Book thread: Distractions welcome

Grey Ghost

Bunch Of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger

CORNISH, NH—In this big dramatic production that didn't do anyone any good (and was pretty embarrassing, really, if you think about it), thousands upon thousands of phonies across the country mourned the death of author J.D. Salinger, who was 91 years old for crying out loud.

Umaro

Ahahaha.

NotASenator

Pitch perfect thru and thru

NeoToma

Went to the library yesterday, picked up:

"Inventory" by The Onion
"On Killing: The Psychological Cost of learning to kill in War and Society"
and
"Flat Broke in the Free Market: How Globalization Fleeced the Working People"

Halfway through On Killing and it's pretty awesome. I'm glad someone in this thread made me aware of it.

Also I read like 75% of "Inventory" before realizing it's basically just "Televison Tropes: the book".

BusterK

God, this chapter on the color white is killing me
Fucking transcendentalists

A Dabble Of Thelonius

Just started 2666, by Roberto Bolano. Diggin it so far.

AMP'd

Hey Buster I got a painting I think you'd like

PiptheFair

Umaro wrote: »

Now they can finally make an A People's History of the United States movie starring teefs, Howard Zinn's emaciated corpse and a doublesided dildo.

you have been reading teef's fanfiction I see

Alpine

Needed a few things to fill up my cart on Amazon for free shipping, so I got Catcher in the Rye and all Salinger's other short stories. I haven't read Catcher since I wrote a report on it in high school, excited to read it again. It's about the only book that I read in high school and thought was good, along with Great Expectations.

Plus I got the Portrait of Dorian Grey, because everyone says that Oscar Wilde is so good.

Classics, right? Good stuff.

Oh, and Dublo, about Wheel of Time - Jordan meant for there to be just one more book in the series, called A Memory of Light, but when the he died and the new writer got the notes, he decided it needed more space I guess. Typically, yeah, I'd be a bit wary that he took one book and spread it out into three, but this one was a joy to read. It tied up a lot of storylines that had been dragging on since book 7, and never really felt like there was unnecessary filler like other books.


Oh, and by the way - I will boycott a Catcher in the Rye movie preemptively. The entire world is cynical; to put out Catcher in the Rye right now would be a cash-in and an affront to the themes of the novel entirely. I sincerely hope that the rights to the book have been inherited by someone with enough respect to never let anyone ruin it.

bowtiedseal

A Dabble Of Thelonius wrote: »

Just started 2666, by Roberto Bolano. Diggin it so far.

I really liked that book! I much preferred it to the savage detectives.


just finished the book of chameleons by jose eduardo agualusa and enjoyed it. it's a pretty fast read.

Nogs

Alpine wrote: »

Oh, and Dublo, about Wheel of Time - Jordan meant for there to be just one more book in the series, called A Memory of Light, but when the he died and the new writer got the notes, he decided it needed more space I guess. Typically, yeah, I'd be a bit wary that he took one book and spread it out into three, but this one was a joy to read. It tied up a lot of storylines that had been dragging on since book 7, and never really felt like there was unnecessary filler like other books.

what.

how

how is it possible to need more space in the WoT series?

the whole fucking thing is space and white noise

Dead Legend

Dude reading On Killing, tell me how it is.

Penguin Incarnate

Robert Jordan needed an editor, more than anything else. But apparently the best editor he ever got was named "God."

Balefuego

Nogs wrote: »

Alpine wrote: »

Oh, and Dublo, about Wheel of Time - Jordan meant for there to be just one more book in the series, called A Memory of Light, but when the he died and the new writer got the notes, he decided it needed more space I guess. Typically, yeah, I'd be a bit wary that he took one book and spread it out into three, but this one was a joy to read. It tied up a lot of storylines that had been dragging on since book 7, and never really felt like there was unnecessary filler like other books.

what.

how

how is it possible to need more space in the WoT series?

the whole fucking thing is space and white noise

well that was actually the problem, Jordan had left so many loose ends the new guy couldn't wrap them all up in just one book supposedly.

Grey Ghost

What is this Wheel of Time thing even about

Penguin Incarnate

Jerk off fantasies. Any inability to finish a novel in under a million words. Time? Maybe?

Grey Ghost

Checked the wiki

Holy fuck

Balefuego

Grey Ghost wrote: »

What is this Wheel of Time thing even about

don't worry about it dawg, it's not worth the effort.

Peen

The first threeish books were excellent, I will brook no argument to this. Just pretend the series stopped after that and everybody won or died, it's what I do. It's like the West Wing, there were really only 4 seasons, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

lostwords

Could be worse. He could be piers Anthony or Terry goodkind

Alpine

I totally agree that the (large) middle of the series is worse than the beginning, but based on the latest book, it seems like it's worth it to read whatever book summaries you need to and pick it up again, if you liked the beginning of the series.

Quoth

piers anthony > terry goodkind at least

lostwords

Is it because you have a centaur fetish, quoth?

Peen

Quoth wrote: »

piers anthony > terry goodkind at least

Know nothing about either man but piers apparently wrote a book called "Pornucopia" so I'm with Quoth.

Quoth

it is because terry goodkind is the worst writer ever

he is like the male ayn rand

at least piers anthony has some good ideas, goodkind doesn't even have that

although to be fair, anthony came up with the worst character nickname ever

GAW-TWO

lostwords

But magical chicken is a great idea!

Quoth

so is incarnations of immortality

you know, in theory

and then it gets all weird and kind of misogynistic but at least it's not rapefest with evil poultry

Quoth

also piers anthony wrote KILLOBYTE

KILL

O

BYTE

about hackers in virtual reality games, which is also a cool concept

Orikaeshigitae

it's actually a good book. i read a lot of piers anthony as a kid.

Quoth

i read it in middle school so my memory of it is fuzzy, but i would argue that it is his best book

Balefuego

You all lack the moral clarity to appreciate Goodkind.

Quoth

Balefuego wrote: »

You all lack the moral clarity to appreciate Goodkind.

he is such a giver, writing books with characters who are paragons that i can look up to and try to emulate

Langly

Grey Ghost wrote: »

What is this Wheel of Time thing even about

misogyny

celandine

I hate the urge to read books just because the guy's dead but one of these days I have to pick up A People's History of the United States.

Peen

Startlingly, my library system doesn't have Pornucopia but we do have Stork Naked, The Color of Her Panties, and Swell Foop. Piers Anthony officially writes my favorite titles.

Lockout

I read the first few Xanth books when I was a kid, my aunt got me started on them

Piers Anthony was pretty much my introduction to fantasy

Darric

I'm reading Brandon Sanderson's Elantris, by recommendation of a colleague. So far the intrinsic mysteries are... intriguing, but the writing seems clumsy at parts.

Anyone read it? I suspect there'll have been a wave of interest what with the whole Wheel of Time thing (which I haven't read), but I wasn't familiar with the author before.

Quoth

i haven't read elantris but i read mistborn and enjoyed it

that silly goose managed to invent a new system of magic and ooh it just gets my knickers in a twist

Darric

Ah, said colleague told me about that trilogy too. I'll see how I feel at the end of Elantris.

But I do like the sound of new magic.

bongi

currently readin' Disgrace by JM Coetzee