Author Topic: What are you reading? (Read 482338 times)

Rama · « **Reply #1020 on:** Feb 15, 2014, 11:17:43 PM »

Moonraker -Ian Flemming

Rumble · « **Reply #1021 on:** Feb 16, 2014, 04:42:16 PM »

Reading the new Discworld novel 'Raising Steam'

The D · « **Reply #1022 on:** Mar 03, 2014, 08:24:48 PM »

I read the Adventure of the Speckled Band, one of the most famous of Sherlock Holmes' short stories. Halfway through, when they were investigating the room where the murder occurred, I immediately knew HOW the crime had been committed and how the story would end, as if I had read it before. I don't ever remember reading the story before, but I must have, if I knew so easily how it would end. It does make me wonder if the other Sherlock stories I have read, where I deduced the culprit before his reveal, was because I had read those before as well even though I don't remember reading them. For instance, events in The Adventure of the Red-Headed League seemed a bit familiar, even though I hadn't read it before.

Right now I'm in the middle of re-reading Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz because I plan to read the entire series. I last read it 6 years ago and loved the charm and wit and humor of it. But this time around, I came to lines in the book like these:

"By the time [Elvis] died, most pop songs had become, usually without the conscious intention of those who wrote and sang them, anthems endorsing the values of fascism, which remains the case to this day.”
Wat? Pop music is fascist? DA FUCK?

"Charles Manson, the vicious manipulator whose fantasies of revolution and race war had exposed a cancer at the core of the flower powet generation and had led to the demise of the age of aquarius."

“Considering that the modern and contemporary literature taught in most universities is largely bleak, cynical, morbid, pessimistic, misanthropic dogmatism, often written by suicidal types who sooner or later kill themselves with alcohol or drugs, or shotguns, Professor Takuda was a remarkably cheerful man.”

"As a working environment, the rest of academia is a sewer of irrationality, hate mongering, envy, and self-interest. "

Okay, so Dean Koontz hates hippies, pop music, and higher education. Got it. I wonder if this has anything to do with him being a hardcore Catholic. Probably.
The quote about Pop music being fascist is what really got my attention, though.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #1023 on:** Mar 04, 2014, 04:33:21 PM »

I read Speckled Band for an 8th grade assignment, and it was my first Holmes story, so it's a sentimental favorite. When I returned to my old school to sub for a few weeks back in '03, that story came up again. So I made the class read it for assignment, and we then spent a couple days reading it in class. Since kids can't read for shit these days and have no imagination, I knew they'd need someone to "translate" what was going on. After a comprehension quiz we watched it on TV (Jeremy Brett FTW) to see the difference between the written word and the (rather faithful) screen adaptation.

We did a lot of stuff like that. When that class graduated a few years later, a quarter of the kids I taught thanked me personally for teaching them how to understand what they read. And I subbed for them for 9 weeks in junior high. Maybe I should have been a teacher instead of an engineer/technician.

Pop music is generally crap, whatever it's about.

Just started book 5 of Lord of the Rings (first half of Return of the King). I've been taking it slow this time through.

Faye Valentine · « **Reply #1024 on:** Mar 09, 2014, 05:08:04 AM »

Finished reading The Hobbit and now on to Howl's Moving castle.

Btw Rama about something you said regarding the Hobbit

S
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You said Fili took the place of Thorin as the new King when he died but Fili and Kili both died during the war. So Dain took the throne.
Cant wait to see the movie, I already know im going to be sobbing like a little school girl

Rama · « **Reply #1025 on:** Mar 11, 2014, 02:38:41 PM »

Huh...I thought Fili lived. Oh well...it's been awhile since I read it.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #1026 on:** Mar 11, 2014, 03:18:27 PM »

Dain became King Under The Mountain. Thorin became wormfood under the mountain.

Dain died fighting Easterlings before the gate of Erebor during the same time the battle was waging in the Pelannor Fields of Gondor. Following the events of LOTR, Gimli settled the Glittering Caves behind Helm's Deep with a number of his people and eventually crossed over the Sundering Sea with Legolas, the only Dwarf to do so. Moria was resettled thereafter, re-establishing the most ancient of Dwarven domains in Middle-Earth.

