Talk? Yes, among other things.

Speaking of which, I'm always tempted to buy books of gay erotica, but I never do. Either they're too expensive or I just don't have enough money. Damn it, how else am I going to learn to write a decent sex scene? By going out and having sex with an actual man (or woman, pending extreme desperation)?

In other news, I read a few short stories by Dorothy Parker. She's fun. Her sardonic wit reminds a bit of those wonderful moments where Ayn Rand hops off of capitalism's sold gold dildo and just acts really bitchy. I should read bitter women more often. They're always the most fun.

MugwumpHasNoLiver wrote:hypothetical plot to rape Ran.

Bah. You can't rape the willing.

MugwumpHasNoLiver wrote:Talk? Yes, among other things.

There are lots of emoticons that come to mind when I think of you raping ran, but isn't one of them...

Topic, guys.

Currently reading Murdock Scramble, by Tow Ubukata. I'd been interested in the book ever since the days of the (canceled) Gonzo anime project, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it on Haikasoru's website last week. The book is huge, at almost 800 pages; I feel bad for people with tiny hands! (I guess that's why it was split up into three parts, in Japan...) Haikasoru did a really great job with the cover as well; it's beautiful. I'm only about 30 pages in, so far, but it's definitely meeting my expectations. Then again, maybe I've just been sucked in by the books very erotic beginning... (Shouldn't the child prostitution repluse me? Maybe I'm fucked in the head.)

I also picked up two other books from Haikasoru: The Ouroboros Wave, which I think is some hard sci-fi about future humans harnessing the energy of a black hole? Also got Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse by Otsuichi. Very excited to finally get Otsuichi's debut story. He's become one of my favorite authors, Japanese or otherwise. If you haven't read any of his work, he's had quite a few books and short stories translated into English. I suggest starting with Goth, which you may have already read the manga adaptation of. (Apparently, there was also a movie? And possibly a Hollywood remake?!)

Mr. Tines wrote:@Xard re LotR
My little bro read it at about the same age as you, developed this serious crush on Galadriel, and for long after was disappointed by the frailties of 3D, remaining a bachelor to this day.

Hah, what an dangerous book indeed... All the more notable as Galadriel was in....what, one or two chapters all in all?

As harmful and destructive LotR was for me becoming sane, normal and contributive member of society with normal youth at the very least I can't blame it for inspiring serious crushes on fictional characters. That wasn't my style

EvangelionFan wrote:I liked that trilogy - I have all three books, in my opinion the second book is the best and nearly equal to any one of Zahn's books in terms of how much I enjoyed it, in contrast, the first Academy novel is okay, and the third I recall as fairly disappointing. Speaking of Zahn, if you haven't read Star Wars: Allegiance yet, you should check it out.

Well, I said "in retrospect" - I really liked the books back then. But I'd have hard time calling them quality literature. I think best thing about Jedi Academy was character of Admiral Daala - but then again, Sun Crusher was pretty damn stupid superweapon and Kyp Durron is borderline Marty Stu.

Merridian wrote:Reading Harry Potter and somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen and a half or so fantasy/sci-fi pulp novels we had laying around after that was something of a let-down.

I'm pretty sure I would've been less impressed with Potter books if I had had more experience with genre literature beforehand like you had. Excluding Narnia (which I never got too deep into as Aslan's death shocked and unsettled me enormously) they were my first contact with fantasy. I was 9 when this girl - a childhood friend character if there ever was one - who was daughter of some family friends told me about these new cool wizard books she'd been reading. Since she was one of the best friends I ever had and whose recommendations I had learned to trust I of course got my hands on translation of first book very soon :)

If nothing else I much applaud Potter books for making me read books in english when I was 12 - natural consequence of catching up with finnish translations and Order of Phoenix was just about to come out and it would be ages before it would be translated...

Oz wrote:Yes. I think I have read all Star Wars books the library had before 2005. Along with Thrawn trilogy and Jedi Academy trilogy there was something else, but I can't figure out what it was.

I don't remember all books they have but for certain the so-called "Callista Trilogy" is there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_the_Jedi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darksaber_%28novel%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_Twilight

I remember the first and last books had really strange atmosphere for Star Wars fiction...and the picture of Jedi Order given in Children of Jedi was much more intriguing than what we got in prequel trilogy anyway... One thing I liked about Callista trilogy was the heavy involvement of Pellaeon in last two books. The best Imperial officer ever excluding Thrawn!

Incidentally both were Zahn's creations...

************

For some reason I forgot to mention Jordan's Wheel of Time - a series I was *really* into in junior high. I was introduced to it by friend who was turning into a hardcore fan already (Oz: 'twas Pentti, believe it or not! )

My favourite Asimov book I ever read is probably The Gods Themselves - for some reason I've never seen anyone mention it though. The second part was absolutely fantastic and one of the best depictions of alien lifeforms and their way of life I've read.

