|
3D Megadoodoo posted:Yeah he seems to be one of those guys that was a best-seller in the 70s or 80s and now no-one remembers him. Only came across one of his novels by accident at the Red Cross flea market for 2 or 3€ and looked him up. Sic transit gloria mundi I guess. Vita brevis ars longa imho
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2020 19:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 18:41 |
|
|
Syncopated posted:Vita brevis ars longa imho That, too.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2020 19:31
|
|
|
I think I prefer PDF for my preferred ebook format because the highlights and annotations are portable with the file, so they're more portable, and .mobi and .epub highlights and annotations are stored in the app in every app I've used, so I know I'll lose them eventually. The other formats work better for smartphones, so I guess it's okay for fiction that I don't care about saving the annotations, but I really want to keep the annotations for nonfiction
|
|
#
?
Oct 13, 2020 16:01
|
|
|
Reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X and the Laura chapter is one helluva ride. Malcolm is completely wrecked by guilty consciousness because he stopped dating a girl and now she's a manhating lesbian who's addicted to drugs.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2020 17:17
|
|
|
i got a thriftstore copy of deadeye dick by vonnegut in the mail and i’m pretty sure it’s signed, though for some reason there is a sticker over it which is confusing, pretty cool though
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2020 06:39
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/Darcysgirl/status/1318811863514304512?s=20 Found as a reply to the new Rebecca trailer, I'm not sure they remember the book as well as they seem to think they do...
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2020 12:34
|
|
|
It's 3:30 and I'm not asleep because I'm reading a book so bad my sister (who technically owns it) left it in my mum's hen house for 27 years and I'm the idiot who rescued it when the place was sold. I can't help it - I need to find out if the story is entirely as lame as it's been so far. I need to rethink my "I'll read every drat book I have before getting rid of them" strategy.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 02:34
|
|
minema posted:https://twitter.com/Darcysgirl/status/1318811863514304512?s=20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr59DKnFKx0 I prefer the Mitchell and Webb prequel.
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 08:32
|
|
|
3D Megadoodoo posted:It's 3:30 and I'm not asleep because I'm reading a book so bad my sister (who technically owns it) left it in my mum's hen house for 27 years and I'm the idiot who rescued it when the place was sold. I can't help it - I need to find out if the story is entirely as lame as it's been so far. What is this gem?
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 15:23
|
|
|
Arkhamina posted:What is this gem? 
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 15:30
|
|
|
The Google translate of this is pretty hilarious. His beloved is a handsome blacksmith Vägev, who in Kalinmaa has learned to control the spirit of iron, but the man also killed Tuulik, Välge's best friend. As a bitter, Välge goes on a business trip with his faithful slave maid, according to his father, leaving the son he has acquired as a result of the spring fertility ceremonies to the blacksmith. Wow.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 18:05
|
|
|
Arkhamina posted:The Google translate of this is pretty hilarious. Yeah it's not even that things don't happen, it's just that it's written in such a way that the reader isn't likely to give a poo poo. Without the veneer of (real or faux, IDK) pagan folklore that makes it somewhat interesting* it'd be an unreadable 20-page story. *) Except for the terrible YOU SEE HE WAS CALLED FOX AND THAT'S HOW THE FOX'S FIRES (aurora borealis) GOT THEIR NAME YOU SEE DO YOU SEE bits.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 18:23
|
|
|
When I was a kid, we lived super rurally (hour each way on the school bus!) And I was a lonely, desperately bored kid who would read anything. My mom did not believe in censoring reading (her telling off the town librarian who wanted to keep me from reading something saucy as a tween is a treasured memory!) - so I would read anything I could, lovely, soft core romance? Homer's The Odyssey? Conan books? Not raised religious, I even read the Bible, or parts when I was really bored. I stalled out at the he begats... New Testament I think? Until I was about 10, they limited me to 5 books a trip, which wouldn't get me through a week in the summer.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 19:54
|
|
|
Arkhamina posted:When I was a kid, we lived super rurally (hour each way on the school bus!) And I was a lonely, desperately bored kid who would read anything. My mom did not believe in censoring reading (her telling off the town librarian who wanted to keep me from reading something saucy as a tween is a treasured memory!) - so I would read anything I could, lovely, soft core romance? Homer's The Odyssey? Conan books? Not raised religious, I even read the Bible, or parts when I was really bored. I stalled out at the he begats... New Testament I think? Why did they limit you? Or was it the library? I can't remember there ever being any limits to how many books I could borrow from the library, but more than ten would get a bit heavy in the old rucksack.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 20:17
|
|
|
Library in a small town. One stoplight, cows out numbered people, although the Interlibrary loans system was pretty good. Once a smart rear end librarian gave me grief for taking out so many books. She said I couldn't have read them all - and proceeded to quiz them on them. I passed, I guess, but she looked disappointed. Maybe it was supposed to be funny, teasing me - but it didn't feel that way. I just checked online to see if they have limits still, and they don't have a website, just a Facebook for hours and news.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 20:45
