Heh. How so, Kaz? I've had the book sitting on my shelf for ages. I really should get around to it.

Ray wrote:Finished up the first Game Of Thrones Novel. . .

A Song of Ice and Fire, please.

Kazuki_Fuse wrote:Infinite Jest

And it's not just the page amount, it's how much damn text is on a page.

I actually read that in early July too, back in 2011. I took it down in about fifteen days, but only because I didn't have many people to hang out with/didn't drink at least three nights a week as I do now so I could read it as late as I wanted. I think with a book like IJ or 1Q84 or The Stand it's best to tell yourself before you pick it up, "dammit, I'm going to read this thing as fast as I possibly can" just so you can ride a steady rhythm to the end without forgetting some plot points or becoming unfamiliar with the characters. But, of course everybody has different reading speeds and time they can dedicate to it. It took my two best friends something like a half year to finish IJ, and they still really loved it, so don't be discouraged if it takes a while to take down.

Though it's long it's incredibly rewarding when it's all done; I have memories of reading it like I have memories of watching NGE. I actually wish it was a whole lot longer.

Kazuki_Fuse wrote:"Starting Infinite Jest was a mistake" - me

Love this book (and I took it slow, six months for me to finish), but it really is the breaking wheel of "contemporary" (within the last 30 years) Postmodern fiction.

I'm only 18 pages into Cyclonopedia and it is already the most batshit thing I've subjected myself to in a long time.

Not currently reading, but the Spice from Dune is actually Satan.

^

...not....exactly.....

I would like to hear an explanation for that assertion.

If I were to try to argue it now, without a lot of time to prepare and reread, then I would make a fool of myself.

(And, I should add, this is a Chuckman sort of argument- I don't claim that Herbert conciously intended it, and he probably did not. And, likewise, this is only addressing the first book, not the others.)

That said, I think that if one thinks of all the Spice does, and takes not the "precognitions" arising from it at face value, and considers the mythic parallels, then at least where I'm coming from should easily come into view.

To make up for my teasing, here's a 1969 interview with Frank Herbert.

At the most literal level, the sand worms could be called Satan, seeing as they are often referred to as Shaitan (which tends to be rendered by the Fremen as Shai-hulud). Shaitan in this case, however, is closer to the classical representation of Satan. In this case, Satan is a force of opposition, not necessarily evil, but trying, difficult, and challenging.

Shai-hulud earns the moniker of Shaitan for being symbolic of not only all the hardship and hazards of Arrakis, but also ones effort to overcome those.

GRUNTS! by Mary Gentle

One of the first mainstream novels to try and satire high fantasy in the vein of Lord Of The Rings And Narnia. A dark Monty-Python style parody of everything you love about Fantasy.

In a world that's completely derivative of DND and LOTR (and self aware about it). our main character Ashnak is the commander of a brigade of Orcs, in service to an aging Necromaster that couldn't care less about them. He's grown frustrated and apathetic at the lot the Orcs have in life. It doesn't matter if the Orcs outnumber the heroes 100 to 1, or have a better appreciation of tactics, or if the so called 'heroes' aren't the least bit heroic at all. The forces of the so called 'Light' are going to win anyway. and Orcs will die by the thousands.

On the eve of what was supposed to be the Final battle with the forces of Light, between the Necromaster and the forces of a Galadriel-expy led force of elves and men. Ashnak and his platoon of Orcs stumble upon a cursed treasure of a Dragon made of clockwork, not realizing that the curse of the cave turns you into what you steal. Not helped by the fact that most of the orcs can't read. The curse states that you take on personality traits and memories of whoever owned the treasure you stole before the dragon.

While most of his men steal gold and jewels and aren't any better or worse off afterwards. Ashnak finds what he thinks is a broken crossbow and takes that with him back to camp. It's actually an M16 Assault rifle. The Dragon was a time traveler and because he stole it Ashnak takes on the traits and memories of a Vietnam War Drill sergeant. He orders his other Orcs to take other weapons from the dragons hoard, and they gain traits and memories of military tactics from soldiers from other eras. Not to mention technology from the American Revolution to the Gulf War.

Their enemy not being familiar with modern tactics and weaponry, the orcs proceed to steamroll over both the so-called forces of light, and the forces of their former master on the run after the failure of the 'Final Battle' one of several dozen in the past decade alone.

While other fantasy novels use the darkness in their worlds to shock the audience. In GRUNTS! It's not meant to be taken seriously, it becomes so dark and depressing it comes all the way around to hilarious again. Over time though, despite the Orcs doing horrible things to what are essentially the 'good guys' of the story. You do feel pity for them, they have been dealt a harsh hand in life and see this as their one opportunity to turn the tables on a world that hates them.

70 pages into Gramophone, Film, Typewriter and it's pretty easy to tell which parts Kittler wrote while stoned out of his mind.

Fagles translation of The Iliad.

19 books into the Sharpe series.

Started off great, feeling some fatigue now that it's been almost exclusively what I've read for many a month.

I wish Sharpe would stop being so pissed off at everything sometimes.

A few years ago I had this crackbrain notion of reading all the Sharpe books in chronological order. I was unemployed so I had a lot of free time on my hands to afford such a foible. I read Sharpe's Tiger and that was it. I liked it fair enough but I don't think I could slog through more of the same consecutively; so good effort on your part, Griff.

Reading Thirty Leagues to Midnight, written by our very own Merridian. Seems to be a desperate revenge story laden with rips in space-time and theorizing about said space-time. Makes for good train-reading on the morning commute, having a blast with it so far.

Having knocked off a satisfying amount of Sharpe I've moved onto another British author by the name of PG Wodehouse. I read a few of his books quite a while ago and remember absolutely adoring them, but unfortunately I don't feel the same anymore. Just finished Right Ho, Jeeves, and it just seems to me like something in the way of too much Douglas Adams has ruined that series for me. I have a few more books of his to read, perhaps they'll be better.

I've been feeling incredibly nostalgic lately, so I turned to an old favorite from my youth, Harry Potter!

And it has just now occured to me that Dumbledore is an enormous dick for not nipping Hitler in the bud. He was already an incredibly powerful wizard by the 1940s. Heck, it wouldn't have even required a wizard of Dumbledore's caliber. All you need is a little polyjuice potion, and... I think I just discovered the subject of my next fanfic.

^
Harry Potter is riddled with plot holes, it's all just pottery I guess.

Chainsaw Owl wrote:And it has just now occured to me that Dumbledore is an enormous dick for not nipping Hitler in the bud.

Admittedly I never finished the series, so don't know what revelations there were in books 6 and 7, but even setting aside the number of sympathisers in the British upper classes, there's always the stand-by of the Nazi magicians of the Thule Society, and all the other occult bits oft attributed.

^
The plot thickens!

Seriously though, I think this little attempt at a re-read is already dead in the water. I'm not feeling it nearly as much as I did last night as I sipped wine from my commemerative Harry Potter goblet. What I NEED to do is go back and finish White-Luck Warrior by R. Scott Bakker. Work has had an unacceptable effect on my reading habits this past year.