Author Topic: book recommendations  (Read 230037 times)

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Offline puniraptor

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #875 on: June 23, 2014, 02:28:23 PM »
I remember the good old days of the book thread where gratuitous fiction used to flow like wine.

Now, just a bunch of snobs running around talking about having to have patience for ivory towered drivel.

eff that.  I want sex, violence, intrigue, and humor, or GTFO.

The Wool series is actually pretty much what you describe.

I'm 2/3 through Wool.  :thumbs:

Wool is solid. I have Shift and Dust, havent taken the time to read them. Have heard good things.

I really love the concept and business model. wool is great, shift gets very slow and tedious at times.

The author has a problem with doing a great job of building tension and intrigue up to a climactic or revelatory moment, but by the time the twist or revelation is revealed you have already figured it out so it turns out to be kinda meh.

Offline michigancat

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #876 on: July 03, 2014, 12:45:53 PM »
I finished 1Q84, it was OK. Great first half or two thirds, but I didn't care for the ending. The meshing of reality and fantasy was very well done.

"Nature's Metropolis" is a great book centered on Chicago, but is really a great look at how American western expansion shaped the nation and world as a whole. Can drag on a bit, but still very good.

Offline ben ji

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #877 on: July 03, 2014, 01:35:28 PM »
pops just dropped this off!!!




Really enoyed reading Mafia and the Machine


Offline Spracne

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #878 on: July 03, 2014, 01:38:06 PM »
What's the first pic?  I can barely see it.

Offline asava

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #879 on: July 07, 2014, 10:43:30 AM »
I finished 1Q84, it was OK. Great first half or two thirds, but I didn't care for the ending. The meshing of reality and fantasy was very well done.

"Nature's Metropolis" is a great book centered on Chicago, but is really a great look at how American western expansion shaped the nation and world as a whole. Can drag on a bit, but still very good.

Have you read any other Murakami? I've not read 1Q84, but Norwegian Wood, A Wild Sheep Chase and Kafka on the Shore were all great. His short story collection, The Elephant Vanishes, is a great bathroom book too, imo. 

Offline michigancat

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #880 on: July 07, 2014, 10:47:16 AM »
I finished 1Q84, it was OK. Great first half or two thirds, but I didn't care for the ending. The meshing of reality and fantasy was very well done.

"Nature's Metropolis" is a great book centered on Chicago, but is really a great look at how American western expansion shaped the nation and world as a whole. Can drag on a bit, but still very good.

Have you read any other Murakami? I've not read 1Q84, but Norwegian Wood, A Wild Sheep Chase and Kafka on the Shore were all great. His short story collection, The Elephant Vanishes, is a great bathroom book too, imo. 

No, but it sounds like his others are probably better and I'll probably try them.

Offline chum1

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #881 on: July 07, 2014, 04:09:58 PM »
I don't recommend the Murakami running memoir.

Offline SkinnyBenny

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #882 on: July 07, 2014, 10:03:01 PM »
Everybody post some classics and/or really well-known books that you read that were either terrible or meh.

Pride and Prejudice: no rough ridin' thanks
1984: meh. I mean, I guess. Whatever.
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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #883 on: July 07, 2014, 10:58:56 PM »
Brave new world
 - before the reservation:  :thumbs:  :Woot: :thumbs:
 - after the reservation:  :zzz:
Hyperbolic partisan duplicitous hypocrite

Offline Kat Kid

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #884 on: July 07, 2014, 11:36:39 PM »
Everybody post some classics and/or really well-known books that you read that were either terrible or meh.

Pride and Prejudice: no rough ridin' thanks
1984: meh. I mean, I guess. Whatever.

good grief.

Offline SdK

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #885 on: July 08, 2014, 12:53:30 AM »
Anna Karenina is my favorite of all time. Once raced an ex-girlfriend in reading it. Loved it.

Lolita is the most well written book I've ever read.

1984 broke my heart but that made me love it even more.

Offline ksupamplemousse

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #886 on: July 08, 2014, 02:10:03 AM »
Ulysses is terrible. Did Joyce establish new boundaries for literature with that book? Sure. Just because he expanded the space for other writers to operate in doesn't make it a good piece of fiction though. It's rough ridin' awful. The story pushed the limits of the amount of boredom that a human being can endure. It wasn't enough to be boring though, he decided to purposefully obfuscate the plot throughout, whilst lyrically masturbating for 700 pages. The fact that he changed literature is the unintended consequence of an egotistical bad person beating the crap out of his readers with a 265,000 word ode to "doing whatever the eff I want, because I'm James Joyce, so eff you!"
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Offline felix rex

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #887 on: July 08, 2014, 06:56:50 AM »
I remember the good old days of the book thread where gratuitous fiction used to flow like wine.

Now, just a bunch of snobs running around talking about having to have patience for ivory towered drivel.

eff that.  I want sex, violence, intrigue, and humor, or GTFO.

We have to ride armored shuttles back and forth to work every day, so I have 2 hours of car time 5 times a week.  I read Ender's Game because I thought I would have liked it as a kid and never saw it, then I ended up reading pretty much everything Card has written and enjoyed the gratuitous eff out of it.

I also just finished the Ice and Fire series. It was also gratuitously wonderful.
"How will I recruit to Manhattan? Well, distance. And the proud state of basketball. It start there, and then daily flights to Dallas, because I'm really good at going out. Like top five good. Ask my wife. She wants me to be happy."

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #888 on: July 08, 2014, 07:01:47 AM »

I remember the good old days of the book thread where gratuitous fiction used to flow like wine.

