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nate fisher posted:I am amazed no one has made White Jazz into a movie. Not for lack of trying. There's been at least a couple of attempts that ended up in development hell. The last one I heard about was apparently going to be directed by Joe Carnahan, which could have potentially been good (Carnahan wrote and directed Narc which is a pretty good gritty cop flick). Encryptic fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Mar 31, 2011 |
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Mar 31, 2011 01:04
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Thanks Dr Scoofles, I will check it out if you say its good.
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Mar 31, 2011 02:26
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I'm about 200 pages from finishing The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. I really like the characters in the book, however It's just gotten to the point where I'm like, Shut your stupid prose up, Conroy! At the moment things are just getting a tad tedious to read, too many descriptive words. Just plain too much. But I'll make it! I've just bought The Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. I can't wait to start reading it. I've been looking for a new series to start reading, but haven't found the right one to get me interested. Hopefully, fingers crossed this one I will like. Art for the sake of making art.
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Mar 31, 2011 04:19
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Old Janx Spirit posted:I love Ellroy. You should really read the whole L.A. Quartet ... in that order. I've read a ton of books lately. The worst ones have been the first four Dexter novels, which were easy to read and I wanted to see how far afield the show has gone (which is pretty loving far - in a good way). I don't know where to begin with these books - the writing goes from ok but generic (first book) to poor, to really, really poor, and back to just poor in the fourth book. There are five out, but I don't think I can stomach another one of them. There are hilariously bad parts in it, so if you have time to waste and like the show they might be a good read - there are parts like a tongueless Doakes with mechanical legs and arms shuffling around, making cameos randomly just to go "nnnnngggh" at Dexter and Dexter's entire dark passenger being an actual demonic entity, which also one of Rita's kids has in him (so obviously he wants to be a serial killer and wants Dexter to teach him the ropes, at age 9 or so). Jeff Lindsay should thank his lucky stars that a decently entertaining show saved his career. I'm most of the way through Sarah Monette's Labyrinthine series (book 1, Melusine). These books keep appearing on fantasy lists, but they're very much fantastic horror. In fact, the first book reminds me of Bas Lag, with more sympathetic characters than, say, Perdido Street Station had, and with more magic (explicitly stated as such, and wizards). The book's set in a giant maze of a city, there are monsters, both of the supernatural and human kind, the tone is dark and disturbing and the book's fairly bleak. On the other hand, it's less focused on setting and more so the hosed up lives of the characters. The writing's good, although less full of word soup than China Mieville's works (for good or bad), and there are well done distinctive voices (two main alternating characters) present. I rarely see her work mentioned, and it's surprisingly good (I expected it to be fluff). (I did not expect the comparison above, but her writing's a lot more similar than, say, Vandermeer/other new weird categorized writers are, especially in the same kind of horror I had when reading it, in parts.) Re: Dante's Inferno - really try and track down and read the Pinsky translation (actually dual language) if you can. He does a great job, and it's always a good sign when you have a good poet translating a poem. Otherwise, this version is great, especially if you want criticism and comments while reading: Mark Musa's translation, Indiana Critical Edition. Noricae fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Mar 31, 2011 |
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Mar 31, 2011 07:42
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Placenta_Souffle posted:I've just bought The Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. Better finish it before April 17th if you've got HBO 
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Mar 31, 2011 13:22
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Noricae posted:I'm most of the way through Sarah Monette's Labyrinthine series (book 1, Melusine). These books keep appearing on fantasy lists, but they're very much fantastic horror. In fact, the first book reminds me of Bas Lag, with more sympathetic characters than, say, Perdido Street Station had, and with more magic (explicitly stated as such, and wizards). The book's set in a giant maze of a city, there are monsters, both of the supernatural and human kind, the tone is dark and disturbing and the book's fairly bleak. On the other hand, it's less focused on setting and more so the hosed up lives of the characters. The writing's good, although less full of word soup than China Mieville's works (for good or bad), and there are well done distinctive voices (two main alternating characters) present. I rarely see her work mentioned, and it's surprisingly good (I expected it to be fluff). (I did not expect the comparison above, but her writing's a lot more similar than, say, Vandermeer/other new weird categorized writers are, especially in the same kind of horror I had when reading it, in parts.) Yeah, that really is one of the better if lesser-known series in the genre. The cover art for Melusine is pretty terrible though (at least Felix actually looks similar to how he's described even if he looks like he's trapped in a romance novel).
