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cptn_dr posted:Hey I just wanna say that after I saw this post last year I decided I needed to read some Graham Greene and he's now one of my favourite authors, thank you. 
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Jan 7, 2024 21:25
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Mordiceius posted:Today's drama: if you consume audiobooks, are you still considered to be "reading" the book? i personally don't consider them the same thing but who cares, enjoy the story ands there are way more important and interesting things to fixate on
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Jan 7, 2024 21:45
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Reading Stephen King's THE OUTSIDER, and he gives a big shout-out to Harlan Coben (??). A character is a big fan, and says he's great etc etc. I don't know if that's the highest honour one could receive in modern literature but it's close Anyone read that guy? Apparently he's very famous and had a bunch of his stories adapted for Netflix. Is he any good, which one of his books should I read?
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Jan 8, 2024 02:25
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King likes him and my mom likes him. So we can be pretty sure his works are terrible.
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Jan 8, 2024 02:29
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The Outsider is funny because it really tries to sell you at the start that it's this big locked room mystery story...but it's a Stephen King novel, so you already know the solution is some supernatural gremlin dude and won't be remotely satisfying.
rollick fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Jan 8, 2024 |
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Jan 8, 2024 02:47
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rollick posted:The Outsider is funny because it really tries to sell you at the start that it's this big locked room mystery story...but it's a Stephen King novel, so you already know the solution is some supernatural gremlin dude and won't be remotely satisfying. I’m about 30% in but that was my first guess just from the synopsis. I don’t mind tbh, he’s drat good at keeping you entertained. Easy to read and fun dialogue, nothing too deep or life changing
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Jan 8, 2024 03:07
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cptn_dr posted:Hey I just wanna say that after I saw this post last year I decided I needed to read some Graham Greene and he's now one of my favourite authors, thank you. 3D Megadoodoo posted:The more Le Carré I read, the more I think: "this guy really wished he was Graham Greene (or, possibly, Vladimir Volkoff)". They're fine, and I could obviously be wrong, but still. I got that volume of his letters (le Carré, not Greene) that came out recently. You are 100% correct, he really wanted to be Graham Greene.
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Jan 8, 2024 13:11
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Quick question. Is there an easy way to gift an ebook through Amazon if I already own the book? I want to get my friend the Cradle series for his birthday. But there's no option to buy for someone else on the site, and trying to gift a book I own through the Kindle site I get asked to go to the UK site (I used a uk address some years ago to buy one book and haven't figured out how to fix my region). I checked on an omnibus ebook edition they offer that I don't own and I don't see an option to buy it as a gift either. Would appreciate any help, I may just have to tell my friend to buy them and request the amount on cash app.
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Jan 8, 2024 18:43
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The Ninth Layer posted:Quick question. Is there an easy way to gift an ebook through Amazon if I already own the book? I want to get my friend the Cradle series for his birthday. But there's no option to buy for someone else on the site, and trying to gift a book I own through the Kindle site I get asked to go to the UK site (I used a uk address some years ago to buy one book and haven't figured out how to fix my region). I think it's entirely a region issue. I see “Buy for others” on both books I do and don't own. If you can't resolve it with support, then I'd guess gifting from a new account or money/gift card are your best bets.
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Jan 8, 2024 18:56
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I want to know how to give Commonweal to people.
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Jan 8, 2024 19:41
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101 posted:I think it's entirely a region issue. I see “Buy for others” on both books I do and don't own. Ok thank you. I don't see that button even on browswer so the region is almost certainly my issue. Probably somewhere in the Amazon site my account is flagged as UK (this would also explain occasional issues I have buying or using credits on audiobooks "not in my country"). Hopefully in one of Amazons's twenty six sub menus spread across multiple websites I can find the feature I need to change. Or maybe I'll just buy the books with my roommate's account. Edit: Amazon customer service chat fixed my issue, it was indeed region related. Thanks again. The Ninth Layer fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Jan 8, 2024 |
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Jan 8, 2024 20:41
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Amazon should have a dedicated button that sends the Culture series to everyone in your contacts
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Jan 10, 2024 03:14
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Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:Amazon should have a dedicated button that sends the Culture series to everyone in your contacts Amazon should actually have all of the Culture series available as ebooks in the first place, dammit
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Jan 10, 2024 05:03
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I think they do, but some of them are UK-only for unknown reasons.
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Jan 10, 2024 05:24
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Rand Brittain posted:I think they do, but some of them are UK-only for unknown reasons. Yeah, Excession and Inversions aren't available in the US for some reason, which is bizarre since they're technically in the middle of the series. State of the Art too, if you count that.
