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Inspector Zenigata posted:I don't know; I feel like it deals with some concepts that may be difficult for the so-called "target audience" to fully grasp, e.g. the complicated subtextual dynamic between empty calories and type 2 diabetes (two of the primary characters in the works of G. Mills). I think it really takes a discerning and discriminating palate to truly appreciate all of its subtleties. I understand where you are coming from. Mills takes a very similar approach regarding the homosexual African American experience in their follow up "Cocoa Puffs".
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Feb 11, 2014 03:34
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Stravinsky posted:Do not do this. Don't do what?  Locker Room Zubaz posted:Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse-Five are two of my favorite books because they don't just tell you "Hey you should hate war its hell" they show you what being in incredibly hosed up positions does to people who were somewhat normal. No one in Catch-22 could be described as even somewhat normal, except possibly Yossarian. They're all completely absurd right from the beginning.
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Feb 11, 2014 04:39
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Roydrowsy posted:I understand where you are coming from. It helps to approach Mill's Box of Lucky Charms as the spiritual sequel to Ulysses especially when you consider its views on Irish culture.
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Feb 11, 2014 04:52
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Stravinsky posted:I went on google and searched that book and well..... look at the second result: https://www.google.com/search?q=pre...:en-US:official Seeing has how half the results on the game's random char-gen chart are some form of post-apoc mutant animal (seriously, one game I played we had wheeled rat swarm, a half-rock cockroach, and a "time hawk") it didn't really bother me. But hey, if you want to be the arbiter of what people can and cannot read you can go through my goodreads "to read" shelf and let me know what is and isn't ok for me to read.
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Feb 11, 2014 05:10
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8one6 posted:Seeing has how half the results on the game's random char-gen chart are some form of post-apoc mutant animal (seriously, one game I played we had wheeled rat swarm, a half-rock cockroach, and a "time hawk") it didn't really bother me.  8one6 posted on Feb 9, 2014 23:47 posted:20) Halo: The Flood (Halo #2) by William C. Dietz I guess I wouldn't understand though I don't read for pleasure. lol
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Feb 11, 2014 05:18
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8one6 posted:Seeing has how half the results on the game's random char-gen chart are some form of post-apoc mutant animal (seriously, one game I played we had wheeled rat swarm, a half-rock cockroach, and a "time hawk") it didn't really bother me. It was funny thing to find is all dude. Stravinsky fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 05:32
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AllanGordon posted:I guess I wouldn't understand though I don't read for pleasure. lol I've never made a secret of my terrible taste.
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Feb 11, 2014 05:33
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Tiggum posted:Don't do what? Slowly kill me. Everyone in the book, Yossarian included, were absolutely absurd. And everything hints at that they were not actually that way, or at least that bad prior to the war. Its just the absurd messed up situation just made them conform with the absurdism or help exacerbate what was a relatively normal problems (Cathcart's mix of arrogance and no self confidence) into absurd proportions.
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Feb 11, 2014 05:55
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I guess what I am saying is that if you are looking for a straight man in Catch-22, its going to be the chaplin but he is pretty absurd in his own ways as well.
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Feb 11, 2014 06:10
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6. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck An interesting and mostly engaging "pop-psychology" book on two different mindsets that people have, fixed vs. growth, and their effect on life. The premise itself is easy enough to get in a two minute YouTube video but the book was padded out with lots of examples and stories. A nice read to get you thinking about your reactions to success and failure. 7. The White Company by Glen Cook The final book in the first Black Company trilogy, and the book where Cook seems to find his voice. The fantasy is amped-up but never overwhelms the helplessness of the protagonist against these huge forces. The morality is more ambiguous, the characters are much more complex, and drat I loved this trilogy. It's only $8 for the whole thing on Kindle so pick it up!
