Yeaah, but Moiraine isn't so much a woman as she is Gandalf without a beard.
Not quite. She's obviously a play on the Gandalf archetype but where Gandalf always felt warm and friendly, Moraine is neither. She's focused and aloof and rather cold in an understandable way. It gives the first book a more interesting dynamic then a standard "wizard guide" would.
If I did not know that Jordan was married, I would never have believed he had actually ever met a living, breathing woman. Or man for that matter. But Min is pretty cool and Nynaeve's redemption at least started when he was still writing them so clearly he is not incapable of writing likable female characters. The social mores that have been set up for the world are just retarded. But not more retarded than our own, and I think that might be the irony, intended or not.
I found her annoying as shit when I was younger, but rereading it more recently, I really liked her.
She's got a good heart, but is hilariously self-deceptive when it comes to anything touching on her pride. There's several times you can see her mentally rewriting a situation that just happened to make herself feel better about how it went down.
Practically every character does that to some extent, which I think is probably somewhat realistic.
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
Are the female characters really harpies? They tend to be more commanding than you'd expect in a secondary world fantasy, but I think that's a product of the culture Jordan developed. Be sure you're not equating "holding authority over men" with "harpy!" because if you are, that in itself is a sexist attitude.
The female characters who come across as shrewish, I think Jordan does a pretty good job of establishing why they are that way. It's not "Oh, that's just how women are." I'm thinking of Nynaeve's deep-seated insecurity, Aviendha being forced to play roles in prophecy which terrify her. It's responding to fear with anger, which is a common human reaction.
OremLK on
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
I just finished Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" this afternoon. I felt really dumb after reading it because I had no idea what the point of the book was. I had to look up some online literary analysis to see what other people said about the story. I'm still not satisfied. People always herald Hemingway as one of the great American authors and I want to understand why. I just don't "get" it.
God, that is a horrible book. Not the worst I've ever read, but close. Just hundreds of pages of the most pointless characters doing nothing. I've some Hemingway short stories and they were pretty good but he should probably have stayed away from novels.
Hemingway is great at writing a few things, (nature, men, etc.) but he absolutely sucks at writing women. So stories like 'the old man and the sea' are fantastic, but all the romance parts of books like 'farewell to arms' are shit.
Have you read Bounty Hunter Wars by K.W. Jeter? They're amazing.
I think so, yeah. I mean, I read like 3 or 4 books with lots of bounty hunters in them and I think this was one of them, but I can't remember for sure...
It was a trilogy that occurred half in the present and half in the past. It began right after Boba Fett escaped from the Sarlacc Pit.
It was the reason I became a Boba Fett fan. Also it was a good guide for the Star Wars EU universe when I started reading the novels.
Yep, I read that, and Boba Fett really is awesome.
But I like really, REALLY snarky characters, hence my love for the X-Wing series and Han Solo
It makes me sad that whenever I go into a book store and see what Star Wars books they have to offer, the only books there are from the Yuuzhan Vong war era or after that.
The Old Man and the Sea is a fucking immortal classic masterpiece that will be read and debated for centuries. It has bearing on the fucking human condition.
You don't have to like it or enjoy it (I did). But its importance has absolutely no relation to the personal taste of any of us. Seriously. And Shakespeare?
Then what does it's "importance" have relation to then?
You don't know what makes a book important? Well, here's a hint: certainly not nerdy internet forums.
I just finished Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" this afternoon. I felt really dumb after reading it because I had no idea what the point of the book was. I had to look up some online literary analysis to see what other people said about the story. I'm still not satisfied. People always herald Hemingway as one of the great American authors and I want to understand why. I just don't "get" it.
God, that is a horrible book. Not the worst I've ever read, but close. Just hundreds of pages of the most pointless characters doing nothing. I've some Hemingway short stories and they were pretty good but he should probably have stayed away from novels.
Well it's certainly no battletech novel, I'll grant you that.
Ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with
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Apothe0sisHave you ever questioned the nature of your reality?Registered Userregular
edited February 2012
Since starting a goodreads profile, I really feel that what I have read is super anemic. How embarrassment.
