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The New Reading/Book Thread: With That Same Ol' Bad Taste!

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Posts

  • LanglyLangly Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I am the most beneficent.


    Seriously though, if you like the english language, you will love Ballad of the White Horse. Also, the White Horse Vale is a real place in Wales

    white%20horse%202.JPG

    Langly on
  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I should probably read that

    I did really enjoy TMWWT

    Straightzi on
  • LanglyLangly Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Ok so The Ballad of the White Horse is about King Alfred uniting England against the Danes, and he has three generals who represent the different cultures of Britain. One of them is a Roman left over from their conquest and departure, named Marc. Right before the first battle, each main character confesses his sin, and then says where they want to be buried, because they expect to lose horribly. Marc's is perhaps the coolest out of several wonderful passages
    A proud man was the Roman,
    His speech a single one,
    But his eyes were like an eagle's eyes
    That is staring at the sun.

    "Dig for me where I die," he said,
    "If first or last I fall--
    Dead on the fell at the first charge,
    Or dead by Wantage wall;

    "Lift not my head from bloody ground,
    Bear not my body home,
    For all the earth is Roman earth
    And I shall die in Rome.
    "

    Oh my god.

    Langly on
  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Hot damn

    That is fantastic

    I want to read this

    Added to my amazon wishlist, because I don't have money for books currently

    Straightzi on
  • AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I actually went to check and see if there was an audiobook version of this masterpiece, but... nope. No luck. Sorry pipe.

    http://www.amazon.com/Moby-Naxos-AudioBooks-Herman-Melville/dp/9626343583
    ?

    Antimatter on
  • LanglyLangly Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Straightzi wrote: »
    Hot damn

    That is fantastic

    I want to read this

    Added to my amazon wishlist, because I don't have money for books currently

    Some people have problems reading books online, but it is free at project gutenberg.

    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1719

    Langly on
  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Langly wrote: »
    Straightzi wrote: »
    Hot damn

    That is fantastic

    I want to read this

    Added to my amazon wishlist, because I don't have money for books currently

    Some people have problems reading books online, but it is free at project gutenberg.

    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1719

    I don't have a problem with reading books online, but I do absolutely prefer physical copies

    Partially because I know people with problems reading books online, and my pretentious library is a nice thing to have in circumstances like that

    Straightzi on
  • deadlyrhetoricdeadlyrhetoric "We could be two straight lines in a crooked world."__BANNED USERS regular
    edited January 2011
    Why do you taunt me so, Langly?

    I want to click that spoiler so bad! Curssseeee youuuu!!

    I'll be picking up the Ballad of the White Horse tomorrow after work.

    I think I might pick up Infinite Jest, as well.

    deadlyrhetoric on
  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Why do you taunt me so, Langly?

    I want to click that spoiler so bad! Curssseeee youuuu!!

    I'll be picking up the Ballad of the White Horse tomorrow after work.

    I think I might pick up Infinite Jest, as well.

    Click it

    It's worth it

    Straightzi on
  • AretèAretè infiltrating neo zeed compoundRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Being that I am on A Storm of Swords, I have already learned that no one is safe.

    Still though, that wedding. God damn, that was mean.

    Aretè on
  • Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Langly wrote: »
    I am the most beneficent.


    Seriously though, if you like the english language, you will love Ballad of the White Horse. Also, the White Horse Vale is a real place in Wales

    white%20horse%202.JPG

    that is actually the Uffington white horse, in Oxfordshire, England (as if you care). There probably is one in Wales too. There are a lot of those things around Britain, bizarrely.
    1012_33_1---White-Horse_web.jpg?&k=White+Horse

    Westbury_White_Horse_Wilts_Paul_Allison.jpg

    uk413.jpg

    cerneabbasPA200608_450x300.jpg

    oh woops, that last one isn't a horse at all!

    Brovid Hasselsmof on
  • Dublo7Dublo7 Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I'm about to start A Comedy in A Minor Key by Hans Keilson.

    Keilson is a psychiatrist who survived the Nazi holocaust. He supposedly does a lot of writing on holocaust related trauma. He has a few fictional novels out, which have only just recently been translated into English.

    0374126755.01.LZZZZZZZ.JPG

    This book is about a couple who take in a Jewish man, during World War 2. The Jewish man dies, and the couple is left to dispose of the body without being caught...

