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Enfys posted:That is just not a sentence I would have ever imagined reading. War and Peace is sexy
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Jul 8, 2015 16:32
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I just finished Franzen's Corrections and really liked the children characters, but hated the parents until the last 100-150 pages or so. I assume he did this on purpose. I do think that I enjoyed Strong Motion a lot more and Freedom a bit more. I don't mean this in a hostile way, but why does The Corrections get the most praise?
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Jul 10, 2015 23:35
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Getting through Patrick Rothfuss' second book of his King Killer trilogy: A Wise Man's Fear and it was just a slog to get through. It definitely didn't feel as brisk as the first book and I hated how the protagonist went on two detours from his original quest. Just felt like it made the book longer than it needed to be.
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Jul 11, 2015 07:12
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Depressing, but interesting read about Harper Lee. What Does Harper Lee Want? http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-harper-lee-go-set-a-watchman/
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Jul 12, 2015 05:04
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Why does post-apocalyptic fiction seem to be overrun with right-wing weirdos? Nobody writes leftist survivalist fiction anymore. There used to be bunches of them: Alas, Babylon , No Blade of Grass, Earth Abides, all sorts of others. Now all you see is right-wing dreck.
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Jul 12, 2015 15:10
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Left wing is less violent and therefore less of an "airport fiction" read. Right wing is all about DEM ZOMBIES AND PEOPLE WHAT WANNA STEAL MY STUFF I GOTS TA KILL EM OR GO ON A MISSION TA SAVE MAH FAMILY. Basically, left wing is built more towards world building and cooperation, right wing it built more towards explosions and RIGHTEOUS VENGEANCE AGIN THEM (insert whatever group here). Guess which audience is WAY easier to shoot for? (pardon the pun)
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Jul 13, 2015 02:44
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Mycroft Holmes posted:Why does post-apocalyptic fiction seem to be overrun with right-wing weirdos? Nobody writes leftist survivalist fiction anymore. There used to be bunches of them: Alas, Babylon , No Blade of Grass, Earth Abides, all sorts of others. Now all you see is right-wing dreck. There's been some good post apocalyptic books from the past few years that, while I don't know if I'd consider them leftist, are far from right wing. Will McIntosh's Soft Apocalypse, Darin Bradley's Chimpanzee & Noise, Emily St John's Station Eleven, and Benjamin Percy's Dead Lands are some I can remember off the top of my head that are well worth reading.
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Jul 13, 2015 04:25
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The Guardian did an article a while ago about how YA post-apocalyptic/dystopian fiction has been more right wing in recent years: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/01/ya-dystopias-children-free-market-hunger-games-the-giver-divergent There's also this article about how post-apocalyptic fiction has changed over the past 10 years: http://io9.com/heres-how-apocalyptic-fiction-has-changed-over-the-last-1690727744
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Jul 13, 2015 09:16
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Paper With Lines posted:I just finished Franzen's Corrections and really liked the children characters, but hated the parents until the last 100-150 pages or so. I assume he did this on purpose. I've read it a couple of times and I hate a different character the most each time, it's great. I think the only one I haven't hated yet is Denise. It reminds me a little of Good as Gold & Something Happened (Joseph Heller) in that I hate the characters but like the book. I liked it better than Freedom, but I dunno if that's cause I read The Corrections first.
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Jul 13, 2015 13:57
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Mycroft Holmes posted:Why does post-apocalyptic fiction seem to be overrun with right-wing weirdos? Nobody writes leftist survivalist fiction anymore. There used to be bunches of them: Alas, Babylon , No Blade of Grass, Earth Abides, all sorts of others. Now all you see is right-wing dreck. Sup just experienced the horrors of post-apocalyptic right-wing fiction and was horrified by it buddy.  
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Jul 14, 2015 14:10
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(Wrong Thread, sorry)
Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Jul 15, 2015 |
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Jul 14, 2015 17:46
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Mycroft Holmes posted:Why does post-apocalyptic fiction seem to be overrun with right-wing weirdos? Nobody writes leftist survivalist fiction anymore. There used to be bunches of them: Alas, Babylon , No Blade of Grass, Earth Abides, all sorts of others. Now all you see is right-wing dreck. Isn't Paolo Bacigalupi quite left wing? Mega corporations destroying Earth/the environment due to sheer greed is a common element in his dystopian books (Pump Six and Other Stories, The Water Knife, The Windup Girl, maybe others as well).
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Jul 14, 2015 17:58
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I am struggling to remember a trilogy of books that I read and I'm hoping you fine folks can help me! I've tried Googling but I'm so vague on the details that I'm not helping myself out, so I understand if no one can help.  I must've read this entire trilogy...perhaps five or six years ago (so all of the books had been released by then). Here's where my details get kinda fuzzy, and I bet I sound like a jackass. It's about a guy living in a big city (wanna say it's out in California) who falls in with a group of rough gangsters. He gets plastic surgery (ordered by the mob) at one point in the first book to conceal his identity. Has to do a bunch of shady stuff or they'll kill him/the girl he loves. The trilogy ends with him taking out the boss and dying simultaneously. I remember it being a fun, flippant kinda read, and it only took me a few days. I read it on someone else's Kindle and (obviously, right?) failed to note the name of the trilogy. Or the individual books. Or even a character's name. Essentially, all of the important info. I know I haven't given much to go on. Appreciate any help if you have any clue what I'm talking about, though! Thanks!
