered country is the same thing as Celestial Paradise? Who knows.
The Silmarillion feels like the Bible in that there are a bunch of alien geometries and spatial/temporal ambiguities you just can't square away if you go in with the attitude that everything on the map in the appendix is a 1 for 1 representation of the proverbial thing-in-the-world...You can do that in fantasy, you can imagine time and space differently. I think that's one of the strongest points in favor of it as a genre and it's why I feel confident in drawing a lineage between Tolkien and works like Beowulf which, for obvious reasons, don't share our modernist sympathies.So, this is the rub and I think it's still broadly defensible. Tolkien always hedges his remarks in these letters. Lines like "The 'mythology' is Elf-centered" are symptomatic and 100% deliberate. I initially had a tough time squaring away that kind of language with this new insight on Aman/Valinor but what I think he's doing here is creating a space for competing interpretations in-universe. Whether Iluvatar sunk the undying lands in moral retribution for the numenoreans hubris or a cataclysmic physical event ocurred that profoundly changed the geography of middle earth isn't the point. The point is to imitate the texts that run these distinctions together. The legendarium is misty in the same way the Beowulf we've inherited is.
**I have never read Heidegger either :expertThe allusion to Heidegger's in-der-Welt-sein, or, being-in-the-world, doesn't work here. You could've picked literally any other writer in the continental phenomenological tradition to make this joke. But you didn't. And that's ok. We learn, we grow, we special fellow :expert.
Almost done with 'It'
Kinda Meh.
Almost done with 'It'
Kinda Meh.
It picks up with the underaged gangbang at the end. :jared
LOL the fat kid got the biggest dick.
LOL the fat kid got the biggest dick.
Um, spoilers! :maf
They killed like 100 people in the flood just to save like 10 kids every 30 years, lol
Me too. Going to increase my book reading by ∞% this year (since I read zero books this year.)
Me too. Going to increase my book reading by ∞% this year (since I read zero books this year.)
You should read a book on math.
However, 0/0 is still undefined on the Riemann sphere, but defined in wheels.
In college, I took college algebra which was the lowest non-remedial offered because I only needed the one math credit. (I had done like past AP-calculus and stuff already but didn't want to bother with any actual work for a required core credit.)
One day, like ten people in the class were arguing with the professor for like twenty minutes that 2/2 = 0 because when you divide something by itself you have nothing left.
I did beat Metroid: Zero Mission tho
In college, I took college algebra which was the lowest non-remedial offered because I only needed the one math credit. (I had done like past AP-calculus and stuff already but didn't want to bother with any actual work for a required core credit.)Why didn't you just get credit for the AP class? Also, did you never take a stat class? Thought you had some kinda social science major.
In college, I took college algebra which was the lowest non-remedial offered
I didn't take any of the AP tests.
Here's what I have on my nightstand, which should I read next?
The City & the City - China Mieville
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
The Stress of Her Regard - Tim Powers
Here's what I have on my nightstand, which should I read next?
The City & the City - China Mieville
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
The Stress of Her Regard - Tim Powers
I had a difficult time finishing that Powers' book. I'm interested to hear what you think of it.
Here's what I have on my nightstand, which should I read next?
The City & the City - China Mieville
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
The Stress of Her Regard - Tim Powers
I had a difficult time finishing that Powers' book. I'm interested to hear what you think of it.
I've only read two of his other books, On Stranger Tides and The Anubis Gate, but I liked those two. I'll probably read this after The City & the City.
Just read Ready Player One over the last week as its the monthly book of the book club I joined last month. I generally stay away from stuff targeted at nerd culture because I'm a fucking hipster, but it's kinda neat reading something where I am exactly the target audience. While a little corny at times and there was a bit where I felt it kinda dragged, it was fun! Good book and worth a read for anyone who grew up on gaming. It's interesting that out of all the fanservice even though I've been a huge gaming fan since Atari 2600 and adventure and stuff, what made me geek out the most was the mecha. I <3 80s giant robots so much. Will be interesting to see if they get licenses for all this stuff for the film version. Cause regardless the movie is gonna be cheesy as fuck, but if it has half the stuff in the final battle I will pay money to see that.
Just finished The Crippled God. Damn good books. Can't wait to read more.I've been wanting to get back to those.
MalazanOK, where do I start?
So I've been reading a ton of history stuff lately but now I need a fluffy palate cleanser.
Would love a new fantasy or sci-fi series.
I considered doing the Wheel of Time (I had gotten to book 5 and then just gave up when the guy got insufferably emo). Don't know if I want that big of a commitment
I tried "In the name of the Wind" back when it came out. But it fell into the whole "libertopian super man" trope and I gave up on it right quick after the Sword of Truth crap I have little patience for a libertopian super man protagonist.
Any suggestions? Something fun and exciting but also good.
Ordered! Thanks!
I've been very slowly chipping away at The Wind Up Girl, a post-apocalyptic sci fi novel where peak oil has hit, GMO-induced plagues run rampant, food is scarce, and a civil war in Thailand is brewing between people who want to re-open its protectionist environment up to trade and the nationalist Environment Ministry. Also add in a Japanese sex bot, a Malaysian refugee, and a 'farang' (whitey) agent of one of the GMO companies. It's got an interesting setting, but it's a bit tough to get through due to the use of lots of Thai words and slang, and made up words for the story, with little explanation of them. I'm not sure if I'm really feeling it but I'm about 3/4 of the way through by now.
“Steven Hayward thinks presidents should be graded on their loyalty to their oath of office. Why, it’s just crazy enough to work!”
--Jonah Goldberg
Government scholar Steven Hayward is ready to debunk some of the biggest presidential myths Americans believe are facts.
In Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents, Part 2, he traces the legacy of each president from Wilson to Obama and along the way reveals truths most Americans never heard.
JFK was assassinated by a Communist. FDR had the right to run against Hoover. Wilson openly criticized the Constitution. Barack Obama wanted to include Hiroshima and Nagasaki on his world apology tour, but the Japanese government said no thanks. And the 2000 election did, in fact, reach the correct outcome. Uncover new revelations about each President and prepare yourself for an unvarnished look at the truth.
He deserves an F grade for his respect and defense of the Constitution, nonetheless, for an unusual reason: his unprecedented and outrageous behavior as an ex-president. Carter does not seem to understand that the nation has only one president at a time.WHAT ARE WE EVEN DOING AT THIS POINT BOOK :doge
For his vigorous defense of the president's constitutional power to defend the nation against the threat of terrorism ... Bush deserves a top grade for presidential performance.Obama: F-
President Obama's performance on foreign policy was curious, ironic, and hypocritical ... Obama embraced nearly all of [Bush's policies]; and in some cases he aggressively expanded Bush policies.
...
But still underneath the surface, Obama gave off every indication ... that he wished to diminish American influence and reduce America's capacity as a world leader.
...
It is questionable whether deep down Obama's primary allegiance was to the United States
In an off-the-cuff comment, Obama derided [Scott] Brown by saying, "Anybody can buy a truck. This dismissal of the iconic conveyance of so many working Americans no doubt comes naturally to Prius-driving elites in Cambridge and Hyde Park, but it showed Obama's remoteness from the real lives of most working Americans.
Never before has a journalist penetrated the wall of secrecy that surrounds the U.S. Secret Service. After conducting exclusive interviews with more than one hundred current and former Secret Service agents, bestselling author and award-winning reporter Ronald Kessler reveals their secrets for the first time.
• George W. Bush’s daughters would try to lose their agents.
• Based on a psychic’s vision that a sniper would assassinate President George H. W. Bush, the Secret Service changed his motorcade route.
• To make the press think he came to work early, Jimmy Carter would walk into the Oval Office at 5 a.m., then nod off to sleep.
• Lyndon Johnson gave dangerous instructions to his Secret Service agents and engaged in extensive philandering at the White House.
THE FIRST FAMILY DETAIL reveals:
· Vice President Joe Biden regularly orders the Secret Service to keep his military aide with the nuclear football a mile behind his motorcade, potentially leaving the country unable to retaliate in the event of a nuclear attack.
· Secret Service agents discovered that former president Bill Clinton has a blond mistress. Within minutes of Hillary Clinton’s leaving, the woman—codenamed Energizer by agents—shows up to be with Bill every day while the likely future presidential candidate is away.
· The Secret Service covered up the fact that President Ronald Reagan’s White House staff overruled the Secret Service to let unscreened spectators get close to Reagan as he left the Washington Hilton, allowing him to be shot by John W. Hinckley Jr.
· Secret Service agents have been dismayed to overhear Michelle Obama push her husband to be more aggressive in attacking Republicans and to side with blacks in racial controversies.
· Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan diverted agents from protecting President Obama and his family at the White House and ordered them instead to protect his assistant at her home and illegally retrieve confidential records as a favor to her.
· Because Hillary Clinton is so nasty to agents, being assigned to her protective detail is considered a form of punishment and the worst assignment in the Secret Service.
· Secret Service agents were ordered to ignore security rules and allow the SUV carrying actor Bradley Cooper to drive unscreened into a secure restricted area when President Obama was about to deliver his speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
· Vice President Joe Biden spends millions of taxpayer dollars flying to and from his home in Delaware on Air Force Two. His office tried to cover up the costs of the personal trips.
· Because the Secret Service refused to provide enough magnetometers at his campaign events, Mitt Romney regularly left himself open to assassination by giving speeches to unscreened crowds.
· Vice President Joe Biden swims nude at the vice president’s residence in Washington and at his home in Delaware, offending female agents.
A Danger to Our Country and Leaders
ByMichaelon August 2, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
The author writes an interesting and thoughtful book about a part of government that many people are not very familiar with: the Secret Service. He describes the vast and impressive array of procedures employed in protecting presidents ,current and previous, vice presidents, and their families, as well as cabinet secretaries and political leaders in the line of succession to become president in case of a severe emergency. During a presidential election the leading candidates are also protected.
To accomplish their mission Secret Service agents must work in close proximity to all their protectees, becoming a part of their lives on a daily basis. This gives the agents a clear window through which to observe their personalities and character. Revelations from some of the agents indicate that what transpires in their clients' private lives may not comport with the image that they desire to show to the public.
As examples, the book describes how a number of protectees were especially "nasty" to the agents and their own staffs: Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Al Gore.
Especially friendly and respectful to agents were Ronald Reagan, Bush 41 and 43 and their wives, Dick and Lynne Cheney and Mitt and Ann Romney.
"I read it cover to cover!"―Sean Hannity, Fox News Channel
"[Crisis of Character] validates the public's growing distrust of Hillary's character. It reminds us of the Clintons' countless scandals and the deficits in their leadership. It is a message from someone who knew them personally, and it is a message we would do well to heed."―Townhall.com
"Former Secret Service officer Gary Byrne offers a ground-zero look at the Lewinsky scandal - and other Bill Clinton misadventures that should have been national scandals - in his new book Crisis of Character. Even though top Clinton White House officials have confirmed Byrne was an honorable officer, the Clinton machine has been working to pressure television networks into ignoring the news and helping Hillary Clinton's campaign by not reporting on the details contained within Byrne's bombshell book."―Breitbart.com
the woman—codenamed Energizer by agents—shows up to be with Bill every day while the likely future presidential candidate is away.
(https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463086475l/29587046.jpg)Jack and PD might like this book. The Walrus too if he was still around. That Cesare Borgia guy from GAF probably has a few copies to laugh about all his friends mentioned in the book.
Anyone here ever read The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro? I'm intimidated by it being 1300+ pages long.
spoiler (click to show/hide)(http://thesuperslice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/71XRD09XJDL.jpg)[close]
But the fascists also labor under contradiction. Bourgeois reason is in fact not only particular but general, and its generality speeds the progress of fascism by denying it. Those who came to power in Germany were cleverer and more stupid than the liberals. The progress towards the new order was supported to a large extent by those whose consciousness was not involved in progress: by bankrupt individuals, sectarian interests, and fools. They are protected against error as long as their power prevents any kind of competition. But, in the competition between states, the fascists are not only equally capable of making mistakes but through such characteristics as short-sightedness, obstinacy, and lack of knowledge of economic forces, and above all through their inability to see the negative side of things and include this factor in their estimate of the overall position, they contribute subjectively to the catastrophe which they have always expected in their heart of hearts.
Anyone here ever read The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro? I'm intimidated by it being 1300+ pages long.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32075825-the-rise-and-fall-of-d-o-d-o
Neal Stephenson's got a new book about to come out. I still haven't chewed through Cryptonomicon.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32075825-the-rise-and-fall-of-d-o-d-o
Neal Stephenson's got a new book about to come out. I still haven't chewed through Cryptonomicon.
One day I'll finish reading REAMDE. I bought it when it came out and I read about half of it, and five years later I'll still pick it up and read a few more pages every couple of months. It's okay, I still kinda remember what's going on. :lol
I just finished this. It is a great read but I found it inferior to Nixonland. Which isn't a criticism against the book but Nixonland was so good and it perfectly captured the changing political environment in a way that I haven't found in any other book. The Invisible Bridge tries to do the same thing but seems to be incomplete. While Perlstein went really deep into Nixon for Nixonland, it seems like Reagan only got a surface level treatment by comparison, which I think does the book a disservice. The book's strength, like Nixonland, is that is it very objective. There is no real slant and I think Perlstein goes to great lengths to make sure that the book is as factual as possible.
I will probably check out the first book in the trilogy about Goldwater.
One of the lessons Mook and his allies took from Michigan was that Hillary was better off not getting into an all-out war with her opponent in states where non-college-educated whites could be the decisive demographic. In Michigan, they believed, Hillary’s hard campaigning had called attention to an election that many would-be voters weren’t paying attention to, and given Bernie a chance to show that his economic message was more in line with their views. So Mook’s clique looked at the elevation of the Michigan primary — poking the sleeping bear of the white working class — as a mistake that shouldn’t be repeated. “That was a takeaway that we tried to use in the general,” said one high-ranking campaign official.Ultimate paragraph of the entire book right there in retrospect.
For his part, Jeb! Bush shook just about every hand in the room before he got to mine.:rejoice
"Hi governor," I said as I extended my arm toward him. The former governor of Florida gave me a look that I can only describe as impish. He gripped my hand. In the split second in which our thumbs were entwined in the customary masculine greeting, he stuck out his index finger and wiggled it into my palm.
"Secret handshake," Bush said. And then he walked away. No explanation. Just a secret handshake that Jeb Bush developed on the spot and tried out on a reporter he barely knew.
So I'm reading The Dark Tower 'cause you know, the movie coming out and in book 2 I made it to the first door and couldn't put it down and read through the whole door in one go. This is a fun book. First book was ok, first 100 pages or so of book 2 was ok, but now this is fun stuff.
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51GZ0vn8bEL.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/513k4GT3hqL.jpg) (https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51nZJI+O6FL.jpg)
Friend of mine hadn't read any Iain M. Banks, so I started him on Use of Weapons. He decided to immediately start reading it, and I'd been saving it for a rainy day — or so I thought. I have a dozen books by Banks, but couldn't find my copy of Use of Weapons. Ended up buying it on Kindle, and bringing it on my trip stateside. I thought I'd have 6 hours in Taipei layover to read it, but ended up keeping my son entertained. Not a euphemism.So I'm reading The Dark Tower 'cause you know, the movie coming out and in book 2 I made it to the first door and couldn't put it down and read through the whole door in one go. This is a fun book. First book was ok, first 100 pages or so of book 2 was ok, but now this is fun stuff.
The first book is a different feel from everything else in the series. It's an OK series, brilliant at times, but don't expect things to continue in the same vein.
Friend of mine hadn't read any Iain M. Banks, so I started him on Use of Weapons. He decided to immediately start reading it, and I'd been saving it for a rainy day — or so I thought. I have a dozen books by Banks, but couldn't find my copy of Use of Weapons. Ended up buying it on Kindle, and bringing it on my trip stateside. I thought I'd have 6 hours in Taipei layover to read it, but ended up keeping my son entertained. Not a euphemism.So I'm reading The Dark Tower 'cause you know, the movie coming out and in book 2 I made it to the first door and couldn't put it down and read through the whole door in one go. This is a fun book. First book was ok, first 100 pages or so of book 2 was ok, but now this is fun stuff.
The first book is a different feel from everything else in the series. It's an OK series, brilliant at times, but don't expect things to continue in the same vein.
Yeah, I've heard aaaaaaall about books 5-7 and how bad they are. Even now in book 2, I started reading the 2nd door last night Lady of the Shadows and it was terrible zzzz stuff. It's crazy how it went from couldn't put the book down in door 1 to I'm skimming instead of reading on door 2. I can already see the consistency stuff. I've heard book 4 is pretty awesome though, so I'm looking forward to that.
Getting close to finishing Dark Tower Book 3 The Wastelands. Ordered Wizard & The Glass. The 2nd half of The Wastelands after Jake joins the party feels like everything that was uneven in books 2 & first half of book 3 finally came together and now it's a good ole' fun Fallout/Mad Max post-apocalyptic wasteland journey. Enjoying it quite a bit at this point!
Oppenheimer is a brilliant new voice in political history who has woven together the past century’s most important movements into a single book that reveals the roots of American politics.also the list of people is amazing, horowitz being on any kind of list with reagan and chambers is hilarious, at least podhoretz played some kind of role with commentary, and the inclusion of hitchens is totally what sold me, that's gotta be a heck of a chapter
At its core, Exit Right is a book that asks profound questions about why and how we come to believe politically at all—on the left or the right. Each of these six lives challenges us to ask where our own beliefs come from, and what it might take to change them. At a time of sky-high partisanship, Oppenheimer breaks down the boundaries that divide us and investigates the deeper origins of our politics. This is a book that will resonate with readers on the left and the right—as well as those stuck somewhere in the middle.
Use of weapons is so good
about 80% of them. Weapons is my favorite.
Fellow forum guy recommended Player of Games to me some years ago as my first Ian Banks novel. Was good fun. Should I read Use of Weapons as my next Banks book?
(https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387770645l/6497580.jpg)Wow, useless drivel garbage. I'm not sure this book actually is about anything. I have no idea what some of the academic reviews for it are reading instead.
(https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1454256453l/25814421.jpg)The book doesn't frame it this way, but ultimately aside from Reagan (which the book fails to note was never really on "the left" as much as he was an apolitical Democrat at a time when everyone was, his turn to the "right" came when he actually bothered to start investigating his political views) and Hitchens (which the book acknowledges never actually left "the left" as it bemoans his attacks on religion, supporting Iraq not really counting) the main takeaway is that the four dudes, especially Podhoretz didn't get the critical acclaim and fame they desired from "the left" but did from "the right" as they attacked "the left" so that's why they shifted. Because it never actually tackles any of their political views, except Hitchens to essentially argue him out of the book. Instead it's all about their professional and personal lives. Twenty pages on Burnham's relationship with Trotsky. One paragraph on how he declared himself no longer a Marxist. AND END CHAPTER.
“The wisdom, discernment, and erudition on display in this book are exceptional. After reading it, you may never think about why we believe what we believe in the same way again. Daniel Oppenheimer is a political essayist for the ages.”I'm going to assume he didn't actually read it.
—Rick Perlstein, author of The Invisible Bridge
Intermediate groups-- voluntary associations, churches, ethnocultural groups, universities, and more--can both protect threaten individual liberty.
