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RPZip posted:I realize that this is a longshot, but I'm not sure where to ask. I can't help you but that sounds really interesting, I'd be down for reading that, too!
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Jun 1, 2012 03:47
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I just started House of Leaves, what do people here generally think about this? I have to say, the footnotes are more exhausting than David Foster Wallace's. Every time I turn a page and see no footnotes, I breathe a sigh of relief, which only lasts until the next page. I'm only on page 45, so I imagine they're just going to get more complex and labyrinthian as I get farther into it.
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Jun 7, 2012 17:20
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I definitely thought that House of Leaves was an interesting read, but it took me a while to get through. I don't think that it was necessarily "scary," but more of a psychological thriller. And if you start to think about some of the things as you read, and about who is doing the writing, you'll start to twist your brain into knots. When/if you finish it, there's a forum on the author's website that has pages upon pages of threads discussing the book and what it means.
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Jun 7, 2012 21:46
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I agree that the footnotes make it a difficult read, but it's an important part of the story. I found the first third or so hard to get through, but after that I really got into it, and I still think it's one of the most rewarding books I've read in terms of effort put into it.
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Jun 7, 2012 22:15
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See, I am the exact opposite. I bought the book, paid for overnight shipping cause Prime is awesome, and tried to read it, but it's just a confusing mess. Just gave up on it and moved on to something else.
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Jun 7, 2012 22:54
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escape artist posted:I just started House of Leaves, what do people here generally think about this? I loved it. Yeah, it's labyrinthian, but it's also scary as hell (or at least I thought so) and extremely well-written and gripping. Also, if you read it in public, you might get asked what you're reading because of the hosed up typography.
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Jun 8, 2012 01:54
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escape artist posted:I just started House of Leaves, what do people here generally think about this? I could honestly say that I would have liked the book more if I hadn't read the footnotes at all. The story of The Navidson Record is absolutely fascinating while the story that unfolds in the footnotes is not, in my opinion, interesting at all. Parts of them are deliberately difficult to read and written in code, even. On one hand I think deliberately choosing to not read them means you will miss half of the book, on the other hand that half of the book sucks. I think it's often supposed to suck, though, as that aspect of the novel is a pretty blatant parody of academic writing in general. edit: I do understand there are "levels upon levels" in the structure of House of Leaves but if you read the website most of them don't really lead to anything coherent or interesting, just that the whole book is some sort of secret coded discussion between two minor characters who are barely fleshed out in the book proper, and even that doesn't really make any sense. I think the author deliberately added some strange and inexplicable elements to the book that are meant to raise questions that can't be answered rather than a secret hidden unifying theory that causes everything to fall in to place, and the people sperging out over it on his forums are sort of missing the point. Yeah, there's a lot of weird stuff in House of Leaves but I don't think it was meant to be "figured out" in the first place. bad day fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Jun 8, 2012 |
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Jun 8, 2012 13:01
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I've been reading the first of the Black Company series and just went to look for the second set and I couldn't find them in ebook format anywhere. Did they only release the Chronicles of the Black Company in ebook format and none of the others?
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Jun 8, 2012 19:26
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I've decided to read The Mothman Prophecies with House of Leaves. I need something light to balance the heavy, which isn't to say I'm not very much enjoying House of Leaves, because I am. I can see why it is a polarizing book, but I finished The Pale King prior to it, and that book was even more fragmented and disjointed than House of Leaves, and I really enjoyed the former, so the latter is more than tolerable-- it is quite enjoyable. Could anyone link me to a thread on it, House of Leaves that is? I'll perform thread necromancy if I have to, but I've searched through all the archives and still can't find a thread devoted entirely to House of Leaves.
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Jun 9, 2012 06:32
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Hey guys I'm trying to remember about a British Literature book. Written back in the 19th century about a guy who's raised in a religious household who's grandfather built or played the organ and who goes on to a religious college. The protagonist writes for the college about religion and by the end of the book he stands up to his father. I can't remember the name of the book but I do remember that it's told from the perspective of the protagonist's best friend. Any ideas?
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Jun 13, 2012 00:25
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Flaggy posted:I just saw that House of Leaves is coming out on Kindle in October, I am curious to as how that is going to work with all the back and forth, footnotes, and just plain old curiosities. Its being released on the same day as his new book.
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Jun 13, 2012 22:28
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Goons, help me out. I asked on my Facebook about a book where the protagonist is actually in prison but creates and entire fantasy world to escape into, I can't remember the title. All I got from my Facebook friends was 'that's Suckerpunch the film  '
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Jun 25, 2012 23:25
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Is it Suckerpunch the Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster?
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Jun 29, 2012 16:01
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Gravy Jones posted:Is it Suckerpunch the Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster?
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Jun 29, 2012 16:04
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An audiobook for Rudyard Kipling's first children's story, How the Whale got his Throat, is currently free from 4Dio.
