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oddly enough, Kingsley Amis departed from his usual literary stuff to right a ghost story novel and that was v cool
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Jul 24, 2016 02:22
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Saerdna posted:What is the worst book you've read in the last few years? Confederacy of Dunces. Which says I read good books because it wasn't entirely awful, just the worst I've read in a while. Worst sci fi I've read recently is Luna by Ian McDonald. the_homemaster fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Jul 24, 2016 |
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Jul 24, 2016 02:27
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Saerdna posted:What is the worst book you've read in the last few years? Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes Ashley's War by Gayle Lemmon
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Jul 24, 2016 03:03
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Schmischmenjamin posted:I liked World War Z well enough for what it was. It may have been a time and place thing for me. That's one of those books I read at 17 that I probably will never return to. i thought WWZ was disappointing even as a sophomore in high school or whatever i was when it came out my copy of Hell House has this wicked cool cover art of a hooded skeleton outside of a deserted mansion and that's the sole reason i keep it in my collection because yeah the book blows also don't read anything Joe Hill wrote after HSB and 20th Century Ghosts. HSB is mediocre, 20th Century has some gems, but Horns and (ugh) N0S4A2 are just godawful chernobyl kinsman fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Jul 24, 2016 |
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Jul 24, 2016 03:19
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Horns had a terribly written but interesting premise for the first 30 to 50 pages and the rest made me want to bite my Kindle in half.
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Jul 24, 2016 03:27
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Franchescanado posted:Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes Look Who's Back was so disappointing 
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Jul 24, 2016 03:28
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"The Devil on the Staircase" was a fantastic story by Joe Hill, and several of the stories in 20th Century Ghosts were great too. His novels have been spotty. Horns had a great opening, but the middle third was a real drag. NOS4A2 was pretty cool. The Fireman feels like it's written with a movie in mind, and it's kinda predictable.
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Jul 24, 2016 04:47
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I think Joe Hill was hungry to prove himself as a younger man, and so he pushed himself to do some really great work, but as he got older he fell into contentment with the idea of following his father's footsteps, so now he's writing King-style listless fantasy horror. Joe Hill on his worst day is still a far, far better writer than King on his best, though.
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Jul 24, 2016 04:52
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End Of Worlds posted:also don't read anything Joe Hill wrote after HSB and 20th Century Ghosts. HSB is mediocre, 20th Century has some gems, but Horns and (ugh) N0S4A2 are just godawful I read a summary of Horns and was really all set. It sounded like Joe Hill Does Pop Magical Realism, which is definitely my least favorite mode for Joe Hill's longer work. But I luvved NOS4A2. Front to back, I adore that book. It probably helped that Stephen King was a big part of my literary childhood that I look back on now fondly, and NOS4A2 is essentially all my favorite stuff about Stephen King amped up to 11 and stuffed between two covers. I enjoyed NOS4A2 and Locke & Key so much that Joe Hill is now on my list of authors where I'll read whatever he writes as soon as its published just on the chance that I like it as much as I liked either of those things. Zorodius, you're right about The Fireman--it was just this breezy little thing where I spent most of my reading time imagining what the movie's going to look like. I don't expect the movie to be particularly good either, but at least there won't be as much annoying polysyndeton or as many bafflingly juvenile cliffhanger chapter endings.
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Jul 24, 2016 04:57
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Zorodius posted:I think Joe Hill was hungry to prove himself as a younger man, and so he pushed himself to do some really great work, but as he got older he fell into contentment with the idea of following his father's footsteps, so now he's writing King-style listless fantasy horror. This except the opposite. If it weren't for his dad then Hill would have trouble facing an undergrad BA class.
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Jul 24, 2016 05:31
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Schmischmenjamin posted:I'm finishing that frickin book 2night and starting Sometimes A Great Notion. I'm PUMPED. Sometimes a Great Notion is a legit great book and what Kesey should be remembered for, not Cuckoo’s Nest. Granted, that one rules too, but SAGN starts off with a severed arm dangling from a building and flipping everything the bird and it gets better from there.
