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I'm currently working on Patrick Leigh Fermor's "A Time of Gifts", recounting his on-foot voyage through Europe in the mid-30s. Excellent (if sometimes long-winded) writer who seems to focus more on the people he encountered and their nuances rather than the an "I did this, and then I went there, and then this happened" which plagues most travel narratives. And after having spent the better part of the last week trolling through bookshops in Boston and environs, I came away with a decent stack of acquisitions. They include: - the aforementioned Fermor's "Roumeli", about his time spent in Greece; - Geoffrey Moorehead's "The Fearful Void", about his solo trek across the Sahara; - a collection of poems by Seamus Heaney (the name of which escapes me); - Bill Barich's "A Pint of Plain", about the decline of the rural Irish pub; and a whole host of others.
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May 14, 2009 16:26
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I always seem to have a large repertoire of books going at the same time, so I'm jumping around between: Cormac Mccarthy 'The Road' Albert Camus 'The Plague' Neil Gaiman 'American Gods' Jack Kerouac 'Big Sur' and I just bought and subsequently sprinted through in about a day 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' by Phillip K Dick which was good.
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May 15, 2009 10:18
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And so begins my foray into Infinite Jest.
Rush_shirt fucked around with this message at 22:12 on May 16, 2009 |
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May 15, 2009 20:02
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Watership Down. Haven't read it in like 20 years so I just picked up a new copy, really interested in seeing what I think about it now that I'm a grown-rear end man. After this I think I'll pick up some more Adams, particularly interested in Shardik and Traveller.
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May 15, 2009 21:35
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The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. In the first ten pages I've caught references to The Stand, John Carter of Mars, and the Prydain Chronicles, to name just a few. I think I'm gonna like it.
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May 16, 2009 22:53
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thegloaming posted:And so begins my foray into Infinite Jest.  this one's in my started pile too
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May 17, 2009 00:21
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Mr.Joyce posted:riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. On page 26 and counting.
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May 17, 2009 04:42
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robomechatronsaurus posted:please keep us posted I'm on page 32 so far. I really like it. It's like a mother bird chewed up Gravity's Rainbow and fed it to me in a slightly more digestible and contemporary sludge. It's still challenging, though. I thought it'd be a walk in the park until I got to the part where Hal meets the "professional conversationalist" who I guess is just his father in some elaborate disguise? Maybe? I also recently bought Ulysses, Mason & Dixon, On Writing, The Sound and the Fury, On the Road, and Lost in the Funhouse. EDIT: Hit 50 before calling it a night. Yeah, it's definitely getting more intricate, and I like that. Rush_shirt fucked around with this message at 06:55 on May 17, 2009 |
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May 17, 2009 05:20
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Tainen posted:NECRONOMICON I really want this book. Lovecraft is awesome, and a friend of mine recently bought this as he's never read any Lovecraft before, and is raving about it. Even though i've read a lot of the stories it'd be nice to have them all in one book rather than scattered between the few i own already. The Necronomicon has all my favourites in it - great purchase! As for me: "The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade Vol 1" - Dan Abnett / Mike Lee (Currently reading) Also bought: "The Loved Dead: Collected Stories Volume Two" - H.P. Lovecraft (collection of collaborations and ghost-written pieces) "Haunted" - Chuck Palahniuk "Daemon World" - Ben Counter "The Saint" - Dan Abnett "False Gods" - Graham McNeill "Galaxy In Flames" - Ben Counter So yeah, way too many Warhammer books in there but goddammit it's easy to read and something about a giant armoured space marine blowing the poo poo out of aliens is relaxing to me.
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May 17, 2009 21:35
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The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan. Loaned to me by a friend long ago, finally getting around to it.