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Jan 10, 2024 05:39
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Randomly found some Infinite Jest fan art (!) https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YBoLwY Pretty cool tbh
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Jan 12, 2024 00:36
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audiobooks are kinda cool in a sitting around the fire listening to an orator regale you and the tribe kinda way, but i still can't deal. i like to re-read passages too much--and maybe you should be paying more attention to the road than your critical analysis imo
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Jan 12, 2024 06:31
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I don't have anything against audiobooks, I just can't. I immediately zone out and stop paying attention, it just becomes annoying background noise.
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Jan 12, 2024 08:07
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The audiobook for Antkind was very good and honestly probably the best way to experience that book. If it wasn't an audiobook I probably would have tapped out during the pages and pages and pages about the war between Donald Trunk and Slammy's in a cave
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Jan 12, 2024 18:55
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Casey Finnigan posted:The audiobook for Antkind was very good and honestly probably the best way to experience that book. If it wasn't an audiobook I probably would have tapped out during the pages and pages and pages about the war between Donald Trunk and Slammy's in a cave Ah I just bought Antkind! I guess I’m a Charlie Kaufman fan, checked his IMDb and every movie he’s written has been special for me, decided to buy it. How’s the book anyway?
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Jan 12, 2024 21:57
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It's a pretty fun book. When I read it I didn't realize the whole thing was making GBS threads on one particular real life movie critic Richard Brody. There's a fair bit that kind of feels like filler or is just not altogether super important to follow in close detail. Definitely including the Slammy's vs Donald Trunk stuff which I found pretty boring. A lot of it is kind of like a dream. Details come and go without a lot of relevance. For example, midway through the book the main character discovers that he's shrinking down and getting smaller but it's barely mentioned and then never comes up again. There's a lot of good ideas but I wouldn't say they're all necessarily really linked to one another. The main plot is about the main character trying to remember a historic 3-month-long movie he saw that ended up getting burnt up and lost, but it also is really not about that either. Things don't really come together by the end but the title kind of makes more sense. I'd say it's a book where the best version of it is the audiobook. The reader does a really good job and you can tune out the bits that are less interesting.
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Jan 12, 2024 22:17
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a lot of that sounds very kaufmanesque e: lmao the first line of the plot summary: "Neurotic failed film critic B. Rosenberger Rosenberg stumbles upon what may be the greatest artistic achievement in human history: a three-month-long film, complete with scheduled sleeping, eating, and bathroom breaks, that took its reclusive auteur, a psychotic African-American man named Ingo Cutbirth, 90 years to complete" yea thats kaufman alright whats the prose like?
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Jan 12, 2024 22:26
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Is "Assistant to the Villain" any good? It's got glowing reviews and "beleaguered office assistant to a dungeon boss" is a fun concept, but on the other hand, apparently not only does the narration like to interrupt itself with cutesy lines like "Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie", but it's so enamored of them that it put one right in the blurb. Makes it seem like some Fifty Shades bullshit.
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Jan 13, 2024 00:10
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Carthag Tuek posted:whats the prose like? The dialogue is pretty sharp and clever. Most of the narration is written in the voice of the narrator B who is a pretentious and obnoxious blowhard in a very weird and specific way. Sometimes Kaufman kind of leans into the joke a little too much. Maybe because I'm not familiar with the actual critic that Kaufman hates I'm missing some context. There will be a long run where the guy talks like this: Antkind posted:BACK ON THE street, I feel relieved there seems to be some recollection of the movie, but also oddly dispirited, both to be so quickly out of the story and back in this awful life of mine, but also to feel at the mercy of Barassini’s control in order to recover it. And why is he suddenly so desperate to hear about it? I think about the scene I just watched. Is that even in the movie? How can I know? Nothing is knowable. First of all, it feels so complete, down to precise dialogue and extraordinary comic timing. Is that possible? I have, in the past, claimed an eidetic memory, but have I ever tested it in this way? I don’t remember. I try now to recall a single scene of dialogue in Moutarde, a movie I have, by a conservative estimate, seen five hundred times, and I cannot. I remember snippets, important lines, brilliant lines, but not every line, not every look, every breath. Granted, the film is in French, and although I am fluent in French and five other languages, conversant in six more, it is not my first language. I attempt to think of a film in English I know as well as I know Moutarde. It is a difficult task. I do not expend much energy on American films, as they are generally not worth the effort. I consider the work of Apatow, the Great Exception, as he is known among we enlightened few. There is one scene in This Is 40 that jumps out and smacks one in the face, even in that veritable sea of Apatow brilliance. I’ve deconstructed this scene. I’ve written about it at length. I’ve performed the Paul Rudd part in my acting for critics classes. I know it. So I attempt to play it back in my mind, just to see if I can. And by the end you'll be like "yeah yeah bro. the guy's into french arthouse and judd apatow, very funny". But the book will then usually jump to something weird and interesting. Immediately after that bit there's an extended sequence about how Michael Collins, while sitting alone in the lunar lander waiting for Buzz Aldrin and Lance Armstrong to finish walking on the moon during Apollo 11, is surprised by the sudden appearance of two magical babies who he then adopts and names Castor and Pollux, becoming famous as one of the greatest fathers of all time - which may be something that was true and really happened or just part of the 3-month-long movie or both, never made clear
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Jan 13, 2024 00:26
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thanks yeah i dont think i would enjoy reading that. fwiw i heard it in nic cage's voice in my head when i read that, which is a good thing, but if its all written like that its too exhausting for me
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Jan 13, 2024 01:15
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I'll be listening to this audiobook I guess.
