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Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Sphinx posted:

Has anyone bought books published by Dover Thrift Editions? Their books are very cheap, ranging from around $2 to $5 depending on if they are giant versions. I've read that the paper and binding is of poor quality. Would I only get about one sitting out of these books before they fall apart or is that an exaggeration?

No, they're not that fragile, though they are low quality. If you're incredibly hard on your books, it could be an issue, but they are so thin that you have to really throw them around for that. The biggest issue with them is that the font is pretty small. The paper quality is sort of similar to a really thick or high quality newspaper, so it's definitely cheaper than most book paper, but then I still have some of my copies which managed to survive copious highlighting and annotating and being a teenager at them. I wouldn't necessarily recommend them for translated works as they can be a bit poor, but if you just want to read some books for cheap, they're not bad.

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Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

In a lot of ways, it can be really useful to have some kind of historical/cultural grounding in many of these books because having a better understanding of the setting or time period or author's life/biases etc can make for a better reading. It's when they also throw in a lot of the literary criticism and interpretation stuff that it can really ruin it. Though some introductions are so very biased and fluffy, it's like reading a school book report.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

It's always a bit weird to see deckle edging on modern books. It often seems to be used to make books seem a bit more 'serious' and literary since the edge is mechanically reproducing an unavoidable effect of older papermaking.

Here's a bit more about it.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Joramun posted:

They specify it because it's a selling point, not a deterrent.

It's sort of both. It's mostly used as a selling point, but then there are also people who will complain or return a book because they think they were sent a poor quality copy and that something is wrong with the pages.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

The trouble is, these local bookshops in the Shire are often small, specialised, and don't have a very large or comprehensive selection of books. If you want basic airplane fodder or local authors, you're grand. Otherwise, you're often out of luck.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Hedrigall posted:

Grrmge GRRM GRRM Grrmtin's livejournal has quite a lot about it: http://grrm.livejournal.com/tag/hugo%20awards

I have no idea what that is talking about but it contained the words 'Puppygate' and 'The Hugo War' so I know it's bad

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

blue squares posted:

This like the time I read War and Peace for 8 hours and my hand cramped so bad I couldn't go fishing.

That is just not a sentence I would have ever imagined reading.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

TV Zombie posted:

Getting through Patrick Rothfuss' second book of his King Killer trilogy: A Wise Man's Fear and it was just a slog to get through. It definitely didn't feel as brisk as the first book and I hated how the protagonist went on two detours from his original quest. Just felt like it made the book longer than it needed to be.

I could barely put the first one down, but I've been struggling to finish the second for months. I feel bad as a friend gave it to me as a gift, but I keep looking at it and then putting it down in favour of a different book. So far it feels very same-y

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Franchescanado posted:

Not really. I usually buy physical books every few weeks, and usually buy used if possible. I get a kindle book if it's ridiculously cheap or on sale.

Maybe they're trying to encourage you to buy more then. I didn't get one and I buy kindle books semi-regularly.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Our brains also process on-screen text in a different manner to printed text, and we read and remember things differently depending on whether it's a physical book or something digital

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Twitter is this weird place where we pretend that the random thought vomit of famous people is somehow different and better than a random person's, so anytime someone famous types 140 letters insulting Taylor Swift, it is a serious news story.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Now I sort of want to order pizza in order to pose math riddles, like asking them to slice it into seven pieces using only 3 cuts.

Probably would just result in eating spit pizza though.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

"Australia" is all you ever really need to explain something weird.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

boom boom boom posted:

I started reading How The White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back.

It starts off with her still dating the terrible cop, it goes through a quick tour of all the other potential romantic interests, and then she breaks up with the cop. If she ends up with anybody other than Nick, I'm gonna be pissed. All the other guys are all bound up in the retarded zombie plot, which is the worst part of the series. I don't give a poo poo about evil corporations and zombies, and clone zombies or whatever. But Angel starting a romance with the coworker that she at first thought was a dick, but then slowly realized is also somewhat nice but is still a dick would be fun to read.

Those are all words, and I'm sure they probably form coherent thoughts, but this post reminded me of when my coworkers suddenly start talking about the latest Coronation Street episode.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Did you ever find that book you were looking for where the main character and his numerous descendants had a strange colour of pee?

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

For Whom the Bell Never Tolls

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Esme posted:

This is a very goony/"college dorm" suggestion and I wouldn't blame you for scoffing, but I really like a small string of Christmas lights for nighttime reading. It's bright enough to see clearly, but soft and unfocused enough that it doesn't keep me from getting sleepy.

You must have really good eyes or really bright Christmas lights. I love the glow of Christmas lights, but I would really strain my eyes trying to read by it. The amount of light you need to read by slowly increases as you age, though.

That said, having a small bright light in an otherwise dark room is really hard on your eyes. When your eyes drift off the page even for half a second (which they do frequently), they will start to dilate because everything else is so dark. Then your eyes flick back to the brightly lit page and your pupils constrict again. It's pretty tiring on the eyes. Sharp contrast between small, bright, focused lighting and darkness is really hard on your eyes, which is why using your phone or computer in the dark is really tiring as well.

