Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 549922 times)

The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1325 on: April 17, 2017, 11:51:36 AM »
Now i'm reading Umberto Eco "The Prague Cemetery"

How is it?

The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1326 on: April 17, 2017, 11:54:19 AM »
Just picked up The North Water by Ian McGuire. Lots of positive reviews and comparisons to McCarthy. Love me some McCarthy.

Taffin

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1327 on: April 21, 2017, 11:37:54 AM »
1984 by George Orwell.

Though Police, doublespeak, cameras everywhere, fake news, rewriting history, perpetual war etc. very much like another day in 2017.

Great book - excellent choice.  I found Animal Farm just as readable, and for me it really strongly reinforced that which (I think) a lot of us  observe:  that a significant amount of politicians start on the outside - criticising and opposing the 'establishment' - and then step by step become that which they profess to despise... 'To fight against the system I need to be on the inside...'

I feel like I probably mentioned this earlier in the thread, but my English Literature teacher waaay back when, by virtue of the books he selected for us to read, gave me a penchant for dystopian novels.  Good (1984, Brave New World), bad, or even trashy (Empty World, Grass, Trillians (sp), Death Dolls of Lyra) I ate them up.....  So if you're into this sort of thing you might like to give Brave New World a try.  Then again, if you've read 1984 then you've probably already read Huxley.  :)

T

Taffin

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1328 on: April 21, 2017, 11:47:15 AM »

I'm afraid I didn't get far with the Fog yet.  I'm actually currently re-reading the novel 'Rendezvous With Rama' Arthur C. Clark.  And I just finished re-reading his factual/predictive book 'Profiles of the Future' from the late '60s.  It's truly fascinating how he got so close with some predictions (single portable phone number for everyone on the planet, but not mobiles?) and so far away with others (newspapers printed out via printer at home, but no Internet??)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Profiles-Future-Inquiry-Limits-Possible/dp/0575402776

Just read Clarke's 2001 cover to cover last night.  Although I'd seen the film maybe 4 or 5 times, I realised I'd never read the book.  Very glad I did it (gotta love Amazon  :))

There are times when a book is superior to a film simply by virtue of the fact you can hear what the protagonists are thinking and feeling (American Psycho, anyone?)  I know movie narration can work, but it can be overdone (e.g. Blade Runner 'Idiots Cut')

So if you liked the film but wanted just that little bit more clarity, it's a very satisfying read.  (I also got 2010 - that's for tonight.)

(Still haven't got anywhere with 'The Fog' though LOL)
T

Primemuscle

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1329 on: April 21, 2017, 12:09:47 PM »
Out and Vanity Fair.

The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1330 on: May 10, 2017, 07:55:17 PM »

dr.chimps

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1331 on: May 23, 2017, 02:00:15 PM »
Anyone here read Eco or Pynchon, any of their stuff? What about Don DeLillo or David Foster Wallace? Thoughts, reviews, recommendations?

Thanks.
Oh, brother. That's a Phd of a question. Yes. Yes. Read lots of all. Pick and choose; they all have crap; and they all have brilliance. The Name of the Rose for Eco. The rest of his stuff is too-non-story/ too self-indulgenty/ 'semiotic.' Pynchon is a mind-fuck. I like his word-play but his narrative(s) is/are cold, uninviting. I spent a Summer reading 'Gravity's Rainbow' - I should get a medal for that. Kind of a wordy conceit - my thought was that he was trying to use !all! the words in an advanced encyclopedia. DFW. His short stories/essays are brilliant. Brilliant. His books are seen as serious achievements, and I hope you read what I am saying. Choose your time wisely.

dr.chimps

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1332 on: May 23, 2017, 02:06:24 PM »
Just picked up The North Water by Ian McGuire. Lots of positive reviews and comparisons to McCarthy. Love me some McCarthy.
Yup. Read it months ago. Solid book. Maybe best book I've read in a year. Good stuff.  :)

Straw Man

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1333 on: May 23, 2017, 02:33:21 PM »
Just started reading this.
Pretty good so far.  Also been reading a bunch of "Doc Ford" novels recently

FitnessFrenzy

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1334 on: May 26, 2017, 06:09:04 AM »

The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1335 on: June 02, 2017, 04:00:05 PM »
Yup. Read it months ago. Solid book. Maybe best book I've read in a year. Good stuff.  :)

Also picked up Dennis Lehane's latest (Since We Fell); on hold until I finish the others, though. Specific DFW essays/articles you might recommend?

