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dmccaff posted:I signed up to the reddit secret santa this year and this arrived yesterday. Holy gently caress, dude. Eye of the World's good, Gunslinger's really interesting, and Storm Front is pretty good but didn't really grab me. I haven't read any of the others.
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Dec 8, 2011 20:38
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Looks like the kind of stashes parents give to charity shops once their child's moved out.
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Dec 8, 2011 21:09
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coyo7e posted:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_%28novel%29 This series pissed me off, everybody acts like children. They literally get red in the face and glare at each other when somebody does something they don't like. What the gently caress. Only decent part was the guy in the ship during transit.
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Dec 8, 2011 22:33
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dmccaff posted:I signed up to the reddit secret santa this year and this arrived yesterday. Read Mieville, use the rest for kindling.
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Dec 9, 2011 01:47
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Gunslinger, Northern Lights, and Perdido Street Station are all really good.
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Dec 9, 2011 06:36
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Gil's All Fright Diner is pretty great.
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Dec 9, 2011 19:15
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dmccaff posted:I signed up to the reddit secret santa this year and this arrived yesterday. Wow, that's a great collection. It's basically all "first novels" in long fantasy series. Looking at that stack actually makes me sad because I've read most of them and I'll never get to read them for the first time again =( All depends on what you like -- there's a really wide assortment there and they're all very different.
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Dec 9, 2011 20:28
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Looking at that stack actually makes me sad because I've read most of them and I'll never get to read them for the first time again =( Looking at several of those books makes me sad that I'll never get those hours of my life back.
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Dec 9, 2011 22:38
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What, nobody's mentioned that he got the Atrocity Archives? I'd keep that at least along with the Mieville and Assassin's Apprentice. I'm lukewarm on most of the other stuff (that I've read, of course).
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Dec 10, 2011 04:26
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Can someone tell me about this tome? Is it like some sort of joke? I got the book from a co-worker and I tried to read it but it was unbearable and when I tried to give it back he wasn't concerned with it and told me that I can 'pass it along.'
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Dec 10, 2011 09:12
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Herr Tog posted:Can someone tell me about this tome? Is it like some sort of joke? I got the book from a co-worker and I tried to read it but it was unbearable and when I tried to give it back he wasn't concerned with it and told me that I can 'pass it along.' All I know is from reviews of the RPG: http://jrients.blogspot.com/2005/07/wraeththu-report.html
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Dec 10, 2011 15:04
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I have a very odd request. Earlier in the week my friends and I were talking about running an RPG of some sort on the email list that we are a part of, and the discussion got sidetracked. What happened was one of my friends started writing a story completely in jest, and here are some excerpts:pakman's friend posted:First, I traveled to the Andes to find the lost city of gold, El Dorado. I found it high in the mountains, but I had to fight its protector, the Giant Condor, in ritual combat. My opponent defeated, I set foot into the glorious golden streets of that fabled city, and glimpsed sights unseen for generations upon generations. pakman's friend posted:An adventurer NEVER exaggerates, nor does he leave things out. By the way, Ixt'lathn'xal, the God of Broken Ankles, sends his regards. Or, at least I think that's what he said. We had to fight our way through the Monkey Legions of King Ookook to reach the ruins of Tx'tlan to find the map to the Tree of the Mother. He took a blow from King Ookook in the face, and his jaw was giving him trouble. This had me wondering if there were any books with this style/feeling. The closest thing I could think of was Jules Verne. Or perhaps something "steampunkish" or Victorian in nature. Any thoughts/suggestions?
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Dec 12, 2011 04:25
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pakman posted:I have a very odd request. Earlier in the week my friends and I were talking about running an RPG of some sort on the email list that we are a part of, and the discussion got sidetracked. What happened was one of my friends started writing a story completely in jest, and here are some excerpts: Carl Barks' Donald Duck treasur hunt comics...
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Dec 12, 2011 04:32
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pakman posted:I have a very odd request. Earlier in the week my friends and I were talking about running an RPG of some sort on the email list that we are a part of, and the discussion got sidetracked. What happened was one of my friends started writing a story completely in jest, and here are some excerpts: Maybe some of the Doc Savage stuff, but even that's a bit of a stretch.
