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UltimoDragonQuest posted:Looks like it's site troubles. Got it fixed eventually - after 5 days someone from the tech support staff got back to me and flipped the switch on my account to generate recommendations.
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Mar 17, 2013 05:09
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Who has read Wolfhound Century and is it good
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Mar 18, 2013 19:34
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James Herbert's dead
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Mar 20, 2013 19:05
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Divine Blob posted:I just started reading Catch-22, and I'm about 150 pages in. I'm having a lot of trouble with the scene changes, and the dialogue. And I'm considering dropping this, but I was told by some friends that it gets better in the second half. Should I continue reading, I'm sort of enjoying it but I'm getting tired of consistently rereading the conversations. For what it's worth, Catch 22 is my favorite book and has been for years. I think I've read it at least 6 times and each reread has been rewarding in some way. During a reread you'll start piecing together a better chronology and figure out when the chapters take place. There's a lot there to find. Keep going, it's worth it.
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Mar 21, 2013 06:54
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Oh god, I've gotten to the point where my book collection is so big that I've accidentally bought a book I already have (The Last Colony by John Scalzi). I've bought multiple copies of books deliberately before (usually to get a nicer edition when all I've had was a crappy MM paperback), but this was the exact same edition as one I now remember buying about 6 months ago. Oh well, at least it was about AUD$6.
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Mar 21, 2013 07:39
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Recently had someone send me a link to this site. Other than the site design being terrible, knowing when/where massive book sales are going on has been kind of nice. Went to one massive sale in Cobb county in Georgia a couple weeks back that was posted there where the deal was "if you can fit it in a box and carry it, roll it or slide it out the door, the box full of books is $20". Didn't find anything rare or anything like that, but was able to get a mess of hard back novels I'd been wanting to get but didn't want to pay full price for (all of which fit in one of the regular size boxes they had lying around for people to use). 30 hard backs for $20 is pretty nice. I'll definitely be going back to that sale when they do it again in October.
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Mar 21, 2013 12:24
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Divine Blob posted:I just started reading Catch-22, and I'm about 150 pages in. I'm having a lot of trouble with the scene changes, and the dialogue. And I'm considering dropping this, but I was told by some friends that it gets better in the second half. Should I continue reading, I'm sort of enjoying it but I'm getting tired of consistently rereading the conversations. I'd second the call to keep going with "Catch 22" the first time I enjoyed it but didn't quite get all of the jokes in it. The second time I read it I enjoyed it a huge amount more and picked up on a whole heap more of the jokes. It's an incredibly black humoured book but ultimately worth it really.
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Mar 21, 2013 12:39
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Wade Wilson posted:Recently had someone send me a link to this site. Other than the site design being terrible, knowing when/where massive book sales are going on has been kind of nice. Cool, thanks for this. I like going to sales, even if I've got a ton of books I haven't gotten around to reading yet.
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Mar 21, 2013 16:13
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Hedrigall posted:Oh god, I've gotten to the point where my book collection is so big that I've accidentally bought a book I already have (The Last Colony by John Scalzi). Hah. A month or two ago, I was in a used bookstore, and came this close to walking a block back to my car to grab my phone to confirm on librarything that I already had a particular Delillo.
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Mar 21, 2013 19:05
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Wade Wilson posted:Recently had someone send me a link to this site. Other than the site design being terrible, knowing when/where massive book sales are going on has been kind of nice. Good find, thank you for the rec. Nothing going on in my area for a while but I'll keep checking back.
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Mar 22, 2013 01:49
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Michael Cobley, Seeds of Earth, WILL NOT STOP INTRODUCING NEW CHARACTERS GODDAMN. There's like a dozen humans and half dozen aliens at this point and I am having such a hard time keeping track  e: I mean character viewpoints
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Mar 22, 2013 01:52
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Iseeyouseemeseeyou posted:Michael Cobley, Seeds of Earth, WILL NOT STOP INTRODUCING NEW CHARACTERS GODDAMN. There's like a dozen humans and half dozen aliens at this point and I am having such a hard time keeping track It really needs a wiki, or a list of major players or something, kind of like you need when reading A Game of Thrones. However the sequels each have "appendices" (in some editions it's before the main text, other editions it's after) which list characters, species, "previously on...", and so on which is very useful.
