books

[Kenneth R.]

Well, I am naturally attracted to masturbation. That's why I like progressive rock.

Don't forget the snobbery of quoting Rand or, in my case, Wolfe or Proust.



Ayn Rand came across to me sort of like this: "Oh noes, communism is spreading. It's a threat to our individuality since they want everyone to be the same. I want everyone to be unique! I'll take this to an extreme example and write novels based on it in hopes to inspire people to 180 into complete individuals." It doesn't really solve the human condition, it's kind of just presenting the other failing extreme. Plus, the expository speeches that defy character traits and expose Rand's own mouthpiece for politik keep popping up and ruin the story. For some who haven't read Rand, but have read her #1 fan Goodkind, he is guilty of all the same habits.

 

[metalxmetalx]

Narcissus and Goldmund - Hermann Hesse

By the way, does anybody here like Hermann Hesse? My all-time favourite book is Steppenwolf. I've already read it 3 times.

 

[Isaac_de_Moorea]

^



I´ve read Steppenwolf, Demian, Beneath the Wheel, and my all-time favorite, Siddhartha.

He´s one of my favorite novelists, with Milan Kundera and Jose Saramago.

Narcissus and Golmund? You have awakened my curiosity :Spin: ...

 

[Kenneth R.]

Hesse's Siddhartha is a very cool book.

 

[metalxmetalx]

^



I´ve read Steppenwolf, Demian, Beneath the Wheel, and my all-time favorite, Siddhartha.
He´s one of my favorite novelists, with Milan Kundera and Jose Saramago.
Narcissus and Golmund? You have awakened my curiosity :Spin: ...

I read Demian and Siddhartha last year, but wasn't aware of Beneath the Wheel. I'll check it out.

 

[donKyle]

I can never seem to finish books anymore. I used to read a lot when I was younger. Obviously I read a lot of kiddish stuff, like Goosebumps and the Redwall series, which I loved. The last time I finished a book was when I was taking a literature class and had to. For my most recent attempt, I started The Divine Comedy, but got about a third of the way through before I got sidetracked with other stuff. Now most of my reading comes from the news and random articles on the internet.

 

[ABQShredHead]

Just finished the Tehran Initiative. I'm already pining for the next book...

 

[metalxmetalx]

For my most recent attempt, I started The Divine Comedy, but got about a third of the way through before I got sidetracked with other stuff. Now most of my reading comes from the news and random articles on the internet.

It happened something similar when I read The Divine Comedy many years ago. I read the first two parts Inferno and Purgatorio very quickly, but got stuck in the third part Paradiso. That's because, as somebody noticed somewhere, those ancient people were very good at describing suffering, torture, punishment and the flames of hell, but didn't do so well when they described heaven. Paradise Lost by Milton has the same problem: satan is such an interesting character whereas all those angels are really boring.

 

[Wander]

I don't remember if I mentioned it here earlier, but I'm reading the series of "Saxon tales" by Bernard Cornwell, which is a series of historical novels based on the events of the 9th century Britain when the Danes conquered the most of what we now know as England. The main character is fictious, but many others are real and I think Cornwell does a great job of placing the main character into the vital events and making him matter even in the bigger picture. You could draw parallels to fantasy books, but the difference is the very grim sense of realism. The main character is also very arrogant, ambitious, merciless and even cruel, which I find quite fresh and interesting. Very good stuff.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I think you'd like Wolfe if you haven't already read him.

Me, still reading Proust...

 

[1by4by9]

I recommend a quite recent scifi story called The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. I read it back in September, bought it from Helsinki-Vantaa airport and finished the book when my plane touched ground in Orlando.

Now I am reading The Age Of Extremes by Eric Hobsbawm

 

[Prog is King]

The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay

A trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

 

[Kenneth R.]

^ zzzzzzzzzzzzz

all the rage, like it's the next harry potter or stephanie meyer. snore.

I suppose wishing that modern greats become mainstream, widely read, is a double-edged wish and probably not a good one to make. I also suppose that the mainstream popular reads are thus because they are innocuously vanilla, bereft of all controversial or insightful meaning.

 

[monoxide_child]

The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay

A trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

is anyone here going to see the hunger games movie?

 

[Prog is King]

is anyone here going to see the hunger games movie?

I'm going to see it with my son and daughter. We have read the book.

 

[Phanto]

I read the book and I think it's rather shitty. Too much emotional bullshit based on absolutely no background, but I suppose that's chick-litt for you. I haven't read or watched any Twilight thing but I can see why people draw parallels.
Will probably download and watch the movie some boring day next year.

 

[Kenneth R.]

just wait for Cloud Atlas, phanto. Good movies are yet to come from good lit.

 

[Kenneth R.]

i get to drinking, and once again i feel the need to rant about how un-fucking-believably good Wolfe's Solar Cycle is. The closest any story has ever come to perfection by my reckoning. I love me some Game of Thrones. But as epic as that is, even it pales in comparison to Wolfe's magnum genius opus. Even Tolkien is only "in the same tier", buoyed by his mastery of linguistics.

If you read at all, you should read this story. Recently, I heard there was an edition that was published - limited - and sold for $1500 a piece. If I had known before it sold out, I would have bought it in an instant.

 

[Phanto]

i get to drinking, and once again i feel the need to rant about how un-fucking-believably good Wolfe's Solar Cycle is. The closest any story has ever come to perfection by my reckoning. I love me some Game of Thrones. But as epic as that is, even it pales in comparison to Wolfe's magnum genius opus. Even Tolkien is only "in the same tier", buoyed by his mastery of linguistics.

If you read at all, you should read this story. Recently, I heard there was an edition that was published - limited - and sold for $1500 a piece. If I had known before it sold out, I would have bought it in an instant.

I guess I'll have to pick it up for the summer, then. As long as it's not too Eddings-like. I dislike 50000 character introductions per page...

 

[intergalactic]

Is there anyone who likes Clive Barker ? I think he's a horror genius,even better
than King,unfortunately it's been many years since he doesn't write o makes a movie.Other books I like is the entire Conan's saga, Michael Moorcock's Elric the necromancer, Osho books