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Jul 14, 2015 18:10
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TV Zombie posted:Getting through Patrick Rothfuss' second book of his King Killer trilogy: A Wise Man's Fear and it was just a slog to get through. It definitely didn't feel as brisk as the first book and I hated how the protagonist went on two detours from his original quest. Just felt like it made the book longer than it needed to be. I could barely put the first one down, but I've been struggling to finish the second for months. I feel bad as a friend gave it to me as a gift, but I keep looking at it and then putting it down in favour of a different book. So far it feels very same-y
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Jul 14, 2015 21:56
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Mycroft Holmes posted:Why does post-apocalyptic fiction seem to be overrun with right-wing weirdos? Nobody writes leftist survivalist fiction anymore. There used to be bunches of them: Alas, Babylon , No Blade of Grass, Earth Abides, all sorts of others. Now all you see is right-wing dreck. As someone who listens to Conservative Talk Radio quite frequently (formerly for reals, now mostly for lulz) there's a fairly large movement on the right that involves trying to get more conservatives in art and popular media. It's really weird.
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Jul 15, 2015 07:23
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There used to be the thought that there needs to be a huge upheaval to bring about things like socialism (revolution, natural disaster, wars) to upend the current status quo to make it happen. Now the reverse has happened where the right wing feels like there needs to be some sort of sudden shocking event to upset the status quo to get back to a more pure society of their own ideological state.
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Jul 15, 2015 07:45
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I started reading The Shadow in the Wind. Pretty interesting so far. Has anyone read it? I also noticed that the author wrote both a prequel and a sequel to the novel later on. Thoughts?
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Jul 15, 2015 09:53
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Can of Cloud posted:I started reading The Shadow in the Wind. Pretty interesting so far. Has anyone read it? I also noticed that the author wrote both a prequel and a sequel to the novel later on. Thoughts? I love the series. The next book is a little frustrating because it throws you off by having an unreliable narrator but is pretty satisfying on its own. The third feels a little rushed as it does a decent enough job tying the previous two together but is more setup for the final act.
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Jul 15, 2015 12:25
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So having played The Witcher games on the pc, I knew they were based off some Polish fantasy novels, and I put one of them on my Amazon wishlist ages ago hearing that the novels were really quite good. Has anyone actually read them? Are they just generic fantasy? How much gets lost in translation? Also, what order do the books go in as it seems that when I look on Wikipedia it says one thing, but on Amazon it seems to say another?
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Jul 15, 2015 13:18
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pakman posted:So having played The Witcher games on the pc, I knew they were based off some Polish fantasy novels, and I put one of them on my Amazon wishlist ages ago hearing that the novels were really quite good. Has anyone actually read them? Are they just generic fantasy? How much gets lost in translation? Also, what order do the books go in as it seems that when I look on Wikipedia it says one thing, but on Amazon it seems to say another? edit: The writing and the humor remind me a fair bit of Joe Abercrombie, if it helps.
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Jul 15, 2015 13:30
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This is the coolest thing I have read so far today.
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Jul 15, 2015 13:46
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Saw Ayn Rand, closed tab
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Jul 15, 2015 13:52
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Once to get publishers to stop sending him books to give a blurb to, he soaked his review copy in wood glue and sent it back to their offices payment on deliveryblue squares posted:Saw Ayn Rand, closed tab Lol if you got past George Orwel. Or, indeed, the intro. Or the url. Mr. Squishy fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Jul 15, 2015 |
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Jul 15, 2015 13:52
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That list makes perfect sense.
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Jul 15, 2015 14:01
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What's your problem with Orwell?
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Jul 15, 2015 14:01
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blue squares posted:What's your problem with Orwell? 1) fairytale level stories for children somehow taken absurdly seriously by adults 2) idiot macho bellend tory 3) genuinely stupid opinions about language and writing 4) snitch 5) condescending class tourist
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Jul 15, 2015 14:08
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well my opinion of Orwell comes from reading Animal Farm and 1984 as a child, so I think he's pretty dope.
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Jul 15, 2015 15:53
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Its a hunter s thompson list so its was going to be poo poo no matter what. Anybody read Ta-Nehisi Coates latest book yet? Is it worth picking up?
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Jul 15, 2015 17:32
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May not be the best place to drop this question, but does anyone have any suggestions for iPad apps for reading .pdfs? Largely going to use this for work-related reading, but I've got a few things I've gotten from a Humble Bundle deal, and some gaming stuff. Don't know if I give a poo poo about annotation. Mostly I want to be able to easily add files to a library and have the app keep my place when I read it. What I have tried - iBooks - doesn't seem to work for me. Library management seems to be the issue, and iBooks/iTunes not recognizing a file as a 'book'. Kindle - works for what I want it to do, but the process of getting a file into your library is a pain in the rear end. Have had Goodreader and Notability suggested. Goodreader is only a buck, seems like a reasonable choice, but looking for confirmation or other suggestions.
