Read Some Real Literature: Anyway hail satantango

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Read Some Real Literature: Anyway hail satantango

BravestOfTheLamps: Oct 12, 2012; by FactsAreUseless; Lipstick Apathy

fridge corn posted:

I just finished My Name is Red.. It was really good but I can't help think i may have missed a lot the book was offering due to being completely ignorant of the subject matter 🤔

Why don't you read Snow for a nice and relaxing book about Turkey and it's bright future.

# ? Nov 21, 2016 15:15

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# ? May 18, 2024 04:23

Safety Biscuits: Oct 21, 2010

CestMoi posted:

I will send a PDF chosen at random from my "Sex Magick" folder to all participants.

Thanks for your generous offer! I'll email you after signups are finished to let you know how many PDFs you'll need to send me.

# ? Nov 21, 2016 17:00

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

For my next novel I am debating between the following:
Faulkner Absalom Absalom
Hemmingway Snows of Kilimanjaro
Cervantes Don Quixote Pt 1
Woolfe To the Lighthouse

Presumably I can't go wrong with any but which in your opinion is the best of the above? I plan to read all but am just being indecisive.

(I also plan to give Heart of Darkness a reread after I finish with King Leopold's Ghost)

# ? Nov 22, 2016 03:34

Normal Adult Human: Feb 12, 2012; by FactsAreUseless

three musketeers not as interesting as i thought it'd be, especially after how good the count of monte cristo was. i think i want to read about snarky wizard detective instead.

# ? Nov 22, 2016 03:44

Lunchmeat Larry: Nov 3, 2012

Bilirubin posted:

For my next novel I am debating between the following:
Faulkner Absalom Absalom
Hemmingway Snows of Kilimanjaro
Cervantes Don Quixote Pt 1
Woolfe To the Lighthouse

Presumably I can't go wrong with any but which in your opinion is the best of the above? I plan to read all but am just being indecisive.

(I also plan to give Heart of Darkness a reread after I finish with King Leopold's Ghost)

To the Lighthouse will take you like ten minutes and it's great

# ? Nov 22, 2016 04:11

Invicta{HOG}, M.D.: Jan 16, 2002

Bilirubin posted:

For my next novel I am debating between the following:
Faulkner Absalom Absalom
Hemmingway Snows of Kilimanjaro
Cervantes Don Quixote Pt 1
Woolfe To the Lighthouse

Presumably I can't go wrong with any but which in your opinion is the best of the above? I plan to read all but am just being indecisive.

(I also plan to give Heart of Darkness a reread after I finish with King Leopold's Ghost)

Absalom Absalom took me two tries. It's good but one of his harder books and you need to be in the mood for it. I'm reading Don Quixote right now and it is fun but it is 800 pages long. I'd recommend To the Lighthouse - you'll read it fairly quickly but she has such a great style that it will be very rewarding and in a few days you'll be back trying to decide between the other three.

# ? Nov 22, 2016 12:56

Safety Biscuits: Oct 21, 2010

Bilirubin posted:

For my next novel I am debating between the following:
Faulkner Absalom Absalom
Hemmingway Snows of Kilimanjaro
Cervantes Don Quixote Pt 1
Woolfe To the Lighthouse

Presumably I can't go wrong with any but which in your opinion is the best of the above? I plan to read all but am just being indecisive.

(I also plan to give Heart of Darkness a reread after I finish with King Leopold's Ghost)

Don Quixote, I want to read it too and if three of us are reading it we can start a thread :woop:

# ? Nov 22, 2016 13:27

Invicta{HOG}, M.D.: Jan 16, 2002

Also let me know how King Leopold's Ghost is. I have it on my shelf and plan to read it at some point.

# ? Nov 22, 2016 23:40

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

study validates vonnegut, finds only six emotional storylines in literature

if anyone wants the paper, hmu and i'll send you a pdf

# ? Nov 23, 2016 06:51

Tree Goat: May 24, 2009; argania spinosa

To summarize the paper for those who don't wish to get behind the paywall.

