What Are You Reading?

[vol.2]

Reading On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers 1987.



Really just in the beginning of the book, but I've been meaning to read it ever since Ron Gilbert said it was the primary inspiration for The Secret of Monkey Island in an interview. So far it's great, but also very dark and violent. It opens with a very intense scene.

[scrilla4rella]

A little late to the party I guess but I just finished Dune. That shit was dope! Finished it in little more than a week. I want to read some of the later books, I used to love the Warhammer 40K lore as a kid and would like read some of the stuff that inspired it, but have heard mixed things on the sequels.

[Herr Schatten]

have heard mixed things on the sequels.

The first sequel, Dune Messiah, is pretty great. It's essentially more if the same, maybe even a little more fast-paced. From Children of Dune on, stuff gets more and more esoteric. It's not bad, indeed it's quite interesting and expanding greatly on the lore, but more in the way the detailed landscape descriptions in Tolkien's Silmarillion are, not in the way of telling a compelling story.


I'm currently reading Agency by William Gibson, and so far I like it more than its direct predecessor. Gibson is probably one of my favourite authors. I like how he never explains anything, dropping the reader right into the story instead and leaving it to him to figure stuff out.

[NYN]

but have heard mixed things on the sequels.

I'm not big on sci-fi, but I've read the Herbert stuff, and to my mind it's all fine.
[Pause]
And then I tried the first "prequel" stuff, co-authored by the son of Herbert. And I couldn't finish it. Wouldn't. Around 20 years back, I didn't know the term fan-fiction.
I just called it bad. I mean they are honestly trying to write the Butler Jihad! Which was just a footnote for Herbert. Defining low. Makes me shudder.

Also: "goodreads" makes want to eat my own eyeballs. What a circle of good readers them's are. Spectacular dumpers.

[NYN]

From what I gather a lot of fanboys don't like the sequel because it shows Paul turning into a cynical Machiavellian-like politician. Seems like a stupid criticism because you can see this turn coming a mile away in the original book. Something all too relatable to our own world

Given that I was still in my teens when I read it, that's something that was pointed out to me as comment by another author at the end of Messiah. I don't know if they still publish it. It said that Herbert immensely disliked the idolization of Paul by his adolescent readers. So he made it clear in no uncertain terms.

Spoiler

There is a reference to Hitler by Paul himself. (Stilgar's reaction still cracks me up.) The year 10.000, and that hole is still known.

Beware of "heroes" in history. Herbert had sand (you can keep the pun).

[scrilla4rella]

Cool, thanks for the info guys. I probably will start reading the sequels. From what I gather a lot of fanboys don't like the sequel because it shows Paul turning into a cynical Machiavellian-like politician. Seems like a stupid criticism because you can see this turn coming a mile away in the original book. Something all too relatable to our own world

[rapoon]

Also: "goodreads" makes want to eat my own eyeballs. What a circle of good readers them's are. Spectacular dumpers.

it's inherent function is to catalog what you've read and want to read, not to join book clubs or meet a slavic bride.

[drauch]

The biggest fault of Goodreads is the allowance of pictures in reviews. The entire site is a mess of .gifs and memes. And, like most trash sites that implement a social media aspect, you always get the same garbage reviewers at the top and the same lists where Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are the Greatest Books of All-Time. Letterboxd for movies is pretty awful as well, but thankfully there's no pictures there.

This message brought to you by No Fun™.

[vol.2]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I still prefer making lists in a small notebook to keep track of books. Between that and actually just looking at my bookshelf, I've never felt any need to seek out a website to help me organize my reading.

Then again, I also don't like to read books on a screen. I still really prefer the book itself; I like the small paperbacks that I can hold open in one hand between my pinkie and my thumb.

Perhaps something like goodreads would start to make more sense if I read books on a laptop.