Between 1870 and 1920, two generations of European and American intellectuals created a transatlantic community of philosophical and political discourse. Uncertain Victory, the first comparative study of ideas and politics in France, Germany, the U.S., and Great Britain during these fifty years, demonstrates how a number of thinkers from different traditions converged to create the theoretical foundations for new programs of social democracy and progressivism. Kloppenberg studies a wide range of pivotal theorists and activists--including philosophers such as William James, Wilhelm Dilthey, and T. H. Green, democratic socialists such as Jean Jaurès, Walter Rauschenbusch, Eduard Bernstein, and Beatrice and Sidney Webb, and social theorists such as John Dewey and Max Weber--as he establishes the connection between the philosophers' challenges to the traditions of empiricism and idealism and the activists' opposition to the traditions of laissez-faire liberalism and revolutionary socialism. By demonstrating a link between a philosophy of self-conscious uncertainty and a politics of continuing democratic experimentation, and by highlighting previously unrecognized similarities among a number of prominent 19th- and 20th-century thinkers, Uncertain Victory is sure to spur a reassessment of the relationship between ideas and politics on both sides of the Atlantic.
This spirited analysis--and defense--of American liberalism demonstrates the complex and rich traditions of political, economic, and social discourse that have informed American democratic culture from the seventeenth century to the present. The Virtues of Liberalism provides a convincing response to critics both right and left. Against conservatives outside the academy who oppose liberalism because they equate it with license, James T. Kloppenberg uncovers ample evidence of American republicans' and liberal democrats' commitments to ethical and religious ideals and their awareness of the difficult choices involved in promoting virtue in a culturally diverse nation. Against radical academic critics who reject liberalism because they equate it with Enlightenment reason and individual property holding, Kloppenberg shows the historical roots of American liberals' dual commitments to diversity, manifested in institutions designed to facilitate deliberative democracy, and to government regulations of property and market exchange in accordance with the public good. In contrast to prevailing tendencies to simplify and distort American liberalism, Kloppenberg shows how the multifaceted virtues of liberalism have inspired theorists and reformers from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison through Jane Addams and John Dewey to Martin Luther King, Jr., and then explains how these virtues persist in the work of some liberal democrats today. Endorsing the efforts of such neo-progressive and communitarian theorists and journalists as Michael Walzer, Jane Mansbridge, Michael Sandel, and E. J. Dionne, Kloppenberg also offers a more acute analysis of the historical development of American liberalism and of the complex reasons why it has been transformed and made more vulnerable in recent decades. An intelligent, coherent, and persuasive canvas that stretches from the Enlightenment to the American Revolution, from Tocqueville's observations to the New Deal's social programs, and from the right to worship freely to the idea of ethical responsibility, this book is a valuable contribution to historical scholarship and to contemporary political and cultural debates.
Currently readin the Southern Reach series, really enjoyed book 1 Annihilation
I finished 'salem's Lot!
Was a fun book. I wish it didn't end so quickly because I want more! (which I guess I'll get in Dark Tower book 5 The Wolves of the Calla[han?]). Ordered Night Shift which I may or may not have read as a little kid (I read most of the short story collections like Skeleton Crew, but maybe not Night Shift) because 2 of the short stories in Night Shift are related to 'salem's Lot.
Anyhow, felt sorta like a dark version of ghostbusters, exceptspoiler (click to show/hide)with vampires[close]
like you had a team of cool peoples working together to stop the evil that is taking over the town. Liked most of the main cast, and there were some good scenes. Bad guy could've used more scenes, the part near the endspoiler (click to show/hide)where they go to his coffin in the Marsten House and he leaves this long eloquent letter about his opponents through time and how he was going to murder them all in fun chess like gaming[close]
was delicious. I liked the main kid Mark.
Afterwards I watched the trailers and random clips from the 1979 and 2004 Rob Lowe adaptations. Was cool seeing some of the scenes brought to life, but I'm not really big on the 1979 versionspoiler (click to show/hide)Making Barlow some dorky looking Nosferatu guy. In the book he's frightening, especially in the battle scene with Priest Callahan in Mark's home. Even the 2004 version seemed too tame. Like he should be a lot more awe-inspiring ageless and powerful.[close]
I also liked how they used religion in the book, how itspoiler (click to show/hide)was just a source of power like if you believed then your cross would light up or your hammer would get HOLY mod, but once your belief waivers, the cross is just a couple sticks.[close]
After I read Night Shift, will start up The Wolves of the Calla!
Penelope Helsdottir was never cut out to be a monster huntress. She is too clumsy and timid. Not like her tough, older sister Kara and their legendary mother Hilda Helsdottir. Penny stays far away from battle and spends her time researching monsters in forbidden texts to help her mother and sister. But when Kara and Hilda go missing on a lost island of ancient evil, it is up to Penny to leave behind her soft life and journey to the island to find out what has happened to her family.
Become Penelope and learn the ways of hunting monsters as you choose your own adventure. Face off against twisted, Lovecraftian horrors in this darkly erotic fantasy adventure on an island overrun with monsters and cursed with blasphemous fertility. YOU will make the decisions for Penny and it could mean the difference between life, death, or something far, far worse. Unravel the truth of the cult of the Great One and destroy the horrors that threaten to consume mankind. Or embrace your inner evil and join with the eldritch darkness that haunts this strange island.
Includes 25 different interactive monster encounters like ogres, twisted goblinoids, scyllas, mimics, swamp amphibians, goat-horned demigods, and many more! Branching paths of virtue and corruption and multiple traveling companions will give you a reason to read the book more than once. With 83 different endings, most of them bad, this 460,000+ word epic will leave you terrified but unable to stop reading, even when you surrender to eldritch lust!
:fbm
Thought you've already read it.
Sorry, I prefer my Lovecraftian erotica to have a little more literary heft than a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel. :snob
couldn't believe i hadn't read this
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71145u8JAvL.jpg)
also i'm hoping it'll give me a leg up or at least some pro-tips for the Novid ARG
(History of Rome by Theodor Mommsen)one of the founding classics of modern historiography; how are you liking it?
I'm 95% through Stephen King's IT. My first read-through; feels like when I watch Stranger Things, there will be a great deal of crossover. I wanted to read the book prior to seeing the recent movie, and now I think I know what to expect about how the movie is "half" of the book — I'm guessing the movie is the part with the kids, and maybe doesn't deal with the tale of them as adults? The novel holds up very well, is plenty suspenseful and engaging and heartbreaking. I can see why it was such a landmark horror novel.The movie covers just the first half of the book with their experience as children. The movie ends with: "IT: PART 1".
The book treats both threads progressing concurrently, interwoven with each other, sometimes changing chapters mid-sentence. It's compelling, though I see how the movie's format is preferable.I'm 95% through Stephen King's IT. My first read-through; feels like when I watch Stranger Things, there will be a great deal of crossover. I wanted to read the book prior to seeing the recent movie, and now I think I know what to expect about how the movie is "half" of the book — I'm guessing the movie is the part with the kids, and maybe doesn't deal with the tale of them as adults? The novel holds up very well, is plenty suspenseful and engaging and heartbreaking. I can see why it was such a landmark horror novel.The movie covers just the first half of the book with their experience as children. The movie ends with: "IT: PART 1".
(History of Rome by Theodor Mommsen)one of the founding classics of modern historiography; how are you liking it?
It may be outdated in parts, but since my knowledge of Ancient Rome is rather shaky the more I move away from the Late Republic and Early Principate era,Isn't everybody's?
Even during the Empire, some later historians just sorta fake their way through the periods like writing a capstone paper off the equivalent of 300 AD's Wikipedia "History of Rome" page.
The book also said that Columbus brought syfilis back with him to Europe. (I put it in google and found some 2011 study saying they just found that. How the hell does this 1965 dutch history book on the Americas have the same information?)
Also Naughty Dog games were considered the pinnacle of high culture.not entirely untrue
The book also said that Columbus brought syfilis back with him to Europe. (I put it in google and found some 2011 study saying they just found that. How the hell does this 1965 dutch history book on the Americas have the same information?)
Rumors that later ended up being confirmed by science? Or a lucky guess?
gardens of the moon. You can read the first 5 books in the series before the reading order gets complicated (and even then its not complicated like a lot of people try to make it seem)OK, we need to talk about this Arvie.
Note that GotM was written a decade before the rest of the books and so its writing style is not nearly as good as the rest of the series. Also its ok that its confusing. Just roll with it - its part of the experience.
I have still a good 1/3 to go through but I really look forward to finish it and attack a new novel. I keep buying books despite and I want to reduce that backlog (Dr.Zhivago recently).
gardens of the moon. You can read the first 5 books in the series before the reading order gets complicated (and even then its not complicated like a lot of people try to make it seem)OK, we need to talk about this Arvie.
Note that GotM was written a decade before the rest of the books and so its writing style is not nearly as good as the rest of the series. Also its ok that its confusing. Just roll with it - its part of the experience.
I got the book started to read it. It got stolen when I was about 80 pages in. I went and read a bunch of history books and finally got around to re-ordering it. I'm about halfway and well.....I don't know what to make of it.
I mean the first hundred or so pages are rather well written. Very tight and moves well. You understand who the characters are, and what is happening, to an extent. After that though, it sorta falls off a cliff. The author does some stuff that just irks me. First off he throws a bunch of characters and places and things at you and doesn't explain who they are, why they're important, what they want, etc. It started to grate on me and I actually wrote some stuff down. For example: Dude starts a chapter by giving you 4 new names of things in the first sentence of the chapter. I wrote these words down. 125 pages later, none of those words were important or came up again. I'm not saying everything needs to be Chekov's gun but man, don't overwhelm me with terminology and stuff I don't have to remember.
Also, a lot of the interactions are not really believable. That's fine, usually, fantasy writers are 10x better at making a world that works than characters that work, it's par for course. Annoying, but I'm not going to fault him too much there. There's a lot of threads out there and floating around. I feel like the author let the world get away from him and everything feels like a jumbled mess right now. It really worked well in the first hundred pages with fewer characters and all that. Now it feels like we're following everyone, everywhere and people keep popping up....sorta.
I don't know what to make of it honestly. I'm still reading it to see if it all gets back in line, like it was in the beginning, and I'm going on the recommendation. If Arvie said it's not bad, I'll give it a full opportunity. I guess we'll see.
I’m still working my way through the Expanse series, and audio book form, and finished the fourth one. I have not been impressed at all with the third one, so I was very excited how well paced and coherent the last when I read was. I’m happy to have a good series I can stick with. I may end up reading listening to all of them.
In contrast, I am reading Chuck Wendig’s AFTERMATH, the new Star Wars canon novel of what happened after Return of the Jedi. I didn’t sample it before purchasing it, or I might not have. It is a dramatic reading with sound effects and music. I don’t need any of that stuff, and it encourages scenery chewing reading rather than storytelling. Not feeling it.
I’m still working my way through the Expanse series, and audio book form, and finished the fourth one. I have not been impressed at all with the third one, so I was very excited how well paced and coherent the last when I read was. I’m happy to have a good series I can stick with. I may end up reading listening to all of them.
In contrast, I am reading Chuck Wendig’s AFTERMATH, the new Star Wars canon novel of what happened after Return of the Jedi. I didn’t sample it before purchasing it, or I might not have. It is a dramatic reading with sound effects and music. I don’t need any of that stuff, and it encourages scenery chewing reading rather than storytelling. Not feeling it.
I had kind of heard the same about aftermath and thus haven't read it. The new trilogy desperately needs something to explain the events after rotj.
By the way, I recently read the Southern Reach series because I was at the library and the cover looked cool. I'd pretty much recommend it. It's a pretty fascinating mystery, but it is not resolved very cleanly.
The movie Annihilation looks like its barely freaking based on it though, despite being an interpretation.
Thanks for the reply. I was starting to think "man, I must be dense" and while that's true, it's good to know that it didn't have much to do with my general feeling of being perplexedI was just as baffled with some of it going on. One thing I recall is that there are apparently two characters that are actually just ONE character, but no-one knows it — especially not the reader. So… yeah, GOOD ONE, Erikson! You got us! :-\
Oh, I forgot to post here, I read House of Leaves last month for a book club. Pretty much every review on Goodreads is like 5 star or 1 star.Best way to enjoy house of leaves is through the author's sister's album, which is sublime.
Didn't love it, didn't hate it, had some interesting ideas, sections, layers, was enjoyable about as often as it was skimmable, worked as a satire of high-literary analysis, but also was a lot of waste of time (20 page chapter on how echoes work; don't even get me started on some of the footnotes). Took me a bit to get the book, and when I did and learned to parse what's worth reading and what's worth skimming was pretty entertaining. End was a bit weak.
Big ass book, but worth a read. Can't get passionate about it either way. 3 stars :idont
Who?Scott Lynch, author of the Gentlemen Bastard series. The Lies of Locke Lamorra is one of the best fantasy books I've ever read.
Oh, I forgot to post here, I read House of Leaves last month for a book club. Pretty much every review on Goodreads is like 5 star or 1 star.Best way to enjoy house of leaves is through the author's sister's album, which is sublime.
Didn't love it, didn't hate it, had some interesting ideas, sections, layers, was enjoyable about as often as it was skimmable, worked as a satire of high-literary analysis, but also was a lot of waste of time (20 page chapter on how echoes work; don't even get me started on some of the footnotes). Took me a bit to get the book, and when I did and learned to parse what's worth reading and what's worth skimming was pretty entertaining. End was a bit weak.
Big ass book, but worth a read. Can't get passionate about it either way. 3 stars :idont
(…)
Best way to enjoy house of leaves is through the author's sister's album, which is sublime.
Music album?
The Order of Things, by Foucault.ayy. Lemme know how it goes. Whether you like it, or your humanity gets effaced like ocean waves wiping away marks in sand on the beach.
Is this what people in college are reading nowadays?about ~40 years ago, sure. Nowadays people crack into foucault with discipline and punish primarily, maybe history of sexuality or his lectures at Berkeley (which are fairly accessible). Order of things and archaeology are hugely important to his methodology but they mark they end of his early period, so they don’t deal directly with the sociological/anthropological themes like power/sex of his later stuff (they do inform that later stuff though). Also importantly, they give the best sense of the philosophy of science tradition he’s growing out of; it’s important to remember he’s as much an inheritor of canguilhem and batailles as Levi-Strauss.
TVC, the current year is 2018. Are you ok?
"If Goldmans can get it wrong, maybe there's a complete lack of public understanding?" Fisher wrote to Ewan. "If so, I would start by putting the official definition on the BBA website. And then get someone's son or daughter to edit Wikipedia [which had the wrong definition Goldmans used in their internal report]." A week later, someone corrected Wikipedia's definition. It was perhaps the only time that the BBA actually addressed a grievance about Libor.
You've gotta read Gravity's Rainbow!
i've gone from reading books kara would approve of to business books
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51BT8oqQenL._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
what's almost as annoying is that the author gave a 90minute talk that's up on youtube that summarises and covers the book =/i've gone from reading books kara would approve of to business books
[img]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51BT8oqQenL._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg[img]
Cool, just like the Baby-Boomers did!
why doesn't it say "as recommended by etoliate, discussion driver of thebore.com" on the cover?because Burrough is a fucking coward.
Oh, I forgot to post here, I read House of Leaves last month for a book club. Pretty much every review on Goodreads is like 5 star or 1 star.Best way to enjoy house of leaves is through the author's sister's album, which is sublime.
Didn't love it, didn't hate it, had some interesting ideas, sections, layers, was enjoyable about as often as it was skimmable, worked as a satire of high-literary analysis, but also was a lot of waste of time (20 page chapter on how echoes work; don't even get me started on some of the footnotes). Took me a bit to get the book, and when I did and learned to parse what's worth reading and what's worth skimming was pretty entertaining. End was a bit weak.
Big ass book, but worth a read. Can't get passionate about it either way. 3 stars :idont
I was reading Stephen King's The Talisman. Like a lot of people I grew up reading his stuff. Some of it's great, some is pretty bad. The Talisman's one of his better ones. It moves along quickly, there's some interesting characters but best of all it has a strong connection to The Dark Tower series.
reading the original script for dream warriors. it's good, a lot darker. now I want it made into a movie :-\
Outside The Dark Tower series, I've never really got into King. Mostly because I'm not really a fan of horror fiction in general. But the last three Tower books gave me kind of a bad taste and stopped me delving into his other works.
I wanted to try out 11/22/63 but for whatever reason I've always put it off. Now that there's a TV adaption, I think I'd rather watch that.
reading the original script for dream warriors. it's good, a lot darker. now I want it made into a movie :-\Link, please…
I was reading Stephen King's The Talisman. Like a lot of people I grew up reading his stuff. Some of it's great, some is pretty bad. The Talisman's one of his better ones. It moves along quickly, there's some interesting characters but best of all it has a strong connection to The Dark Tower series.
Outside The Dark Tower series, I've never really got into King. Mostly because I'm not really a fan of horror fiction in general. But the last three Tower books gave me kind of a bad taste and stopped me delving into his other works.
I wanted to try out 11/22/63 but for whatever reason I've always put it off. Now that there's a TV adaption, I think I'd rather watch that.
I like the movie but we could have a had a true sequel to the original noes. of course it would have likely ended the series, similar to how new nightmare did.reading the original script for dream warriors. it's good, a lot darker. now I want it made into a movie :-\
It still came out as a pretty good movie IMO.
int. nancy's car---day
nancy's glad to have company on this baked, desolate stretch of road.
nancy
you must be really hot. how can you stand on that asphalt without shoes?
(the hitcher says nothing)
what's your name?
(again, nothing)
where you going?
hitcher
Down.
nancy
down where?
hitcher
down where he fucks you.
being spoiled on Use of Weapons would be brutal. Its one of my biggest O SHIT media moments ever.
Isn't that co-written with Peter Straub? I remember liking it well enough. I sometimes misremember it as being cowritten by Dean Koontz, and Koontz dumbs anything down just by association.
It's a philosophical novel. One about a guy basically disgusted with life. I'm sure it'll be a laugh a minute kinda deal.
Reading through the wikipedia page makes it sound pretty good. Some cobbled together fragments of writing after the writer died. The Pessoan critics are still bitching about how the book should be read.
What if the quality content was back-loaded? These philosophical novels in general seem more about exploring ideas than actually crafting a fun story.
Nausea I enjoyed though, cause it actually built up to something by the end. (It helps that parts of existentialist thought overlaps with my own way of thinking.)
I read Dune and now I'm muslim.…and drinking your own recycled pee and spit, I hope.
had enough of that management shit, re-reading dubliners by joyce as a palate cleanser and just started reading a pdf copy of Philosophical Instructions:An Introduction to Contemporary Islamic Philosophy by Ayatullah Miṣbāḥ Yazdī“I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make my interest in her wares seem the more real. Then I turned away slowly and walked down the middle of the bazaar. I allowed the two pennies to fall against the sixpence in my pocket. I heard a voice call from one end of the gallery that the light was out. The upper part of the hall was now completely dark.
(http://dynamic.indigoimages.ca/books/0553813110.jpg?altimages=true&scaleup=true&maxheight=515&width=380&quality=85&sale=7&lang=en)
God Damn you Arvie!!!