1) They divide stories into three sections.
2) They use sentiment analysis methods (which tend to be pretty hit or miss, tbh) to determine whether there is an emotional "rise" or "fall" in a section.
3) There are now 8 possible (2^3) different "story types," by this construction.
4) They group some of these types together (rise-fall-fall = rise-rise-fall = "rise-fall," for instance).
5) They conclude that there are therefore 6 main story types.
6) They use a ton of machine learning and linear algebra and clustering and sentiment analysis to come to this conclusion, despite the fact that you could have figured it out without looking at a single book or running a single algorithm, just by how they set up the problem.

(It's bad and silly, is my point)

# ? Nov 23, 2016 15:32

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Ras Het posted:

There is no form or method, there is only emotion

# ? Nov 23, 2016 15:37

BravestOfTheLamps: Oct 12, 2012; by FactsAreUseless; Lipstick Apathy

Tree Goat posted:

To summarize the paper for those who don't wish to get behind the paywall.

1) They divide stories into three sections.
2) They use sentiment analysis methods (which tend to be pretty hit or miss, tbh) to determine whether there is an emotional "rise" or "fall" in a section.
3) There are now 8 possible (2^3) different "story types," by this construction.
4) They group some of these types together (rise-fall-fall = rise-rise-fall = "rise-fall," for instance).
5) They conclude that there are therefore 6 main story types.
6) They use a ton of machine learning and linear algebra and clustering and sentiment analysis to come to this conclusion, despite the fact that you could have figured it out without looking at a single book or running a single algorithm, just by how they set up the problem.

(It's bad and silly, is my point)

This was a def fall-fall-fall story.

# ? Nov 23, 2016 16:12

Lunchmeat Larry: Nov 3, 2012

Tree Goat posted:

To summarize the paper for those who don't wish to get behind the paywall.

1) They divide stories into three sections.
2) They use sentiment analysis methods (which tend to be pretty hit or miss, tbh) to determine whether there is an emotional "rise" or "fall" in a section.
3) There are now 8 possible (2^3) different "story types," by this construction.
4) They group some of these types together (rise-fall-fall = rise-rise-fall = "rise-fall," for instance).
5) They conclude that there are therefore 6 main story types.
6) They use a ton of machine learning and linear algebra and clustering and sentiment analysis to come to this conclusion, despite the fact that you could have figured it out without looking at a single book or running a single algorithm, just by how they set up the problem.

(It's bad and silly, is my point)

this reminds me of a kid in my high school who was pretty smart but just didn't have a creativity-oriented brain at all. The only reason he passed English was that he set up a formula to approach stories and essay questions and followed it rigorously.

the difference is that he was 15 and it was funny

# ? Nov 23, 2016 16:39

Eugene V. Dubstep: Oct 4, 2013; Can't post for 8 years!

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

this reminds me of a kid in my high school who was pretty smart but just didn't have a creativity-oriented brain at all. The only reason he passed English was that he set up a formula to approach stories and essay questions and followed it rigorously.

the difference is that he was 15 and it was funny

...and that boy's name? Carl Jung.

# ? Nov 23, 2016 17:08

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Invicta{HOG}, M.D. posted:

Also let me know how King Leopold's Ghost is. I have it on my shelf and plan to read it at some point.

Its the most engaging history I have ever read, and a real page turner. Its also a punch in the gut, and I am only starting to get into the human rights abuses. So much of what is wrong in the world today is due to Victorian (and before) racism :smith:

Thanks all, will take on Woolfe and Cervantes next!

# ? Nov 23, 2016 17:40

stereobreadsticks: Feb 28, 2008

I just picked up the Elder Edda and the Canterbury Tales after a visit to a bookstore here in Beijing that didn't have very much else of interest in the English language section. Which should I read first?

# ? Nov 23, 2016 17:51

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

Bilirubin posted:

Its the most engaging history I have ever read, and a real page turner. Its also a punch in the gut, and I am only starting to get into the human rights abuses. So much of what is wrong in the world today is due to Victorian (and before) racism

if you want to be next-level depressed about this subject, read mike davis' late victorian holocausts

stereobreadsticks posted:

I just picked up the Elder Edda and the Canterbury Tales after a visit to a bookstore here in Beijing that didn't have very much else of interest in the English language section. Which should I read first?

elder edda. which edition of the canterbury tales?

