The Book thread
- Czech's Mate
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 4033
- Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2010 7:58 pm
- Location: Northampton....not Wellingborough!
Re: The Book thread
Re reading The Book Of Dave by Will Self....and am enjoying it even more than the fist time I read it...which I find hard to believe, cos I loved it so much first time round
Television is the opium of the people
kanet666 wrote: I can deal with the odd Slipknot track now and then. Pantera on the other hand are dreadful and I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a rusty fork than put up with them.
Re: The Book thread
Just finished "Gardens of the moon". Looks like I'll have to read the rest of the Malazan books now, too.
I've now started "A wise man's fear".
I've now started "A wise man's fear".
CH3NO2 -- It's the only way to be sure
You laugh at me because I'm different. I pity you, you're all the same...
You laugh at me because I'm different. I pity you, you're all the same...
- MetalBeast
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 8867
- Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:44 pm
- Location: Nottingham
Re: The Book thread
Fucking hell Atlas Shrugged is slow! I don't mind Rand's writing style, but I'm about 800 pages in and haven't had any real excitement...other than perhaps my alarm at her selfish, elitist, naive view of the world.
Thankfully, I'm nearing the end of the book.
Thankfully, I'm nearing the end of the book.
All right, so I MADE a mistake! ONE MISTAKE!
Can't a man start over?! Do I have to keep on PAYING?! HUH?!
Maybe I should make another mistake! ...maybe TWO more!
Can't a man start over?! Do I have to keep on PAYING?! HUH?!
Maybe I should make another mistake! ...maybe TWO more!
- Matty_the_Emo_Slayer
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 12233
- Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 6:48 pm
- Location: Hellfast, Northern Fireland
Re: The Book thread
This week- Sommerville & Ross- The Real Charlotte and extracts from Nietzsche- The Birth Of Tragedy
Upcoming Gigs
Aug 25|Bangor|PiL+Undertones+XSLF+Outcasts
Sept 7|B'fast|Rose Tattoo+Girlschool
Sept 15|Dub|Cruachan+Skyclad+Waylander
Sept 27|B'fast|RBOTN+Midnight Force
Oct 10|B'fast|Enslaved+High On Fire
- Czech's Mate
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 4033
- Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2010 7:58 pm
- Location: Northampton....not Wellingborough!
Re: The Book thread
Michel Houellebecq ...the map and the territory....bleak as fuck....
Television is the opium of the people
kanet666 wrote: I can deal with the odd Slipknot track now and then. Pantera on the other hand are dreadful and I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a rusty fork than put up with them.
- thehairyone
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 5387
- Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:19 pm
- Location: The badger sett
- Contact:
Re: The Book thread
Tet wrote:Just finished "Gardens of the moon". Looks like I'll have to read the rest of the Malazan books now, too.
I've now started "A wise man's fear".
I couldn't get on with them. I have to give up halfway through three... or four. not sure. They all just blurred.
Currently on The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson - that man needs more awards. Lots more. Also, I'd like some of his ability to invent worlds, please. If he breaks from his usual trilogy method, these will challenge Wheel of Time.
Re: The Book thread
Reading "snuff" at the moment and it's pretty damn well write considering the Author in question has Alzheimer's.
Re: The Book thread
Got Yahtzee Croshaw's new book "Jam" through the post this morning. Opened at the first page to have a look at his writing style and stuff. Before I knew it I'd finished the first chapter, just standing in my kitchen
Buy me a beer at:
8-11/8 - Bloodstock
8-11/8 - Bloodstock
Re: The Book thread
Just finished the Mistborn trilogy. Fucking spafftastic! I love Brandon Sanderson's writing style
http://www.facebook.com/farseermetal
Jobdone wrote:Currently jealous of my mate whose got tomorrow off and can just hammer it for 3 days straight.
- Metalchemyst
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 4999
- Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 1:52 pm
- Location: Grtr Manchester
Re: The Book thread
Aaaarrrrgggghhhh wrote:Will have to delve into Tolkien before the first Hobbit movie is released, even though I know them backwards.
The Hobbit: Back and There Again
DISTORTION JUNKIES SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH
- Matty_the_Emo_Slayer
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 12233
- Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 6:48 pm
- Location: Hellfast, Northern Fireland
Re: The Book thread
James Joyce- Ullyses
Upcoming Gigs
Aug 25|Bangor|PiL+Undertones+XSLF+Outcasts
Sept 7|B'fast|Rose Tattoo+Girlschool
Sept 15|Dub|Cruachan+Skyclad+Waylander
Sept 27|B'fast|RBOTN+Midnight Force
Oct 10|B'fast|Enslaved+High On Fire
- Fjar
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 10152
- Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:22 pm
- Location: Alfreton, Derbyshire
- Contact:
Re: The Book thread
Decided I wanted to read The Hobbit again and got it on my Kindle in seconds. Score.
Luke_X wrote:Got a ruler out and I measure it about 11 inches. Which pretty good value in my mind.
- MetalBeast
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 8867
- Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:44 pm
- Location: Nottingham
Re: The Book thread
Finally finished Atlas Shrugged. It was slow going because I didn't really enjoy it and getting through it felt like a chore. Wanted to finish it though, to get a proper picture of why cunts like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh like it so much.
