The Books thread.

johnnygothisgun · Post by **johnnygothisgun** » Sat Sep 11, 2010 1:12 am

thomas mann's magic mountain

POOPERSCOOPER · Post by **POOPERSCOOPER** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:44 am

jetbaby wrote:
POOPERSCOOPER wrote:I'm about half way through and was a bit disappointed that it jumped to a new character. I'm still enjoying it though but not as much unless it turns around. I plan to finish it either way.
I was as well. I wasn't too big a fan of the new guy until a ways in and then things happen and I loved the shit out of his story.

I just finished Armor and it was pretty good. It had good action and was a solid story but I still thought the worst part of the book was with Jack Crow character not because he was a bad character but that planet they were on was kind of ho hum. It is the first book I read in probably 2-3 years and it was probably the best book for me to read. Wasn't emo and art faggy like a lot of books I guess.

I think the next book I will read will be neuromancer.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 5:01 pm

fallout ranger wrote:I read Level 7 in jail, pretty great, although a bit depressing.

in jail?

atoga · Post by **atoga** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 11:42 pm

PiP wrote:I'm crawling through Pirsig's Lila; enjoying less than the Maintenance.

just noticed this, i tried reading it a few years ago and thought it was pretty shit (also my copy had a pink cover which made it look like a romance novel or something). did you end up finishing it / if so was it at all worthwhile? any redeeming bits?

Taco-Hero · Post by **Taco-Hero** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 11:49 pm

Just finished "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy. Everyone said it sucked but I thought it was pretty decent.

PiP · Post by **PiP** » Tue Sep 21, 2010 9:36 am

atoga wrote:
PiP wrote:I'm crawling through Pirsig's Lila; enjoying less than the Maintenance.
just noticed this, i tried reading it a few years ago and thought it was pretty shit (also my copy had a pink cover which made it look like a romance novel or something). did you end up finishing it / if so was it at all worthwhile? any redeeming bits?

nah, still crawling, very slowly. I like Pirsig's narration but the argument in this book is not sound.

The redeeming feature is somewhat personal. In Pirsig, intellect and faith (of sorts) became one burning flame. I like that kind of flame, personally. It's a marvel to behold in a bland world.

Username · Post by **Username** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 4:02 pm

Hai guys. Read the following: http://tarnac9.wordpress.com/texts/the- ... urrection/

It's got a lovely, poetic flow. Is very well written and very open about the state of things. You can skip the last few chapters if you're not into the whole anarchist, rebell thing. I thought it a bit to much.

But the way they explain the state of the world today is truthfull and very interesting.

Here are some gems:

Those who claim to have solutions are contradicted almost immediately. Everyone agrees that things can only get worse. â€œThe future has no futureâ€�

A pun further explained by the constant attempts to find something scientific in this economy of todays. And each time the economists are proven wrong.

â€œI AM WHAT I AM.â€� This is marketingâ€™s latest offering to the world, the final stage in the development of advertising, far beyond all the exhortations to be different, to be oneself and drink Pepsi. Decades of concepts in order to get where we are, to arrive at pure tautology. I = I.

Pretty self explanatory.

Code: Select all

To this we should add, in France, the ferocious and secular work of individualization by the power of the state, that classifies, compares, disciplines and separates its subjects starting from a very young age, that instinctively grinds down any solidarities that escape it until nothing remains except citizenship â€“ a pure, phantasmic sense of belonging to the Republic. The Frenchman, more than anyone else, is the embodiment of the dispossessed, the destitute. His hatred of foreigners is based on his hatred of himself as a foreigner.

What is really left of our sense of belonging? Who stays where they are born they ask? Who works where they have studied? Do we even remain in our town , in our country? We are constantly on the move. Seeking to addapt, seeking to experience new things, seeking to report all of this to our friends on facebook. And in doing so we are amputating ourselves, we become nothing and everything.

To call this population of strangers in the midst of which we live â€œsocietyâ€� is such an usurpation that even sociologists dream of renouncing a concept that was, for a century, their bread and butter. Now they prefer the metaphor of a network to describe the connection of cybernetic solitudes, the intermeshing of weak interactions under names like â€œcolleague,â€� â€œcontact,â€� â€œbuddy,â€� â€œacquaintance,â€� or â€œdate.â€� Such networks sometimes condense into a milieu, where nothing is shared but codes, and where nothing is played out except the incessant recomposition of identity.

Further rubbing it in.

