I'll agree that the Glasshouse was the worst section of Perdido.
Otherwise I'm pretty much finished with Naked Lunch. Eh... I'd say about 60% of the book was entertaining. Some parts were pretty thoughtful. You can definitely see how this influenced HST's writings. Though whereas HST glamorized drug abuse, this book really puts you off. Some descriptions of heroin use had me cringing. Plus ten odd pages of intricate anal sex descriptions probably could have been shorter.
I also just finished As You Like It which was delightful, though definitely one of Shakespeare's simpler plays. Though it would be a good primer to his works which makes me wonder why schools don't start with that instead of having kids jump headlong into Macbeth or Hamlet.
And I also finished Game of Thrones and I hope Jon and Ayra hook up one day.
Ughhh
Shakespeare in schools is one of my biggest beefs with High School education. For the most part, freshman just can't understand Shakespeare. I'd say that at sophomore year, start them off with a comedy, preferably one with bawdy humor (or Falstaff )
One of the problems with teaching Shakespeare to minors is that you have to shy away from all the sexual inneundo and it comes off as boring.
My teacher emphasized the sexual innuendos. Senior year is a great year to do Shakespeare, the kids can understand it, and can laugh at all the double entendres.
Currently reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat,
a great compilation of stories on neurological and psychological problems that can happen to your noggin. Quite interesting.
With Ghostwritten and number9dream he was already near the top of my list, but after Cloud Atlas...well...there is no doubt in my mind that he's the greatest writer of fiction currently alive.
All of his books come with the highest recommendation I can give. Trust me, guys...he's *special* 8)
Just finished Siddhartha in one sitting- it was too powerful to put down (when Siddhartha explains to Govinda the illusions of life and unity of all, I was overcome by an incredibly euphoric sensation).
[spoiler:01a7bb7133]"And Govinda saw that this mask-like smile, this smile of unity over the flowing forms, this smile of simultaneousness over the thousands of births and deaths—this smile of Siddhartha—was exactly the same as the calm, delicate, impenetrable, perhaps gracious, perhaps mocking, wise, thousand-fold smile of Gotama, the Buddha, as he perceived it with awe a hundred times"[/spoiler:01a7bb7133]
I'm glad I became familiar with the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and Eightfold Paths of Buddhism before I began.
Actually, reading that in the past on this very forum a few months ago have prompted me to read the book.
Oh the irony.
Well if you're reading Atlas Shrugged, and find yourself agreeing with Rand's philosophy, you should shoot yourself in the head.
The world doesn't need another randroid, we have plenty.
Oh believe me, I don't agree with her ideas. I'm just amused by her staunch anti-communism/socialism stances in the book, after reading only 158 pages.
I look forward to ridicule her ideas as I snicker and read at the same time.
Actually, reading that in the past on this very forum a few months ago have prompted me to read the book.
Oh the irony.
Well if you're reading Atlas Shrugged, and find yourself agreeing with Rand's philosophy, you should shoot yourself in the head.
The world doesn't need another randroid, we have plenty.
Oh believe me, I don't agree with her ideas. I'm just amused by her staunch anti-communism/socialism stances in the book, after reading only 158 pages.
I look forward to ridicule her ideas as I snicker and read at the same time.
If you understand where she came from, there's absolutely nothing suprising about her views on communism and socialism. She's a product of the losing side of the communist revolution in Russia, and her family lost all their money.
Now.
That renders her objectivist philosophy somewhat less than objective.
Add to that the fact that she loathes nature, living things, ecology, and the environment, and you start to see just what a bitch this woman was.
With Ghostwritten and number9dream he was already near the top of my list, but after Cloud Atlas...well...there is no doubt in my mind that he's the greatest writer of fiction currently alive.
All of his books come with the highest recommendation I can give. Trust me, guys...he's *special* 8)
Just started that one myself. Pretty good so far.
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
edited June 2006
I think the thing that makes Ayn Rand so insidious is that teenagers pick up The Fountainhead or whatever and mistake its "government is eeeevil" message for "Hey kids, your parents and teachers are tools of the state! Go smoke all the pot you want!" not realizing that she's actually saying "Hey kids! Let poor people starve, they're scum!"
And then fast-forward three years and they're in college and they're the dick wearing a suit and tie to his econ 101 class and sending letters to the school paper about which professors are too liberal. Man, fuck that guy.
