|
Hey, did anyone see this article in Wired? tl;dr: Orson Scott Card, famously non-tolerant of gays, pleads for tolerance in regards to a proposed boycott of his Ender's Game movie. I can't help but think that half of the problems in American society right now is a matter of people wanting to have it both ways, with Card as a case in point: He wants to hate and attempt to cause problems to whomever he wants, but he doesn't want to suffer any consequences from his actions. 
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2013 17:38
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 16:18 |
|
|
Don't know where to ask this but is there any software alike to Steam for books? Where you can follow authors and be alerted when a new book is announced / released? I'm looking for a good ebook source basically with more features then just an e store. VVVV I even have an account there already, totally forgot about that site. Thanks! Killstick fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Jul 14, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 17:02
|
|
|
Killstick posted:Don't know where to ask this but is there any software alike to Steam for books? Where you can follow authors and be alerted when a new book is announced / released? I'm looking for a good ebook source basically with more features then just an e store. Goodreads will send you emails and such when authors you've read have new books coming out and you can even follow some of them on the site.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 17:50
|
|
|
I won a copy of the new Jim Henson biography from Goodreads. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2013 04:18
|
|
|
Does anyone know of any good used book sites? I use Thriftbooks right now and was wondering what other similar places are out there.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2013 07:54
|
|
|
Abe Books is good, but owned by Amazon.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2013 08:34
|
|
|
fgwsss posted:Does anyone know of any good used book sites? I use Thriftbooks right now and was wondering what other similar places are out there.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2013 08:48
|
|
|
fgwsss posted:Does anyone know of any good used book sites? I use Thriftbooks right now and was wondering what other similar places are out there. I swear by Biblio and particularly Better World Books which has great shipping rates.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2013 22:30
|
|
|
There's also Powells.com, but I find their shipping rates to be a little high. On the bright side, it can never be more than $10.79, but Amazon Prime has me a little spoiled.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2013 22:38
|
|
|
I was wondering if perhaps anybody recognized this series of books? I found them at a used bookstore, and they don't really have any publishing info in them. They do have a publisher on the spine and on the title page, but they're all different houses, like Viking and Houghton Mifflin, and I assume they are the ones that would have owned the rights to whichever book at that particular time. Otherwise, there's no indication as to who put out this series. They're all crime/mystery/thriller titles, and the latest copyright date I found is 1968, so they must be from the late-60s, early-70s. I'm guessing they're a mail order/subscription thing, but I was hoping someone might have more solid info as to the source, even if that's a long shot without any real publishing info. I'm mostly curious as to how many titles there were in all.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2013 07:36
|
|
|
Detective Thompson posted:I was wondering if perhaps anybody recognized this series of books? If I had to guess, I'd say those are old library copies. Library books often get rebound because they get read so much, and it wouldn't surprise me if they were bound the same due to being the same genre. There was an ask/tell thread about library stuff, I think.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2013 22:42
|
|
|
Detective Thompson posted:I was wondering if perhaps anybody recognized this series of books? Is this your set?
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2013 23:05
|
|
|
Looks to be, though a different version, since mine have the red covers. Great Mystery Books doesn't turn up much, if that is the actual title of the series and not just what the Amazon seller is calling them. Still, thanks for finding that, since it shows others in the series. I have The Big Sleep as well, but it's lent out at the moment so it didn't make it into my picture, so there's four from that set that I'm missing.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2013 07:44
|
|
|
fgwsss posted:Does anyone know of any good used book sites? I use Thriftbooks right now and was wondering what other similar places are out there. alibris, abebooks, amazon used&new. I've occasionally scored on ebay for books that cost more than a few bucks elsewhere. addall.com is a decent search aggregator, too.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2013 18:33
|
|
|
