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Post by asmo on Feb 9, 2011 21:18:22 GMT -5
I don't know if this thread has ever been made, but I like books and the things inside them and the people outside of them who talk about the things inside of them. Use this thread to post about cool books (and other print based media perhaps?!) that you are reading/have read/would like to recommend to your pals on the internet.
right now I'm on a German literature kick and I'm well into the midst of Robert Musil's THE MAN WITHOUT QUALITIES. Its very post modern, so be prepared to dive into page long paragraphs about the flaws and beauties of the human condition. It's technically about a man named Ulrich and some of his family and acquaintances and how fucked up Austrian culture was in the early 1900s, but that's an incredibly reductive sentence and in no way encompasses the beauty of musils insights. musil's prose is some of the best i have ever read; his crazy german brain came up with some breathtaking analogies that are as hot as two ladies touching each other.
sample of how cool this man is:
This non-plussed feeling refers to something that many people nowadays call intuition, whereas formerly it used to be called inspiration, and they think that they must see something suprapersonal in it; but it is only something nonpersonal, namely the affinity and kinship of the things themselves that meet inside ones head.
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Post by Shrouded Wolf on Feb 18, 2011 15:15:25 GMT -5
For now, I'm stuck on the Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes collection.
Any of you that haven't read this, go pick it up and check it out right now. The entire collection (even in paperback) is <$10 and it's an amazing read.
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Post by asmo on Jul 23, 2011 10:58:57 GMT -5
A Dance with Dragons (the 5th Song of Ice and Fire book thats been delayed for like 6 years) came out, so all you cool nerds should go read it. Also watch the HBO series because it is was well made and neato.
If such a series does not interest you, I have many tales of other interesting books I have recently read that you may or may not find intriguing!
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Post by ch00beh on Jul 23, 2011 11:59:21 GMT -5
I am still on a Clash of Kings and I have watched the first season of Game of Thrones and I will agree that it is totes mcgoats legit.
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Post by asmo on Jul 23, 2011 13:40:03 GMT -5
Do you like the books so far? I read the first 3 in high school, and then I reread them all when the 4th book came out, but perhaps my tastes are now too refined to enjoy an old fat guy writing about sassy midgets and dragons and ice monsters. I hope not.
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Post by ch00beh on Jul 23, 2011 13:42:12 GMT -5
I love the plot and the characters, but the writing style is really bland and generic-fantasy and has no style, so it's kind of a slog to read through at times. It did not help that I had started reading a Palahniuk book before I picked up Game of Thrones.
But at least the show is good, so if I give up, I can just wait for the next season.
PS. Also Martin just looooooooves ellipses in the middle of sentences... which I have a personal vendetta against.
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Post by Ninety on Jul 23, 2011 13:51:08 GMT -5
What Palahniuk book were you reading?
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Post by ch00beh on Jul 23, 2011 13:52:38 GMT -5
Fight Club. I put it down a couple pages in though because I wasn't at the bookstore for that book, but it just happened to be nearby so I was checking it out before I left.
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SV
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Post by SV on Jul 24, 2011 3:19:28 GMT -5
I am also currently reading A Dance with Dragons! It is excellent. Superb, in fact. asmo and I are cool together. choobs can be cool with us in two books.
Before that, I was in the middle of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, since I don't think I ever actually finished reading the series.
Afterwards...who knows? Possibly Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut.
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Post by Ninety on Jul 24, 2011 10:33:41 GMT -5
I read a few books when I was in Wyoming/Idaho a couple of weeks ago. Powered through:
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
LTZ was short and very different from the film. I think I enjoyed the film more but the book has a lot going for it. If you liked the film or enjoyed other stuff by Ellis then you'll like LTZ.
Fear and Loathing is hilarious.
A Scanner Darkly is amazingly good. I loved it. The film was very true-to-source if you've seen it.
Anyway, I just started reading the first Dark Tower book. And by just started I mean I'm still in the first few pages of King's prologue where he talks about being a teenager.
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Post by Iron Mouse on Jul 25, 2011 14:11:57 GMT -5
Just finished Lord of the Flies and I'm kinda disappointed. I'd been imagining way more cannibalism and merciless homicide than was actually present. That being said, it was damn good anyway.
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Post by asmo on Jun 19, 2012 21:27:21 GMT -5
anyone read anything interesting as of late bump.
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Post by ch00beh on Jun 19, 2012 22:44:04 GMT -5
I read Machiavelli's The Prince and finished rereading American Gods a couple weeks ago while in Hawaii.
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SV
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Post by SV on Jun 20, 2012 6:05:08 GMT -5
I'm on the last chapter of Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin. It's...interesting. I think I've enjoyed it but it's not the type of thing I typically read so I have mixed feelings. Before that I finished Anansi Boys.
I keep meaning to reread the Lord of the Rings trilogy -- I read them in middle school, so I didn't absorb too much. But I have a book-buying addiction. I'm trying to decide between The Great Gatsby, which is excellent, and 50 Shades of Grey for the lulz and mild titillation. I just don't know if I can bring myself to pay money for something that originated as Twilight fanfic.
If I can manage to find unmolested copies of the last three Dark Tower books that match the first four I already own, though, I will be SO all over them. Mm.