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Jul 15, 2015 18:50
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FoldOgey posted:Kindle - works for what I want it to do, but the process of getting a file into your library is a pain in the rear end. Really? You just have to drop it into the documents folder, how is that a pain in the rear end?
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Jul 15, 2015 19:59
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I think Calibre takes them too.
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Jul 15, 2015 20:05
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Really? You just have to drop it into the documents folder, how is that a pain in the rear end? This is for reading via iPad. I've used a kindle reader in the past, and yes, it does work that way. Unless I'm an idiot and there's a way to add files into the app via iTunes (not discounting that). What I've been doing is emailing the files to the @kindle.com address associated with my iPad, which I don't remember (since I do this infrequently) and have to look it up every time.
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Jul 15, 2015 20:26
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FoldOgey posted:This is for reading via iPad. I've used a kindle reader in the past, and yes, it does work that way. Unless I'm an idiot and there's a way to add files into the app via iTunes (not discounting that). What I've been doing is emailing the files to the @kindle.com address associated with my iPad, which I don't remember (since I do this infrequently) and have to look it up every time. Ahh sorry, I misunderstood that part of your post. Putting PDFs on an actual Kindle device is easy as anything, but I have no experience with doing the same on an iPad app.
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Jul 15, 2015 21:16
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blue squares posted:What's your problem with Orwell? One time Wyndham Lewis said that Orwell would have been in the SS if he'd been born in Germany, which is a cool bit of ownage.
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Jul 15, 2015 22:26
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Mahlertov Cocktail posted:Ahh sorry, I misunderstood that part of your post. Putting PDFs on an actual Kindle device is easy as anything, but I have no experience with doing the same on an iPad app. You can log into your Amazon account and look at recent purchases and go to "Kindle orders". Choose the book, and click "Actions" and it will give you the option to "Deliver". Click that, and it will let you choose any device "Android Phone, iPad, etc." that is linked to your account. Then just send it. When you order a kindle book, instead of clicking the "1 Click Purchase", it gives you a drop down menu to choose which device you can send it to first, and then purchase it. You can practice with free books if you want to get the hang of it. From the iPad app, you can just search the book and click "Purchase". It will see that you've already bought it and just ask if you want it delivered to that device. So, three options for you. Kindle has been the easiest eReader app I've used because there are so many ways of fixing it.
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Jul 15, 2015 22:36
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Snapchat A Titty posted:I've read it a couple of times and I hate a different character the most each time, it's great. I think the only one I haven't hated yet is Denise. It reminds me a little of Good as Gold & Something Happened (Joseph Heller) in that I hate the characters but like the book. I liked it better than Freedom, but I dunno if that's cause I read The Corrections first. This is interesting. I love Denise. I especially love the part towards the end where it describes her divorce and then her hate/love/seduction relationship with Brian and Robin. But. But. I never hated either of the other Lambert kids. Gary seemed to be a douche but he tried (and his wife was awful) and the same seems to be true for Chip, but for different reasons. What were the factors that made you dislike Gary and Chip? Especially Chip? Chip just seems to be a little hashtag yolo all the time -- which I thought was endearing. edit: w/r/t Chip: He seemed yolo until the end when he hung out with his dad weekly and had that moment where his dad kind of asked Chip to kill him and Chip, knowing what his dad was saying, refused. Paper With Lines fucked around with this message at 05:40 on Jul 16, 2015 |
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Jul 16, 2015 05:12
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Stravinsky posted:Anybody read Ta-Nehisi Coates latest book yet? Is it worth picking up? If you've paid attention for the last few year you know the major beats.
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Jul 16, 2015 07:33
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blue squares posted:Saw Ayn Rand, closed tab I mostly like this just for the way it describes the things he likes.
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Jul 16, 2015 08:16
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Paper With Lines posted:This is interesting. I love Denise. I especially love the part towards the end where it describes her divorce and then her hate/love/seduction relationship with Brian and Robin. But. But. I never hated either of the other Lambert kids. Gary seemed to be a douche but he tried (and his wife was awful) and the same seems to be true for Chip, but for different reasons. I guess it's mostly just Chip & Gary that I hate, the parents aren't bad except for having old people opinions on stuff. Probably part of it is the brothers are both super insecure and remind me of the bad parts of myself. Gary is depressed as gently caress and paranoid, his wife is actually pretty reasonable when you consider how he's acting around her and the children, constantly trying to fight her and become the favorite parent. Chip covers his insecurities with ridiculous poo poo like having coeds do ritalin (or something, I forgot) off his dick, and constantly blowing away all his money, basically whole #yolo poo poo you mention. They do have good sides of course, but they mostly come out at the end.
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Jul 16, 2015 14:31
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I'm about halfway through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell right now and its really really good and everyone should read it. Fantasy for people who read at above an 8th grade reading level and appreciate characterization.
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Jul 16, 2015 15:03
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