|
|
|
Arkhamina posted:Library in a small town. One stoplight, cows out numbered people, although the Interlibrary loans system was pretty good. Maybe she was a big doodiehead! Limiting the number of books lent out seems counter-productive to being a loving library, to me.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 20:50
|
|
|
So.... when does Perdido Street Station get good? I'm about 90 minutes into the audiobook and I have zero loving clue what is going on. Lin just met Mr. Motley and Isaac just met the garuda, but I couldn't tell you much more than that. I feel like this story is dense in a way that makes the audiobook a little harder to follow? Or am I just a dumbass? Out of the 90 minutes or so I've listened to, I feel like there have been 5 minutes of things happening and 85 minutes of the author waxing poetic about the squalor of the city. Is an audiobook the wrong way to tackle Perdido? I can't tell if it's just not the right time for me to read this book or if the book just feels too up its own rear end. Its definitely different from everything I've ever read, but I think it's just so different from my expectations. Does the pace ever pick up? I feel like I'm trying to latch onto something but it's not giving me anything. I couldn't tell you what this book is about even if I tried. Maybe I should just give up for now and go with something a bit more pulpy and easier to follow. Mordiceius fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Oct 27, 2020 |
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 22:28
|
|
|
Arkhamina posted:The Google translate of this is pretty hilarious. OK I finished it. There's a bit of traveling, to "Bolgaria" and back, the protagonist learns some uncanny ways, has a few men, moves to Finland, and then some random Russian dies there and the slavemaid (now named Olga) volunteers as a sacrificial bride so she can get hosed by all the dead Russian's friends. The protagonist is "oh yeah right because you're a virgin!" but Olga replies "Yeah nah I hosed that rich slave guy you shot in the throat in chapter I after he grabbed your boobs lol." The end. Oh and it's implied the son she had with the blacksmith and the daughter she brought back from "Bolgaria" might gently caress at some point and she's extremely  about it.Marvelous.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2020 22:36
|
|
|
trying to get back on track with my french with voyage autour de ma chambre (journey round my room) by xavier de maistre. i found out about the book via the posthumous memoirs of brás cubas by machado de assis, where it's cited as a direct influence. the posthumous memoirs ruled, so i figured i'd dig into it. the short of it is that xavier wounded--or killed, the details aren't clear--another guy in a duel and has to spend forty-two days under house arrest in turin. so he decides to write a memoir-travelogue, except it's set in his room instead of greece or japan. lots of internal musings on the countryside, painting, music, grief, and other things in forty-two short chapters. one of them is even dedicated to his dog.  then he spends the next one talking about his servant joanetti, who takes not getting paid for a week and being yelled at by his noble master like a champ. a real good christian.  my french is still rusty and i don't really know how to unfuck it, but, well, gotta give it time. this is relatively easy, at least. Karenina fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Oct 28, 2020 |
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 00:31
|
|
|
Mordiceius posted:So.... when does Perdido Street Station get good? it took me over a quarter of the way through the book before it set its hooks into me. The last quarter is hang onto your butt fast action
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 00:40
|
|
|
Karenina posted:trying to get back on track with my french with voyage autour de ma chambre (journey round my room) by xavier de maistre. i found out about the book via the posthumous memoirs of brás cubas by machado de assis, where it's cited as a direct influence. the posthumous memoirs ruled, so i figured i'd dig into it. He worked as a harbour master (or something) in the city at some point. I wonder what his room here was like. E: oh it was before 1827 so the room has burned down. 3D Megadoodoo fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Oct 28, 2020 |
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 00:58
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:it took me over a quarter of the way through the book before it set its hooks into me. The last quarter is hang onto your butt fast action Yeah. I think I’m just not in the right place for it right now. I recently started delivery driving since my industry is still 75% shut down due to covid so I was looking for some fun books to read. Perdido seems great but boy is it hard to pay attention to while driving around doing deliveries. Luckily audible lets you refund your credits so I refunded Perdido and picked up the first Mistborn book. I’m only 30 minutes it and it loving RULES. It’s exactly what I was looking for. Easy to follow. Kept me on the edge of my seat. I’m excited to keep listening. Perdido is just too dense for me right now. I’m sure it gets better but I don’t want to have to listen to 8 hours of audio book to get there.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 02:28
|
|
|
Mordiceius posted:Yeah. I think I’m just not in the right place for it right now. yeah I can't imagine listening to it while doing a million of other things (checking manifests, addresses, looking for parking, etc.) and all those interruptions. I don't actually audiobook myself but something like PSS needs more unbroken time to enjoy it IMO
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 02:53
