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Hieronymous Alloy posted:suggestions for new year, new book? Twain’s Gilded Age? Hoping to redeem myself for the poor reception to my last suggestion.
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Dec 16, 2022 02:19
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I’m kind of partial to a few months of second chances. Books that narrowly missed winning their votes from the last few years
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Dec 16, 2022 05:16
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That could be pretty neat.
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Dec 16, 2022 08:32
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While I throw down On A Winters Night A Traveller not even done with the first chapter, I have no objection to others really liking this book. In fact, it makes it even clearer to me that taste varies enormously and that is a lesson I need to be reminded of once in a while.
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Dec 16, 2022 15:14
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poisonpill posted:I’m kind of partial to a few months of second chances. Books that narrowly missed winning their votes from the last few years The ones I'm strongly considering right now are The King Must Die (y'all will love it! I promise!) and/or "All Tomorrows" by C. M. Kosemen (mostly on the strength of various youtube videos about it, plus it seems new yearsy).
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Dec 16, 2022 15:17
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I’m a newcomer, but I highly highly recommend Convenience Store Woman (saw it on the future list). Short, very easy and fun read
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Dec 16, 2022 15:29
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I read this about 15 years ago. I liked the beginning but soon it was tiresome. Reading felt like work. I powered through the second half and by the time I got to the predictable final line I just felt like rolling my eyes. I recall I read it in the middle of summer, I would like to reread it one day but it's so far down my list. Inivisible Cities is much better.
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Dec 23, 2022 07:17
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I'm going to get a poll up for next month ASAP. I'll pull a few candidates from prior months but does anything on this list look like it might grab you? https://bookriot.com/public-domain-books-2023/
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Dec 23, 2022 23:14
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I've always meant to read Agatha Christie but never actually got around to it. So I'd do that. None of the books on that list I wouldn't read though so I'm down for whatever. I'm in chapter 5 of the December book after the digital loan finally coming through a few days ago. I liked the first chapter a lot and it's still keeping my interest so far, though certainly less amusing as it was initially
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Dec 24, 2022 01:14
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McSpankWich posted:I've always meant to read Agatha Christie but never actually got around to it. So I'd do that. None of the books on that list I wouldn't read though so I'm down for whatever. If we do Christie I'd probably go with the first Poirot over the fourth, just so people can start at the beginning (also "Big Four" is kindof a weaker Poirot imho). And I wouldn't do that either because we already have an active Poirot thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4009998 Maybe Oil! or _Death Comes for the Archbishop_ is a great title Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Dec 24, 2022 |
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Dec 24, 2022 01:32
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I'm going to get a poll up for next month ASAP. Elmer Gantry is pretty fun.
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Dec 24, 2022 01:52
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Just finished winters night. It was certainly something different! I got a chuckle from all the titles combining together at the end to form MEGATITLE Bring on January!
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Dec 24, 2022 15:40
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https://twitter.com/alloy_dr/status/1607560724762578944?s=20&t=L8bT7jm5JgcSSs5QLWsUoA The King Must Die is one of my favorite books -- a great read, fun, knowledgeable, interesting, just a masterpiece All Tomorrows looks really interesting Steppenwolf is a classic and free out of copyright newly this year, also apparently it has sexy content Oil! is by Upton Sinclair and apparently the basis for There Will Be Blood Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Dec 27, 2022 |
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Dec 27, 2022 03:16
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According to Wikipedia, All Tomorrows is in the process of being expanded and I would rather wait until then to read it. I don't have Twitter anymore so my vote is here for Steppenwolf.
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Dec 27, 2022 06:46
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Yeah we may want a different platform than twitter.
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Dec 27, 2022 07:03
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I’m happy with All Tomorrows OR Steppenwolf.
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Dec 27, 2022 07:59
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All Tomorrows or Steppenwolf would both be cool ways to start the year!
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Dec 27, 2022 08:47
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Discendo Vox posted:Yeah we may want a different platform than twitter. Oh, definitely, but I need a way to present a poll that can also embed and display in a forums thread, and that means either 1) a new thread each time which loses engagement due to the way everyone browses SA bookmarked now, or 2) tweets 
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Dec 27, 2022 12:30
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I didn't really like if on winters night a traveler.
