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Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 81158 times)

ChairmanPoo

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #855 on: January 19, 2021, 08:56:22 pm »

I dont think I can be friends with anyone who dislikes 20k leagues.

Also worth noting that Verne was a bit of a political radical. Comes through in several of his novels, and its fairly notable in 20k for its antiimperialist themes.

Tbh I think Nemo works better as having an ambiguous origin than the original plan of making him polish or the latter plan of making him indian. The ambiguity of the man and of his enemies made him kind of universal
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Nordlicht

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #856 on: January 20, 2021, 08:47:31 am »

I didn't say that I disliked it, but having 50%+ pages description of fish is rather...well stretched too long? Same with Frankenstein. Great Book, but a lot is basically him whining how unfair life is.  Both would have done better a bit more shortened imho.
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Great Order

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #857 on: August 07, 2022, 06:34:53 pm »

I'm bringing this thread back from the depths of oblivion.

Finished up All Quiet On The Western Front a couple weeks back. It was, unsurprisingly, horrendously depressing, but it's filled with fantastic passages and provides a good look into the state of trench warfare.

Quote
"Let the days and years come. They can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope, that I can face them without fear."

I was surprised by how much comedy was in it too, like when Paul needs a piss but can't bring himself to ask the nurse to help him to the toilet. Then his friend tries to help before catching himself. This from two characters who have been in the trenches for two years by this point.

Also the TMI about the Russian PoWs and their masturbation habits. Thanks, really needed to know that.

I'm now onto Metro 2033, I've played the game but I'm already gathering there's a significant differences between the two, even if the overarching plot (ie dealing with the Dark Ones) is the same.
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I may have wasted all those years
They're not worth their time in tears
I may have spent too long in darkness
In the warmth of my fears

Starver

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #858 on: August 07, 2022, 10:37:33 pm »

(This is a thread that I've not been reading (even though it's in my New Replies To Your Posts list, fairly permanently) because I've generally got half a dozen books on the go at any time and I've not felt like being guilt-tripped into merely reporting on the latest one or two that I (eventually) actually finished, most recently. But a mis-click upon the mild necro above broke my self-imposed inhibition, so nice to see someone discussing Making Money, and Moby Dick, etc, and I thought... Oh, go on, you can mention something with a bit of a likeness to both. ;) )

To quote the internal title page: "Getaway" "The eighth volume in the Saint saga". i.e. the books by Leslie Charteris. This particular copy a 16th-edition of this story, which was first published in 1932 (however much later it attained its 16th printing, an inscription says this copy was owned by my father by no later than 1942). And, being inter-bellum and "of an age" it is of course a product of its time (wannabe-repentent anti-hero Simon Templar is very much a "Self-assured, richly-living[1] and man-of-the-world" version of the self-entitled 'Brit Abroad' who is not above speaking in slow English to foreigners, expecting them to kowtow to his force-of-will. Except when he actually makes calculated use of his near flawless local accents to blend in or generally deceive those he meets, often as part of a necessary gambit due to him being in - for anyone less bold - would be considered a bit of a pickle... Such as escaping from the local(/international) police, or a criminal enemy. Or, because S.T. doesn't do things by halves, both at the same time!

The language (terminology, especially) is also a little unreconstructed, by today's standards. I'm sure some things said (or thought) never made their way into Roger Moore's version of any TV adaptations (even in the black-and-white era, which may be ironic. But it's very high-falluting vocabulary. For example "The empurpled lady lifted her yapping paladin tenderly into the last coach, and was in turn assisted steatopygously upwards."[2]. Now you definitely can't deny that modern fiction has been dumbed down somewhat, in the 90 years since this particular concoction had been assembled from the choicest of words..!

Plot-wise, it is of course a felicitous and highly luck-dependent stumble through the machinations of a very clear candidate for Evil Mastermind (with a few caveats, but definitely a chessmaster-antagonist, a well prepared and resourced villain of the peace). Hard to say if Templar is unluckier for falling blindly into the situation, or the counterpart is unluckier for having The Saint fall into the situation he was previously handling quite well, thank you very much... Well, except that The Saint (as of the book's/imprint's publication) has a further 13 more volumes in him, so no surprise that enough luck is manufactured to ensure a future for our definitely-not-luckless champion of the series. Whatever fate befalls his allies, enemies and (transiently, at least) his reputation for good or ill.

I only have a handful more of these books available to me (no idea if my father collected more than I was in turn allowed to receive, I also got an incomplete set of John Buchans (includes both famous and more obscure/unpopular Richard Hannay stories, but not the whole lot) and certainly in '42 there was a war on, so maybe if the collection was actually being assembled around that time then the effective paper-rationing (and his own wartime experiences) might have limited the opportunities.

But I chose to read this one as the first, by publication date, of its set. And I have the others (that I have) ready and lined up to delve back into when I find a further gap identified in my multi-reading schedule.[3] To see what other scrapes the unexpurgated adventures of the lovable(?) rogue creates to be endured, only to barely impact his full headlong dash through one headonistic adventure and like-as-not straight into the next.


(As a comodity, I very much doubt the physical book itself has much worth.  It is foxed (and a little badgered too) and has the appearance of a mass-market (for the time) product, plus nowhere near 1st-Ed. attractiveness.)


[1] Whether it is his own riches or not seems not to be much of an issue to the character... ;)
[2] i.e., the out-of-breath rotund lady with a pekinese lap-dog needed to get back into the train, after an unscheduled stop mid-transit and an entertaining trackside argument with the railway staff over several separate fusses caused entirely by either Simon, his allies or his enemies!  :P
[3] It was so much simpler when I could just stock up with a week's supply of books from.the library and, undistracted by anything as irresistable as the Internet - let alone the Web! - I could plough through them in strict order and return them half-a-week later for another (nominal) week's-worth of fiction and non-fiction.
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Great Order

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #859 on: August 08, 2022, 08:54:49 pm »

Continuing Metro 2033, it's doing a solid job of being creepy.