Hey book goons. I am trying to remember the name of a book. I read this book when I was in sixth grade, back in about 1996 or so. It is a pretty stereotypical plot from what I recall, but it was the first piece of fantasy media I encountered.. so down the deep, dorky rabbit hole I went. Here are my broken memories of the plot. The hero's father is killed by the villain in front of him when he is a child. All I can remember of the villain is that his name was somewhat Spanish sounding. The hero goes about his life in typical revenge fashion, training to fight and cursing the villains name with every breath. Somehow he meets the two monk-like guys, one of which is blind. They train him in a lot of weapons (specifically teaching him how to hit with a dagger deftly, patiently, and without anger against a tree). Their main training came in the form of building patience, forcing the hero to sit meditatively, repeat the name of the villain, and pour water back and forth from hand to hand until he no longer spilled the water. Eventually, he gets it, and his rage is subdued (although he still wants revenge). Somehow, the villain captures these monks. He brutally slays them in a public arena in an attempt to draw out the hero. The one monk, while he is being killed, catches some of his own blood in his hands and pours it back and forth as a sign to the hero to remember his training. Anyways, somehow the hero confronts the villain and kills his rear end. That's all I remember from over a decade ago. Help me find the title of this book please! fake edit: This book was definitely a fantasy novel. I think. I remember the cover at least was a "typical" 70s/80s fantasy novel. Shirtless buff dude, couple of skinny monk guys, I don't recall the rest.' real edit: The book is The Legend of Tarik. Hooray. joshtothemaxx fucked around with this message at 07:42 on Jul 27, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2013 21:03
|
|
|
WoG posted:addall.com is a decent search aggregator, too.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2013 06:12
|
|
|
So apparently this is a thing now: Amazon opens up the floor to sell Kurt Vonnegut fanfiction. I've been content to ignore the whole Kindle Worlds thing because it seemed to be for mostly ghostwritten franchises anyway. I should probably ignore this too, because I would never in a billion years read anyone attemping blatant Kurt Vonnegut fanfic (that includes you, Phillip Jose Farmer, you goddamned hack). But anyway, I thought this might be fun to poke holes in for a bit. First off, Vonnegut's unique voice is the main draw in all his novels. A great writer's voice is unique. This is why anyone trying to write like Douglas Adams (who I mention because I've read so much wannabe HHG poo poo in CC, and also because gently caress that dude who tried to "finish" the HHG series) or James Joyce (if not just doing it for practice) comes across as a pretentious gently caress. In fact, it may be one of the few cases where "pretentious" is a valid criticism, because that's exactly what they're doing: pretending to someone else's voice. I admit, I've taken inspiration from Vonnegut in my own writing, but never have I attempted to replicate what's he's done because it's my job to find stories and a voice of my own. I just don't get what anyone could accomplish with Vonnegut fanfic. It sounds like the perfect recipe for a literary trainwreck though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2013 03:34
|
|
|
Dude, just wait until you read my Billy Pilgrim/Kilgore Trout slash epic.
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2013 04:39
|
|
|
Aprops of nothing (well, having some downtime during summer vacation), I finally got around to reading Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. Imagine my surprise that the final book of the trilogy, MaddAdam is going to be released this very month! I feel like Oryx and Crake at least gets a bit of reading around these parts, anyone else looking forward to the last book?
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2013 15:31
|
|
|
Shoot, I forgot Maddaddam's due out soon, count me in for excited. YotF was something of a chore to get through because of its narrative structure but it complemented Oryx and Crake pretty well, hoping the new one is a step up from that book.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2013 15:45
|
|
|
fgwsss posted:Does anyone know of any good used book sites? I use Thriftbooks right now and was wondering what other similar places are out there. I've used Alibris a couple of times and the experience has been good. They seem to have a lot of deals and coupons that go out regularly.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2013 16:15
|
|
|
Pompous Rhombus posted:Aprops of nothing (well, having some downtime during summer vacation), I finally got around to reading Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. Imagine my surprise that the final book of the trilogy, MaddAdam is going to be released this very month! I feel like Oryx and Crake at least gets a bit of reading around these parts, anyone else looking forward to the last book? Yessss. I was hoping someone had read Atwood. I've been working my way through her corpus and I panicked for a couple minutes when I couldn't find MaddAdam anywhere. I love how the second book really expands on world building. I read that Atwood did a lot of research for the trilogy and it feels like it, though I'm having trouble with a couple of things that may or may not be addressed. Spoilers for basic plot points in both books I'm hoping we find out what happens to Crake's genetically altered people in the long term. My basic knowledge of genetics makes it seem like they'd be unsustainable. It's interesting how the first book from Jimmy's perspective makes it seem like Crake is working alone but the second makes it seem like he might have been just a mid-level player regarding the virus.
|
|
#
?