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Dec 27, 2022 15:57
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All I know about Oil is what Dorothy Parker said about it (she was kind of fed up with Sinclair).
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Dec 27, 2022 18:33
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If on a winter's night a traveler seems like the most divisive book of the month yet. I almost said the most-disliked book of the month, but I remembered that the book of the month has included a Diablo novel and a NASCAR romance, and at least one person (me) thought this one was great. I picked up a copy of The King Must Die because I want to read it regardless of whether it wins, and I noticed that it's the first of a two-book series, but I don't know whether that should count against it or not.
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Dec 27, 2022 19:09
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I might have finished it if I hadn’t JUST read like two other metatextual novels. But I was like “Oh, not this again” This month is a tough pick. I don’t love any of the choices, but I don’t hate any of them either. They all feel like “chore” novels, but it might be my end-of-year exhaustion speaking.
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Dec 27, 2022 19:27
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Yeah, King and All Tomorrows were chosen to be lighter / more entertaining fare for a "break". One problem with the polling is sometimes it picks books everyone means to read but not books everyone actually reads.
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Dec 27, 2022 20:37
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Also twitter prohibits voting for multiple options I voted Oil! and discovered this fact. I will participate in a convo about Steppenwolf tho because I read it earlier in 2022 so its fresh in mind.
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Dec 28, 2022 03:01
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Oh, definitely, but I need a way to present a poll that can also embed and display in a forums thread, and that means either who says everyone browses SA via bookmarks? That's a dumb way to miss new and exciting threads (to bookmark)!
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Dec 28, 2022 03:02
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I finally finished December's book yesterday, and I have to say that I liked the concept but it was just too much. Are there more books like this that are perhaps more subtle or less intense with it? Like I was into this one for the first few chapters but by like 7 or 8 it was just like ok I get it let's see what happens, and then there were 5 more chapters.
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Dec 29, 2022 16:40
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McSpankWich posted:I finally finished December's book yesterday, and I have to say that I liked the concept but it was just too much. Are there more books like this that are perhaps more subtle or less intense with it? Pale Fire Ship of Theseus House of Leaves
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Dec 29, 2022 17:15
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Happy New Year all! Looks like the poll came in a tie, but several people pointed out that All Tomorrows is getting an expanded release soon, so we'll put that off for now and our Book of the Month for January 2023 is Oil! by Upton Sinclair. quote:The book is loosely based on the life of Edward L. Doheny (and the company he co-founded, Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company, the California assets of which became Pan American Western Petroleum Company), and also the strategic alliance Union-Independent Producers Agency, a consortium created in 1910 to bring oil via pipeline from Kern County to the Pacific Coast facilities of Union Oil Company at Port Harford (now called Port San Luis just west of Avila Beach).  quote:Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. The book is available for download here: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20210354
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Jan 1, 2023 12:27
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This ebook formatting seems a little off on my kobo?
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Jan 2, 2023 23:08
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Went to three different bookshops looking for a physical copy of this. None of them had any Upton Sinclair books at all, new or secondhand. Talk about a fallen star. Anyway, got one through the library. It was bought at the release of There Will Be Blood, and untouched since then. Looking forward to this now.
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Jan 6, 2023 21:50
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I'm in. I was told there would be blood.
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Jan 7, 2023 02:05
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My library only had the audio book of this so I grabbed it. I'm having difficulty with it, as I've never tried audiobooks before. I do listen to a lot of podcasts while doing things like mowing, snow shoveling, or driving distances but I don't really do those things on the regular in the winter. I'm finding time nonetheless but I definitely much prefer actual reading. The book itself is fine so far, seems like not much is happening, but I can see the conflict beginning to build and I think I know where it's going, we'll see if I'm correct later.