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Feb 11, 2014 07:13
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Zebco posted:I can't tell if anyone is serious about reading He-Man books or Adventure Time comics or furry post-apocalyptic fiction or whatever. No, you gotta be an english/philosophy major because you like making fun of people who like to read comic books and novelizations of Saturday Morning Cartoons. Seriously, at least they're reading. I'd say minimum 60% of the population these days don't even read comic books, they're too busy playing flappy birds on their phone, which is why I think it's so counter productive to make fun of people just because they're not reading Nabokov. Reading *anything* regardless of subject matter is going to teach you how to spell better and string a sentence together, so why give them a hard time about it? I'm not saying it isn't more beneficial to be reading high level fiction but not everyone chooses to enrich themselves through the written word and not everyone can appreciate Dostoyevsky (I myself am not a fan of most of the Russians) so why give a poo poo about what they read as long as they're reading? I've hit a bit of a wall in my reading challenge, still hoping to pick up speed when work/life slows down a bit. I've picked up 4 or 5 different books and then put them down again because nothing is catching my interest. I'm currently 2 books behind on my challenge, and alternating between The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime by Judith Flanders and The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli. I'm hoping the mix of fiction/non-fiction will jar me out of my burn-out. AllanGordon posted:I too read first drafts that are scanned over by an editor once and then proclaimed good enough and then sent out to make money from the wallmart book shelf by the halloween candy to improve my grammar and spelling. If you want to check out my goodreads bookshelf go ahead, you'll find I read a lot of stuff and none of it happen to be d&d books. But then again, you're in a reading challenge thread and have yet to put any kind of challenge up, or even shown us what kind of books you actually *do* like to read? I'd love to see what kind of enlightened amazing material you're reading so that I can learn from your greatness. Poutling fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 07:23
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I too read first drafts that are scanned over by an editor once and then proclaimed good enough and then sent out to make money from the wallmart book shelf by the halloween candy to improve my grammar and spelling. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Feb 11, 2014 07:28
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Stravinsky posted:I guess what I am saying is that if you are looking for a straight man in Catch-22, its going to be the chaplin but he is pretty absurd in his own ways as well. I wasn't though. I was responding to Locker Room Zubaz saying that "they show you what being in incredibly hosed up positions does to people who were somewhat normal", and at no point in the book were any of the characters normal. I'd still like to know what you were referring to when you said "Do not do this".
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Feb 11, 2014 09:27
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Tiggum posted:I'd still like to know what you were referring to when you said "Do not do this". Put the two things together. Do not slowly kill him. I guess by misunderstanding what the book was about? Fellwenner fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 10:37
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Hi I want in on this - I'm going to shoot for 52 books this year also I hate goodreads.
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Feb 11, 2014 17:20
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Poutling posted:Seriously, at least they're reading. The thing is, I don't even necessarily agree with this statement, I actually think if you're in this thread then comics should be a supplement to other literary works. At the very least you should aspire to use comics as a jumping off point to something that is going to be more intellectually challenging (unless all of the comics you read are on the level of Watchmen I guess but even that has a ton of long form prose at the end of each chapter). What I disagree with is a bunch of dudes coming in here to mock and belittle everyone as if that is the way to make the thread better. Like, now we have rhetorical arguments about the value of comics and a bunch of parody posts, yep things are certainly starting to look better now. Raise the level of discourse by posting and discussing what you're reading at least (Stravinsky at least has started doing this). quote:I've hit a bit of a wall in my reading challenge, still hoping to pick up speed when work/life slows down a bit. I've picked up 4 or 5 different books and then put them down again because nothing is catching my interest. I'm currently 2 books behind on my challenge, and alternating between The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime by Judith Flanders and The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli. I'm hoping