What have you done to me?! >:(
(https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1497195007l/32191667.jpg)huh, worlds colliding, reason did a short interview with the author of this
It's sorta like an orgy where you're blidnfolded. My wife would ask me what was going on and I'd reply "I'm not sure, but I'm really enjoying it"(http://dynamic.indigoimages.ca/books/0553813110.jpg?altimages=true&scaleup=true&maxheight=515&width=380&quality=85&sale=7&lang=en)
God Damn you Arvie!!!
What have you done to me?! >:(
Congrats. This might be one of the best decisions of your life.
How did you end up liking Gardens?
Good job making the book sound like tryhard garbage. Not even sure if I'm still going to read it.
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Despite LeBron on the cover, this book is actually about players from the 1960s who actually began the fight for players bargaining rights culminating in Oscar Robertson's case, although it's mostly about the players and not really that fight or even that specific case. The best stuff is probably about how they negotiated and made contracts and trades back in the day, and though Smith often seems kinda oblivious to it, the impact the ABA had as providing leverage to the players.
As part of the Wilt trade, half of Archie Clark's salary was being paid off the books by Jack Kent Cooke, except Jack Ramsey didn't know this. After the season he made a contract offer to raise Clark's salary and Clark rejected it telling him it would have been a 40% paycut. :lol
It's probably good enough just for all the old timer stories though, especially as the anecdotes and such come from a variety of players such as superstars like West to reserves like Mel Counts, etc. and are often general rather than asking them about the stars on their team. Even if Smith's broader argument/etc. isn't all that well handled.
Cousy was often told by coaches not to do all his fancy passing and such. When he joined the Celtics and talked to Red, Red told him "you can pass it through your ass if you want, just make sure somebody catches it." A coach after TVC's heart.
(https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507151169l/34227719.jpg)
(https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1502950473l/32713680.jpg)
Despite LeBron on the cover, this book is actually about players from the 1960s who actually began the fight for players bargaining rights culminating in Oscar Robertson's case, although it's mostly about the players and not really that fight or even that specific case. The best stuff is probably about how they negotiated and made contracts and trades back in the day, and though Smith often seems kinda oblivious to it, the impact the ABA had as providing leverage to the players.
As part of the Wilt trade, half of Archie Clark's salary was being paid off the books by Jack Kent Cooke, except Jack Ramsey didn't know this. After the season he made a contract offer to raise Clark's salary and Clark rejected it telling him it would have been a 40% paycut. :lol
It's probably good enough just for all the old timer stories though, especially as the anecdotes and such come from a variety of players such as superstars like West to reserves like Mel Counts, etc. and are often general rather than asking them about the stars on their team. Even if Smith's broader argument/etc. isn't all that well handled.
Cousy was often told by coaches not to do all his fancy passing and such. When he joined the Celtics and talked to Red, Red told him "you can pass it through your ass if you want, just make sure somebody catches it." A coach after TVC's heart.
Why is there a giant squid on the cover.................
My favourite part about reading Plato's Republic is reading reviews and seeing people acting offended by some of the stuff in it. Acting as if the damn thing was written yesterday.howd this go by the way? And how’s de Beauvoir doing for you?
"Golly gee willickers, this 2400 year old book isn't up to date with our current moral understandings."
Really?
howd this go by the way? And how’s de Beauvoir doing for you?
Started on Tao Te Ching. I adore Zhuangzi, both as a work of philosophy and literature so I'm kind of excited to dig through this one.
Finished The Fisherman by John Langan. This was great. One of the best Eldritch Horror tales I've read in a long time. It was a well written and touched upon all the weird stuff I love. I think a lot of people here would dig this. Starts a little slow, but once it gets to the narrative within the narrative it gets good and then can't put it down.
Stepping out of the darkness, the American emerges upon the stage of history as a new character, as puzzling to himself as to others. American Humor, Constance Rourke’s pioneering “study of the national character,” singles out the archetypal figures of the Yankee peddler, the backwoodsman, and the blackface minstrel to illuminate the fundamental role of popular culture in fashioning a distinctive American sensibility. A memorable performance in its own right, American Humor crackles with the jibes and jokes of generations while presenting a striking picture of a vagabond nation in perpetual self-pursuit. Davy Crockett and Henry James, Jim Crow and Emily Dickinson rub shoulders in a work that inspired such later critics as Pauline Kael and Lester Bangs and which still has much to say about the America of Bob Dylan and Thomas Pynchon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.CRACKLES WITH THE JIBES AND JOKES OF GENERATIONS
introduction by Christopher Hitchens
A Handbook on Hanging is a Swiftian tribute to that unappreciated mainstay of civilization: the hangman. With barbed insouciance, Charles Duff writes not only of hanging but of electrocution, decapitations, and gassings; of innocent men executed and of executions botched; of the bloodlust of mobs and the shabby excuses of the great. This coruscating and, in contemporary America, very relevant polemic makes clear that whatever else capital punishment may be said to be—justice, vengeance, a deterrent—it is certainly killing.
nyrb classics has a one day sale on - any recs? https://www.nyrb.com/collections/classics
ohhh, this is the type of thing you were talking about...Quote from: benjipwnswait, nobody told me we'd have to read a bookmotherfucker we know what pundits you read, don't lie about having standards now
In these pages, you’ll learn the true stories of founders such as...
• Aaron Burr who is depicted in the popular musical Hamilton and in history books as a villain, but in reality was a far more complicated figure who fought the abuse of executive power.
• Mercy Otis Warren, one of the most prominent female writers in the Revolution and a protégé of John Adams, who engaged in vigorous debates against the encroachment of federal power and ultimately broke with Adams over her fears of the Constitution.
• Canasatego, an Iroquois chief whose words taught Benjamin Franklin the basic principles behind the separation of powers.
The popular movement that swept Republicans into power in 2010 and 2016 was led by Americans who rediscovered the majesty of the Constitution and knew the stories of Hamilton, Madison, and Washington.
Read Clive Barker’s “In the Hills, The Cities” for like the tenth time on the way home and I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite horror/weird short story. In my book, it’s perfect.
Read Clive Barker’s “In the Hills, The Cities” for like the tenth time on the way home and I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite horror/weird short story. In my book, it’s perfect.
(https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1450648246l/25430297.jpg)huh, at first i thought this was about this book, now i'm a little surprised there's two books about this topic released within ~6 months of each other and both setup the same looking at four/five utopian movements, although this one seems to be more about writers visions than setting up actual "communes" by people, the original idea writers or not: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/30/what-can-we-learn-from-utopians-of-the-past
Explores the mid-19th century wave of founding of what we'd now call "communes" especially in the western expansion of America providing cheap land, opportunity, and fresh starts combining with religious-political millienialist and/or collectivist concepts or fads. While touching on a pretty decent number as there were a shit load of these in the decades between Jackson and the Civil War, it is focused around these structurally:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaker_communities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Harmony,_Indiana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brook_Farm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fourier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneida_Community
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneida_stirpiculture
Also, even for a casual or "amateur" history work (rather than academic) it's well-written in a relaxed style that has no problem with jokes let alone making fun of the more strange aspects of the subjects. My favorite example is his noting that in Charles Fourier's extensively described utopian phalanx there are 64 people "assigned" to grow pears, for some reason, eight of these people are "assigned" to grow crappy pears nobody wants to eat. We'll never escape the tentacles of the Big Shitty Pears lobby!
Nineteenth-century utopians offered a radiantly progressive vision, if you put aside the eugenics, anti-Semitism, and racism.well, yeah if you put aside that kind of stuff probably lots of people were
Reading The Rebel by Albert Camus
Finished Mrs. Dalloway before this. That book was such a slog.
I liked it, but not nearly as much as The Myth of Sisyphus.
It looks at different historic rebellions/revolutions and then applies the absurdist way of thought from The Myth of Sisyphus to them. He argues that the rebels in the historic rebellions aren't true rebels, because once they've defeated their "evil" they become complacent in their own "good". One evil makes place for the other evil.
How'd the Tao Te Ching treat you? I still have no clue what to make of it. (Which means I'm on the path to true understanding, apparently.)
Now reading Karl Ove Knausgard's first My Struggle book.
So far it's boring as hell. You'd expect something called Mein Kampf to have some edge to it.
I think I got both The analects and Zhuangzi somewhere. Reading those (more in general) will probably help me understanding other eastern philosophy.
Re-reading Gibson's THE PERIPHERAL, which is stunningly even better than the first read. It's as insightful as Neuromancer, and if you disagree with me, you're wrong.
Lol if you didn't get anything out of Tao Te Ching you won't be getting anything out of Zhuangzi, it's even more obscure and it's notorious for being even more difficult to interpret than Tao Te Ching.
It has some very beautiful passages in it though, so it might be enjoyable on that level.
Cool cover, what type of series is it?
What's in the socialist canon after Marx?
What's in the socialist canon after Marx?really depends on what you’re interested in. Specifically wrt 20th century Marxism: Kautsky, Gramsci, Luxembourg, Lukacs, Adorno, Horkheimer, Benjamin, Marcuse, Althusser. The most notable contemporary names in the Anglosphere are prob GA Cohen, David Harvey and Richard Wolff.
To use an analogy Dmitri Dmitriyevich, you asked for the best animes to watch after Dragon Ball Z and jake gave you a bunch of weeb shit with varying degrees of pantsu that you'll only ever talk about on the internet or at Anime Expo.:dead im mad but this isn’t wrong.
To use an analogy Dmitri Dmitriyevich, you asked for the best animes to watch after Dragon Ball Z and jake gave you a bunch of weeb shit with varying degrees of pantsu that you'll only ever talk about on the internet or at Anime Expo.the frankfurt school stuff isn't all pantsu-tier, quasi una fantasia i feel can be worked into conversation without going full :snob
Has anyone read this book?
(https://s.s-bol.com/imgbase0/imagebase3/large/FC/9/4/4/2/1001004002922449.jpg)
Thinking about buying it
zizek:donot
Has anyone read this book?
(https://s.s-bol.com/imgbase0/imagebase3/large/FC/9/4/4/2/1001004002922449.jpg)
Thinking about buying it
Do you want a self-help book that basically tells you, follow your dreams!
I thought it was this spiritual nonsense that middle-age women with one of those dollar store buddha statues gobble up.
ah he's pretty harmless and fun if you view him as a court jester.zizek:donot
Assi died for this book plug
Assi died for this book plug
I’m working on something Arvie would like now :(
First off, boo on CyndiMayweather for starting multiple new threads for which there are existing threads. I applaud enthusiasm, but c'mon.
Case in point: Yay, we all like books.
I'm reading Yes, Please by Amy Poehler, read by her and some of her friends. Hearing Patrick Stewart read catty, birth-related haiku was a joy. Much like Tina Fey's Bossypants, it's almost disappointing to find out how human and normal and neurotic these super-achieving heroes of mine actually are. But at the same time, it's a reality check to see how they deal with their own failure and neuroses.
This is my first non-Audible audiobook in decades. I have an Audible account, but I felt like an idiot paying US$15 a month for the right to buy a single new audiobook. Netflix costs US$12 on my plan, and it gives me as much media as I can watch during the month. It just didn't make sense.
:old_man_shouts_at_cloud.gif
After my most recent trip to the USA, I've got a library card tied into the whole digital borrowing system now, and am using Libby, Overdrive, and thanks to someone else's recommendation here, Hoopla. The latter allows movie and TV lending as well, so I'm interested to see what happens there.
How was the writing itself.
The Shining reads like it was made for kids. Such simple writing.
Listening to more popcorn audio books lately and have some good ones. They probably all carry the Young Adult label, which always kind of annoys me, but that’s where all the moderately popcorn sci-fi is these days :-/
1) Arc of the Scythe series by Neil Schusterman: takes place in a future earth where a computer has solved all of our problems, including death. The last human institution is basically the one that controls who lives or dies. People that make those decisions are called scythes. A couple of young bucks become scythe apprentices and kill for a job. Shit goes down. First two books are out, but the last in the trilogy is yet to be released. The audiobook performance is really good.
2) superpowereds series by drew Hayes: basically it’s superhero college in a world where there are superheroes. Each book is one year of school and there is a fifth book that is basically a side story. I’m on the last book now and the series is really good, as a ton of stuff happens each year. Each book is really long (30+ hours on audio book) so you really get to know each character well, and it’s fun to see how the characters develop. Their powers develop, people die, and there are a number of sub plots that go multiple books.
Only thing weird is that the books were published pretty recently but they are kind of anachronistic. I feel like he may have written them like 10 years ago and then found a publisher. It’s nothing too crazy but just feels odd that the characters are going to video stores and stuff knowing the first book was published in like 2014.
I’ve noticed this series is cheap as shit on kindle, if you prefer to read your books, like $4 each.
Right now I'm trying to slog through White Noise and it's a challenge. 40 pages in, and I think this book is giving me cancer.never read any delilo but i thought he was meant to be pretty amazing? is the book horribly dated now?
Listening to more popcorn audio books lately and have some good ones. They probably all carry the Young Adult label, which always kind of annoys me, but that’s where all the moderately popcorn sci-fi is these days :-/
1) Arc of the Scythe series by Neil Schusterman: takes place in a future earth where a computer has solved all of our problems, including death. The last human institution is basically the one that controls who lives or dies. People that make those decisions are called scythes. A couple of young bucks become scythe apprentices and kill for a job. Shit goes down. First two books are out, but the last in the trilogy is yet to be released. The audiobook performance is really good.
2) superpowereds series by drew Hayes: basically it’s superhero college in a world where there are superheroes. Each book is one year of school and there is a fifth book that is basically a side story. I’m on the last book now and the series is really good, as a ton of stuff happens each year. Each book is really long (30+ hours on audio book) so you really get to know each character well, and it’s fun to see how the characters develop. Their powers develop, people die, and there are a number of sub plots that go multiple books.
Only thing weird is that the books were published pretty recently but they are kind of anachronistic. I feel like he may have written them like 10 years ago and then found a publisher. It’s nothing too crazy but just feels odd that the characters are going to video stores and stuff knowing the first book was published in like 2014.
I’ve noticed this series is cheap as shit on kindle, if you prefer to read your books, like $4 each.
If you like cheap Kindle/Kobo books, Nightshade Press' mailing list has weekly stuff at US$1.99; it's where I picked up my first Laird Barron books.
Listening to more popcorn audio books lately and have some good ones. They probably all carry the Young Adult label, which always kind of annoys me, but that’s where all the moderately popcorn sci-fi is these days :-/
1) Arc of the Scythe series by Neil Schusterman: takes place in a future earth where a computer has solved all of our problems, including death. The last human institution is basically the one that controls who lives or dies. People that make those decisions are called scythes. A couple of young bucks become scythe apprentices and kill for a job. Shit goes down. First two books are out, but the last in the trilogy is yet to be released. The audiobook performance is really good.
2) superpowereds series by drew Hayes: basically it’s superhero college in a world where there are superheroes. Each book is one year of school and there is a fifth book that is basically a side story. I’m on the last book now and the series is really good, as a ton of stuff happens each year. Each book is really long (30+ hours on audio book) so you really get to know each character well, and it’s fun to see how the characters develop. Their powers develop, people die, and there are a number of sub plots that go multiple books.
Only thing weird is that the books were published pretty recently but they are kind of anachronistic. I feel like he may have written them like 10 years ago and then found a publisher. It’s nothing too crazy but just feels odd that the characters are going to video stores and stuff knowing the first book was published in like 2014.
I’ve noticed this series is cheap as shit on kindle, if you prefer to read your books, like $4 each.
If you like cheap Kindle/Kobo books, Nightshade Press' mailing list has weekly stuff at US$1.99; it's where I picked up my first Laird Barron books.
I’m almost entirely audible now. It just really fits my lifestyle.
Cooking dinner: put on a book
Doing dishes: put on a book
Shoveling this god awful amount of snow we have had this year: more books
It’s been a huge quality of life improvement for me while doing mundane shit.
It’s probably why I listen to so many books that are really easy to listen to, because I’m doing it while doing other stuff.
I think this book is giving me cancer.
I wouldn't say it's outdated; we still suffocate slowly in a postmodern hell. It's just a plodding read. There's still a chance I end up liking this. I know this is his breakthrough novel and he has his fans, so I'm sticking with it.ah ok, i look forward to hearing your final thoughts as dfw once called him the most important living writer in america or something to that effect
Listening to more popcorn audio books lately and have some good ones. They probably all carry the Young Adult label, which always kind of annoys me, but that’s where all the moderately popcorn sci-fi is these days :-/
1) Arc of the Scythe series by Neil Schusterman: takes place in a future earth where a computer has solved all of our problems, including death. The last human institution is basically the one that controls who lives or dies. People that make those decisions are called scythes. A couple of young bucks become scythe apprentices and kill for a job. Shit goes down. First two books are out, but the last in the trilogy is yet to be released. The audiobook performance is really good.
2) superpowereds series by drew Hayes: basically it’s superhero college in a world where there are superheroes. Each book is one year of school and there is a fifth book that is basically a side story. I’m on the last book now and the series is really good, as a ton of stuff happens each year. Each book is really long (30+ hours on audio book) so you really get to know each character well, and it’s fun to see how the characters develop. Their powers develop, people die, and there are a number of sub plots that go multiple books.
Only thing weird is that the books were published pretty recently but they are kind of anachronistic. I feel like he may have written them like 10 years ago and then found a publisher. It’s nothing too crazy but just feels odd that the characters are going to video stores and stuff knowing the first book was published in like 2014.
I’ve noticed this series is cheap as shit on kindle, if you prefer to read your books, like $4 each.
If you like cheap Kindle/Kobo books, Nightshade Press' mailing list has weekly stuff at US$1.99; it's where I picked up my first Laird Barron books.
I’m almost entirely audible now. It just really fits my lifestyle.
Cooking dinner: put on a book
Doing dishes: put on a book
Shoveling this god awful amount of snow we have had this year: more books
It’s been a huge quality of life improvement for me while doing mundane shit.
It’s probably why I listen to so many books that are really easy to listen to, because I’m doing it while doing other stuff.
I was happy to find that public libraries now "lend" digital audiobooks in the USA. I have one now, and am borrowing audiobooks from California while living in Tokyo. It's esp. nice because I've limited my Audible account to a credit every other month, and now I just put a hold on any library books they have, which are automatically borrowed when they become available.
Are those books complete in some way or will I need to buy a bunch more to read in order?
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/horus-heresy-2019-warhammer-book-bundle
(https://i.imgur.com/LhJRgAw.jpg)
Are those books complete in some way or will I need to buy a bunch more to read in order?
I think there's roughly a thousand Horus Heresy books that are only loosely connected. Kara would know more.
I'm nearly at the end of The Shining. King has been buttflapping about Kubrick for 40 years now, but his version isn't better than Kubrick's, it's just slightly different. In the book Jack takes longer to go mental and the hotel is the source of evil. In the film Jack starts off on the edge and he's the source of evil. Kubrick's biographer claimed that King wrote an entire screenplay for Kubrick, but Kubrick dismissed King and didn't bother to read it. That would probably explain why King has been bitching about it since 1980
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/horus-heresy-2019-warhammer-book-bundle
(https://i.imgur.com/LhJRgAw.jpg)
[snip]I was about to bring up Abu-Lughod’s Before European Hegemony but then it dawned on me that ‘wst’ stands for world systems theory. I’m generally for longue duree accounts that try to either provincialize Europe or are anti-realist about those received ‘common sense’ descriptors we use like nation, country, and culture when we try to explain stupidly huge developments like capitalism, how does it work? So at face this strikes me as good, though the blurb describes an uneven narrative, which, idk, might be merited with a topic this broad.