Even looking at it objectively, putting aside for a moment my disagreement with it's philosophy, I thought it was reasonably well written buy FUCKING slow. Hardly anything exciting happens until the last third of the book and the romance aspect of it is doesn't stir much emotion. The first two thirds could have been condensed into one and I dare say that the whole thing could easily have been done in half the word count (the book is 1168 pages and 500,000+ words - in the same ball-park as all three books of Lord of the Rings) - as long as John Galt's speech was left in tact, you could edit much of it down considerably.
From my own point of view, getting round to the philosophy, this book is very elitist and right wing, advocating laissez-faire capitalism and plutocracy.
According to Rand:
- Greed is good
- Robin Hood is the epitome of evil
- Help should only be given if the recipient is virtuous (e.g. the "deserving" poor)
- Justice is the opposite of charity
- Forgiveness is a sin
- Only the elite are capable of achieving anything and everyone else is incompetent
- The workers owe everything to the entrepreneurs that employ them
My point of view is very much at odds with all of that, which is one of the reasons I didn't enjoy the book.
It beggars belief that certain high profile Americans can advocate Rand's philosophy and still claim to be Christian, especially considering Anton Lavey used as the basis of much of his brand of Satanism - "Rand with ritual" is how he described it.
I wouldn't recommend reading this book. I wouldn't say "don't read it" either but, if you do, be prepared for a very hard slog - this book is to railways what Lord of the Rings is to walking...but without the scenery...or the monsters...or anything particularly exciting until the last third of the book. Also be prepared for a lot of right-wing dogma which, if you're left-wing, will stir the sort of hatred usually reserved for Margaret Thatcher.
-----------------------
So relieved to be able to start reading something enjoyable again, gonna start on a Michael Moorcock anthology soon.
I am actually tempted to read Rand's "The Fountainhead" and "Anthem" at some point (thankfully they're much shorter than Atlas Shrugged) but that won't be anytime soon.
Probably gonna give "Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand be Damned!" by Stephen Goldstien a go soonish though. Some consider Atlas Shrugged to be "beyond parody" so it'll be interesting to see someone having a go.
Even looking at it objectively, putting aside for a moment my disagreement with it's philosophy, I thought it was reasonably well written buy FUCKING slow. Hardly anything exciting happens until the last third of the book and the romance aspect of it is doesn't stir much emotion. The first two thirds could have been condensed into one and I dare say that the whole thing could easily have been done in half the word count (the book is 1168 pages and 500,000+ words - in the same ball-park as all three books of Lord of the Rings) - as long as John Galt's speech was left in tact, you could edit much of it down considerably.
From my own point of view, getting round to the philosophy, this book is very elitist and right wing, advocating laissez-faire capitalism and plutocracy.
According to Rand:
- Greed is good
- Robin Hood is the epitome of evil
- Help should only be given if the recipient is virtuous (e.g. the "deserving" poor)
- Justice is the opposite of charity
- Forgiveness is a sin
- Only the elite are capable of achieving anything and everyone else is incompetent
- The workers owe everything to the entrepreneurs that employ them
My point of view is very much at odds with all of that, which is one of the reasons I didn't enjoy the book.
It beggars belief that certain high profile Americans can advocate Rand's philosophy and still claim to be Christian, especially considering Anton Lavey used as the basis of much of his brand of Satanism - "Rand with ritual" is how he described it.
I wouldn't recommend reading this book. I wouldn't say "don't read it" either but, if you do, be prepared for a very hard slog - this book is to railways what Lord of the Rings is to walking...but without the scenery...or the monsters...or anything particularly exciting until the last third of the book. Also be prepared for a lot of right-wing dogma which, if you're left-wing, will stir the sort of hatred usually reserved for Margaret Thatcher.
-----------------------
So relieved to be able to start reading something enjoyable again, gonna start on a Michael Moorcock anthology soon.
I am actually tempted to read Rand's "The Fountainhead" and "Anthem" at some point (thankfully they're much shorter than Atlas Shrugged) but that won't be anytime soon.
Probably gonna give "Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand be Damned!" by Stephen Goldstien a go soonish though. Some consider Atlas Shrugged to be "beyond parody" so it'll be interesting to see someone having a go.
All right, so I MADE a mistake! ONE MISTAKE!
Can't a man start over?! Do I have to keep on PAYING?! HUH?!
Maybe I should make another mistake! ...maybe TWO more!
Can't a man start over?! Do I have to keep on PAYING?! HUH?!
Maybe I should make another mistake! ...maybe TWO more!
- Darkweasel
- Denim Demon
- Posts: 14556
- Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 10:08 pm
- Location: Shakespeare Cuntry
- Contact:
Re: The Book thread
Just got up to the dwarves meeting Beorn in The Hobbit.
Without doubt, the single most boring chapter of any book I've ever read ever.
Without doubt, the single most boring chapter of any book I've ever read ever.
Re: The Book thread
Darkweasel wrote:Just got up to the dwarves meeting Beorn in The Hobbit.
Without doubt, the single most boring chapter of any book I've ever read ever.
You sir, have obviously never read the Chronicles of Narnia. The entire run of books were dull as fook
http://www.facebook.com/farseermetal
Jobdone wrote:Currently jealous of my mate whose got tomorrow off and can just hammer it for 3 days straight.