[drauch]

I like the functionality not so much for keeping track of what I've read, but what I want to read. I think sites like this are invaluable if you're constantly researching fiction and perpetually adding things you'd like to read that you don't want to forget about. Then you can create digital shelves and such for different genres or whatever if you were inclined, click on an author's name to see all their other stuff and pseudonyms, find members that have similar tastes and see what they've read that you might be interested in, etc. Reading on a laptop is for degenerates. At least get a tablet!

[rapoon]

I dont imagine the site being of much use to someone who either a) doesnt read much or b) ingests everything digitally, at least for the purposes of cataloging what you've read.
in fact, selling off close to 400 books is what inspired me to create an account in the first place.

I'm currently reading Agency by William Gibson, and so far I like it more than its direct predecessor. Gibson is probably one of my favourite authors. I like how he never explains anything, dropping the reader right into the story instead and leaving it to him to figure stuff out.

"dropping the reader right into the story.." is spot on. it's exactly why I've never been a big fan. well, that and his meandering. but I did read his short story "The Gernsback Continuum" recently and throughly enjoyed it.

[CIT]

Demian by Hermann Hesse

Short read and holds your interest. Very much a product of the early 20th century, so expect lots of not-so-subtle symbolism, references to mysticism and psychoanalysis, and everything being part of an existential quest for meaning. I give it 9/10 bird-crests.

[NYN]

I had a Hesse phase once, including Demian. Others were Steppenwolf, Unterm Rad, Narziß und Goldmund.
Did you read Siddhartha yet? I re-read it, which in my case hints at true enjoyment.
I imagine Hesse as one of the old poets, articulating for the 20th century the pains of individualism.
Given the opportunity: do you read in German?

[Randorama]

The first sequel, Dune Messiah, is pretty great. It's essentially more if the same, maybe even a little more fast-paced. From Children of Dune on, stuff gets more and more esoteric. It's not bad, indeed it's quite interesting and expanding greatly on the lore, but more in the way the detailed landscape descriptions in Tolkien's Silmarillion are, not in the way of telling a compelling story.

My vague memories on this matter are that Herbert wrote the third book and parts of the fourth, first, and then realised that it read like a long handbook for an RPG, given its focus on the world-building aspects. RPG's did not exist in the 1960's, but I think that my simile (figure of speech) should be otherwise accurate. He then wrote the first two books as a single tome, when he finished on the world-building part.

The whole saga had a long and complicated gestation because Herbert's publisher did not believe that the ideas in the book could sell (not enough "engine porn": it was the early 1960's, before the New Wave revolution). Apparently, word-of-mouth of the fans was instrumental in turning the first book from mild failure to cult hit, and beyond. Personally I remember stopping at the fourth book, and liking it mildly because of its "science fantasy" style. I loved other lesser known works by Herbert, though (e.g. The Hellstrom Hive).

Recently read This book, which is a popular/divulgative science book showcasing Prof. Joseph Hinrich's last decade of research. I seldom read this kind of book (I can focus on peer-reviewed papers, thanks to my job), but this book could be an interesting read for anyone who wants to know more about cultural evolution, the spectrum of cultural patterns among human populations, and why some us are definitely W.E.I.R.D. after all (yes, the acronym is intended to be a pun of the A.C.M.E. flavour).

[Obiwanshinobi]

Demian by Hermann Hesse

Ends very much like Mann's Der Zauberberg, doesn't it? My mom disliked both's ending, but to me, either meant the Great War, no less.

[drauch]

I know it was mentioned awhile back (I think in the movie thread) regarding the original book The Warriors by Sol Yurick, the basis for the Walter Hill film. Finally got around to reading that. Not a whole lot of similarities to the film at all. Basically the Cyrus gang treaty meetup and the fact that The Warriors (here The Devastators) need to get back to Coney Island on their own turf. They aren't framed for the murder in the book; it simply just happens, as it strives for a more realistic approach rather than the comic gang escape. And, since there's a bunch of white supremacist gangs and other shitheads, they pretty much just turn on the speaker immediately, sparking all-out chaos when the cops arrive, prompting the gang to make it back to their turf.