Are the female characters really harpies? They tend to be more commanding than you'd expect in a secondary world fantasy, but I think that's a product of the culture Jordan developed. Be sure you're not equating "holding authority over men" with "harpy!" because if you are, that in itself is a sexist attitude.
The female characters who come across as shrewish, I think Jordan does a pretty good job of establishing why they are that way. It's not "Oh, that's just how women are." I'm thinking of Nynaeve's deep-seated insecurity, Aviendha being forced to play roles in prophecy which terrify her. It's responding to fear with anger, which is a common human reaction.
I just don't see it this way. None are individually terrible but the aggregate can be unrelenting at times. It's like every woman has a constantly running interior dialogue of telling people what for, spanking peoples bottoms, giving people the business and being generally outraged about pretty much everything. This could be highly entertaining as an individual character but it clearly would be a character flaw that would stand in the way of that character's goals. Even so I don't mind it all that much because now I see it as just a part of the world and as shryke pointed out Jordan needs to do something to really contrast male and female.
As for Nynaeve, she is an interesting character and my hatred of her early on stemmed from her block and how she would be conveniently angry except when she wasn't. And the anger had no downside. That's just a personal quirk though about how I like characters written and what kind of deus ex shit I'm willing to put up with. I would have preferred if Nynaeve's anger actually had consequences past it being a trigger for magic.
themightypuck on
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
― Marcus Aurelius
Yes. Every single one except Min. They think they know better than everyone else. Have no respect for what anyone else thinks. Never admit when they are wrong. And will not shut up about it.
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
The Old Man and the Sea is a fucking immortal classic masterpiece that will be read and debated for centuries. It has bearing on the fucking human condition.
You don't have to like it or enjoy it (I did). But its importance has absolutely no relation to the personal taste of any of us. Seriously. And Shakespeare?
Then what does it's "importance" have relation to then?
You don't know what makes a book important? Well, here's a hint: certainly not nerdy internet forums.
Wow, aren't you too good to even post here? What are you doing slumming it like this? Think of your reputation! 8->
The most annoying character to me so far is actually Mat, not any of the women. The reluctant hero, "fuck fate! Oh, well if I have to" schtick gets really old after awhile. He's always scared somebody is going to make him man up and do what he needs to do. It sets a distinct tone for his character, but still--passive protagonists annoy me. I'm willing to put up with a lot when characters set goals for themselves and go try to accomplish them. Mat's always just reacting to everything... at least so far.
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
The most annoying character to me so far is actually Mat, not any of the women. The reluctant hero, "fuck fate! Oh, well if I have to" schtick gets really old after awhile. He's always scared somebody is going to make him man up and do what he needs to do. It sets a distinct tone for his character, but still--passive protagonists annoy me. I'm willing to put up with a lot when characters set goals for themselves and go try to accomplish them. Mat's always just reacting to everything... at least so far.
Mat is the best. His schtick is a lot better than being emo like everyone else.
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
The most annoying character to me so far is actually Mat, not any of the women. The reluctant hero, "fuck fate! Oh, well if I have to" schtick gets really old after awhile. He's always scared somebody is going to make him man up and do what he needs to do. It sets a distinct tone for his character, but still--passive protagonists annoy me. I'm willing to put up with a lot when characters set goals for themselves and go try to accomplish them. Mat's always just reacting to everything... at least so far.
Mat's also one of the only characters who actually keeps developing and doing things during the bad times of books 7-9
Kana on
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
Have you read Bounty Hunter Wars by K.W. Jeter? They're amazing.
I think so, yeah. I mean, I read like 3 or 4 books with lots of bounty hunters in them and I think this was one of them, but I can't remember for sure...
It was a trilogy that occurred half in the present and half in the past. It began right after Boba Fett escaped from the Sarlacc Pit.
It was the reason I became a Boba Fett fan. Also it was a good guide for the Star Wars EU universe when I started reading the novels.
Yep, I read that, and Boba Fett really is awesome.
But I like really, REALLY snarky characters, hence my love for the X-Wing series and Han Solo
It makes me sad that whenever I go into a book store and see what Star Wars books they have to offer, the only books there are from the Yuuzhan Vong war era or after that.