Faye Valentine · « **Reply #1027 on:** Mar 12, 2014, 05:18:52 AM »

Yeah I just read somewhere ( i think it was the lotr board in reddit) that Dain dies later with some other king dwarf during the war that was going on at the same time that other war was going on cause of the ring
oh shit i cant wait to read the rest of the books, im going to give stephen colbert a run for his money

I wonder whos going to play Dain...did they say it already??

B E C K · « **Reply #1028 on:** Mar 12, 2014, 11:19:09 PM »

Billy Connolly's Dain.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2012/06/18/57504-analysing-billy-connollys-dain-ironfoot/

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #1029 on:** Mar 14, 2014, 10:05:06 PM »

Quote from: Faye Valentine on Mar 12, 2014, 05:18:52 AM

Yeah I just read somewhere ( i think it was the lotr board in reddit) that Dain dies later with some other king dwarf during the war that was going on at the same time that other war was going on cause of the ring

No, Dain died with King Brand of Dale...a man, the grandson of Bard the Bowman from The Hobbit. They had barricaded themselves inside Erebor after they were defeated by an Easterling army from the region of Rhûn. The kings died before they could escape, with Dain defending the fallen Brand, which was noteworthy as at 250 years old he was still on top of his game in terms of axe-wielding.

But after news of the victory at Pelennor the invaders lost heart and the Men of Dale under new Bard son of Brand and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain under Thorin Stonehelm repelled them from the north. This was important, as according to Gandalf this army would have moved on to attack Thranduil's kingdom and boltered the assault of Lorien, which would have ended the strongest remaining elven strongholds in Middle-Earth and destroyed the army of the Lords of the West as it rode to the Morannon.

In case you're wondering, no, I don't just have these facts at my command at the drop of a hat. I finished re-reading LOTR this week, and the appendices were the last things I read.

Quote from: Faye Valentine on Mar 12, 2014, 05:18:52 AM

I wonder whos going to play Dain...did they say it already??

Faye Valentine · « **Reply #1030 on:** Mar 17, 2014, 11:37:44 PM »

O shit i didnt know the other guy was Bard's grandson.
Im reading LOTR 1 atm so hopefully ill catch up soon :3

Quote from: B E C K on Mar 12, 2014, 11:19:09 PM

Billy Connolly's Dain.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2012/06/18/57504-analysing-billy-connollys-dain-ironfoot/

never heard of that dude

Rama · « **Reply #1031 on:** Mar 18, 2014, 10:20:08 AM »

Marvel Masterworks The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2

The D · « **Reply #1032 on:** Mar 18, 2014, 08:55:48 PM »

Quote from: Rodent of Unusual Size on Mar 04, 2014, 04:33:21 PM

Pop music is generally crap, whatever it's about.

If you're talking about anything past the 90s, and maybe even including some of the 80s and 70s, I'd tend to agree. And by pop you mean mainstream electronic-based music, not rock or metal.
Fascist, on the other hand, seems extreme. But considering that the main character in the book both calls music after Elvis "unconsciously fascist" and says that hippies were at the core cult-like and murderous, I feel like the author, being an older man and a catholic to boot, has that typical attitude that hippie music and anything that spawned from it is evil (you wouldn't believe how many times I've heard conservative Christians call any music past the 50s satanic). I certainly wouldn't call hippie-spawned music "fascist", either, as it seemed to be more anti-authority and "fuck da man" in any case.

Also, I forgot whether Fili and Kili actually died in the book and I'm sad to hear that they did... I loved their characters.

Odd Thomas, an odd review
I reread Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz... having read it about 6-7 years ago. It's about a guy in his early 20s named Odd Thomas who sees ghosts and evil shadows and tries to use them to solve crime. It's more supernatural thriller/action though, not detective/mystery, although there's detective-ish themes to it. In this story, Odd sees some evil spirits tailing an odd-looking man and has to prevent him and his buddies from committing mass murder.

