|
SilkyP posted:Stick with this one and finish it, and even if you don't like it I would definitely recommend trying the second in the series (Chain of Dogs), the background info in GotM proves pretty helpful for enjoying the series. Thanks for this. It's been hard for me to get into but I'll keep going.
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2010 07:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 23:36 |
|
|
So I just transferred to a new seminar, dropping "World-Systems Theory" to pick up "Theory of the Novel," and the professor recommends we read The Portrait of a Lady, Adam Bede, and Flaubert's Three Tales before classes begin in a month since those will be our fiction "reference points" for our discussions of the large amount of critical and theoretical literature we'll be reading. So my personal reading schedule is ending early, it seems!
|
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2010 08:55
|
|
ONE TWO THREE TIMES TWO TO THE SIX/JONESING FOR YOUR FIX OF THAT LIMP BIZKIT MIX
|
On a lark, I started "Les Premières Centuries Ou Les Propheties" by Michel de Nostredame in the original old French. After getting used to the different idiom and spelling, I find it quite a remarkable read. Whatever the condition he was in when putting this down, he certainly took great care in making his thoughts sound good. Perhaps the polished form and delivery convinced people that there was more behind it. Anyway, it's a treasure trove of archaic turns of phrase and contains many a jewel that even today could be used in particularly damning ways of insulting a man's ancestry; just as there are passages of great beauty of a style that is no longer mediaeval, nor yet enlightened. Btw, the moon is going to explode tomorrow.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2010 16:11
|
|
|
I just ordered a copy of Mogworld by "Yahtzee" Croshaw. Looks like something I'd enjoy, seeing as I'm into computer games and the such. And I've heard that its humor is universal, and a knowledge of computer games and communities just adds a little depth.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2010 01:29
|
|
|
Chamberk posted:I'm currently reading and enjoying The Corrections a lot, so I probably will pick up Freedom... at least when it comes out in paperback. Doing this. The Corrections was pretty devastating and I'm curious to see if Franzen can match his tone and prose with a different cast.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2010 09:25
|
|
|
Ordered some more non-fiction on Yugoslavia/Serbia through Amazon Marketplace: Milosevic: A Biography by Adam LeBor Tito: Life & Times by Neil Barnett The Fall of Yugoslavia by Misha Glenny Now I just have to find the time to read all that stuff before I go back to Serbia in November.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2010 11:32
|
|
|
7 y.o. bitch posted:The Portrait of a Lady I'd be interested if you post your thoughts when you finish that, particularly because I think you're interested in gender stuff?
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2010 00:25
|
|
|
I just began Ulysses. Haven't read many books in a while. Any advice?
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2010 00:30
|
|
Facial Fracture posted:I'd be interested if you post your thoughts when you finish that, particularly because I think you're interested in gender stuff? I'm about a hundred pages in and think it's incredible so far, and I have definitely been noticing the gender tensions, especially in the ways James depicts the genders wrt nationality, but I'm also really fascinated by his 1908 preface (which I think is brilliant) and his constant references to "critics" in the book. I should be done with it in a few days.