the mix of fiction/non-fiction will jar me out of my burn-out. Reading short story collections/anthologies always helps me with this. You get full stories, often from a variety of different voices, in quick rapid succession. I hit a similar wall a few years ago reading through (ironically) How to Read a Book, and what got me out of my slump was starting my morning commute reading a short story and then finishing my main book when I was more awake later in the afternoon. -- In order to follow thread rules and not be a hypocrite, here is my progress for this month so far: 9. The Planets by Dava Sobel - This was absolutely fantastic. It was recommended in the History Book Thread and I bought it basically on the strength of the gorgeous cover and poster Bobbie Wickham's short description: "Each chapter focuses on a single theme: the chapter about Saturn uses music as a framing device, and compares the rings of Saturn to musical resonance." It goes into the history of each planet's discovery, the physical properties of each planet, their place in mythology and popular culture, as well as a variety of other themes. I am also about halfway through The Lies of Locke Lamora and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
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Feb 11, 2014 17:24
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Guy A. Person posted:What I disagree with is a bunch of dudes coming in here to mock and belittle everyone as if that is the way to make the thread better. Like, now we have rhetorical arguments about the value of comics and a bunch of parody posts, yep things are certainly starting to look better now. Raise the level of discourse by posting and discussing what you're reading at least (Stravinsky at least has started doing this). This is a personal story that I hesitated to discuss because of the really negative atmosphere in here right now but it really illustrates why I get so upset when people belittle those that read only comics or 'd&d books'. When I was in college, I had a friend who had dropped out of high school and considered herself to be extremely dumb. She wasn't dumb but had very low self esteem, and had a hard time with concentration. She read mainly superhero comics and manga, and spent a lot of time online roleplaying on text based games. In the course of our friendship she slowly grew out of her shell and we talked about our common interests, which happened to include comics. I introduced her to some more 'highbrow' graphic novels like Sandman, and then from there, started talking about some of the novels that I had been reading. The turning point came when I was telling her about a book that I had really enjoyed which happened to be The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez Reverte. She picked up that book and absolutely *loved* it. She went out and picked up all of his other books. After that, we talked more about fiction and what other books I had been reading. She read Murakami, and Mishima, and realized she wasn't as 'stupid' as she thought, it was just no one had taken the time to talk to her and present her with options that she could enjoy, and so she had never really learned how to read and appreciate. She went on to get her GED and then joined the army and got a college degree. She's still in the army now but is doing fantastically well and I'm extremely proud of her. But whenever someone picks on someone for reading only X-men and Naruto I always think of this girl, and I think of the fact that it's easier to make someone a true reader if they had the propensity to read in the first place, regardless of the subject matter and content. Reading for pleasure is a skill like any other skill that has to be practiced and developed and can evolve but if you never like to read anything at all, you're probably never going to pick up any kind of fine literature. Everyone had to start somewhere, I'm sure that all these naysayers didn't start off by reading William Faulkner. My own 'call to literature' was Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys when I was 19, I still remember the moment of revelation when I finished it. Guy A. Person posted:Reading short story collections/anthologies always helps me with this. You get full stories, often from a variety of different voices, in quick rapid succession. I hit a similar wall a few years ago reading through (ironically) How to Read a Book, and what got me out of my slump was starting my morning commute reading a short story and then finishing my main book when I was more awake later in the afternoon. I've been thinking about doing this and picked up She Nailed a Stake Through His Head which is a collection of biblical retellings but I'm afraid I'm too secular to really jump into this without being *into* reading at the moment, I think this was a case of a very bad choice. Maybe I'll give a different short story collection a try, something a bit lighter.
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Feb 11, 2014 17:44
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Tiggum posted:I'd still like to know what you were referring to when you said "Do not do this". I meant don't do this to me. I was not being really serious so its nothing to be overly concerned about to be honest.