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Jan 7, 2023 17:28
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“Oil!” “Oil?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXnkFd373T4
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Jan 7, 2023 18:22
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Turns out I had no idea where it was going. Edit: Just finished it. It was good, different than I was expecting I think. Obviously very influenced by the politics of the time, some parts aged better than others. Worth a read but I don't know if I would recommend it to others necessarily. McSpankWich fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Jan 11, 2023 |
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Jan 9, 2023 19:29
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By Jeez, what a downer! Ironically Sinclaire wasn't cynical enough for how things ended up going though. Before reading I did not realize the book had any relation to "There Will Be Blood" until the "If I say I am an oilman you will agree" speech which I recall from the trailer. The only thing I really remember from TWBB was the son has all sort of horrible things happen to him and I was afraid the same thing would happen in "Oil!". I actually had to to spoil it for myself a bit because with two young children at home I just wasn't ready for that level of misery porn. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit though as a piece of history. It made me look up the Coolidge and Harding presidencies to get a bit more background for the events. It was written at such a weird time, right in between the World Wars when there was so much optimism about the potential of the USSR. I also liked the nerdy detail of the physical process of extracting oil out of the ground. Disappointed with the women characters, they were all pretty flat compared with Bunny and Dad. Missed opportunity there. This was my first Sinclaire book, is that often the case with him? All the same I'll probably read some more of his stuff, it was overall a really interesting book. edit: Oh right, did I miss the "motel sex scene"??? I was promised (boston accent) hahdcore pornahgraphy and nothing jumped out at me as being worth a censor. GoodluckJonathan fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Jan 11, 2023 |
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Jan 11, 2023 18:01
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I got started reading Oil! during my lunch break today. I really liked first few pages at least. Seeing a potentially quite sketchy dude get introduced through the eyes of an idolatrous son is a really good way of introducing a character. It reminds me of Zelazny's quote about how a dog is an unusual narrator because the dog is going to uncritically support whatever the dog's master does; the best kind of unreliable narrator because totally uncritical.
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Jan 17, 2023 20:57
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I really appreciate the phrase "a free lunch; consisting of 'hot dog' sandwiches" with "hot dog" in quotes
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Jan 18, 2023 01:44
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Honestly I probably skimmed like through the first fourth of the book. Then the strike got my attention.
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Jan 18, 2023 03:48
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The huge diversion into WWI and its politicking by the author really took me out of the book and bored me to tears. I ended up skipping 3 chapters to find that that whole aside had only just ended. I get that the author has an axe to grind in these novels, but The Jungle was much better at capturing the plight of the working person and the extreme troubles that they faced. This just seems like a long winded journey of a privileged young person to becoming a socialist.
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Jan 24, 2023 23:39
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For next month, we'll be doing interactive fiction, then we'll do Steppenwolf in March. Here's the options for February: Help us choose: Counterfeit Monkey by Emily Short: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=aearuuxv83plclpl quote:Anglophone Atlantis has been an independent nation since an April day in 1822, when a well-aimed shot from their depluralizing cannon reduced the British colonizing fleet to one ship. Trinity by Brian Moriarty: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=j18kjz80hxjtyayw quote:You're neither an adventurer nor a professional thrill-seeker. You're simply an American tourist in London, enjoying a relaxing stroll through the famous Kensington Gardens. When World War III starts and the city is vaporized moments after the story begins, you have no hope of survival. Worlds Apart by Suzanne Britton: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=1aliwzro4e48mdlt quote:For over 20 years, I dreamed about an alternate universe I called the Higher World. For three of those years, I poured almost all of my creative energy into a novel-length story set in that universe. Worlds Apart is the result. But it is not a novel in the traditional sense of the word. It is an interactive tale in which you play the leading part, solving problems and learning about yourself along the way. Horse Master by Tom McHenry: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=ogkcvv9l1q0aatpd quote:HORSE MASTER The Game of Horse Mastery is a horse management sim crossed with body horror. Do you have what it takes to raise a massive, muscular, dripping mega-horse in a dark, dystopian future? Are you a Furioso-Hellfist kind of person, or do you lean towards Carolina Coffinbreath? https://twitter.com/alloy_dr/status/1618035524375285760?s=20&t=423qjSX4Z2TAdKt03jalPQ Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Jan 25, 2023 |
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Jan 25, 2023 00:55
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