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Hung Yuri posted:Has anyone read "The Chronicles of the Black Company" or other books by Glen Cook? I picked up the first two books used; I only read the first one. I really didn't like his style, the whole thing just seemed...flat. As if it were a low budget movie with bad acting.
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Aug 26, 2010 05:35
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I've been thinking of starting reading Romance of Three Kingdoms. That style of heroes and heroic story telling really appeals to me but holy poo poo 1000+ Characters and 120 chapters?  Is this book gonna be worth the time I'm gonna have to put in.
Nemesis Of Moles fucked around with this message at 10:06 on Aug 28, 2010 |
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Aug 28, 2010 02:03
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Nemesis Of Moles posted:I've been thinking of starting reading Romance of Three Kingdoms. That @style@ of heroes and heroic story telling really appeals to me but holy poo poo 1000+ Characters and 120 chapters? I have this version, which I'm not sure is the "best" translation but certainly works. I've only read about 200 pages in and that was about a year ago, but I remember it being very engaging. I think it would be worth your while if you don't mind taking your time with it in order to understand the intricacies. I know there are several websites dedicated to Three Kingdoms so you can always reference them for keeping track of the narrative and characters. It's arguably the greatest work of Chinese literature, perhaps the greatest of the eastern world, so with a good translation it'll definitely be worth it.
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Aug 28, 2010 03:42
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I'd say ROTK's definitely worth it if you're interested in the subject matter. As Jive One said, make sure you find a translation you're comfortable reading before you start, and make sure you get the complete edition. This is the guide I used before buying my copy (starts a little ways down,) and I ended up getting this edition.
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Aug 28, 2010 05:08
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What about The Tale of Genji? I got it a while ago and read for a bit. I kind of like it, but I think I just got overwhelmed because it too has a ton of characters (at the start of each chapter mine has a list of who's in that particular one. Don't know if that's standard).
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Aug 28, 2010 13:25
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Jive One posted:I have this version, Yeah, I read through that copy a few years back (  ); the translation is serviceable, and he does his best to update it from the hilariously dated prose of the old Wade-Giles style earlier translations. Makes a few culturally appropriate corrections too, I think. It's an okay story--part political record, part strategy manual, part rambling family history. There's a few parts that drag a lot, but I found the most value in the notes describing how different versions of the story emphasized or changed things depending on historical circumstance. Or how some characters were straight up different from the recorded person. As most foreigners will be, it's hard to be familiar with the locations and intervening dynasties that colour the work, but it's got merit in understanding that part of Chinese culture, for sure. Also: Zhuge--literally the only smart dude in that period.
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Aug 28, 2010 20:19
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The worst part about reading the Three Kingdoms is knowing roughly what happens to awesome dudes like Guan Yu and then having to read their mistakes and watching their fortunes gradually unravel. It's kind of a depressing book.
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Aug 29, 2010 07:27
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I need help from fellow goons in identifying a book. It's bugging the hell out of me! Many years ago in my teens I read this awesome book, a collection of sci-fi/horror storries. It was in the library of my grandparents' village. I am sure I jotted down the name somewhere at that time, but after a few readings I knew the book so well that it didn't even occur to me to leave a more serious reminder of it somewhere, just in case. Well of course now many years have gone by and I've totally forgotten its name or writer (not even sure if it was all by the same author or not). I have really vague memories of 3 particular stories in it, and an even vaguer recollection of a story about a cube (?) which might have also been the title of the book (but don't take my word for it): Sorry for any spoilers to those who get interested in the book in case we identify it, but I remember as it is too little details about the book, so I need to write all I remember in case someone remembers it: Story A: 3rd person pov: Character is a male, writer. There's a sort of dust/hair(?) cluster small thingie or something which would look very inconspicous normally, but it keeps moving when he doesnt look, and he starts noticing and thinking he is crazy, in the end the stuff kills him. I know it sounds silly! But the story was creepy, main ideas being writer guy and small inconspicous thingie moving when he doesnt look and killing him in the end. Story B: 3rd person pov: Busy city on random planet, filled with weird stuff and lowlife and thieves etc etc. Two guys spot one day a pretty girl, who seems to be malnourished, poor, hiding in a garden/park(?) They also notice each other. They were rivels either from before or now for the girl. The girl is wearing a weird furr cover. One of the guys manages to find the girl, get her alone, tries to rape her, the furr cover on the girl eats him alive. Second guy doesnt notice this, he gets to the girl also, is filled with sense of success over beating the other guy and in getting the elusive girl, but quite soon he is eaten also, the furr thingie is protecting the girl. Story C: 1st person pov: Alien planet, alien race (main character not one of them) strange festival, everyone wearing masks, at midnight something with the masks is supposed to happen (?). Main character gets his mask taken off only to discover his face was the same as the mask or another mask? or something similarly weird. My memory is awful, I know.  Not 100% sure that story C was part of that same book, but pretty sure. This was more than 10 years ago, and it being in a crappy library (and translated) means at least 14 years ago original publication.