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Feb 11, 2014 19:36
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Poutling posted:This is a personal story that I hesitated to discuss because of the really negative atmosphere in here right now but it really illustrates why I get so upset when people belittle those that read only comics or 'd&d books'. When I was in college, I had a friend who had dropped out of high school and considered herself to be extremely dumb. She wasn't dumb but had very low self esteem, and had a hard time with concentration. She read mainly superhero comics and manga, and spent a lot of time online roleplaying on text based games. In the course of our friendship she slowly grew out of her shell and we talked about our common interests, which happened to include comics. I introduced her to some more 'highbrow' graphic novels like Sandman, and then from there, started talking about some of the novels that I had been reading. The turning point came when I was telling her about a book that I had really enjoyed which happened to be The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez Reverte. Asking questions, having discussion and making jokes should not really be construed as negative atmosphere I think. Defend your opinions. For me at least when I see a bunch of star wars and comic books or whatever that puts up a bunch of red flags. I want people to expand their world and sometimes that means pointing out that you have a million comic books in your challenge list in the book barn. And everyone feels stupid sometimes (except me cause I'm super smart and strong and have sex with women) but there's this great resource of a sub forum where you can post about poo poo you don't understand and I'm sure someone can help out and at least point you to the right direction.
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Feb 11, 2014 19:44
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Stravinsky posted:doo doo without having joined the challenge plz keep  opinionz to yourself while I enjoy my manga challenge. tia REDFLAG JANUARY READING REPORT -Signed, Tacohead, BA: English e: for funzies Tacohead fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 19:55
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Poutling posted:No, you gotta be an english/philosophy major because you like making fun of people who like to read comic books and novelizations of Saturday Morning Cartoons. Hey, can we not trash on people who study English and Philosophy just cause there are a couple of people in the thread who are being rude? I get tired of reading Shakespeare, McCarthy, and Kierkegaard all the time, so I like breaking them up with DC comics and Star Wars. There's nothing wrong with including a comic on your PERSONAL READING CHALLENGE list.
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Feb 11, 2014 19:57
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Stravinsky posted:Asking questions, having discussion and making jokes should not really be construed as negative atmosphere I think. Defend your opinions. For me at least when I see a bunch of star wars and comic books or whatever that puts up a bunch of red flags. I want people to expand their world and sometimes that means pointing out that you have a million comic books in your challenge list in the book barn. And everyone feels stupid sometimes (except me cause I'm super smart and strong and have sex with women) but there's this great resource of a sub forum where you can post about poo poo you don't understand and I'm sure someone can help out and at least point you to the right direction. I think copying someone's entire reading challenge list and replying with 'loving lol' counts as a negative atmosphere, no? Why would that person ever want to post again, just to allow you to judge them? To borrow from your gym analogy, if you see someone doing a bunch of horrible pull ups where they're not even pulling halfway up towards the bar, is it better to laugh at them and go "OH MY GOD LOOK AT YOU weirdo you can't even do one pull up HA HA HA" or is it better to show them how to do an *actual* pull up so that they can do it the right way? If you really wanted to steer someone towards positive choices why don't you suggest books to them that they might like based on the comics they are reading? Which is what I ended up doing for my friend and it worked. You may not have meant to do it but you started a trend of people coming in here and making mean spirited jokes and kicking sand around and being lovely to people who just want to read some freaking comics. Blind Sally posted:Hey, can we not trash on people who study English and Philosophy just cause there are a couple of people in the thread who are being rude? I get tired of reading Shakespeare, McCarthy, and Kierkegaard all the time, so I like breaking them up with DC comics and Star Wars. There's nothing wrong with including a comic on your No offense meant to you Blind Sally, I apologize it was a lovely thing to say. I'm actually an english lit major/classical studies minor so if anything, my degree is probably worth more derision in certain circles than yours 
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Feb 11, 2014 20:07
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It's interesting to read about someone else struggling with Catch 22. I've had a crack at it a couple of times and it's never gelled with me, perhaps because I'm reading it from the perspective of someone who has experienced other works heavily influenced by it over the years. I had more luck with Something Happened by Heller, but I wasn't at my most mentally healthy when reading it and had to quit for my own sake. That book is rough going.
