THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

  • 28 Mar 2024, 10:05
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4   Go Down

Author Topic: For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!  (Read 54448 times)

sp2

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #50 on: 22 Jul 2005, 22:08 »

Quote from: onewheelwizzard
Catcher in the Rye is a weird quandary ... it's so perfectly written that you realize how little it's actually saying (it is, after all, written from the point of view of an angsty adolescent, and therefore not particularly meaningful, all things considered).  It doesn't present any new ideas, what little social commentary it contains is hardly groundbreaking or particularly perceptive, and I didn't see any valuable lessons to be learned in it.  But it's such a 100% perfect rendition of what it's presenting that it's impossible to shrug at.  Salinger's a great writer, but I can't say his work interests me to any great extent ... I'm long past the stage in my life when Catcher in the Rye was anything approaching relevant.


I recently reread Catcher in the Rye.  The last time I read it, I was in junior high, and the angst really resonated.  When I reread it, I noticed that No one was more a phony than Holden Caulfield.  In this light, the book took a completely different tone, that of a kid railing against the world because in all actuality he was railing against all the parts of himself he hated.  It became a totally different book, and meant something completely different to me.

This was, of course, because I was going through different parts of life at each of these times, so the book read completely differently.  I consider THAT to be the mark of a truly relevant book...that it has different meanings at different times.
Logged

elcapitan

  • Pneumatic ratchet pants
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 364
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #51 on: 22 Jul 2005, 22:09 »

I feel a bit ashamed to admit that I've never read Catcher in the Rye. All the hype about it... I dunno.
Logged

boeuf

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #52 on: 23 Jul 2005, 01:56 »

You loved me before, Bateman?

Aw shucks.

Another good author I forgot to mention is Dave Eggers, wonderful man.
Logged

Harper_Knight

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #53 on: 23 Jul 2005, 06:05 »

to the people who read stuff on chocolate bars when there's nothing else around: yeah, i do that too. i read constantly. CONSTANTLY, i say. eat, slee..okay, mebbe not sleep. but almost constantly, then.

i admit i didnt read the whole thread...but even if it's been posted before, i say read:
the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. and...lesse.
the Malazan Book of the Fallen series (first book: Gardens of the Moon, because the series name is in really small type on the books), by Steven Erikson (sp)?
both of those are very good high fantasy-ish series. should keep you going for a while.
Logged

sp2

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #54 on: 23 Jul 2005, 08:41 »

Quote from: Harper_Knight
the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. and...lesse.


Cough hack sputter.

I'm not going to say anything.  Really, I'm not.  Really really.
Logged

TheKithless

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #55 on: 23 Jul 2005, 09:05 »

I've just finished American Gods, and was very impressed. Neil Gaiman is now on my list of favorite authors.

That list also includes:

Robert A. Heinlein (almost anything he writes is gold, but Starship Troopers is certainly one of my favorites)
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance was good, but The Deathgate Cycle was better)
Stephen R. Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever are awesome)
Robert R. McCammon (Swan Song and Boy's Life specifically)
J.R.R. Tolkien
Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising series rivals Tolkien's work in its use of mythology and legend)
Logged

Skibas_clavicle

  • Scrabble hacker
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,278
  • Mo' money, mo' problem.
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #56 on: 23 Jul 2005, 10:05 »

Quote from: SeanBateman
Quote from: Skibas_clavicle

The Wooden Bird - Jerzy Kosinski


I agree with most of the things you said in that post, specially Ellis. But do you perchance mean the painted bird? Because that was a fucking brilliant, although slightly shattering, book. If the wooden bird is something else, tell me what it's about, I am a big fan of kosinski.


Yup, I feel a tad silly now, I meant the Painted Bird. I get them mixed up *blushes in embarassment*. I read it a good three or four years ago, so I can never remember the actual name of the book. The only thing that is really clear about it is the fact that said book scarred me for life.

I knew you like Ellis right when I saw your name, haha! And the line from Rules Of Attraction at the bottom of your posts helps too ;)
Logged
I like the way you work it.