# ? Nov 23, 2016 18:05

stereobreadsticks: Feb 28, 2008

chernobyl kinsman posted:

elder edda. which edition of the canterbury tales?

Penguin Classics original Middle English, edited by Jill Mann. It's my first time with anything longer than brief poems in Middle English but about a month ago I finished an English translation of Journey to the West (not the best translation and the text itself gets kind of repetitive after the 10th or 15th time Sanzang is kidnapped by a monster who wants to eat him and rescued by Monkey performing a transformation spell) and I kind of miss having something simultaneously dense and challenging but also entertaining and sometimes comical.

# ? Nov 23, 2016 18:27

Invicta{HOG}, M.D.: Jan 16, 2002

Snorri Sturluson has long been my favorite name since visiting Iceland and first hearing about this magical being with the world's best name

# ? Nov 23, 2016 21:05

Jrbg: May 20, 2014

Both the Poetic Edda and the Canterbury Tales are great. And if you've read ME before you'll quickly get used to Chaucer's English. Jill Mann's also a good egg and her edition will probably be good

# ? Nov 23, 2016 23:04

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

Has anyone read any Joyce Carey, I picked up a copy of The HOrse's Mouth and it's about a mad painter who's homeless and those are my favourite kinds of books.

# ? Nov 26, 2016 13:47

Lunchmeat Larry: Nov 3, 2012

I'm reading Malone Dies and it's good - the writing is lovely and witty af - but I'm struggling to get much out of it. Was this a bad Beckett to start with?

# ? Nov 29, 2016 04:58

Bandiet: Dec 31, 2015

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

I'm reading Malone Dies and it's good - the writing is lovely and witty af - but I'm struggling to get much out of it. Was this a bad Beckett to start with?

You should have started with Molloy. The first half is a similar disjointed narrative by a decrepit old man, to prepare you for Malone Dies, but the second half is more straightforward and can help you tie the pieces together as someone new to the style.

# ? Nov 29, 2016 05:53

A human heart: Oct 10, 2012

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

I'm reading Malone Dies and it's good - the writing is lovely and witty af - but I'm struggling to get much out of it. Was this a bad Beckett to start with?

You should try increasing your irony level

# ? Nov 29, 2016 06:11

Nanomashoes: Aug 18, 2012

So which one of you guys is the one that stole the original manuscript for Omensetter's Luck? I want to experience that whole thing again.

# ? Dec 1, 2016 04:42

CestMoi: Sep 16, 2011

I'm reading some Flann O'Brien short stories and one is about an English giant coming to Ireland and he pronounces someone's name wrong and demands they bring him someone who speaks English so they bring him a guy who recites a train timetable and the English giant cries with joy.

# ? Dec 1, 2016 07:20

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

anyone else like Lauren Groff? the New Yorker has printed a few of her short stories: here, here, and here

# ? Dec 1, 2016 19:37

A Major Fucker: Mar 10, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Smoking Crow posted:

Game of Thrones is drivel. It's another Tolkien rip-off except that the author tries to justify it by being "dark and edgy." Also, why is there so much underage loving?

you're not wrong op

Smoking Crow posted:

I recommend my favorite book, Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. It's a beautiful look at the types of hosed up people that choose to live in small Midwestern towns. It's wonderful and dripping with subtext. Make sure to read every chapter twice to get the full meaning!

lol human being

# ? Dec 2, 2016 20:57

chernobyl kinsman: Mar 18, 2007; a friend of the friendly atom; Soiled Meat

a major fucker why have you twice this year quoted a post from 2014

did you forget that you also responded to that post in january with a game of thrones .gif

# ? Dec 3, 2016 01:11

A Major Fucker: Mar 10, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

chernobyl kinsman posted:

a major fucker why have you twice this year quoted a post from 2014

did you forget that you also responded to that post in january with a game of thrones .gif

yes

# ? Dec 3, 2016 03:40