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Mar 22, 2013 02:58
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Hedrigall posted:It really needs a wiki, or a list of major players or something, kind of like you need when reading A Game of Thrones. However the sequels each have "appendices" (in some editions it's before the main text, other editions it's after) which list characters, species, "previously on...", and so on which is very useful. Would you mind explaining how 'hyperspace' works in this series? By that I mean the levels, etc. that are referenced by the warpgate. Or does it become clearer as the series progresses? (If it does, don't explain please heh)
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Mar 22, 2013 03:18
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Iseeyouseemeseeyou posted:Would you mind explaining how 'hyperspace' works in this series? By that I mean the levels, etc. that are referenced by the warpgate. Or does it become clearer as the series progresses? (If it does, don't explain please heh) Sorry I'm only partway through the second book :B Seems like it's just infinite? alternate dimensions full of species that are way more hipster & awesome than us in our pathetic little universe. edit: From Michael Cobley himself: "I also wanted to do something different with the notion of hyperspace by turning it into sub-levels of reality made up of old universes, their decayed remnants stacking down into the foundations of reality, like sedimentary layers of continua." Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Mar 22, 2013 |
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Mar 22, 2013 03:56
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Hedrigall posted:Sorry I'm only partway through the second book :B I sort of get it, but at the same time 
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Mar 22, 2013 05:11
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Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart) died earlier today at 82. Here's his obituary in the New York Times.
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Mar 22, 2013 16:43
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Is there a thread in the BB for Lord of the Rings/Middle Earth? (And if not, why the hell isnt there one?!) Google didn't help me find anything but our threads for LOTR Online.
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Mar 24, 2013 22:48
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The Dregs posted:Is there a thread in the BB for Lord of the Rings/Middle Earth? (And if not, why the hell isnt there one?!) Google didn't help me find anything but our threads for LOTR Online. The Hobbit thread in CineD had a lot of folks talking about all the books and the world in it before the movie came out, dunno if they still do, but it wouldn't surprise me. E: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3455569
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Mar 24, 2013 23:30
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The Dregs posted:Is there a thread in the BB for Lord of the Rings/Middle Earth? (And if not, why the hell isnt there one?!) Google didn't help me find anything but our threads for LOTR Online. Right here on the front page! 
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Mar 25, 2013 01:16
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I have no idea how I missed that. Thanks a lot!
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Mar 25, 2013 21:44
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Ugh, I always forget Ellmann's biography of Joyce goes for like $40. Anyone read it? Is it worth dropping that much on?
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Mar 26, 2013 18:13
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barkingclam posted:Ugh, I always forget Ellmann's biography of Joyce goes for like $40. Anyone read it? Is it worth dropping that much on?
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Mar 27, 2013 01:40
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Joramun posted:You're in luck, it's currently discounted to 23 bucks on Amazon. I'm in Canada, so with shipping it's about $32. I guess Book Depository's the way to go ($24 there), but like I said: has anyone read it?
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Mar 27, 2013 03:15
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Just read Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, and I'm sorta confused. I enjoyed the book, but I don't really know what it was trying to say and what I'm supposed to take away from it. Can someone post some words about it? Excuse me if this isn't costumary, I don't usually browse this forum, or even read much for that matter.
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Mar 30, 2013 17:10
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Mutually assured destruction is bad.
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Mar 30, 2013 17:13
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Werner-Boogle posted:Just read Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, and I'm sorta confused. I enjoyed the book, but I don't really know what it was trying to say and what I'm supposed to take away from it. Can someone post some words about it? Part 1 (before he goes to that island) is mostly about science, weapons of mass destruction and the scientists who make those weapons of mass destruction. Part 2 (when he goes to the island) is about religion and how a religion does not have to be true to be helpful/good. Vonnegut is a humanist and not really religious himself, but in Bokononism he tries to explain how "you should believe in the foma (lies) that make you happy". The end brings everything together. It's a lot more than this of course. He asks a lot of ethical questions (ie. is it ethical to encourage suicie if you know a person will never be happy again?), mentions a lot of humanist ideas (ie. everybody is born equal) and wrote some pretty nice poetry as well. Oh, a sleeping drunkard Up in Central Park, And a lion-hunter In the jungle dark, And a Chinese dentist, And a British queen-- All fit together In the same machine. Nice, nice, very nice; Nice, nice, very nice; Nice, nice, very nice-- So many different people In the same device. Walh Hara fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Apr 3, 2013 |
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Apr 3, 2013 12:59
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I'm reading The Idiot and ran across this sentence:quote:'How can we do that quickly? Wait! I'll send it to you today with Koyla, if he calls, or bring it tomorrow, when I go for a walk with the prince,' she concluded, at last, her bewilderment, relieved that she had solved this problem so neatly and convieniently for everyone involved. The bolded comma seems to isolate "her bewilderment" out of the sentence. It it a misprint, a deliberate error, or do I just have the syntax wrong and it's perfectly valid. I don't have as much faith in this edition as I'd like as they mixed up a 3 letter initial within ten lines. e: god drat just as I post this, I figure it out. It is her bewilderment that is concluding, rather than it being relieved as I insisted on reading it.
