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Author Topic: What are you currently reading?  (Read 396722 times)

sitnspin

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1350 on: 13 Jun 2019, 08:13 »

Just finished reading "Storm of Locust" by Rebecca Roanhorse. It's the sequel to "Trail of Lightning". The books are set on Diné land after an event called the Big Water, a series of natural disasters that ravaged and flooded much of the world's surface. Through a combination of magic and engineering, the Diné managed to raise an enormous wall all around their territory, protecting it from the damage done everywhere else. Monsters and Heroes from legend once again walk the land.  The stories follow Maggie Hoskie, a monster hunter cursed with supernatural powers of strength and speed, feared and hated by the very people who rely on her services, one of a handful of people touched with powers associated with their clans.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1351 on: 13 Jun 2019, 09:45 »

Ged like Get, not Jed like Jet.

Yeah... s'what I meant.

Ged (in the UK certainly) is pronounced like Jet.

Not according to the OED, which has an entry for Ged as a Scottish and Northern English name for the pike (fish) - pronounced with a hard g, not a j.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1352 on: 13 Jun 2019, 12:47 »

Having read the book, the Prime show was mildly disappointing, especially since American Gods was such a riot - although to be fair, I haven't read that book.

(click to show/hide)
Does Good Omens end with the season? My Amazon menu lists it as "Season One".
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1353 on: 13 Jun 2019, 13:07 »

Yes, it's a relatively short book. Amazon Prime apparently has no way of indicating that it's finished after six episodes.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1354 on: 13 Jun 2019, 13:37 »

Also Neil Gaiman announced that he won't be back if Amazon renews the show, stating that he hasn't written a novel since 2013's "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" and that he would like to getting back to being a novelist. I would also imagine that helping to produce Good Omens was difficult for him, considering how he and Terry Pratchett were such good friends.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1355 on: 14 Jun 2019, 06:31 »

Also Neil Gaiman announced that he won't be back if Amazon renews the show....
...which reminds me that HBO has renewed Big Little Lies for a second season, despite the entire book story having been covered in the first.  :?
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1356 on: 14 Jun 2019, 17:33 »

Well, you know. The first season of The Handmaid's Tale covered the entire book as well, and we've had three seasons so far...
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1357 on: 14 Jun 2019, 19:15 »

Well, you know. The first season of The Handmaid's Tale covered the entire book as well, and we've had three seasons so far...
I don't know that, actually. I stalled in my reading of The Handmaid's Tale and still haven't finished it.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1358 on: 14 Jun 2019, 19:45 »

It's a bit too close to reality right now for me to give it another go.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1359 on: 15 Jun 2019, 06:57 »

It's a bit too close to reality right now for me to give it another go.
Off topic, but I saw a Venn diagram a couple days ago with four overlapping circles labeled:
Fahrenheit 451
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Brave New World
The Handmaid's Tale

...and in the center where all four overlap: YOU ARE HERE
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1360 on: 15 Jun 2019, 08:08 »

This is why I don't read stuff like that. I have enough darkness in my life without having in my entertainment as well. I don't need a dystopian allegory to make me aware of how fuck up the world is and how much more fucked up it could be. I am painfully aware.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1361 on: 23 Jun 2019, 08:30 »

This is why I don't read stuff like that. I have enough darkness in my life without having in my entertainment as well. I don't need a dystopian allegory to make me aware of how fuck up the world is and how much more fucked up it could be. I am painfully aware.

This is how I have felt about such fiction for a while.

I feel like I already live in a dystopia, I don't need to read about one that doesn't actually sound too much worse.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1362 on: 23 Jun 2019, 12:36 »

sitnspin and Thrillho - That's fair.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1363 on: 23 Jun 2019, 13:23 »

Just finished reading "The Tiger's Daughter" and now I am reading "The Phoenix Empress". The books are about too girls in a fantasy analog of  East Asia, one the crown princess and the other the daughter of the chieftain of the nomads of the steppes. Both of whose mother were famous warriors in their youths with a deep and undying friendship forged in war and trauma. The daughters, Shefali and Shinzuku are born under auspicious signs that foretell their lifelong bond and their own great destinies. The first book is told from the perspective of Shefali, the nomadic rider and archer, the eponymous Tiger's Daughter. The second is told from the pov of Shizulu, the princess/Empress of an empire slowly going to rot as an ancient evil takes root spreading sickness and demons across land.