I do horror pretty well. It's one of my favourite genres. However, this book makes me nervous in the dark. I just expect something to come out of it. It's kinda cool that for some reason it's managing to do this to me, and I can't say why.
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I may have wasted all those years
They're not worth their time in tears
I may have spent too long in darkness
In the warmth of my fears

Enemy post

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #860 on: August 12, 2022, 01:54:09 am »

Had a thought I wanted to write down while I still can.

A project I assigned myself for the summer was to finally finish the complete works of Shakespeare. Been meaning to do it for a while, but I'd only got through 12 of the plays in total before. As of tonight, I've finished it all with the sole exception of Othello.

I was just thinking about how, at the moment, I still haven't finished it. There's still more to read. However, once I'm done with Othello, that's it. No more new Shakespeare, most likely ever unless a lost play turns up. Wanted to make Othello special, so I think I'll actually watch this one performed. I'm going to watch the 1990 Theatre Night version with Ian McKellen, and then I'll be finished.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2022, 02:00:24 am by Enemy post »
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Emma

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #861 on: August 12, 2022, 05:43:23 am »

Haven't thought about this website in a while! It's kind of weird and embarrassing that a good chunk of my teenage years were online. Might as well check-in though, I've read a decent amount of stuff since I was last here and my tastes have changed pretty dramatically lol.

I've been making my way through Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels this year and they're really quite good, I only have The Story of the Lost Child left to read and I'm looking forward to getting through it. I've found each one sort of compulsive, once I start I feel like I have to finish it without interruptions from other books. I also semi-recently read Sylvia Townsend Warner's Lolly Willowes which I thought was excellent, I'm going to start Mr Fortune's Maggot tonight or tomorrow because it was probably one of my favourite books in recent years really.

A project I assigned myself for the summer was to finally finish the complete works of Shakespeare. Been meaning to do it for a while, but I'd only got through 12 of the plays in total before. As of tonight, I've finished it all with the sole exception of Othello.

Ahhh, I've been wanting to read Shakespeare properly for ages now! I always enjoyed studying him in HS lol, loved reading his plays.
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Quarque

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #862 on: August 12, 2022, 06:42:37 am »

Currently reading Independent People, a book written by an Icelandic nobel laureate that no one ever heard of, Halldór Laxness.

It's about a hardheaded sheep farmer living in the 20th century, but in such poor conditions and remote location that it feels like the middle ages. Not a light snack as books go, but it has me hooked.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2022, 06:47:03 am by Quarque »
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Great Order

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #863 on: August 30, 2022, 10:31:04 am »

Rereading Night Watch (The Discworld one) now. If you haven't read it, it can be summed up as Vimes gets shot back 30 years in time when Ankh-Morpork was a much worse place to be, which is saying something, and has to take the place of his old mentor.

I remember it being dark, but I keep forgetting just *how* dark it is. The Scouring of the House of Pain is a pretty grim bit of the book.
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I may have wasted all those years
They're not worth their time in tears
I may have spent too long in darkness
In the warmth of my fears

Starver

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #864 on: August 30, 2022, 02:21:27 pm »

It was always popularly thought of as the point in the late-era books where dark themes entered the series. (Compared to the cartoony violence and disaster of cities on fire, from the first book, the Star People cult of the second, etc.)

And possibly even more so than Monstrous Regiment, Thud, Snuff, etc, although their depictions of war, conflict and racial slavery were more 'serious' than Jingo, The Third Elephant and the whole "imp-stamatic camera" thing, to pluck parallels from the solidly pre-NW books.

It's a very good book (IMO). If it weren't right in the midst of the City/Watch/Vimes story-arcs I'd perhaps suggest it as a starter-book, but to get there you do really need to go back to Guards! Guards! (prior to NW, G!G! would have been my "humour just got serious" point in the series). But if you're in a good position to (re)read it, I'd generally assume you'd be able to appreciate it fully. It sets up some of the next few books[1] well, too.

(For some reason, Unseen Academicals (for example) flips back into the early-style. It's not because it's a "Roundworld phenomena analogue" parody, because the likes of Raising Steam did that with notable grimdark to it. But it goes more towards Sourcery that (despite its potential magical holocaust) is as cartoony-threat as any.)


Sorry, meant to just congratulate you on your reading taste. But having been forced to miss this year's Discworld Convention[2], I'm releasing a lot of pent-up fandom issues. Carry on!



[1] Ok, so TAMAHER and WFM were immediate precursor and follow-up, but arguably 'Young Discworld' aimed at slightly younger than his maturing and matured fanbase. But even so. Tiffany was no stranger to grimdark fć-folk stuff, throughout.

[2] It's as much the people (both old friends and more newly convergent spirits) as the 'fun stuff' that I wish I could have been there for... And any Cards Against Humanity marathons that I might have been in at 2AM almost any night of the long weekend... ;)
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heydude6

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Re: What are you reading?
« Reply #865 on: August 30, 2022, 04:25:34 pm »

Ah, Discworld. I started reading that series back when I was in high school, and I reached that point in the series the year before the pandemic started.

Nightwatch was the peak of the the series not just because it was a good book, but because of how the preceding books directly lead up to it. It was hit after hit up until the satisfying conclusion of Vimes' character arc that he began back in "Guards! Guards! Guards!". Though more books were made, you couldn't escape the sense that this was the end of an era.

I didn't realize just how true that would be.
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