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Dec 12, 2011 04:39
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Wow, that's a great collection. It's basically all "first novels" in long fantasy series. Looking at that stack actually makes me sad because I've read most of them and I'll never get to read them for the first time again =( Don't worry, complete brain wipes/resets are virtually guaranteed to be invented and affordably brought to market in some form or other during our lifetime.
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Dec 17, 2011 00:39
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Would anybody be interested in a Dickens thread? I've made it a project to read all of his stuff over the next few years, and from what I've seen he's not really discussed all that much...
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Dec 20, 2011 18:19
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Carthag posted:This series pissed me off, everybody acts like children. They literally get red in the face and glare at each other when somebody does something they don't like. What the gently caress.
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Dec 20, 2011 19:37
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I want to slowly read the Lord of the Rings between sessions with other books. Can I read it on my kindle or are the illustrations essential? The kindle screen is often too small to make out fine details in maps. I've seen the movies several times so I'll probably be using those to visualize.
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Dec 21, 2011 04:12
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blue squares posted:I want to slowly read the Lord of the Rings between sessions with other books. Can I read it on my kindle or are the illustrations essential? The kindle screen is often too small to make out fine details in maps. I've seen the movies several times so I'll probably be using those to visualize. You can probably do just fine on the kindle. You can always pull up a map online if you get confused.
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Dec 21, 2011 04:22
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Recently I've obtained some books of poetry from William Blake, Charles Baudelaire, and Arthur Rimbaud. While I have enjoyed some of the poetry, I feel like I can't truly appreciate some of it, since I don't know much too about poetry in general. Are there any good books that I could check out that explain the different styles, forms, etc. of poetry and just generally teach me about poetry?
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Dec 21, 2011 20:12
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Koaxke posted:Recently I've obtained some books of poetry from William Blake, Charles Baudelaire, and Arthur Rimbaud. While I have enjoyed some of the poetry, I feel like I can't truly appreciate some of it, since I don't know much too about poetry in general. Are there any good books that I could check out that explain the different styles, forms, etc. of poetry and just generally teach me about poetry? When I was in the same boat I checked Understanding Poetry out from the library, I found it really helpful. It also has a pretty good selection of poems, but I wouldn't pay full price, buy it used or try the library.
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Dec 21, 2011 21:36
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Why was the J-F Bibeau thread gassed?
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Dec 21, 2011 23:05
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What is it with older books and uncut pages? I get that they were printed on large sheets of paper which were then folded, but were they sold uncut on purpose or it just happened sometimes by mistake? It's kind of fun because you can tell at what point in them the previous owner just gave up reading, but cutting all the pages can be a chore. How common did this use to be? \/\/\/ Edit: kind of, but the top and side edge of pages are all stuck together in groups of four, so you have to cut them before reading. Seems like the word I was looking for is unopened pages, like this : 
a silver spaceship fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Dec 23, 2011 |
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Dec 23, 2011 05:26
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You mean deckle edge? That's still common today and something the author usually asks for, to give the book a certain look. I personally don't care about the edges, but I know some people who are really OCD about it and won't read a book with them.
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Dec 23, 2011 05:38
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PatMarshall posted:When I was in the same boat I checked Understanding Poetry out from the library, I found it really helpful. It also has a pretty good selection of poems, but I wouldn't pay full price, buy it used or try the library. Thanks for this! I'm going to check it out from the library here in a few days, and am pretty excited to read through it. 
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Dec 23, 2011 05:43
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i love cuttin a book, youre the first to read that poo poo,ts great.
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Dec 23, 2011 06:19
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I don't get the appeal of deckle edge at all, it just seems like it makes it ugly and a tiny bit more inconvenient.
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Dec 23, 2011 06:42
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Makes it look "classic" and old. Back in the olden days, pages weren't cut except by hand instead of giant cutting machines, so they always had some off center pages in there.