Sythe

  • Pneumatic ratchet pants
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 335
  • ><DICK>
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #57 on: 23 Jul 2005, 11:47 »

William Gibson - Neuromancer
He writes some good stuff besides Neuromancer, but thats his most popular book. (some people think he's crap, but programs that hack people are AWESOME)
Logged
Quote from: Edith
Edith.: i like balls, and they are squishy

relativetruth

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #58 on: 23 Jul 2005, 12:58 »

anything by raymond e. feist.
and the book "the perks of being a wallflower"
Logged

Maui

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #59 on: 23 Jul 2005, 13:53 »

wow sp2, i actually agree with you for once. Miracles do happen ;-). I totally agree with Catcher meaning different things at different points in your life.
Logged

boeuf

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #60 on: 23 Jul 2005, 15:01 »

American Gods is so so so so so good.

Man, Steal This Book is more or less getting ridiculous.
Im still enjoying reading it, but it makes me feel like a criminal.

Like, the adive he gives about free transporation, most of it makes sense, trainhopping, hitch hiking etc. but then he talks about free travel via airplane...

his last method is apparently the easiest way to travel...
skyjacking!!!

Apparently all you have to do is smuggle a knife or a bomb, and you can go anywhere!


On another note, who here has read The Lovely Bones?

yummy yummy
Logged

Maui

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #61 on: 23 Jul 2005, 15:02 »

ooh ooh, i have, i have!! haha, great book, twists and turns and what not. Very Good.
Logged

relativetruth

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #62 on: 23 Jul 2005, 15:09 »

i have i think
Logged

Threatis

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #63 on: 23 Jul 2005, 15:13 »

I suggest Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman.
Logged

Harper_Knight

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #64 on: 23 Jul 2005, 15:34 »

Quote from: sp2

Cough hack sputter.


yeah, I knew someone was gonna say that. some people hate them, personally i like them. there's never gonna be agreement on it, there never is.
so...meh. but don't get put off the Malazan Book of the Fallen series just because you don't like RJ...they are completely different, and personally i like Erikson's work a lot better, too.
Logged

boeuf

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #65 on: 23 Jul 2005, 19:12 »

Another great series with lots of twists is George R R Martin's fantasy novels.

I used to be all about the fantasy, and these things were just phenomenominal (teehee). I believe the series is called Song of Ice and Fire, but it's not commonly known as that. The first book is called Game of Thrones, then comes Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords and the one in the making is called the Feast Of Crows.

The books are nice and think, usually just shy of 1000 pages, and they have lots of characters, and whats cool is that main characters can die...
thats right!

I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys fantasy.
Logged

KharBevNor

  • Awakened
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10,456
  • broadly tolerated
    • http://mirkgard.blogspot.com/
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #66 on: 23 Jul 2005, 19:40 »

The last good, thick, pulpy quest fantasy I read and enjoyed was 'Orcs' by Stan Nichols. Which is cool because it's basically written from what would be 'the baddies' side in most fantasies, and does a pretty neat job of putting their thoughts and feelings across. Once you get past that though, it's pretty standard fare.
Logged
[22:25] Dovey: i don't get sigquoted much
[22:26] Dovey: like, maybe, 4 or 5 times that i know of?
[22:26] Dovey: and at least one of those was a blatant ploy at getting sigquoted

http://panzerdivisio

boeuf

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #67 on: 23 Jul 2005, 19:41 »

Thats like GRRM's books, each chapter is through a different characters perspective so one chapter will be going on with the 'hero' the next will be through the perspective of their 'mortal enemy'
Logged

KharBevNor

  • Awakened
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10,456
  • broadly tolerated
    • http://mirkgard.blogspot.com/
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #68 on: 23 Jul 2005, 19:47 »

Seriously though, the king of 'comfort Fantasy?' David Eddings.

Yes, David Eddings is not a good writer. He only has one plot and a stack of cliches he recombines into a very limited palette of characters. BUT, he is immensely readable, and great fun, though his nagging female characters can get pretty damn irksome at times.