|
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2010 00:30
|
|
|
Just started Johannes Cabal: The Detective and so far I think it's actually quite a bit funnier than the first book.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2010 02:17
|
|
|
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. It's about a post-apocalyptic future mixed with kung-fu and ninjas and poo poo. It was described as similar to Catch-22, one of my favorite novels, so I felt obligated to give it a shot. I am juuuuust starting it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2010 03:31
|
|
|
FetusOvaries posted:I just began Ulysses. Haven't read many books in a while. Any advice? Pick up the (New?) Bloomsday Book if you find yourself getting lost, otherwise smoke a blunt before every chapter. The first two chapters are pretty low-intensity before you get right up in Stephen's poo poo in chapter three and its pretty easy to lose yourself but just remember there aren't actually very many abrupt scene changes and if it seems like there are its probably just someone thinking about someplace else. Ulysses Annotated is good but a bit much unless you're about to write a paper on it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2010 04:59
|
|
|
FetusOvaries posted:I just began Ulysses. Haven't read many books in a while. Any advice? Like the previous poster suggested, don't worry about getting the volume of annotations. You'll find that you'll just be looking at it every sentence, and you'll never finish reading the book. Interesting to read, but not necessary I'd say. Basically, just take it a page at a time, and keep maybe a pace of ~20-30 pages a day. I took about 6 weeks to work my way through it, but it was worth it. If you find yourself totally confused after reading a chapter, don't be ashamed to check out the Sparknotes summary. I know I know, real men don't use Cliff Notes, but this isn't high school, and goddamnit, if I'm confused I don't feel bad reading what someone else thinks about it. I found that usually I picked up on about 60% of what happened in a given chapter.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2010 05:19
|
|
|
I got Sophie's Choice from the library a few days ago. I'm about halfway through it. I loving hate this book. Like, to a very surprising degree. I hate Styron's writing style (utilize an expansive vocabulary to such an absurd degree that it takes pages and pages for any action, no matter how small, to take place), I hate the characters (Stingo is a douchbag and Sophie, despite being the subject of the book, is an annoying poo poo), and I hate the pacing. My god, this book is so loving slow. I just hate the feeling that Styron is so goddamn impressed with himself for this novel. There's an authorial smugness that drips off each and every page, which is not at all helped by the whole "narrator looking back on his life in terms of a book" device which I am not a fan of. I'm going to finish it in hopes that it perhaps gains some meaning. I realize that, built into the (very) slow build nature of the story's pacing, it is probably necessary to stick it through to the end in order to appreciate what the book is all about. But man. MAN. Styron does not make it easy. Graviija fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Sep 5, 2010 |
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2010 21:52
|
|
Graviija posted:I got Sophie's Choice from the library a few days ago. I'm about halfway through it. What was the last book you read that you enjoyed?
|
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2010 22:43
|
|
|
7 y.o. bitch posted:What was the last book you read that you enjoyed? Which makes sense - Postman was much snappier, much less dense, and more immediately interesting. Union is of similar density of detail to Sophie's Choice, but that detail is intertwined with much more entertaining characters, setting, and plot. It's really in comparison to Chabon's novel (or any of his previous novels) that I feel that Sophie's Choice is lacking for me. Chabon is an author who utilizes a similarly impressive vocabulary, and he often delves into great detail with particular characters and places. But his world and character building are more immediately rewarding and interesting, just on their own "literary" merits. Styron is leaving me with the impression that I'm going to have to wait until to end to appreciate the depth of his tangents, which is unfortunately highlighted by his frequent "It wasn't until much later that I..." moments of foreshadowing. I may have overreacted in my earlier post, though (is it ever necessary to curse over literature?). I've been reading a lot lately, and up until now, I haven't had to force myself to return to a book. It's frustrating. Graviija fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Sep 6, 2010 |
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2010 00:24
|
|
|
7 y.o. bitch posted:I'm about a hundred pages in and think it's incredible so far, and I have definitely been noticing the gender tensions, especially in the ways James depicts the genders wrt nationality, but I'm also really fascinated by his 1908 preface (which I think is brilliant) and his constant references to "critics" in the book. I should be done with it in a few days. I don't know if my edition had that preface and I don't remember noticing the references to "critics" (I wouldn't have been looking for them), but that will be a neat new thing to look at if I re-read it. I found the gender and old world/new world stuff with the suitors interesting though--particularly the transplanted Americans (the tubercular, rich, romantic one in England and the perverse, cash-poor, and cold one on the continent who's maybe got a bit of an Against Nature thing going on). Anyway, I hope you'll post more thoughts when you're finished with it. Gravija posted:But his world and character building are more immediately rewarding and interesting, just on their own "literary" merits. I don't love Styron and I'll agree that Chabon is a likable writer with a good vocabulary but his worlds and characters are barely on the right side of kitsch and comparing Sophie's Choice to one of Chabon's Jew Issues Lite novels seems unhelpful if you're trying to find what makes Sophie's Choice a worthwhile book. Edit: Oh, I bought some books today too. I won't start either for a week or so, but I got John Banville's The Untouchable today, which should be interesting because I like his writing and I think the story is based partly on Anthony Blunt's career; also, The Good Soldier Svejk, which I've wanted to read since it came up as a book club thing here a few months ago.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2010 04:11