The first book is a sweeping epic that follows them from birth until they are 17. It has action, humour, horror, and romance. The characters are rich and full and wholly believable in all their messy intricacy. The story is deeply engaging and keeps you hooked in. The romance is a long slow burn that takes its time to develop in a believable way.

I'm only a few chapters into the second book, but it is proving to be as enjoyable as the first so far.

If you are in the mood for a low fantasy epic with a side of sweet queer romance, I highly recommend.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1364 on: 20 Jul 2019, 14:44 »

Just finished Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life by Gary John Bishop. Its very direct and being that I listened to him narrate it via audio-book, it came off as quite the pep-talk. I found it to be quite helpful.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1365 on: 23 Jul 2019, 10:18 »

I suppose it would be best to post this here rather than anywhere else. As mentioned before, I had read Good Omens fairly recently, but my wife had me wait to watch the show until after our child was born (old world superstition) so we finally watched it. I couldn't help but compare it to the book the entire way through and I must say I like the book better, however the show is also good.  They add new scenes to give the book readers something new to see instead of beat by beat the same story. The ending is essentially the same thing but they go about it differently after the climax. My two biggest complaints about the show 1) the Narrator's pacing (I felt the audio-book had better pacing regarding the narration, and the show narration just seemed rushed) 2) The story seemed rushed. It could be that to me it seemed like it took the entire last week of earth to get through everything whereas the show makes everything happen over the course of the last 3ish days. Now I must admit these are nitpicks and that is one advantage the book will have over any TV show or book is plenty of time to delve into everything. There were many more nit picks I had, but they are just nit picks because I like the book and YMMV.  The show was still great and the new things they did, they did well.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1366 on: 22 Aug 2019, 12:56 »

Started "Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian Barbarian: The Complete Weird Tales Omnibus" by Robert E. Howard and compiled by Finn J. D. John. So far its pretty interesting. After the author's notes the first few stories has nothing to do with Conan. The first one is a Kull story (Shadow Kingdom) and the 2 following are Solomon Kane stories (Red Shadow and Rattle of Bones), followed by an Essay Howard wrote explaining the Hyborean age where Conan takes place. Finn J.D. John did this to help show Howard's evolution in writing and it does help you get a taste for what you're in for. The Conan stories are then presented in the order they are published so it leaps from different points in his life. For example, the first Conan story "The Phoenix on the Sword" takes place when Conan is now king of Aquilonia (like a mix between the Roman Empire and Carolingian Empire) so he's a bit older than his other adventures. I've only now gotten to this story but so far its pretty good. A lot of cloak and dagger game of thrones stuff going on.

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1367 on: 05 Nov 2019, 06:42 »

I finally read Fahrenheit 451. It was required reading in high school but I didn't read it. Go figure.
Reading it now with the gusto of wanting to read, just wow! It was a great story that I don't think my younger self would have appreciated.  Everyone likes to cite that its about book burning and censorship, but thats just what you get from reading the back of a book and maybe the bit of the beginning. Its about so much more than that! Dumbing down media for something thats easier to consume, keeping people happy/distracted at all times, growing apathy in society, and the dumb persecuting the intellectual because they feel inferior.  God this feels relevant today as I am sure it was back in the 50s when it was written.

I swear I work with someone that is just like Montag's wife.   :venonat:
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1368 on: 05 Nov 2019, 08:52 »

Currently reading Bryson's "The body: a guide for occupants"

It's in the same vein as "A short history of nearly everything' and "At home: a history of private life".

So far it's quite entertaining and a fascinating read, although I don't think it comes close to 'history of nearly everything'.
« Last Edit: 05 Nov 2019, 13:26 by dutchrvl »
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1369 on: 05 Nov 2019, 12:26 »

I got a book called Wild Irish Women, about innovative Irish women funnily enough, from one of my partners' mums, and I stopped reading because like many history books I like it refers to a bunch of shit it expects you to have heard of.

Sadly, I am grossly uneducated in Irish history; this partner, by the way, is Irish.

So I've paused. I'm going to read the Irish equivalent to Sixth Form set text on history, then get myself some heavier duty Irish potted history book, and then head back on to Wild Irish Women once I can appreciate just how special they really were.

I've rattled through a bunch of other books recently. I am currently reading American Caesars. I'm also reading Redshirts by John Scalzi, which I've barely started but am enjoying. It is seemingly set up as a Star Trek parody of sorts, but the friend who recommend it to me says it is much more than that.