I don't have any specific lamp recommendations since that would depend on what stores are nearby, but the best kind of reading light is something that sits behind and slightly above you and is filtered in some way by opaque glass or a shade etc (ie not a naked bulb in your line of sight). Really bright light on white pages creates a bit of a glare that also puts a strain on your eyes, so brighter isn't always better. There are ones that you can mount on the wall behind you which shine down soft light, which is the general type I would recommend.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

I like talking about books because reading feels like getting to exist in a different world, and I want others to be there too.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Franchescanado posted:

Is Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank dystopian or post-apocalyptic?

It's a post-apocalyptic novel, or more accurately an apocalyptic novel I suppose as it takes place during an apocalyptic nuclear war that destroys the first world.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

I think the last bookmark I used was some kind of glittery rainbow monstrosity covered in unicorns. Picking out bookmarks as a kid was almost as much fun as picking out books.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Instant ramen is made out of the processed pulp of the books leftover from library and yard sales.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

A human heart posted:

is talking about a book really that hard man

Reading books is hard, man. Now you want to talk about them too?

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Going from really poor and completely unknown to mega rich and a household name based on your ability to make things up would drive most people nuts.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Embassytown is a dense read but really interesting, especially if you like exploring linguistics and meaning in language.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

I am not sure how long these books/chapters are or how much you are planning on cutting out/summarising, but I would consider including more than a sentence or two at a time, unless a particular sentence is really noteworthy and deserves in-depth explanation on its own. It's a bit hard to go from reading a sentence of the book to reading a sentence of analysis to reading a sentence of a book to reading analysis, etc. It's hard to get into a flow of either, though maybe that is an inherent feature of let's play type things.

I have never done any kind of let's read, so take this as random advice from someone who knows nothing about the subject. It sounds interesting though and not too academic. I might check it out whenever you do it as I'm generally too much of a baby to ever read horror.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Yeah I was thinking that maybe if you had combined the two quotes you posted into one, it would be a good length to get a feel for the style and narrative flow, then to be followed by your analysis and comments. However, that's just my random internet opinion. Horror stories often try to evoke a certain kind of atmosphere/tension, which I think might be a bit lost if it's broken up too much. I haven't read the books though so don't know how true that would be here. You can experiment and do shorter quotes for bits that aren't very tense/atmospheric maybe and do longer passages where that is important.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

William Stoner posted:

Does anyone find that having a long to-read list overwhelms them? Or that access to audiobooks distracts from reading?

I really enjoy reading, but recently I haven't been. This is frustrating because I have a lot of time this summer expressly for reading.

Anyone have any advice for setting the mood for a good few hours of reading?

I joined the goon book lord challenge this year, and it has both helped motivate me to read more and also gotten me to branch out of the sci-fi/fantasy rut I'd fallen into. I'm still reading slower than I'd like and slower than I used to a few years ago, but I'm getting through ~3 books a month now, compared to last year where I read maybe 5 total.

Even if you decide you're going to spend 15 minutes reading before doing anything else helps because you get into a story then.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Middlesex was pretty good, but I don't think I would call it one of the best novels of the century (which is a really dumb concept when we're only 16 years in)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a great author.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

ulvir posted:

what book did you pick for BOTM hieronymous?

Poll for BOTM:

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3785106

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

That sounds terrible in an amazing way. I don't want to read it, but I want you to keep reading it and posting goofy lines and summaries.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Is this all in the one book?

Please draw a comic of Jack's Forbidden Door being opened.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

UWBW posted:

Killing Floor Update:

Jack Reacher just shot a guy with a Desert Eagle so hard that he flew out of his shoes and landed several feet away. :v:

In my current chapter, he kills 5 guys then puts their bodies in a wheelbarrow and dumps them in a car. I can only imagine how this must have looked in real life. Killing Floor is an incredible trainwreck of a book. When I finish it I might make a thread for Jack Reacher books, I can only hope they're all as :v: as this one.

I guess Jack Reacher probably has super strength of something, but getting 5 dead bodies into a wheelbarrow (what kind of giant wheelbarrow fits 5 adult men?) and then stuffing them into a car is a pretty insane and lengthy ordeal.

corn in the bible posted:

i have read a couple jack reacher books because i was stuck in an airport for 20 hours. the finniest moment was when one villain used jack's impossible bullshit height against him by fighting inside a room with low ceilings

That is amazing. Even the villains manage to find ways to compliment him in a backhanded way.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

What a thriller

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

corn in the bible posted:

That's really how the book describes the tiny rooms Jack Reacher has to fight tiny Mexican guy in, yes.

Part of me can't believe that's a real quote. The other part of me wants to believe.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

So is Jack Reacher supposed to be an awesome badass or a complete buffoon? He seems to be amazing at killing people and terrible at normal human things like walking.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Go to your local library or to a cafe. Leave your phone behind.

Once you get drawn into a story, you will want to keep reading it.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

what the gently caress is up with this supposed nobel literature not even having decent world building

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

I'm hemidemisemi-feminist and semihemidemisemi-Cherokee.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

But it's disturbing that professors can force you to read books and take away our sacred right to DNF

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Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

I know this has been asked before, but which translation of War and Peace would book goons recommend?

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