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LooseChanj posted:That was actually decent. I saw this in the mythology/folklore section at my local bookshop. I didn't pick it up, but if it was by Caitlin R. Kiernan, you'd expect it to be a cut above.
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May 8, 2011 20:58
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McLarenF1 posted:I heard in another thread someone say that book releases are not like video games or movie releases and they don't always stick to a certain date, and some sellers will release them early. Is that true? Do I need to pre-order my copy, or should I just walk in? I've never tried to get a book on release day before. I'd love to get the book at midnight, but their don't seem to be any midnight releases in the northern D.C suburbs. Yes, books are often on bookshop shelves (or delivered) before the official release date. The Harry Potter books' co-ordinated worldwide releases are as far as I know unique, and the publishers went to huge lengths to make the midnight release idea work - up to the level of considering prosecuting people for buying them early. Try the author's/publisher's website/blog if you want to know about release parties. Don't worry about not being able to buy the book - DC isn't the middle of nowhere, you don't have to worry about two other fans buying the only two copies for miles. You might find that some places only have it in hardback, though. If you're desperate to get it as quickly as possible, then preorder it and it might arrive a few days early.
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Jul 10, 2011 17:56
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BellumGallikku posted:There's about a page long story in Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami where a devil sits by a Finnish country road and has a farmer come by and talk with him; they use really archaic speech which comes out as Old English in the translation. I don't suppose Murakami finishes the story elsewhere in his work but does anyone know what type of dialect he used to get that archaic effect in the original Japanese? No, but I'd love to know how much of it was Murakami's tin ear and how much the translator's. quote:Whither ye be gang in sich 'aste? the Devil called out to a Farmer. Done broke me ploughshare and must to fixe it, the farmer replied. (Edit: sorry if this sounds really snotty and rude. My point is that the translation is really synthetic and cobbled-together, and the original might actually be totally different.) Unless you meant the bit the narrator thinks is Finnish. Anyway, there's a Japanese literature thread and a Japanese language thread in (I think) A/T, they're probably better bets than here. Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Aug 1, 2011 |
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Aug 1, 2011 19:15
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Definitely sounds like a river to me. I think you're coming at this from the wrong angle, unless you're writing this for someone who you know has heard of this river. It doesn't matter how good the clues are; if it's a totally obscure river, the riddle is basically unsolvable except by brute force or luck. Pick a river everyone's heard of - Dracula or Sherlock Holmes or Circe.
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Sep 2, 2011 15:15
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DirtyRobot has it; I was just playing along with the other two goons who said "It's a river". Anyway the point is: everyone knows what a river is; how many people have read Amber? Edit: Flaggy posted:I have read it You're missing the point. Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 01:17 on Sep 3, 2011 |
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Sep 2, 2011 21:58
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Try Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin (mostly vampires, not much politics) or The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford (lots of politics, but the vampires are less important.)
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Nov 8, 2011 20:45
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Dr Scoofles posted:I'm fishing around to see if there is any interest in a Let's Read Dante's Inferno thread. Hell, I'd be down for this.
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Nov 12, 2011 21:40
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barkingclam posted:Merry Christmas, all. Anybody get books this year? Merry Christmas! Usually Christmas is a book-buying bonanza for our family, as my father, my sister (just done her MA in English Lit) and myself are all readers. But he didn't want any in particular and she and I both felt we've got too drat many books already, so the only person who got a book was my mother, who reads maybe a book a month.
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Dec 29, 2011 22:54
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TFNC posted:To go along with what vegaji said, are there any particular passages in Waugh that you had to re-read a time or two to understand the content? If so, try to account for that effect: is she using odd metaphors, irregular syntax, fresh ironies, an unusual p.o.v., or what?  Evelyn Waugh had a penis!And was married to a women named Evelyn; their friends called her Shevelyn.
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May 3, 2012 22:06
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:He's brilliant and one of the greatest pre-Tolkien fantasy writers and you should read him. Start here: Idle Days on the Yann. "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth" is all heroic fantasy in ten pages. And le Guin is right on the money there.
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Jan 23, 2013 13:40
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Persuasion's not a good palce to start, but I like Emma a lot.
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Jun 18, 2013 21:14
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The Mishima photo really makes it.
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Oct 5, 2013 19:10
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CestMoi posted:Anywhere that's big enough for a Waterstones there'll probably be a second hand bookstore which will be cheaper and have a nice weird old man you can talk about books with. Or even charity shops for ultimate moral superiority in your book-buying, although you usually can't talk about books with the nice weird old man.
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Dec 30, 2014 22:57
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Stravinsky posted:Dost is cool but the best Russian work that really understood people imo was Tolstoy's death of Ivan illyach What's the best Russian work that doesn't really understand people?
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Feb 23, 2015 02:27
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OK, how about the best one that really doesn't understand people?
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Feb 23, 2015 02:35
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The Book of Going Forth By Day.
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May 6, 2015 16:22
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supermikhail posted:As a man who regularly puts out stuff of objectionable quality, I can empathize. This is TBB, not ADTRW.
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May 18, 2015 04:23
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Reminds me more of Dr Stranglelove. E: in typo veritas.
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Sep 20, 2015 08:53
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rotinaj posted:What's a good place to find sales figures for science fiction books? The Amazon listing mixes in fantasy and horror, and I believe NYT does the same. If I wanted to find the most popular SF books of the past year, or the current top ten sellers, where should I look? Locus. I'm not sure if it's on the website or you'll have to buy a copy though. Won't have numbers, though.