Need to read the X-Wing series. I'm in the minority but I enjoyed New Jedi Order. There are various books about the Clone Wars era now, too. Haven't got to them personally, they're there if you want to read from different eras. You might like Star Trek: New Frontier, it has snarky characters IIRC. It's written by Peter David. Dresden Files, as well.
Cordwainer Smith is the weirdest and best. I love the late-60's future.
He's amazing, and absolutely one of a kind.
Finished James Ellroy's Blood's a Rover. Amazing. Reading it right after his book about the women in his life informed the experience nicely.
Hey Bogart, I ordered Will Self's "Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys". I couldn't remember what did you(and somebody else) recommended to read first in that chat thread ages ago, but all the wanking in here about style in prose reminded me I never got to reading him after being properly impressed with his article, so there. Something good was born out of the reading thread!
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
I'm currently reading a recipe for pumpernickel bread.
And then after that, job opening postings, for which I shall send off my CV to be read by other people.
And then after that, job opening postings, for which I shall send off my CV to be read by other people.
Hooray. Hooray.
How fun, I just finished with one of those periods myself.
Now I'm rereading the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman. It's been about eight years since I last went through it, so about the only thing I remember is that I liked it a lot the first time. Just finished Black Sun Rising, and it was quite enjoyable this time too.
I just finished up Moneyball and The Big Short by Michael Lewis and I am left wanting more things in a similar vein. I think I want to read something similar but about NASA or maybe even the USSR's space program. It seems like there should be a good compelling book about this. Anyone have any suggestions?
I just finished up Moneyball and The Big Short by Michael Lewis and I am left wanting more things in a similar vein. I think I want to read something similar but about NASA or maybe even the USSR's space program. It seems like there should be a good compelling book about this. Anyone have any suggestions?
Hey, I'm currently halfway through The Big Short right now. Just before, I read When Genius Fails, which is about the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management, and thematically fits. As for space programs, granted it's the only book in that vein I've ever actually read, but I rather enjoyed Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff.
I am midway through Distrust That Particular Flavor by William Gibson. It's a collection of essays, such as the famous one on Singapore 'Disneyland With The Death Penalty'.
It's great, and makes me wish for a new novel from him.
I recently tried to read 1Q84, and have given up halfway. The first of his books to leave me cold. Far too long, far too many long passages of existential rambling.
Holy crap is that book brilliant. The ending is ridiculous. Probably the best possible way it could've ended. Definitely one of my favourite books ever. Probably need to reread it.
I just finished up Moneyball and The Big Short by Michael Lewis and I am left wanting more things in a similar vein. I think I want to read something similar but about NASA or maybe even the USSR's space program. It seems like there should be a good compelling book about this. Anyone have any suggestions?
Hey, I'm currently halfway through The Big Short right now. Just before, I read When Genius Fails, which is about the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management, and thematically fits. As for space programs, granted it's the only book in that vein I've ever actually read, but I rather enjoyed Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff.
When Genius Fails is good. I think one out of every 5 books I've read since the crash started has been about Wall Street Barbarians at the Gate is nice for that 80s flavor that feels so foreign now, but is more or less essential to understand what was going on back then. The Quants is the math-heaviest book of the lot that I've read, which is fun as a guy who can kind of do math. It gives a good closer to comprehensive history of the modern hedge fund so you can get a good second perspective on events like LTCM. It really drives home how incomprehensibly huge/complex all the shit is. The only unifier I've found is keep your fucking leverage ratio low or you will fail catastrophically, eventually.
The Right Stuff looks perfect. Thanks for the suggestion.
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pyromaniac221this just might bean interestin YTRegistered Userregular
So I just polished off The Quantum Thief after having to put it on hold a while. I'm not sure how I feel about it. The plot was pretty cool and an incredible amount of imagination went into the worldbuilding and everything, but it was a little hard to care about the characters. I'll definitely read the second and third books when they came out, for a first novel this thing showed an insane amount of promise.
I think I'll start into Canticle for Leibowitz next.
Are the female characters really harpies? They tend to be more commanding than you'd expect in a secondary world fantasy, but I think that's a product of the culture Jordan developed. Be sure you're not equating "holding authority over men" with "harpy!" because if you are, that in itself is a sexist attitude.