Now, just a bunch of snobs running around talking about having to have patience for ivory towered drivel.

eff that.  I want sex, violence, intrigue, and humor, or GTFO.

We have to ride armored shuttles back and forth to work every day, so I have 2 hours of car time 5 times a week.  I read Ender's Game because I thought I would have liked it as a kid and never saw it, then I ended up reading pretty much everything Card has written and enjoyed the gratuitous eff out of it.

I also just finished the Ice and Fire series. It was also gratuitously wonderful.

I like the cut of your jib sail, Felix.

Offline michigancat

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #889 on: July 08, 2014, 08:57:24 AM »
Ulysses is terrible. Did Joyce establish new boundaries for literature with that book? Sure. Just because he expanded the space for other writers to operate in doesn't make it a good piece of fiction though. It's rough ridin' awful. The story pushed the limits of the amount of boredom that a human being can endure. It wasn't enough to be boring though, he decided to purposefully obfuscate the plot throughout, whilst lyrically masturbating for 700 pages. The fact that he changed literature is the unintended consequence of an egotistical bad person beating the crap out of his readers with a 265,000 word ode to "doing whatever the eff I want, because I'm James Joyce, so eff you!"

Great review. Lots of old literature sucks.

Offline michigancat

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #890 on: July 08, 2014, 09:06:32 AM »
I've tried to read Sound and the Fury multiple times and just got bored before I got halfway through each time and have never finished.

Offline Mrs. Gooch

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #891 on: July 08, 2014, 09:10:05 AM »
I remember the good old days of the book thread where gratuitous fiction used to flow like wine.

Now, just a bunch of snobs running around talking about having to have patience for ivory towered drivel.

eff that.  I want sex, violence, intrigue, and humor, or GTFO.

We have to ride armored shuttles back and forth to work every day, so I have 2 hours of car time 5 times a week.  I read Ender's Game because I thought I would have liked it as a kid and never saw it, then I ended up reading pretty much everything Card has written and enjoyed the gratuitous eff out of it.

I also just finished the Ice and Fire series. It was also gratuitously wonderful.

I read a bunch of the Enderverse books. But I got part way through Shadow of the Giant on audiobook and my ipod died and I wasn't motivated enough by the story to make an effort to finish it. Should I make the effort?

Online CNS

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #892 on: July 08, 2014, 09:24:09 AM »
Faulkner is the worst.

Offline felix rex

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #893 on: July 08, 2014, 09:41:35 AM »
I remember the good old days of the book thread where gratuitous fiction used to flow like wine.

Now, just a bunch of snobs running around talking about having to have patience for ivory towered drivel.

eff that.  I want sex, violence, intrigue, and humor, or GTFO.

We have to ride armored shuttles back and forth to work every day, so I have 2 hours of car time 5 times a week.  I read Ender's Game because I thought I would have liked it as a kid and never saw it, then I ended up reading pretty much everything Card has written and enjoyed the gratuitous eff out of it.

I also just finished the Ice and Fire series. It was also gratuitously wonderful.

I read a bunch of the Enderverse books. But I got part way through Shadow of the Giant on audiobook and my ipod died and I wasn't motivated enough by the story to make an effort to finish it. Should I make the effort?

Yes.  The Bean books are all really good.  Also, the Homecoming Series and the Alvin Maker series.  Good armored shuttle reads, every one.
"How will I recruit to Manhattan? Well, distance. And the proud state of basketball. It start there, and then daily flights to Dallas, because I'm really good at going out. Like top five good. Ask my wife. She wants me to be happy."

Offline asava

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #894 on: July 08, 2014, 09:47:02 AM »
Anna Karenina is my favorite of all time. Once raced an ex-girlfriend in reading it. Loved it.

Lolita is the most well written book I've ever read.

1984 broke my heart but that made me love it even more.

Nabokov is the best.

Offline SkinnyBenny

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #895 on: July 08, 2014, 12:09:51 PM »
Everybody post some classics and/or really well-known books that you read that were either terrible or meh.

Pride and Prejudice: no rough ridin' thanks
1984: meh. I mean, I guess. Whatever.

good grief.

stud writer mark twain agrees on the jane austen stuff. http://www.twainquotes.com/Austen_Jane.html

and if you are good griefing me for 1984, well I guess that counts. More of an Animal Farm guy. :dunno:
"walking around mhk and crying in the rain because of love lost is the absolute purest and best thing in the world.  i hope i fall in love during the next few weeks and get my heart broken and it starts raining just to experience it one last time."   --Dlew12

Offline felix rex

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #896 on: July 08, 2014, 12:53:47 PM »
I also recently read the The Time Machine and The Sleeper Awakes and sincerely enjoyed both.

And also At The Mountains of Madness, which was oddly enjoyable despite what has to be the most extensive use of "cyclopean" in all of literature.
"How will I recruit to Manhattan? Well, distance. And the proud state of basketball. It start there, and then daily flights to Dallas, because I'm really good at going out. Like top five good. Ask my wife. She wants me to be happy."

Offline michigancat

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #897 on: July 30, 2014, 05:04:05 PM »

Offline Missouriscribe

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #898 on: August 05, 2014, 12:09:57 AM »
The Guts is an entertaining read. The entire book is dialogue, set in Scotland. A fun weekend or vacation fictional story.

Offline Mr Bread

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Re: book recommendations
« Reply #899 on: August 05, 2014, 11:11:56 AM »
I read Dune.  I liked it. 
My prescience is fully engorged.  It throbs with righteous accuracy.  I am sated.