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Jul 24, 2016 07:02
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I generally read really good books that come on the recommendation of some trusted friend or are practically canonized by generations of critics. Early last year, though, I hit a run of stinkers that made me stop reading anything for weeks. It think it was just these four: Weir - The Martian Diamond - Guns, Germs, and Steel Lynch - The Lies of Locke Lamora/Reds Seas Under Red Skies I'm not going to go into exactly why I loathed them because this thread doesn't need more SFF chat, but I've definitely found a few literary classics plain dull—not bad, not repulsive, just tedious for whatever reason. The last one of those was probably Thoreau's Walden, and I can probably put my dislike down to a certain amount of cynicism mixed with envy. (edit: To be clear, I mean cynicism about exactly how rugged and independent this Harvard grad's lifestyle actually was, being a mile outside of town in a highly developed area of New England, mixed with envy of his rugged and independent lifestyle.) Eugene V. Dubstep fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Jul 24, 2016 |
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Jul 24, 2016 09:20
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at the date posted:(edit: To be clear, I mean cynicism about exactly how rugged and independent this Harvard grad's lifestyle actually was, being a mile outside of town in a highly developed area of New England, mixed with envy of his rugged and independent lifestyle.) you gotta be kidding me!
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Jul 24, 2016 10:05
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The worst book that I read was the first half of Game of Thrones. I tried it after season 1 of the show, wow, wouldn't it be cool to see what happens next? stay ahead of the show? Get some closure? It wasn't cool, I was wrong, I'm a big enough man to admit that reading it was a mistake.
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Jul 24, 2016 13:30
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I also read Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra becuz that one Chilean dude came in here and posted 2 months ago, guess what, it's really good.
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Jul 24, 2016 13:31
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at the date posted:I generally read really good books that come on the recommendation of some trusted friend or are practically canonized by generations of critics. Early last year, though, I hit a run of stinkers that made me stop reading anything for weeks. It think it was just these four: what
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Jul 24, 2016 13:38
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david crosby posted:The worst book that I read was the first half of Game of Thrones. I tried it after season 1 of the show, wow, wouldn't it be cool to see what happens next? stay ahead of the show? Get some closure? It wasn't cool, I was wrong, I'm a big enough man to admit that reading it was a mistake. I mostly just sya I don;t like things without ever reading them but I read Game of Thrones and it confirmed my suspicions about all the books I blindly say I dislike.
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Jul 24, 2016 14:45
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Ras Het posted:what I don't remember writing that post. I had been awake for 30 hours when I went to bed last night and was drunk. I'm sorry.
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Jul 24, 2016 17:06
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at the date posted:Diamond - Guns, Germs, and Steel Ras Het posted:what at the date posted:I'm sorry. Good. 
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Jul 24, 2016 23:11
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Saerdna posted:What is the worst book you've read in the last few years? Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving. I'm not articulate enough to explain why I didn't like it exactly, but I just found it to be a boring slog.
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Jul 25, 2016 00:01
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The Dennis System posted:I'm not articulate enough to explain why I didn't like it exactly, quote:by John Irving i found your problem
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Jul 25, 2016 00:52
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Saerdna posted:What is the worst book you've read in the last few years? worst book that could be discussed in this thread: Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins worst book period: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
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Jul 25, 2016 01:37
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Solitair posted:Good. I meant I was sorry for how weird and awkward the post came out. My drunk opinions on Scott Lynch's foray into YA fantasy and Jared Diamond's Unified Bullshit Theory of History are essentially aligned with my sober opinions.
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Jul 25, 2016 02:07
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Do you have any sources that prove Diamonds theories incorrect?
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Jul 25, 2016 02:18
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this isn't what i wanted when i made this thread
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Jul 25, 2016 02:27
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Smoking Crow posted:this isn't what i wanted Pls gas bc King and Brooks thanx
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Jul 25, 2016 02:38
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the_homemaster posted:Do you have any sources that prove Diamonds theories incorrect? diamond is the posterchild for pseudoacademics with white saviour complexes and if you can't be arsed to google 'guns germs steel criticisms' you can gently caress right off please stop talking about garbage in the only thread on this subforum dedicated to non-garbage
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Jul 25, 2016 02:44
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End Of Worlds posted:diamond is the posterchild for pseudoacademics with white saviour complexes and if you can't be arsed to google 'guns germs steel criticisms' you can gently caress right off He can't be arsed to google "Confederacy of Dunces" for an answer to this: the_homemaster posted:If someone can explain how it is funny and clever that'd be great. so I don't think you're likely to get far. Homesmaster, I swear I would bother to argue with anyone else about GG&S but you're transparently trolling at this point and should be banned from this thread
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Jul 25, 2016 04:07
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This is the only interesting thread so that would suck. The question is not why I am trolling but why no one wants to engage in discourse. I mean the reasoning here appears to be 'ugh' and 'so problematic' http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/01/14/169374400/why-does-jared-diamond-make-anthropologists-so-mad On topic I'm reading the new Chabon and it is my first Chabon and it is very good. Actually funny too. It's a 'fictionalised' account of his grandfathers life and he has such a way with words, definitely going to go and read his older stuff the_homemaster fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Jul 25, 2016 |
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Jul 25, 2016 04:52
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End Of Worlds posted:diamond is the posterchild for pseudoacademics with white saviour complexes and if you can't be arsed to google 'guns germs steel criticisms' you can gently caress right off I read Guns a long time ago and don't remember a lot of it's details, but the criticisms I've read about it haven't been very good. They don't really dispute his main ideas, like agriculture spreading longitudinally and agriculture leading to disease resistance and more complex societies. They mostly just accuse Diamond of environmental determinism and racism, I guess because it's racist to call some societies "more complex" than other societies, and because Diamond didn't ever explicitly state that just because you have steel and guns that that doesn't make it morally OK to use those guns and steel to try to conquer other societies (although I thought that was implied and understood and didn't need to be explicitly stated.) The whole point of guns was that it was just chance and geography that made some societies more technologically advanced, not some sort of inherent superiority.