The female characters who come across as shrewish, I think Jordan does a pretty good job of establishing why they are that way. It's not "Oh, that's just how women are." I'm thinking of Nynaeve's deep-seated insecurity, Aviendha being forced to play roles in prophecy which terrify her. It's responding to fear with anger, which is a common human reaction.
I like to compare the Women in WoT with men in the medival age with a pinch of stereotypical sexism turned on its head.
Are the female characters really harpies? They tend to be more commanding than you'd expect in a secondary world fantasy, but I think that's a product of the culture Jordan developed. Be sure you're not equating "holding authority over men" with "harpy!" because if you are, that in itself is a sexist attitude.
The female characters who come across as shrewish, I think Jordan does a pretty good job of establishing why they are that way. It's not "Oh, that's just how women are." I'm thinking of Nynaeve's deep-seated insecurity, Aviendha being forced to play roles in prophecy which terrify her. It's responding to fear with anger, which is a common human reaction.
I like to compare the Women in WoT with men in the medival age with a pinch of stereotypical sexism turned on its head.
I'm totally fine with having massively dysfunctional gender relations in a book. But if you do that, you'd better be saying something about gender relations. I'm not asking for everyone to learn an afterschool special, or even to learn anything, but you'd better at least look at how the gender relations in your world affects your characters. I don't see that ever happening in Wheel of Time. The women are just (mostly) a bunch of derpy harpies throughout the whole series, and by book 9 all the men are still whining that they just don't understand how women think. Which granted in the WoT universe it's pretty damn hard to understand how most of the women think, so maybe that's a fair complaint on their part.
And then there's the whole Perrin / Faile relationship, which I think was intended to come across as, "Gotta stand up for yourself in a relationship and not just treat her like a delicate flower all the time," but just ends up feeling like relationship advice from the 50's, "Let the little ladies feel like they're in charge with the little stuff, but when it's time for real decisions tell her what's what and her delicate female parts will just melt for your dominating masculinity."
EDIT: I'm really not hating on WoT as much as it's probably come across in the last couple of pages, I practically grew up with that series and it's got some tremendous strengths. But relationships and female characters as a group are really not one of them.
Kana on
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
Cordwainer Smith is the weirdest and best. I love the late-60's future.
He's amazing, and absolutely one of a kind.
Finished James Ellroy's Blood's a Rover. Amazing. Reading it right after his book about the women in his life informed the experience nicely.
Hey Bogart, I ordered Will Self's "Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys". I couldn't remember what did you(and somebody else) recommended to read first in that chat thread ages ago, but all the wanking in here about style in prose reminded me I never got to reading him after being properly impressed with his article, so there. Something good was born out of the reading thread!
Are the female characters really harpies? They tend to be more commanding than you'd expect in a secondary world fantasy, but I think that's a product of the culture Jordan developed. Be sure you're not equating "holding authority over men" with "harpy!" because if you are, that in itself is a sexist attitude.
The female characters who come across as shrewish, I think Jordan does a pretty good job of establishing why they are that way. It's not "Oh, that's just how women are." I'm thinking of Nynaeve's deep-seated insecurity, Aviendha being forced to play roles in prophecy which terrify her. It's responding to fear with anger, which is a common human reaction.
I like to compare the Women in WoT with men in the medival age with a pinch of stereotypical sexism turned on its head.
I'm totally fine with having massively dysfunctional gender relations in a book. But if you do that, you'd better be saying something about gender relations. I'm not asking for everyone to learn an afterschool special, or even to learn anything, but you'd better at least look at how the gender relations in your world affects your characters. I don't see that ever happening in Wheel of Time. The women are just (mostly) a bunch of derpy harpies throughout the whole series, and by book 9 all the men are still whining that they just don't understand how women think. Which granted in the WoT universe it's pretty damn hard to understand how most of the women think, so maybe that's a fair complaint on their part.
And then there's the whole Perrin / Faile relationship, which I think was intended to come across as, "Gotta stand up for yourself in a relationship and not just treat her like a delicate flower all the time," but just ends up feeling like relationship advice from the 50's, "Let the little ladies feel like they're in charge with the little stuff, but when it's time for real decisions tell her what's what and her delicate female parts will just melt for your dominating masculinity."