The reason I liked it the first time was simple. The main characters were all colorful, three dimensional, and interesting, and the book, despite being dark and scary, had a great wit and humor to it. Full of off kilter humor and jokes and puns, it's not hard to laugh a little in the book. I found this the same the second time around... I enjoyed all the crazy characters and laughed many times.

Admittedly it has a dark side too, and a scary side. Although I knew what was going to happen I still found it creepy at times.

There's also a very tragic ending to it, where someone close to Odd dies violently. I liked this because it showed that the main characters were not immune or protected by plot armor, and could die. However, it was kinda sad, and it did feel like Koontz was giving readers the middle finger (especially considering there's now 7 books and graphic novels).

I'll go into more depth about the main character after I review the second book.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #1033 on:** Mar 18, 2014, 09:55:30 PM »

Quote from: The D on Mar 18, 2014, 08:55:48 PM

Quote from: Rodent of Unusual Size on Mar 04, 2014, 04:33:21 PM
Pop music is generally crap, whatever it's about.

If you're talking about anything past the 90s, and maybe even including some of the 80s and 70s, I'd tend to agree. And by pop you mean mainstream electronic-based music, not rock or metal.
Fascist, on the other hand, seems extreme. But considering that the main character in the book both calls music after Elvis "unconsciously fascist" and says that hippies were at the core cult-like and murderous, I feel like the author, being an older man and a catholic to boot, has that typical attitude that hippie music and anything that spawned from it is evil (you wouldn't believe how many times I've heard conservative Christians call any music past the 50s satanic). I certainly wouldn't call hippie-spawned music "fascist", either, as it seemed to be more anti-authority and "fuck da man" in any case.

By pop music, I mean popular music and not confined to any one genre. Also, there's a word in the original quote that you seem to have missed. "Generally" is by definition a blanket statement and by no means absolute yet found to be true more often than not.

As the resident fundie I wouldn't say the past sixty years of music is satanic--of course, some of it is by intention--but much is what I would call sinfully-themed. And don't bother arguing over it, because I'm right: think of all the songs extolling drunkeness, getting high, screwing around, violence, and the feelings of the same. That's just because most music is self-centered in nature, and it just happens to find audiences who feel the same way as and identify with the artist. I'm not condemning anyone for it, but it is a fact. Isn't that why we listen to it? It's life. Otherwise, who'd care?

B E C K · « **Reply #1034 on:** Mar 23, 2014, 10:38:48 PM »

Somewhat on topic, remember these people? - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parents_Music_Resource_Center So many of the Filthy 15 are pretty tame by today's standards. Listening to the radio these days gives me herpes. Even people who didn't bother me before like Enrique Iglesias and Selena Gomez, ew, it's like everything they put out is all about bonin' now. Get some other hobbies.

"As a working environment, the rest of academia is a sewer of irrationality, hate mongering, envy, and self-interest."
Actually, a lot of what I heard about it is pretty gross. Lots of pettyness and viciousness and egos. I'm not sure you understand the quote if you took that to mean he hates higher education. Unless the rest of the quote provides a context I'm missing here.

Faye Valentine · « **Reply #1035 on:** Apr 20, 2014, 08:23:37 PM »

On to LOtR the Two Towers. Read 1/3 of the book in one day and I love it. I can get the 3rd book here but I cant get the Silmarillion here so Ill have to wait until bae goes to Tokyo next month to get it there (from Amazon). Thinking about getting the Lost Letters too or whatever its called.

Rama · « **Reply #1036 on:** May 02, 2014, 06:48:59 PM »

Tough Shit by Kevin Smith

Rama · « **Reply #1037 on:** May 19, 2014, 10:03:29 AM »

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King.

Faye Valentine · « **Reply #1038 on:** May 20, 2014, 12:44:35 AM »

On to Lotr 3!

Fiero · « **Reply #1039 on:** Jun 03, 2014, 02:42:57 PM »

I'm the worst reader I know. I still haven't finished Consider Phlebas.

Fiero · « **Reply #1040 on:** Jun 04, 2014, 09:39:55 AM »

Speaking of Consider Phlebas, I rather enjoyed this short fairly non-spoilery passage from the novel. Is it wrong for me to type this all out here?

