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Post by Purple Moss on Mar 17, 2017 23:16:24 GMT -5
Generally I read sci-fi the most, sometimes fantasy, and occasionally a classic or some other curiosity. Way of Kings, eh? The last book I read was actually Elantris, also by Sanderson. The city's mystery was fascinating and I really liked how it was built up. I've heard many good things about his works and I'm eager to read more of them. Right now I'm reading Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, in the original German. Well, I understand, like, half of it, but I really wanted to read a book in German and expand my vocabulary (yes, even if some words are obsolete ). jongoo , you might want to read the records from the trial of Joan of Arc (found online, but I remember seeing two ~different translations), which past the absurd accusations reveal more from the enigmatic Jeanne: details about her life, her prophecies, her faith, her sword's legend..., &c.; a recommended reading.
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Post by eatersthemanfool on Mar 17, 2017 23:32:04 GMT -5
Like I said before, Sanderson kind of jumps between being really good and being a bit of a hack.
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Post by jongoo on Mar 17, 2017 23:54:20 GMT -5
jongoo , you might want to read the records from the trial of Joan of Arc (found online, but I remember seeing two ~different translations), which past the absurd accusations reveal more from the enigmatic Jeanne: details about her life, her prophecies, her faith, her sword's legend..., &c.; a recommended reading. Thanks Purple Moss, I'll definitely have to look into that. Sounds like I have another interesting book waiting for me. It hasn't been too long since I've started reading again, and I find myself sticking with non-fiction so this is good.
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Post by kaoru on Mar 18, 2017 6:31:32 GMT -5
Right now I'm reading Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, in the original German. Well, I understand, like, half of it, but I really wanted to read a book in German and expand my vocabulary (yes, even if some words are obsolete ). Ugh, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers is one of a hand full of books that tend to get picked for mandatory reading in German language classes here. I was so bored is all I remember from it. Was always annoyed our teacher picked it instead of the other popular choice The Wave, which is so much more interesting, especially looking back historically on Germany. --- I'm currently reading another YA series. I dunno, I like YA since it's quick and easy reads, even if most aren't all that great *shrug*. Case in point the Maze Runner series, of which I arrived at the prequel Kill Order. The first book was pretty interesting, kind of Cube meets Lord of the Flies, but once the other books of the trilogy expand the universe and actually have to start explaining the goings on and whys of the going ons, the author completely drops the ball on picking up on any of the interesting implications.
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Post by GamerL on Mar 18, 2017 6:40:44 GMT -5
Right now I'm reading Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, in the original German. Well, I understand, like, half of it, but I really wanted to read a book in German and expand my vocabulary (yes, even if some words are obsolete ). Ugh, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers is one of a hand full of books that tend to get picked for mandatory reading in German language classes here. I was so bored is all I remember from it. Was always annoyed our teacher picked it instead of the other popular choice The Wave, which is so much more interesting, especially looking back historically on Germany. --- I'm currently reading another YA series. I dunno, I like YA since it's quick and easy reads, even if most aren't all that great *shrug*. Case in point the Maze Runner series, of which I arrived at the prequel Kill Order. The first book was pretty interesting, kind of Cube meets Lord of the Flies, but once the other books of the trilogy expand the universe and actually have to start explaining the goings on and whys of the going ons, the author completely drops the ball on picking up on any of the interesting implications. Cube! Awesome movie. And you're right, that sort of thing works best when it's creepily unexplained, I think they did wind up making some direct to video sequel to Cube that explained who was running it but I certainly never bothered to watch it. The first time I played Portal, I knew almost nothing about the game's plot and none of the "cake is a lie" type stuff, so I remember thinking at first that the game was giving me Cube vibes. Sorry to talk about a movie in the book thread, but I've never read anything "YA" though reading the Harry Potter series is on my bucket list (does that even count or is Potter still considered a children's series?) Outside of possibly Potter nothing that I've seen that classifies as Young Adult interests me, it all seems like such formulaic schlock, first it was endless Twilight ripoffs now it's endless Hunger Games ripoffs, I am curious as to what the next trendsetter that everyone imitates will be though.
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Post by kaoru on Mar 18, 2017 7:02:50 GMT -5
And you're right, that sort of thing works best when it's creepily unexplained, I think they did wind up making some direct to video sequel to Cube that explained who was running it but I certainly never bothered to watch it. Sorry to talk about a movie in the book thread, but I've never read anything "YA" though reading the Harry Potter series is on my bucket list (does that even count or is Potter still considered a children's series?) Hypercube was shit, but Cube Zero is pretty decent, tho none are as good as the first movie, which should have really been left alone. They tend to not actually explain a whole lot more tho, but yes, the name of the company is one of the few things that do get revealed. I think Harry Potter is somewhere in the middle. The first couple books are clearly for children, but I guess the series grew up with its audience, because the later ones I'd say are written more for young teens. They are pretty good reads, give or take that one book that's mostly bothered with the big drama of who's gonna take who'm to the spring ball or whatever it wass.