I mean, seriously, it's worth reading each of the series for the inevitable bit at the end where the main character assumes Godlike power, and promptly uses it to kill some sort of dark God. Because those bits rock.

Oh man, and those insect thingies in the Elenium? SO FUCKING SCARY.
Logged
[22:25] Dovey: i don't get sigquoted much
[22:26] Dovey: like, maybe, 4 or 5 times that i know of?
[22:26] Dovey: and at least one of those was a blatant ploy at getting sigquoted

http://panzerdivisio

Useful Idiot

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #69 on: 23 Jul 2005, 21:58 »

one book in which I am currently engrossed is Crash by J.G. Ballard, an incredibly original piece of work that I found in a used bookstore that is an examination of human sexuality and desire illustrated through crashing cars.  I was amazed to find that it was centered around such a topic, as I was in a car accident a few years back and realized in the expience a strange sort of eroticism. It has very vivid imagery, to say the least, with long sequences about the ebrace of the two twisted pieces of machinery and the almost spiritual calm after the climax of the accident. I reccomend it to anyone who's simply looking for an experience or a journey into a part of the human psyche that is usually left in the dark.

and by the way, i've never found anyone else who shares my love for Kiss Me Judas. a truly amazing piece of literature in the vein of Palahniuk.

I also reccomend to anyone that they read something by Charles Bukowski.  those who love him love him dearly (myself included), but its also possible that you will find his style and content utterly abhorrent.
Logged

Threatis

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #70 on: 23 Jul 2005, 22:21 »

Quote from: Useful Idiot
one book in which I am currently engrossed is Crash by J.G. Ballard, an incredibly original piece of work that I found in a used bookstore that is an examination of human sexuality and desire illustrated through crashing cars.  I was amazed to find that it was centered around such a topic, as I was in a car accident a few years back and realized in the expience a strange sort of eroticism. It has very vivid imagery, to say the least, with long sequences about the ebrace of the two twisted pieces of machinery and the almost spiritual calm after the climax of the accident. I reccomend it to anyone who's simply looking for an experience or a journey into a part of the human psyche that is usually left in the dark.


There was actually a David Lynch movie based on this book. And then just this year, David Lynch remade the film.
Logged

Useful Idiot

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #71 on: 23 Jul 2005, 22:29 »

actually, the new "Crash" is not based on J.G. Ballard's novel. Its focus is on race relation and such. I've seen the original, and I thought that it was good, but not as good as the book, to revisit an old cliche.  I've always liked David Lynch's films, but they arent without their flaws.
Logged

Trollstormur

  • Duck attack survivor
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,652
  • Death To America
    • http://www.goat.cx
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #72 on: 23 Jul 2005, 23:00 »

Quote from: sp2
Quote from: Trollstormur
the collected Justine by the Marquis De Sade.


Oh man, that was a sick sick sick book, albeit not as sick as Juliette.


excuse me, I'm mistaken. I have Juliette, my father has Justine. Juliette is much, much larger than Justine, s'why I've been working on it for so long.



anyone else really, really dig Chuck Palahniuk's work? e.g. Fight Club, and his newest book Haunted?
Logged
also israel

Trollstormur

  • Duck attack survivor
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,652
  • Death To America
    • http://www.goat.cx
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #73 on: 23 Jul 2005, 23:35 »

I got an advanced release paperback version for free that's been thumbed through a lot of times. It probably won't last the round-about each of palahniuk's books goes through with my friends. it's very good, by the way.
Logged
also israel

Skibas_clavicle

  • Scrabble hacker
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,278
  • Mo' money, mo' problem.
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #74 on: 24 Jul 2005, 09:13 »

Quote from: Threatis
I suggest Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman.


SECOND'D. Quite a funny book. I love his writing stye, one of the reasons I like Spin magazine, even if their sources/reviews are sometimes unreliable!
Logged
I like the way you work it.