I also read The Vietnam War by Max Hastings. If you are remotely interested in that war, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It goes into phenomenal depth, not just considering The American War, as it's known by many in Vietnam itself, but also covering extensively the disastrous French efforts to keep it as a colony after World War II. I never cease to be amazed by the depths that the 'heroes' of our history will sink to when the enemy isn't so easily 'evil' in capital letters like Hitler is. I would say the most gripping part of the book was the French segment, but that may be because it's the part I knew the least about.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1370 on: 24 Dec 2019, 03:31 »

Terra Incognita by Ruth Downie

It's a murder mystery set in the time of Ancient Rome (pre-holy empire) in what would become northern England.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1371 on: 27 Dec 2019, 09:38 »

I see some people in this thread have mentioned The Expanse series. I didn't see anyone mentioning the audiobooks, which are read by a Tony-winning actor. He's very good. He sounds like he's having so much fun reading the dialog of Avasarala, a character who sadly doesn't show up until the second book.

If you're OK with sci fi that has weirder premises than The Expanse, try This Is How You Lose The Time War, which I liked very much. I'd definitely recommend it to people who liked Ninefox Gambit and vice versa.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1372 on: 27 Dec 2019, 09:44 »

From Bacteria to Bach and Back, by Daniel Dennett.

I'm taking notes on my phone on pretty much every single page, so it's slow going. But it's a great book

Oh, nice. I'm in book group that just finished BtB&B. I'm happy to share our groups thoughts about it, maybe in a separate thread. We've now moved on to The Information by James Gleick.
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sitnspin

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1373 on: 27 Dec 2019, 12:49 »

"A Memory Called Empire"

The new ambassador to a galaxy-spanning empire arrives at her new post only to find that her predecessor is dead and no one will admit that it wasn't an accident or that she might be next. Now she must solve the mystery of his murder while keeping herself alive and protecting her home world from the ever expanding empire.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1374 on: 06 Feb 2020, 12:22 »

Just started "Life A Users Manual" by George Perec. It's a tour of 1975 Paris frozen within a single moment in time.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1375 on: 06 Feb 2020, 14:18 »

I see some people in this thread have mentioned The Expanse series. I didn't see anyone mentioning the audiobooks, which are read by a Tony-winning actor. He's very good. He sounds like he's having so much fun reading the dialog of Avasarala, a character who sadly doesn't show up until the second book.

I got the books after watching season two I think, and I ran through them all quite fast. Mind you, I read 5 hem in English, which isn't my native language, but still nothing stopped me running through them all. Gotta love f*cking Avasarala though, that woman has no brain/mouth filter.

Anyone got a Sci-fi or Fantasy recommendation for me? Looking for something new to read. Can be a classic, as (re-) reading in English might be reason enough for me
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sitnspin

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1376 on: 06 Feb 2020, 20:51 »

"A Blade So Black" - A modern "Alice in Wonderland" about a young black woman fighting and slaying Nightmares trying to breach their way into the human world from Wonderland, the manifestation of the dream of the human collective unconscious.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1377 on: 07 Feb 2020, 10:55 »

"A Blade So Black" - A modern "Alice in Wonderland" about a young black woman fighting and slaying Nightmares trying to breach their way into the human world from Wonderland, the manifestation of the dream of the human collective unconscious.
That sounds a little bit like the comic book Return to Wonderland, which is kind of a Wonderland-meets-Lovecraft horror series.
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sitnspin

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1378 on: 07 Feb 2020, 11:19 »

This is decidedly non-Lovecraftian. More, return of the once defeated dark sorceress than unfathomable eldritch monsters from beyond time and space.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1379 on: 10 Feb 2020, 05:11 »

I just finished Ignition! by John D. Clark.  More about rocket fuels than you'd ever want to know, and howlingly funny in spots.  I was pushed a little bit to remember my high school and freshman college chemistry, but those weren't really necessary.  The funny bits were the examination of chem-geek culture and the anecdotes of ... er ... um ... experiments, yeah, experiments gone wrong.  I'm not sure how you'd turn it into a movie, but it would sure have enough explosions...
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1380 on: 17 Feb 2020, 17:37 »

Anyone got a Sci-fi or Fantasy recommendation for me? Looking for something new to read. Can be a classic, as (re-) reading in English might be reason enough for me

Does any of the sci-fi already in this thread appeal to you? There are some pretty good suggestions on the previous pages.

What sci fi and fantasy have you recently read (in addition to The Expanse) that you liked?