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:yeah I can't imagine listening to it while doing a million of other things (checking manifests, addresses, looking for parking, etc.) and all those interruptions. I don't actually audiobook myself but something like PSS needs more unbroken time to enjoy it IMO I also think it probably works better as a read since it's a lot of "HERE ARE SOME NOUNS WITH NO CONTEXT." So far, the first Mistborn book is working very well for an audiobook though. I'm stoked to listen to more.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 02:56
|
|
|
Mordiceius posted:Yeah. I think I’m just not in the right place for it right now. If you like the beginning of Mistborn you are going to love that book. Sanderson really does endings well so you ain’t seen nothing yet.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 03:01
|
|
|
All China Miéville is bad unless you're on just the right combination of drugs.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 03:15
|
|
|
To truly enjoy a China Miéville novel you need to have woken up in the morning after having a good amount of sleep, eat a decent breakfast, have a nice walk around your neighborhood or a little hike around a park, drink three beers, smoke one very reasonable joint, lay out in an armchair or on a nice couch, have some tea at your elbow, and it has to be foggy outside. That's the only way I'd ever enjoy a China Miéville novel.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 03:18
|
|
|
The Scar is the best SF novel of this century. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 03:23
|
|
|
There’s really no need to read PSS, just read the Scar. If you like it you can always read the other Bas Lag books. If you don’t then Mistborn is a great call. Probably lots to unpack with the other Sanderheads in the BS thread. Does the magic system work on the moon? What if the magic system was In a different language. Is the guy who’s supposed to be funny from way of Kings person a or person b.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 03:27
|
|
|
Yeah, I don't hate Perdido Street Station, I'll definitely go back to it sometime. I just wasn't expecting something denser than The Name of the Rose when I saw PSS on a list of recommended steampunk novels.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 03:35
|
|
|
Mordiceius posted:Yeah, I don't hate Perdido Street Station, I'll definitely go back to it sometime.  Yeah ok that list is crap throw it away
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 05:53
|
|
|
buffalo all day posted:The Scar is the best SF novel of this century. in other news, statisticians have determined the height of the world's tallest dwarf
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 06:04
|
|
|
Started reading Solzhenitsyn and it's a real treat after two not-so-great historical novels I read just because I had them in my possession. Fell asleep too late last night but this time because I was enjoying the book so much.buffalo all day posted:The Scar is the best SF novel of this century. Targeted ads on the Internet have been telling me it's this trilogy by Liu Cixin.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 06:05
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:
Yeah. It's a very weird long story, but I wanted to read a bunch of steampunk novels way back around 2011 so I found some lists online and the two novels recommended the most were The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers and then Perdito Street Station. I ended up buying both, but never read either. Since I started delivery driving recently, I thought it would be a good time to get through some of my backlog of novels that I keep saying I'll get through. I was reading a lot of complaints about the audio book for The Anubis Gates, so I tried my luck with Perdido Street Station and.... well... yeah. Regardless, I'm happy I tried Mistborn since it starts off so loving good.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 06:22
|
|
|
The Mistborn audiobooks are great too, because part of me feels smug for getting ALL THOSE WORDS for just 1 credit. I read paper books about 2:1 to audio, and some things just need more concentration. I asked my sister for some book recommendations, partly just to find neutral turf to talk about. We butt heads a lot, but we both love to read. The first one I grabbed off her list is this... Post apocalyptic, magiky, transformation into housecat unhealthy romance thing. I feel like she is maybe trolling me. Or maybe our tastes really have diverged... Shannon Meyer, Desert Cursed series. It's like a book anti-Bechdel test. A strong woman (who transforms into a housecat) constantly whining about her lovely crush.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2020 21:35
|
|
|
The internet sure kinda sucks sometime! Don’t look up anything ever!!!! I was looking up how to spell character names for Mistborn character since I’m listening to the audiobook and one of the first things that comes up when you google anything is how at some point Kelsier dies. No clue when this happens because I’m only two chapters in but I would have rather not known that!!!
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 04:29
|
|
|
Steampunk anything is bad, actually.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 04:45
|
|
|
Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:Steampunk anything is bad, actually. mlyp
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 04:47
|
|
|
If you're going to be delivery driving at night and alienated from mainstream society and want to read a dumb book, go for 2007's Rant by Chuck Palahniuk.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 06:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 18:41 |
|
|
Mordiceius posted:The internet sure kinda sucks sometime! Don’t look up anything ever!!!! So spoilers stink and all, but if you want a list of correctly spelled Mistborn character names with literally zero context then reference this page: https://coppermind.net/wiki/Category:Scadrians
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2020 07:39
|
|
