[Literature] Currently Reading (discussion)

Yeah. You read right. This is for everything that doesn't have anything to do with Eva.

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Blue Monday
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Postby Blue Monday » Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:15 am

Love The Stand, Bard - Probably one of my very favourite books.

Hopefully you grabbed the complete and uncut edition (released in 1990) as it fleshes out the characters considerably more on their respective paths, featuring almost 400 more pages than the original version.


I'm also currently reading some King myself; halfway through The Shining.

It starts out a little dry in my opinion but has the reader well hooked as the threads start to come together and we learn more of the Overlook's history.
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Postby Shinoyami65 » Tue Feb 25, 2014 8:23 am

^Btw, if I was to give House of Leaves a rating I'd probably place it at around 9.5 to a full 10; the only sore points for me were the difficulty of reading some sections and some of the more long-winded parts of the Truant narrative.

Currently reading The Crow Road by Iain Banks. It's remarkably good; I actually prefer it to The Wasp Factory, which was also a great novel. I thought that I would prefer The Wasp Factory's synopsis more, but for some reason the way Banks writes in The Crow Road clicks with me better. I'm going to keep reading and see how it pans out.
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Postby AngelNo13Bardiel » Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:59 am

View Original PostBlue Monday wrote:Hopefully you grabbed the complete and uncut edition (released in 1990) as it fleshes out the characters considerably more on their respective paths, featuring almost 400 more pages than the original version.


Yeah, that's the one I got. Hefty-ass little book for its money, I'll say that much.
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Postby caragnafog dog » Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:21 pm

Read Thirst for Love by Yukio Mishima these past few days. It's the first of his I've read that was narrated by a woman and it's as bitter as you'd expect. I'd describe it as a female companion to Confessions of a Mask, though this one is more tragic.

I'll be reading Light in August by William Faulkner at a snail's pace now; I've been neglecting the massive volume of Plato I checked out from my college's library. I'm 400 pages in and want to be finished with it before the semester ends.
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Postby BrikHaus » Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:24 pm

I've been reading through all the Harry Potter books for the very first time. Got to book five, and I've stalled on it. This is definitely the worst one so far: paper-thin plot, annoying character dynamics, and excessive length. Rowling needed an editor who could stand up to her on book five. The other books, though, I have enjoyed quite a bit.
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Postby pwhodges » Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:27 pm

Get through it; things improve again for the last books.
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Postby Mr. Tines » Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:36 pm

View Original PostBrikHaus wrote:Rowling needed an editor who could stand up to her on book five.
My feelings exactly. That was where I dropped the series like a brick.
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Postby CJD » Sat Mar 01, 2014 6:18 pm

Wasn't someone just mentioning how Harry is disliked by readers in that one? Or am I getting the books mixed up.
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Postby Joy Evangelion » Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:36 pm

View Original PostBrikHaus wrote:Got to book five, and I've stalled on it.


Same thing happened to me when I read the series in 2011...took me like, four months to read :| while the other six were done in a few days. Every one I've talked to feels the same way, but my thought is if you spent the time reading the first four you may as well see it to the end.

--------

I've been writing recently so I haven't been reading as much fiction as I wish I was, but creating things is nice(until you read something you just spent three days of your life on and hate it and then throw it out the window.)

Anyway, all I write is stream of consciousness and I'm about to start working on a dark story about my home neighborhood, so, needing extra inspiration, I decided to reread my all time fav dark SoC novel, The Sound and the Fury by my all time favorite author, Bill Faulkner. Only a few pages back into it, but already stopping after every sentence to go, damnnnnnnn. Hope to post a little more about it in the coming days.
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Postby Madonna » Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:40 am

Alvin Plantinga - Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism

Deeply fascinating and a complete philosophically sound argument showcasing that evolution and theism are far from mutually exclusive. I don't agree with everything said but Plantiga has a wonderful way of thinking, and brings up many solid arguments.

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Postby caragnafog dog » Wed Mar 05, 2014 12:32 pm

Speaking of Faulkner, I finished Light in August yesterday. This was no-frills Faulkner and I enjoyed it a lot, at least as much as As I Lay Dying. It doesn't compare to Absalom or SnF though, in my opinion. The next Faulkner I plan to read (which won't be for a little while) is probably Go Down Moses.

Right now I'm reading Yukio Mishima's Five Modern No Plays.
On 11/10/14, at 8:43 PM, Merrimerri wrote:
fhycjubg beat tge sgut iyt if gun
On 6/2/15, at 10:14 PM, Delispin wrote:
> Wow. I've disgusted even myself.

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Postby UrsusArctos » Wed Mar 05, 2014 12:43 pm

View Original PostMr. Tines wrote:My feelings exactly. That was where I dropped the series like a brick.


That was the book that was the biggest slog of the lot, although the other two later books had their share of trouble. Half-Blood Prince was actually vaguely disappointing and Voldemort's backstory and the Horcrux setup weren't as good as I'd hoped they'd be. Deathly Hallows had the titular triad of plot devices pulled practically out of nowhere.

Of that lot, the best is Prisoner of Azkaban, once you get past the awful opening and the Dursleys. The one book that doesn't directly involve the main villain in the plot is the best, by far.
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Postby AR-99 » Fri Mar 07, 2014 11:15 pm

I used to be able to sit down with just one book at a time and finish it before starting another one, but nowadays I read multiple simultaneously, just like my anime watching. Some books will go weeks or maybe months even between actual readings.

ATM the lot consists of:

Fiction
Mutiny on the Bounty - The first in a trilogy and since it's about the age of sail, I was able to dive right in.