(I suppose this slightly duplicates the "Recommendations" thread, though I see that contains a lot of tv and movies and this is a very reading-specific thread)
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1381 on: 19 Feb 2020, 22:36 »

I recently read Altered Carbob, on which the Netflix show of the same name is based on. Weird, how you can change "just a little bit" and end up redoing so much. But hey, that's Hollywood.

Started Dune the other day. Or like re-started it for the fifth time, because never got far, for whatever reason.

As far as Sci-fi goes, I guess I have a thing for man/machine intrrwction, digital consciousness.
I don't need some thought out recommendations, just fire something at me.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1382 on: 01 Mar 2020, 09:15 »

As far as Sci-fi goes, I guess I have a thing for man/machine intrrwction, digital consciousness.
I don't need some thought out recommendations, just fire something at me.

Whelp, the Sprawl-trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive ) by William Gibson is probably the Cyberpunk classic, along with Neal Stephenson's stuff from the 90s.

I also liked Ramez Nam's Nexus trilogy and it's a bit less dated than Gibson & Stephenson.

The weirdest and best I've read recently is Anne Leckie's Imperial Radch series - fair warning, though: It's not about Razorgurlz, and she uses two very potent 'Verfremdungseffekte'. If you go to the respective German Amazon pages, you'll find tons of Krautians bitching about it (they're idiots, though - it's glorious once your brain adapts to it.)

Read the English version, though - I cannot imagine that it'd work in a German translation.

(click to show/hide)
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1383 on: 01 Mar 2020, 09:27 »

I second both the Nexus trilogy and the Radtch series. Both are absolutely phenomenal for different reasons.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1384 on: 01 Mar 2020, 12:09 »

I do wonder if in a non-gendered society, what would happen with individuals who desired to express one would be treated like that one lady was in that TNG episode.[1]
Or would contact with other cultures create a broader social movement a la Cheery Littlebottom and other Ankh Morpork dwarfs who in Discworld have a mono-gendered society.

[1] IIRC, Jonathan Frakes was rather disappointed that they chose a woman to act in that role, feeling like that those responsible for casting didn't really "get it".

Edit:  I must admit, that I haven't read much, if any cyberpunk in years.  It kinda stopped being fun for me once it started becoming reality.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1385 on: 01 Mar 2020, 23:09 »

Edit:  I must admit, that I haven't read much, if any cyberpunk in years.  It kinda stopped being fun for me once it started becoming reality.

When fiction becomes reality, it loses its appeal. Also applies somewhat to societal change.


Read the English version, though - I cannot imagine that it'd work in a German translation.

That's something I keep trying. Once you realise how much gets lost in translation, you go original whenever possible.
Thanks for your recommendations!
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1386 on: 01 Mar 2020, 23:11 »

Except for Kant.  For the love of all that is good and decent in the world, and if one doesn't want to plunge into the depths of Lovecraftian madness, read him in English, if at all.
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sitnspin

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1387 on: 02 Mar 2020, 00:02 »

I do wonder if in a non-gendered society, what would happen with individuals who desired to express one would be treated like that one lady was in that TNG episode.[1]
Or would contact with other cultures create a broader social movement a la Cheery Littlebottom and other Ankh Morpork dwarfs who in Discworld have a mono-gendered society.

Gender expression is largely a social construct. And, as i recall, it isn't as though everyone in The Radtch looked, dressed, and acted exactly the same way, they just didn't ascribe gender to those differences. To them, seeing someone in a dress would be no different than seeing someone in pants. A person with what we called "feminine" characteristics and would be seen the same as someone with "masculine" features. They would just see them, and themselves, as "human'. The Radtch language didn't even contain words to describe gender.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1388 on: 02 Mar 2020, 01:11 »

I do wonder if in a non-gendered society, what would happen with individuals who desired to express one would be treated like that one lady was in that TNG episode.[1]
Or would contact with other cultures create a broader social movement a la Cheery Littlebottom and other Ankh Morpork dwarfs who in Discworld have a mono-gendered society.

Gender expression is largely a social construct. And, as i recall, it isn't as though everyone in The Radtch looked, dressed, and acted exactly the same way, they just didn't ascribe gender to those differences. To them, seeing someone in a dress would be no different than seeing someone in pants. A person with what we called "feminine" characteristics and would be seen the same as someone with "masculine" features.

Yup.

Proper mindf**k. Glorious!  :-D

They would just see them, and themselves, as "human' Radchaai.

