Book Thread

Lumeinshin · 2022-11-06T17:40:17+00:00

This thread is for posting about what books you've been reading or one that has stuck with you since you read it. Think of this as a general book thread, fee...

music liker

sanner
This isn't actually the first time I'm reading it, so I'll write a short bit of my thoughts here.

I think it's a neat subversion of the manic pixie dream girl trope. Sure, she might be one, but Star is clearly a way deeper person than just an object. It kind of annoys me how, in the end, after all of the character development she underwent, she just goes back to the same old quirky, lonely girl. Maybe that's about being true to yourself, but I found it kind of stupid. It's a great book, though. I wish I could go on Hot Seat.

Cyrus Wendell

I am currently reading Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and Milton's Paradise Lost. I'm trying to read as much literature as "the greats" did to improve my style. I think I have clunky command of it now but hopefully with time and practice I can develop a unique voice as an author.

Doc

I'm trying to listen to Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian". I'm learning it is one of those books I need to actually read and not just listen to. I'm lost as to what is happening. From what I can tell it seems like the main character is wandering around Mexico killing Indians with a group and nothing else. I know I am missing something huge since it's a famous and well respected book. I can't see what everyone else sees just by listening to it.
The last two books I listened to on audio were Gene Wolfe's "The Shadow of the Torturer" and "The Claw of the Conciliator". I didn't get why people love them either. They get better on rereads is what I am told. I want to put it to the test after finishing some other books on my backlog. These will also be read and not listened to the second time around to help ensure I understand what is happening. Judging by my reaction to these last three books I am feeling like a pleb for not appreciating them.
The last book I actually read is Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park". I would heavily recommend this book. The suspense is wonderfully done since the start of the book and I read it all in almost two weeks. I think it's a great book if you are looking for a sci-fi thriller without too much science talk.

Katabazi

Doc I adore the Book of the New Sun, so I'm interested in why the first two books in it didn't catch you as much as say me or the countless others who've read and loved them.

Doc

Katabazi

The books felt like they were trying to be a gothic version of "The Hobbit", where the main character takes a huge journey to some unknown land. It fell flat on it's face in my opinion because it had no whimsy to it. A long journey to a distant land should be fun, or full of adventure. The way it is narrated as a diary takes out any tension to the fights. You know he will live, because he is writing. He is also a jaded person, which gave a cynical tone. The worst offense is the entirety of it felt meandering. Like the main character was just talking in order to fill up space. I thought most of the first half before the suicide could have been cut out. I liked the worldbuilding and explanation of the torturers guild before that, but most of it could have been skipped over with no real consequence. I also disliked that once things got interesting after the garden section the book ended and all momentum reset during the second one.
The second book starting off with new characters and in a different setting was jarring to me too. It's not even fully explained what happened in the tunnel until two thirds of the book are done. I may be misremembering some details on that though.
I do like to think it was because I was listening to a very old recording of it, and so I couldn't get the full experience, which is why I got a physical copy and will read that when I am done with some other books.

JacksonDailey

Katabazi The Book of the New Sun is an amazing but i agree it is easy to get lost while reading them. The Book of the Long Sun is a tad bit easier to follow and is equally as good in my opinion. If you need help with understanding anything Wolfe related I would go to http://www.urth.net/
It's a very old website of BOTNS fans that have compiled a lot of explanations for the stuff that happens in the novels.

Megaloschemos

The Urantia Book and Emerald Tablets of Thoth are like the mechanics of mind to me, and I am about to check out The Four Agreements of Toltec Wisdom. It looks so good to me already, I know it will be a favorite.

Eugehi

The horrid morsel [of human flesh] dropped at length with a sullen splash immediately at the feet of Parker. May God forgive me, but now, for the first time, there flashed through my mind a thought, a thought which I will not mention, and I felt myself making a step towards the ensanguined spot.

I have just finished reading The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, the only novel ever written by E. A. Poe. I began reading it without any prior knowledge about it, thinking that it was simply going to be a fun tale about ships and pirates, but what awaited me was a dreadful story that included episodes of cannibalism (both explicit and implicit, see above) and mass murder - not as fun and cheerful as I expected, to say the least. The novel also features many masterful descriptions of Pym's ever-changing feelings of fear, courage, and resilience that demonstrate Poe's exceptional ability to recount what one feels when confronted with the possibility of dying at any moment. Nonetheless, this novel, while great, is far from being an amazing one, its weak point being its length: Poe makes sure to bore the modern reader with superfluous descriptions of how penguins and albatrosses collaborate when creating their nests, for example. This way of writing novels was common in the nineteenth century, but it surely hasn't aged well. Overall, The Narrative is an interesting novel, and Poe's prose is undoubtedly at its best when feelings, fears, and hallucinations are described - the very ending of the novel is superb on that front. And since the modern-day internet is obsessed with ratings, I too shall indulge in this vice, and I shall conclude my post by stating that this novel is a strong 8/10.

kokikola

Gonna start reading All Tomorrows by C.M. Kosemen. From what I've seen it's right up my alley.