And she has her 'hero' in fountainhead be an architect. Worse than that it's a bastard amalgamation of Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and probably a few Bauhaus guys I don't know of. All of whom would have told her right the hell off. You want to use a profession to represent your dumbass ideas go with sociopathic killers. It'd be a pretty good fit.
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
edited June 2006
As for me, I'm finishing off Gardner Dozois' THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION 22ND ANNUAL EDITION, covering the year 2004. I hate to say it but so far it's been slightly disappointing - Dozois is usually an excellent editor with a good eye for stories, but if these stories are representative of the current state of SF (I wouldn't know; I love SF as a genre but the actual field and fan community is too full of psychos for me) then we seem to have a wee problem.
For one thing, I never want to hear about the fucking Singularity again in my life. For those of you who don't know, this is the new hip idea in science fiction that nanotech, genetic engineering, and AI will accelerate progress so much that the future will be utterly incomprehensible even to the people living in it. In practice, this translates into stories where nothing makes sense ("it's INCOMPREHENSIBLE!") and nano-sorcery hand-waving fixes all problems. There are four or five of these stories included in this go-round, and they only serve to further convince me that even if the Singularity is scientifically or socially plausible (which I doubt) I can't really get behind something that encourages writers to indulge in opaque prose and deus ex machina.
Part of the reason I like Dozois is that (unlike most oldskool SF fans) he isn't afraid of character-based SF and includes plenty of slower, thought-provoking pieces that are more literary and maybe don't have a lot of pyrotechnics. Unfortunately, this year, a lot of these stories are just boring toss. There's one that had a great idea - Albert Camus as a bland government bureaucrat in an alternate 1940s where France became a global empire - but is undercut by shitty, shitty prose. To wit, the first paragraph:
"Albert Camus was tired. Tired of his job, tired of his life. Tired of the vast empire he daily helped, in however small a manner, to sustain. Yet he had no choice but to continue, he felt, like Sisyphus forever rolling his stone up the mountain."
GET IT? He wrote "The Myth of Sisyphus" - and then, like, they compare him to...ah, fuck it. The rest of the story ain't much better.
The good ones in this volume are the efficient, plot-driven, action-adventure space opera stories - and that's not because they've reached new heights of quality, but because they at least accomplish what they set out to do. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but it's sad when journeyman work becomes the new gold standard.
The good news is that hope springs eternal and volume 23 comes out on July eleventh and it sounds great - new stories by Alaistair Reynolds (!), Michael Swanwick (!!), Joe Haldeman (!!!), Bruce Sterling (!!!!), and Gene Wolfe (!!!!!!!omgwtfbbq!!!!one!). I'll be there the day of.
I'm making my way through Guy Gavriel Kay's The Last Light Of The Sun, and his shift back to a historical fiction vibe after reading The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy is a nice change of pace.
Also, since there was a good sale on paperbacks when I bought the Kay book, I picked up the first 3 books in Steve Erikson's Malazan series as well. I'm not entirely sure what to expect out of them, but I've heard good things about Erikson, so I'm hopeful that the series will prove to be quality fantasy one way or another.
Reading some book called "Generation Kill" that my coworker/boss gave me to check out. It's alright, I guess. Entertaining in its reporting of a squad's ideas and movements through Iraq. Nothing too thought provoking.
Funny, yet sad, joke mentioned in the book "When we're done here we're supposedly going to take on North Korea. To do that we're going through Iran, Russia, and China."
I'm also reading Rebel Dream, of the NJO series, which is pretty decent in its portrayal of the fall of the New Republic and the rise of the Rebellion against the Vong.
Dyrwen66 on
Just an ancient PA person who doesn't leave the house much.
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Podlyyou unzipped me! it's all coming back! i don't like it!Registered Userregular
edited June 2006
Anyone know any good books about generation theory?
MorgensternICH BIN DER PESTVOGELDU KAMPFAFFE!Registered Userregular
edited June 2006
I'm reading a two month old copy of The Economist. Meh.
Morgenstern on
“Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war.” - Loren Eiseley
Ender's Game for the first time in years, plan on reading Ender's Shadow afterwards, which from what I hear, is the only good sequel to the original. Any other thoughts?
After that, probably Diary from the author of Fight Club. I forget his name, but my girlfriend insists that I read it.