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Mar 31, 2011 13:46
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Noricae posted:Re: Dante's Inferno - really try and track down and read the Pinsky translation (actually dual language) if you can. He does a great job, and it's always a good sign when you have a good poet translating a poem. Otherwise, this version is great, especially if you want criticism and comments while reading: Mark Musa's translation, Indiana Critical Edition. Thank you! I shall certainly check these out, I've finding myself absolutely loving this book and I have a feeling it won't end when I finish this version. Silly as it sounds, I never gave a thought to translations before. I just assumed it was a copying exercise rather than a creative or artistic process. The Inferno is the first translation I've ever read with the original language right beside it. I can clearly see the Italian version has a rhyming scheme whilst the English has none. I wonder if a poet translating this would atempt to recrate that in English, or is it nearly impossible? Sorry I keep hijacking this thread on Dante, when I'm done I might see if people fancy a thread.
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Mar 31, 2011 15:46
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Placenta_Souffle posted:I've just bought The Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. Once you hit the end of Feast, report to The Bad Thread immediately.
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Mar 31, 2011 16:12
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Dr Scoofles posted:Silly as it sounds, I never gave a thought to translations before. I just assumed it was a copying exercise rather than a creative or artistic process. The Inferno is the first translation I've ever read with the original language right beside it. I can clearly see the Italian version has a rhyming scheme whilst the English has none. I wonder if a poet translating this would atempt to recrate that in English, or is it nearly impossible? Dante is great, I wouldn't mind a thread. There are longstanding debates regarding whether poetic translations should stay as literally true to the text as possible, thus loosing some of the meter and a lot of rhyming scheme, or if they should take 'creative license' to translate it into rhyming metered English. You can also try to keep the meter while ignoring rhyming, giving you more of a mixed translation. One captures what is actually said more accurately, the other captures the style and feel of the original text more accurately. Personally, I prefer 'literal' translations that keep meter; I don't really like straight prose translations of poetry (there's a version of the Canterbury Tales that does this, and it's terrible). There have been some translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey that are written as straight prose, and I think they read like garbage. On the other hand, translations that actually try to preserve rhyme can be interesting, but I feel that they go to such lengths to do it that you abandon the original text too much. That makes me uncomfortable. One the other hand, I read Goethe's Faust a year ago. In the original German, it's a play with dialogue in meter and verse. The translation I read was quite literal, so it was completely rewritten in prose with no meter. It actually worked pretty well. So I guess it just depends. Translation becomes extremely important when it comes to works dealing with frank matters. You don't want to read any translations of Eastern literature if they were done by uptight moralist from the 1800s-1950s; bowdlerization is a real issue if a translator didn't start to work in the 80s. My rule of thumb is this: if a translation comes from before the 50s-60s, I'm very careful with reading it and I only will if I cannot find a more recent translation, or if the translator is still held in high esteem by academics today (this is easy enough to investigate). If it comes from before 1900, I'd rather waste my time on YouTube videos of cats than touching that poo poo. Sure there are exceptions, but I find this rule works pretty well. Foyes36 fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Mar 31, 2011 |
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Mar 31, 2011 16:49
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Pfirti86 posted:Yeah, that's how I normally role (I'm impressed with your Latin skills though, I only made it out of 101 a few years ago and I've forgotten most of my grammar Here's the wiki comparison between Middle and below it Early Modern (aka Shakespearean) Personally, if someone updating Chaucer's spelling and made no other changes at all, I would find the whole thing to be 10x as readable and not really a cheat at all. dinosaurtrauma posted:Just starting Midnight's Children because according to my dad, that's the best place to start with Rushdie (though if I hear enough people arguing for Satanic Verses instead, I could be swayed.) I've read around half of Rushdie's novels. I read Verses first, and none of the rest were as interesting or captivating, to me. It honestly had nothing to do with the controversy of the book, either, I honestly had to look up on wiki when I was finished to see what got the Ayatollah's pants in a bunch. Midnight's Children is also good, but I didn't like it quite as much. God Of Small Things (which isn't by Rushdie) is similar to Children but much more forceful emotionally because it isn't shouting about a political problem.