Yurick worked in social services and such with troubled youth and wanted to showcase more realistic delinquent youth in gangs, rather than the West Side Story glamorization. Here the gang members are all 14-17 years of age. There's not much interaction with the other gangs, and nobody is necessarily out to get them, they're just ever aware that they're on other gangs' turf and need to head home. This doesn't stop them of course by tagging others' turfs and such. Kinda reads like Hubert Selby's Last Exit to Brooklyn, like an objective view of these troubled youths doing terrible things amidst urban decay. They're all pretty detestable, yet there's still this sense of humanity in just wanting to belong to something when they don't have much. Mainly just a bunch of confused fucks raping and dicking around, to be frank.

Enjoyable (in a sense), but clearly not meant to be a pleasant experience. Some of Yurick's dialogue and actions are a little questionable, and after reading an analysis at the end of the book by himself he's pretty full of himself and meebee a bit out of touch. If planning to read, definitely distance yourself completely from the movie. I guess that should go without saying for any film/book experience, and it's hard to do, but you're better off not expecting something fun and more fantastical.

[BIL]

Much appreciated! I've been curious about that one, as we discussed in the movie thread a while back. The Running Man is my benchmark for "film that has sha-weeeet fuck-all to do with the book," but that one sounds pretty notable too!

The Warriors (here The Devastators)

While it wouldn't fit the movie's cod-Homeric ethos as well, holy fuck, that's a rad name. I almost wonder if Konami were taking notes. (same part of my brain that wonders if "Galuga Archipelago" was a garbled reference to Solzhenitsyn)

[drauch]

Yeah, The Devastators is a killer name! I forgot to mention a few things. It's called The Warriors since they frequently refer to themselves as such and why they gotta scrap. I know Hill really injected the Greek stuff in the Director's Cut, but in the book they really make sure you're aware that this is based on Anabasis, as a character is reading a comic of it. Kinda reminded me of that whole comic sub-plot in Watchmen, but here Yurick just really wants you to know it's from this book and repeatedly makes pretty forced parallels by mentioning the panels in the comic. Even in the after-text he kinda gabs it up too much with the whole "Oh, you haven't read this!?" sentiment. Nah man, cool story, but I haven't! Reminds me of the Coen brothers being obsessed with The Iliad, but they admittedly have never read it, just love the idea!

[Randorama]

I am probably having a mid-life crisis and I am stuck in place because of CoVID-19 travel restrictions (place=Wuhan, where I live and work), so my holidays have been domestic, in nature.

Well, no matter: I can catch up with fiction and games, rest, and generally refill the batteries, right?

So, I decided to go through a decades-old backlog of series, movies, books, etc. that I wanted to finish and be put in the dustbin, as a way of saying "teenager/young man me, STFU and GTFO".

Evangelion, I didn't want to finish but the wife forced me to (open/close tanget).

The rest, in pills, is this (TL; DR unless you really have a lot of time and the dump growling in your belly will require several flushings before it will be no more...I just wanted to vent a bit).

Harlan Ellison's works:

Ellison published a mini-series with Dark Horse, which adapted a few of his stories (including I have no mouth and I must scream, adapted by John Byrne). This and a few minor stories I never read, and it is officially "file closed". Superbly skilled writer, though I admit that his non-speculative fiction works leave me cold.

Iain (M.) Banks' works:

Banks lived an artistic dual life as a SF author ("Iain M. Banks") and as a "plain" fiction author ("Iain Banks"). I went through his "Iain Banks" works and many of them are quite interesting, if only because the writing style and craft are also sublime.

I really liked Espedair Street (the life and times of a musician from a ultra-popular band), and his debut, The Wasp Factory (no spoilers, sorry, but deliciously creepy).