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Feb 11, 2014 20:27
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Poutling posted:I think copying someone's entire reading challenge list and replying with 'loving lol' counts as a negative atmosphere, no? Why would that person ever want to post again, just to allow you to judge them? To borrow from your gym analogy, if you see someone doing a bunch of horrible pull ups where they're not even pulling halfway up towards the bar, is it better to laugh at them and go "OH MY GOD LOOK AT YOU weirdo you can't even do one pull up HA HA HA" or is it better to show them how to do an *actual* pull up so that they can do it the right way? If you really wanted to steer someone towards positive choices why don't you suggest books to them that they might like based on the comics they are reading? Which is what I ended up doing for my friend and it worked. You may not have meant to do it but you started a trend of people coming in here and making mean spirited jokes and kicking sand around and being lovely to people who just want to read some freaking comics. Some one said a thing was purely hypothetical and there was no way that anyone would do that. I posted evidence of it from this thread. Its a funny thing that I felt would be overlooked by people. And I would totally try and recommend books. But in the same analogy I said someone was doing pull ups all hosed up then they freaked out and said don't tell me how to do pullups, its my pull ups why should you care how I do my pull up exercise. Challenge related: I read a slew of Derek Walcott's poems. I felt that they were ok and nothing that stellar. He can paint a nice scene, but it feels like its the same three scenes time and time again and again all through out his poems.
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Feb 11, 2014 20:34
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Disco Pope posted:It's interesting to read about someone else struggling with Catch 22. I've had a crack at it a couple of times and it's never gelled with me, perhaps because I'm reading it from the perspective of someone who has experienced other works heavily influenced by it over the years. I'm going to take Stravinsky's advice and try to tackle it again later in the year. A lot of people have said a lot of good things about the book and part of my reason for reading it in the first place was to try and get something out of it.
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Feb 11, 2014 20:37
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Stravinsky posted:Some one said a thing was purely hypothetical and there was no way that anyone would do that. I posted evidence of it from this thread. Its a funny thing that I felt would be overlooked by people. And I would totally try and recommend books. But in the same analogy I said someone was doing pull ups all hosed up then they freaked out and said don't tell me how to do pullups, its my pull ups why should you care how I do my pull up exercise. Maybe it's a terrible analogy? If you're looking to read more poetry, might I recommend Robert Hass if you haven't read him already? He's a Californian, so his works definitely have a west coast sort of attitude to them (which might be why I like him so much). He has a decent collection that was released a few years ago entitled The Apple Trees At Olema, but if you can dig up some of his original published material (Field Guide, Praise, Human Wishes, or Sun Under Wood), I found they were far more powerful read in their original book.
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Feb 11, 2014 20:44
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Iron Council was a brutal slog and accounts for most of the month; I read the other five books in the last week. I liked it more than Perdido Street Station, but not, I think, enough for me to keep reading Mieville. I like the style of his writing at the small scale, and I like Bas-Lag, but the overall plots just leave me cold. PSS was "are you loving serious? This won awards?"; Iron Council, like The Scar, was "wow, that was just...not worth the effort." ToxicFrog fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 20:51
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Stravinsky posted:Asking questions, having discussion and making jokes should not really be construed as negative atmosphere I think. Defend your opinions. For me at least when I see a bunch of star wars and comic books or whatever that puts up a bunch of red flags. I want people to expand their world and sometimes that means pointing out that you have a million comic books in your challenge list in the book barn. And everyone feels stupid sometimes (except me cause I'm super smart and strong and have sex with women) but there's this great resource of a sub forum where you can post about poo poo you don't understand and I'm sure someone can help out and at least point you to the right direction. I mean, the way you started was by asking what you claimed was just a legitimate question ("I honestly just want to know"), and then when people responded you began arguing semantics (whether Breaking Bad would could as a film etc) and picking at their responses, then started to outright mock people after that. I don't disagree with your overall point, just the way you approached it, at least initially. Then a couple of other posters came in and started shitposting us into submission with their parody posts and insults. But then you also posted the Hedayat thread and someone else posted the "Books that aren't awful MEGATHREAD" and both of those threads are pretty cool, and I think a better way to do things . And you at least have started to engage in actual discussion about books. I guess I just think the best way to improve the forum is to bring in more people who are going to post discussion on actual good books (and aren't afraid of the "sci-fi ghetto"), rather than coming in here to try and tear down the system one insult at a time. Guy A. Person fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 20:54
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Stravinsky posted:
What exactly are you looking to get out of your poetry experience? I would argue that poetry is probably the most difficult of the literary arts to both create and appreciate, and it is by nature designed to create a visceral response within the reader, so if Walcott isn't resonating with you then you may have to think and refine your challenge a bit more to gain the most of your reading experience. Judging from your other posts in the forum you might enjoy something from the Modernists more, perhaps TS Eliot or Ezra Pound? Have you read The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock yet? That's where most admirers of the modernists start. Otherwise you might also check out some of Borges' poems if you like magic realism, or Pablo Neruda is another poetry fave. Another couple of popular translated poets (since you seem to like world literature so much) are CP Cavafy and Rainer Maria Rilke. I am also a big fan of Canadian Poet Alden Nowlan who is very much the opposite of the modernists and has a very simple and honest style that really speaks to me.