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Mar 31, 2011 18:59
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). I feel like this is a little different though, as it's still in a form of English that is vaguely readable. Another example would be those new 'translations' of Shakespeare you can get from the 'No Fear Shakespeare' books; people have rewritten line-for-line entire plays in modern English. Sure, it makes them more understandable and is a nice aid for high school kids, but it kills the beauty that is inherent in reading a Shakespeare play as originally written, and if someone claimed they read the play and they only read something like that (and not the original), I don't know if I'd buy that. Not to be too pedantic or anything.
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Encryptic posted:he's trapped in a romance novel). Dr Scoofles posted:Silly as it sounds, I never gave a thought to translations before. I just assumed it was a copying exercise rather than a creative or artistic process. By the way, in addition to read the other two parts of the Divine Comedy (probably in the right order, since you're in the last half of a long journey), you should grab Paradise Lost. Reading Paradise Lost alongside, or shortly after, the Inferno is very interesting - same topic, totally different takes on hell, different poetical structures and feels, etc. It'll make you realize just how far afield Dante went in his books in creating a different hell than was the norm. Pfirti86 posted:My rule of thumb is this: if a translation comes from before the 50s-60s, I'm very careful with reading it and I only will if I cannot find a more recent translation, or if the translator is still held in high esteem by academics today (this is easy enough to investigate). </Dante> edit: ***Errrrrrkkk... Book 2 of Sarah Monette's series is pretty bad/dissimilar/all the horror is gone and it has a bunch of (fairly tedious) romance and misunderstandings driving the plot forward (which means lazy writing). Nevermind then; disappointing. Noricae fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Apr 3, 2011 |
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Mar 31, 2011 20:24
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Currently reading Blood Meridian for the second time. I tried to read once when I was 15, and long stoy short, that didn't work out. Really enjoying it this time, even if I have to pause every now and again for a breather. When out and about, I'm listening to the audio book version of On Writing by Stephan King. Much lighter. While I don't love everything he has written, its interesting to hear King muse on his favourite subject - himself (ok, ok writing).
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Apr 1, 2011 03:31
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Picked up a copy of Porno and a copy of If you liked school you'll love work today from the local closing Borders. I also picked up a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead from another book store.
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Apr 1, 2011 17:04
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Just started Lives of the Later Caesars. I liked Suetonius' book so I think I'll like this one, too. Also the mystery surrounding the manuscript itself is interesting also.
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Apr 1, 2011 21:24
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Just picked up a (fairly recent) translation of The Water Margin. Hopefully it's good - I'm slightly familiar with the story, but haven't actually read it before.
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Apr 2, 2011 00:30
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I've been working on The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn after a long foray into Russian literature (Tolstoy and Pasternak). SSR is perhaps the original work on paradigm shift, and focuses the lack of what might be thought of as a steady progressive stream of discovery in science: Practitioners work at the margins within generally accepted models (for example the geocentric model) until anomalies in research outcomes over time force researchers into a major shift consisting of an entirely different way of looking at the problems they are investigating, which in turn results in a new model (for example the heliocentric model) and new constraints on what makes sense to investigate and how to study it. A fascinating book that I'm about half way through. More in the "What you've just finished" thread when I'm done.
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Apr 2, 2011 12:55
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I'm starting Anna Karenina for the fourth time. God so help me, I am going to get through the whole drat book this time, not just the first one hundred pages. Hopefully the fact that I've actually bought a copy and not just borrowed a library one will help.
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Apr 3, 2011 06:13
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marsattacks posted:I'm starting Anna Karenina for the fourth time. God so help me, I am going to get through the whole drat book this time, not just the first one hundred pages. Hopefully the fact that I've actually bought a copy and not just borrowed a library one will help. If you still can't get through it try Android Karenina.
