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DirtyRobot posted:He was not paid by the word. This is a myth. The story was serialized, though; all of his novels were. There's a cool (if probably apocryphal) anecdote that people living in places like Boston or New York used to rush to ships just arriving from England and yell at passengers for updates about their favorite characters from whatever story Dickens was then serializing.
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May 8, 2013 23:54
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I started Lolita yesterday, and I'm halfway through part 1 at the moment. I obviously knew what this book was going to be about before I started, but I was not at all prepared for Humbert. Good God, what an evil person. I don't get how anyone could think he's sympathetic, or see this as a love story (the blurbs on the back of my copy are horrifying). On the other hand, it's certainly an interesting read, and I'm finding myself reacting to it more than most books. Sometimes cringing, but mostly tilting my head and raising my brow, but either way it's having an effect on me, which is all I ask for when reading something. And any which way, I'm sure this will go down as a favorite, owing both to Nabokov's voice (which I feel like I've been trying to emulate in my own writing without having even read him before) and to the use of subject matter and the intensity of the emotions I'm sure to be feeling by the end of this.
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May 9, 2013 02:39
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Just started on IQ 184 by Murakami, about 200 pages in and you can definitely tell it's a Murakami novel. It's pretty good so far and I'm looking forward to the next 900 pages.
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May 9, 2013 04:51
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barkingclam posted:There's a cool (if probably apocryphal) anecdote that people living in places like Boston or New York used to rush to ships just arriving from England and yell at passengers for updates about their favorite characters from whatever story Dickens was then serializing. I haven't found a legit source for this, but I've always heard it with respect to news of Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop, which means if someone felt like it they could probably find the right number from the serial, see when that number was released, and check New York and Boston newspapers. Anyways, my point is that the anecdote is hilarious when you consider what happened to Little Nell. It's basically like a bunch of people waiting at New York and Boston harbors to find out news of (GoT spoilers) Ned Stark right before, well, you know. I imagine they went home pretty peeved. Dickens got a bunch of hate mail for it.
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May 11, 2013 17:22
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I just began reading Caliphate, by Tom Kratman, and so far it has been a real eye-opener with regard to the threat that muslims pose to God-fearing Christian civilization; and how liberals are playing right into their hands, selling us out to the enemy. Seriously, though, this book is loving insane. It's a free ebook on Baen's free library. http://www.baenebooks.com/c-1-free-library.aspx VideoTapir fucked around with this message at 16:44 on May 15, 2013 |
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May 15, 2013 16:37
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I am several chapters into "God Bless You, Mr Rosewater" by Vonnegut. I heard this is the novel where he basically advocates for socialism and so far it is certainly fitting that bill!
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May 16, 2013 02:53
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Well, I just fired up Nate Silver's The Signal And The Noise on the old Kindle and boy are there a lot of footnotes. Some were interesting and some were just reference links, are these generally worth the hassle of clicking to? I got the old keyboard Kindle and it's a bit annoying
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May 16, 2013 04:29
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Going out of my comfort zone with The U.S.A. Trilogy.......
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May 16, 2013 16:09
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Started Gardner's The Art of Fiction yesterday. I'm liking it a lot so far. Gardner's mostly saying stuff that I'm agreeing with, which helps, or things I find myself agreeing with that I hadn't thought about before, and he's consistently good-humored about it, so that this book is straightforward and easy to read while still being deep enough to have educational value.MOAR posted:Going out of my comfort zone with The U.S.A. Trilogy....... Out of curiosity, since I was planning to read this trilogy at some point but don't know much about it yet except for its structure, how so? All Nines fucked around with this message at 18:39 on May 16, 2013 |
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May 16, 2013 17:56
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I've started reading Neuromancer, I can't remember if it's super popular or not though.
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May 16, 2013 18:10
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MOAR posted:Going out of my comfort zone with The U.S.A. Trilogy....... Hell yeah, Dos Passos rules. I started Phil Jackson's new autobiography Eleven Rings about a week ago. It's fun so far - he breaks down his rules for leadership, explains what make Michael Jordan tick and quotes The Grateful Dead - but he's glossing over large chunks of his life. I guess its because most readers would rather hear about Jordan or Kobe than him coaching in the minor leagues.
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May 17, 2013 00:51
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juliuspringle posted:I've started reading Neuromancer, I can't remember if it's super popular or not though. It's certainly been influential, that's for sure. Wether you'll enjoy it or not depends on how you react to Gibson's prose, but I think it's his fastest, weirdest and most fun novel. It just has this great sense of speed. The sequels are fun, but since Gibson starts intertwining multiple narratives there, I think it kind of kills the pace.