I took a detour, lazily attempting Fourier and Saint-Simon. :zzz nope.cant blame you
Nick Brodie’s 1787 traces the history of Australia before the First Fleet. Usually treated as a preface to the main story – a brief interlude that starts 50,000 years before the present and ends as sails are seen on an eastern horizon – the time before European settlement is so much more. In 1787 the peoples of Australia were not simply living in a timeless ‘Dreamtime’, following the seasons, and waiting for colonisation by Britain in 1788.Really interesting book that presents the information in a dispassionate way, avoiding the majority of the emotion and hyperbole that often surrounds books and articles that take on this topic.
Nick Brodie uses the sailors, writers, scientists, and other visitors to our shores to reassess neglected chapters of Australia’s early history. Brodie turns the narratives of ‘exploration’ and ‘discovery’ around to take a closer look at the indigenous peoples, the broader regional scene, and what these encounters collectively tell. This is the sweeping story of Greater Australasia and its peoples, a long-overdue challenge to the myth that Australia’s story started in 1788.
This discourse gives Spy Watching, in its eye-straining nine point font, a dense, meandering feel. The overview of the IC adds little to what is already known, while other parts of Spy Watching read like a memoir or a collection of lecture notes.
For example, the book includes a chart supposedly depicting the ebb and flow in covert actions from 1947 to 2015 (335) While it suggests ups and downs, the chart provides no insight on the number of CA programs—the Y axis ranges from “low” to “high” with no values in between—their cost, the number of people involved, or how many violated US law or were inappropriate missions.
At the same time, the approach would be likely to signal a sharp increase in partisanship on intelligence activities, which I think could have chilling effects on IC cooperation with Congress.
Johnson also seems to have ignored that we already have the President Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and its advisory committee on IC oversight that serves to advise the president.I did not write this review for the CIA. The text does not strain my eyes at all. :doge
John Langan's the Fisherman. Halfway through and I can't put it down.
developing his skill over years of careful masturbation, arvie posses hand-eye dexterity unparalleled in the entire toronto metropolitan region
glen keeps trying to get me to read hyperion and I finally found something that convinced me to get startedHyperion is genuinely great and you should read it.
(https://preview.redd.it/ttb5txl4s6u21.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=2129ac194a44679430df15f65e1d56f78930cfe4)
I'm glad he's doing well, but now I'm stuck with him. First thing everyone still asks me is, "How's Magic?":dead
On the second book of the Mistborn trilogy. Man, these books would make such a great video game!
Finally started The Black Company after putting it off for years. Did the first five chapters today. It's very different. I like it a lot so far.
Finally started The Black Company after putting it off for years. Did the first five chapters today. It's very different. I like it a lot so far.
The Black Company is pretty amazing. I've read the first three and enjoyed every bit of it.
I didn't go further cause I read that the quality drops off after that and honestly, the ending of the third is pretty satisfying as a conclusion.
I've moved on to The Hogfather. I've been slowly going through Pratchett's Discworld and he just gets better with every book.
So sad he's gone.
Wintersmith is also part 3 in the Tiffany Aching sub-series.
It was this class, and no other, that precipitated riot and bloodshed in Chicago, and it is a notable fact in connection with these communists, that their viciousness and desperation were largely caused by the rantings of a young American communist namedAlbert ParsonsKarakand. [Kara posses] a strange nature in every respect, as he has for several years lived in Chicago with a colored woman, who he has at least called his wife. He is a young man of flippant tongue, and is capable of making a speech that will tingle the blood of that class of characterless rascals that are always standing ready to grasp society by the throat; and while he can excite his auditors, of this class, to the very verge of riot, has the devilish ingenuity in the use of words which has permitted himself to escape deserving punishment.
I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.
Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency.
The whole group had been remarkably drama-free so far, which I appreciated. The last few contracts had been like being an involuntary bystander in one of the entertainment feed’s multi-partner relationship serials except I’d hated the whole cast.
She’s a really good commander. I’m going to hack her file and put that in.
What I like so far: the deconstruction of Burke and his legacy. I knew he existed and was influential, but man from a critical standpoint his views seem to embody the "bootlicker" stereotype that brocialists have of reactionaries. I feel like actually reading something of his now for shits and giggles.Reflections is what everyone reads and is probably your best bet. Enquiry...Sublime and the Beautiful is important and interesting too. Those two are pretty much it in terms of philosophical work he did, everything else is first order, low to the ground stuff like parliamentary speeches and correspondence.
What I don't like so far: all the David Brooks quotes, who I think of as a bad, projecting take machine rather than a true pillar of American conservative ideologythis is the beauty of David brooks though. He dispenses middle-highbrow matter-of-fact common sense to a country that doesn’t give a shit about intellectualism. He’s like the Roger Ebert of politics, you need him so you can take the pulse of his milieu.
Nixon was distrusted by many conservative media figures .... but ... Watergate made Nixon more popular among many movement conservatives ... [they believed] that liberals were using Watergate as a pretense to reverse the results of the 1972 election.:trumps
A darkly humorous tour of "dictator literature" in the twentieth century, featuring the soul-killing prose and poetry of Hitler, Mao, and many more, which shows how books have sometimes shaped the world for the worse:awesome
Since the days of the Roman Empire dictators have written books. But in the twentieth-century despots enjoyed unprecedented print runs to (literally) captive audiences. The titans of the genre—Stalin, Mussolini, and Khomeini among them—produced theoretical works, spiritual manifestos, poetry, memoirs, and even the occasional romance novel and established a literary tradition of boundless tedium that continues to this day.
How did the production of literature become central to the running of regimes? What do these books reveal about the dictatorial soul? And how can books and literacy, most often viewed as inherently positive, cause immense and lasting harm? Putting daunting research to revelatory use, Daniel Kalder asks and brilliantly answers these questions.
Marshalled upon the beleaguered shelves of The Infernal Library are the books and commissioned works of the century’s most notorious figures. Their words led to the deaths of millions. Their conviction in the significance of their own thoughts brooked no argument. It is perhaps no wonder then, as Kalder argues, that many dictators began their careers as writers.
Mattel, Inc. is the maker of Barbie dolls and the former employer of Carter Bryant, who left Mattel to join MGA, maker of Bratz dolls. Mattel alleged that Bryant breached a confidentiality and inventions agreement by taking his ideas for the Bratz dolls, which he developed while employed by Mattel, to MGA. A jury found in favor of Mattel and the court issued an injunction barring MGA from selling most of its Bratz dolls.
MGA appealed and the Ninth Circuit reversed, based on erroneous jury instructions and an overbroad injunction. The district court granted MGA’s motion for a new trial. In this decision, the court addressed, among other things, the issue of whether the confidentiality agreement covered ideas; whether Bryant’s sketches and sculpts are substantially similar to the first and subsequent generations of Bratz dolls; and whether MGA misappropriated Mattel’s trade secrets.
Mattel’s “Employee Confidential and Inventions Agreement” required Bryant to communicate to Mattel “all inventions . . . conceived or reduced to practice by me (alone or jointly with others) at any time during my employment with [Mattel].” It also assigned to Mattel any rights, title and interest Bryant had in such inventions, which the agreement defined as “includ[ing], but [] not limited to, all discoveries, improvements, processes, developments, designs, knowhow, data computer programs, and formulae, whether patentable or unpatentable.” The agreement did not include the word “ideas”.
Mattel executives later asserted in court that it was impossible for a place like Kickapoo High School to inspire anything as hip as Barbie's competitor, Braztz ... the principal of Kickapoo High School would fly to California to testify .. that her teenagers knew how to have fun; that they were tuned into pop culture ... MGA attorney's would bring evidence that Kickapoo High School had Brad Pitt as an alum
Lobel expertly explains, much turned on MGA’s lawyer Jennifer Keller’s questioning of the Mattel C.E.O., Robert Eckert.
“Say I am eighteen, doodling away. I place my doodles in my parents’ house in one of the drawers of my teen-age closet,” Keller said. “Twenty years later, I am hired by Mattel. I visit my parents’ home and find the doodles. Does Mattel own them?”
“Yes,” Eckert said. “Probably, yes.”
(https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0111-1/%7B9B262328-743C-4E6C-8BEE-23C4CD23D185%7DImg100.jpg)
I love Scott Lynch's world.
I've read a lot of fantasy and like most people I am sick to death of mediaeval-style worlds.
His characters are well formed and usually steer clear of becoming too much of a Mary Sue, even if Locke is a little too good at everything.
He had a very fast-paced writing style too which I like.
I intend to start reading actual books againWhat will you forfeit if you don't follow through?
Sometime soon
This post is testament to that
I intend to start reading actual books againWhat will you forfeit if you don't follow through?
Sometime soon
This post is testament to that
Ask the Goodreads community a question about Suicide of the West:doge :brain
Popular Answered Questions
As what I consider a "common-sense liberal" (I strongly oppose reckless federal gov't spending & overreach but support what I consider basic rights like gender and sexuality equality, use & research of "illicit" drugs, employee rights over employer rights, etc.) who actively seeks various prospective in order to form my own well-rounded opinion, is this book, or this author, worth the read?
2 Likes · Like One Year Ago See All 5 Answers
Scott Whitlock
I'm a moderate who leans a bit to the left, and I thought the book was brilliant and hardly incoherent. There are parts I disagree with and parts I agree with. Goldberg is smart, and his ideas should be taken seriously, even if you don't agree with them.
JerryDeanHalleck
The book is not worth reading. I was surprised at how bad it was. His grasp of history is superficial and the whole thing reads like it was dictated in his spare time.
Marc Minnick
Yes,Goldberg does an excellent job of putting into perspective the reasons for divisiveness in current day politics .well researched and well written.
I agree, we need to set a measurable goal, a hard deadline, and specific consequences for failure.what's on the bore reading list?
OnlyRegret, if you don't read three whole novels over the next month, you have to post your dick in this thread (http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=46306.0).
Also they had to again find alive people to write them.this is the best part :lol
I’ve been going through the Oxford History of the United States (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_History_of_the_United_States) series over the past few weeks. Anybody read em?how many pages/hours a day to you read?? those are some doorstoppers!
"And supposing we climb it to the top," the Mouser finally asked, "how do we lift our black-and-blue skeletonized bodies over the brim of Stardock's snowy hat, which seems to outcurve and downcurve most stylishly?"
"There's a triangular hole in it somewhere called the Needle's Eye," Fafhrd answered negligently. "Or so I've heard. But never you fret, Mouser, we'll find it."
Started reading Sanderson's Warbreaker. Going good so far. I like the color/no color magic system, feels pretty original. Also picked up Stormlight Book 1: Way of Kings to read after.
I've been re-reading all the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. Just finished The Swords of Lankhmar.I've read the first. It's one of those series that I've been meaning to return to but haven't.
I'm always left in awe of Leiber's writing style. There is nobody more fun to read, even if he sometimes bites off more than he can chew (as with The Swords of Lankhmar, the only novel starring the characters).
The sequence of "In the Witch's Tent" -> "Stardock" -> "The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar" really blew me away this time. Stardock is currently my favorite of all the stories. I started feeling dizzy from the description of their climb.Quote"And supposing we climb it to the top," the Mouser finally asked, "how do we lift our black-and-blue skeletonized bodies over the brim of Stardock's snowy hat, which seems to outcurve and downcurve most stylishly?"
"There's a triangular hole in it somewhere called the Needle's Eye," Fafhrd answered negligently. "Or so I've heard. But never you fret, Mouser, we'll find it."
Got Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols and Memories, Dreams and Reflections from a thrift store. Also got Gunter Wallraff's Ganz Unten there.jung's writings on archetypes are interesting too if you haven't read it; no idea of its present significance in psychiatry but is fun to apply to literature (guess you can say the same for freud at this point?)
Then the impossibly low level of blood required in the samples was based entirely on her and her mother's dislike of seeing blood/needles and not based around how much was needed to be able to read all the shit they wanted from the sample. :lolIt's called a moonshot, Benji. This is the stuff that makes capitalism tick. Next time let's show a little class.
It's called a moonshot, Benji. This is the stuff that makes capitalism tick. Next time let's show a little class.This sounds like what I read in that Jonah Goldberg book.
Decided to start rereading my old textbook on ODEs. I feel like finally taking my math further.i'm worried if i do this i'll just realise how much of my maths skill has just atrophied :(
don't worry, they have:fbm
Started reading Sanderson's Warbreaker. Going good so far. I like the color/no color magic system, feels pretty original. Also picked up Stormlight Book 1: Way of Kings to read after.
Reading Joe Abercrombie's THE HEROES, a sequel of sorts to the First Law series. I loved the trilogy, but this follow-up is just a bit too violent, grim, and less humorous than First Law. It's an audiobook with a different reader than the trilogy, so that's not helping.
I've read one or two of his books. Didn't find much to enjoy honestly.Reading Joe Abercrombie's THE HEROES, a sequel of sorts to the First Law series. I loved the trilogy, but this follow-up is just a bit too violent, grim, and less humorous than First Law. It's an audiobook with a different reader than the trilogy, so that's not helping.
Finishing this. I'm not sure why he wrote it. There's a quote by Robert E Howard that kicks off one of the chapters, along the lines of, "I don't know how much blood, violence, and gore the reader will tolerate." Joe spends a good amount of time searching for that limit. It's a war novel about people with swords and spears. Lots of horrible shit happens. I thought First Law trilogy was dark, but this is nearly senselessly dark.
I feel like he hasn't topped the ending of the First Law Trilogy yet. My favourite feelgood ending.
Father’s home was different, though. Instead of candy and television there were shadows and ancient books, handwritten on thick parchment. They came to understand that Father had lived for a very long time. More, over the course of this long life, he had mastered the crafting of wonders. He could call down lightning, or stop time. Stones spoke to him by name.
All that afternoon the other librarians filtered in, singly and in pairs. Some carried burdens. Alicia held the black candle, still burning as it had in the golden ruin at the end of time. Rachel and her phantom children whispered among themselves of the futures that would never be. The twins, Peter and Richard, watched intently as the librarians filled out the twelve points of the abbreviated circle, studying some deep order that everyone else was blind to.
Is that your lion?” “Not really. Kind of. We just met a couple of hours ago.” She raised her eyebrows. He shrugged. “It’s been an intense couple of hours.”
I bet Thinking Fast Thinking Slow is terrible toothe central thesis and finding is interesting but it's written in a very dull and padded out manner. if there's a summary essay or youtube talk by the author just read or watch that
He wanted to require childbearing “in harmony with the welfare and interests of the Commonwealth as a whole,” as the Constitution said. Parents liked to quote the Constitution and worried that if we didn’t follow it, we’d face disaster, but the Constitution talked about beauty too, and about equality. Parents quoted only what they wanted to.
The locustwood is using aldose and ketose sugars to construct a joke about water. The punch line is … water is flat! Like snowflakes! Of course, but who would have thought of it that way?
The farmer was aghast. “You looted my basement!” The hero shrugged. “Standard procedure.”
“This hoard was projected to be valued at fifty thousand giltin, Mr. Snithe.” Snithe had clearly been expecting this line of questioning. “We had it assessed, Mr. Poldo. Sent a hoard adjuster out and everything.” “And?” “He never came back.” “And you didn’t see that as a problem?” “It’s usually a good sign, sir. The most deadly monsters have usually done the most pillaging, you see. So when a beast takes down a well-trained hoard adjustor, it’s generally expected to have more valuable loot.”
“I’d blasted both of his legs and one of his arms off, and we planned to just leave him, right?” Laruna was saying. “So we started to head out, and the crazy blighter starts true forming!”
“What’s true forming?” Niln asked amid the heroes’ laughter.
“Oh, you think you’ve defeated me,” mimicked Kaitha, “but now let me show you my true form! Har har har!” “For some reason, I let you break my Human body and trash half of my lair before I really started fighting! Bwa ha ha!” said Laruna. “Gods, it’s annoying.”
“So what happened?” asked Niln, interrupting the heroes’ mirth.
“What?” asked Laruna, wiping a tear from her eye. “With the warlord in the volcano? What happened when he true formed?” Laruna looked uncomfortable. “Oh, er, he turned into a two-story-tall demonic slug, ate our rogue and our priestess, and crippled our fighter before we put him down.”
Orconomics was really fun and the end blew me away - had to buy the second one the second I hit the last pageBought based on those quotes alone. Thank you.Quote“I’d blasted both of his legs and one of his arms off, and we planned to just leave him, right?” Laruna was saying. “So we started to head out, and the crazy blighter starts true forming!”
“What’s true forming?” Niln asked amid the heroes’ laughter.
“Oh, you think you’ve defeated me,” mimicked Kaitha, “but now let me show you my true form! Har har har!” “For some reason, I let you break my Human body and trash half of my lair before I really started fighting! Bwa ha ha!” said Laruna. “Gods, it’s annoying.”
“So what happened?” asked Niln, interrupting the heroes’ mirth.
“What?” asked Laruna, wiping a tear from her eye. “With the warlord in the volcano? What happened when he true formed?” Laruna looked uncomfortable. “Oh, er, he turned into a two-story-tall demonic slug, ate our rogue and our priestess, and crippled our fighter before we put him down.”
Well, at least the last 60 pages were pretty good. I also liked the short story of Jerusalem's Lot. It's a shame he didn't intertwined that story into Salem's Lot just to keep the first half of the novel from being so boring.
“Oh? I never liked trickle-down economics,” said Ortson, watching the crimson wine drip down the glass. “It implies that there’s a leak somewhere.”
Several papers on the table in front of the floating skull rustled and rearranged themselves before it launched into some prepared remarks. “Hello! I’m the Head of Marketing. You’ve been randomly selected to participate in this focus group. I’ll be asking you a series of questions, and your answers will help shape undead invasions of other cities. So be open, honest, and direct. Your opinion matters! Are we ready to begin?”
“That’s the Retconomicon,” said Jynn. “A book of forbidden chronomancy. Or it would have been, if it hadn’t written itself out of reality.”
Quote“That’s the Retconomicon,” said Jynn. “A book of forbidden chronomancy. Or it would have been, if it hadn’t written itself out of reality.”
bad blood - my brother lent this to me and it is some wild shit; just in the prologue the cfo gets firedfinished this and hard to believe it's not fiction. the whole faking test results while demoing the products is almost straight out of bleeding edge by pynchon. now starting chaos monkeys to continue my kick of silicon valley hi-jinks
Finished Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked Comes this Way (1962) for a book club. Not sure if I read any Bradbury before. Always thought he was a sci-fi writer like Asimov.
At first this novel was tough to get into in 2019 because of the long run on sentences and constant jumping around without grounding down the setting and characters first. Basically it sets up the mood of the small town. Once I get the hang of it and could follow what was going on the second half was basically one long action set piece which was still pretty good today. I like that Bradbury wrote this when he was 37-42 years old and arguably the main character's plot is about a 54 year old middle age guy feeling old and sad about his age and having kids so late. As someone in the age Bradbury was when he wrote this, I can definitely relate to some of the themes and fears of entering middle age.