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Feb 12, 2014 00:31
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Slow beginning to the year, but this is what I have so far. Not in any particular order: 1: The Pretender: Rebirth by Steve Long Mitchell/Craig W Van Sickle 2: The Unwelcome Warlock by Lawrence Watt-Evans 3: Known Devil - Justin Gustainis 4: One Foot in the Grave - Wm. Mark Simmons 5: Earth, Air, Fire, Custard - Tom Holt 6: In Your Dreams - Tom Holt 7: The Portable Door - Tom Holt 8: Once in a Blue Moon - Simon Green 9: Ex-Purgatory - Peter Clines 10: The Unhandsome Prince - John Moore 11: A Fate Worse Than Dragons - John Moore 12: Bad Prince Charlie - John Moore 13: Disenchanted - Robert Kroese 14: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett 15: Faded Steel Heat - Glen Cook 16: Who's Afraid of Beowulf? - Tom Holt 17: The Cleansing - Sam Kates The Pretender was bad. Review in the "Just finished" thread. Unwelcome Warlock was awesome. Known Devil was pretty good. OFITG was meh. Not great, interesting story idea, but just "meh". EAFC was decent. In your Dreams was ok. Portable Door was good. OIABM was awesome. Ex-Purgatory was pretty good. Unhandsome Prince was decent, but kinda "meh" AFWTD was ok. BPC was ok. Disenchanted was pretty good. Monstrous Regiment was decent. Faded Steel Heat was ok. Not great, just odd. WAOB was decent. Not great but pretty good. The Cleansing ... not great. Not bad but a new take on the apocalypse. Kinda weird, but readable.
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Feb 12, 2014 01:49
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Mad Wack posted:I hate goodreads. Why is that? Stravinsky posted:I meant don't do this to me. I was not being really serious so its nothing to be overly concerned about to be honest. I wasn't concerned. I am curious though as to why you take other people's choice of reading material or enjoyment of certain books so personally. Why does it affect you to know that someone only reads comics or doesn't like Catch-22?
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Feb 12, 2014 03:14
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He has repeatedly posted that he likes to see people grow, presumably out of a sense of love for all mankind.
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Feb 12, 2014 03:26
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I think you should only post in here if you've set a challenge for yourself. Kind of like in the 'What Are You Wearing Today' thread, where you can't critique someone's outfit unless you've posted one of your own. I also think we should all love each other 
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Feb 12, 2014 03:41
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Tiggum posted:Why is that? The interface on the website is awful - like something from 2003.