SeanBateman

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #75 on: 24 Jul 2005, 14:05 »

Troll, I am a huge palahniuk fan, and I read haunted. It was absoloutely the only book I have ever read that I had to put down and walk away from at moments because it was just too fucked up. And no, not from guts. Just the overall idea of the story was terrifying.
Logged

Trollstormur

  • Duck attack survivor
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,652
  • Death To America
    • http://www.goat.cx
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #76 on: 24 Jul 2005, 18:54 »

Oh yeah, and like The Countess Frostbite's backstory? holy jesus fucking metal-raping christ
Logged
also israel

SnowMongoose

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #77 on: 24 Jul 2005, 18:57 »

lets see...
Im halfway through the Dark Tower series.... Steven King.... never read any of his stuff before this, but I enjoy it so far.

what else....
Stephenson <sp?>
GRRM
Terry Goodkind
Piers Anthony
RA Salvatore
Tom Clancy <schlock-techno thrillers, but fun to read>

the list goes on....
Logged

TheKithless

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #78 on: 24 Jul 2005, 22:45 »

Quote from: SnowMongoose
lets see...
Im halfway through the Dark Tower series.... Steven King.... never read any of his stuff before this, but I enjoy it so far.

what else....
Stephenson <sp?>
GRRM
Terry Goodkind
Piers Anthony
RA Salvatore
Tom Clancy <schlock-techno thrillers, but fun to read>

the list goes on....


Salvatore is overrated, I think. I've read a lot of his work, but beyond the first couple of books (especially the dark elf stuff) it kind of loses something.

And while King is damned good in many areas, I've never really liked the Dark Tower series.
Logged

Acclrator

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #79 on: 24 Jul 2005, 23:31 »

Quote from: boeuf
Thats like GRRM's books, each chapter is through a different characters perspective so one chapter will be going on with the 'hero' the next will be through the perspective of their 'mortal enemy'


And that's what I like about it. It's a different twist. The story never goes back in time.. It's always moving forward, but it's a different character starting just where the last one ended.
Logged

Simulacra

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #80 on: 25 Jul 2005, 00:05 »

hm,
- cut my teeth on C.S. lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia
- i am William Gibson's bitch
- David Eddings was fun
- as were Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (dragonlance and deathgate)
- currently on the third book of the Dark Tower
- read all of The Wheel Time except the prequel (it had so much potential to start, but he has invented too many plotlines with all of the characters.  probably because this series is his cash cow.)
- liked Palahniuk's work so far with Fight Club and Invisible Monsters
- Orson Scott Card's crap is made of pure gold
- loved Starship Troopers, got pissed at the movie

and that's all i can think of off the top of my head
Logged

Garcin

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #81 on: 25 Jul 2005, 01:43 »

Quote from: Skibas_clavicle
The only thing that is really clear about it is the fact that said book scarred me for life.


Painted Bird was eye-opening.  Heavily influenced by Voltaire's "Candide", which, by the way, is probably the most accessible and enjoyable "serious" philosophical novel in existence.  I anticipate angry posts referring to Herman Hesse and Ayn Rand, but I don't care.

Apart from Catcher in the Rye being the prototypical adolescent angst book, I've always been confused as to its presence at the top of best-of lists.  Franny & Zooey, I've always found it over-appreciated.  Narcissistic prodigies who drive themselves half-mad questing for spiritual development?  I want  something I can relate to, like God allegories involving orphans and zoo-animals.  :-).

My read-before-you-die list includes these, in random order:

-- Ann Patchett - Bel Canto
Despite the opera theme (the author was apparently inspired by Renee Fleming's performance in Rusalka), the idea of a voice so beautiful it changes lives will probably appeal to some forum-goers;

-- Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint
It's angsty like Catcher in the Rye, but Jewish, and less pretentious.  Might put you off liver though.

-- Vladimir Nabakov - Lolita
Even if you despise Humbert Humbert, perhaps almost as much as he despises himself, he is a cultural icon that noone talks about.  Kind of interesting.  