As for non-genre literature shit, reading The Egyptian as 13 year old was tremendous, unforgettable experience. No wonder it is often viewed as one of best finnish novels ever written. And to prove my interest in Japan and Japanese culture goes beyond my time as anime fan reading Eiji Yoshikawa's Musashi was another powerful experience when I was...12? I was in grade school back then in any case. Ahh, that book was sheer badassitude. Apparently Vagabond is manga adaptation of it, didn't know that...

And I must include Esa Saarinen's excellent book on Sartre too - it was the first genuine philosophy book I read after starting to get into this shit after seeing NGE and as such important part of my adolescence :)

I've recently started reading Spoon River Anthology but I'm forced to read it online due to lack of funds. Its still very good.

Xard wrote:I don't remember all books they have but for certain the so-called "Callista Trilogy" is there:

Ah yes, the Callista trilogy. I remember the first two books, but not the last one (although I did read it back then).

Xard wrote:(Oz: 'twas Pentti, believe it or not! )

Oz wrote:Ah yes, the Callista trilogy. I remember the first two books, but not the last one (although I did read it back then).

Third one had a hutt jedi - a memorable and unique character to say the least.

Plus some really weird creepy telepathic seed/bug/flora/Idontevenknowwhat critters. It wasn't very good all in all if I remember correctly and felt very un-Star Wars. But it was certainly memorable due to its weirdness.

Oz wrote:

Yeah, you didn't know him back then... From later years of grade school through to end of secondary school he was quite a geek bro and we both kept devouring books etc. at similar astonishing pace. We both read the aforementioned Musashi on 5th or 6th grade (he had borrowed it from library and I remembered we had the same book home) and started The Egyptian at the same time etc.

Of course the crucial difference between us two is that he grew up and out of it and became more interested in drinking and driving cars off the road in dangerous speeds.

Meanwhile I devolved further and eventually turned into an complete anime faggot

C'est la vie (´ー`)y-~~

My Cormac McCarthy binge continues with The Road. I'm not very far in, but I like it so far.

^
excellent choice

Trajan wrote:My Cormac McCarthy binge continues with The Road. I'm not very far in, but I like it so far.

It's awesome. I read that in one sitting at Borders once. You read No Country For Old Men yet? Even compared to the movie the book is still pretty legit.

I'm reading Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke right now. It's actually quite similar to NGE (at least the ending), from what I've heard.

EDIT: Okay, I'm done. The ending was, in fact, very similar to Instrumentality. I even spotted some TTGL similarities in there (there was one explanation that sounded eerily similar to Spiral Nemesis), and the book was really quite deep. Anybody else read it?
(Actually, I came by this book while reading the NGE article on Wikipedia...I guess there were supposed to be similarities.)

Found a good book for the "English warm up" on my own: the first part of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, The Colour of Magic. It was relatively easy to get it in English because I noticed that nearly all parts of the Discworld series (in English) are stored in one of the libraries in my municipality (aka at my work place - although it wasn't at the main library where I stay). These English paperback prints aren't that common in Finnish libraries and they don't even exist in the nearby municipalities. I don't know how we have got more than 20 of them, but I'm glad we do have 'em.

Still reading "Groucho & Me," the first of Groucho Marx's autobiographies.

Also, I picked up Dickens' "Good Expectations" after seeing the South Park episode adaptation of it and learning Pip was based on the protagonist from "Good Expectations." I always thought Dickens was a long-winded author, which he is, but I can get into this one easier than "Tale of Two Cities" and others...

I thought it was Great Expectations.
In all seriousness, though, that's a good choice. I've always been more of a Mark Twain type of guy, but Charles Dickens is pretty good too.

Dickens is a long-winded writer, but very few can weave such vivid, linguistic elegance out of so much wind! Pickwick Papers is an underrated masterpiece, fwiw.

COACH wrote:Also got Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse by Otsuichi. Very excited to finally get Otsuichi's debut story. He's become one of my favorite authors, Japanese or otherwise. If you haven't read any of his work, he's had quite a few books and short stories translated into English. I suggest starting with Goth, which you may have already read the manga adaptation of. (Apparently, there was also a movie? And possibly a Hollywood remake?!)

Hmm...I've read his short story collection Zoo and liked what I saw. Perhaps some money spending is in order.

schismatics wrote:It's awesome. I read that in one sitting at Borders once. You read No Country For Old Men yet? Even compared to the movie the book is still pretty legit.

I was debating between that and All the Pretty Horses. Which would you recommend?

Trajan wrote:I was debating between that and All the Pretty Horses. Which would you recommend?

Haven't read All the Pretty Horses to be honest. From what I've heard it's God-tier stuff, and its on my "to-read" list.

Anna Karenina has been taking forever to get through (I took a bit of a break from it) but it's still a solid read. Tolstoy needs to stop going to the farmer-guy-that-I-don't-give-a-shit-about though.