    Dublo7 on
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  • PeenPeen Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I'm starting Deathbird Stories today and I can already tell from the introduction that I'm going to love it.

    Peen on
  • skettiosskettios Enchanted ForestRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Peen wrote: »
    I'm starting Deathbird Stories today and I can already tell from the introduction that I'm going to love it.

    I've read 3 stories so far! Pretty good

    skettios on
  • LanglyLangly Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Man now I am even more excited to learn that there are horses just carved into the grass all around britain.

    edit: Although I think I was confused because I think that during the period the story takes place, there was no england as such and so everything is described as Welsh.

    Langly on
  • queuewindowqueuewindow Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I am currently reading the Ballad of the White Horse by GK Chesterton, on loan from the collection of one J. Langly Awesomeguy, esq.

    For christmas I got The Fort and The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris, and the HG Wells collection from Munkus for SS.

    So I've got some good reading ahead of me.

    At work, I'm using our expansive online technical library/learning center/certification tool thingy to read about programming artificial intelligences for games. It might be a slight misappropriation of the tools at hand, but it's either that or I watch a progress bar move across a screen.

    would you mind me asking which hg wells collection that is?

    51ChRmv0csL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

    oh, wow, it is pretty

    queuewindow on
  • Randall_FlaggRandall_Flagg Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Quoth wrote: »
    Quoth wrote: »
    i have heard that squirrel seeks chipmunk is incredibly dark and depressing

    I read the first short story. It was kind of dark humor in that it was about a person (animal) in the service industry trying to tell a client what they wanted to hear just to ensure their business, but there wasn't much depressing about it. I guess you could draw some parallels to using casual racism too.

    Point is, it was funny.

    i think i heard one at least is about child murder

    his approach, if i remember correctly, was to sort of mimic certain african stories, inclusive of the really horrible crap that happens to people in them

    yeah this is spot on

    apparently he thinks that beause he writes about animals he can write about some totally fucking horrifying shit?

    It's kind of funny but in an "oh my god I can't believe that" kind of way

    Randall_Flagg on
  • PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Quoth wrote: »
    Quoth wrote: »
    i have heard that squirrel seeks chipmunk is incredibly dark and depressing

    I read the first short story. It was kind of dark humor in that it was about a person (animal) in the service industry trying to tell a client what they wanted to hear just to ensure their business, but there wasn't much depressing about it. I guess you could draw some parallels to using casual racism too.

    Point is, it was funny.

    i think i heard one at least is about child murder

    his approach, if i remember correctly, was to sort of mimic certain african stories, inclusive of the really horrible crap that happens to people in them

    yeah this is spot on

    apparently he thinks that beause he writes about animals he can write about some totally fucking horrifying shit?

    It's kind of funny but in an "oh my god I can't believe that" kind of way

    have you ever actually read brothers grimm?

    they're about humans and still horrifying

    PiptheFair on
  • LanglyLangly Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    like, for instance, in snow white they kill the step mother by making her dance in front of the court with white-hot iron shoes bound to her feet.

    Langly on
  • NotASenatorNotASenator Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Langly wrote: »
    like, for instance, in snow white they kill the step mother by making her dance in front of the court with white-hot iron shoes bound to her feet.

    Oh man, I just thought of a great idea for a party game.

    NotASenator on
  • LanglyLangly Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    not to mention in Cinderella when the step sisters cut off their toes and heel to fit into the shoe, and the prince notices by the blood coming out of the shoe.

    Langly on
  • PeenPeen Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Which sucks for Cinderella, you hope they cleaned it off before they gave it to her.

    Peen on
  • FluffyKittenFluffyKitten Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Langly wrote: »
    like, for instance, in snow white they kill the step mother by making her dance in front of the court with white-hot iron shoes bound to her feet.

    I think it is pretty interesting that both the Grimm Bros and Tolkien were linguists first and then, secondarily, tale spinners.

    FluffyKitten on

    thread killer - didn't mean to, btw
  • ArgusArgus Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    51Kxrsf0gvL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

    Saw this on this thread on Wednesday, picked it up Thursday, finished it today. The reporter story was pretty entertaining, but the weird culture of Japan was half the interest, too.