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Jan 13, 2024 01:29
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Yeah I think the book is a good fit for audiobook. The reader on Audible did a really great job and makes listening to the narrator a lot more enjoyable than just reading the text. There's plenty of chaff but also a lot of funny and interesting plotlines and ideas in there
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Jan 13, 2024 01:32
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Dang, I guess I'll be stuck with Calibre 6.29.0 until I feel like shelling out thousands on a MacBook Air that will update past Monterey 
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Jan 13, 2024 03:05
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eightysixed posted:Dang, I guess I'll be stuck with Calibre 6.29.0 until I feel like shelling out thousands on a MacBook Air that will update past Monterey hah, yeah I had the same problem, don't buy it now though, it's due for a refresh with their new processors (the 13" version)
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Jan 13, 2024 03:36
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Well that’s good to know. Mine is the 13” version and I’m fine with that on an Air. Thanks 
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Jan 13, 2024 07:32
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I didn’t see one in any pinned OP, but is there a website for no-frills browsing through titles and summaries by genre? Amazon and Apple Books and B&N are all fine, but I feel like I have to do a lot of fruitless digging to get past best sellers, new releases and promoted books before it starts showing me something that’s not also on the front page. Or maybe tell me how you browse those stores and found some hidden gems.
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Jan 13, 2024 16:09
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Spectral Werewolf posted:I didn’t see one in any pinned OP, but is there a website for no-frills browsing through titles and summaries by genre? Amazon and Apple Books and B&N are all fine, but I feel like I have to do a lot of fruitless digging to get past best sellers, new releases and promoted books before it starts showing me something that’s not also on the front page. Goodreads?
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Jan 13, 2024 17:48
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Comfy Fleece Sweater posted:Goodreads? Yeah, this is a really good answer. Goodreads is awesome for finding something you might not have othwerwise have found.
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Jan 13, 2024 18:41
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i sure wish Goodreads was as hard on scores as a community like Rateyourmusic is. seriously there's something hosed up and evil in a world where Ready Player One holds a 4.2 at least on RYM if an album's over a 4, it's likely good. meanwhile i don't know what the hell to think of a book's score on Goodread
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Jan 13, 2024 18:45
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cumpantry posted:i sure wish Goodreads was as hard on scores as a community like Rateyourmusic is. seriously there's something hosed up and evil in a world where Ready Player One holds a 4.2 This is the will of the people and you will respect it But it's pretty easy to find someone who likes the same books you do and follow them, and check out their recommendations. I quite like Goodreads, it's just so freakin slow sometimes
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Jan 13, 2024 19:14
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Spectral Werewolf posted:I didn’t see one in any pinned OP, but is there a website for no-frills browsing through titles and summaries by genre? Amazon and Apple Books and B&N are all fine, but I feel like I have to do a lot of fruitless digging to get past best sellers, new releases and promoted books before it starts showing me something that’s not also on the front page. I think you’re better off looking for books outside of the online storefronts. Goodreads or LibraryThing or whatever will probably be better at surfacing new books. Actually browsing your library’s online catalogue is probably a good approach too. Especially if you like ebooks or audiobooks, because then you can just withdraw them from said library.
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Jan 14, 2024 06:49
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Find a publisher you like and then go through their catalogue.
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Jan 14, 2024 12:18
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Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I never thought to check what goodreads was exactly even thought it’s mentioned everywhere. It looks like it has user made lists that might be helpful for finding those more specific story types. I might still have to dig through a lot of the “Hot aliens abduct women to repop their home planet” to reach the “Stupid jetpack Hitler and the ghostapo” lists, but this is more helpful than the online stores.
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Jan 14, 2024 16:28
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cumpantry posted:i sure wish Goodreads was as hard on scores as a community like Rateyourmusic is. seriously there's something hosed up and evil in a world where Ready Player One holds a 4.2 if you see a book below 4-4.2 on goodreads, it's going to be bad, no matter how many geocities era animated gifs you see in the reviews.
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Jan 15, 2024 00:09
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branedotorg posted:if you see a book below 4-4.2 on goodreads, it's going to be bad, no matter how many geocities era animated gifs you see in the reviews. OTOH some of the best books written hover between 2 and 3
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Jan 15, 2024 00:34
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