Also interested in that Guns, Germs and Steel book. How good is that book?
Frederik Pohl's Gateway. Why has no-one ever told about Frederik Pohl? Now I have to go out and buy the rest of his books.
Frederick Pohl is my great uncle. I'm famous!
Seriously, he is.
Morgenstern on
“Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war.” - Loren Eiseley
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DynagripBreak me a million heartsHoustonRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Just finished Oliver Twist, and am set to finally read Focault's Pendulum. God help me. I'm just afraid that it's going to eat up the rest of the summer, and I still have Children of Dune and The History of the Peloponnesian War that I want to read.
Also, since there was a good sale on paperbacks when I bought the Kay book, I picked up the first 3 books in Steve Erikson's Malazan series as well. I'm not entirely sure what to expect out of them, but I've heard good things about Erikson, so I'm hopeful that the series will prove to be quality fantasy one way or another.
Be aware that the characters and settings grew from roleplaying campaigns; it will become apparent in the first book. Erikson is a professional anthropologist and archeologist, though, and does a great job of providing depth to his characters as he gets his authorial feet under him. (There was a multiyear gap between writing Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates). Also, his magic system is immensely satisfying.
Ender's Game for the first time in years, plan on reading Ender's Shadow afterwards, which from what I hear, is the only good sequel to the original. Any other thoughts?
I thought Speaker for the Dead was very good. Read the last chapter of Enders Game, and imagine a well written novel thats an expansion of that chapter. Not for everyone I'm sure.
just finished The Area of My Expertise by John Hodgmen, he is the PC dude in all the new Mac ads...funny funny book.
Also just finished My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin (i was reading both at once switching back and forth).
Next i plan to read Dave Eggers A heartbreaking work of Stagering genius...or a Breif history of time...i have read parts of it...need to read it again.
PetaFoo on
I know i should put something clever here, but won't the charm go away after a few posts?
Well I finished Snow Crash. Not a very good ending, left a lot of stuff hanging. Good book overall though, I shall be picking up Cryptonomicon next opportunity I get.
Ender's Game for the first time in years, plan on reading Ender's Shadow afterwards, which from what I hear, is the only good sequel to the original. Any other thoughts?
After that, probably Diary from the author of Fight Club. I forget his name, but my girlfriend insists that I read it.
Also interested in that Guns, Germs and Steel book. How good is that book?
Posts
Actually, reading that in the past on this very forum a few months ago have prompted me to read the book.
Oh the irony.
Ughhh
Shakespeare in schools is one of my biggest beefs with High School education. For the most part, freshman just can't understand Shakespeare. I'd say that at sophomore year, start them off with a comedy, preferably one with bawdy humor (or Falstaff
My teacher emphasized the sexual innuendos. Senior year is a great year to do Shakespeare, the kids can understand it, and can laugh at all the double entendres.
Currently reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat,
a great compilation of stories on neurological and psychological problems that can happen to your noggin. Quite interesting.
Well if you're reading Atlas Shrugged, and find yourself agreeing with Rand's philosophy, you should shoot yourself in the head.
The world doesn't need another randroid, we have plenty.
Plus, I think it's incredibly important for high school students to see Shakespeare acted out.
It's pretty neat.
With Ghostwritten and number9dream he was already near the top of my list, but after Cloud Atlas...well...there is no doubt in my mind that he's the greatest writer of fiction currently alive.
All of his books come with the highest recommendation I can give. Trust me, guys...he's *special* 8)
[spoiler:01a7bb7133]"And Govinda saw that this mask-like smile, this smile of unity over the flowing forms, this smile of simultaneousness over the thousands of births and deaths—this smile of Siddhartha—was exactly the same as the calm, delicate, impenetrable, perhaps gracious, perhaps mocking, wise, thousand-fold smile of Gotama, the Buddha, as he perceived it with awe a hundred times"[/spoiler:01a7bb7133]
I'm glad I became familiar with the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and Eightfold Paths of Buddhism before I began.
Oh believe me, I don't agree with her ideas. I'm just amused by her staunch anti-communism/socialism stances in the book, after reading only 158 pages.
I look forward to ridicule her ideas as I snicker and read at the same time.
If you understand where she came from, there's absolutely nothing suprising about her views on communism and socialism. She's a product of the losing side of the communist revolution in Russia, and her family lost all their money.