I checked Disney+ to see if the Disney movie from the 80s was on it since I'd be interested in checking out the adaptation but it's not :(
Not sure if I wanna read other Bradbury stuff, but maybe I'd check out his short stories.
orlov casually shitting on chomsky and universal grammar was :whooOho? I need to look into this.
It’s really only in passing, this book isn’t about language/syntax/linguistics. He just says universal grammar is bollocks, it tied up academic departments needlessly for far too long with nothing to show for it and when it became a dead end Chomsky just pivoted to US politicsorlov casually shitting on chomsky and universal grammar was :whooOho? I need to look into this.
“ALL THESE FUCKIN’ ROACHES AND SHIT! AHHHHH! GOD MOTHAFUCKIN’ DAMN IT!!”
[...]
Ducking and dodging at the sound of rapid gunfire was the most valuable tool any young nicca growing up in Chicago’s fucked up and ultra-violent housing projects had to learn quickly. And then the next valuable housing project survival skill young niccas had to acquire was the art of killing roaches.
[...]
Daddy Roach Sr. went on to be with the Lord. The front of his obituary read: Homegoing Celebration For The Late Daddy Roach Sr. Sunrise May 2018- Sunset June 2018 Rev. Dr. Lucious Roachson, III presiding…
[...]
Daddy Roach Sr. had 1,861 brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts and other relatives lurking in the cut, ready to get to that pizza crust and other discarded trash scattered throughout the cluttered and disgusting apartment.
E. L. James, Fifty Shades of Grey (2011) // 15.2 million copies
E. L. James, Fifty Shades Darker (2011) // 10.4 million copies
E. L. James, Fifty Shades Freed (2012) // 9.3 million copies
Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (2008) // 8.7 million copies
Kathryn Stockett, The Help (2009) // 8.7 million copies
Paula Hawkins, The Girl on The Train (2015) // 8.2 million copies
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl (2012) // 8.1 million copies
John Green, The Fault in Our Stars (2012) // 8 million copies
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (2008) // 7.9 million copies
Veronica Roth, Divergent (2011) // 6.6 million copies
Jun 07, 2017 Jesse Miller rated it it was ok
Shelves: non-fiction, history
A promising premise marred by poor planning. The object of the book is ostensibly to examine the first year of each of the first 44 presidents, an initially intriguing object. While the author does this, looking at the frequent blunders and rare successes in the early parts of each presidency, he takes, in my opinion, an overly wide historical perspective. By that, I mean to say that he reports not only the first, or "freshman," year (the term also used of legislators and appropriated for the Executive) of each President, but also looks at the events that led up to that year, sometimes going back a decade or more, and often giving a detailed account of the balance of his term in office. The context provided is usually interesting, but I would have preferred a more detailed and pinpoint examination of what each President did, or did not do, in the first 365 days of his Presidency. This problem of wide reporting is compounded by the peculiar--no, the downright strange way in which the presidents are broken up. Instead of a linear historical path traced from Washington to Obama, the author groups Presidents into arbitrary categories, such as loner Presidents (Jefferson, Carter, Obama), witchhunters (Adams and Eisenhower), some general presidents (Harrison, Grant, Hayes), and of course many others. While these men may have had some things in common, in the end, as the author himself says repeatedly, no Presidency is a copy of another. Each is unique from its beginning, and therefore to bunch some of them together in this way proves merely distracting instead of enlightening. There is too many variables to properly compare and contrast so many different men and circumstances. This mean that the chapters fly here and there throughout history, from Civil War to the Great Depression, back to Nullification, jumping to the Panic of 1893 to the civil rights movement. The lack of historical continuity makes it very difficult to follow trends, to trace the evolution of the country or the presidency, or to even gain bearings on whichever president we come to next.
Jeremy rated it did not like it
This book is a mess. It purports to examine the first year of each presidency and find some lessons. It finds pablum. It draws out almost no patterns of meaning. It is useful only as a broad introduction to the political circumstances each president faced upon inauguration, but is so idiosyncratic and undisciplined in its focus that it allows the reader to figure out almost nothing useful about first years. It tells very little about each president that a standard biography would not already tell better, and what is new here is often a strange exposition on one particular aspect that drew the author's attention, in a few cases in ways that burnish his reputation as an insider, a reputation mostly unjustified. So what is new is seldom worth reading. He doesn't even remain focused only on the first year in many cases, drawing in incidents from well beyond it whenever it suits his fancy. One of its sole virtues is its remarkable short length. Each chapter on each president is brief, so it is all over quickly.
Why do public libraries limit how many people can borrow an ebook at a time? Seems pretty ridiculous.A comprehensive survey of the first page of Google results suggests that publishers fear lost sales. Our Star Trek future will never come. :'(
Stillness is death to a Stone Man. You have to keep moving, keep the blood flowing, the muscles moving. If you don’t, those veins and arteries will become carved channels through hard stone, the muscles will turn to useless inert rocks. Spar is never motionless, even when he’s standing still. He flexes, twitches, rocks—yes, rocks, very funny—from foot to foot. Works his jaw, his tongue, flicks his eyes back and forth. He has a special fear of his lips and tongue calcifying.
It jams two fingers up its nostrils (remembering to put the axe down first; wouldn’t want to chop its own head off) and wiggles them about, opening channels from the outside to its hollow inside where its flame-self burns. It adjusts the nose, remoulding it so it’s more dignified. In a rare moment of self-reflection, the Tallowman acknowledges that it’s burnt for too long and needs a good long soak in a tallow vat. Needs a new wick threaded through its body, for this one’s nearly gone. The Tallowman must buy each new life with the good deeds of the previous one. If it doesn’t catch the ghoul, maybe the alchemists won’t remake it. Naughty candle, reduced to a puddle with an axe.
The Fever Knight hauled his armoured bulk through the gap, glaring at him from behind eyeholes of thick glass. The steel containment suit he wore kept his rotten frame together, or maybe protected everyone else from the toxins in his body. Dribbling fluid leaks encrusted the steel plates with patches of vile slime. That horrific facemask, a polished brass skull decorated with melted flesh. They say that the Fever Knight was hurt in the war, by an alchemical weapon or divine wrath, and that the rotten mask of loose skin he wears over his helmet is actually his own face, that he tore it off in his agony. Whatever else the Fever Knight was, he was terrifyingly strong and immensely cruel. Spar had never seen the Knight fight, but he’d seen the aftermath. Skulls crushed with such force they’d popped open, brains spilling out like beer from a broken barrel.
“Try it,” said the Fever Knight. Steam hissed from his armour in anticipation.
Rereading A Fire Upon the Deep. Pretty interesting concepts, fun little fantasy adventure. Would like to read something more literary next.good timing, a collection of nabakov essays were recently released (think, write, speak), it's next on my list once i've done with my current book
Pride and Prejudice
I first came across this book when my father was researching potential campaign slogans; it turned out that this one was a no-go due to copyright issues. Pride and Prejudice is a classic human-merger story about rich people overcoming a series of terrible obstacles to triumph in the end by marrying their own kind. This book was written by a girl.
The Sound and the Fury
The Sound and the Fury is actually a very long tweet that tells the story of a terrific boy who dreams of reclaiming his family’s repossessed golf course. Our hero does everything right, loves his sister a lot, and almost never sets himself on fire, but for some reason about a quarter of the way through the book the narrator changes from him to his brother, who is supposed to be ‘the smart one’ although I have my doubts. As if that weren’t bad enough, another quarter of the way through the narrator changes again to this other brother who just showed up later and somehow became the favorite child just because he makes the most money and is allegedly competent. To add insult to injury, the last quarter of the story is told by The Help. I also came across this book when my father was researching potential campaign slogans.
Animal Farm
"This is not a book to simply read in total and digest--yes, do that--but it is also a work to return to in parts whenever necessary. It's a book to ingest like medicine."
—Rion Scott
This is a tremendous children’s story about a talking pig named Napoleon who becomes the greatest leader his farm has ever known. After Napoleon destroys Crooked Snowball in a free and fair election by easily the greatest margin of not-being-chased-off-by-dogs in history, the new leader delivers on his promise to make the farm great again by using creative solutions to bring back law and order. Throughout his administration, Napoleon is constantly harassed by jealous losers, such as the stupid old donkey who only complains and, you guessed it: Crooked Snowball! That’s right, even though Crooked Snowball doesn’t hold power and technically isn’t even still around at all, this totally corrupt swine just can’t stop causing problems for the farm. Every time Napoleon tries to score a win for the animals, the ghost of Crooked Snowball is there to trip him up, fueled by liberal rage and an insatiable love of windmills even though they obstruct everyone’s view and kill birds. Nevertheless, Napoleon persists, and in the end he wows everyone with his mastery of several terrific words and his knack for dealmaking, which he uses to create a strategic back-channel alliance with the humans (whom we actually should want to have a positive working relationship with when you really think about it).
Frankenstein
Two thumbs way up for this cautionary tale about the dangers of unsettled science. All hell breaks loose when Victor Frankenstein, an immigrant, creates a (((monster))) that is basically half Al Franken and half Jill Stein. Though it reads a bunch of books and becomes very smart and talky, the (((monster))) causes all sorts of havoc everywhere it goes, leading to a number of deaths and at least one abortion. Really makes you think.
Moby-Dick
There’s nothing more exhilarating than the thrill that comes from tracking and killing a large, majestic animal for no reason at all no matter what the so-called “psychologist” says. Moby-Dick is the timeless story of a noble hunter with the best temperament who spends nearly a thousand pages in vain pursuit of a fat white sperm whale that in no way represents his father’s love.
Crime and Punishment
I’ll be honest — I’ve never read this book. Now, in the event that someone tells you they saw me reading it, rest assured that I don’t recall what it was about. Look: did I read it? I mean, sure, of course, maybe. What happened was a close friend of mine from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant recommended it to me; I didn’t know who the author was or anything going in, but who’s going to say no to a favor from a close pageant friend? I have read this book at least three other times in secret, and my father also briefly considered this one as a campaign slogan.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
"It's going to take lots of energy for us to grapple with the challenge we're facing, and some of it is on vivid display in these pages." —Bill McKibben
This book is primarily about adoptions.
When an undercover investigator from the college visited Elson for a massage in June 2019, she discovered that he spent at least 15 minutes of her appointment on his phone reading a series of wiki pages about the fantasy book series Malazan Book of the Fallen.
Homies... Can you recommend me good books on the history of the crusades? I realize asking for a single volume is absurd but I'd prefer that
Homies... Can you recommend me good books on the history of the crusades? I realize asking for a single volume is absurd but I'd prefer that
It's not strictly about the Crusades as a whole but I recently read The Templars by Dan Jones, which covers a lot of the same time period and was excellent. It's free on Kindle Unlimited here at the moment - not sure if that's worldwide. It's a serious history of the Knights Templar; nothing to do with the silly conspiracy stuff.
Edit: And I just saw that Dan Jones has written a book about the Crusades themselves (Crusaders: An Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands), which only came out a few months ago. Haven't read it myself but based on my experience with The Templars and the reviews, it could be worth a look.
I’ve been considering picking up Dan Jones’ War of the Roses book, it good?
For thousands of years, civilization did not lend itself to peaceful equalization. Across a wide range of societies and different levels of development, stability favored economic inequality. This was as true of Pharaonic Egypt as it was of Victorian England, as true of the Roman Empire as of the United States. Violent shocks were of paramount importance in disrupting the established order, in compressing the distribution of income and wealth, in narrowing the gap between rich and poor. Throughout recorded history, the most powerful leveling invariably resulted from the most powerful shocks. Four different kinds of violent ruptures have flattened inequality: mass mobilization warfare, transformative revolution, state failure, and lethal pandemics. I call these the Four Horsemen of Leveling. Just like their biblical counterparts, they went forth to “take peace from the earth” and “kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” Sometimes acting individually and sometimes in concert with one another, they produced outcomes that to contemporaries often seemed nothing short of apocalyptic. Hundreds of millions perished in their wake. And by the time the dust had settled, the gap between the haves and the have-nots had shrunk, sometimes dramatically.
As recommended by Jordan Peterson :hitler
Not gonna lie I worried about you when you posted a thread about fragrance during a pandemic from a disease that inhibits smell. If you need to talk I'm here dawg :deadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days_(play) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days_(play))
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So how are the Neuromancer follow ups? You always hear about how influential Neuromancer was, but I didn't even realize there were sequels until 2 days ago.
Just finished The Lights go out in Lychford by Paul Cornell.
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Starting Caliban's War in The Expanse series. I've watched the first two seasons of the tv show, but only read the first book. Both are fantastic so far.
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https://twitter.com/MollyQuell/status/1245288640307216384
Picked it up a while ago and I'm looking forward to it.
if you want a liberal account from people who agree with the idea that Russians are human beings / aren't brain poisoned by Orwell
And if we want an account where Russians are not human beings?https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/131488/the-russian-revolution-by-richard-pipes/
I just finished The Way of Kings about a month ago. I thought it started and ended super strong. I really dug Kaladin’s arc and legit got excited about his level-up towards the end of the book. I think the spren and stormlight aspects of the world are pretty well thought out too. I will say, I found it to drag a bit (and by a bit I mean 200-300 pages) in the middle, but I’m looking forward to continuing on.
I’m now listening to The Stand audiobook (I guess we both are doing this Sanderson-King thing). It’s really good. The timeline is kinda strange... Written in the 70’s, takes place in the 90’s, feels like the 70’s... but I can forgive that. It is kinda hard to keep track of all of these characters coming and going in the audio format, but damn if the narrator hasn’t nailed the gritty, horror show scenes so far.
Thinking about reading Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic next. I think I maaay have read it as a kid, but I also think I only played some of the Discworld games and read Good Omens in terms of Pratchett's stuff. Always kinda associated him with Douglas Adams and I read all the Douglas Adam's books, so I might've read some Discworld. Maybe. But I'm always up for good satire/comedy, so that seems like it'd be a fun pick up.do it, the discworld books are brilliant especially those featuring rincewind or death
Thinking about reading Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic next. I think I maaay have read it as a kid, but I also think I only played some of the Discworld games and read Good Omens in terms of Pratchett's stuff. Always kinda associated him with Douglas Adams and I read all the Douglas Adam's books, so I might've read some Discworld. Maybe. But I'm always up for good satire/comedy, so that seems like it'd be a fun pick up.do it, the discworld books are brilliant especially those featuring rincewind or death
Laundry Files book 1 was pretty good. Basically 90's cool hacker meets X-Files meets Lovecraft meets bureaucracy parody. Also, there is a scene that describes a mount Rushmore being carved on an alien moon in another universe only its Hilter.
I also just bought a textbook on Dinosaurs, which I'm pretty excited about.Coincidentally I signed up for a Coursera thing on dinosaurs while a bunch of courses are free
Reading Hyperion :whoo
Reading Hyperion :whoo
Hyperion and its sequel are good stuff.
It no longer matters who consider themselves the masters of events.
Events no longer obey their masters.
The world as we know it is ending, my friends, no matter what happens to us. As for me, I have no request of the Shrike. I bring no final words for it or the universe.
I have returned because I must, because this is my fate. I've known what I must do since I was a child, returning alone to Siri's tomb and swearing vengeance on the Hegemony. I've known what price I must pay, both in life and in history.
But when the time comes to judge, to understand a betrayal which will spread like fame across the Web, which will end worlds, I ask you not to think of me - my name was not even writ on water as your lost poet's soul said - but to think of Old Earth dying for no reason, to think of the dolphins, their gray flesh drying and rotting in the sun, to see - as I have seen - the motile isles with no place to wander, their feeding grounds destroyed, the Equatorial Shallows scabbed with drilling platforms, the islands themselves burdened with shouting, trammeling tourists smelling of UV lotion and cannabis.
Or better yet, think of none of that. Stand as I did after throwing the switch, a murderer, a betrayer, but still proud, feet firmly planted on Hyperion's shifting sand, head held high, fist raised against the sky, crying 'A plague on both your houses!'
For you see, I remember my grandmother's dream. I remember the way it could have been.
I remember Siri.
About 2/3rds through Discworld: The Colour of Magic and it's disappointing but has glimpses of goodness. It really needs an editor and is kind of hard to follow a lot of the time. Some of the jokes land and stuff like DEATH is funny as is all the rpg/fantasy spoofing, but yeah overall it just doesn't read that well. Even before I started it I read up a bit on Discworld and the general consensus was that Colour of Magic was one of the weaker books, but you might as well start at the beginning. Will finish it out and maybe read one of the top Discworld books that people recommend for comparison. Either that or go back and replay the two PnC adventure games from my childhood that I don't remember anymore.
It's been a while since I've read it and I remember enjoying it when I did but what was even the point of Post Office? :lol All I can remember is some wacky gambling, one rape, a couple of bad marriages, and a heart in a jar.i remember never wanting to read bukowski again
It's been a while since I've read it and I remember enjoying it when I did but what was even the point of Post Office? :lol All I can remember is some wacky gambling, one rape, a couple of bad marriages, and a heart in a jar.i remember never wanting to read bukowski again
About 2/3rds through Discworld: The Colour of Magic and it's disappointing but has glimpses of goodness. It really needs an editor and is kind of hard to follow a lot of the time. Some of the jokes land and stuff like DEATH is funny as is all the rpg/fantasy spoofing, but yeah overall it just doesn't read that well. Even before I started it I read up a bit on Discworld and the general consensus was that Colour of Magic was one of the weaker books, but you might as well start at the beginning. Will finish it out and maybe read one of the top Discworld books that people recommend for comparison. Either that or go back and replay the two PnC adventure games from my childhood that I don't remember anymore.
I really liked The Color of Magic at the time, but after reading through a big chunk of the later books I would definitely not put it high on my list for the series.
The books centred around Death, Sam Vimes, or Nanny Ogg might be more interesting to you.
My favourite is Small Gods, which I think is a lot more more focused. It's been twenty years since I've read these (and I've only read six or so), so...
About 2/3rds through Discworld: The Colour of Magic and it's disappointing but has glimpses of goodness. It really needs an editor and is kind of hard to follow a lot of the time. Some of the jokes land and stuff like DEATH is funny as is all the rpg/fantasy spoofing, but yeah overall it just doesn't read that well. Even before I started it I read up a bit on Discworld and the general consensus was that Colour of Magic was one of the weaker books, but you might as well start at the beginning. Will finish it out and maybe read one of the top Discworld books that people recommend for comparison. Either that or go back and replay the two PnC adventure games from my childhood that I don't remember anymore.
I really liked The Color of Magic at the time, but after reading through a big chunk of the later books I would definitely not put it high on my list for the series.
I finished Colour of Magic and didn't care for it. I just found a lot of it pretty boring. The set pieces moved from one to another quickly in a way that nothing was ever developed and nobody was interesting. It's mainly just Rincewind going "oh no!" and running from things in kind of a sequence of looney toons-esque situations one after another with Twoflower and the luggage chasing them. There were interesting bits like the mind dragons castle in the third story and the spaceship stuff in the 4th but I felt like the endings to all these stories just...end. I think I liked the intro story the best.