Yalson saw Horza staring at something on the floor near the doors leading back to the station. She kept watching Balveda, but said, "What have you found?"

Horza shook his head, reached to pick something from the floor, then stopped. "I think it's an insect," he said incredulously.

"Wow," Yalson said, unimpressed. Balveda moved over to have a look, Yalson's gun still trained on her. Horza shook his head, watching the insect crawl over the tunnel floor.

"What the he''s that doing down here? he said. Yalso frowned when he said that, worried at a note of near panic in the man's voice.

"Probably brought it down here it down here ourselves," Balveda said, rising. "Hitched a ride on the pallet, or somebody's suit, I bet."

Horza brought his fist down on the tiny creature, squashing it, grinding it into the dark rock. Balveda looked surprised. Yalson's frown deepened. Horza stared at the mark left on the tunnel floor, wiped his glove, then looked up, apologetic.

"Sorry," he told Balveda, as though embarrassed. "... couldn't help thinking about that fly in the The Ends of Invention... Turned out to be one of your pets, remember?" He got up and walked quickly into the station. Balveda nodded, looking down at the small stain on the floor.

"Well," she said, arching one eyebrow, "that was one way of proving it's innocence.

Rama · « **Reply #1041 on:** Jun 04, 2014, 11:04:34 AM »

It's bad that you typed it all out...it is worse that I rewrote it in my head, as I was reading it, to be more engaging.

B E C K · « **Reply #1042 on:** Jun 04, 2014, 05:21:22 PM »

Quote from: Rama on Jun 04, 2014, 11:04:34 AM

It's bad that you typed it all out...it is worse that I rewrote it in my head, as I was reading it, to be more engaging.

I changed the names. Can we do that? Because names like that make me wanna tune out. I was writing this story when I was around 18 or so and I actually typed out what must've ~~been a thousand pages.~~ Okay, so I actually went and dug out the manuscript because I kept it and took a picture of it. Because I have nothing better to do right now. So clearly not a 1000 pages. I don't know how many pages that is. And I didn't number them. And it's in varying font sizes some are back and front. The spiral next to it for comparison is about 75 pages. So no freakin way it's a 1000. Maybe it just felt that way when I wrote it. Anyway, over half of the characters have weird-ass names. I named a guy Safofanein. And I'd type it all out. He didn't have a nickname. What the eff. So it's not Yahlen, Yahlon and Orzo or whatever. But the same principle I suppose.

Rama · « **Reply #1043 on:** Jun 05, 2014, 06:12:44 PM »

You going to do anything with it? I mean other then change the names.

B E C K · « **Reply #1044 on:** Jun 05, 2014, 10:51:33 PM »

Even if I revisit the characters and that world--and I may I suppose--I'm junking that version of the story. I can't make myself throw away what I wrote though. Just like those stories I keep in the closet. I've got a stack in about half a dozen or so of those presentation books... you know, those ones that have 24 or so sheets where you can slip in a piece of paper. And those are a completely different set of characters and world. That, I feel kinda done with. But I have memories with those because I would read those Merla and we'd laugh. I wrote those when I was in high school. I'd take a pic of those, too, but it's late right now and I'm being lazy.

Rama · « **Reply #1045 on:** Jun 06, 2014, 09:56:36 AM »

It's early now. >=(

Faye Valentine · « **Reply #1046 on:** Jun 07, 2014, 08:58:43 PM »

Im almost at the end of The Return of the King but Im stalling it because I don't want it to end

Also I feel like geeking out talking to someone about it but not one of my friends have read the books and if they have they don't talk about it.
Shit, its like I have blue balls for Tolkien

B E C K · « **Reply #1047 on:** Jun 07, 2014, 09:33:57 PM »

You could always end and start all over again.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #1048 on:** Jun 09, 2014, 01:33:44 PM »

Yup: there and back again. But don't forget the appendices!

And there will always be Silmarillion lurking in the shadows...

Faye Valentine · « **Reply #1049 on:** Jun 11, 2014, 05:47:23 AM »

Just got that one and Letters of Tolkien