It's not that. Faile's issue with Perrin is his passivity. This plays into his larger character arc too.
It's also probably worth noting that Faile's cultures gender politics are as much a suggestion as Ebou Dar's. That is to say, not at all,
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
I finished off Machine Man by Max Barry. It's not bad. He writes with a really unusual clarity, I think most people would find it a bit too clinical, but it makes a nice change from time to time. The story itself was a bit obvious in a way, and there's some odd science mistakes in there, but nothing grave.
No idea what's up next. Maybe some fantasy. I should check if Robin Hobb has finished her next trilogy yet.
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
It's not that. Faile's issue with Perrin is his passivity. This plays into his larger character arc too.
Faile seems pretty passive aggressive with Perrin. Also, the scheming woman behind the man dissatisfied with his ambitions could be framed as a bit of a misogynist stereotype (although I'm only halfway through book 8 and we really don't get a lot of Faile POV up to this point). Which brings me to another point. At first I got the impression that two rivers folk were self reliant independent folk who had little use for Feudal power structures. Then suddenly they turn into bowing and scraping sycophants. Perhaps this is an accurate read on human nature but it is so very depressing.
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
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AManFromEarthLet's get to twerk!The King in the SwampRegistered Userregular
So I just polished off The Quantum Thief after having to put it on hold a while. I'm not sure how I feel about it. The plot was pretty cool and an incredible amount of imagination went into the worldbuilding and everything, but it was a little hard to care about the characters. I'll definitely read the second and third books when they came out, for a first novel this thing showed an insane amount of promise.
I think I'll start into Canticle for Leibowitz next.
Canticle is easily in my personal top five. It is just a fantastic novel.
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DynagripBreak me a million heartsHoustonRegistered User, ClubPAregular
As aforementioned I'm re-reading the New Sun books. I didn't think I was in the mood for them initially but I seem to be enjoying them. Not sure I have time to finish them before March 17th but i'll give it a fair try.
Have you read Bounty Hunter Wars by K.W. Jeter? They're amazing.
I think so, yeah. I mean, I read like 3 or 4 books with lots of bounty hunters in them and I think this was one of them, but I can't remember for sure...
It was a trilogy that occurred half in the present and half in the past. It began right after Boba Fett escaped from the Sarlacc Pit.
It was the reason I became a Boba Fett fan. Also it was a good guide for the Star Wars EU universe when I started reading the novels.
Yep, I read that, and Boba Fett really is awesome.
But I like really, REALLY snarky characters, hence my love for the X-Wing series and Han Solo
It makes me sad that whenever I go into a book store and see what Star Wars books they have to offer, the only books there are from the Yuuzhan Vong war era or after that.
Need to read the X-Wing series. I'm in the minority but I enjoyed New Jedi Order. There are various books about the Clone Wars era now, too. Haven't got to them personally, they're there if you want to read from different eras. You might like Star Trek: New Frontier, it has snarky characters IIRC. It's written by Peter David. Dresden Files, as well.
I've read several books from the Clone Wars era (and several from NJO too) but I just like the Rebellion / New Republic eras the most.
I keep hearing about Dresden Files (and reading about it on TvTropes) so I guess that might be the next thing. Thanks
It's not that. Faile's issue with Perrin is his passivity. This plays into his larger character arc too.
Faile seems pretty passive aggressive with Perrin. Also, the scheming woman behind the man dissatisfied with his ambitions could be framed as a bit of a misogynist stereotype (although I'm only halfway through book 8 and we really don't get a lot of Faile POV up to this point). Which brings me to another point. At first I got the impression that two rivers folk were self reliant independent folk who had little use for Feudal power structures. Then suddenly they turn into bowing and scraping sycophants. Perhaps this is an accurate read on human nature but it is so very depressing.
Oh she's really quite bad at communicating her wants too. They are both quite young so it's not surprising.
And she's not really dissatisfied with his ambition. It's more then ... he's already got the things ambition would bring, he's just refusing to take responsibility for them.
Cordwainer Smith is the weirdest and best. I love the late-60's future.