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May 17, 2009 22:19
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thegloaming posted:I'm on page 32 so far. I really like it. It's like a mother bird chewed up Gravity's Rainbow and fed it to me in a slightly more digestible and contemporary sludge. It's still challenging, though. I thought it'd be a walk in the park until I got to the part where Hal meets the "professional conversationalist" who I guess is just his father in some elaborate disguise? Maybe? Really enjoyed some tangent explaining the rise and fall of video calls. << Pretty sure that won't spoil anything Also, wtf is with the "year of the depend adult undergarment" headers? I'm sure it will all make sense in due course but it certainly is deliciously unconventional. I have theories about the authors reasons for this although I think i'll shut my mouth until I've read more.
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May 18, 2009 01:45
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robomechatronsaurus posted:I'm 160ish. Had a ball with this so far. I know people throw this word around in book reviews a lot, however i really think Wallace has got his head around good pacing. Based on James O. Incandenza's Filmography and something I think I read in the David Foster Wallace thread, I think that the year names Are due to the fact that years, in the future, are sponsored by corporate products. I'm only on page 65 (not including the pages I've gone through in the endnotes). Jesus loving Christ, that filmography. I thought Thomas Pynchon was nuts. How the hell does he pull off something so esoteric and obsessive? Oh man... I... I gotta take a break after reading through that.
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May 18, 2009 02:03
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Last big batch of books I bought;         Since then I've also bought American Psycho, 1984, 20 000 Leagues Under The Sea and Journey To The Centre Of The earth as well. Currently reading American Psycho, although I think I'll have a break from it to read 20 000 Leagues.
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May 18, 2009 04:56
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atrus50 posted:On page 26 and counting. Are you just reading it cold or do you have a commentary to go along with it? I don't speak 60-70 different languages, so all the puns go over my head without one. thegloaming posted:I also recently bought Ulysses Ulysses is an awesome, awesome book. I'm on p. 300 right now and I can't put it down, even though every time I finish a section I have to read something online that explains all the esoteric references and what exactly just happened. It's maybe the toughest book I've ever read (Finnegans Wake not included because you don't really 'read' the Wake). Foyes36 fucked around with this message at 05:03 on May 18, 2009 |
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May 18, 2009 05:00
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Nah, I'm not using a guide, so, yeah, I'm understanding one or two references a page, which I hear is what Joyce intended. A wise man once said that one doesn't tackle the Wake, one walks around it.
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May 18, 2009 23:35
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mastapasta posted:I too just started this and am on chapter 6. I've seen a ton of great things said about this so I'm really looking forward to continuing.
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May 19, 2009 00:02
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I just got from Amazon Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, Pride of Carthage by David Anthony Durham, and a graphic novel Planetary Vol. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories. I think I am going to start with the Pride of Carthage as my first read of this batch.
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May 19, 2009 01:25
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nate fisher posted:I just got from Amazon Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, Pride of Carthage by David Anthony Durham, and a graphic novel Planetary Vol. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories. I think I am going to start with the Pride of Carthage as my first read of this batch. Planetary is one of my favorite comics ever, but be patient. The final issue still hasn't been released so the last Volume hasn't been released as a result. It's been on hold for a few years but its apparently been finished now so it will hopefully come out before the end of the year.
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May 19, 2009 01:30
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Dacap posted:Planetary is one of my favorite comics ever, but be patient. The final issue still hasn't been released so the last Volume hasn't been released as a result. It's been on hold for a few years but its apparently been finished now so it will hopefully come out before the end of the year. No biggie. I am one of the idiots still waiting for the next A Song of Ice and Fire book.
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May 19, 2009 02:28
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I finished Consider the Lobster (it was great) and started Jon Franzen's The Corrections over the weekend. I'm already about 100 pages in and absolutely enjoying it.
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May 19, 2009 04:40
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I finally finished Upton Sinclair's Oil!. It wasn't an easy book to read, but it was still very good. Better than even The Jungle if you ask me. However, I'm in the mood for something less testing so I'm getting ready to read something that I've been meaning to read for a long time now and that's Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman. It's long, but I hear it's an easy read (most of King's stuff is).