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Jun 29, 2012 22:49
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Somebody in TBB has an excellent blog that includes in-depth reviews of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I think One Hundred Kingdoms is included. They linked to it via a post in a thread here. I've gone over pages and pages but can't find it. Do any of you have blogs?
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Jul 1, 2012 05:55
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Lampsacus posted:Somebody in TBB has an excellent blog that includes in-depth reviews of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I think One Hundred Kingdoms is included. They linked to it via a post in a thread here. I've gone over pages and pages but can't find it. Are you thinking of AreYouStillThere's blog Stumptown Books? That's the only goon-run SF/F blog I know of.
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Jul 1, 2012 06:21
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Lampsacus posted:Somebody in TBB has an excellent blog that includes in-depth reviews of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I think One Hundred Kingdoms is included. They linked to it via a post in a thread here. I've gone over pages and pages but can't find it.
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Jul 1, 2012 07:52
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Gravy Jones posted:Is it Suckerpunch the Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster? I don't think so, I heard about this book years ago. I need to find out what it is, it's going to annoy the poo poo out of me until I know 
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Jul 1, 2012 10:42
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coyo7e posted:I'm not familiar with the book you're referring to and am finding little with google, would you mind giving me more info to find this book/series? Thanks! Even if I can't find the blog I'm looking for, I'd love to read through some of anybodies.
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Jul 1, 2012 13:11
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Heard part of a book review on NPR a little while ago (maybe a week ago?), but can't find the book online. What I remember from the book was that the world had divided into two factions, the "real timers" who base their day on the passage of the sun, and the "clock timers" who base their day on a universal clock time, regardless of whether it's light or dark out. "The Age of Miracles" by Karen Thompson Walker Doc Faustus fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Jul 6, 2012 |
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Jul 6, 2012 18:38
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I loved the play Les Miserables and am thinking about reading the book, but it's long as gently caress (1800~ pages). Is it worth the read for the length?
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Jul 7, 2012 07:35
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The book has a lot of passages that aren't directly related to the musical (or most non-musical movie versions). E.g. a long chapter about the history of the sewers of Paris and a lot of political commentary that some people find boring. If you like 19th century literature in general, and you want to really immerse yourself in the setting I'd say go for it. If you're just looking to revisit the characters, you might start with the abridged version. You can always go back and read the full version later if you want.
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Jul 7, 2012 08:45
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What are the best ways to find "what's new"each month? Goodreads' lists are almost entirely self published fantasy porn, going into a Barnes & Noble is just tables full of severly bland looking lit. Is there a good blog for this, sorta like how Pitchfork used to be with music, or RT with film?
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Jul 8, 2012 07:57
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Quad posted:What are the best ways to find "what's new"each month? Goodreads' lists are almost entirely self published fantasy porn, going into a Barnes & Noble is just tables full of severly bland looking lit. Is there a good blog for this, sorta like how Pitchfork used to be with music, or RT with film? I can give you a million blogs if you're after SF/F in particular. I follow review blogs, indie bookstore blogs, and others (eg: io9.com/books) that all list upcoming titles, as well as blogs run by various big-name publishers such as Tor US, Tor UK, and Orbit. Regular fiction, no idea.
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Jul 8, 2012 08:11
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There'd be literary blogs and stuff. TBB is really dominated by sci-fi and fantasy stuff, like the internet in general, so there's not much here. See if there's a magazine you can subscribe to. Edit: Phiz thread here http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3083443 it's probably got some good stuff to read although it's too disjointed for a lot of discussion. Wrestlepig fucked around with this message at 11:22 on Jul 8, 2012 |
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Jul 8, 2012 10:07
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Quad posted:What are the best ways to find "what's new"each month? Goodreads' lists are almost entirely self published fantasy porn, going into a Barnes & Noble is just tables full of severly bland looking lit. Is there a good blog for this, sorta like how Pitchfork used to be with music, or RT with film? The Millions is one of the bigger sites. Can't say I read it myself (a little US-centric), but it's a place to start. In print, Bookforum is worth a look.
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Jul 8, 2012 11:06
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Quad posted:What are the best ways to find "what's new"each month? Goodreads' lists are almost entirely self published fantasy porn, going into a Barnes & Noble is just tables full of severly bland looking lit. Is there a good blog for this, sorta like how Pitchfork used to be with music, or RT with film? Amazon has a page for new releases. If you click around on your recommendations, you can filter it to just upcoming stuff or new releases.
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Jul 9, 2012 00:18
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inktvis posted:The Millions is one of the bigger sites. Can't say I read it myself (a little US-centric), but it's a place to start. I'm loving flipping around The Millions right now. I think the idea that they use The New Yorker and Amazon as indications of "what's selling" may lead to being thought US-centric, but I did find a 5 page article on German authors, and an article on "Six Egyptian Writers You Don’t Know But You Should" both written in the last 6 months; they seem to try and cover authors worldwide.