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Sep 1, 2010 21:55
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Story D: Hallowe’en incident—mirror in cellar—face seen therein—death (claw-mark?). Story E: Vampire dog.
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Sep 1, 2010 21:59
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Interesting but don't ring a bell. I loved this book so much. It's so frustrating, feeling so close to remembering, almost seeing the cover and title and author, but not quite getting there. I always felt its an advantage that I forget details of books and movies in time, and get a high re'play' value later and then again, experience them in part as if it was the first time. But in this case.. 
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Sep 1, 2010 22:19
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Merope posted:Interesting but don't ring a bell. Story A reminds me of a short story that I'm pretty sure was in a collection written or edited by Mercedes Lackey. A guy notices that a piece of cardboard blowing along the road is actually moving against the wind. It turns out to be a weird creature from Native American legend that mimics other creatures/things. It lives off roadkill on the sides of the road. It somehow realizes he knows what it is, and it severs the brakes on his car, killing him. Maybe?
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Sep 2, 2010 12:26
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Ah no thats not it, but thanks  My story is indoors, the guy is a writer, and the whole thing has a sort of Edgar Alan Poe vibe to it. And the thing is not a box or anything similarly well defined, shaped, it was something small, like a ball of hair and dust or something.
Merope fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Sep 2, 2010 |
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Sep 2, 2010 13:13
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Merope posted:Ah no thats not it, but thanks Perhaps it is the spectre of Communism haunting our young entrepreneur?
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Sep 2, 2010 17:51
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ONE TWO THREE TIMES TWO TO THE SIX/JONESING FOR YOUR FIX OF THAT LIMP BIZKIT MIX
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My copy of the Communist Manifesto is 75% prefaces from various editions.
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Sep 2, 2010 23:04
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I think it's strange that I own all 3 volumes of Capital, Theories of Surplus Value (the "4th volume" of Capital), and Grundrisse (the "preliminary" Capital), but don't own either The Communist Manifesto or The German Ideology. I know the anti-Semitism is what keeps me away from the latter even though it's been very influential in literary critical circles, and I guess I just don't care about what amounts to a political tract for the former.
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Sep 2, 2010 23:48
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Also, here's a very interesting article from the (very conservative) National Review Online about Ayn Rand's fiction from a person who 1) has read her, and 2) doesn't much like her: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/244381/greatly-ghastly-rand-jason-lee-steorts?page=1 I can't say I exactly agree with him about the "soul-searching" of The Fountainhead, but I've only read the first 50 pages of Atlas Shrugged (in disgust) and so I imagine our disagreements would just be ideological (whether her "ideal man" is useful/good/etc), but it's nice to read something like this from someone who has read her, would ideologically be prone to like her, and still doesn't.
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Sep 2, 2010 23:53
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When I was younger, like maybe 14 or 15, I read The Fountainhead because hey, scholarship money. I started reading Atlas Shrugged later on for the same reason, though I never finished it. (Incidentally, I never got a scholarship from the Objectivists, either, so I have no problem damning Rand.) Anyway, at the time I was dumb enough as a reader not to really process how batshit repulsive Rand was, or could be, yet I still kind of disliked the books on an instinctive level. In retrospect I find myself agreeing a lot with that article, if not exactly. For me the most compelling element of The Fountainhead was the villain Toohey, who has this sort of Marlovian love-to-hate-him thing going on. I suppose this was a precursor of my current academic interests in grotesques. Also, quote:endless gushing about their exalted feelings, Rand’s attempt to steal with treacle what she has not earned with character development heh.
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Sep 3, 2010 00:21
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LooseChanj posted:My copy of the Communist Manifesto is 75% prefaces from various editions. Interested in a first edition..? It seems to have been designed to be carried in a standard jacket pocket and is thin enough to be mistaken for a cigar case. I'll part with it in exchange for a clean copy of You Can't Go Home Again.
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Sep 3, 2010 15:48
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Underflow posted:Interested in a first edition..? It seems to have been designed to be carried in a standard jacket pocket and is thin enough to be mistaken for a cigar case. I'll part with it in exchange for a clean copy of You Can't Go Home Again. You mean the Thomas Wolfe book? Can you post pics of the condition? I might be (very) interested in this.
