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Joramun posted:It was a harmless joke (and also good advice since it really is a wonderful device, but that is à propos).  Yes, people have large libraries because they are insecure and need social validation. CornHolio, the best shelves in my opinion will be built into the walls where you want them to be. You'd probably have to find someone to do this, but good shelving is definitely worth it. Also if you're having it done for you, you can choose the wood quality, how much space there should be, etc.
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Jan 6, 2012 21:20
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Joramun posted:It was a harmless joke (and also good advice since it really is a wonderful device, but that is à propos). It's also pitiful that some people will buy a house for self-validation when they could live just as well out of a motel. 
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Jan 6, 2012 22:01
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Juanito posted:
I don't like this idea. My parent's house has everything built into the walls - shelves for books (that they don't use), TVs, etc... and it really limits what you can do with furniture. Granted bookcases aren't exactly easy to move, but I don't like the idea of having them built into walls and making them so permanent. (Also, I have a hatred of e-readers. I like flipping through some of my favorite books and rereading parts I liked... hard to do in an e-reader. Also I think a good collection of interesting books can be a very good conversation-starter.) Ornamented Death posted:
I like this idea but I've never heard of a company that does this. I may have to do some searching when the time comes.
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Jan 6, 2012 22:11
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Joramun posted:It was a harmless joke (and also good advice since it really is a wonderful device, but that is à propos). There is literally nothing worthwhile or redeeming in this post. Congratulations. CornHolio, since you have some time to look before you buy your house, I'd just haunt craigslist, and check in with your local bookstores every once in a while, they may either know of people who are getting rid of shelving or may be doing so themselves. You can find some really nice bookshelves this way, provided you don't care about having a matching set. If you don't find anything you really like that way, you'll still have time to have shelves custom-built when you are getting ready to move into the new house.
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Jan 7, 2012 00:16
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How many people posting in TBB have an account on Goodreads? Friends of mine put me onto it recently. It's really fantastic for discussing what you read but It's truly indispensable for It's 'want to read' book management. Was thinking of starting a thread where people could post links to theory accounts and get info on how the system works but I thought I'd check here first (i can't use search atm)
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Jan 7, 2012 01:15
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Goodreads has the worst recommendation system. I read A Game of Thrones and they recommended some Dr Seuss books. So take that for what you will.
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Jan 7, 2012 03:43
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I've never seen a website with a good recommendation system. Your best bet is to find people that have read the same books as you and have rated them similarly, then see what else they've read.
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Jan 7, 2012 04:03
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Yeah but its peer matching system is pretty good. The whole allowing you to compare all the books you and another person have read (as well as the respective ratings) is a much better system than the computer generated recommendations. Any objections to starting a goodreads page sharing thread?
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Jan 7, 2012 04:03
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A lot of people post their goodreads accounts in the 52 books a year thread, so you might just look there.
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Jan 7, 2012 06:22
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Okay, I'm re-reading Lolita. I've never re-read it before and it's even better on a second read. However, I think it begs the question: why does society deem a lolita as being a sexually promiscuous young lady? Reading comprehension failure? Okay, maybe, because the writing is made to be ambiguous. But it's clear that Lolita was raped - repeatedly - her step father for years. Lolita is not a story about sexually promiscuity, it is a story of victimization.
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Jan 8, 2012 03:49
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Society has never felt the need to be particularly informed before voicing an opinion or casting an aspersion. Plus, when in doubt, it's always the female's fault!
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Jan 8, 2012 04:03
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It goes along with a culture that a) doesn't read, and b) is male-centric. To most people, it's a book about some 13 year old whore that seduces a guy and causes society to see him as a pervert.
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Jan 8, 2012 04:05
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Mind you, the term Lolita doesn't only refer to promiscuous young girls but also to sexually attractive girls. When I read Lolita I definitely thought that, while for the most part he is manipulative and a rapist, she also actively seduced him at times (although that behavior may have been a product of the situation she was put in, of course).
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Jan 8, 2012 04:45
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Joramun posted:Showing off your big I like having books on my shelves that my friends can browse and borrow, or just pick up and read while they're waiting for me to finish putting away laundry or whatever. As for the Kindle, it depends a lot on what kind of books one likes to read. I love mine muchly, but I also love turning the pages of a 100-year-old poetry books with marginalia from my husband's great-grandfather, or the hardbound copy of Punch I picked up from the 1840s with the full-page drawings. Some books have very tactile joys that I would miss in electronic form.