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Jul 9, 2012 02:44
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Quad posted:I'm loving flipping around The Millions right now. I think the idea that they use The New Yorker and Amazon as indications of "what's selling" may lead to being thought US-centric, but I did find a 5 page article on German authors, and an article on "Six Egyptian Writers You Don’t Know But You Should" both written in the last 6 months; they seem to try and cover authors worldwide. Millions is pretty good to just get a sense of the mainstream literary thing of the moment, both through their top 10 list and their previews (they just released the one for the back half of 2012). In terms of actual content I generally prefer Bookslut or maybe The Rumpus, which feature the big titles as well as some books off the beaten path. As far as SFF goes, Strange Horizons is my favourite site for filtering out the crap, although it's kind of UK-centric. Goodreads also has a thing where you can get an e-mail every month with new books by authors you've previously read, which is nifty if not exactly horizon-expanding.
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Jul 9, 2012 03:54
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Quandary posted:I loved the play Les Miserables and am thinking about reading the book, but it's long as gently caress (1800~ pages). Is it worth the read for the length? Short answer: Yes. You could try an abridged version if it's all you can find. Long answer: do you read a lot of long books? It's a really long book. It's also an amazingly good book, so it's worth the read for the length, but if long-as-gently caress books aren't your thing period it's not going to be your thing, period.
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Jul 9, 2012 15:04
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Short answer: Yes. I generally read shorter books (mostly because most books are shorter), but I have no qualms about a long book, I was just curious if it was worth the investment. I started the unabridged version and so far it's interesting, but goddamn does the book ever get off topic a lot into things with only vague importance to the story.
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Jul 9, 2012 15:15
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Lampsacus posted:Somebody in TBB has an excellent blog that includes in-depth reviews of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I think One Hundred Kingdoms is included. They linked to it via a post in a thread here. I've gone over pages and pages but can't find it. I'm not sure if this is it but maybe Staffer's Book Review?
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Jul 15, 2012 19:13
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I'd like to own a Kindle, but don't necessarily need one right now. Should I just wait to see what the next iteration adds? Or is the Kindle Touch pretty much all I need when it comes to e-book reading?
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Jul 22, 2012 01:43
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The Machine posted:I'd like to own a Kindle, but don't necessarily need one right now. Should I just wait to see what the next iteration adds? Or is the Kindle Touch pretty much all I need when it comes to e-book reading? I have a Kindle touch and it's pretty much great for reading. The only thing it can't do well is pictures--they come out blurry and hard to decipher. Maps are basically impossible to read. So if you read a lot of history or non-fiction that has photographs or maps of the events in the book I'd recommend another e-reader (if there are any that do pictures better, I'm not sure that there are), or that you only purchase fiction books on it while continuing to buy non-fiction books in print. But for reading, it works perfectly fine.
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Jul 22, 2012 02:32
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The only really upcoming thing for e-book readers (or already here on the Nook) is the glow light Kindle. If you read at night a lot or something it might be worth waiting for (or, again, purchasing now if you go with the Nook) but otherwise the only major improvement in the foreseeable future is color e-ink which will cost a fortune when it comes out.
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Jul 24, 2012 19:27
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I have a month off from physical therapy school, and I want to cram as much non-academic reading in as I can. I was thinking of reading two or three things by Salman Rushdie. Can anyone recommend their favorites?
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Jul 25, 2012 02:45
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The go-to answer with Rushdie is Midnight's Children. The Moor's Last Sigh and Shame are also good, but they strike me as MC-lite. Then there's The Satanic Verses, which is epic but a little hard to follow if you don't know Islam's history. The Enchantress of Florence is a cool little book, too, with Machiavelli and Akbar the Great as prominent characters. You can't really go wrong with him, but I'd say Enchantress of Florence for something short, Midnight's Children for a longer read.
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Jul 25, 2012 02:55
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Chamberk posted:The go-to answer with Rushdie is Midnight's Children. The Moor's Last Sigh and Shame are also good, but they strike me as MC-lite. Then there's The Satanic Verses, which is epic but a little hard to follow if you don't know Islam's history. The Enchantress of Florence is a cool little book, too, with Machiavelli and Akbar the Great as prominent characters. Awesome, I'll go with those two and The Jaguar Smile. Thanks!
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Jul 25, 2012 03:29
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I read Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, and I really liked it. Now I'm reading his book Kafka on the Shore and liking it a lot less. It's not the magical stuff. I'm worried this is going to be one of those cases where I read one book by an author, love it, then read some more by him and just find samey stories littered with the author's fixations -- things I didn't know were fixations until they started reappearing. In Murakami's case (seemingly): introvert boy meets extrovert girl, one character relating to the narrator the long story of another character's traumatic past, Greek plays, college protests, mini book reviews from the narrator... This happened to me with John Irving (wrestling, sex with an older woman) and Paul Auster (Columbia University, 19th c. American lit, mini book/movie reviews). Should I just finish this book and take a long break from Murakami, or am I wrong about him?
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Jul 26, 2012 23:19
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