Reveriemoe

Picked up Hobbes' De Cive, and Leviathan. I couldn't in good conscience call myself a Hobbesian, because I firstly noticed how I unconsciously just skip over any parts where he uses bible passages as evidence for his ideas since theology in all its forms just eludes me, and also doesn't interest me, and also because ideologically I'm more persuaded by the later ideas on governance by Thomas Paine and John Locke. Still interesting to me how thoroughly that Locke, and in fact everyone, managed to in about 100 years use Hobbes' notion of consent of the governed in pursuit of a much more liberal conclusion while disregarding basically everything else. His old English prose is kinda tough to get through as well.

tom_tomson

I’m going through the earthsea books again. I like them. I like a lot of the more ‘juvenile’ literature. I’m not one to talk about the themes or messages being actually a lot more adult or anything. I just like a good story.

After these, I will go through the howl’s moving castle series, and might take on the chronicles of prydain.

The chronicles of narnia is good, too - I may work on those as well.

Lumeinshin

Stumbled across the original book of ‘stardust’, I vaguely remember tiny bits of the film so I’ve started reading that.
Alleged sex pest stuff aside, Neil gaiman is a good writer.. 😅

tom_tomson howls moving castle is a good book

Lumeinshin

I've not done too much reading the past couple of months, but i've been keeping tabs on whats been looking appealing and adding to my list for reading!

I didn't say it but i did finish The Grief Doctor at the end of last year and can wholeheartedly say it was very good. The writer also wrote a very good online series called The Left Right Game, although this was far more grounded.

There was an audiobook released for the original Slayers books, voiced by the Lina Inverse voice actress. Those were very good and lighthearted which I appreciated, definitely captured the vibe of the old anime and she did a wonderful job slipping back into her character.

I did also read a book called 'Morningwood: everybody loves large chests', an adult comedy about an RPG world where the protagonist is a mimic. Can't say it was really my thing, but the pun was enough to get me to read it and the writing was good enough for me to finish it. I am probably not super interested in reading more unless they are considered good enough. The comedy wasn't quite there and was more smut than anything else..

A friend recommended The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. I added it to my list but haven't got around to it yet and i've forgotten what its about but he insisted it was really good so if you've read it let me know what you thought 🙂

I picked up a complete set of Narnia to go through at some point. I remember loving the series as a kid, more specifically from an old BBC drama of it
tom_tomson

skooma_addict

i love manga and i've started reading the hobbit cause i love fantasy genres

Fantasy

Finished Dark Universe today. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The setting being a world void of light and how the people have managed to live and navigate using sounds and touch.

Eugehi

Solitude gives birth to the original in us, to beauty unfamiliar and perilous - to poetry. But also, it gives birth to the opposite: to the perverse, the illicit, the absurd.

I finished reading Mann's Death in Venice five days ago. This is the first Mann novel I've ever read and I have mixed feelings about it. I tend to like it when authors try to write in a different style compared to most other books (Céline's style makes me soyface for how good it is, for example), but this was just not it. Mann's prose here feels a bit too heavy and convoluted for my liking, with plenty of erudite references to Greek mythology for what is essentially a story about a middle-aged man(n) who starts having an unhealthy liking for young boys. And the entire novel is probably a symbolic way of trasmitting a deeper message that, honestly, flew over my head.

What is a bit strange though is that I still kind of liked this novel, despite the flaws that I've just mentioned. The descriptions of a plague-ridden Venice are very stylistically impressive, and following the development of Aschenbach's twisted love for a fourteen-year-old is captivating in its own peculiar and warped way. Maybe the very fact that this novel can create such contrasting feelings in its readers is proof of Mann's talent as a writer.

My copy of the novel has this grotesque caricature of Mann on the cover for some reason.

Reveriemoe

tell me about it pal

Doc

I'm reading the first book of occult philosophy by Agrippa. It is a dense book that is tedious to get through. I love all of the knowledge it gives. I also love the older words it uses and how well all of the information is laid out. Each chapter is short and focuses solely on one aspect of the occult, such as plants or stones, and how they relate to different planets or aspects of the occult. It also goes into different parts of magick that I have no knowledge about. I'm more versed in sigils and manifestation. So far there is none of that in this book.

sanner

I was reminded of An Enemy of the People during a conversation about rising Authoritarianism/Fascism in seemingly enlightened/educated communities. It's a very short read! This book ruined my teenage years because i truly blamed the 'compact majority' (aka normies) for all of society's problems. Its a dangerous text if you don't consider the people and systems which cause the compact majority to remain compact, and also because it was simple for myself as a teenager to declare an other's actions immoral when the chief purpose was to protect their job/family as i myself had no kids of my own nor family i was responsible for. As Jean Luc says, its easy to be an angel when you're living in paradise.

Julikins

Lumeinshin Currently finished reading The Short While by Jeremy Sorese a while back, still working on reading through a biology in one big fat notebook guide... The latter is a bit difficult to digest in one sitting so I've been trying to get it done in doses which takes even longer to read through. I did pretty okay in science class but never hurts for a refresher.

Ross_R

Just finished reading The Wish List by Eoin Colfer.
It's a book for children, I suppose. And I read it back in the days of youth, side by side with books about Artemis Fowl. Stumbled upon the book these days around and decided to re-read it.
Frankly, it is just as good as I remember it. Easy reading, fun too, and it has the good message in it. Nothing really spectacular, but solid, and, in my opinion, way beter than a lot of other modern books for children. Colfer really knows how to make a fairy tale for the modern era. If you ask me, it's a crime that Harry Potter is that popular while Artemis Fowl is nigh-unkown (or so it seems to me, at least). I find Colfer's books way more entertaining and interesting than Rowling's, and The Wish List is a nice short example of Eoin's art in case you want to make yourself familiar with it. And in case you are familiar with it - it is a good book to get more of it.

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