Demon971 · Post by **Demon971** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:51 am

I'm currently reading Chill Factor from the Deathlands series by James Axler. Couldn't get anymore Fallout-ish than that!

It's the 15th book of about a hundred. Each book is kind of episodic but character development is consistent through them all. However, because of this, you can pick up any book in the series and read it. I actually read the 93rd book, "Plague Lords", first (as it was the book that introduced me to Deathlands) before I decided to start the series from the beginning.

Cimmerian Nights · Post by **Cimmerian Nights** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:38 pm

Reading Lem's Solaris. Good shit. Already saw the Tarkovsky flick but was so stoned and it's so damn slow...I like Lem's tone in the book much more.

Any of you Polacks recommend any of his other books?

rad resistance · Post by **rad resistance** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 10:36 pm

Megatron · Post by **Megatron** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:46 pm

PiP wrote: The redeeming feature is somewhat personal. In Pirsig, intellect and faith (of sorts) became one burning flame. I like that kind of flame, personally. It's a marvel to behold in a bland world.

I liked zamm quite a bit and only read a few pages of lila before figuring that there was a reason people only know him through motorbike book. but that was a good, maybe a 'great book so thats ok in my humble imho.

just finished inherent vice by pynchon and moved swiftly onto vineland though im rethinking it. i dont care much for the 80s at the moment, not the right flavour for this time of year. 60s all the way ROCK AND ROLL.

Username · Post by **Username** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 3:26 am

How does a rambling pothead like you even manage to read a book?

To Retlaw: Fuck you.

To the rest: Just stoped by to check how its going. Forum's still on lifesupport. I'm glad to do my duty to keep a the retirement home still up and running.

On and good luck.

Post by **Retlaw83** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:18 am

Username wrote:I'm glad to do my duty to keep a the retirement home still up and running.

So you do your cocksucking at retirement homes. At least you're keeping the elderly happy.

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:26 am

Bloody hell, Ret. Any swedes you haven't chased after, pitchfork and torch in hand and all?

Post by **Retlaw83** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:26 am

I've come to the conclusion Mismatch is the only good one in the whole country.

Stalagmite · Post by **Stalagmite** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:09 am

Yeah but even Mismatch is sort of slipping lately.

Username · Post by **Username** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:31 pm

Retlaw what's the matter. That pokin stick of your has gone that blunt? It's alright I'll give you a new one as a christmas present you ol'twat.

PiP · Post by **PiP** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 12:33 pm

Cimmerian Nights wrote:Reading Lem's Solaris. Good shit. Already saw the Tarkovsky flick but was so stoned and it's so damn slow...I like Lem's tone in the book much more.

Any of you Polacks recommend any of his other books?

Sorry mate, didn't notice that before.
You might want to try his "Ijon Tichy" series
compare full list.

There are some peculiarities of Lem's work that make it a hard reading in some respects. His language is quite important. The Polish language he uses is a marvel. Also, he continuously plays with words, especially when inventing countless new words. Each of those bears various hints about their meaning. On top of that, some words and situations have further meaning in the context of Polish culture. Being a linguist I can tell you that this makes it extremely hard, if not impossible, to translate or to understand once translated.

Then there is Lem's unfathomable knowledge of science, his professor-level expertise in philosophy and his good understanding of mechanics (read that if you think I'm talking out of my ass). All that seeps into his writing too, mostly in the form of ridicule. It might be annoying to some, I guess.
However he has a knack for simplifying things in order to kind of... tame them, I think.

Last but not least Lem doesn't think very highly of the overwhelming majority of sci-fi and takes the piss out of it all the time.

By the way, both film adaptations of Solaris are decent films in themselves but they are different from the book; read on.

So there, a little rant for you!

Tofu Man · Post by **Tofu Man** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 3:13 am

Retlaw83 wrote:I've come to the conclusion Mismatch is the only good one in the whole country.

Wait, what? Ain't that the fella who rides on in every now and then, proclaiming FNV to be shit and the lot of us to be philistines before getting back on his white horse and fucking off in fits of rage, to the joy of many? That guy?

Username · Post by **Username** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 3:50 am

Tofu Man wrote:
Retlaw83 wrote:I've come to the conclusion Mismatch is the only good one in the whole country.
Wait, what? Ain't that the fella who rides on in every now and then, proclaiming FNV to be shit and the lot of us to be philistines before getting back on his white horse and fucking off in fits of rage, to the joy of many? That guy?

Sounds like a match made in heaven between the two.