Aug 8, 2013 23:58
|
|
|
Where do people look for newish book recommendations? By the time last year's Tournament of Books rolled around, I had read only one on the list. Alternately, is there a metacritic/RT type site for books? I don't need the grade averaging, I'd just like one place to look at reviews and maybe discover new reviewers I like.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2013 12:52
|
|
|
For mainstream-ish literary fiction like you would see in ToB I would recommend The Millions, The Rumpus, maybe Bookslut, or the New York Times book review section (although a lot of people hate it). I don't think a MetaCritic-like site would really work, since most book reviewers don't use a numerical score.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2013 15:55
|
|
|
How would I go about finding the value (if any) of a 60 year old hardbound book? Like I'm pretty sure it's not worth anything, but if I find out that it's worth >$20, later, I'll feel stupid having thrown it out. "The Cruise of the Snark" by Jack London, 1946 edition, btw.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2013 23:22
|
|
|
taco show posted:Where do people look for newish book recommendations? By the time last year's Tournament of Books rolled around, I had read only one on the list. If you have a bunch of stuff on your wish list/purchase history Amazon is pretty good at finding new books. The Millions also has great previews once or twice a year, too.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2013 00:20
|
|
|
an audible groan posted:How would I go about finding the value (if any) of a 60 year old hardbound book? Like I'm pretty sure it's not worth anything, but if I find out that it's worth >$20, later, I'll feel stupid having thrown it out. "The Cruise of the Snark" by Jack London, 1946 edition, btw. Couldn't find any for sale published in 1946, to get better results a publisher would be helpful. But the two that I did get are both from 1949 and I used Abebooks here and here. A decent amount of money but obviously it will depend, just because someone is selling them for that much doesn't mean that anyone will buy it for that price.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2013 00:26
|
|
|
UnquietDream posted:Couldn't find any for sale published in 1946, to get better results a publisher would be helpful. But the two that I did get are both from 1949 and I used Abebooks here and here. A decent amount of money but obviously it will depend, just because someone is selling them for that much doesn't mean that anyone will buy it for that price. Cool, thanks for the info. My copy is a little beat up, but it appears to be worth a little research at least.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2013 01:52
|
|
|
Even if it's not worth the trouble of selling it, just lug it to a charity shop.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2013 10:02
|
|
|
Mr. Squishy posted:Even if it's not worth the trouble of selling it, just lug it to a charity shop. This, somebody who loves books will get it. Fully half of my current collection is just books I found at Friends-of-the-Library sales and the local Goodwill, all of it being books I want to get around to reading at some point, whether they're worth any money or not isn't even really the point. I mean, I've got this old hardbound copy of the minutes from some Prison Association of America or something from 1949 that opens with the President of the association going on about trying to figure out how to combat the notion that prisons are a place of punishment and instead how they should be viewed and constructed as places of rehabilitation for the inmates so that when they are released they can lead productive lives (because, at some point, Society failed to raise the inmates properly the first time around). I haven't read the whole thing yet, but it's drat interesting reading whenever I do have time to sit down and read it. The book probably isn't worth much in terms of money/what I'd get if I tried to sell it, but even once I've finished reading it there's no way I'd just throw it out. If you don't want a book any more and can't sell it easily, donate it, never throw a book in the garbage.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2013 12:36
|
|
|
I asked about this in the recommendation thread but didn't get a response, thought I'd try it here. Is there a single volume or a series that collects all of Shirley Jackson's short stories? If not, what's her best short story collection? Would prefer a physical copy, but something on kindle would be ok too.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2013 08:18
|
|
|
elbow posted:I asked about this in the recommendation thread but didn't get a response, thought I'd try it here. There's no Shirley Jackson omnibus or anything, which is a shame considering how prolific she was. But the Library of America volume on her is quite good and contains an assortment of novels and short stories. It's also a bit pricey, as LoA often are -- but it contains what is probably the most essential Jackson collection, The Lottery and Other Stories, which is widely available as a standalone paperback as well as in a Kindle edition.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2013 14:17
|
|
|
For what it's worth, LOA collections are usually well put together: you can lay them flat without hurting the spine, have nice binding and nice paper (and a little ribbon for a bookmark is sewn in, too). If you treat it well, I bet it'll last you a lot longer than a cheaper paperback.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2013 16:54
|
|
|
taco show posted:Where do people look for newish book recommendations? By the time last year's Tournament of Books rolled around, I had read only one on the list. If you use librarything, they have a few recommendation algorithms (the 'read-alike' one looks a lot better than the generalized one on the front page). I would assume goodreads does something similar. As for how I get recommendations, it's names that pop up in connection with authors I already like in critical material, writers that stood out in anthologies, preview lists like The Millions (I believe I linked the second-half-of-2013 list in this thread a while back), releases from a handful of trustworthy publishers (graywolf, nyrb classics, mcsweeneys,...), random reviews that grab my attention, etc. My stack of unread books is continually growing, so I'm never exactly starved for material.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2013 20:02
|
|
|
I remember reading some Greek myths in high school and want to do it again. What books or resources are there with good translations that you would recommend?