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May 19, 2009 07:29
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While waiting for the last Wheel of Time book, I decided to pick up Sanderson's Elantris to see if he was any good. Turns out I like it a lot more than I thought I would, so likely I'm going to finish it in the next few hours then probably go pick up some more of his stuff by the end of the week. It's nice to occasionally find a fantasy novel that's not all about fighting or going to Mount Evil to save the world from Doomlord Ravendeath or what have you.
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May 19, 2009 11:23
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Just begun and finished Steve Martin's Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life. Great book but I wish he would have delved more into his overall journey instead of making a eulogy of his standup career. He mentioned some very interesting things in passing (mental illness, dealing with success, being burned out, self doubt on some of his movies) but he never followed up. At the end, it felt like he was trying to fill pages with his actual standup instead of talking about the man behind mask and the things he was dealing with. Don't get me wrong, the ending was powerful but it felt like it could have been so much more. Recently purchased: Steve Martin - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Stephen King - Night Shift Stephen King - The Shining Ernest Hemingway - For Whom The Bell Tolls Complete Works Of Edgar Allan Poe Complete Works Of Mark Twain Complete Works Of Charles Dicken Complete Works Of William Shakespeare Even though I have a ton of books I can read, give me some spare cash plus ten minutes in the Kindle store and I can easily drop $40
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May 19, 2009 11:38
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Recently started Steven King's The Stand I'm about 200 pages in it and its freaking me the gently caress out. Oh god someone just sneezed
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May 19, 2009 13:23
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Agnes of Sorrento- Harriet Beecher Stowe The Marble Faun- Nathaniel Hawthorne Reading both of these right now in preparation for two lit. classes I'll be taking abroad in Florence. I'm leaving in a week and I'll be there for six weeks. 
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May 19, 2009 20:21
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The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. Holy poo poo this book is great. Interesting characters, great violence. Started it yesterday and I'm almost 200 pages in already, I wanted to call in sick today so I could keep reading. Who knew a torturer could be such a sympathetic character?
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May 20, 2009 16:45
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I finished the Jungle by Upton Sinclair a few weeks ago, and I really could have done without the essay on socialism at the end. I then read Ann Hansen's Direct Action: Memoirs of an Urban Guerrilla. Despite being labeled a memoir, Ann creates conversations between characters that may or may not exist in some parts of the book. I also think she tries too hard to make her, and her friends, seem like modern-day Robin Hood's (even mentioning it twice), but, her actions were incredibly self-serving. I would not recommend this to anyone. I am now reading: The Gulf War Did Not Take Place by Jean Baudrillard Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb by Mike Davis The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory by D'Arcy Jenish
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May 20, 2009 17:13
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I'm getting through Part I of Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert now. It's pretty interesting so far. I haven't read much 19th century French lit before, so this is kind of my big introduction to it.
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May 20, 2009 18:15
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I just picked up Pale Fire by Nabokov. I skipped the forward because I didn't realize it was part of the story and I read the poetry, which I enjoyed, but it wasn't until I looked up the book in Wikipedia that I discovered that there was much more to the story.
Stroszek fucked around with this message at 22:54 on May 20, 2009 |
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May 20, 2009 22:47
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I just started Force and Statecraft: Diplomatic Problems of Our Time; it's okay so far. I was expecting a lot more current international politics, but it's still going through the history of it instead. It's not bad, but not great (so far). Of course, they could just be building up so that their point comes across better when they finally get to current politics.
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May 21, 2009 00:32
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I just bought... Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman The Road by Cormac McCarthy American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Nearly all of these I got because I saw them talked about so much here. I'm going to start reading Killing Yourself to Live as soon as my workload has died down and then spend a few weeks relaxing on the beach and getting through them all (hopefully).