He's amazing, and absolutely one of a kind.
Finished James Ellroy's Blood's a Rover. Amazing. Reading it right after his book about the women in his life informed the experience nicely.
She's amazing, actually. 60's pseudonym female author! They're always great. Particularly because like 90% of them were researchers or something and both needed a male name to get published and a pseudonym to not get laughed at for publishing SF.
Also A Canticle for Leibowitz is one of the ones my dad recommended me when I was a kid. It's great art. It really is the one of the only things that has made me understand a Catholic viewpoint and appreciate it.
I am midway through Distrust That Particular Flavor by William Gibson. It's a collection of essays, such as the famous one on Singapore 'Disneyland With The Death Penalty'.
It's great, and makes me wish for a new novel from him.
Just started this and I'm already wishing the same. Stephenson can be fun (just finished REAMDE), but no one does it as good as, or like, Gibson.
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Practically every character does that to some extent, which I think is probably somewhat realistic.
The female characters who come across as shrewish, I think Jordan does a pretty good job of establishing why they are that way. It's not "Oh, that's just how women are." I'm thinking of Nynaeve's deep-seated insecurity, Aviendha being forced to play roles in prophecy which terrify her. It's responding to fear with anger, which is a common human reaction.
Hemingway is great at writing a few things, (nature, men, etc.) but he absolutely sucks at writing women. So stories like 'the old man and the sea' are fantastic, but all the romance parts of books like 'farewell to arms' are shit.
Yep, I read that, and Boba Fett really is awesome.
But I like really, REALLY snarky characters, hence my love for the X-Wing series and Han Solo
It makes me sad that whenever I go into a book store and see what Star Wars books they have to offer, the only books there are from the Yuuzhan Vong war era or after that.
Well it's certainly no battletech novel, I'll grant you that.
I just don't see it this way. None are individually terrible but the aggregate can be unrelenting at times. It's like every woman has a constantly running interior dialogue of telling people what for, spanking peoples bottoms, giving people the business and being generally outraged about pretty much everything. This could be highly entertaining as an individual character but it clearly would be a character flaw that would stand in the way of that character's goals. Even so I don't mind it all that much because now I see it as just a part of the world and as shryke pointed out Jordan needs to do something to really contrast male and female.
As for Nynaeve, she is an interesting character and my hatred of her early on stemmed from her block and how she would be conveniently angry except when she wasn't. And the anger had no downside. That's just a personal quirk though about how I like characters written and what kind of deus ex shit I'm willing to put up with. I would have preferred if Nynaeve's anger actually had consequences past it being a trigger for magic.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
Cordwainer Smith is the weirdest and best. I love the late-60's future.
Yes. Every single one except Min. They think they know better than everyone else. Have no respect for what anyone else thinks. Never admit when they are wrong. And will not shut up about it.
Wow, aren't you too good to even post here? What are you doing slumming it like this? Think of your reputation! 8->
Mat is the best. His schtick is a lot better than being emo like everyone else.
Mat's also one of the only characters who actually keeps developing and doing things during the bad times of books 7-9
Need to read the X-Wing series. I'm in the minority but I enjoyed New Jedi Order. There are various books about the Clone Wars era now, too. Haven't got to them personally, they're there if you want to read from different eras. You might like Star Trek: New Frontier, it has snarky characters IIRC. It's written by Peter David. Dresden Files, as well.
He's amazing, and absolutely one of a kind.
Finished James Ellroy's Blood's a Rover. Amazing. Reading it right after his book about the women in his life informed the experience nicely.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Hey Bogart, I ordered Will Self's "Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys". I couldn't remember what did you(and somebody else) recommended to read first in that chat thread ages ago, but all the wanking in here about style in prose reminded me I never got to reading him after being properly impressed with his article, so there. Something good was born out of the reading thread!
And then after that, job opening postings, for which I shall send off my CV to be read by other people.
Hooray. Hooray.
I need to finish book 4 already.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Now I'm rereading the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman. It's been about eight years since I last went through it, so about the only thing I remember is that I liked it a lot the first time. Just finished Black Sun Rising, and it was quite enjoyable this time too.