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May 17, 2013 13:30
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Just finished The Name of the Wind and holy hell is that a marvelous tale with amazing writing! I can't wait to start the next book but going to knock out 11-22-1963 first. Already sucked into that one as the narrator (didn't catch his name) just entered Al's pantry. Was real mad when I arrived at home and couldn't keep listening. On the less interesting front, I'm reading Nurture Shock and What every real estate investors must know about cash flow on the kindle. The former is a really interesting and compelling parenting take that all the truisms we know are wrong and backed up with science. The former is me wanting to expand my rental property empire properly and smartly.
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May 17, 2013 22:18
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All Nines posted:MOAR posted:Going out of my comfort zone with The U.S.A. Trilogy....... It's about as far removed from what I normally read as I can get (comics, sci-fi, horror, Martin Amis, Bret Easton Ellis). Getting into the first part now and just randomly reading parts, it holds my attention. Challenging to read, but so far it is worth the time invested with characters that interest me, descriptive intelligent writing, and epic scope. I hope it can keep going like this.
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May 18, 2013 16:15
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Sobatchja Morda posted:It's certainly been influential, that's for sure. Wether you'll enjoy it or not depends on how you react to Gibson's prose, but I think it's his fastest, weirdest and most fun novel. It just has this great sense of speed. The sequels are fun, but since Gibson starts intertwining multiple narratives there, I think it kind of kills the pace. I agree. Nothing has really lived up to what he did with Neuromancer, but what a novel. It's the only thing I've read more than twenty times over.
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May 18, 2013 16:21
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juliuspringle posted:I've started reading Neuromancer, I can't remember if it's super popular or not though. That's the only novel of his that I liked. Case is a great character.
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May 18, 2013 18:20
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Non fiction: Un pouvoir invisible: Les mafias et la société démocratique (XIXe-XXIe siècles) (An invisible power: mafias and the democratic society) A reference book on the european history of mafia in Europe. Written by Jacques de Saint Victor, history of law professor in the Sorbonne University. I've just read the two first chapters, it looks very well documented but still easy to read. Its principal thesis is that from their roots, mafias are remarkably well adaptative to liberalism and globalization, and so easily benefit of our modern societies.
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May 18, 2013 23:09
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Grammaton posted:That's the only novel of his that I liked. Case is a great character. Neuromancer is the only novel of his that I have read, and I did it over last weekend. I really only read it because I play the Netrunner card game, and wanted to see where the inspiration came from. Basically, if you made a card game from the book, you'd end up with Netrunner. I loved the world and setting, and had a great time reading it. I recently just started The Lies of Locke Lamora, and like what I've read so far. Seems very "Ocean's 11."
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May 19, 2013 00:05
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I just bought and started both Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade by James Reston, Jr., and The Stranger by Albert Camus, and so far I'm loving both of them. I'm much farther into Warriors of God (158 pages vs. 9% into the Kindle version of The Stranger) and it's everything I want in a history book: well-written, fun, and engaging without sacrificing veracity or completeness of information. My only complaint is that I wish there was more detail put into the initial stages of the war and the capture of Jerusalem, but Richard wasn't a part of the war until after Jerusalem fell so I understand why Reston did that, since that's not the story he's trying to tell. It's also remarkably unbiased, showing both the flaws and virtues of both sides. Just absolutely in love with it so far. I'm only in the part of The Stranger where Meursault is visiting his mother's body at the nursing home, so it's harder for me to judge it since the main plot hasn't even really started yet. I really like Meursault, though, he has a unique voice and I just sort of immediately started sympathizing with him. I'm really looking forward to getting further into both these works.
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May 20, 2013 00:25
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I buy a ton of books for various reasons, some of which are merely so that I can archive them for my own reference, others are of such quality/condition that I think they are worth something and I'll be able to pass them on to future generations. I only get to read about 60% of the non-fiction I buy and maybe 25% of the fiction. That said, I'll be ready should I ever find myself in a post-apocalyptic wasteland with no one around and nothing to do. Here's a smattering of what I've been looking at: The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott - A public domain "classic." I don't know much about it, but I wonder if I should have gotten Ivanhoe instead, as I hear now that its mildly more popular. My version is an Easton Press Copy, so if I never get to it, at least it looks great and will hold up very well. Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper - Another Easton Press copy. I'm probably more likely to actually read this one though. Hard Times by Charles Dickens - If my memory serves, this came just before Bleak House, which came just before A Tale of Two Cities (which I've read); all of them have a pronounced social justice theme. Hard Times is apparently about Dickens' interpretation of Utilitarianism, which he interpreted harshly, probably seeing it like many see Randianism or social Darwinism is viewed by many today. I don't know much else except that my copy is in terrible condition. $5 though and it does have some additional commentary/criticism before and after the novel. The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald - His last and unfinished novel. Probably would have turned out to be an amazing work similar to Gatsby (which I just finished). Alas, it is merely a good piece of prose. Its fairly short, probably just a bit larger than Gatsby.