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Apr 3, 2011 13:23
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Today I got these three Vintage paperbacks (an awesome series of really cheap—for Australia—titles) and i also got a sweet free bag because I bought three of them!   http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Default/Page/General/Section/vintageclassics
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Apr 3, 2011 15:23
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I spent an evening last week bidding on a few possible next books on ebay, but accidentally won every auction, leaving me with a huge pile of potential next-reads. My mum then saw what I'd won, said "Oooh, classics!" and gave me a second huge pile of books. Please Advise! On The Road by Jack Kerouac - 50 pages in, its making me want to road trip across America. In no particular order, I also have: Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier Riotous Assembly Tom Sharpe The Outsider Albert Camus Less Than Zero / American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis, thanks to various mentions on here. Tropic of Cancer / Tropic of Capricorn Henry Miller Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie August 1914 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - I will most likely never read this. Lolita Vladimir Nabokov - Again, recommended here. Battle Royale Koushun Takami Does anyone suggest I drop my current book to read one of these immediately? Should any of these be left to gather dust forever? Let me know.
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Apr 5, 2011 01:36
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You should read the Solzhenitsyn eventually. He's a good author and the Red Wheel series (which that book opens) is a good read on the birth of the Soviet Union. It's not really a starting point, but I wouldn't throw it away.
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Apr 5, 2011 02:53
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I splurged on some books over the weekend. The Kill Crew by Joseph D'Lacey Everybody Comes to the Nightside by Simon Green (first three Nightside books) Raising Hell in the Nightside by Simon Green (next three Nightside books) The Tommyknockers by Stephen King (read this years ago, bought it because it was a 1st/1st in good condition) Baal by Robert McCammon (need to see if it's worth further splurging on the SubPress edition) The Wise Man's Fear by Pat Rothfuss Blasphemies & Revelations by Robert Price The Man Who Collected Machen and Other Weird Tales by Mark Samuels (Chomu Press edition)
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Apr 5, 2011 03:08
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I asked a friend for suggested fantasy reading, and ended up having to order from seemingly all over the planet. My friend is a former librarian, so her taste seems to lean inconveniently toward "out of print". Within the next few days I expect these to start trickling into my mailbox: Age of the Five trilogy by Trudi Canavan (Priestess of the White, Last of the Wilds, Voice of the Gods) Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle Saga of Pliocene Exile series by Julian Mays (The Many-Colored Land, The Golden Torc, The Nonborn King, Adversary) Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold Steerswoman's Road omnibus by Rosemary Kirstein Wild Seed by Octavia Butler This past week I also picked up His Dark Materials omnibus, A Wizard of Earthsea, David Copperfield, and a Kindle. I'm kind of in a "phase".
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Apr 5, 2011 04:36
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Diosamblet posted:Age of the Five trilogy by Trudi Canavan (Priestess of the White, Last of the Wilds, Voice of the Gods) Just so you know, Octavia Butler is kind of incredible. I read one of her books in one sitting. If you like Wild Seed, pick up Kindred sometime, I'm pretty sure reprints of that (and her Parable books) are available at most bookstores.
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Apr 6, 2011 03:02
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I am half trough Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and so far it is a great book.
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Apr 9, 2011 15:30
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"Lone Survivor" by Marcus Luttrell Author's account of his June 2005 mission in Afghanistan along with 3 other SEAL team members. It goes badly and the result is the single largest loss of SEAL life in history. Excellent writing and descriptions along with brutally honest personal opinions. It's one of those books I'm having a hard time putting down.
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Apr 10, 2011 02:20
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Just started Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, which is a book by a journalist who became a prison guard at the maximum security prison Sing Sing in Westchester County, NY for a year. It seems like a fascinating read so far. Go USA penal system, go!
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Apr 10, 2011 04:40
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Well, Borders is up to 70% off... Thomas Wolfe - You Can't Go Home Again Saul Bellow - Humboldt's Gift Death in the Andes - Mario Vargas Llosa The Brooklyn Follies - Paul Auster
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Apr 10, 2011 04:40
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Square Pair posted:"Lone Survivor" by Marcus Luttrell
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Apr 10, 2011 05:31
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Mr.Garibaldi posted:Just started Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, which is a book by a journalist who became a prison guard at the maximum security prison Sing Sing in Westchester County, NY for a year. It seems like a fascinating read so far. Newjack is good. Ted Conover is one of the best immersive journalists out there. Most of his work deals with the poor or misfortunate (hobos, illegal immigrants) so it's worth reading his book White Out where he spent some time living with the wealthy in Aspen. It's not as hard-hitting or affective as his other work, but its fun and a unique challenge he made for himself to do something different.