The Bridge is also marvelous, as an intersection of these two creative personae (no spoilers again, sorry). "File closed", too.

Grant Morrison's works:

I, very quickly, decided to avoid anything he has written that involves superheroes beyond Animal Man and Doom Patrol, and read Joe the Barbarian (kid dreaming of being an "Isekai/other world" hero) and Klaus (hippie take on Santa Klaus, yes).

I re-read The Filth and endured re-reading [/i]The Invisibles[/i].

I even met the guy in person (for work, I swear), and I would say that I liked his early "Vertigo" work and its obsession with recursion, and with ideas lifting left and right (like Anno Hideaki...damn professional otakus/fans and their copycat attitude). Rest, I can pass.

"File closed", as well.

John Byrne: A brief look at his work made me decide to finish his Next Men, and nothing else. The series started in a relatively interesting manner (the US is hiding an experiment involving mutated humans with super-powers) and becomes a random mash-up of ideas very quickly.

The final issues were released in 2014 or so, and Byrne did not offer any resolution whatsoever. 3.5 Evangelions on a scale of 5, in terms of cacophony of themes and "wtf?" ending. Very quickly decided to stop at this series. "File Closed", ack!

Jim Starlin:

Oh dear, where to even begin...I started re-reading Adam Warlock's original stories. I did not remember that they lifted so heavily from Moorcock and (Jack) Kirby, while adding so much teenage angst.

I tried again Thanos' Quest, and I felt...violated when the big reveal about Thanos' motivations was offered (I mean: "love"? Cosmic plots? Really?).

The Marvel movies did a surprisingly non-pathetic job in how they made Thanos a less ridiculous character (I mean, from "infinitely lame" to "infinitely lame -1", so...). Ron Lim's art is great, though.

I managed to finish Breed (the third and final mini-series was released in 2011, after 15 years from the second: I missed it).

I then went back to the old Dreadstar stories, and though absurdly verbose (hello, '70s comics), they do a certain type of space opera/fantasy relatively well.

I am trying to close this file. Wish me good luck!

Kieron Gillen:

OK, I finished his The Wicked+The Divine.

Premise: the gods are re-incarnated every 90 years, live 2 years, and they they are gone.

This time, they look like mega stardom pop stars (e.g., Prince, Kanye West, David Bowie, Daft Punk...), and are all ex-fans promoted to divine beings.

...my 0.02 cents: this is an absolutely irksome premise that the writer (and James MacElvie at pencils) develop in a really skilled manner ("Pop stars are gods! Let's worship them!").

One aspect that I like, from a mere narrative point of view, is that they try to give renditions of pop-stars as inherently fictional characters and embed them in the comic.

For instance one character, "Inanna", overimposes the Sumerian god and "Prince" as the character that Prince Roger Nelson played to the public; "Lucifer" is a girl playing David Bowie circa "The Thin White Duke"; and so on.

Honestly, I think that only a 4-5 of these characters actually work (out of 12), but trying to use one of David Bowie's on-stage characters in a rather different narrative setting must be hard (congrats, Kieron).

A rare case in which I have been able to finish up a narrative even if I cannot absolutely stand the subject matter, because the authors tried really hard to do something interesting with it (MacElvie's art, I loved it).

I also finished 3 and Uber. The first one is a well-researched story about a trio of Spartan helots fleeing from 300 Spartan warriors. The second one is "The nazi develop absurdly powerful super-heroes in June 1945".

The first one is a really sober work with no clearly lazy ideas and plot; the second one is an attempt at taking a very lame idea and developing it in a non-trivial manner (it does fall apart, near the end of the second series).

I might read more from this guy.

Michael Moorcock:

I am trying to get a hold of his comics series, and I re-read some works here and there, while also reading the (very old) adaptations published by First Comics.

Witholding judgement for a while, but the "whiny teenage boy" vibe of early Elric stories is hard to handle for my current me, and the "quick buck penny dreadful" style of Hawkmoon stories makes me wanna cry, now.