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Jan 8, 2012 04:48
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I think part of the problem has to do with the fact that the book is filtered through Humbert. So, there are times when she could appear to be somewhat aggressive or seductive, but then, he's trying to make us see her the way he saw her, so of course she's going to appear that way. Whether she 'actually' is seductive in the way Humbert sometimes paints her is up to the reader to figure out; personally, I think Humbert's full of it. Of course, a lot of people don't think in those kind of layers when they read a book (or read about it), so they don't pick up on the fact that Humbert's Lolita is probably not the "real" Lolita.
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Jan 8, 2012 04:51
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That's one of the many things that wasn't glaringly present the first time I read the book. Of course, I was in my late teens/early 20's at the time, but still. It's amazing how my thoughts of what the book's content entails has drastically changed in the past 5-7 years.
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Jan 8, 2012 05:11
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Rogue1-and-a-half posted:I think part of the problem has to do with the fact that the book is filtered through Humbert. So, there are times when she could appear to be somewhat aggressive or seductive, but then, he's trying to make us see her the way he saw her, so of course she's going to appear that way. Whether she 'actually' is seductive in the way Humbert sometimes paints her is up to the reader to figure out; personally, I think Humbert's full of it. Of course, a lot of people don't think in those kind of layers when they read a book (or read about it), so they don't pick up on the fact that Humbert's Lolita is probably not the "real" Lolita. This was pretty much my interpretation of her actions, along with the knowledge that young girls do often 'flirt' with, or have crushes on, men in this sort of situation and Dolores' flirtations therefore were not necessarily indicative of sexual promiscuity or of seduction. Rather I think they were the product of a pre teen trying to relate to a male figure (which was lacking in her life) in the age of the romance film/novel. The fact that people associate the word Lolita with a seductive teen really goes to show how effective a writer Nabokov (or Humbert) is in his ability to make you feel sympathy for a peadophile. That is to say, I don't think it's entirely male oriented stupidity that lead to many people seeing the book as a story of some slutty teen and the poor innocent dude she seduces.
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Jan 8, 2012 05:19
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Maybe we have the word lolita wrong? I brought this up to a friend and he suggested I have the term 'lolita' completely wrong. He corrected me in saying that a lolita is also a desirable young woman (from a man's point of view), and that the word may or may not have anything to do with in relation to being sexual precocious.
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Jan 8, 2012 05:24
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Idonie posted:As for the Kindle, it depends a lot on what kind of books one likes to read. I love mine muchly, but I also love turning the pages of a 100-year-old poetry books with marginalia from my husband's great-grandfather, or the hardbound copy of Punch I picked up from the 1840s with the full-page drawings. Some books have very tactile joys that I would miss in electronic form. But your great-grandchildren won't have to worry about such things, they'll just load up your ebooks with your annotations included.
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Jan 8, 2012 09:38
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I just finished "Callisto," and the author is (maybe) using a pseudonym. Anyone know anything concrete about the man Torsten Krol?
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Jan 8, 2012 11:59
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Himuro posted:Maybe we have the word lolita wrong? I brought this up to a friend and he suggested I have the term 'lolita' completely wrong. He corrected me in saying that a lolita is also a desirable young woman (from a man's point of view), and that the word may or may not have anything to do with in relation to being sexual precocious. I'm going by memory here, but doesn't the word predate Nabokov's novel? I remember reading a story in Harpers or something a while back about a similar story with the same name from the 20's.
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Jan 8, 2012 17:43
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I wouldn't know, but it's worth researching. I figured that the novel was so successful and revered that it coined a term into popular culture, not quite unlike Catch-22.
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Jan 8, 2012 17:52
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Here's the article I was thinking about, it seems the term's been around for a long time.Jonathan Lethem posted:Consider this tale: a cultivated man of middle age looks back on the story of an amour fou, one beginning when, traveling abroad, he takes a room as a lodger. The moment he sees the daughter of the house, he is lost. She is a preteen, whose charms instantly enslave him. Heedless of her age, he becomes intimate with her. In the end she dies, and the narrator—marked by her forever—remains alone. The name of the girl supplies the title of the story: Lolita. It's a good read, if you got a few minutes, I'd recommend reading Lethem's whole essay.
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Jan 8, 2012 18:08
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What's the best way to trade books online? I got a few google results that seem worthwhile, Paperbackswap and Bookmooch. Can anyone vouch for these services? I have a decent number of paperback books that I'd like to either give away or trade.
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Jan 8, 2012 20:02
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Utzie posted:What's the best way to trade books online? I got a few google results that seem worthwhile, Paperbackswap and Bookmooch. Can anyone vouch for these services? I have a decent number of paperback books that I'd like to either give away or trade. I used to trade a lot on Paperbackswap. Never had any problems, every person I traded with received their books and I received theirs. I would recommend it, but everyone's experience is different.