|
|
|
I just started Geography Club by Brent Hartinger. It's about gay teens at a high school.  Should serve as a bit of a light relief after the terror and mind-raping that was Blindsight by Peter Watts.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2010 04:21
|
|
|
Just started Jonathan Lethem's "Motherless Brooklyn" about a PI who has Tourette's. Should be pretty good, I like Lethem and this is supposedly his best.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2010 15:27
|
|
|
Just started Saramago's "Blindness." His writing style is taking some getting used to, but it's enthralling so far.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2010 19:51
|
|
|
Chamberk posted:Just started Jonathan Lethem's "Motherless Brooklyn" about a PI who has Tourette's. Should be pretty good, I like Lethem and this is supposedly his best. It's pretty good but his best is probably Gun, with Occasional Music.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2010 23:16
|
|
|
Just started reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I've never really read any Gaiman before this but a friend loaned me the audiobook and after a couple of hours I was hooked. I just finished part 1 and definitely enjoying every minute of it. How does this compare to his other novels?
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2010 20:42
|
|
|
Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins. Have been in love with it since the first sentence. (What a way to start a story!) ^^^^ I'm going to be reading American Gods next, myself. Sort of gave up on Gaiman after The Anansi Boys, but I've heard so many good things about American Gods that I have to check it out for myself.
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2010 21:03
|
|
|
Just started Hammer of God the third book in a trilogy by Karen Miller. So very good I wish it didn't have to end.
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2010 22:23
|
|
|
I just finished chapter five (only 28 pages) of Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami. I'm not very into it at the moment, but I'll keep going for now and see if it gets better.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 03:40
|
|
|
I was just about to start reading a science fiction recommendation from a friend, but unfortunately I can't remember the title or author. If one of you recognizes it from this one piece of information I have about it, that would be amazing. Spoilers because it is supposedly a major plot point, (although knowing this is the major "zomg" moment at the end doesn't really stop me from wanting to read it anyway) In the future humanity has a space colony on some planet, and it gets attacked by aliens and everyone dies. This sparks a big war where the humans pretty much wipe out the alien's entire species, but at the end it is revealed that the aliens are all part of a collective consciousness and assumed that the humans were too. They figured it would be no big deal if they just destroyed that one colony since they have no concept of individual emotions or suffering. The whole time the war has been going on they have been trying as hard as possible to find a way to communicate with the humans so that they could apologize and explain themselves So yeah, if anyone knows what this is called, that is the next book I am about to begin/buy! Enjoy my shameless begging for information. quote:Just started reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I've never really read any Gaiman before this but a friend loaned me the audiobook and after a couple of hours I was hooked. I just finished part 1 and definitely enjoying every minute of it. How does this compare to his other novels? I actually really didn't like American Gods, which is strange because I enjoyed his Sandman series quite a bit and they have a lot of similarities. Creeperbear fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Sep 9, 2010 |
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 04:29
|
|
|
Creeperbear posted:I was just about to start reading a science fiction recommendation from a friend, but unfortunately I can't remember the title or author. If one of you recognizes it from this one piece of information I have about it, that would be amazing. Spoilers because it is supposedly a major plot point, (although knowing this is the major "zomg" moment at the end doesn't really stop me from wanting to read it anyway) Ender's Game. Also, no, that's not the big twist. There's a bigger one. Also, read it but DON'T read the sequels.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 04:36
|
|
|
Creeperbear posted:In the future humanity has a space colony on some planet, and it gets attacked by aliens and everyone dies. This sparks a big war where the humans pretty much wipe out the alien's entire species, but at the end it is revealed that the aliens are all part of a collective consciousness and assumed that the humans were too. They figured it would be no big deal if they just destroyed that one colony since they have no concept of individual emotions or suffering. The whole time the war has been going on they have been trying as hard as possible to find a way to communicate with the humans so that they could apologize and explain themselves You honest to god wrote a more interesting little story/possibility here than Enders Game.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 05:21
|
|
|
I may have already posted here when I ordered it, but I just received my copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I picked it up and started it, and I'm already moving through it faster than any fiction I'm reading at the moment. One downside was that it appears the package it came in was torn in shipping, and the book (particularly the jacket) sustained damage. The tear is pretty good in size. The package wasn't insured. Is it just a matter of "too bad, so sad"?