This retrospective may turn out to be quite the ordeal, I guess.

Finally, I tried to go through Garth Ennis' catalogue, so I was able to finish Preacher (OK ending) and Jimmy's Bastards (hilarious spoof of James Bond and the Brit-style spy genre).

The rest, I had to stop at synopses.

I always thought that this guy is a master character writer, but not much else. Maybe I can try his "War genre" works, as I remember that he can write this type of fiction really well.

Still here, reading? Whoa, is that your longest shit, ever? Thanks for reading this.

...I am almost on the cusp of beginning to be on the verge of starting to think that maybe, just maybe, I could go through Warren Ellis' works.

The sane part of me says that I shouldn't, and if anything I should stop dealing with fiction, in general.

I wish that I could blame the whisky for this post, but it is 12.43 pm and I don't really drink anymore, anyway.

My official excuse is that I added a single comment each day, in the last month or so, and without ever checking if the whole post made any sense (I forgot to also write down time stamps: sorry).

Hey, Anno (Hideaki) and most of the authors above have built illustrious careers out of the same approach to writing, so I could be partially forgiven, after all!

If you really have finished reading this drivel and you post proof, I would buy you drinks whenever we will meet in real life, promised

EDIT:

I started the draft of this post last 10th of July, and I also finished the comic version of The Walking Dead. I have no excuse to offer, as to why I started this one: I really plead guilty!

[BrainΦΠΦTemple]

i'm casually reading an introductOry textbook on contemporary metaphysics because i'm fuCking autistic

here is the bOring cover:


it's a pretty gOod analytical intro tHat's written in an aristotelian style. got only one more chapter to gO

[Randorama]

Oh, a metaphysics textbook. Liking it so far?

[BrainΦΠΦTemple]

Oh, a metaphysics textbook. Liking it so far?

yAp, it's pretty good. just finished it. i now have the necessary tools to successfully wedgie a nerd in all pOssible worlds 5/5

[Randorama]

Not sure what a wedgie is or why you would want to do one to begin with, but you may be interested in moving to an introduction to formal logic as your next possible step.

Modal logic ("possible worlds") and (formal) ontology could be the next steps, then, but you can choose any other topics based on interests.

[BrainΦΠΦTemple]

Not sure what a wedgie is or why you would want to do one to begin with, but you may be interested in moving to an introduction to formal logic as your next possible step.

Modal logic ("possible worlds") and (formal) ontology could be the next steps, then, but you can choose any other topics based on interests.

it's honestly impressive to have nOt ever heard the term "wedgie" before, but if yOu don't live in the u.s., then you get a free pass on tHat :>

"wedgie: an uncomfortable tightening of the underpants between the buttocks, typically produced when someone pulls the underpants up from the back as a prank." =D
i dunnO why i would do tHat either. we'd have to take tHat up with the possible worlds versions of me on why i do tHat in those worlds

anyway, i'm familar with a decent amOunt of philosophy already (probably helps tHat i have two friends who're well-versed in the subject, and one is wOrking on his phd dissertation), and i read a lot of canonical stuff like kant, descartes, berkeley, marx (who's a fuCking retard), nietzsche, spinoza, hegel, hume, bergson, wittgenstein, heidegger, plato, aristotle, etc., and a lot of obscure stuff too like william temple, william todd (really overlooked analytical philosopher -- highly recOmmend his bOoks, "analytical solipsism" and "history as applied science,") and i bought oman's "natural and the supernatural" a little while ago and plan to read tHat here soon (i'm not religious at all, but i think the philosophy of religiOn is pretty fun to read.) i also like to read john cage's philosophical writings on mUsic. i think eastern thOught is also cool and really dig the kyoto school. so far, i mOstly only have second hand knowledge of the kyoto school, but i like keiji nishitani a lot and read the majority of "religion and nOthingness." i plan to go back and reread it. (i have sOme formal logic bOoks on my to-reads shelf on goodreads already tOo.)
i just rEad the textbook for fun, but i appreciate the advice regardless ^^

i usually like to read this stuff to get ideas fOr world building in music compositions

[DMC]

Ringu by Koji Suzuki (my first finished book on an Ebook reader).
I had watched the feature film first and was surprised by how much they changed the story from the novel to the film. I liked the film characters more actually.
9/10 book and 10/10 film in my opinion. A bit tempted to read more Japanese supernatural horrors now.