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Jan 8, 2012 20:15
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I was using PBS and it worked great. That said, eventually the books I wanted were never available.
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Jan 8, 2012 20:19
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I use Paperbackswap a whole lot, I've received tons of books, and mailed off many as well. I'm a big fan, although sometimes it can take awhile to get a book. It's good to add new books that interest you to the queue, so that you'll be one of the first people to get it if it becomes available. Some books have a long queue, and you won't be getting a copy of it ever, most likely. That being said, I have received very good quality books. I've received several books that have been brand new, and others that have been read once. Popular fiction moves very fast, so you'll easily be able to get books that way. Nonfiction is slower, but I've still gotten quite a bit.
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Jan 8, 2012 20:24
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I've also always had good luck with paperbackswap.com. In fact, this reminds me, I had a request come in for a book late last night and I'd almost forgotten about it.
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Jan 9, 2012 00:07
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Have you guys seen this new website called Small Demons? It is basically a database of every place, person, or thing in books. It only started up recently so there aren't a lot of books on there, but it's fun to play around with for a bit. It's in beta right now but you'll get an invite in under a day if you sign up.
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Jan 9, 2012 00:12
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I'm trying to purchase some ebooks by Ben Okri, and literally every site that sells ebooks by him won't let you download from inside the US. Is this a common thing with ebooks?
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Jan 9, 2012 04:45
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Help me find a book I don't remember. It's a sci-fi book I found on Amazon ages ago that for some reason, I just remembered and I want to read. I can't remember the name or author, just that the first chapter was called "Arc Circle Lens", I think, and it begins in mid-sentence. I remember a lot of the reviews complained about it's difficulty. I know that's not much but it's driving me nuts. I've tried Googling with that info but no luck. Oleum Animale 68C fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Jan 11, 2012 |
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Jan 11, 2012 21:47
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Oleum Animale 68C posted:Help me find a book I don't remember. Dhalgren by Samuel Delany's first chapter is called "Prism, Mirror, Lens" and begins mid-sentence. There's a thread for identifying books, you know.
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Jan 11, 2012 23:30
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Thanks, that was it.
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Jan 12, 2012 02:17
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I had no idea there was a thing for swapping books online. Thanks thread! It's something I've thought of and wished existed but for some reason I never bothered to look and see if it was an actual thing.
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Jan 13, 2012 03:41
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elbow posted:Have you guys seen this new website called Small Demons? It is basically a database of every place, person, or thing in books. It only started up recently so there aren't a lot of books on there, but it's fun to play around with for a bit.
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Jan 13, 2012 08:25
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You can get a free ebook from Chizine right now if go you here and follow the instructions. They publish horror and weird fiction.
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Jan 13, 2012 20:19
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By the way, anyone else a Good Reads librarian? I just signed up today, was wondering if you guys had some stuff to tell, good/bad, whatever. Mostly I signed up cause a lot of older Danish works and authors are terribly fragmented, and I'm on a binge of those right now, so I had to fix those so I wouldn't die from sperg overload.
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Jan 13, 2012 22:37
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It seems I have lost my desire to read. I was a voracious reader before high school, and actually taught myself English by reading an unholy amount of English books with the help of a dictionary. In high school I found there was no time to just kick back and read for fun. I just studied and did nothing else. Now I'm in college, but whenever I want to read a book I find myself getting bored after a few pages and dropping it to do something else. I sometimes do finish books, but I miss that feeling of completely being sucked into a story. I would like to go back to finishing books with something resembling regularity again. Any advice on rebuilding a reading habit?
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Jan 15, 2012 03:20
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UnfurledSails posted:Any advice on rebuilding a reading habit? Read every day. For most of my life, I have had the habit of reading in the hour before I go to bed. It's become a ritual that is a way of signalling my brain that the day is over and it's time to relax. While I will admit that there have been a few occasions where I stayed up too late because my book turned out to be a page-turner, that's not usually the case. Often, I will re-read books that I really enjoyed, which is how I manage to read all of the Dresden Files each time a new book is due to come out. I also often read rather than watch TV. YMMV.
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Jan 15, 2012 03:32
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UnfurledSails posted:Any advice on rebuilding a reading habit? - Post your likes, dislikes, and books that previously enthralled you, so that you can get recommendations for stuff that's more likely to draw you in. - Read Harry Potter or something. That's not an ironic or a condescending suggestion; I think sometimes you need to get drawn in with something that's quite "easy" simply in order to (re)experience what it's like to feel utterly and helplessly drawn in.
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Jan 15, 2012 03:55
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