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 07:20
|
|
Purple Rain Man posted:I may have already posted here when I ordered it, but I just received my copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I picked it up and started it, and I'm already moving through it faster than any fiction I'm reading at the moment. You should probably contact the seller you got it from and ask whether you can get a replacement. If you got it through Amazon, and the seller responds unsatisfactorily to you, you can petition Amazon for redress, although I doubt they will be sympathetic unless you ordered it directly from them or from one of their licensed dealers. But it's only fair that a book which seeks to rend the curtain of God's holy Temple for the third time in history finds its own pages torn asunder.
|
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 08:34
|
|
|
Purple Rain Man posted:I may have already posted here when I ordered it, but I just received my copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I picked it up and started it, and I'm already moving through it faster than any fiction I'm reading at the moment. You have the 2nd commercial Sanhedrin Edition. My copy (a Mock Trial promo run) came with a tiny crown of barbs in the top right corner (recto-verso; the bastards) of every 33rd page, so you could consider yourself lucky. If that's not good enough for you, send it back and ask for the Pilatus edition, which is really clean.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 14:10
|
|
|
I just randomly looked up Kate Atkinson on wikipedia last night to check on a title and learned out of the blue that she just released  A fourth Jackson Brodie novelI don't know if Ms. Atkinson has any fans here and I don't really care. I haven't been this stoked about a new book release since I heard about The Salmon of Doubt before I learned Douglas Adams had died. That's right, suck it Harry Potter, I was only faking my excitement. I'm especially happy because: England seems to still be a bit resentful about the Revolution. I base this on the interminable delays in Doctor Who broadcasts and the fact the new Atkinson came out in the UK last month but won't be published in the US until March '11. I could have been responsible. I could have reread the last three books and waited patiently to get it free from the library in March or April or May. But gently caress patience. I just ordered it from the UK and it only cost $25 - which is pretty much new hardback costs here anyway. Did I mention that I'm excited?  Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson is the fourth novel featuring police detective turned private inspector Jackson Brodie. Atkisnon is an award winning novelist who uses the detective novel tropes to tell some highly engaging stories, witty, insightful stories with really well fleshed out characters (Reggie, I love you!) which can be read on a strictly surface level but have much greater depth than your typical supermarket mystery selection. In other  “You don’t have to feel dumb for having fun while you read.” I love her immensely, she’s a great writer, and I'm insanely happy about this. If only all detective fiction could be written as well as her stuff. And P.D. James. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 17:26
|
|
|
Carlo Ancelotti: The Beautiful Games of an Ordinary Genius suck it Eggers Football is a game about hate. It's played with balls and feet. Carlo Ancelotti is Manager of Chelsea F.C. in London. Chelsea won the Premier League last season. That's the highest league in the land, that land being god's own England. This is a picture of Carlo Ancelotti:  This is a video of him scoring a goal against Real Madrid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNBLEFzgYyQ Here is a quote from his book: "There are times when I stand up in front of a full-length mirror and act like a contortionist. I twist my neck and I stare at my rear end. My fat butt cheeks aren't a particularly edifying spectacle but… over time it's taught me a lesson: my rear end is earthquake-proof." Pre-order that poo poo because it's gonna fly off the shelves. Also, all proceeds go to ALS research if that's something that interests you. http://www.amazon.com/Carlo-Ancelotti-Beautiful-Ordinary-Genius/dp/0847835383/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284059905&sr=8-1 Dilkington fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Sep 10, 2010 |
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 20:30
|
|