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May 20, 2013 17:17
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Reading 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card - spurned on to re-read this amazing story when seeing the previews for the movie coming out. Recently finished 'Song of Fire and Ice' series George R R Martin, the five books published- it is brutal and beautiful and will burn out enjoyment of the show. I do not miss the show and when my psychological pain/scars fade from the first read... I will reread this series.
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May 21, 2013 19:36
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WeaponGradeSadness posted:I'm only in the part of The Stranger where Meursault is visiting his mother's body at the nursing home, so it's harder for me to judge it since the main plot hasn't even really started yet. I really like Meursault, though, he has a unique voice and I just sort of immediately started sympathizing with him. I just started reading The Stranger for my French reading group, and yeah it's kinda weird because I see a lot of myself in the main character, while everyone keeps saying he's being a weirdo.  I also just started up Everything is Illuminated, it is beautifully full of riot.
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May 22, 2013 04:30
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appropriatemetaphor posted:I just started reading The Stranger for my French reading group, and yeah it's kinda weird because I see a lot of myself in the main character, while everyone keeps saying he's being a weirdo. Yeah, I finished it in like two sittings because it's so short, and I empathized way more with Meursault than is probably healthy. Absolutely great book, it's definitely one of my new favorites.
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May 22, 2013 05:02
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So then it's a bit like La peste, allegorical but with an accessible writing style? I will have to check it out, then. I ask because I bought L'homme révolté (one of his more philosophical works) a few years ago and I had no idea what the gently caress he was talking about. I can say without exaggerating that I was lost from the very first page.
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May 22, 2013 05:14
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Just started The Brothers Karamazov yesterday (Pevear and Volokhonsky translation), having already enjoyed the Garnett translation of Crime and Punishment. I'm only 46 pages in so far, but the characters are already interesting and I can't wait to see what sort of direction this goes in, not really fully knowing how to take any of it so far. It also makes me wish I was more familiar with the Bible. I'll also make a note to start The Stranger next, before I get into Pride and Prejudice. MOAR posted:It's about as far removed from what I normally read as I can get (comics, sci-fi, horror, Martin Amis, Bret Easton Ellis). Ah. That's good to know. Not that I know when I'll ever get around to it with all the other unread books on my shelf.
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May 22, 2013 05:50
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Just started on The Temple of Dawn by Mishima, I want to finish the tetralogy by summer. Can't read it in Japanese yet, sadly, but I was told that his Japanese reads a bit like it were translated from English or German to begin with, and his prose is so beautiful even in translation.
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May 22, 2013 10:13
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Just started The Petrovitch Trilogy by Simon Morden. So far, so good... Glad I grabbed it on the cheap for the Kindle a while back.
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May 22, 2013 15:02
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tonytheshoes posted:Just started The Petrovitch Trilogy by Simon Morden. So far, so good... Glad I grabbed it on the cheap for the Kindle a while back. I really like these books- a fourth one was just published in the last month or so and is equally enjoyable.
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May 22, 2013 15:12
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Just started One Thousand and One Nights like someone many posts before me. Digging it so far, about 200 pages in. These stories are so entertaining some times. Oh, your son married the slave woman you bought for your king? That's cool just explain everything and the king will make your son a vizier, give him a shitton of gold and hold off on executing your whole family. Wait, what's that? Oh, just a chest with a bitter genii in it who will kill you cause you opened the chest... nah you tricked him back into the chest but now he wants to tell you a story that'll convince you to let him out again? Fool me once, genii... oh! Actually your story has wholly convinced me, I'll let you out again and tell you a story that will make you want to grant at least one of my wishes... Repeat ad infinitum. The stories always involve a righteous person explaining all their trials and tribulations and hardships... then love prevails.
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May 23, 2013 22:58
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Just started The Guns of August, which I got curious about after hearing a review of an entirely different book about WWI: The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, maybe I'll read that one next, I've never been particularly interested in the first world war so it should be interesting to delve into it a bit. I also picked up Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré which I'll either start next, or if I take a break from WWI.