Now.
That renders her objectivist philosophy somewhat less than objective.
Add to that the fact that she loathes nature, living things, ecology, and the environment, and you start to see just what a bitch this woman was.
Just started that one myself. Pretty good so far.
And then fast-forward three years and they're in college and they're the dick wearing a suit and tie to his econ 101 class and sending letters to the school paper about which professors are too liberal. Man, fuck that guy.
For one thing, I never want to hear about the fucking Singularity again in my life. For those of you who don't know, this is the new hip idea in science fiction that nanotech, genetic engineering, and AI will accelerate progress so much that the future will be utterly incomprehensible even to the people living in it. In practice, this translates into stories where nothing makes sense ("it's INCOMPREHENSIBLE!") and nano-sorcery hand-waving fixes all problems. There are four or five of these stories included in this go-round, and they only serve to further convince me that even if the Singularity is scientifically or socially plausible (which I doubt) I can't really get behind something that encourages writers to indulge in opaque prose and deus ex machina.
Part of the reason I like Dozois is that (unlike most oldskool SF fans) he isn't afraid of character-based SF and includes plenty of slower, thought-provoking pieces that are more literary and maybe don't have a lot of pyrotechnics. Unfortunately, this year, a lot of these stories are just boring toss. There's one that had a great idea - Albert Camus as a bland government bureaucrat in an alternate 1940s where France became a global empire - but is undercut by shitty, shitty prose. To wit, the first paragraph:
"Albert Camus was tired. Tired of his job, tired of his life. Tired of the vast empire he daily helped, in however small a manner, to sustain. Yet he had no choice but to continue, he felt, like Sisyphus forever rolling his stone up the mountain."
GET IT? He wrote "The Myth of Sisyphus" - and then, like, they compare him to...ah, fuck it. The rest of the story ain't much better.
The good ones in this volume are the efficient, plot-driven, action-adventure space opera stories - and that's not because they've reached new heights of quality, but because they at least accomplish what they set out to do. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but it's sad when journeyman work becomes the new gold standard.
The good news is that hope springs eternal and volume 23 comes out on July eleventh and it sounds great - new stories by Alaistair Reynolds (!), Michael Swanwick (!!), Joe Haldeman (!!!), Bruce Sterling (!!!!), and Gene Wolfe (!!!!!!!omgwtfbbq!!!!one!). I'll be there the day of.
Also, since there was a good sale on paperbacks when I bought the Kay book, I picked up the first 3 books in Steve Erikson's Malazan series as well. I'm not entirely sure what to expect out of them, but I've heard good things about Erikson, so I'm hopeful that the series will prove to be quality fantasy one way or another.
Funny, yet sad, joke mentioned in the book "When we're done here we're supposedly going to take on North Korea. To do that we're going through Iran, Russia, and China."
I'm also reading Rebel Dream, of the NJO series, which is pretty decent in its portrayal of the fall of the New Republic and the rise of the Rebellion against the Vong.
After that, probably Diary from the author of Fight Club. I forget his name, but my girlfriend insists that I read it.
Also interested in that Guns, Germs and Steel book. How good is that book?
Isn't that the book where the guy's bisexual because his mom used rectal thermometers on him?
I swear to God I am not making this up.
Frederick Pohl is my great uncle. I'm famous!
Seriously, he is.
Be aware that the characters and settings grew from roleplaying campaigns; it will become apparent in the first book. Erikson is a professional anthropologist and archeologist, though, and does a great job of providing depth to his characters as he gets his authorial feet under him. (There was a multiyear gap between writing Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates). Also, his magic system is immensely satisfying.
/feels like an Erikson apologist
I thought Speaker for the Dead was very good. Read the last chapter of Enders Game, and imagine a well written novel thats an expansion of that chapter. Not for everyone I'm sure.
Also just finished My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin (i was reading both at once switching back and forth).
Next i plan to read Dave Eggers A heartbreaking work of Stagering genius...or a Breif history of time...i have read parts of it...need to read it again.
Chuck Palianuhuk ( Pahliunuk, Phalachuk, Palienuck, .... yeah )
Don't expect great things of Diary, ins0m, as it isn't one of his better works. Interesting enough, I guess, but a bit too gimmicky.
and Haunted.
Also I want the Alphabet of Manliness and that "How to survive the Zombie Apocolypse".