CalvinH

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1336 on: June 03, 2017, 05:05:28 AM »
I really need to list all the books I've gone through lately.

Obvious Gimmick

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1337 on: June 16, 2017, 02:20:05 PM »
I really need to list all the books I've gone through lately.
I'll start:
Trying to bust though some top 25 list I saw; so far:
1984 - great book
Hamlet - garbage
The sound and the fury - meh, last 2/3 were good. First 1/3 complete confusion
100 years of solitude - trash. No idea how it made any list
Huck Finn - second best book I've ever read
Great gatsby - ok, just ok
War and peace- current read. 1000 pages in. Best book I've ever read. Fucking amazing


Taffin

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1338 on: June 16, 2017, 04:23:09 PM »
Just read Clarke's 2001 cover to cover last night.  Although I'd seen the film maybe 4 or 5 times, I realised I'd never read the book.  Very glad I did it (gotta love Amazon  :))

There are times when a book is superior to a film simply by virtue of the fact you can hear what the protagonists are thinking and feeling (American Psycho, anyone?)  I know movie narration can work, but it can be overdone (e.g. Blade Runner 'Idiots Cut')

So if you liked the film but wanted just that little bit more clarity, it's a very satisfying read.  (I also got 2010 - that's for tonight.)

(Still haven't got anywhere with 'The Fog' though LOL)

Forgot I posted this.  I can also highly recommend 2010 - if anything it's possibly better than the (admittedly excellent) film....  You just have to pick your Heywood Floyd and stick with him...  :)

(Gave up on the Fog - unreadable  :()
T

The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1339 on: June 17, 2017, 08:49:36 PM »
Just read Clarke's 2001 cover to cover last night.  Although I'd seen the film maybe 4 or 5 times, I realised I'd never read the book.  Very glad I did it (gotta love Amazon  :))

There are times when a book is superior to a film simply by virtue of the fact you can hear what the protagonists are thinking and feeling (American Psycho, anyone?)  I know movie narration can work, but it can be overdone (e.g. Blade Runner 'Idiots Cut')

So if you liked the film but wanted just that little bit more clarity, it's a very satisfying read.  (I also got 2010 - that's for tonight.)

(Still haven't got anywhere with 'The Fog' though LOL)

Extraordinary sci-fi. Nothing comes close (MO, obviously), just in scale and scope alone. All in, what, 220 pages or so? And much more literal than the film, though both are equally brilliant.

Ended up reading all the sequels. Think 3001 was probably the last, with 2010 being best (film was good, too). Eventually read Rama and Childhood's End, both Clarke; they were pretty good, but nowhere near 2001.

dr.chimps

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1340 on: June 28, 2017, 12:11:42 AM »
I'll start:
Trying to bust though some top 25 list I saw; so far:
1984 - great book
Hamlet - garbage
The sound and the fury - meh, last 2/3 were good. First 1/3 complete confusion
100 years of solitude - trash. No idea how it made any list
Huck Finn - second best book I've ever read
Great gatsby - ok, just ok
War and peace- current read. 1000 pages in. Best book I've ever read. Fucking amazing


I'd bump that to a confusing 3/3. Great words; just not sure what they mean when put together. Like a Coach post.

Read Robert Harris' Pompei' and now reading his 'Archangel.'  Solid writing, but seriously failing to ignite.

Coach is Back!

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1341 on: June 28, 2017, 08:38:57 AM »
I'd bump that to a confusing 3/3. Great words; just not sure what they mean when put together. Like a Coach post.

Read Robert Harris' Pompei' and now reading his 'Archangel.'  Solid writing, but seriously failing to ignite.

Glad I'm so embedded in that "intellectual" brain of yours that you keep referencing my name in your posts.

The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1342 on: June 29, 2017, 06:53:39 PM »
Glad I'm so embedded in that "intellectual" brain of yours that you keep referencing my name in your posts.

It's a reading thread, guy, books and such. Wrong turn. Seems your GPS is fucking with ya.

Coach is Back!

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1343 on: June 29, 2017, 09:01:33 PM »
It's a reading thread, guy, books and such. Wrong turn. Seems your GPS is fucking with ya.