    Argus on
    pasigsizedu5.jpg
  • Lost SalientLost Salient blink twice if you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I haven't read that, but if you are interested in other nonfiction books that touch on Japan's culture, I highly recommend Murakami's Underground, which is the book he assembled of interviews regarding the Tokyo gas attacks.

    Also everyone savor your posts, because after this we have to wait forever to talk about books again. :(

    Lost Salient on
    RUVCwyu.jpg
    "Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
  • SassoriSassori Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Langly wrote: »
    like, for instance, in snow white they kill the step mother by making her dance in front of the court with white-hot iron shoes bound to her feet.

    I think it is pretty interesting that both the Grimm Bros and Tolkien were linguists first and then, secondarily, tale spinners.

    Have you heard the story of Tolkien being given a recorder by a student?

    The first thing he recorded was himself speaking the Lord's Prayer in Gothic in order to drive the "demons out of the machine".

    Awesome.

    Sassori on
  • HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I found an old copy of The Golden Bough in some boxes full of Christmas crap and I'm giving it another go. I found it awfully dull when I picked it up as a teenager but it is full of some seriously interesting European folklore and mythology. I'm glad this is the abridged edition with no footnotes though, Frazer does not want for words.

    Hobnail on
    Broke as fuck in the style of the times. Gratitude is all that can return on your generosity.

    https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
  • Lost SalientLost Salient blink twice if you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Hobnail, I really like the quote you have as your sig. Like, a lot.

    Lost Salient on
    RUVCwyu.jpg
    "Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
  • Chompskers.Chompskers. Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    the best fairy tales are russian fairy tales

    the plot like, nearly always follows some trajectory that makes no sense and jumps to new central characters and stuff every few paragraphs

    the moral of the story is basically always that woman are stinky and should just shut up and listen to their husbands

    one is like, a three paragraphs long and is just about a woman disagreeing with her husband,

    so he drowns her in a river

    the end

    Chompskers. on
    The lastest of eff-emms.
    P: 1634 0144 0510
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  • The Lovely BastardThe Lovely Bastard Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I cannot make the post I want to make right here

    The Lovely Bastard on
    7656367.jpg
  • AMP'dAMP'd Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I haven't read that, but if you are interested in other nonfiction books that touch on Japan's culture, I highly recommend Murakami's Underground, which is the book he assembled of interviews regarding the Tokyo gas attacks.

    Also everyone savor your posts, because after this we have to wait forever to talk about books again. :(

    we can just make a thread about harry potter or some shit and turn it into the book thread

    AMP'd on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • NotASenatorNotASenator Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    It's not like you can't talk about what you're reading in any number of other threads.

    NotASenator on
  • YaYaYaYa Decent. Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    oh my Orson Scott Card has a new series

    what are the odds that it is the worst thing ever

    YaYa on
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    well none of his other fiction is actually the worst thing ever

    Balefuego on
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  • George Fornby GrillGeorge Fornby Grill ...Like Clockwork Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    YaYa wrote: »
    oh my Orson Scott Card has a new series

    what are the odds that it is the worst thing ever

    Maybe the first book will be decent then it will immediately plummet down a cliff

    Ender's Game, anyone?

    George Fornby Grill on
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    YaYa wrote: »
    oh my Orson Scott Card has a new series

    what are the odds that it is the worst thing ever

    Maybe the first book will be decent then it will immediately plummet down a cliff

    Ender's Game, anyone?

    but Speaker for the Dead was the best one


    after that though yes

    Balefuego on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • DepressperadoDepressperado I just wanted to see you laughing in the pizza rainRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    any Orsen Scoot Cord that isn't related to Ender is basically the worst shit I've ever read

    like, I'm talking just the worst.

    Depressperado on
  • BalefuegoBalefuego Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    the Alvin Maker books were ok

    I havent read all of them though

    Balefuego on
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  • YaYaYaYa Decent. Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    okay then I won't get it

    Bale! buddy! can I grab some recommendations

    I've been jonesin' to reread Neverwhere but I'd rather read new stuff

    YaYa on
  • Centipede DamascusCentipede Damascus Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    the Alvin Maker books are pretty neat until they become a blatant Mormon allegory

    Centipede Damascus on
This discussion has been closed.