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Apr 10, 2013 19:18
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Just sort of bought Watership Down blindly. I've seen the trailer for the movie and it looks brutal as gently caress. Is the book also this brutal? I'm not one for super violent stuff. I'm sure it has it's moments but that trailer makes me think it's Killing Rabbits: The Book.
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Apr 17, 2013 01:13
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Have any Atheists here read On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross? I just started reading it and I'm having a hard time agreeing with some of the conclusions she comes to in the book. For example, she states that the grief felt when losing a loved one comes from a feeling of guilt- quote:If someone grieves, beats his chest, tears his hair; or refuses to eat, it is an attempt at self-punishment to avoid or reduce the anticipated punishment for the blame that he takes on the death of a loved one. How does this theory hold up when you apply it to a non-religious person? When a loved one close to me dies, I'm certainty grieving, but not because I feel responsible or guilty. Another quote- quote:The belief has long died that suffering here on earth will be rewarded in heaven. Suffering has lost its meaning. But with this change, also, fewer people really believe in life after death, in itself perhaps a denial of our mortality. Well, if we cannot anticipate life after death, then we have to consider death. If we are no longer rewarded in heaven for our suffering, then suffering becomes purposeless in itself. If we take part in church activities in order to socialize or to go to a dance, then we are deprived of the church's former purpose, namely, to give hope, a purpose in tragedies here on earth, and an attempt to understand and bring meaning to otherwise inacceptable painful occurrences in our life. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is she literally saying that the denial of life after death is entirely purposeless and results in increased aggressiveness and destructiveness in a society? I'm sure on some level, for some people, increased aggressiveness might be the case, but I would argue that denial-of-death is actually very important, and that humans can never fully comprehend and appreciate the cycle of life and death without believing that one day you'll cease to exist entirely. I think that as a society, if we were to collectively abolish our beliefs in religious fairy tales, the world would be a much better and understanding place. I very much disagree with her point that the denial-of-death is a purposeless and hopeless thing. Also, is she implying that people who don't believe in heaven are more likely to kill others "in order to avoid the reality and facing of [their] own death"? What is that even supposed to mean? I don't understand that line of reasoning. The denial of life after death leads people to kill others to avoid dying themselves, or to avoid the fear of dying themselves? Sounds like the same load of crap fear-mongering Christians feed to others in an attempt to make atheists look bad. I bought this book because I've always had a morbid fascination with death and I wanted to learn how to cope with it better, but so far very little of what she says speaks to me. LiterallyAnything fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Apr 17, 2013 |
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Apr 17, 2013 02:02
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Inudeku posted:Just sort of bought Watership Down blindly. I've seen the trailer for the movie and it looks brutal as gently caress. Is the book also this brutal? I'm not one for super violent stuff. I'm sure it has it's moments but that trailer makes me think it's Killing Rabbits: The Book. There's some fights and some torn ears and poo poo and I think a few rabbits die, but it's not super grimdark. It's one of my favorites.
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Apr 17, 2013 05:22
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Inudeku posted:Just sort of bought Watership Down blindly. I've seen the trailer for the movie and it looks brutal as gently caress. Is the book also this brutal? I'm not one for super violent stuff. I'm sure it has it's moments but that trailer makes me think it's Killing Rabbits: The Book. No. Some rabbit death/injury happens but it doesn't overshadow the story or anything. (so basically what Chamberk said, including the part about it being really loving great) Chamberk posted:There's some fights and some torn ears and poo poo and I think a few rabbits die, but it's not super grimdark. It's one of my favorites.
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Apr 17, 2013 11:34
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Brady posted:she states that the grief felt when losing a loved one comes from a feeling of guilt quote:How does this theory hold up when you apply it to a non-religious person? quote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but is she literally saying that the denial of life after death is entirely purposeless and results in increased aggressiveness and destructiveness in a society? quote:Sounds like the same load of crap fear-mongering Christians feed to others in an attempt to make atheists look bad.