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Feb 12, 2014 04:22
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Just got back from my summer holiday (Southern hemisphere, yo), and I've read a few books. The first four were read prior to going on holiday. #10: And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life - Charles J. Shields. #11: You Don't Know Me But You Don't Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes - Nathan Rabin. #12: The Conquest of Gaul - Julius Caesar. #13: What Fresh Lunacy Is This? The Authorized Biography of Oliver Reed - Robert Sellers. #14: Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops - Ken Mandelbaum. #15: Reading Women: How the Great Books of Feminism Changed My Life - Stephanie Staal. #16: Best Books of 2013: Reader's Guide - Amazon Book Editors. #17: Terms of Enlistment - Marko Kloos. #18: Lines of Departure - Marko Kloos. #19: On Such A Full Sea - Chang-Rae Lee. #20: Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea - Barbara Demick. #21: Life After Life - Kate Atkinson. #22: Feed - Mira Grant. #23: High Sobriety: My Year Without Booze - Jill Stark. #24: I Just Want To Pee Alone: A Collection of Humorous Essays by Kick-rear end Mom Bloggers - Stacey Hatton. (Not a mother, just thought this looked like it might be interesting). Currently reading: The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt. OK, so some of these books were pretty darn short, and most of them were on Kindle. I didn't do a whole lot other than sit around and read.
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Feb 12, 2014 05:38
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Poutling posted:What exactly are you looking to get out of your poetry experience? I would argue that poetry is probably the most difficult of the literary arts to both create and appreciate, and it is by nature designed to create a visceral response within the reader, so if Walcott isn't resonating with you then you may have to think and refine your challenge a bit more to gain the most of your reading experience. Judging from your other posts in the forum you might enjoy something from the Modernists more, perhaps TS Eliot or Ezra Pound? Have you read The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock yet? That's where most admirers of the modernists start. Otherwise you might also check out some of Borges' poems if you like magic realism, or Pablo Neruda is another poetry fave. Another couple of popular translated poets (since you seem to like world literature so much) are CP Cavafy and Rainer Maria Rilke. I am also a big fan of Canadian Poet Alden Nowlan who is very much the opposite of the modernists and has a very simple and honest style that really speaks to me. Really what I am doing is just trying to read a bunch of different poets so I can actually form an opinion on what I like beyond the wasteland being a really good poem. I have read poetry from all the usual subjects (t.s. Elliot, Frost, Kerouac etc.) just never really delved into it. I will probably end up making a poetry thread soon and take most poetry talk there. Also I will look into those suggestions. Thanks. Stravinsky fucked around with this message at 07:31 on Feb 12, 2014 |
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Feb 12, 2014 07:07
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I am extremely disappointed that the PYF thread in the book forum is getting a little negative and upset that some discussion of reading beyond vapid entertainment might happen.
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Feb 12, 2014 08:03
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2/20 The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught 3/20 The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Invincible 4/20 The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian The above three are books 7, 8 and 9 in the overall Lost Fleet series and the first three books in the Beyond the Frontier series. This means I'm currently up to date with the main series, but still need to read the two novels in the Lost Stars "spin off" mini-series. I obviously enjoyed the series or I wouldn't have bothered reading 9 novels in it, but they are far from perfect. They are military science fiction through and through so if you don't enjoy reading minute details about spaceship maneuvers, you're probably going to have a bad time. Below are some of my opinions about the series as a whole since it would be pretty pointless to pick out individual books and review them.
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Feb 12, 2014 11:01
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Stravinsky posted:Really what I am doing is just trying to read a bunch of different poets so I can actually form an opinion on what I like beyond the wasteland being a really good poem. I have read poetry from all the usual subjects (t.s. Elliot, Frost, Kerouac etc.) just never really delved into it. I will probably end up making a poetry thread soon and take most poetry talk there. I'll stick my neck out and say that Ted Hughes wrote a good poem even if he did kill his wife. e: and Phillip Larkin, also.
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Feb 12, 2014 11:01
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thespaceinvader posted:10: The Line of Polity, again by Neal Asher. I've heard a lot about Masada thus far in Asher's work, so it's interesting to finally see what it's like. 11: Brass Man again by Asher. I'm almost certain I've read this before, but a LONG-rear end time ago. Good so far. I never really got Mr Crane previously, but he's coming across a lot more interesting now. Good fun.
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Feb 13, 2014 00:39
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