Really? I read more (a lot)  than you think I do which why it's so easy to hand liberals (while being right in the end) their asses. Case in point.

Taffin

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1344 on: June 30, 2017, 02:26:46 AM »
Extraordinary sci-fi. Nothing comes close (MO, obviously), just in scale and scope alone. All in, what, 220 pages or so? And much more literal than the film, though both are equally brilliant.

Ended up reading all the sequels. Think 3001 was probably the last, with 2010 being best (film was good, too). Eventually read Rama and Childhood's End, both Clarke; they were pretty good, but nowhere near 2001.

I keep forgetting I've posted here!  I read 2010 in a few sittings and enjoyed it enormously.  Even though the films (2001/2010) are so very different in tone, they are both very satisfying to me in different and similar ways.  (I just read that last sentence and realised it might be incomprehensible, sorry, but I hope you get what I mean.)

With 2010 (the book) it was very rewarding in that - again - we were given a much deeper understanding of the intentions and even maybe the  'consciousness' of the 'others', and

**spoiler**










how Bowman had joined/merged with it and was almost guiding events.  Interesting that Hyams chose to leave out the Chinese race to beat the USA/USSR mission, given their current moves into space.  I rewatched the film after finishing the book, and even though I was a child of the '70s and '80s, I'd almost forgotten that tension between superpowers that overshadowed things during that period... (Protect & Survive, anyone?)

And watching the film again, I felt a poignant twinge that even as late as 1984, we still believed that a manned base on the moon and trip(s) to the gas giants were definitely on the cards for the human race within decades - what happened to that dream...?  :'(

Deep...

Not sure about whether to pursue any of the other sequels as I understand Clarke didn't write them - but happy to take suggestions from people if you feel I'm missing out.

Taf
T

Meta-physical

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1345 on: June 30, 2017, 05:17:49 AM »
I read another book by the former CIA analyst Dr Michael Scheuer last week. He's made some very interesting arguments in the past, many of which I agree with, but I'm still not sure that he's entirely sane. I read the short book On Violence by Hannah Arendt yesterday, and I've now begun reading Straw Dogs: Thoughts On Humans And Other Animals by John Gray. It's one of those books that will leave you awake at night pondering its content. Very Succinct and compelling.

The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1346 on: July 01, 2017, 05:42:36 PM »
Really? I read more (a lot)  than you think I do which why it's so easy to hand liberals (while being right in the end) their asses. Case in point.

Of course you read. How else would you know so much stuff, right. Not like anyone thought you were just regurgitating the horseshit you hear on Retard Radio.


The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1347 on: July 02, 2017, 08:45:53 AM »
I keep forgetting I've posted here!  I read 2010 in a few sittings and enjoyed it enormously.  Even though the films (2001/2010) are so very different in tone, they are both very satisfying to me in different and similar ways.  (I just read that last sentence and realised it might be incomprehensible, sorry, but I hope you get what I mean.)

With 2010 (the book) it was very rewarding in that - again - we were given a much deeper understanding of the intentions and even maybe the  'consciousness' of the 'others', and

**spoiler**










how Bowman had joined/merged with it and was almost guiding events.  Interesting that Hyams chose to leave out the Chinese race to beat the USA/USSR mission, given their current moves into space.  I rewatched the film after finishing the book, and even though I was a child of the '70s and '80s, I'd almost forgotten that tension between superpowers that overshadowed things during that period... (Protect & Survive, anyone?)

And watching the film again, I felt a poignant twinge that even as late as 1984, we still believed that a manned base on the moon and trip(s) to the gas giants were definitely on the cards for the human race within decades - what happened to that dream...?  :'(

Deep...

Not sure about whether to pursue any of the other sequels as I understand Clarke didn't write them - but happy to take suggestions from people if you feel I'm missing out.

Taf

He didn't? 2061 and 3001 both have his name on them.

Kahn.N.Singh

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1348 on: July 02, 2017, 11:20:07 AM »
Really? I read more (a lot)  than you think I do which why it's so easy to hand liberals (while being right in the end) their asses. Case in point.

You tell 'em, Coach!


The Ugly

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #1349 on: July 02, 2017, 05:25:59 PM »
You tell 'em, Coach!



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