-- Vladimir Nabakov - Pale Fire
You're unlikely to ever read this book.  If you do, it will probably change your life.  The first part of the book is a poem written by a fictitious poet named John Shade; the second is a (supposed) commentary written by his neighbour, fan, and unauthorized biographer Charles Kinbote.  Kinbote perverts the commentary into a personal vindication, and a history of a fantastic kingdom that he claims to be the exiled king of, Zembla.

-- Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
The best thing a genius ever wrote.  Keep in mind, this was the guy who said to his friend Andree Gide as he lay dying, "I have put my genius into my life; all I've put into my works is my talent."

-- Italo Calvino -- If on a winter's night a traveler
Ten incomplete stories by ten fictitious authors interlaced with a completed narrative, narrarated by you, The Reader.  You uncover a plot against the world of literature, and fall in love.  Wish fulfillment?  Why I never . . . .

-- Emily Bronte -- Wuthering Heights
Heathcliff is creepy.  Really, really, really creepy.

. . . . and onward.  Sorry for the long post.  I'm enthusiastic about books.

--Moiche
Logged

Xcarissa

  • Not quite a lurker
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #82 on: 25 Jul 2005, 04:05 »

I'm kind of a close-minded reader...I won't read anything unless I've been told by someone over and over what the book is about and what their favorites parts are, etc. Right now I'm kinda just stuck on Stephen King because my dad's a huge fan...I'm currently reading The Dead Zone, in fact.
Logged
No.

JP

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #83 on: 25 Jul 2005, 06:47 »

Quote from: Moiche

-- Vladimir Nabakov - Lolita
Even if you despise Humbert Humbert, perhaps almost as much as he despises himself, he is a cultural icon that noone talks about.  Kind of interesting.  

-- Vladimir Nabakov - Pale Fire
You're unlikely to ever read this book.  If you do, it will probably change your life.  The first part of the book is a poem written by a fictitious poet named John Shade; the second is a (supposed) commentary written by his neighbour, fan, and unauthorized biographer Charles Kinbote.  Kinbote perverts the commentary into a personal vindication, and a history of a fantastic kingdom that he claims to be the exiled king of, Zembla.
--Moiche


I'm also a big Nabokov fan. I had to read Pale Fire twice to really appreciate it. If you're interested, or maybe you already know, he wrote in Russian under the penname V. Sirin and at least two (Mary and Invitation to a Beheading) have been translated. And if you're interested in Russian Lit in general, he wrote a lot of critical essays (especially on Gogol) and a lot of stuff on what he thinks makes good translation, all pretty interesting stuff.

And I haven't seen anybody mention these two books yet, they're a few years old by now but both very, very good (and funny!):

The Corrections - Johnathan Franzen
The Russian Debutante's Handbook - Gary Shteyngart
Logged

MilkmanDan

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #84 on: 25 Jul 2005, 07:13 »

Right now I'm reading 'Even Cowirls get the blues' by Tom Robbins. It's fairly sweet.
My favourite author is David Mitchell.
Books, eh?
Logged

ChanPai

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #85 on: 25 Jul 2005, 13:44 »

Robbins is my all time favorite author. He has a book of short stories coming out very soon and I hope he does a book tour. I love him like most people love their mothers.
I'll admit that I am in to Harry Potter Mania and just finished the Half-Blood Prince. Now, I get to start on Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell. He autographed when I went to Comic Con!
Logged

heretic

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #86 on: 25 Jul 2005, 13:50 »

i started the HBP then i realized i hadn't read the last one, so now i'm reading that
Logged

TheKithless

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #87 on: 25 Jul 2005, 19:29 »

Quote from: heretic
i started the HBP then i realized i hadn't read the last one, so now i'm reading that


When I first read that, I could have sworn it said "HBK." I wondered when Shawn Michaels wrote a book, and why on earth anyone would read it.
Logged

Oerdin

  • Bizarre cantaloupe phobia
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 230
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #88 on: 25 Jul 2005, 19:59 »

I'm about halfway through with Anna Karenina; I read War & Peace a few years back and I wanted to read Tolstoy's other masterpiece.  I did stop stop reading so I could take hit up the new Harry Potter book though.  Yes, I am a Potter nerd.
Logged

Garcin

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #89 on: 25 Jul 2005, 20:21 »

Karenina is totally worth it -- it's a lot more readable than W&P, especially if you're the kind of person who compels yourself to read through the historical theory parts rather than just skipping over them.  The part where Levin is living in the country and lusting after Kitty is one of my favorite literary scenes.