Since it ends on a cliffhanger, I started reading a summary of book #2 and it just didn't grab me. I don't think this series is for me at all. I was expecting something closer to Douglas Adam's Hitchiker series in humor, and this is very different. I read Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's fantasy comedy novel Mogworld some years ago and honestly it was more what I wanted out of Discworld as a fantasy series that's a parody of the fantasy genre and the humor clicked way better.
Which reminds me, I should probably read more of Yahtzee's books. I see he has like 3 or 4 other novels he did.
The books centred around Death, Sam Vimes, or Nanny Ogg might be more interesting to you.
My favourite is Small Gods, which I think is a lot more more focused. It's been twenty years since I've read these (and I've only read six or so), so...
So I finished Columbine (2009, Dave Cullen) and I'm going to be in a mood for a while.
All the mythology and media coverage was wrong, which is frustrating in itself. Eric Harris was just a textbook psychopath from a very early age, Dylan Klebold was an angry suicidal depressive, they were bullies more than bullied, and this was a long running plan they had. There was no snapping point. There was no goths vs jocks shit. They both spoke often about murder and mass murder in their journals for YEARS leading up to the event.
"A lot of the tension in the school came from the class above us," Laughlin insists. "There were people fearful of walking by a table where you knew you didn't belong, stuff like that. Certain groups certainly got preferential treatment across the board. I caught the tail end of one really horrible incident, and I know Dylan told his mother that it was the worst day of his life."
"People surrounded them in the commons and squirted ketchup packets all over them, laughing at them, calling them tacos," Brown says. "That happened while teachers watched. They couldn't fight back. They wore the ketchup all day and went home covered with it."
Michael Balzary (Flea) - Acid for the Children
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Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist and founding memeber Flea wrote a memoir that covers his life from birth to the very first RHCP gig.
A very fun and entertaining read as one might predict. Lot more conversational than the biography by bandmate Anthony "Antoine the Swan" Kiedis. Not nearly as fucked up, but still compared to anyone I have ever met... well, fucked up :lol. I love how everything is just short little tales that sometimes last only a page or 2. It's a really easy read that you can pick up at any time. It's almost like you are just hanging out and asking him to tell you stories from his youth.
Also, the vast vast majority of the material here is completely new. Probably because it omits the actual "I'm now a rockstar" bit which is usually pretty well documented. But these various tender or messed up tales up to like 23 or so are mostly brand new. I love how extremely vulnerable the book is. I like that even as an elder statesmen of rock, Flea is still young at heart and his mind is still firing on all cylinders. He ain't no old crab set in his ways. Has he fucked up along the way? Way too many times. Is he fully aware? Yes and he tries to improve himself sincerely. It comes through in the book.
Also dig that at the end he writes down little lists of concerts that really moved him, records, and books too. He's a very avid reader. And as you learn in the book that was a hobby of his since childhood. He'd probably enjoy this thread. :)
I got Lindsay Ellis' new book Axiom's End, mostly because I wanted to see a breakdown and her overview video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuRE55YH8yE) of the journey to get it published was very informative on a subject I didn't know much about (traditional publishing of genre fiction.) And I figured reading it would be good for any post-publishing discussion she does, since I always love seeing how a story comes together (what makes it into various drafts and why, etc.)I’m about halfway through and the first few chapters are indicative of Cora’s baseline emotional state, which is what I think she was trying to go for. I’d keep going, it’s been a fun read so far.
A couple chapters in, and here's the thing...
It's... bad. :doge I honestly like her as a creative, but it's worse than I thought it would be... by a significant margin. I'm hoping the writing becomes less LiveJournal-y as I go on, but I don't know why the first couple chapters would lead the book with... that level of quality.
My friend's self-published novel (mentioned earlier ITT) was honestly an easier read, and I know for a fact it had less people/editors/quality checkers before it got released... Crazy. Also, encouraging.
Maybe the story itself will be the highlight... Here's hoping.
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Do you guys bail on books or finish them out of completion?i used to force myself to finish any book i started even if i wasn't having fun with it but as i got older i stopped giving a shit and have no problem dropping something after 50-60 pages if it isn't grabbing me
I finished Mistborn Shadows of Self and it was good and solid and then started Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's 2nd novel JAM about a flesh eating jam taking over Brisbane and a rag tag group of slackers have to survive it and I'm 100 pages in out of 300 pages and it's really boring. I remember his first book Mogworld about a zombie who gets raised by a necromancer in an MMO and has self-awareness being pretty good and entertaining, but while this one has funny humour moments, generally despite a funny premise it's a bunch of boring characters doing boring things.
Given that's there's only 200 pages left I'm tempted to just power/skim through and finish it, especially because I hear his 3rd book a sci-fi parody "Will Save the Galaxy for Food" is supposed to be his best of his novels,
But part of me feels like it's just a waste of time spending nights reading a book you're bored of when you could be reading something better. Thoughts?
Also lmao at how this book essentially about how the United States has been built upon slavery, theft, massacres, lying to friends, breaking agreements, oppressing women and minorities at every step of the way for centuries and so on, somehow gets most exceptionally cynical about this country in the the period of the 1970s-1990s where the book basically becomes just a series of "this shit never changes, every fucked up policy of destruction and interference with other nations and fucking over the poor and minorities at home stays in place no matter which party is in charge, no matter what they say on record, fuck this country" :lol
but also :goty
EDIT: Has there been any US intervention post WW2 that benefited the country in question in any way at all
I'm a huge RHCP fan, and I'll have to read this. To tell the truth, Kiedis' Scar Tissue bio showed him to be such a narcissistic, mentally abusive, fuckstain that it's caused me to enjoy their music less than before. I've always felt Flea is the stronger character of the two. Chad Smith seems like a good guy, and a tremendous talent, but his superpower seems to be "don't get caught up in Flea and Kiedis' drama."
Does anyone here use goodreads? Is it any good for getting recommendations?
oh speaking of scifi, is the three-body problem any good? last scifi i read was starship titanic like 10 years and a colleague keeps recommending this to meDoes anyone here use goodreads? Is it any good for getting recommendations?
Yes and kinda. I prefer reddit for fantasy, horror, and history recs. The scifi subreddits suck though.
Does anyone here use goodreads? Is it any good for getting recommendations?
Terry Goodkind is apparently pretty much a horrible jerk. His politics lean hardcore into very conservative libertarianism, or something like that. A friend of mine did a bunch of research on him and just went off on him a couple years back. I’ll see if I can’t find something on it over the weekend. But anyhow: fuck him.
Terry Goodkind is apparently pretty much a horrible jerk. His politics lean hardcore into very conservative libertarianism, or something like that. A friend of mine did a bunch of research on him and just went off on him a couple years back. I’ll see if I can’t find something on it over the weekend. But anyhow: fuck him.
Terry Goodkind is apparently pretty much a horrible jerk. His politics lean hardcore into very conservative libertarianism, or something like that. A friend of mine did a bunch of research on him and just went off on him a couple years back. I’ll see if I can’t find something on it over the weekend. But anyhow: fuck him.
I think I might have read that article before. :neogaf
Bless you for bringing us this good food, chrono. :lawd
We've locked in copies of the signed leatherbound edition of Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, which will be published in two volumes.
Important: The Way of Kings must be ordered by itself. Do not include any other books or products in the same order.
When packed, this two volume set will weigh in at nine pounds or more. The postage costs, especially for our international customers, will be substantial.
About the Book:
The Dragonsteel edition of The Way of Kings consists of two volumes bound in premium bonded-leather, and the pages are smyth-sewn, not glued like most regular books.
The Way of Kings is printed in two-color offset inks on quality, acid-free paper, includes a bound-in satin-ribbon bookmark, gilded pages, and two-color foiling on the cover. A 24-page four-color offset art gallery starts off the edition and features never-before seen artwork and fanart.
We’ve made this book a beautiful match for Mistborn: The Final Empire, Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages.
First Printing. Brand new leather-bound hardcover, signed by Brandon Sanderson: $200
Reading this:I liked the book a lot more than the show depiction to be honest, mostly because you get a lot of cool insight into the biology of the flora & fauna of the planet which didn’t really fit in the show.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/515eoqyAAmL._SY346_.jpg)
In preparation for this:
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So I don't get spoiled when I watch season 4.
I got William Gibsons Neuromancer as a christmas gift :DThe sequels were on my wishlist. Instead I got a second copy of Neuromancer.
Finished The Last Continent. Not my favourite Terry Pratchett book, but it was ok.
Have moved on to Nemesis Games by James SA Corey. I'm about 20% through and am really loving the Amos and Alex POVs. Holden and Naomi's POVs I don't really care for so far, but I hope that changes.
I've read The Churn. Was good.Finished The Last Continent. Not my favourite Terry Pratchett book, but it was ok.
Have moved on to Nemesis Games by James SA Corey. I'm about 20% through and am really loving the Amos and Alex POVs. Holden and Naomi's POVs I don't really care for so far, but I hope that changes.
The Amos novella The Churn is really good. Publication order is before Nemesis Games, although I read it much much later on. Really explains a lot about the power dynamic Amos has with Erich.
Does your library have an online aspect? If they offer downloads via Overdrive you can download via MP3 and keep the downloads forever.
Anybody fucks with DRM free ebooks? Is there a good store for such? Want to stay as legit as possible.
Calibre is a massive pain and I used to have it working quite well, but something in the chain has broken down in the last year (between Google Play's DRM, Kindle's DRM, Adobe's Digital Editions software, Calibre, or all of the above.) So I'm trying to buy DRM free from the start if possible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/mvehd6/mike_shells_idols_fall_hit_the_shelves_today_and/
Aching God is on sale right now. Really great book if you like horror and fantasy. Reading the last book in the trilogy now. I'm engrossed.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/mvehd6/mike_shells_idols_fall_hit_the_shelves_today_and/
Aching God is on sale right now. Really great book if you like horror and fantasy. Reading the last book in the trilogy now. I'm engrossed.
I hate buying digital for books since I can't remember I even own the book months from now when I'm ready for my next book and usually just look at my bookshelf stack.
But dark horror fantasy is my jam and 99 cents vs $17 for paperback I'll grab the digital. Just hope I remember I have it someday.
So are there lots of spiders in the book?
The other half is nightmare. Chunks of broken heavens, fallen from the sky and made material in the moment of their destruction. Malformed miracles leaking into reality, scabs of divine works. God-touched creatures crawl across the land, screaming hymns of gratitude. Strange plants grow, fiery-red bushes that ignite when touched, mountain-flowers disgorging virulent blue poison on to unseen winds. They travel through the meadowlands of some hunting god, through the burned-out stacks of a seemingly infinite library, through a desert of broken glass.
On the fifth day in hell, they come to the ghost of the city of Gissa. Even Cari knows that Gissa was destroyed, ten years ago or more, Gissa of the red roofs and the counting-houses, Gissa of the temples and the red walls, Gissa of the deep wells. Gissa should be a lot further south. They hide in a ditch and watch the city march past them. People, thousands of them, dragging sacks of rubble and brick, shoulders bowed under cloaks of red slate. Skins red with brick dust. They march in columns that mimic the layout of vanished streets – and a presence moves with them, invisible forces flattening the ground ahead of them, stamping the map of the crawling city into the mud. Some hold street signs like battle standards, others stumble through the mud with absurd pomposity, clad in the ornate robes of civic officials, of judges and councillors. There’s a carnival touch to the whole procession, wild abandon mixed with civic pride. All of their faces, from the starveling children to the oldest greybeard, touched with divine ecstasy. They live in Gissa, and Gissa is the heavenly city. Cari feels that sandpaper sensation again, and presses her face into the mud as a great temple-barge passes. It’s a huge pyramidal temple, the house of the civic god, mounted on gigantic runners of teak wood and dragged by a crowd of ecstatic worshippers. Atop the temple stands a young man, beautiful and shining, chosen of the god of the city of Gissa. “Tell me when they’ve gone,” whispers Cari, but before M can answer the saint raises his left hand. Trumpets sound, the earth shakes and the city settles around them. Their ditch is now surrounded on all sides by the memory of a ruined city, by the shambling crowds of the displaced and the divine.
...
As if conjured by the saint’s commands, a group of soldiers appears at the top of the street. She’d almost mistake them for Stone Men, their bodies marked with stony growths, but in a flash she sees the distinction. These guys were all mortally wounded in the past – that one’s got a wide gash in his belly, that one was stabbed through the heart, another doesn’t have a fucking head – and the wounds were filled with pieces of the city. They’ve got chunks of brickwork and mortar shoved into their bodies, working as muscles and organs and, apparently, a head. One of them points at her with a hand salvaged from some marble statue, and Blockhead swivels to look at Cari like the thing’s got eyes.
So are there lots of spiders in the book?
Technically speaking, there are equivalent number of spiders in this book compared to times that John dies in the other book.
So are there lots of spiders in the book?
Technically speaking, there are equivalent number of spiders in this book compared to times that John dies in the other book.
I vaguely remember John Dies at the End. Only watched the movie adaptation though.
I love it, both the books and the show.
I'm a bit behind on both, so can't comment on whether the quality has remained high throughout though.
I prefer the narrative of the books, but the show is phenomenal because it is hard sci-fi in a big budget TV show.I love it, both the books and the show.
I'm a bit behind on both, so can't comment on whether the quality has remained high throughout though.
Which do you prefer between books/show?
Read the first two Cradle books in the last two days. Halfway through the third one. It's basically Naruto in prose form. I'm liking it and the power-up hooks have kept me wanting to keep reading. Kindle says each book is ~300 pages but they only take a few hours to get through. Got the first 8 free (The author gives them out a few times a year), which also makes me like them more or at least be less critical.
When anything can be owned, how can we be free
Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can’t otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane.
Hot on her trail, an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack’s drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understand.
And underlying it all is one fundamental question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?
“I am flirting with you,” she clarified.
“Oh, good— that’s what I thought.” He laughed. “One can never be sure, though.” She liked the way he never made assumptions, even about basic things like fucking.
When they kissed, she could taste the political analysis he’d described during the Freeculture meeting. His flavor, a mixture of smoke and fennel, was redolent of the Good Science she’d dreamed about doing when she was an undergraduate: the science that helped people, and gave them a chance to lead lives they could be proud of. Nothing made her want to strip a man naked more than knowing he had good ideas … and so she did. She could taste a nuanced ethical understanding of the patent system all over his body.
tao by lin yutangalso started his book From Christian to Pagan. from the little I've read on the toilet, it's interesting. Don't see myself becoming a christian, but this guy can write.
Upcoming:i read this not long after reading chaos monkeys and bad blood hoping it would be as good but ultimately it just wasn't as interesting overall especially if you read a few articles on wework already
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i read this not long after reading chaos monkeys and bad blood hoping it would be as good but ultimately it just wasn't as interesting overall especially if you read a few articles on wework alreadyI had not read too carefully into WeWork's history, only stories as it was collapsing, but I agree. It really wasn't very interesting and mostly about the main guy's weirdness. I wanted more about the whole fraudulent business plan. It seemed to not want to cover that so much because many of the sources for the book were people who also helped perpetuate everything.
A company I worked at gets a shoutout in Chaos Monkeys. 👀are you murthy :o
Just finished the second book of the Mistborn trilogy; Well of Ascension. Been enjoying this series so far. :) Not sure it would be a match for being made into a movie/tv series, but man... this would make an excellent video game. :lawd
A company I worked at gets a shoutout in Chaos Monkeys. 👀are you murthy :o
Damn... never realized or thought about that. I never got around to playing Dishonored for silly reasons like not caring for the, at the time to me, odd setting and art style, but I really ought to reconsider.Just finished the second book of the Mistborn trilogy; Well of Ascension. Been enjoying this series so far. :) Not sure it would be a match for being made into a movie/tv series, but man... this would make an excellent video game. :lawd
Have you played Dishonored?
I feel like Dishonored is the unofficial Mistborn videogame series. Kinda similar powers and victorian fantasy aesthetic. When I played Dishonored 1 I just pretended I was playing as Kelsier.
https://www.tor.com/2021/10/05/download-a-free-ebook-of-gideon-the-ninth-this-bonestober-before-october-8th/ (https://www.tor.com/2021/10/05/download-a-free-ebook-of-gideon-the-ninth-this-bonestober-before-october-8th/)Yeah, I've heard good things so I downloaded it.
Gideon the Ninth is free. Hear it's really good.
So, while this book has been ok so far, this sex scene just came up out of the blue and it's gotta be one of the most cringeworthy things I've ever read.Quote“I am flirting with you,” she clarified.
“Oh, good— that’s what I thought.” He laughed. “One can never be sure, though.” She liked the way he never made assumptions, even about basic things like fucking.
When they kissed, she could taste the political analysis he’d described during the Freeculture meeting. His flavor, a mixture of smoke and fennel, was redolent of the Good Science she’d dreamed about doing when she was an undergraduate: the science that helped people, and gave them a chance to lead lives they could be proud of. Nothing made her want to strip a man naked more than knowing he had good ideas … and so she did. She could taste a nuanced ethical understanding of the patent system all over his body.
I like a lot of the stuff being published by Tor Books. There's some really groundbreaking sci-fi and fantasy coming out of them that is pushing boundaries. But sometimes their authors are just too woke for their own good
Love you too, sweet cheeks. Maybe if you gave better political analysis, I'd be throwing myself at you right now.So, while this book has been ok so far, this sex scene just came up out of the blue and it's gotta be one of the most cringeworthy things I've ever read.Quote“I am flirting with you,” she clarified.
“Oh, good— that’s what I thought.” He laughed. “One can never be sure, though.” She liked the way he never made assumptions, even about basic things like fucking.
When they kissed, she could taste the political analysis he’d described during the Freeculture meeting. His flavor, a mixture of smoke and fennel, was redolent of the Good Science she’d dreamed about doing when she was an undergraduate: the science that helped people, and gave them a chance to lead lives they could be proud of. Nothing made her want to strip a man naked more than knowing he had good ideas … and so she did. She could taste a nuanced ethical understanding of the patent system all over his body.
I like a lot of the stuff being published by Tor Books. There's some really groundbreaking sci-fi and fantasy coming out of them that is pushing boundaries. But sometimes their authors are just too woke for their own good
I just fucking cringed myself to death reading that. I hate you for exposing me to it. Just knowing that writing like this exists out there makes me want to never read again in case something I chose to read contains this passage or it's equivalence. Fuck that author and fuck you for posting it.
Love you too, sweet cheeks. Maybe if you gave better political analysis, I'd be throwing myself at you right now.So, while this book has been ok so far, this sex scene just came up out of the blue and it's gotta be one of the most cringeworthy things I've ever read.Quote“I am flirting with you,” she clarified.
“Oh, good— that’s what I thought.” He laughed. “One can never be sure, though.” She liked the way he never made assumptions, even about basic things like fucking.
When they kissed, she could taste the political analysis he’d described during the Freeculture meeting. His flavor, a mixture of smoke and fennel, was redolent of the Good Science she’d dreamed about doing when she was an undergraduate: the science that helped people, and gave them a chance to lead lives they could be proud of. Nothing made her want to strip a man naked more than knowing he had good ideas … and so she did. She could taste a nuanced ethical understanding of the patent system all over his body.