"To be Radchaai is to be civilised ..."  :-D

(click to show/hide)

Except for Kant.  For the love of all that is good and decent in the world, and if one doesn't want to plunge into the depths of Lovecraftian madness, read him in English, if at all.

Omg Kant ... I can't manage more than two pages of the Critique of Pure Reason before going cross-eyed (and very, very cranky ...). Even his interpunctuation and word-order seem odd to me; I could very well be missing something, but I have doubts whether he fully understood how to properly mark the beginning and end of subclauses - or what is and what isn't a subclause to begin with.

TL;DR - I doubt that it's easier for us native speakers. The man was simply a very, very bad writer (and German provides bad writers with a lot of tools to use badly).
« Last Edit: 02 Mar 2020, 04:58 by Case »
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hedgie

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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1389 on: 02 Mar 2020, 07:03 »

German always did strike me as the Perl of human languages.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1390 on: 02 Mar 2020, 08:16 »

The weirdest and best I've read recently is Anne Leckie's Imperial Radch series - fair warning, though: It's not about Razorgurlz, and she uses two very potent 'Verfremdungseffekte'.
I've read the first two of those (third wasn't out yet) and now it's been so long I'll have to start over.

Wasn't going to mask this but Case did so I'll follow suit:
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1391 on: 02 Mar 2020, 08:18 »

Omg Kant ... I can't manage more than two pages of the Critique of Pure Reason before going cross-eyed (and very, very cranky ...). Even his interpunctuation and word-order seem odd to me; I could very well be missing something, but I have doubts whether he fully understood how to properly mark the beginning and end of subclauses - or what is and what isn't a subclause to begin with.

TL;DR - I doubt that it's easier for us native speakers. The man was simply a very, very bad writer (and German provides bad writers with a lot of tools to use badly).
Immanuel Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1392 on: 02 Mar 2020, 11:42 »

Been listening to the Siberian Incident by Greig Beck, something of a cross between The Thing From Another World style horror and a Russian Mafia story.

It's.....a book. Honestly, its two genres that shouldn't really mix. Its like making a sandwich and using chocolate and tuna as a filling.

Still going to finish it though.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1393 on: 03 Mar 2020, 08:49 »

A Nutella tuna sandwich? A... Tunella? I'll show myself out.

With my mind working some weird angles at times, I kinda like things that shouldn't work but actually do.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1394 on: 03 Mar 2020, 12:08 »

With my mind working some weird angles at times, I kinda like things that shouldn't work but actually do.

You should become a software engineer.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1395 on: 03 Mar 2020, 13:50 »

With my mind working some weird angles at times, I kinda like things that shouldn't work but actually do.

You should become a software engineer.

... I currently work in Software QA, a.k.a. Tester. And I have plans to "switch sides" and do coding, so I guess I'm kinda already there?
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1396 on: 03 Mar 2020, 14:15 »

Oh, you are going to have a fine time indeed.  8-)
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1397 on: 05 Mar 2020, 10:32 »

READING READING READING

God I love reading

When my brain works

I am mainly beta-reading chapters for a person I follow on Twitter who is writing a novel. It's a feminist-themed neo-noir set in Toronto, and I am loving every second of it.

I was reading Wyrd Sisters, but sadly I got a bit cold on it and abandoned it. I've still got my place marked, and am visiting my mother this weekend so plan on burning through it.

I recently burned through what I think is the 19th Gaunt's Ghosts novel, The Warmaster. I kinda went back to it for completion's sake, expecting it to be a bit of a light snore of a read, and was kinda aghast to find that Dan Abnett has grown substantially as a writer since I last read one of these books (years back). It has fucking feminism in it. The word 'patriarchal' is used. I was low-key astonished. It was great fun to read - still light, but more absorbing than I expected. It's nice to spend time with these characters again. One of them - Major Rawne - I was a big fan of as a kid and used to use his name as an online handle in a few places.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1398 on: 05 Mar 2020, 11:03 »

I just started reading "The Unspoken Name". It's about a young orc girl, destined to be sacrificed to her god on her fourteenth birthday. The unexpected arrival of a wizard at her priory provides her with a choice: follow through with act she has been raised her entire life to fulfill and die alone in the dark, or forsake her god and strike out on a new life as a thief, spy, and assassin in the service of a powerful mage. But gods remember, and if you live long enough all debts come due.
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Re: What are you currently reading?
« Reply #1399 on: 17 Aug 2020, 08:09 »

The Drifter's Wheel

I'm not sure if some of it counts as being purple prose or just very descriptive, but other than tht it's not too bad so far.
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