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May 24, 2013 05:48
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I've had World War Z lying around for years. Figured I should finally give it a whirl before the movie comes out (which I won't see because it looks loving awful).
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May 30, 2013 10:33
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Eh, even the author said the only thing they kept was the title. I kinda wanna see it, but then again I like bad movies.
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May 30, 2013 14:44
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I started Infinite Jest yesterday, and I am starting to wonder whether I can keep up with this book for 1000 pages. I like a lot of it, but some of it just comes out of left field and seems completely out of place in the chapter.
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Jun 2, 2013 03:33
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All Nines posted:I started Lolita yesterday, and I'm halfway through part 1 at the moment. I obviously knew what this book was going to be about before I started, but I was not at all prepared for Humbert. Good God, what an evil person. I don't get how anyone could think he's sympathetic, or see this as a love story (the blurbs on the back of my copy are horrifying). On the other hand, it's certainly an interesting read, and I'm finding myself reacting to it more than most books. Sometimes cringing, but mostly tilting my head and raising my brow, but either way it's having an effect on me, which is all I ask for when reading something. And any which way, I'm sure this will go down as a favorite, owing both to Nabokov's voice (which I feel like I've been trying to emulate in my own writing without having even read him before) and to the use of subject matter and the intensity of the emotions I'm sure to be feeling by the end of this. Now go read some lolicon rationalizations on reddit or whereever they're hanging out these days for a less literate version of the EXACT SAME THING. When I started reading it, all I could think is "wait, I've seen all these arguments before...loving Internet!"
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Jun 2, 2013 08:38
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All Nines posted:Started Gardner's The Art of Fiction yesterday. I'm liking it a lot so far. Gardner's mostly saying stuff that I'm agreeing with, which helps, or things I find myself agreeing with that I hadn't thought about before, and he's consistently good-humored about it, so that this book is straightforward and easy to read while still being deep enough to have educational value. I just found this thread and skipped to the end, so pardon me if you've said this earlier, but have you read his polemic On Moral Fiction? If not, I'd recommend it, if only because you like TAoF so far, and (secret reason) I'd be curious to know what you think of his arguments in that book. Edit: for content: I just started Wolf Hall (by Hilary Mantel) for another Internet forum book club/reading group thing. Wasn't expecting it to grab me right away, but it has, within the first chapter. We'll see if that attraction holds up. I also recently bought The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Telegraph Avenue, and By Blood among others, but haven't started any of them yet. Too much other stuff I've already begun a while back and need to finish reading first. minidracula fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 17:18
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Just began reading On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers--I've never seen the POTC movie based on it, and I never played the Monkey Island game based on it, so I didn't know anything going in--enjoying it quite a lot so far.
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Jun 3, 2013 14:36
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Just finished Stephen King's 11-22-63 and cannot recommend it enough. The ending is incredibly satisfying and a fantastic trip the whole way through. I've never read any other King and am thinking I need to start doing so. Now that that's finished, I'll start Eye of the World, the first book in the Wheel of Time series on Audiobook while I continue a re-read of A Game of Thrones on my Kindle.
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Jun 5, 2013 03:11
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I'm halfway through Catcher in the Rye and I'm wondering two things. One, how did I read almost half a book in three hours, and two, why have I avoided this book all my life? Seriously, Holden Caufield is the most relatable character ever written, I think. I might have to pick up every one of Salinger's books now.
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Jun 6, 2013 06:30
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I have enough books I haven't read or want to reread, but since I recently moved to the NY area I went to Strand for the first time yesterday and ended up grabbing a couple more since they were reasonably priced used. I picked up Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and, after reading the first chapter on the ride home I think I'm going to enjoy it. His prose is beautiful and I get the feeling that simply reading it and chewing on the phrases he uses is going to be a pleasure. I also got Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union. I was originally trying to get Cavalier & Klay but they didn't seem to have it. Right now I'm working by way through Tess of the d'Urbervilles since my wife is reading it also and I wanted a break from more current literature, which I love but it can get depressing. I read it a long time ago, but reading it again I like the way that Hardy sets up a theme of how the world has and is changing as it begins to really enter the modern age. It's wonderfully captured in the father's repeated song about how he "has some of the prettiest skeletons in the land" (or however it goes).
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Jun 6, 2013 17:05
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z0331 posted:I picked up Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and, after reading the first chapter on the ride home I think I'm going to enjoy it. His prose is beautiful and I get the feeling that simply reading it and chewing on the phrases he uses is going to be a pleasure. I felt the same way about the prose in The Yiddish Policemen's Union as you are with The Satanic Verses, so I think you'll like that as well.
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