[Randorama]

[....]
i just rEad the textbook for fun, but i appreciate the advice regardless ^^

i usually like to read this stuff to get ideas fOr world building in music compositions

No worries for me, though I admit that these days I seldom read works that are not formally oriented or from authors who are generally not philosophers (an exception is Thomas Metzinger, for instance). These days I am going through the more philosophical publications of Axel Cleeremans, when I have some spare time.

If you want some inspiration regarding music, you could read more on cognition of music.

I haven't really touched a book on this topic since graduate school (i.e. 10 years ago), but there has been quite some strong progress on the topic in the last 20 years or so.

[BrainΦΠΦTemple]

[....]
i just rEad the textbook for fun, but i appreciate the advice regardless ^^

i usually like to read this stuff to get ideas fOr world building in music compositions

No worries for me, though I admit that these days I seldom read works that are not formally oriented or from authors who are generally not philosophers (an exception is Thomas Metzinger, for instance). These days I am going through the more philosophical publications of Axel Cleeremans, when I have some spare time.

If you want some inspiration regarding music, you could read more on cognition of music.

I haven't really touched a book on this topic since graduate school (i.e. 10 years ago), but there has been quite some strong progress on the topic in the last 20 years or so.

cognition of music sEems interesting =oc
interesting timing tOo since my friend gave me a bOok rec on the subject a few days ago called "the emotional pOwer of music," so i guess i'll start there

lOoked up axel cleeremans and added some of his stuff to my to-reads shelf. was gOnna add thomas metzinger too, but i apparently already had him added lol

[Randorama]

All very good!

If you want to have a laugh, anything by Jerry Fodor is good reading (including, of course, his articles on opera show). The man had a particularly vitriolic and hilarious way of presenting his arguments that made even his most technical books (e.g. Modularity of Mind) quite entertaining, for a lack of a better term.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Louise Erdrich got Pulitzer Prize for The Night Watchman novel. I find it remarkable as I've only read (in late nineteen-nineties) Love Medicine by her and, although I'm not even sure if I'd thought much of it back when, it's a title I've been frequently reminiscing upon in recent years. So it must have done something right. I intend to purchase The Night Watchman, then, and give it to my sister as a birthday present (intending to borrow and read it myself, of course).

Currently I am reading a collection of essays by Jindřich Chalupecký - apparently essays as a genre are notoriously tough sell in this day and age, so this Polish edition seeing daylight is quite a wonder. I once read one of these in the legendary Literatura na świecie sampler, that somehow managed to get away with such publications in People's Republic of Poland (whereas in Czechoslovakia, Chalupecký's writings were effectively banned). It's a thing of history, what major balls Literatura na świecie had, and it hasn't aged one bit - whenever I stumble upon any "old" issue new to me, I tend to read all of it.

Been reading an awful lot of things lately, being on sick leave, hoping supplementary sessions of arcade-style gaming will keep my eysight from deteriorating. I sure have more urging matters to deal with while I don't do my day job, but I so feel I deserve to spoil myself with a good read. Can't even be bothered doing tourism, or getting a new PC. Letting myself to grow an ounce or two of fat like that (I'm lucky to get rid of it easily when I get serious).

[BitGid]

One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun.

Korean magical realism set in a Seoul slum electronics market where the shadows of the slums residents start to 'rise', becoming independent from their owners. It has a real dream-like quality and is quite bleak.