AHHH I almost forgot that I want to reread Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. It was really good too.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jun 20, 2012 7:38:39 GMT -5
I've mostly been reading a bunch of linguistics books that I keep picking up at bookstores but not having time to read during the school year. My favorite so far was In the Land of Invented Languages.
However, I poke my head in here because I noticed Choobs talkin' bout American Gods, which Q gave to me for Christmas and which I'm TRYING to read. I just can't seem to get into it though. How awesome does it get, Choobs? Scale of one to ten.
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Post by Ninety on Jun 20, 2012 8:39:30 GMT -5
I'm reading all the Sin City graphic novels because Frank Miller's art is wicked awesome and I dig ultra-noir stuff.
also it's great inspiration for the Gasoline comic I've got in the works[/size]
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Post by ch00beh on Jun 20, 2012 11:16:21 GMT -5
American Gods was by far my favorite book back in the day. After rereading it, it's still one of my favorites but I don't know if it's the top anymore.
So I'd give it a good 12.
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Post by The Evil Biscuit on Jun 20, 2012 12:12:33 GMT -5
I'm reading ASOIAF currently - about halfway through Clash.
I'm also re-reading Stephen King's Under The Dome, which is fantastic in many places but terribly bad in others. Worth reading, but don't get too comfortable with it. K
Speaking of books, Pohatu, yours is now in the mail. Be warned - it is massive; truly a ponderous text in every sense of the word. Also, no dust jacket, because I hate those things. But worry not - once you get into it, it is a marvelous book, and you will never read Dickens the same way again.
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Post by asmo on Jun 21, 2012 23:06:50 GMT -5
However, I poke my head in here because I noticed Choobs talkin' bout American Gods, which Q gave to me for Christmas and which I'm TRYING to read. I just can't seem to get into it though. How awesome does it get, Choobs? Scale of one to ten. Have you read other books (graphic or otherwise) by Neil Gaiman? I'm not really sure if you can overcome major stylistic issues, but I think the plot is still pretty cool ten years removed from reading it. Right now I'm slogging through The Pale King, by David Foster Wallace. While DFW is probably one of my top five authors in the history of ever, he commited suicide before finishing the novel. Every time I read I feel bad because: 1. I know the novel wasn't finished, or even edited in the author's presence; and 2. The author died and now I will never get to read anything cool by him again; and 3. The last novel I read, The Good Soldier Svejk (Pretty much the Czech World War I version of Catch-22), was also cut short due to the author's untimely death. Both works are excellent, if you can deal with the melancholy that results from reading an unfinished novel. The Pale King is mostly about sadness and boredom, but DFW's prose is so excellent that he makes a book that is actually centered around the tedium of working in the IRS seem beautiful and engaging.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jun 21, 2012 23:10:46 GMT -5
I adored The Sandman. Loved every panel. But I'm sixty pages into AG and I don't know, I'm just like... dude, Neil, write about other things besides ancient gods being all modern and stuff. Please? And why the hell is the main character's name Shadow? Neil. Shadow. Really?
Maybe I've just grown sour toward that particular subgenre, though, on account of having to parse a terrible piece of fiction dedicated to Gaiman (and Radiohead and Black Sabbath) as part of my job. Must have gotten me off on the wrong foot re: AG.
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Post by asmo on Jun 21, 2012 23:21:47 GMT -5
I adored The Sandman. Loved every panel. But I'm sixty pages into AG and I don't know, I'm just like... dude, Neil, write about other things besides ancient gods being all modern and stuff. Please? And why the hell is the main character's name Shadow? Neil. Shadow. Really? Maybe I've just grown sour toward that particular subgenre, though, on account of having to parse a terrible piece of fiction dedicated to Gaiman (and Radiohead and Black Sabbath) as part of my job. Must have gotten me off on the wrong foot re: AG. The man loves his literary and mythical allusions, what can I say.
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Post by ch00beh on Jun 22, 2012 3:56:33 GMT -5
If it's any consolation, I hated Shadow's name, too. I guess it makes sense later on in the book after the deluge of twists, but I just kinda shrugged because his name was still Shadow.
Also I just finished reading Endless Nights. The Dream chapter was ridiculously amazing and lovely.
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Post by ch00beh on Jun 22, 2012 12:36:08 GMT -5
I also forgot to mention if you're looking for just straight urban fantasy instead of gods trying to be modern and stuff, read Neverwhere. For hilarious fantasy, read Stardust.
Neverwhere even features Avery. But she's named Door because seriously Gaiman l2name
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Post by Loogs on Jun 22, 2012 15:05:08 GMT -5
the sixth and final volume of Doll by Mitsukazu Mihara just came in the mail so i finished up that. it's a good manga series about androids and what it means to be human blah blah blah. very psychological and the art is really nice, especially the gothic lolita clothing on the dolls.
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Post by ch00beh on Aug 25, 2016 9:51:52 GMT -5
I finished Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint last night. If you're into a bunch of bisexual victorian bros trying to kill each other while smiling at tea parties, this is a 10/10 book.
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Post by Krazy Glue on Sept 3, 2016 7:18:13 GMT -5
Sounds rather amusing.
I must say the best book I've read in ages is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Absolutely fan-fucking-tastic all the way through, and if you're too lazy to read it, the audiobook is read by wil wheaton =)
Currently reading The Memory Man... Its ok, nothing spectacular so far
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