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Apr 17, 2013 12:58
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inktvis posted:There doesn't seem to be an explicitly relgious dimension to this statement, so probably much the same. The only reason I asked how it would be different when applied to a non-religious person is because in that quote she says grieving is done to "reduce the anticipated punishment". I just assumed she meant the punishment one might receive when they face God, if they truly blame themselves for the other person's death. Thanks for your thoughts and clarification!
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Apr 17, 2013 20:20
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Inudeku posted:Just sort of bought Watership Down blindly. I've seen the trailer for the movie and it looks brutal as gently caress. Is the book also this brutal? I'm not one for super violent stuff. I'm sure it has it's moments but that trailer makes me think it's Killing Rabbits: The Book. You're in for a real treat, it's one of the great novels of the twentieth century (I think so, anyway). The movie is actually much darker than the book, which is really weird considering it's Disney. The book is as dark as it needs to be and no darker.
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Apr 18, 2013 17:29
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:You're in for a real treat, it's one of the great novels of the twentieth century (I think so, anyway). I might be wrong on this, but I don't think the movie had anything to do with Disney. As far as the book goes, it's definitely a tear jerker, but worth it. My favorite parts are all the fairy tales the rabbits tell to each other  .
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Apr 19, 2013 04:03
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I don't read much. The last book I read was Leviathan Wakes, which was some pretty decent sci-fi mixed with noir. I especially liked the noir aspect of the book and assumed the quality was pretty standard on that front, or probably lower than average since sci-fi is not really highly regarded literature. I also recently watched Jack Reacher, because hey, a story from a popular book has to be way better than the usual crap Hollywood produces right? No. It turned out to be one of the most generic and dumb stories I've ever seen. It actually managed to surprise me multiple times with cliches when I thought it couldn't possibly get worse. What I'm wondering is, is Leviathan Wakes actually the exception rather than the norm when it comes to writing quality in popular fiction? If I pick up a random popular mystery or noir book, am I likely to enjoy it or will it make me as sad and disappointed in the state of storytelling as Jack Reacher did?
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Apr 19, 2013 11:10
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AreYouStillThere posted:I might be wrong on this, but I don't think the movie had anything to do with Disney. El-Ahrairah is a clever and canny chap.
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Apr 19, 2013 16:40
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Mercrom posted:I don't read much. The last book I read was Leviathan Wakes, which was some pretty decent sci-fi mixed with noir. I especially liked the noir aspect of the book and assumed the quality was pretty standard on that front, or probably lower than average since sci-fi is not really highly regarded literature. I also recently watched Jack Reacher, because hey, a story from a popular book has to be way better than the usual crap Hollywood produces right? No. It turned out to be one of the most generic and dumb stories I've ever seen. It actually managed to surprise me multiple times with cliches when I thought it couldn't possibly get worse. It's basically the same as movies, video games, tv, etc. The quality can vary so much that popularity alone isn't a good indication. There's a ton of great stuff on the bestseller lists, but also a ton of crap (and everything in between). You might as well flip a coin to determine your chance of getting something you'll enjoy. It's probably best to do just a little research instead of blindly picking something though.
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Apr 20, 2013 06:40
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I was finishing On the Beach (again) in my favorite little restaurant today and the waitress, who has been working to improve her English took a few moments to sit and talk with me (I'm a regular, this isn't weird, I also bring the owner bottles of bourbon regularly because 'You are from Alabama, you know what good whiskey is' I love the place) and was asking me about it. I finished up, picked up my bag and stood to walk out and she stopped again and asked if had a good ending and without thinking I just held it out and said 'You tell me'. She protested and said 'it's your book' to which I replied 'no, it's YOUR book, enjoy!' and pressed it into her hands. Dear Lord, you'd have thought I gave her a block of gold, it was awesome. She actually smiled and hugged it to her chest and thanked me profusely. It was awesome. I have to do this more. I've really been on a weird kick for the past few months to do stupid stuff like that, randomly paying for someone's groceries behind me (depending on how many they have), or just handing the cashier a $10-$20 and saying 'that's for their stuff' and pointing behind me, it's FUN and I've actually gotten yelled at a couple of times because 'I DON'T NEED YER CHARITY!' but gently caress it. I don't really have a point except I feel like rambling on a bit and I want to encourage everyone to give books to people. I think I'm going to do it more!
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Apr 21, 2013 08:12
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That's awesome. Oprah is smiling down on you proudly. I'm going to try the grocery store thing sometime. (And Nevil Shute rules. A Town Like Alice is one of my all-time favorites.)
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Apr 21, 2013 08:19
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