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Author Topic: Book Thread  (Read 92544 times)

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pmcd9

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #315 on: May 24, 2015, 03:12:53 am »
Hey, no skipping ahead. I've barely gotten a colony established on Mars.
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #316 on: May 24, 2015, 03:54:43 am »
I finished Blue Mars the other day. The middle of that one (the third book) kind of dragged, but the end is great. At a certain point I started kind of skimming whenever he started describing another rock formation.

Also, so annoying: the used copy of the 1st (Knausgaard) book I bought has a crazy collage on the cover. The 2nd and 3rd books have photos of him on white backgrounds. The fourth book is only in hardcover, and has some kind of painting. And they're all different sizes. Why are they doing this to me!?
« Last Edit: May 24, 2015, 04:04:23 am by theinevitable »
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jaydub

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #317 on: May 26, 2015, 06:36:41 pm »
My wife's theory is that publishers do this to confuse you into buying the same book over.  Like, several years pass, and you see a book by an author you know - "hey I liked that guy's work before!" but it looks new to you because who remembers titles, and the cover art is different.
It rarely happens to me because I do in fact remember titles, but pointing this out usually lands me on the couch for a night.
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #318 on: August 24, 2015, 06:06:04 am »
Finished The Book of the New Sun (tetrology? quadrology?) just now. Weird post-apocalyptic (?) fantasy/sci-fi, mostly enjoyable.

Man, I am just not very perceptive when reading. I thought it was kind of confusing, interesting, and and wanted to hear some theories about what was going on at the end. These people online point out all kinds of major plot points that I missed, as well as major stuff going on with the main character that I did not notice. I just read a thing that seemed so obvious in retrospect, which is that the main guy is (spoiler) basically a scumbag, but tries to make himself sound good in how he describes his actions. He always explains the lofty morals he has while running away, abandoning his friends, etc. There is also a lot of half-hidden stuff going on with (spoilers again) time-travel or something like it, where apparently if you read the book again you notice that things are having effects backwards in time.
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #319 on: March 30, 2016, 01:47:03 am »
Man, I have not read any fun/interesting books since last summer. I am so ready to be done with school. I have a HUGE stack of unread books to read that I have bought since last summer.

This year has been a lot more productive than last year, academically, but I have gotten to read a lot less books. Last year I managed to turn my term papers into "read this book you already wanted to read." This year my papers have all involved reading articles, making maps, etc.

I am getting to read one book that uses GIS mapping to look at the history of segregation in St Louis. That's pretty cool.

On the other hand, I'm thinking back, and I read a pretty impressive stack last summer while also learning to code and working 30-40 hours a week. I bet I can top it this summer. If things work out and I get a job in the city, I'll be riding the train 2-3 hours 5 days a week until August when my lease runs out and I can move.
« Last Edit: March 30, 2016, 01:51:42 am by theinevitable »
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #320 on: April 16, 2016, 05:26:30 pm »
It is the time of the semester when I lose motivation and read fun stuff. I borrowed a ton of manga from my buddy and read 100s of pages of Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, and now Osamu Tezuka's biography of the Buddha. Very good.
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #321 on: April 23, 2016, 05:26:35 pm »
The next Karl Ove Knausgaard book came on Thursday, right as my three day weekend of hellish work began.
Started reading it "for a bit before bed" and read almost 200 pages. This guy is a good writer.
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pmcd9

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #322 on: April 24, 2016, 07:09:45 am »
You know stuff. I like your recommendations, but I'm not sure I'm up for reading this. I assume you are reading an English translation?

My book choices lately have been pretty weird for me. I've only ever read fiction before now. I've always gotten my history from magazines and television. But I think the last fiction I read was your suggestion of Red Mars a couple of years ago. Haven't tried the sequels yet, but I think I probably will eventually. I've tried to get into history and biographies with some success. The Civil War, Sam Houston, Lincoln. The last thing I've read was Cosmos and it took me forever. It was super interesting, but it put me to sleep almost immediately. I don't even know how that works. This is great... snore! So next up in my queue is Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour. I never paid any attention to him because he wrote something like 300 books. I assumed he was a hack. I was at my aunt's last year and I took this paperback into the bathroom with me and read a few pages. It starts off really good and well written. So, I'm going with a little light fare. I haven't started reading it yet though. Maybe tonight.
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #323 on: April 24, 2016, 04:13:06 pm »
Yep. Still only English for me.

I am pretty sure you read Red Mars this year, because I remember that I read it on the train to work in New York.

I brought it up to a guy in my grad program and he did the thing that men stereotypically do to women. He explained to me, for a long time, that it's considered an important work of leftist science fiction, and that he's really interested in that as a left winger who is really into sci fi and fantasy.

...Why do you think I randomly brought it up to you, dipshit?
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AugustWest

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #324 on: April 24, 2016, 07:02:44 pm »
I'm just finishing up the third one.  Good stuff.  I kept getting a couple of sets of characters confused in my head, but other than that, it's a good read and provokes some interesting thinking about environmentalism.
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pmcd9

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #325 on: April 29, 2016, 04:58:04 am »
I think I made a serious mistake. That Louis L'Amour book was really good. Finished it in 2 days good. Not challenging at all, just entertaining.The problem, it's the first book in a series. There are 16 more books in the series.
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #326 on: April 29, 2016, 05:23:05 am »
Mistake? Get the other 16 from the library and knock those suckers out in 32 days!
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pmcd9

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #327 on: April 30, 2016, 07:20:39 pm »
I decided to switch gears. Maybe I'll read 16 books later. For now, I'm going with Zane Grey. Seems a bit more substantive, but still, lots of fun. Maybe one day I'll go back to heavy shit like Steinbeck or Hemingway, but right now I can't see the point. I get my fill of horror and suffering every time I look at Donald Trump. I might read Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little next. I adored those books when I was a kid.
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AugustWest

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #328 on: May 03, 2016, 02:09:56 am »
Quote from: pmcd9 on April 30, 2016, 07:20:39 pm
I might read Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little next. I adored those books when I was a kid.

Charlotte's Web will make you cry.
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theinevitable

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Re: Book Thread
« Reply #329 on: May 03, 2016, 05:57:42 am »
Final class project almost done, we're all working on it kind of halfheartedly. Which means I'm reading big stacks of comics I got from the library and drinking coffee and beer.

OK, this is the book thread, so I guess I gotta say what I'm reading. Nausicaä
and
Goodnight Punpun.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2016, 06:02:30 am by theinevitable »
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