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2013 01:49
|
|
|
H.P. Shivcraft posted:There's no Shirley Jackson omnibus or anything, which is a shame considering how prolific she was. But the Library of America volume on her is quite good and contains an assortment of novels and short stories. It's also a bit pricey, as LoA often are -- but it contains what is probably the most essential Jackson collection, The Lottery and Other Stories, which is widely available as a standalone paperback as well as in a Kindle edition. barkingclam posted:For what it's worth, LOA collections are usually well put together: you can lay them flat without hurting the spine, have nice binding and nice paper (and a little ribbon for a bookmark is sewn in, too). If you treat it well, I bet it'll last you a lot longer than a cheaper paperback. Thanks for the recommendation! I've already read The Haunting of Hill House as well as We Have Always Lived in the Castle, so I might just go for The Lottery and Other Stories by itself. Guacamayo posted:I remember reading some Greek myths in high school and want to do it again. What books or resources are there with good translations that you would recommend? Mythology by Edith Hamilton is widely considered to be a great anthology of Greek myths. I read it a few months ago and really enjoyed it, it's comprehensive and the stories are ordered in a logical way. The only downside for me was that the translations were a bit dry, but that's because they're often quite literal translations of original works, I think.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2013 02:12
|
|
|
Guacamayo posted:I remember reading some Greek myths in high school and want to do it again. What books or resources are there with good translations that you would recommend? If you're looking for an anthology of myths, Penguin just reissued Robert Graves The Greek Myths in one volume, complete with a new introduction. If you're looking for a collection of primary sources, I enjoyed Ovid's Metamorphoses, particularly the Oxford World Classics edition: it's a poetic translation with a good introduction and tons of end notes. I hear Charles Martin's translation is supposed to be good, too and has an introduction by Bernard Knox.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2013 21:53
|
|
|
gently caress, Elmore Leonard died.  Edit: cross-post from the Justified thread. If you haven't read Leonard, you're missing out: Just gonna leave this excerpt here. For me, it sums up Leonard's perfectly American style--funny, brusque, and brilliant. It's from Swag, a novel he published back in the 70's, a book about two guys, Frank and Stick, who decide to go into the armed robbery business. They're holding up a grocery store, this pair of moronic criminals, and you can imagine it in an episode of Justified. -- Frank was at the third checkout counter, digging the bills out of the cash register and stuffing them into a Kroger bag. He looked up to see a woman with hair curlers pushing a cart toward him. He was taken by surprise and his hand went into his jacket for the Python. He'd looked down the aisles and hadn't seen anyone in the store. The woman began unloading her cart--coffee, milk, bread, a few other items--not paying any attention to him. Frank brought his hand out of the jacket. The best thing to do was to get rid of her, fast. He said, "How're you this morning?" and began ringing up the groceries, not looking at her. She was a pale, puffy woman with a permanent scowl etched in her face. And the hair curlers--in case anyone thought she wasn't ugly enough she had light-blue plastic curlers wrapped in her light-blue hair. The woman squinted at him. "You're new." "Yes ma'am, new assistant manager." "Where's your white coat?" He was going to say that a jacket and sunglasses was the new thing for assistant managers, you cluck, you dumb, ugly broad, but he played it straight and told her they were getting him a white coat with his name on it. He punched the total and said, "Four sixty-eight, please." The woman was digging in her purse, looking for something. She took almost a minute to bring out a piece of newspaper, unfold it, and hand it to him. "Coupon for the coffee," the woman said. "Twenty cents off." Frank took the coupon and looked at it. "Okay, then that's four forty-eight. No, wait a minute." He noticed the date on the coupon. "This offer's expired. It's not, you know...redeemable anymore, it's no good." "I couldn't come in yesterday," the woman said. "It's not my fault. I cut the coupon out and there it is." "I'm sorry," Frank said. "It says, see? Thursday and Friday only. Big letters." "I've been coming here fifteen years, using the coupons," the woman said. "My husband and I. We buy all our groceries, our dog food, everything here. I'm one day late and you're going to tell me this is no good?" "I'm sorry, I wish there was something I could do about it." "Yesterday Earl took the car, had Timmie with him. All day he's gone, didn't even feed Timmie the whole while, and I had to sit home alone." "All right--" Frank said. "After all the money this store's made off of us," the woman said. "I could've been going to Farmer Jack, Safeway. No, I come here and then get treated like I'm somebody with food stamps." Frank was about to give in, but he changed his mind. He looked right at the lady now and said, "I got an idea. Why don't you take the coupon--okay?--and the one pound can of Maxwell House coffee and shove 'em up your rear end." When they were in the stolen car, the Kroger bags on the floor, turning out of the parking lot, Frank said, "That loving Earl. He stays out with their car all day, their dog, his old lady gets pissed off and makes life miserable for everybody. Jesus." Stick wasn't listening. He was anxious. He waited for Frank to finish and said, "The manager, you know what he says when I'm leaving? Honest to God, he says, 'Thank you very much, sir, and come back again." "That poor loving Earl," Frank said. "I sure wouldn't want to be him." Asbury fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Aug 20, 2013 |
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2013 15:03
|
|
|
Jesus Christ is there a way to filter self/vanity published poo poo out of you Amazon rec's?
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2013 23:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 16:18 |
|
|
3Romeo posted:gently caress, Elmore Leonard died. Absolutely, I'm a huge fan and his passing made me really sad. There's just something about the way he writes dialouge that feels so authentic.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2013 15:31
|
|