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Apr 10, 2011 13:39
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Just started The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Really enjoyed The Name of the Wind so I hope TWMF is just as good.
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Apr 14, 2011 05:49
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Square Pair posted:"Lone Survivor" by Marcus Luttrell WeaponGradeSadness posted:Enjoy, this is one of the best war memoirs out there! Ah, so how would you say it compares to say, Bravo Two Zero? You two have gotten me interested, now! 
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Apr 14, 2011 05:54
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Just started reading Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana. I remember seeing the movie some years ago, but I'd largely forgotten what it was about, so most of this is all new to me. Highly entertaining so far and one of those few books that are difficult to stop reading once you've got started - but that tends to be the case with Greene.
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Apr 14, 2011 08:06
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I don't know why I'm doing this, I had a leftover Amazon voucher so I grabbed G.R.R.Martin's A Game of Thrones. Barely started and some 13 year old is getting her tit felt up by her bro... should be an interesting read I suppose. Personally I blame you. Yes, you The Book Barn! Never even heard of the guy except in here.
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Apr 14, 2011 18:34
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Dr Scoofles posted:I don't know why I'm doing this, I had a leftover Amazon voucher so I grabbed G.R.R.Martin's A Game of Thrones. Except he has that whole TV adaptation of the series starting this Sunday on HBO.
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Apr 15, 2011 03:31
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Just started reading Ryu Murakami's Piercing. I'm trying the original Japanese though there is an English translation. I've read his Coin-Locker Babies and it's one of my favorite novels so I thought I'd give this a try. It's a bit hard to come up with an opinion of a work when so much effort is put into simply translating/understanding it, but I'm enjoying it. It's about a man who was heavily abused as a child, now married with a baby, who has these strong urges to stab his child with an icepick. He comes to the conclusion that the only way to avert that - since he really doesn't want to - is to stab/kill a stranger.
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Apr 15, 2011 04:39
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muscles like this? posted:Except he has that whole TV adaptation of the series starting this Sunday on HBO. This must be why it's on the front page of Amazon then. I honestly had no idea, I'm not an American and we don't have the HBO channel over here. I saw it and went 'hmm, there used to be several threads dedicated to this guy on TBB, better give it a go.'
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Apr 15, 2011 07:49
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Books I purchased last night: The Letters of William S. Burroughs, Vol. 1: 1945-1959 The Soft Machine Queer: A Novel Junky: The Definitive Text of "Junk" (50th Anniversary Edition), all by William S. Burroughs. Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson. Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story, by Alexander Shulgin House of Leaves Whalestoe Letters, both by Mark Z. Danielewski. Better Than Sex (Gonzo Papers) Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80's Fear and Loathing in America : The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century, all by Hunter S. Thompson. Collected Fanzines, by Harmony Korine. The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, and Me, by Ralph Steadman. Ender's Game (already own it, but can't find the copy) Xenocide (Ender, Book 3), both by Orson Scott Card. Tell-All Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon, both by Chuck Palahniuk. A Scanner Darkly, by Phillip K. Dick. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin The Dark Fields, by Alan Glynn. A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard. Ecstasy The Acid House Porno Filth, all by Irvine Welsh.
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Apr 15, 2011 16:10
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I feel like human garbage because for the longest time my only dalliance with Hunter S. Thompson was the film version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I have set out to rectify this beginning with The Rum Diary, which starts out pretty slow but definitely builds up momentum as it goes. Should be done with it within the week, it's not too long. Besides Vegas, any other Thompson fans have a particular favorite of his? I've just ordered "Bullfinch's Mythology" so as to be less of an uncultured homunculus. I hear it's got some pretty cool stuff. Oh hell, I keep forgetting I'm like a third of the way through "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson. It, too, starts off very slow and doesn't have a lot of character interaction until several chapters in, but there's some neat scifi stuff to tide you over until the story kicks in.
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Apr 15, 2011 16:19
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muscles like this? posted:Except he has that whole TV adaptation of the series starting this Sunday on HBO. Noricae fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Apr 15, 2011 |
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Apr 15, 2011 17:40
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