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Mar 31, 2016 07:00
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Mortimer posted:https://www.humblebundle.com/books/small-beer-press-fiction Everything I recognise is good. Small Beer is good. But what you really want to be spending your money on is Mark Z. Danielewski's clothing range, right? http://markzdanielewski.com/ Like the Yggdrasil zip-up hoodie and "It's mine" bag (explicit!) They even come with page numbers!
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Jun 5, 2016 07:30
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Do you like books? Do you like free books? Do you like books as a Christmas present? Do you like spreading joy and cheer amongst huankind, or at least goonkind, at Christmas? If the answer to these questions is yes, hop over to the Secret Santa thread and sign up!
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Nov 10, 2016 15:37
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I'm not going to force Secret Santa-ing down anyone's throat, but let's imagine these are FAQs. If anyone does have any actual questions please feel free to ask them here or in the thread.quote:I'm a heathen who listens to books on tape because I don't have time to sit down and read. Audiobooks are a-ok in the Santa. I did say you must accept a physical gift, but that was because I'm a luddite and thought there might be some issue with buying audiobooks in one country and sending them to another. I imagine most people won't have a problem. Hedrigall posted:I don't want new books. [...] The only exception is if one of my top few authors releases a new novel You don't have to ask for books - book-related stuff is ok too - and if one of your favourite authors recently released a book, you can ask specifically for that. You can also pass on second-hand books if they're in good condition. TV Zombie posted:How did you amass so many books without reading them? Are you making good headway with some of them? It's easier than it seems. v  v
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Nov 17, 2016 15:07
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Juanito posted:My TBB secret santa experiences were generally mediocre. Especially the year when I got a $15 Amazon GC. I don't know why someone would even join a Secret Santa, and send a gift card that was even less than the gift value was supposed to be. The mod is watching over this Secret Santa and dicking about will be punished, although obviously at his discretion.
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Nov 17, 2016 15:37
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Speaking of giving books away, the TUIB Secret Santa will be open for sign-ups until Wednesday 23rd November. If you haven't signed up yet, today is a good day to fix that. If you have, please feel free to tell your friends about it!
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Nov 20, 2016 13:20
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Franchescanado posted:I looked into it and it has matchbox print. I'll look for a better edition. You can get the Penguin Modern Classics one in a big edition with notes and stuff or a smaller one without, both are perfectly pleasant. The spine on mine is bent a bit but it's not too bad for a paperback that size. It's the 1960 text iirc.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:40
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The Gabler edition is controversial, because it made a bunch of mistakes, and as I understand it the actual differences from the Bodley Head edition are not very big. I don't think it makes a difference unless you're planning to publish about it though.
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Feb 14, 2017 17:27
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I really liked the Pevear and Volokhonsky version.
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May 28, 2017 17:03
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On the one hand, that post wasn't worth punishing, on the other hand, it looks like a fun mod challenge. vv
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Jul 14, 2017 13:24
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There's a quotation from a writer who began their career in one language and then switched to English about how difficult learning to write in English was. I think it describes slogging from one city to another, at night, with only the other city's distant lights for encouragement. i might have misremembered though, cos I think it's Nabokov and I can't find anything when I google using his name or this description. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
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Jul 24, 2017 08:14
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Anyone want books for Christmas? You're in the Book Barn, so you probably do! Why not join our 2017 Secret Santa? Last year was a big success, so this year should be too. If you're interested, the thread is here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3838647
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Oct 27, 2017 07:14
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Hey, it's the last 24 hours for the 2017 Book Barn Secret Santa! Come and take a look if you're at all interested and email me if you want to sign up. If you want to join in but are busy today, drop me an email and I'll let you sneak in in the next couple of days.
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Nov 20, 2017 05:29
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StrixNebulosa posted:What does this forum think of Barbara Tuchman? I got Guns of August as a Christmas gift amongst other things and I want to hear what goons think of it. Ask the military history thread in A/T.
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Dec 28, 2017 11:26
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The 2018 Book Barn Secret Santa is up! Check out the thread to ask questions or sign up.
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Nov 15, 2018 16:36
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I've just posted this year's Secret Santa thread. Come over to https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3903265 and sign up!
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Nov 7, 2019 16:34
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escape artist posted:is there a historical fiction thread? If not, 
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Nov 8, 2019 06:57
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Safety Biscuits posted:I've just posted this year's Secret Santa thread. Come over to https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3903265 and sign up! If you're interested in this, please decide quickly whether or not you want to take part. Signups close in about 24 hours!
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Nov 19, 2019 14:31
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Stay tuned for The Book Bairns which could make a good gang tag, actually...
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Mar 20, 2020 09:35
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GWBBQ posted:Did Lovecraft incorporate any real history into his early works? In particular, The Tomb references the Hyde family. I'm interested in this because I'm descended from the actual Hyde family among the early New England settlers and wonder if he referenced real historical families in his writing. You want to read S. T. Joshi. His Penguin Classic editions of Lovecraft have a load of endnotes about that kind of stuff, but I'm not sure if he's written about that kind of thing at length.
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Apr 11, 2020 05:55
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Maybe a weird question, but anyone have any favorite book lights for reading in bed? I have this Mighty Bright light that works good, but the beam isn't quite wide enough for bigger hardcovers, so I'm moving the drat thing all the time. Seriously, don't get one that can possibly touch anything in the bed, because then it's possible to accidentally turn the lamp on and start a fire. I usually just have a desk lamp near the bed. Mel Mudkiper posted:There is a new Twilight book coming out apparently and it reminds me of the great Book Nerd Paradox Don't sign your posts.
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May 4, 2020 16:42
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The number of people Vonnegut says died in the bombing is definitely fiction.
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May 11, 2020 19:28
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