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Sep 3, 2010 18:12
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7 y.o. bitch posted:You mean the Thomas Wolfe book? Can you post pics of the condition? I might be (very) interested in this. It's currently in a personal safebox in Monaco together with other literary valuables, 'as I almost had a good part of my library stolen a few years ago. Apart from some slight wear of the front and back cover (probably caused by carrying it in a jacket pocket, like I said), it's as pristine as you might expect from a book that age. No underlinings, margin notations, tears, rips, or dogears. No dedication either. I'll send you pics via PM next time I'm in the South-East if you can wait that long. I've also stashed some virgin Kant, Hegel, and Wittgenstein stashed away if you like that sort of thing.
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Sep 3, 2010 18:36
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Underflow posted:It's currently in a personal safebox in Monaco together with other literary valuables, 'as I almost had a good part of my library stolen a few years ago. Apart from some slight wear of the front and back cover (probably caused by carrying it in a jacket pocket, like I said), it's as pristine as you might expect from a book that age. No underlinings, margin notations, tears, rips, or dogears. No dedication either. I'll send you pics via PM next time I'm in the South-East if you can wait that long. I've also stashed some virgin Kant, Hegel, and Wittgenstein stashed away if you like that sort of thing. Absolutely (the Kant, Hegel, Wittgenstein, etc) But you're talking about a new copy of the Wolfe book, right? 7 y.o. bitch fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Sep 3, 2010 |
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Sep 3, 2010 18:54
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7 y.o. bitch posted:Absolutely (the Kant, Hegel, Wittgenstein, etc) Sure, you can have those too. I'm past enjoying that sort of reasoning and only hung on to them because they were a) gifts, b) valuable. The donors are all dead, and I don't need the money, so a clean swap sounds just fine to me. Apart from You Can't Go Home Again, I also have Quiet Days In Clichy, Faust, and Effi Briest on my wishlist. None of these have to be new, as long as they're clean and well-treated. I don't mind underlinings or annotations in the margins, but the pages should be intact. I'll let you know when I'm back from Monaco with the loot. Better edit out your e-mail until then; we'll arrange things over PM when the time comes. e: removed 7 y.o. bitch's e-mail address Underflow fucked around with this message at 10:17 on Sep 4, 2010 |
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Sep 3, 2010 20:00
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For next month's book club, can we read something from the Booker shortlist? e: If any are in paperbook, which I'm guessing they won't be 
knees of putty fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Sep 7, 2010 |
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Sep 7, 2010 15:28
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Just ordered Cyclonopedia. Is there a thread about it somewhere? I have a pretty high expectation of wanting to discuss this one once I'm knee deep in it.
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Sep 8, 2010 16:28
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Hi 'friends'ish, is there an active Kurt Vonnegut thread in this subforum? I've had a bit of a squiz, but I haven't found anything. Granted, my 'squiz' took less than two minutes, but I'm Gen Y, it's not my fault, lol, etc. But, yeah, if there isn't a Kurt thread (which I find hard to believe), shoud one be started? Also, where's the Don DeLillo thread? There should be a hyperlinked list as a sticky. Just sayin'.
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Sep 8, 2010 18:35
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Neither of those exist, but if you make them I will post in them.
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Sep 8, 2010 18:44
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igby posted:Hi 'friends'ish, Why do people ask things like this? There are only five pages of threads, it takes all of half a minute to find this out.
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Sep 8, 2010 18:59
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Also, Don DeLillo sucks and should get over his fear of supermarkets, Christ.
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Sep 8, 2010 19:02
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7 y.o. bitch posted:Also, Don DeLillo sucks and should get over his fear of supermarkets, Christ. Can't be a serious post. But if it is, you should start a thread so we can talk about it.
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Sep 8, 2010 19:09
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CaptainPsyko posted:Just ordered Cyclonopedia. Is there a thread about it somewhere? I have a pretty high expectation of wanting to discuss this one once I'm knee deep in it. I found it pretty much unreadable garbage.