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Dec 23, 2011 10:48
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Koaxke posted:Recently I've obtained some books of poetry from William Blake, Charles Baudelaire, and Arthur Rimbaud. While I have enjoyed some of the poetry, I feel like I can't truly appreciate some of it, since I don't know much too about poetry in general. Are there any good books that I could check out that explain the different styles, forms, etc. of poetry and just generally teach me about poetry? I haven't read the latter two, but if you want to get a firmer understanding of Blake, I recommend getting acquainted with Milton's Paradise Lost first. Prior to Modernism, poetry was heavily stylized as per tradition, so there isn't necessarily a lot of meaning embedded in the rhyme scheme or the number of syllables (which is not to say that they were unintentional or subconscious). A lot of rhetorical devices associated with poetry are ultimately mainly aesthetic, so if meaning is your concern, you may want to familiarize yourself with the classical and biblical narratives and the contemporary events that the poet will almost invariably allude to.
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Dec 23, 2011 19:47
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Merry Christmas, all. Anybody get books this year?
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Dec 26, 2011 04:05
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mcustic posted:Why was the J-F Bibeau thread gassed?
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Dec 26, 2011 09:19
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barkingclam posted:Merry Christmas, all. Anybody get books this year? Merry Christmas! And yup. My little brother gave me two Pratchett books: Mort and Hogfather. My older brother gave me Kraken by China Mieville. I read Mort yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. I've never read any Mieville before, so I'm interested in how Kraken is.
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Dec 26, 2011 18:46
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Hogfather is one of the best Discworld novels, IMO. Have fun with it!
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Dec 26, 2011 18:58
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Help me remember the name of a book (recommended, not read): Extremely vulgar descriptions of violence Sometimes difficult to follow because there are many characters and the author chooses to refer to characters by their given name, nickname, or just a description with no name. Think it has something to do with a wagon train westward bound. That's pretty much all I have to go on. Thanks. oh snap fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Dec 27, 2011 |
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Dec 27, 2011 01:23
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oh snap posted:Help me remember the name of a book (recommended, not read): Could be "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy.
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Dec 27, 2011 03:13
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a silver spaceship posted:What is it with older books and uncut pages? I get that they were printed on large sheets of paper which were then folded, but were they sold uncut on purpose or it just happened sometimes by mistake? They were sold uncut on purpose. I have read (I'm sorry, I don't recall where) about upper class British Victorians refusing to take out library books because the pages were already cut and you didn't know where the books had been. They might have gotten cooties by being read by poor people! But I'm not sure why it is that the pages weren't cut before selling; I'm guessing the technology to do it was too expensive to make it worthwhile?
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Dec 27, 2011 07:04
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barkingclam posted:Merry Christmas, all. Anybody get books this year? I got MetaMaus by Art Spiegelman, All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien and a travel guide for San Francisco 
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Dec 27, 2011 09:27
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I think I'm outgrowing fiction. I mean, I like fiction but...look at this. I'm never sure what's good or not looking at these lists. http://www.goodreads.com/award/choice/2011 It's increasingly hard for to get into fiction unless it is of top - specifically of aureum - quality. I just don't want to waste my time. But with non-fiction, even if the writing is terrible, I may learn something from it. Look at these fiction book lists. It's like splitting hairs. But when I look at any non-fiction section, I'm adding anything and everything to my to-read list.
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Dec 27, 2011 10:30
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Your first mistake is paying attention to what Goodreads users think. Let's take a look at what Goodreads users have rated some classic literature: Madame Bovary - 3.54 The Sound and the Fury - 3.83 A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man - 3.54 One Hundred Years of Solitude - 3.83 Lolita - 3.77 The top rated book in my library is The Hunger Games at 4.54. The lowest is a tie between Madame Bovary and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I'm pretty sure it's not because the latter 2 are the worst books I own, and Hunger Games is the best.
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Dec 27, 2011 11:06
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barkingclam posted:Merry Christmas, all. Anybody get books this year? I did not get any books this year. However, I did give my sister a gift card to Barnes and Noble because she loves to read, but I have no idea what she loves to read, so I thought it best to give her something where she could pick out what she wanted. I almost got her a Kindle, but she would have hated it.
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Dec 27, 2011 14:17
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