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May 21, 2009 00:53
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Static Rook posted:I just picked up Pygmy, Chuck Palahniuk's newest book. I always get his new ones even though the more recent ones have been disappointing. This loving book, however, is great. Probably my favorite of his right now just because of the mix of humor, gore, and ridiculousness. I won't spoil anything here, but drat is it good and the gimmick actually helps the story instead of hurting it like in Haunted. I just picked up Pygmy as well and I have to disagree with you about the gimmick. I couldn't take it and only lasted 15 minutes into the book before putting it down. It was going to be my first foray into Palahniuk because my roommate won't shut up about him and the plot synopsis sounds interesting, but I think he murdered broken english, so to speak. I just finished Lolita which is on the SBB Recommendation list for good reason. Also picked up Slaughterhouse Five and Pale Fire. I'm about 80 pages into Old Man's War and enjoying it. Scalzi gets a little cheesy with his jokes sometimes, but now that I think about it the characters are all geriatrics at this point so I guess it's fitting.
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May 21, 2009 15:23
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flavaaDAAAAAVE posted:I'm about 80 pages into Old Man's War and enjoying it. Scalzi gets a little cheesy with his jokes sometimes, but now that I think about it the characters are all geriatrics at this point so I guess it's fitting. Yeah, I found his humor to be really hit-or-miss. When it sucks it really sucks, but I laughed out loud at parts of the book. I didn't like The Ghost Brigades or Last Colony that much, but Zoe's Tale was great. He gave every single goddamn character the same smarmy sense of humor (even the supposedly "out-there" Special Forces) and it really grated on me. It works better in the first person.
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May 21, 2009 19:16
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A Game of Thrones finally hooked me, after I had to force myself through the first 50 pages or so. I'm incredibly excited that I have so much reading ahead of me, particularly of what is commonly touted as the best fantasy series ever written.
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May 21, 2009 19:23
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Ytlaya posted:A Game of Thrones finally hooked me, after I had to force myself through the first 50 pages or so. I'm incredibly excited that I have so much reading ahead of me, particularly of what is commonly touted as the best fantasy series ever written. Ya it took about 50 pages to hook me in. I think the third A Storm of Swords was one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. I've just started In Pursuit of Elegance by Matthew E. May. I'm about halfway through. It definitely has its ups and downs. Certain parts he drags out too much. Overall I think it's a pretty good book from what I've taken in to this point. benisntfunny fucked around with this message at 00:40 on May 24, 2009 |
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May 22, 2009 02:12
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benisntfunny posted:Ya it took about 50 pages to hook me in. I think the third A Storm of Swords was one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. I really enjoyed the first 3 books a lot, but I found A Feast of Crows to be a let down.
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May 22, 2009 02:37
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Tainen posted:Was walking through the bookstore last weekend and saw this 900 page monstrosity I love it. The stories are great and it has awesome shelf presence. For content:  Its a refreshing change from GRRM. Only 56 pages in and so far so good. I just hope the Books of the South or whatever is better than everyone says it is.
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May 22, 2009 03:24
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Started A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce. Enjoyed the first bit of it but then kind of crashed and just couldn't bear to read more. Started Foundation by Asimov. Loving it so far. I'd forgotten how great old school sci-fi can be.
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May 22, 2009 05:14
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Just picked up The Sparrow. Had a really hard time finding it in stores, but finally tracked down a copy. I'm half way through it, and it's felt draggy at points, but still engrossing nonetheless.
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May 22, 2009 05:42
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Macrame_God posted:I just started Oil! by Upton Sinclair. I enjoyed The Jungle and I've always wanted to read more from Sinclair, but never got around to it. Well, now I'm getting around to it and, even though I just started, I'm enjoying it very much. In fact, I think I'm enjoying it more than The Jungle. I finished Oil! recently and definitely enjoyed it more than The Jungle. I went to Half Price Books recently and bought The Flivver King by Upton Sinclair, though I'm not sure when I'll actually get around to reading it. I also bought Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas and Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. I recently started The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and cannot put it down. I began reading Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! a while back but haven't been reading it because the other one is more engrossing.
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May 22, 2009 09:26
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