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Post by GamerL on Mar 18, 2017 7:10:16 GMT -5
Hypercube was shit, but Cube Zero is pretty decent, tho none are as good as the first movie, which should have really been left alone. They tend to not actually explain a whole lot more tho, but yes, the name of the company is one of the few things that do get revealed. I think Harry Potter is somewhere in the middle. The first couple books are clearly for children, but I guess the series grew up with its audience, because the later ones I'd say are written more for young teens. They are pretty good reads, give or take that one book that's mostly bothered with the big drama of who's gonna take who'm to the spring ball or whatever it wass. Yeah, Hypercube was the only sequel I saw, it sucked. I've always regretted missing out on the Potter craze, my ma actually bought me the first book and I tried to read it but I was still pretty young, a pretty inexperienced reader and I was intimated by the length of the book (it seemed more "adult sized" than a children's book to me) and couldn't get into it, I wouldn't wind up reading a full length book until Jurassic Park in 2004. So other than seeing the first two movies that's it for my experience with Potter (although of course I know that SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE! )
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Post by GamerL on Mar 25, 2017 21:18:01 GMT -5
Currently I'm reading a Kim Newman short story collection that also includes a new Anno Dracula novella linkIt's awesome, the short stories are unrelated to the Anno Dracula series but have a similar vibe, one story is Newman's take on HG Well's War of the Worlds, another is his take on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
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Post by GamerL on Jun 6, 2017 6:16:26 GMT -5
I'm reading Off Season and Offspring by Jack Ketchum.
Jack Ketchum is an author with a strong cult following I've been meaning to read for years and I am very impressed, he's known for horror that is more grounded in reality, nothing supernatural, just the evils that man is capable of (one novel, The Girl Next Door, is in fact based on a true story)
Off Season and it's sequel, Offspring, are about a tribe of feral, savage cannibals living in a cave on the coast of Maine and their encounters with unlucky nearby residents.
Let me tell you something, I've never read a book that has given me literal adrenaline rushes before, as Offspring has, it gets intense and I also thought nothing could really shock me or phase me anymore but there are gorey and other grotesque moments in Off Season that shocked me.
These books are absolutely not for the faint of heart, especially in today's sensitive climate, but the thing is that may make the books sound sleazy but they're really not, Jack Ketchum is a legit good writer, his characters feel like real people, not two dimensional slasher movie cannon fodder, quite a lot of time is devoted to setting up who these people are, what's going on in their lives, what's going on in their minds before the mayhem happens and when it does and someone gets killed it's awful and upsetting.
Plus, it feels like there's an actual point to be made, an examination of what you may find when you strip man away from every single vestige of civilization, it's not pretty.
So Jack Ketchum is an author not afraid to go extreme with the horror but at the same a legit talented writer who's equally willing to devote the time to flesh characters out, I can see now why he has such a following among horror fiction fans.
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Post by The Great Klaid on Jun 6, 2017 14:30:02 GMT -5
I've been reading the Thrawn trilogy lately. It's not bad so far. It's kind of wild to read pre-prequel stuff on the Clone Wars.
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Post by moran on Jun 6, 2017 17:51:07 GMT -5
Thrown Trilogy is a good, fun series. Sadly it set the bar way too high for the rest of the EU.
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Post by eatersthemanfool on Jun 28, 2017 23:32:36 GMT -5
I've been meaning to read Jack Ketchum.
Currently reading Joe Hill's "The Fireman".
It's enjoyable but I wouldn't call it great. He spends a little too much time on "Hey! I'm Stephen King's son, did you know Stephen King had a son? Well it's me, Stephen King's son! Let me shoehorn in some awkward references to the fact that I'm Stephen King's son!"
Also he's a little sloppy with medical terminology, which is a pet peeve of mine and I think especially glaring when he has this whole foreword about "The spore is not based on any specific fungus but all of its traits do appear in nature."
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Post by Resident Tsundere on Jun 28, 2017 23:43:52 GMT -5
I recently reread The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's OK. My favorite part? The worst poetry in the universe.
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Post by GamerL on Jun 28, 2017 23:50:40 GMT -5
I've been meaning to read Jack Ketchum. Currently reading Joe Hill's "The Fireman". It's enjoyable but I wouldn't call it great. He spends a little too much time on "Hey! I'm Stephen King's son, did you know Stephen King had a son? Well it's me, Stephen King's son! Let me shoehorn in some awkward references to the fact that I'm Stephen King's son!" Also he's a little sloppy with medical terminology, which is a pet peeve of mine and I think especially glaring when he has this whole foreword about "The spore is not based on any specific fungus but all of its traits do appear in nature." The only Joe Hill novel I've read is Heart Shaped Box a while back and it was ok, but nothing really special, they were going to turn it into a movie but it never came to fruition. Anyway, I decided to take another quick break from gaming and now I'm reading "The Disaster Artist" the nonfiction book about making of The Room by Greg Sestero, the guy who played Mark. it's very good, Tommy is just as bizarre a person in real life as you'd imagine and it's fascinating to see just how the movie was made, you could say it's "what a story!"
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Post by eatersthemanfool on Jun 29, 2017 0:43:36 GMT -5
I enjoyed the first Hitchhiker's Guide, but the sequels didn't interest me.
I much prefer Terry Pratchett's witty hopefulness over Adams's cynical nihilism.
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