I like a lot of the stuff being published by Tor Books. There's some really groundbreaking sci-fi and fantasy coming out of them that is pushing boundaries. But sometimes their authors are just too woke for their own good
I just fucking cringed myself to death reading that. I hate you for exposing me to it. Just knowing that writing like this exists out there makes me want to never read again in case something I chose to read contains this passage or it's equivalence. Fuck that author and fuck you for posting it.
Your flavour, a mixture of shitposts and pisstakes, is redolent of the trolling i'd dreamed about doing when i was a junior borean.Love you too, sweet cheeks. Maybe if you gave better political analysis, I'd be throwing myself at you right now.So, while this book has been ok so far, this sex scene just came up out of the blue and it's gotta be one of the most cringeworthy things I've ever read.Quote“I am flirting with you,” she clarified.
“Oh, good— that’s what I thought.” He laughed. “One can never be sure, though.” She liked the way he never made assumptions, even about basic things like fucking.
When they kissed, she could taste the political analysis he’d described during the Freeculture meeting. His flavor, a mixture of smoke and fennel, was redolent of the Good Science she’d dreamed about doing when she was an undergraduate: the science that helped people, and gave them a chance to lead lives they could be proud of. Nothing made her want to strip a man naked more than knowing he had good ideas … and so she did. She could taste a nuanced ethical understanding of the patent system all over his body.
I like a lot of the stuff being published by Tor Books. There's some really groundbreaking sci-fi and fantasy coming out of them that is pushing boundaries. But sometimes their authors are just too woke for their own good
I just fucking cringed myself to death reading that. I hate you for exposing me to it. Just knowing that writing like this exists out there makes me want to never read again in case something I chose to read contains this passage or it's equivalence. Fuck that author and fuck you for posting it.
Just to clarify, I AM flirting with you. When I kiss you, I can taste every Bire post you've ever made. I love how you never assume anything about fucking.
Universal Harvester wasn't what I was expecting at all and I really liked it. Thought it was a horror. It has a very unsettling atmosphere and the tease of a horrific mystery. It's much more a literary fiction book. Think it's best to not know anything going in and have low expectations.spoiler (click to show/hide)It's kind of about the rippling effects of a mother abandoning her young daughter to join a cult and the inability to resolve the mystery of what happened to her mother.[close]
Abercrombie just didn't click with me. I prefer my Grimdark fantasy of the Glen Cook Black Company variety.
200 pages in and I still am feeling like The Blade Itself feels like a halfway between GRRM and Ninja Scroll. It's like long in-depth character viewpoint chapters and gritty, but then it's like very anime GIANTS, Sorceresses, TATTOED MEN, etc...it just feels so far kind of videogame/anime-ish even if written with a good writing style to it.:respect
It's pretty entertaining but the worldview just isn't something I'm super into so far, feels very popcorn entertainment.
Almost done listening to the audiobook of Neil Gaiman's 1996 Neverwhere narrated by Gaiman. Pretty lengthy isekai book about London "below" and think it's pretty ehhh. It would be a good book but jesus christ talk about self-sabotaging a tale with the more whiny unlikeable main character possible.
Ok, yeah was at the very end of Neverwhere. It was ok, least good book I've read of Gaiman. At this point I should probably finish reading the rest of his published novels since I don't have a lot left. Ocean at the End of the Lane & Norse Mythologies mainly.
Also apparently the Neverwhere sequel is the current book he's been writing. Probably skip it. Not super interested in a bunch of Norse mythology novellas either, so probably will just check out Ocean at the End of the Lane at some point.
Almost done listening to the audiobook of Neil Gaiman's 1996 Neverwhere narrated by Gaiman. Pretty lengthy isekai book about London "below" and think it's pretty ehhh. It would be a good book but jesus christ talk about self-sabotaging a tale with the more whiny unlikeable main character possible.
You reminded me that there's a radio play adaption I heard of this back in 2013 with Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Natalie Dormer and others.
So I'm actually slowly enjoying The Wheel of Time Book #1. But yeah it's dense and slow and ridiculously long. I read an hour and get through like 25 pages in this. At around 100 pages out of 1,000 after 4 nights. But I am enjoying it, so will stick with it. Probably take me 1-2 months though.You're hardly out of the intro. Shit speeds up real quick.
And yeah, this The Sandman audiobook is rad. Enjoying it a lot on drives so far. Excited for the TV adaptation now. Can see how it'll work. Also Taron Egerton does a surprisingly good Constantine. If they ever try another live action movie of that, he'd be great for the role.
(https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597018687l/50358491.jpg)I liked this. Not too informative about the gaming industry, especially for most people here. But the stories are fun.
Eddings?
Also, it took like 500 pages but finally starting to enjoy the point of view characters in Wheel of Time #1. Everyone in the book and the TV seasons are just so whiny, dumb and unlikeable it really makes it hard to get invested.
The main problem is every single character in this book basically has the mindset of "I don't want to be involved in this, I am going to be a dick to everyone, I just want to go home and be over all this" outside Morraine/Lan who get way less screentime in the book than the TV show.
But the characters are getting a bit better finally. The Wolf stuff with Perrin is handled so much better in the book than the TV season.
On chapter 14 -- this is a lot more ripped from LOTR than the TV show made it to be. We are still in escape from the Shire mode.
20 chapters in and I now have a single completed shitty slipper for my right foot.
20 chapters in and I now have a single completed shitty slipper for my right foot.
I don't understand this phrase at all.
In the day and age of 10 episode seasons and shows rarely getting more than 4-5 season runs, it was a crazy decision to try to adapt a 14 book series.
Even if it's successful, I can't see it managing to get to the end satisfactorily.
20 chapters in and I now have a single completed shitty slipper for my right foot.
I don't understand this phrase at all.
Took me 2/5ths of the book to crochet a poorly done slipper
The audio book version is really nice though. It's also a super easy book to listen to given the writing style.
Also can you describe how WoT is like LoTR?
Anybody have recs on like, the early stages of a business? First hires, org structure, that kind of thing.It's highly dependent on which type of business your running. Is this for movies or did you go back to software development?
(https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1610432780l/56644241._SY475_.jpg)This was alright. It's about KD and Kyrie's first year in Brooklyn which, of course, ended with COVID and the George Floyd protests. The book tries to weave some interconnected narrative between all these things and paint Kyrie and KD as these innovate revolutionary thinkers on racial politics and business. Except it's Garrett Temple who does everything involving the protests and Spencer Dinwiddie who's the innovative business guy. (And also, hovering over the entire book and in both these things is LeBron.) I admit that the picture of Kyrie is now colored with how he's spent the last year especially since he spends much of the book talking about how much he just wants to win and how all his power plays to replace the coach, trade out the young talent for veterans, etc. is all towards that goal. Finally, KD spends like the entire book just smoking weed and rehabbing. :lol
Anybody have recs on like, the early stages of a business? First hires, org structure, that kind of thing.It's highly dependent on which type of business your running. Is this for movies or did you go back to software development?
Anybody have recs on like, the early stages of a business? First hires, org structure, that kind of thing.
I know nothing about film production, but I suspect that your first hires would be people who can help you get funding. I've worked for startups who have received millions in government grants. Once you start hiring staff you will burn through that money fast. If you're lucky it will support you through the early stages until you have a steady revenue stream.
Learning to delegate well is a core problem for anyone who started by doing everything on their own. When you've covered every base, and were solely responsible for everything, it's easy to control and verify and to hold yourself responsible. The trouble is, it doesn't scale at all.
Finding people whom you trust is difficult, but it's the only way to reliably scale your capacity.
Anybody have recs on like, the early stages of a business? First hires, org structure, that kind of thing.
Write a business plan. It’s not a silver bullet but as you write it, your true needs will start to emerge along with some structure behind it. I looked up “Business plans for film production” and found several links that looked decent. If you want any financing, having one is necessary as a matter of course.
I co-sign knowing when to delegate. It allows you to focus on what you need to focus on. It’s unlikely that someone will have all the skills needed but if they’re eager and willing to do the right thing, giving them an opportunity to step up can get you there.
I’ve managed tens of millions of dollars of government grants, just be aware of the strings attached. Some agencies, it’s like a blank check. Others, there are so many provisions in place that they dictate all kinds of awful things and/or can intervene at any point they please if they disagree with the direction you take.
Getting a new business off the ground is really challenging so I salute you stepping up.
WoT is getting pretty annoying.
https://ebookclub.tor.com/All Systems Red is amazing, Silver in the Woods is ok, haven't read the other one.
Really enjoyed All Systems Red, and Artificial Condition. I'm starting Rogue Protocol this week. Seems similarly great.https://ebookclub.tor.com/All Systems Red is amazing, Silver in the Woods is ok, haven't read the other one.
God being an asshole is a great way to explain a whole bunch of life.
Amazing that Jesus somehow took the Old Testament God and convinced everyone that he's a benevolent, loving god, just really mysterious why so much bad shit happens all the fucking time.
Greeks had it right, giving a pantheon of jerkfaces to blame things on, petty infighting, humans just caught up in forces of nature.
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Read Fangs by Sarah Anderson for a book club. It's a story told through one page, often 4-panel, webcomics about a romance between a gothy vampire and a hipster werewolf.
It's extremely cute, but doesn't have much of a connective story to it. There's almost no story at all after the intro tbh. A good set of the panels are pretty funny like when the werewolf says "we should have a baby" and there's a pause and the vampire says "...for dinner?"
It's pretty short and the actual physical book is really nice with a felt red cover and black pages. Definitely a good gift present for any goth girls or boys in your life.
(https://i.imgur.com/rIRDtdBl.jpg)
Read Fangs by Sarah Anderson for a book club. It's a story told through one page, often 4-panel, webcomics about a romance between a gothy vampire and a hipster werewolf.
It's extremely cute, but doesn't have much of a connective story to it. There's almost no story at all after the intro tbh. A good set of the panels are pretty funny like when the werewolf says "we should have a baby" and there's a pause and the vampire says "...for dinner?"
It's pretty short and the actual physical book is really nice with a felt red cover and black pages. Definitely a good gift present for any goth girls or boys in your life.
Seemed like something I'd like, so scoped Amazon for it. German and French Kindle editions are on sale, but no sign of an English Kindle edition. :-\
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a-k6eaT-jQ
jesus
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcriptPlease don't post alt-right conspiracy theories in our book thread, thank you.
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Oral history from the guy who did the ones for SNL and ESPN. About HBO. Nearly 1000 pages. Covers it from the start in the 1970s up through AT&T's purchase with a few updates about the recent years towards the Warner Discovery spin-off. Covers a bunch of the shows and documentaries and HBO Sports and so on, though not too many in detail which I admit would be difficult. Funniest thing is how many of these executives are still butthurt and seething over stuff that happened like 15-30 years ago. I don't even mean legitimate gripes that recalling the history brought up but just petty shit. Richard Plepler comes off as a total asshole, even his own comments make him sound like it. The top Warner/HBO executives all thought AT&T was going to not change anything except to just give them tons more money. :lol
This is on my list! Was really excited to get to it but at lot of reviews find it pretty meandering and disconnected, and bloated too. Still planning on getting to it.It probably is meandering and disconnected if you're not used to these types of histories. It's mostly in a chronological order but the way these are often done is like say there's section where the executive is talking about how profits were down and "we didn't have any great new show ideas, just some crap starring some nobody about a gangster in New Jersey" and then it transitions into talking about the start of The Sopranos.
It all gets a solid, thrilling finish. Fucking amazing finale.
Stay the course.
Funny enough, the owner of that company said basically "but this is the same business?" and so copied some of the WeWork things people loved like glass walls and so on and opened more places that looked like WeWork offices but with the same old business plan. Now the company is worth more than it ever was, even after COVID.
Stay the course.
Thinking about it, the dynamics of the groups in book 2 were just too good & entertaining that book 3 couldn't match it.
Brother Longfoot's annoying the fuck out of Logen and Ferro constantly, Bayaz grandstanding, Jezal learning lessons while discovering the history of the world.
West & the Northmen mixing of cultures.
Glokta doing his thing.
And in book 3 only Glokta's arc is as good because in book 2 he wasn't too dependant on other characters. I think everyone in the journey arc is much worse off in book 3 without that team dynamic.
Thinking about it, the dynamics of the groups in book 2 were just too good & entertaining that book 3 couldn't match it.
Brother Longfoot's annoying the fuck out of Logen and Ferro constantly, Bayaz grandstanding, Jezal learning lessons while discovering the history of the world.
West & the Northmen mixing of cultures.
Glokta doing his thing.
And in book 3 only Glokta's arc is as good because in book 2 he wasn't too dependant on other characters. I think everyone in the journey arc is much worse off in book 3 without that team dynamic.
You're making me feel like re-reading it! But I agree with most of your points. Bayaz was NEVER going to change. He's Asshole Gandalf. No character growth without death.
“You can have another slap at me, as far as the Guild’s concerned. Seems a shame you wasted your first one doing so little harm, you fatherless kark.” A kark is a wet fart, by the way, if you’ve never been to Galtia or Norholt. The kind you think will be one thing but turns out to be the other, to your shame and sorrow.
Where was I? Right, upside down. And don’t picture the Spanth holding me by the ankle one-handed like some Thrall Mountains quarter-giant. No, she had me two-handed, elbows braced on the sill. I didn’t struggle. Just crossed my arms. Felt rather good, actually, all the blood going to my head.
Oh, it wasn’t much to look at. No beautiful kicks, no breathtaking throws. Just a studied approach at finding what the body doesn’t do well, then trying to make your opponent’s body do that.
Got started on book 8 but I was very tired of it -- all the characters suck and the story starts to just crawl after book 5, so taking a break. I will finish it mostly to see Sanderson's books.
Got started on book 8 but I was very tired of it -- all the characters suck and the story starts to just crawl after book 5, so taking a break. I will finish it mostly to see Sanderson's books.
Yeah, your tapering out on the series kinda killed my motivation to start book 2. Just seems like there are better fantasy series to spend the time on.
Gar Ryder Hanrahan’s The Gutter Prayer. It has been wildly inventive so far.
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I liked this but I imagine if you followed this stuff you wouldn't really learn anything as it really mostly tells you what a bunch of articles probably already said. AT&T's clusterfuck is funny still (even if the book makes the mistake of leaving out the historic HBO Max premiere of the Academy Award winning Zack Snyder's Justice League) and it's nice that they were able to account for COVID's impact on streaming. My actual main complaint is mostly because of knowing what's happened since they had to stop writing, they only slightly touch on WarnerDiscovery since it hadn't happened yet, just announced nor Netflix's recent more choppy waters. I always love stories of arrogant corporate suits who don't know anything failing though so there was plenty here.
So maybe there needs to be a Part II and Part III. And what if somebody actually does buy Netflix or something? They mention how most of the Hollywood players passed on Netflix at some point, but what if it's somebody like Microsoft?
Actually, for most readers, the last half of the novel becomes somewhat long and drawn out, but this novel was written at the end of the Victorian period when the reading public expected novels to last a long time.
The Shinning was great, even if the ending wasn't. I haven't seen the movie in 15 years so will revisit that. Also makes me want to read Doctor Sleep. I started Carrie and its starting better than I thought it would.
Under the Dome is the best by Stephen King that I've read lately. I read most of his novels as a teenager.
I'm currently reading Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. Covid and climate change are major themes in it.
Also reading a book about Swedish engineering history. I decided I want to read more non-fiction so I've been juggling books more. Leaving different books in different rooms helps.
I did read Salem's Lot last year and liked the last half a lot but hated how long it took to get going. It's also a book I think about from time to time, so my opinion has kind of sweetened on it than when I first read it.
That's a shame, I've been wanting to read it.Don't let my opinion stop you. It just didn't click with me overall, but there are plenty of great little stories in there.
Also the book is crazy sexist (a time period thing) and the whole book after the first 1/3rd in the castle is men trying to save the women and women talking about how men are just too amazing and wonderful and they do all this for little ole' women. What gallant individuals! Men so good, women pathetic and need men to do everything, etc.. etc...
"What I will say is that Chris and I have discussed it, and whenever there was an opportunity to move the needle on stuff that hadn't been already negotiated, like a game or a ride, he literally told me: 'You guys don't even have to do anything. I'm gonna do all the negotiating. We're gonna be paid the same, and you don't have to think about this, Bryce,'" shared Howard. "And I love him so much for doing that. I really do, because I've been paid more for those kinds of things than I ever was for the movie."
I think my biggest issue besides nothing much happening in the back half is that compared to modern vampire stuff Dracula himself is nerfed af here. Yeah he can get in with some difficulty and suck some blood. And yeah he kills some old people and breaks Renfield's back off-screen. But when he actually is confronted he just runs away like a scaredy cat and is a total pushover, which feels weird coming from more modern vampire stuff where Dracula is a badass mofo.When you're immortal, what is more precious than your life/undeath? To me, it's more unrealistic that an immortal creature would stand and fight and risk being destroyed.
Big fan of The Expanse series (books and TV).Also the book is crazy sexist (a time period thing) and the whole book after the first 1/3rd in the castle is men trying to save the women and women talking about how men are just too amazing and wonderful and they do all this for little ole' women. What gallant individuals! Men so good, women pathetic and need men to do everything, etc.. etc...
Literally from the shit thread.
Bryce Dallas Howard on her Jurassic World experience and Chris Pratt:Quote"What I will say is that Chris and I have discussed it, and whenever there was an opportunity to move the needle on stuff that hadn't been already negotiated, like a game or a ride, he literally told me: 'You guys don't even have to do anything. I'm gonna do all the negotiating. We're gonna be paid the same, and you don't have to think about this, Bryce,'" shared Howard. "And I love him so much for doing that. I really do, because I've been paid more for those kinds of things than I ever was for the movie."
Is it really that sexist?
Anyways, was like 10 days in Scotland and picked up a bunch of books.
- A.E. Van Voght's Slan
- Arthur C. Clarks' Fountain's of Paradise
- Joe Abercrombie's Red Country and Sharp Ends
- First Expanse Book
- John Wyndham's Chocky
- Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem
Started listening to The Golden Compass. I thought this was a kids book but like it starts off with everyone having demon familiars and severed heads and like church is bad and idk seems pretty metal for a kids book.
I'm listening to the full cast recording and even though its unabridged, I'm starting to feel like for traditional novels I prefer just a normal audiobook with one narrator. When you have all these new characters talking with their own voice actors it's kind of hard to follow without the narration part you get from a traditional single narrator.
I had the same issue for one of the Sandman arcs in Act II where it jumped to a new setting with a bunch of new cast characters. I feel like with audio cast format it works better when you slowly introduce a character at a time. So you can recognize their voice and follow what's going on.
I get that Wang and Dong are like regular chinese names but it's kinda distracting in Three-Body Problem. "Professor Dong"The two brothers Hung Phat and Hung Long took me right out of it :doge
Who's next? Chung Kee Ho and Fat Kok?
I get that Wang and Dong are like regular chinese names but it's kinda distracting in Three-Body Problem. "Professor Dong"The two brothers Hung Phat and Hung Long took me right out of it :doge
Who's next? Chung Kee Ho and Fat Kok?
The Light Fantastic is the only book where each night I pick it back up and each time I have no idea of what's going on and I have to go back a page or two to try to remember.Cohen the Barbarian though...
Like a quarter through now,
Rincewind/Twoflower are still very uncompelling as are all the minor characters. The only good character subplot so far is this old wizard at the university and his apprentice who keeps trying to murder him. That's great and kind of better than anything else going on in the book so far.
