TRAVESTY!

Lysander · Post by **Lysander** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 7:51 am

I notice that, indeed, there is a movies base. That is good. But why, exactly, isn't there a books base? Just curious.

Jack Straw · Post by **Jack Straw** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 8:11 am

Reading totally sucks ass.

Worm · Post by **Worm** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 9:59 am

Totally! I tried to pick up Mien Kampf and it was really hard to get through. Can anyone reccomend some nerdy shit ... possibly some cheap books? I wanted to get a decent source on the modern Nazi personally.

LG... lazy · Post by **LG... lazy** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 12:28 pm

I would respond to this but as I warned Jonsey....

GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME GAME

Casual Observer · Post by **Casual Observer** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 12:49 pm

Who has time for reading? I haven't read a whole book since college (actually longer than that thanks to my friend Cliff Notes).

Lysander · Post by **Lysander** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 4:33 pm

I will fucking murder the lot of you, god damn it! Fucking filastines...

Teufel ZeKK · Post by **Teufel ZeKK** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 5:44 pm

I read a lot, that in itself is a recomendation not to read at all.

Don't ask for recomendations though. I gave that up. Sick of reading what everyone else hands me to read but when the shoe's on the other foot, All I get is. "You have absolutly no taste because that book you gave me was so bad I didn't even make it through the prologue which you told me to skip."

But I'm not bitter.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 6:54 pm

Lysander wrote:I notice that, indeed, there is a movies base. That is good. But why, exactly, isn't there a books base? Just curious.

It's been my experience that bases based on books and novels don't take off, because not many people in a small subset like this board features (??) have read a given book. So it becomes two people talking back and forth -- which is fine, if the people are right -- but it's usually not enough to make an entire subforum out of.

And you've all seen what happens to forums that aren't used as often as the others. oooohh god the crickets how they bark ann annnd chirr chirr CHIRRRp chirp

But feel free to start threads on books you've read and encountered lately, Lysander. Yours might be an exception to the experiences I have personally gathered, as you don't need to actually read a book to talk about how best to color it.

Lysander · Post by **Lysander** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 7:42 am

Weeeell, then, in that case, I've read a lot of stuff just recently. Right now I just finished the fifth Harry Potter book, and I quite liked it. In fact, since J.K. Rowling has managed to be the #1 most frequently banned author of 2000, the #1 most frequently banned author of 2001, and the #1 most frequently banned author of 2002 (and probably the #1 most banned author of 2003 as well, but, well, the year isn't over yet) I thought I'd devote an entire section of the paper I'm writing on the subject of banned books to the Harry Potter series. Just why, exactly, do *so many people* hate it so? Etc.

Casual Observer · Post by **Casual Observer** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 9:26 am

Lysander wrote:. . . Harry Potter series. Just why, exactly, do *so many people* hate it so? Etc.

Critics hate it because JK Rowling sucks as a writer and Harry potter is nothing more than a jumble of old English folklore about witches and goblins and precious little original thought (I'll take the time to find and provide a link if you ask). Jesus freaks hate it because they prefer their cult to the hogwarts cult of magic and witches. Kids learn to hate it because it's bloated 800+ pages get tedious and boring.

Lysander not loggin' in · Thu Oct 16, 2003 9:35 am

Casual Observer wrote: Critics hate it because JK Rowling sucks as a writer and Harry potter is nothing more than a jumble of old English folklore about witches and goblins and precious little original thought (I'll take the time to find and provide a link if you ask).

I would appreciate a link to that, since I'm supposed to be studdying this very topic at this exact moment, yeah. Thanks much.

casual observer wrote:Kids learn to hate it because it's bloated 800+ pages get tedious and boring.

To be fair, no one's exactly putting a gun to their head and forcing them to read it. I can't think of a single school that's put Harry Potter on the required reading list--indeed, I think that if they tried putting, say, the fifth book on, kids would rise up in open revolt because its so freakin' *long*. But, anyhoo. If they think its tedious, they have the right to close the book.

Lysander not loggin' in · Thu Oct 16, 2003 9:36 am

Casual Observer wrote: Critics hate it because JK Rowling sucks as a writer and Harry potter is nothing more than a jumble of old English folklore about witches and goblins and precious little original thought (I'll take the time to find and provide a link if you ask).

I would appreciate a link to that, since I'm supposed to be studdying this very topic at this exact moment, yeah. Thanks much.

casual observer wrote:Kids learn to hate it because it's bloated 800+ pages get tedious and boring.

To be fair, no one's exactly putting a gun to their head and forcing them to read it. I can't think of a single school that's put Harry Potter on the required reading list--indeed, I think that if they tried putting, say, the fifth book on, kids would rise up in open revolt because its so freakin' *long*. But, anyhoo. If they think its tedious, they have the right to close the book.

Casual Observer · Post by **Casual Observer** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 9:46 am

Lysander not loggin' in wrote:. . . I would appreciate a link to that, since I'm supposed to be studdying this very topic at this exact moment, yeah. Thanks much.

Article by Booker Prize-winning author A.S. Byatt
http://www.countercurrents.org/arts-byatt110703.htm

BBC article about same:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3055411.stm

Vitriola · Post by **Vitriola** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:01 am

Teufel ZeKK wrote:Don't ask for recomendations though. I gave that up. Sick of reading what everyone else hands me to read but when the shoe's on the other foot, All I get is. "You have absolutly no taste because that book you gave me was so bad arf arf arf.