Facial Fracture posted:I don't know if my edition had that preface and I don't remember noticing the references to "critics" (I wouldn't have been looking for them), but that will be a neat new thing to look at if I re-read it. I found the gender and old world/new world stuff with the suitors interesting though--particularly the transplanted Americans (the tubercular, rich, romantic one in England and the perverse, cash-poor, and cold one on the continent who's maybe got a bit of an Against Nature thing going on). Anyway, I hope you'll post more thoughts when you're finished with it. I don't have much time to post right now since I'm starting on Adam Bede, but Portrait just absolutely tore me up emotionally - I probably cried through half the second part. I was really struck by the subtlety of James's writing in terms of psychology - I felt like we got more of the long paragraphs of everyone's inner-workings, especially Isabel's, as they grew up and became more mature emotionally. I thought that that sort of understanding of style - in which a writer could change his/her style based on the necessity of the fiction - was really the best sort of "style" a writer could inculcate, especially seeing how obsessed we are with (what I would consider superficial) displays of authorial style nowadays - the sort of style that signals the author rather than signalling the narrative. I thought James's realism was also striking, and I thought of it in relation with Dickens, where Dickens forces the world at large into a fictional society of signs/form, while James takes an artificial form (idealistic American girl becomes rich) and makes it as lifelike as possible (almost). In terms of gender, and this is just a very brief observation, but I think it's unwise to think of the final decision as a question of "Should she have gone or not?" and rather to see that, for women, and perhaps for people in general, that "independence" is simply a story that we tell ourselves, and that the extent that women are manipulated, even the most independent ones, is, ultimately, a great horror and injustice. Yet, even if women weren't manipulated as women, if they were "free," in the fictional American sense, this would not lead them to some Miley Cyrus free-for-all state of bliss, but it might perhaps lead to less individual horror. I was just completely, completely floored by the novel.
|
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2010 06:03
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:Ender's Game. Agreed, don't read the sequels. Read The Forever War afterwards. But not the sequels to it either.
|
|
#
?
Sep 10, 2010 06:55
|
|
|
No Country For Old Men, Cormac McCarthy. I read The Road earlier this year, on a whim, and I love McCarthy's writing style. I was reluctant to get this one, since I've seen the film. But after reading the first few pages in the store, I decided I don't care. It'll still be good.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2010 04:03
|
|
|
Wyatt posted:No Country For Old Men, Cormac McCarthy. I read The Road earlier this year, on a whim, and I love McCarthy's writing style. I was reluctant to get this one, since I've seen the film. But after reading the first few pages in the store, I decided I don't care. It'll still be good. I've been meaning to read this, and I haven't seen the movie either. Would you recommend the book first? Also, is The Road as good as everyone says? My mom (English teacher) has been trying to get me to read it for months.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2010 06:14
|
|
Purple Rain Man posted:Also, is The Road as good as everyone says? It's pretty boring and one-dimensional. Definitely sub-par considering a lot of McCarthy's other stuff, especially the Border Trilogy.
|
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2010 06:36
|
|
|
I didn't find The Road boring. It's very subtle and sparse with it's prose, but I have a feeling that's simply how McCarthy writes normally (although comparing it to Blood Meridian, the only other one of his I've read so far, the difference is quite striking). The environment and struggles of the protagonists seemed very real to me, I would say definitely read it. It's one of the few books I've gotten emotionally involved in.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2010 07:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 23:36 |
|
Skellen posted:I didn't find The Road boring. It's very subtle and sparse with it's prose, but I have a feeling that's simply how McCarthy writes normally (although comparing it to Blood Meridian, the only other one of his I've read so far, the difference is quite striking). The environment and struggles of the protagonists seemed very real to me, I would say definitely read it. It's one of the few books I've gotten emotionally involved in. It's boring because it's about some cliched post-apoc wasteland, and it's emotional earnestness is cloying in the extreme. The Realist apocalypse is probably the worst literary invention of the 20th-century.
|
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2010 07:25
|
|