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Jul 25, 2016 06:02
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I think gg&s invites a lot of criticism on itself for being overly simplistic and perhaps making a few too many assumptions however Ian Morris wrote a book called Why the West Rules for Now largely about the same topic and is much more academically grounded and a lot of his findings are congruent with diamonds arguments so whatev In other news I just finished A Grain of Wheat which was cool and good imo
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Jul 25, 2016 07:03
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Smoking Crow posted:this isn't what i wanted Let's all go back to being loving children.
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Jul 25, 2016 07:08
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Jimmithy posted:In other news I just finished A Grain of Wheat which was cool and good imo This guy gets it! Did you read the Marxist-enhanced later version? In my version there was an introduction where Ngugi explains that he wrote it as a young man who didn't know enough about marx and the Truth About History, so now he changed stuff around to make the story more Truthful. Still, it was very good, and the Marxist stuff was barely noticeable unless you went hunting for it. Also, I'm reading Sciascia now and can confirm that he is Good. don't think I'll get obsessed like Earwicker (I think it was him?), but I'll def. read a couple more.
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Jul 25, 2016 07:34
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Popular Human posted:worst book period: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman What didn't you like about it?
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Jul 25, 2016 08:57
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Smoking Crow posted:this isn't what i wanted Hey did you say you were a fan of Raymond Carver at some point or was that a different author named Raymond, or Carver
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Jul 25, 2016 09:02
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the_homemaster posted:The question is not why I am trolling but why no one wants to engage in discourse. Let's see what you think qualifies as discourse. Behold every post in which you made a declarative statement about a book: the_homemaster posted:I just started The Vegetarian and it is quite interesting, nice voice. the_homemaster posted:OK here's a question: Odyssey or Iliad? the_homemaster posted:yessss i just started the second one and yeah bloody oath its scary, its lovecraftian really the_homemaster posted:Foucault's Pendulum is definitely one of my favourite books. the_homemaster posted:The Vegetarian is great, you should read and then become a tree. the_homemaster posted:I've read Teju and he is good. There is a book out later in the year called Behold the Dreamers by Cameroonian Imbolo Mbue, it is very good and I recommend it to all. the_homemaster posted:Started The Sympathizer, I quite like it. Quite masterfully weaves the sympathy for both sides together so far, even to the sentence level. the_homemaster posted:
the_homemaster posted:I just finished the best book I have ever read. the_homemaster posted:It's not funny, it's certainly not clever, but it is competently written, in terms of dialect and a certain vibrancy. the_homemaster posted:I'm serious, that's exactly what it reminds me of. Lampooning intellectualism is too obvious, and reading between the lines it's quite clear he is satirising progressiveness. the_homemaster posted:Station Eleven is bland and not that good. Agree with the person saying it is an MFA book. Now if you want a good post-apoc book try Wolf Road, that's a humdinger and not a boring piece of poo poo, and there is only one crazy person in it (or is there?). the_homemaster posted:
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Jul 25, 2016 10:22
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homesmaster you are a trash monkey dum-dum
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Jul 25, 2016 10:41
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Jeez mate, I'm flattered.
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Jul 25, 2016 10:59
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So the butt in your avatar represents your obsession with poster the homemaster
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Jul 25, 2016 11:50
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im also a terrible poster
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Jul 25, 2016 11:53
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