Nonfiction
A Geek in Japan
Accounting Demystified
- Nearly done, just need to sit down and go through the last few pages.
One Thousand and One Buildings of Paris - The thing is a brick with capsule profiles of the buildings so I only do a few pages at a time.
Warriors at Suez - About the 1956 Suez Crisis. This was bought from the library more than 20 years ago and has been on the shelf since, so before recycling it I'm reading it first.
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Postby Chuckman » Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:40 am

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Postby caragnafog dog » Sat Mar 08, 2014 5:05 pm

Today I reread Demian by Hermann Hesse more or less on a whim; it had been a few years and it seemed appropriate since I had seen Utena twice since I first read it (they're supposed to share some thematic similarities and the student council speech is a modified version of a passage from the book). It has lost none of its impact for me, in fact I think it resonated with me even more this time. I haven't broken the shell and flown to Abraxas yet though.
On 11/10/14, at 8:43 PM, Merrimerri wrote:
fhycjubg beat tge sgut iyt if gun
On 6/2/15, at 10:14 PM, Delispin wrote:
> Wow. I've disgusted even myself.

https://qnuw.wordpress.com/ The hottest new meme, revived in blog form. qnuw/qnuw. qnuw/qnuw. qnuw/qnuw.

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Postby Joy Evangelion » Tue Mar 11, 2014 10:25 pm

View Original Postcaragnafog dog wrote:Go Down Moses
I read that one in a couple days or so back in December 2011, so I barely remember it, but I do recall it being pretty cool and entertaining. :cool: Not as good as his four masterworks(duhhhh), but better than Intruder in the Dust and If I forget Thee, Jerusalem. The Snopes trilogy(Hamlet, Town, Mansion) was super dope as well.

View Original PostJoy Evangelion wrote:The Sound and the Fury

Cover  SPOILER: Show
Image
"Bud, you excite not only admiration, but horror."

Been slowwly working my way through this one; just finished the second section last night, which is probably my favorite piece of written work, ever, at the moment. Definitely enjoying the novel as much as the first time I read it. I was finally able to imagine Quentin Compson in my head as a nineteen year old Harvard freshman, instead of a thirty year old William Faulkner.

Also, I noticed that Quentin's memories of conversations with his father are a little similar to Shinji's talk with Leliel and his experiences during instrumentality, so if I ever go to grad school I'll probably write some shitty paper comparing the two. :tongue:
I used to work in a factory and I was really happy because I could daydream all day -- I.C.
And thanks to EVA, I've started like myself and that has made me very happy. Mr. Anno, please keep working on EVA a lot more.
and thank you so much for everything!!

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Postby Kazuki_Fuse » Wed Mar 12, 2014 12:54 am

My book haul from Amazon came in.

In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
Hollywood by Charles Bukowski
The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

I only have about 40 pages remaining in Norwegian Wood, so these arrived just in time considering I'll be finishing it tonight.
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Postby caragnafog dog » Wed Mar 12, 2014 1:30 pm

Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is definitely better than Norwegian Wood in my opinion, enjoy that. No Longer Human is obviously a good pickup too, for different reasons.
On 11/10/14, at 8:43 PM, Merrimerri wrote:
fhycjubg beat tge sgut iyt if gun
On 6/2/15, at 10:14 PM, Delispin wrote:
> Wow. I've disgusted even myself.

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Postby Shinoyami65 » Thu Mar 13, 2014 4:23 am

I got No Longer Human a while ago, but never got round to reading it. Better now than never, I guess.
E̱͡v͈̙e͔̰̳͙r̞͍y͏̱̲̭͎̪ṱ͙̣̗̱͠h̰̰i͙n̶̮̟̳͍͍̫͓g̩ ̠͈en̶̖̹̪d̸̙̦͙̜͕͍̞s̸̰.̳̙̺̟̻̀

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Now I know that it's true
Because I think you're so good
And I'm nothing like you

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Postby Blue Monday » Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:37 am

Finished The Shining last night and would consider it a fantastic book. Was a bit slow in reading it though as I only chipped at it; two/three chapters a night at most – wasn’t particularly compelled or felt the need to rush through so took my time and enjoyed it. Having seen the movie first many years ago I was a bit wary going in but safe to say I had no issues developing my own vision of the characters and setting. Obviously the story is a fuller, richer experience than the film and we learn much more about Jack and Wendy, their respective histories before and after they got together, and that lends a great deal of weight to the story’s progression in my opinion.

Sections I enjoyed most would have to be Danny’s. Couldn’t help but develop a fondness for how his young mind recalled/processed CERTAIN WORDS which always put a smile on my face. Jack’s slide into insanity, for lack of a better term, is pretty enthralling too. The scene where he’s attending the “amalgam” masquerade ball is incredibly vivid, and some of the language King uses is just great writing – the below in particular stuck out to me:

"I like you," she whispered, and he thought that her scent was like lilies, secret and hidden in cracks furred with green moss - places where sunshine is short and shadows long.
"I like you, too."

Distinct imagery that powerfully captures and conveys a specific brand of lust. Room 217 sequences instil a nice dose of terror into the book as well...

Like I mentioned in a previous post, The Shining starts out as to what I felt is a little dry but it all picks up momentum once the Overlook’s presence starts bearing down on the Torrances. There are also a handful of passages I’d consider some of King’s best writing I’ve read to date (which isn’t worth much coming from me as this is only my third book of his so far). I think I’ll look into reading Doctor Sleep sometime this year. It’s kind of a sequel to The Shining that came out last year and it resumes Danny’s story but as an adult decades on. Book piqued my interest and I enjoyed the character enough to warrant checking it out at least.


Up next: The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
Followed by: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
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