Potter nerd here also.  No spoilers, but make sure you have a friend availablef or the end of HBP.  You're going to want to talk to someone about it.

Quote from: Milkmandan
My favourite author is David Mitchell.


Dude, you've got impeccable taste.  Cloud Atlas was awe-inspiring.  Didn't see the ending coming at all.  That made it even better.  numberninedream is on my reading list.

Other book recommendations:

-- Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay
Best fantasy I've ever read.  Very pseudo-historical, if you are into that sort of thing.

-- Dan Simmons - The Hyperion & Endymion Series
Four books in all that Simmons wrote over the span of about 15 years.  Science fiction in the far future that involves Zen koans, reincarnated romantic poets, and an 8 foot tell animate sword faster than light semi-robotic killing machine.  

-- David Sedaris - Virtually anything he's ever written
Probably a bad recommendation since, by this point, if you haven't heard of him by way of NPR, the New Yorker, or his books, you probably aren't going to like him.  

-- Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex
Typical story: girl meets girl, girl becomes boy, boy meets girl, boy narrates book about romance and hermaphrodites.

etc.

--Moiche
Logged

JP

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #90 on: 25 Jul 2005, 23:34 »

I felt like Anna Karenina was overall very good, but sometimes I felt like I was literally reading a minute-by-minute account of the characters' lives.
Logged

edwartica

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #91 on: 26 Jul 2005, 00:06 »

Our aspirations are wrapped up in books.

Ok, couldn't resist that one. Those of you who do not get it, that was a Bell and Sebastian song - I think it's off of Dear Catastrophe Waitress.


Anywho, I was an english lit major, so........I will have LOTS to say in this thread.

For now, all I will say is that I relate waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much to the book "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby. In fact, I wrote a short story orbiting around the line "Is it really so wrong to want to stay at home on a Saturday night with one's music collection?"
Don't ask me about the movie though, I never saw it.

Oh, and what word in this post should have been capitalized, but wasn't?
Logged

FruitKat

  • Furry furrier
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 150
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #92 on: 26 Jul 2005, 00:17 »

I'm reading the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales at the moment by Chaucer.
Crazy stuff.
Reading stuff in an Old English accent, makes it extra enjoyable I think.
Logged

Tactical Error

  • Plantmonster
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 25
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #93 on: 26 Jul 2005, 23:38 »

Quote from: Simulacra

- Orson Scott Card's crap is made of pure gold


I wondered if anyone would mention Card, my current favorite author. I'm just finishing up Xenocide and a book hasn't made me think like this in a while. Fucking Brilliant.

I'll make a list now of my favorite authors.
Brian Jaques- Redwall, read one you've read them all but a decent way to cut ones teeth on fantasy. A favorite from my past.
Tolkein- The Hobbit was the first book I ever read. I've read most of his works multiple times.
Douglas Adams- Awesome
Michael Crichton- The books are 18 trillion times better than the movies.
Orson Scott Card- The Ender and Shadow sagas have me hooked, I'll be on to the Maker series in no time.

I've been meaning to read Neil Gaiman, The Sandman series holds particular interest because Yoshitaka Amano did the artwork for The Dream Hunters, I just love Amano's style.

The Catcher in the Rye just didn't do it for me.

I need to actually read the Tales of Canterbury tales and not just the prologue, of which I have the first part memorised...