I'm sorry that my books were better than yours. I'm sorry your favorite authors when you were 15, and have so many fond memories of, do not go over well when the person you're trying to explain the "magic" to is 30. I'm sorry Davoid Eddings sucks ass to anyone who has ever read a book written before 1900 and knows good characterization when they see it, and I'm sorry that's practically all you owned. I'm terribly sorry you don't step foot in a library unless you need to use the internet, and that you never use said internet to get some actual good book rcommendations from authors whose target audiance isn't still getting their ass kicked by the cool kids in 9th grade. It's not like you liked all my recommendations either, but I'm not such a poncey wuss that I took it as an attack on my personality and couldn't get out of bed the next day.

BTW, Robb couldn't get through Cryptonomicon, either :)

bruce · Post by **bruce** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:47 am

Lysander wrote:Fucking filastines...

"Philistines," Philistine.

Bruce

Casual Observer · Post by **Casual Observer** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 12:08 pm

Lysander not loggin' in wrote:To be fair, no one's exactly putting a gun to their head and forcing them to read it. . . .

True, nobody used a gun - only "$3 million to $4 million Scholastic spent on marketing blitz, up from $1 million for marketing the fourth book in the series"* This to me is similar to the hype and blitz the music industry gives to each passing "work for hire" pop star or madonna song.

You can sell almost anything to most people with enough repetition and hype.

* http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=4555[/i]

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 12:32 pm

Vitriola wrote:BTW, Robb couldn't get through Cryptonomicon, either :)

"Couldn't?" What's this "couldn't" shit? And for you to put a smiley there afterwards when you mean exactly the opposite ought to be a hanging crime should you ever enter the nation-state of Emoticonia.

"Couldn't." I was just happy I could lift it, first off, much less begin reading it. Anyway, Cryptonomicon is the classic book written by a guy who needed a goddamn editor to tell him to trim shit down, but didn't get one because nobody was going to mess with him because he was selling so well.

To be honest, I didn't like the book because the title was so good and had -- at least 3/4th of the way through -- nothing to really do with the story. Er, "stories," I guess, would be a better term. Obviously, its title comes off as a play against the Necronomicon, so I thought it would be a book about the undead and puzzles. This is not what I got!

(Truth to tell, I just wasn't that interested in the characters and was saving it for when I was flying next, which turned out to be a long time. The best character was Turing, and he wasn't even someone Stephenson had to go and make up. The comfort girl redhead there in the tower was pretty intriguing as well, but that's this whole other thread.)

Plus, all of Stephenson's other endings were shitty, I would be surprised if ole Crippy there didn't have one, too. So in a real way, getting 75% finished with it is sort of like finishing it, only without having to trudge through the (presumably) bad ending. I don't like to live my life counting the wins and losses, but by not finishing it there, I just TOTALLY WON.

To everyone else: currently reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, with the late as in the late Douglas Adams' A Salmon of Doubt to be queued up next. AGoT is solid, though I get the impression that sometimes the author strains a little bit to set the perfect medieval scene just as he would like it. I don't really get the impression that Martin was from the 1300s or whatever, and it's nice to at least get a hint of that. (Plus, at least early on, there is a character named "Robb" who fucks shit up nicely. I have never read a book or seen a movie or played a game where there was a guy named "Robb" in it, so this must be what it is like for the rest of you to experience media. Hmm! Interesting!!)

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 12:38 pm

Vitriola wrote:I'm sorry Davoid Eddings sucks ass to anyone who has ever read a book written before 1900 and knows good characterization when they see it, and I'm sorry that's practically all you owned.

Eddings became my nemesis because back when George Alec Effinger was alive, I would always go to bookstores and follow the sci-fi / fantasy section alphabetically until I came to where GAE would be. He did not write a book for the longest time right up until he died, but fucking Eddings would always be there, churning out his work like his stuff would come out of a sentient butter press with a penchant for overcompensation.

I also hate Piers Anthony for the same reason (when Douglas Adams died).

(Kidding, I hate him because of his shitty puns. Kidding!)

(Not kidding.)

gsdgsd · Post by **gsdgsd** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:57 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:To everyone else: currently reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, with the late as in the late Douglas Adams' A Salmon of Doubt to be queued up next.

Fiction-wise, I just got through Stephenson's "Quicksilver", which was ok. Extremely well-written ok, but still just ok, and 900+ pages of ok to boot. Also finished Neal Pollack's "Never Mind the Pollacks" -- also ok. Bad month for highly-anticipated books by authors named Neal.

Next is probably Don Delillo's "Ratner's Star", which has been on my stack forever. And a whole lotta non-fiction.

Greg

bruce · Post by **bruce** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 8:39 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Obviously, its title comes off as a play against the Necronomicon, so I thought it would be a book about the undead and puzzles. This is not what I got!

It's about puzzles.

ICJ wrote: Plus, all of Stephenson's other endings were shitty, I would be surprised if ole Crippy there didn't have one, too.

Yeah, well, uh, Quicksilver doesn't have a shitty ending but that's probably because it's the first third of the story.

RobB wrote: To everyone else: currently reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, with the late as in the late Douglas Adams' A Salmon of Doubt to be queued up next. AGoT is solid, though I get the impression that sometimes the author strains a little bit to set the perfect medieval scene just as he would like it.

I'm hooked on the series now. I've read the first three (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords and I'm ashamed to say that I'm eagerly awaiting A Feast for Crows. The third one is much, much darker than the first two.

Bruce

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