Also a little annoyed that it goes from the characters falling off the discworld and going into space at the end of book #1 which would've been an interesting place to pick up from in book #2, to retconning all that and just being in a boring forest (except for the talking trees) and I guess this book is just about everyone chasing Rincewind or something to get the spell that's in his head.
The Light Fantastic is the only book where each night I pick it back up and each time I have no idea of what's going on and I have to go back a page or two to try to remember.Cohen the Barbarian though...
Like a quarter through now,
Rincewind/Twoflower are still very uncompelling as are all the minor characters. The only good character subplot so far is this old wizard at the university and his apprentice who keeps trying to murder him. That's great and kind of better than anything else going on in the book so far.
Also a little annoyed that it goes from the characters falling off the discworld and going into space at the end of book #1 which would've been an interesting place to pick up from in book #2, to retconning all that and just being in a boring forest (except for the talking trees) and I guess this book is just about everyone chasing Rincewind or something to get the spell that's in his head.
That's probably my biggest complaint about PratchettThe Light Fantastic is the only book where each night I pick it back up and each time I have no idea of what's going on and I have to go back a page or two to try to remember.Cohen the Barbarian though...
Like a quarter through now,
Rincewind/Twoflower are still very uncompelling as are all the minor characters. The only good character subplot so far is this old wizard at the university and his apprentice who keeps trying to murder him. That's great and kind of better than anything else going on in the book so far.
Also a little annoyed that it goes from the characters falling off the discworld and going into space at the end of book #1 which would've been an interesting place to pick up from in book #2, to retconning all that and just being in a boring forest (except for the talking trees) and I guess this book is just about everyone chasing Rincewind or something to get the spell that's in his head.
He's had like one scene so far. No opinion on him yet.
Also these books don't have chapters which structurally bugs me. It just keeps going and going and going in a ramble jumping scenes between paragraphs and back.
I thought the three asterisks denoted the end of a scene/chapter. It's how I've been reading these for years.
I flipped through The Light Fantastic and the longest without the asterisks is the final chapter at 70 pages. Second longest is like 40 pages and most of em are like 15 to 20 pages. Maybe you're reading a digital copy that got rid of a bunch of them?
https://www.discworldemporium.com/product/discworld-collector-s-library-the-complete-collection/
Dang, those are nice covers. Ain't paying that though lol.
mistborn 6 free on tor
because I just read this and you said the word swashbuckling https://twitter.com/dtmooreeditor/status/1569366666844192769Sometimes, just sometimes, Twitter is actually awesome
Foundation is a must for any sci-fi fan.
Reading Feed book one of the Newsflesh series. I don't find zombies interesting, but I'm having fun with this. The setting is kind of unique where living with zombies has become normalized and society is functional. It's also kind of a wild read post covid since most of the book focuses on how bloggers but not traditional media was the thing to be trusted during a pandemic :dead.
this might be of some interest to people here https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60382857-fight-magic-items
Going to listen to Skyward cause its free o audible until the end of the month.
Skyward was better than I thought it would be, mostly because it's less YA than I had heard people describe it as. Basically on par with Mistborn in that regard.
This book is widely acknowledged to be a lesser work in the series, and just from the point of view of reading them one after the other, it's probably seen worse because of how great the previous three books are. It's probably still better than The Colour of Magic, but lacks that book's feature of introducing the reader to the Discworld.
The plot overall was a mess. The arch-chancellor's hat... a mess. The towers... a mess. The love triangle (quadrangle when taken as a whole, really)... a mess. The whole armageddon thing... well you get the idea. It's just a bunch of scenes that, if you squint really hard kind of go together, but the overall effect is one of great randomness and poorly-executed ideas.
Sourcery desperately needed more pass-throughs to make it an intelligible book, so what happened? This was Pratchett's first book written after he quit his day job. Did he just not know what to do with himself at this point? Did he struggle to get on track with the two-books-per-year schedule that ran for several years? Was it a deadline from the publisher and/or did Pratchett simply write himself into a corner and was unable to fix this mess in the time available?
It is what it is, and, hey, we still have over three dozen terrific Discworld novels to go back to, so this aberration can be forgiven.
Why did I give this two stars the first time I read it? I have no idea.
I'm listening to Skyward #3 now -- can't say I actually like it. About 3 hours in.
After a few more Asimov short stories, his writing style just isn't clicking with me so I'm bailing.
Was going to read Stephen King's Revival next and started it, but I'm towards the end of a few other things right now and don't really feel like starting a long book from scratch. So I might read Skyward #3 or Abercrombie's Best Served Cold since I'm already invested in those worlds.
The final Mistborn Series 2 book comes out in about 20 days, so probably just have time for one more full length book before that. Not sure if I want to go Sanderson -> Sanderson which is why I was thinking of reading Revival. I dunno I'll give it like 50 pages and see if I get into it. Fell asleep like 15 pages in last night.
Wait you red them out of order?Yes. I read several Abercrombie books that were one-offs prior to reading his trilogy.
Ah, well I’d recommend them. Sanderson likes to write these .5 novellas that are meant to go before the next books.
Between Two Fires was exceptional. Highly recommend. It's got Dark Souls and Beserks themes and the plot is similar to the first five seasons of Supernatural but set in 1300's France and done with gravity and actual horror.
In Blood Worm (1987), the main character’s wife sleeps with an
enormous number of men during the worm-and beetle apocalypse and then leaves a note for her
husband saying she’s a slut and, by the way, their daughter is missing. She immediately becomes
an alcoholic hobo and is last seen stumbling around the ruins of London, which has been
abandoned to the inevitable postapocalyptic motorcycle gangs.
Brotherkind (1987) starts as your typical abduction story, with Sheila gangbanged on a UFO by a bunch of
midget aliens who must use the power of their collective semen to overcome her DNA’s natural
resistance. Also, Bigfoot joins in because he was hitching a lift.
The horror woman has a willowy, athletic figure with dynamite legs. Contrary to expectations, she
is often flat-chested (with notable exceptions). She comes in two flavors: either dreamy and
artistic, in which case she is given to precognitive dreams, shivers, and a sense that this place is
pervaded by an indefinable evil; or practical and hardheaded, ready to sacrifice herself by
performing an ancient ritual to save the world or racing into danger to save either her beloved
man or child. The most expressive parts of her body are her nipples. They noticeably harden,
when she is aroused, surprised, confused, or meeting new people. They are practically prehensile
tentacles, capable of lengthening, thickening, unfurling, budding, flaring, and swelling. If she’s
nice, she’s blonde, or maybe brunette. If she likes sex too much, her hair is red. Her eyes are
almost always green, occasionally gray.
Ya, it's kind of muted my interest in the series but will read the next one. It's not like it doesn't progress the series narrative, it just delays doing so until right at the end of the book. A good way of describing it would be a season of a CW show where the whole thing could really just be the last two episodes.
Think my top recently are Lesser Dead, Between Two Fires (both free on audible+ so maybe don't do credits), and We Are Legion. Dresden is great, but only becomes so 2.5 books in.
Didn't listen to it, but hear the audio is great for Black Tongue Thief.
I really enjoyed the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell audio book of you haven't listened to that one.
Murderbot novellas are short and need to be read first. They go on sale though. Blood Meridian is amazing, I assume that the audio might make it significantly easier to read, since it was written without punctuation.
All Systems Red
Artificial Condition
Rogue Protocol
Exit Strategy
Network Effect (novel)
Fugitive Telemetry
On a more personal level, while we can never truly know how we'll act in the moment until the moment I'm going to warn you all that when the Next Cultural Revolution comes to The Bire I'm going to be really fucking annoying about it rather than comply to show my loyalty to The Party like the first teachers did in China. Very much do not plan on beating the dead bodies of my colleagues you just tortured to death or whatever to show you I'm not a counter-revolutionary too.Is this a subtle reference to the fact that we just passed the 12 month anniversary of "The (failed) Great (Rumbler) Purge (http://www.thebore.com/forum/index.php?topic=48296.0)"?
Sunreach 3/5, ReDawn 4/5 and should have been the third novel, Evershore 3/5 shit is getting anime dumb.
Got 52 books done this year. Might be 53 if I finish listening to The Black Echo today.
8. The Shadow of the Torturer.Sooo good. I really need to get back to the rest of that series.
Think my top recently are Lesser Dead, Between Two Fires (both free on audible+ so maybe don't do credits), and We Are Legion. Dresden is great, but only becomes so 2.5 books in.
Didn't listen to it, but hear the audio is great for Black Tongue Thief.
McCarthy also used this method for THE ROAD, where it works to reinforce the sparcity of the language. I didn't feel as warmly about the conceit in Blood Meridian, and have not finished that book as a result.Murderbot novellas are short and need to be read first. They go on sale though. Blood Meridian is amazing, I assume that the audio might make it significantly easier to read, since it was written without punctuation.
:cry
whyyyy
If you're not feeling it, drop it and move on to Pyramids. That's a fun book.
Guards! Guards! is after that and it's really good.
Wheel of Time is both best and worst experienced as a whole block
:(He's a teenager/early 20s. They're all like that in real life too.
I honestly don't mind the other characters. It's just Rand and his victim complex and gotta be a total asshole to everyone and not trust anyone personality that is really grating.
Yet another left-wing piece of propaganda masquerading as a technology book, written by a left-wing nut who should just leave out the technology parts, and just write left-wing praise books for a living.That chapter was just about the shooting at YouTube, there was like maybe a sentence handwringing about it being too easy to get a gun in the US. :lol
The only reason why I gave it two stars is because the book took me down memory lane, so it prayed on my nostalgia. Plus the author inadvertently pointed out that Susan Wojcicki only got the top job at YouTube because she was close friends with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and let them use her garage to start Google.
Susan is just like every other entitled woman, who thinks they should be paid as much as a man who works 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, meanwhile Susan was nothing but a baby factory the entire time, taking years in accumulative maternity leave, and offering no real substantial improvements to YouTube, leaving early every day to spend time with her minions... pathetic.
Hell, the author even had to sneak in a very short chapter just to make his case on why the United States's Second Amendment is wrong and evil. All of the liberal tropes are touched on in this garbage pile of wasted paper, and the author doesn't even try to hide any of his left-wing ideology.
I thought it was going to be a good book, and had high-hopes that the author would make a few liberal points and move on... but I was wrong.
I'm listening to No Country For Old Men right now and it's been a similar experience -- had to stop listening while walking and only when I'm at home when I can focus on it.
I think WoT audio books is the only reason I got so far though. McCarthy's writing is so terse if you miss the wrong sentence you get lost, whereas WoT you can zone out for half a chapter and still be in the same place. I tried listening to Malazan once, that was a mistake -- I might be able to do it on a 2nd or 3rd reread now though.
Conservatives are the real snowflakes, news at 11.
I enjoyed my time with the Mistborn trilogy, but reading Elantris actually killed any desire to read more of his stuff.
He also seems like a giant douche.
I think maybe my opinion of him has been tainted by the fandom. The Emperor's Soul was ok. Elantris was boring. Haven't read Warbreaker. Maybe I should give that a go before I decide whether or not to continue with his stuff.
but in general, he knows his craft really well, at least to teach it, even if I think he might struggle to actually execute it well himself."Those who can't, teach." :rollsafe
I don’t like him because he approaches magic like an engineer. He was salty that Gandalf doesn’t follow any rules in his spells or magic use. For me that just means he misses the point of Gandalf’s role in LOTR, which leads me to believe he’s not an insightful author.
The CW stuff starts more after book 4 when everyone just starts lying and being general assholes to each other to create drama.
Project Hail Mary was great
Project Hail Mary was great
Oh man, I love Hyperion. I think I have said that in this thread at least three times already, but it is just that good.Have you read any of the other three novels in the series? Do you know if they're worth reading?
A colleague at work just read it too. Had loads of fun discussing it with her.
Only The Fall of Hyperion. It's great and a good conclusion to the story.Oh man, I love Hyperion. I think I have said that in this thread at least three times already, but it is just that good.Have you read any of the other three novels in the series? Do you know if they're worth reading?
A colleague at work just read it too. Had loads of fun discussing it with her.
Project Hail Mary was great
I finished that yesterday. It was enjoyable enough but my god the main character is annoying and the characters are paper thin.
They occasionally do a big Horus Heresy ebook Humble Bundle where you can get like 20 of them for next to nothing. They’re trash but it’s entertaining trash.That's how I got them a few years back.
GOD IS DEAD, his corpse hidden in the catacombs beneath Mordew.
In the slums of the sea-battered city a young boy called Nathan Treeves lives with his parents, eking out a meagre existence by picking treasures from the Living Mud and the half-formed, short-lived creatures it spawns. Until one day his desperate mother sells him to the mysterious Master of Mordew.
The Master derives his magical power from feeding on the corpse of God. But Nathan, despite his fear and lowly station, has his own strength and it is greater than the Master has ever known. Great enough to destroy everything the Master has built. If only Nathan can discover how to use it.
So it is that the Master begins to scheme against him and Nathan has to fight his way through the betrayals, secrets, and vendettas of the city where God was murdered, and darkness reigns...
There are some tonally problematic things with StormfrontQuoting this out of context to signal my agreement.
There are some tonally problematic things with Stormfront, but from book 2 or 3, it's just fantastic. Butcher said he was writing for a certain audience, and then abandoned that as he progressed.
There are some tonally problematic things with StormfrontQuoting this out of context to signal my agreement.spoiler (click to show/hide):teehee[close]
So are any of the other books in that bundle worth reading besides the murderbot ones?Never heard of any of them. Even allowing for not judging books by their covers, none of them fill me with confidence.
So are any of the other books in that bundle worth reading besides the murderbot ones?Never heard of any of them. Even allowing for not judging books by their covers, none of them fill me with confidence.
Bebpo and chrono you guys got Goodread accounts?
Audible US sale is crazy for any of the 85% off series. Could easily spend 500$. Debating which series I should pick up.
edit: bought 20 books for 80$. Half The Laundry Files series and the full Sun Eater novels plus others
Read that Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold is getting a movie adaptation. They best not fuck this up. (They will.)
Audible US sale is crazy for any of the 85% off series. Could easily spend 500$. Debating which series I should pick up.
edit: bought 20 books for 80$. Half The Laundry Files series and the full Sun Eater novels plus others
Best Served Cold
The brothel scene was A+++
Book is like Dark Fantasy x Ocean's Eleven x Tarantino
Though I will nitpick more and say the massive re-use and shoving in your face constantly of stuff from First Law is a bit overkill. Like a small character like Shivers, ok, that works. But likespoiler (click to show/hide)Vitari, Cosca, Carlot de Eider, Jezal, etc... everyone yelling THE CRIPPLE, THE CRIPPLE RUNS IT ALL, etc...[close]
It's kind of a bit too much fanservice? Like it feels detrimental to the plot standing on its own with its own characters. It really doesn't need all these connections, not too mention it's kind of a ridiculous coincidence all these characters are just happening to show up again in the same spot.
I think the original characters in Best Served Cold are great. Morveer and Day the poisoners are so, so good. Friendly is uh, interesting lol. Just doesn't need all the connections in your face imo.
But it's very entertainingly written and plot-wise, so it's fine.
It definitely feels like it's written for film/TV, but the biggest hurdle of a film will be truncating what is a pretty long fucking book into a 2 hour medieval Tarantino film.
Best Served Cold
The brothel scene was A+++
Book is like Dark Fantasy x Ocean's Eleven x Tarantino
Though I will nitpick more and say the massive re-use and shoving in your face constantly of stuff from First Law is a bit overkill. Like a small character like Shivers, ok, that works. But likespoiler (click to show/hide)Vitari, Cosca, Carlot de Eider, Jezal, etc... everyone yelling THE CRIPPLE, THE CRIPPLE RUNS IT ALL, etc...[close]
It's kind of a bit too much fanservice? Like it feels detrimental to the plot standing on its own with its own characters. It really doesn't need all these connections, not too mention it's kind of a ridiculous coincidence all these characters are just happening to show up again in the same spot.
I think the original characters in Best Served Cold are great. Morveer and Day the poisoners are so, so good. Friendly is uh, interesting lol. Just doesn't need all the connections in your face imo.
But it's very entertainingly written and plot-wise, so it's fine.
It definitely feels like it's written for film/TV, but the biggest hurdle of a film will be truncating what is a pretty long fucking book into a 2 hour medieval Tarantino film.
Because I was unaware of First Law, I started with this book and loved it. What seems like fanservice for you was my introduction to the characters. Maybe it’s better that way?
The writing just has to be good. Everybody knows the main outline for Lord of the Rings, but I'm still enjoying reading the books in 2023.
How does knowing outcomes ruin the plot points anways. You got 3 whole books to find out how things came out to be the way they are. People put way too much weight on spoilers. If the only thing keeping you interested in books/movies/games is the surprise of the next plot point I'm going to assume they aren't very good on their own.
Do you ever reread books you like? If spoilers are that important why ever reread anything.
Best Served Cold
The brothel scene was A+++
Book is like Dark Fantasy x Ocean's Eleven x Tarantino
Though I will nitpick more and say the massive re-use and shoving in your face constantly of stuff from First Law is a bit overkill. Like a small character like Shivers, ok, that works. But likespoiler (click to show/hide)Vitari, Cosca, Carlot de Eider, Jezal, etc... everyone yelling THE CRIPPLE, THE CRIPPLE RUNS IT ALL, etc...[close]
It's kind of a bit too much fanservice? Like it feels detrimental to the plot standing on its own with its own characters. It really doesn't need all these connections, not too mention it's kind of a ridiculous coincidence all these characters are just happening to show up again in the same spot.
I think the original characters in Best Served Cold are great. Morveer and Day the poisoners are so, so good. Friendly is uh, interesting lol. Just doesn't need all the connections in your face imo.
But it's very entertainingly written and plot-wise, so it's fine.
It definitely feels like it's written for film/TV, but the biggest hurdle of a film will be truncating what is a pretty long fucking book into a 2 hour medieval Tarantino film.
Because I was unaware of First Law, I started with this book and loved it. What seems like fanservice for you was my introduction to the characters. Maybe it’s better that way?
Did you feel like reading Best Served Cold first spoiled too much of the First Law Trilogy? For something that's standalone it references everything so much I feel like it would kind of ruin a lot of the plot points in that trilogy if someone read it after.
Have you ever noticed that professional sports teams are great at overcoming racism and getting everyone to play together? That’s because the coach has persuaded the players to see the team as their dominant identity. Trump can do the same with America.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen is on Humble Bundle. Like 18 dollars for all the Steven Erikson books. Pretty good deal if you're a digital reader.
[at the end of the universe and all things]
“Have you seen anybody?”
YES.
“Who?”
EVERYONE.
Astfgl sighed. “I mean anyone recently.”
Are you Old Man War centered, or are you up for The Collapsing Empire? (which I liked)
Your reaction to Dresden is just about the polar opposite of what everyone else does. I couldn’t stand the first book, it looked borderline incel to me, and I was accurately told from the second book forward he begins shifting the character away from that. I have read through book 5 or six and enjoyed it, but haven’t been in a hurry to keep up.
Have you seen the show? I know someone who read the books and they don't care for the show at all.