The spelling is intentional if not accurate, I can say it almost perfectly.
Quote from: Chaucer
Whan that April with his shoores soote
the droght of March hath pearced to the roote
and bathed every vine in sweech liquor
of which whereto engendered ist the fleur
whan Zephyrus ache with his sweete breath
inspired hath in every holt and heath
the tendre cropes, and the younge sune
hath in the ram his halbe course 'e rune
and smalle fowles machen melodie
that sleepen all the nicht with open eye
sopricketh hem nature in her courages
and longen folks to go on pilgrimages
and palmeres for to seeken strange strondes
to ferne, halwes, couthe, and sundrey londes
and 'specially from every shires ende
of aengoland to Canterbury they wende
the hooly blissful martyr for to seeke
that hem hath holpen whan that they were sike.
Logged
Quote from: camelpimp
Funny how recognizing the problem doesn't really help one on the road to solving it.
http://tacticalerror.deviantart.com/

KTkat

  • Balloon animal serial killer
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 97
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #94 on: 27 Jul 2005, 00:26 »

Quote from: Moiche
Karenina is totally worth it -- it's a lot more readable than W&P, especially if you're the kind of person who compels yourself to read through the historical theory parts rather than just skipping over them.  The part where Levin is living in the country and lusting after Kitty is one of my favorite literary scenes.



I'm at that part right now, and I must say it is intense.


I also just finished Candide and Utopia...and when you take Eldorado (from Candide) into account, it makes reading them back-to-back a little strange in a deja vu way.

As for sci-fi/fantasy, I'm a total freak for that. (Yay for getting new recommendations on here :).) I first started out a few years ago with a bunch of books by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison. I never got ahold of all of them, but I was totally hooked on her Keltiad series of books. (Which basicially had sub-series.) The books are based on futuristic space, Arthurian legend, and Celtic lore.


edwartica- I believe 'english' should have been capitalized?
Logged
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
~Oscar Wilde

elcapitan

  • Pneumatic ratchet pants
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 364
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #95 on: 27 Jul 2005, 01:42 »

Quote from: Tactical Error
Michael Crichton- The books are 18 trillion times better than the movies.


I've said it before and I'll say it again. Michael Crichton is to science as Dan Brown is to art history and theology.

That said, I enjoyed Jurassic Park, Sphere, and Timeline. (The books, not the movies.)
Logged

boeuf

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #96 on: 27 Jul 2005, 06:03 »

Im a pretty big Chuck Palahniuk fan, though I've only read 2 of his books. I've tried to find others at the library, but all of them were in different libraries, and on top of that, they were either lost, or in transit or already checked out.

I fucking LOVED Lullaby though. That story totally stuck with me, I read it months ago and I still think about it...

I own Diary, though it's not AS fantastic, but still decent.

He always focuses on such disgusting things that are still realistic like in Diary how he's explaining what Peter looks like for being in a coma for so many years....stuff like that.


I do need to read further into his books though, they make me happy.
Logged

KharBevNor

  • Awakened
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10,456
  • broadly tolerated
    • http://mirkgard.blogspot.com/
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #97 on: 27 Jul 2005, 06:19 »

I liked Anna Karenina actually. Canterbury Tales is brilliant too.

All you Nabakov fans should track down an Umberto Eco short called 'Granita'. I think it's in his collection 'Misreadings'. Hee-larious. The rest of it is worth a good look as well. Umberto is incredible, if you have patience. I recommend Focault's Pendulum and The Name of the Rose.
Logged
[22:25] Dovey: i don't get sigquoted much
[22:26] Dovey: like, maybe, 4 or 5 times that i know of?
[22:26] Dovey: and at least one of those was a blatant ploy at getting sigquoted

http://panzerdivisio

Mintdeee

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #98 on: 27 Jul 2005, 07:13 »

Wow an here I thought that I was well read. I am feeling compelled to visit the library now and read some of the authors mentioned. My Favorites are George Orwell, Isaac Asimov, H.G. Wells, Tolkien, King... the list goes on. A lot of the authors mentioned above I have heard of just hadn't taken the time to read. Reading has taken a backseat to kids and college at the moment sadly.  Now to find my library card...
Logged

heretic

  • Guest
For lack of a better title, The Book Thread!
« Reply #99 on: 27 Jul 2005, 08:14 »

everything i've read by king was shite.
though addmittedly, i haven't read a lot of his stuff. cause it was shite so far
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4   Go Up