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Sep 8, 2010 19:22
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flavaaDAAAAAVE posted:Can't be a serious post. But if it is, you should start a thread so we can talk about it. Or, we can talk about it in the ongoing chat about anything thread. While reading White Noise, I constantly had the feeling of vomit attempting to escape past my epiglottis. So much so that I decided to devote a large portion of my dissertation toward epiglottal references in postmodern literature. I was able to get my committee advisors - Professors John C., Catherine B., and Marianne A. - so excited about the project that they even began a Center for Pharyngeal Studies in Comparative Literature the following quarter. The sign for the new center was printed by Big AND Luscious Graphix, Inc. I would often watch the new undergraduate students, with their Michael Jordan AIR high-tops, North Face backpacks in pinks and blues, pink and faux-diamond studded Nokia GLAMOUR phones, sideways Red Sox caps, purple jeggings, and Dulce and Gabbana Space Pimp sunglasses, walk past our little diminutive center near the Middle Earth (sponsored by Coca-Cola and Verizon) dormitories, and think to myself: How little are they aware of? How little do they know about the real world? In fact, what was there to know except the sighs of one million corpses as they exhaled the toxic dust of a large Southern California metropolis?
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Sep 8, 2010 19:30
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7 y.o. bitch posted:Or, we can talk about it in the ongoing chat about anything thread. While reading White Noise, I constantly had the feeling of vomit attempting to escape past my epiglottis. So much so that I decided to devote a large portion of my dissertation toward epiglottal references in postmodern literature. I was able to get my committee advisors - Professors John C., Catherine B., and Marianne A. - so excited about the project that they even began a Center for Pharyngeal Studies in Comparative Literature the following quarter. The sign for the new center was printed by Big AND Luscious Graphix, Inc. I would often watch the new undergraduate students, with their Michael Jordan AIR high-tops, North Face backpacks in pinks and blues, pink and faux-diamond studded Nokia GLAMOUR phones, sideways Red Sox caps, purple jeggings, and Dulce and Gabbana Space Pimp sunglasses, walk past our little diminutive center near the Middle Earth (sponsored by Coca-Cola and Verizon) dormitories, and think to myself: How little are they aware of? How little do they know about the real world? In fact, what was there to know except the sighs of one million corpses as they exhaled the toxic dust of a large Southern California metropolis?  Since I don't think I can get away with an emoticon only reply here, I'll toss out a question: I just grabbed a copy of the current Penguin edition of Gargantua and Pantagruel, which is the Screech translation, but I've had trouble finding opinions on how good/bad it is. I've been less than impressed with the most recent Penguin translations of Borges and The Táin, and Rabelais translations are a grab-bag anyway, so I'm wondering what I should expect. Anyone have thoughts in either direction?
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Sep 8, 2010 21:47
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H.P. Shivcraft posted:I'll toss out a question: I just grabbed a copy of the current Penguin edition of Gargantua and Pantagruel, which is the Screech translation, but I've had trouble finding opinions on how good/bad it is. I've been less than impressed with the most recent Penguin translations of Borges and The Táin, and Rabelais translations are a grab-bag anyway, so I'm wondering what I should expect. Anyone have thoughts in either direction? That's funny, I got a used copy of JM Cohen's translation (Penguin's older translation) of that a few days ago and was wondering along the same lines: if I should have sprung a few more bucks and gone for the newer translation.
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Sep 9, 2010 04:44
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The gently caress is a squiz?
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Sep 9, 2010 06:10
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It's completely legitimate Australian slang. It means 'quick look' or 'glimpse'. 
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Sep 9, 2010 08:51
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Ok, what sort of theme should I go for in the poll for next month? I'm trying to think of stuff, and I like that Booker list thing.
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Sep 12, 2010 13:52
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LooseChanj posted:Ok, what sort of theme should I go for in the poll for next month? I'm trying to think of stuff, and I like that Booker list thing. - autobiographies (preferably non-ghostwritten)? - early (at least pre-WW2) 'exotic' travelogues? - accounts of expeditions into the then unknown? Sorry if this is not the kind of answer you're looking for. I'm not familiar with the usual procedure.
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Sep 13, 2010 22:26
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LooseChanj posted:Ok, what sort of theme should I go for in the poll for next month? I'm trying to think of stuff, and I like that Booker list thing. You could do short story collections. I bet a Borges collection like Ficciones or The Aleph (which contains my favorite short story, of the same name as the title,) would do really well. e:Here's the list I would do: Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciones David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men James Baldwin, Going to Meet the Man Donald Bartheme, Sixty Stories Flannery O'Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories 7 y.o. bitch fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Sep 13, 2010 |
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Sep 13, 2010 23:08
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I'm betting if you put Borges in a poll on here nothing else is going to even come close. Might as well skip the poll and just do Ficciones. I'd love that thread and would comment on every story!
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Sep 14, 2010 01:33
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These ideas all sound good. I like the idea of short stories or autobiographies. The more challenging and interesting the better.
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Sep 14, 2010 11:12
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