Hey, I'm currently halfway through The Big Short right now. Just before, I read When Genius Fails, which is about the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management, and thematically fits. As for space programs, granted it's the only book in that vein I've ever actually read, but I rather enjoyed Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff.
It's great, and makes me wish for a new novel from him.
I recently tried to read 1Q84, and have given up halfway. The first of his books to leave me cold. Far too long, far too many long passages of existential rambling.
Holy crap is that book brilliant. The ending is ridiculous. Probably the best possible way it could've ended. Definitely one of my favourite books ever. Probably need to reread it.
When Genius Fails is good. I think one out of every 5 books I've read since the crash started has been about Wall Street Barbarians at the Gate is nice for that 80s flavor that feels so foreign now, but is more or less essential to understand what was going on back then. The Quants is the math-heaviest book of the lot that I've read, which is fun as a guy who can kind of do math. It gives a good closer to comprehensive history of the modern hedge fund so you can get a good second perspective on events like LTCM. It really drives home how incomprehensibly huge/complex all the shit is. The only unifier I've found is keep your fucking leverage ratio low or you will fail catastrophically, eventually.
The Right Stuff looks perfect. Thanks for the suggestion.
I think I'll start into Canticle for Leibowitz next.
I like to compare the Women in WoT with men in the medival age with a pinch of stereotypical sexism turned on its head.
I'm totally fine with having massively dysfunctional gender relations in a book. But if you do that, you'd better be saying something about gender relations. I'm not asking for everyone to learn an afterschool special, or even to learn anything, but you'd better at least look at how the gender relations in your world affects your characters. I don't see that ever happening in Wheel of Time. The women are just (mostly) a bunch of derpy harpies throughout the whole series, and by book 9 all the men are still whining that they just don't understand how women think. Which granted in the WoT universe it's pretty damn hard to understand how most of the women think, so maybe that's a fair complaint on their part.
And then there's the whole Perrin / Faile relationship, which I think was intended to come across as, "Gotta stand up for yourself in a relationship and not just treat her like a delicate flower all the time," but just ends up feeling like relationship advice from the 50's, "Let the little ladies feel like they're in charge with the little stuff, but when it's time for real decisions tell her what's what and her delicate female parts will just melt for your dominating masculinity."
EDIT: I'm really not hating on WoT as much as it's probably come across in the last couple of pages, I practically grew up with that series and it's got some tremendous strengths. But relationships and female characters as a group are really not one of them.
Awesome. Self is unfailingly interesting.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
It's not that. Faile's issue with Perrin is his passivity. This plays into his larger character arc too.
No idea what's up next. Maybe some fantasy. I should check if Robin Hobb has finished her next trilogy yet.
Faile seems pretty passive aggressive with Perrin. Also, the scheming woman behind the man dissatisfied with his ambitions could be framed as a bit of a misogynist stereotype (although I'm only halfway through book 8 and we really don't get a lot of Faile POV up to this point). Which brings me to another point. At first I got the impression that two rivers folk were self reliant independent folk who had little use for Feudal power structures. Then suddenly they turn into bowing and scraping sycophants. Perhaps this is an accurate read on human nature but it is so very depressing.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
Canticle is easily in my personal top five. It is just a fantastic novel.
I've read several books from the Clone Wars era (and several from NJO too) but I just like the Rebellion / New Republic eras the most.
I keep hearing about Dresden Files (and reading about it on TvTropes) so I guess that might be the next thing. Thanks
Oh she's really quite bad at communicating her wants too. They are both quite young so it's not surprising.
And she's not really dissatisfied with his ambition. It's more then ... he's already got the things ambition would bring, he's just refusing to take responsibility for them.
She's amazing, actually. 60's pseudonym female author! They're always great. Particularly because like 90% of them were researchers or something and both needed a male name to get published and a pseudonym to not get laughed at for publishing SF.
Also A Canticle for Leibowitz is one of the ones my dad recommended me when I was a kid. It's great art. It really is the one of the only things that has made me understand a Catholic viewpoint and appreciate it.
Just started this and I'm already wishing the same. Stephenson can be fun (just finished REAMDE), but no one does it as good as, or like, Gibson.