The Books/Reading Thread

requiem said:
Well, a lot of people do as well from what I can tell. There's just a bizarre feminist thing going on in them but it's done in the wrong way. Basically Aunt Pol is so bloody rude, sarcastic and condescending to the others all the time, belittling them at every turn, especially Garion or whatever his name was - the kid. It used to make me really annoyed. Even as a 12 year old ignorant kid I could tell that while Eddings was trying to empower women (and well may he do so), by making this woman a bitch for literally hundreds of consecutive pages any strength of character or independence was reduced to cold resentment on my part. And it's not that she's a woman (many people are women), but sarcastic and bullying remarks are not something I want to read in my fantasy. This, and also the fighting is lame and Eddings is a pussy.
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LOL, how do you really feel?
 
Finally got some George arar stuff. First of the most obvious series. Fingers crossed I need to poop often enough to finish it in a few weeks because that's the only place I read nowadays.
 
Carpe Mortem said:
Finally got some George arar stuff. First of the most obvious series. Fingers crossed I need to poop often enough to finish it in a few weeks because that's the only place I read nowadays.
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That's where I'd end up if I bothered to read it. I can't now anyway, it's too trendy. For some reason trends in popular fiction seem to bother me more than regular trends. I think because I imagine the people who are going out and picking up Harry Potter and Game of Thrones are a bit phoney when it comes to their interest levels. Like they're weekend warriors or something. I guess it's better than people not reading at all and missing out on all that books have to offer.

In other news, I just read the Ozzy Osbourne Day-by-day book by Martin Popoff called 'Steal Away the Night'. Great, detailed book. I stumbled on a Led Zeppelin day-by-day book a couple of weeks ago and I never had much of a passion for Led Zep, but after reading parts of that I was fascinated. They're a great way to get the details that are often missed.
 
I never understood a dislike of trends. Why be against something that is apparently so good a bunch of people know about it? Granted if the trend turned out to be dumb that's another story.
 
I didn't really get interested in the first GoT book until the last like 200 pages or so. I'm reluctant to read the second book, but I should out of principle. Malazan Book of the Fallen is higher on the list than that.
 
Carpe Mortem said:
I never understood a dislike of trends. Why be against something that is apparently so good a bunch of people know about it? Granted if the trend turned out to be dumb that's another story.
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Because if you are reasonably intelligent, that means that whatever is popular was probably targeted at people significantly dumber than you, which means their reason for liking it is probably less than legitimate. Obviously you shouldn't dislike a trend just because it is a trend, but trendiness is a good reason for skepticism.
 
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Carpe Mortem said:
I never understood a dislike of trends. Why be against something that is apparently so good a bunch of people know about it? Granted if the trend turned out to be dumb that's another story.
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You've definitely got a point, and there's nothing stupider than judging a book by its cover (pun intended). But when it comes to trends in literature you can almost guarantee that the books in question are sufficiently dumbed down to an extent that non-readers feel comfortable reading them, and hence their popularity. People who read regularly have usually trained that part of the brain that can recognise more complex symbols, structures and ideas, and this stimulation is what makes reading for them so enjoyable.

This usually means that when I pick up one of these trendy books I tend to find them poorly plotted or lacking some depth that usually gives me a buzz. Look at 'The Da Vinci Code', 'Twilight', or '50 Shades of Gray'. All multi-million selling 'hits' and they are virtually unreadable.

Does this make me wrong or the millions who bought them? Probably me, I suppose, but at the very least I recognise that if there's a trend going on I should probably opt out.
 
IDK. I see where you're coming from but anything that gets people on board with a generally good thing is usually an improvement to the human race, even if it is the watered down version.

Sometimes sheep herding is beneficial not only to the shepherds but the sheep themselves. And then when they're shorn, they have superior wool due to the joy of company, and getting regular meals, and those without wool of their own have clothing and blankets with which to stay warm.

Fuck, why'd I start reading again....
 
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Carpe Mortem said:
IDK. I see where you're coming from but anything that gets people on board with a generally good thing is usually an improvement to the human race, even if it is the watered down version.

Sometimes sheep herding is beneficial not only to the shepherds but the sheep themselves. And then when they're shorn, they have superior wool due to the joy of company, and getting regular meals, and those without wool of their own have clothing and blankets with which to stay warm.

Fuck, why'd I start reading again....
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Best extended metaphor ever.

So you're saying that the sheep who have the wool pulled over their eyes don't need to raise the baa when it comes to herd behaviour?
 
Anything that gets people reading is a good thing in my book. Even if it is something I have no interest in reading myself.

I went to a book signing this weekend and had a great time meeting an author whose work I love. After all the signing was done, I even got to do a 15 minute interview with her for an article I'm writing.
 
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TageRyche said:
Anything that gets people reading is a good thing in my book. Even if it is something I have no interest in reading myself.
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This is my contention. I was giving a tour of one of my campuses to some students, and in the library, a student pointed to the Twilight books and asked "Why are these here?" And I replied, "Even though you or I may not think they're good books, they're still books. If it gets somebody interested in reading, more power to them." This is something I stress to my students. You don't need to read David Foster Wallace, Dostoevsky, or Camus or whatever. I had a student last year who was 24 years old, and on the fourth day of class he told me he had never read a book cover-to-cover because all he was presented with in school was the canon. So I gave him a list of books by Bukowski, John Fante, Roald Dahl, etc. By the end of the semester he had read 3.5 books cover to cover.
 
unknown said:
This is my contention. I was giving a tour of one of my campuses to some students, and in the library, a student pointed to the Twilight books and asked "Why are these here?" And I replied, "Even though you or I may not think they're good books, they're still books. If it gets somebody interested in reading, more power to them." This is something I stress to my students. You don't need to read David Foster Wallace, Dostoevsky, or Camus or whatever. I had a student last year who was 24 years old, and on the fourth day of class he told me he had never read a book cover-to-cover because all he was presented with in school was the canon. So I gave him a list of books by Bukowski, John Fante, Roald Dahl, etc. By the end of the semester he had read 3.5 books cover to cover.
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I pretty much only read fiction. I can't read non fiction for the most part. About the only non fiction I read is the occasional biography about a coach I like.

And I've found that the stuff that I was forced to read in school is the stuff I really despise now.
 
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