I know it would be considered blasphemous by some, but I have need to put behind me at present, ASOIAF reads . I have completed 3 Dunk and Egg Tales ( as of this week ) and shelving my re-read of all 5 ASOIAF until much later ( from now). I need to breathe,inhale & exhale.
I've picked up the latest Zadie Smith book ( well it's now in paperback ) " On Beauty ". I began her works with her very first book " White Teeth ". I think BBC or PBS ( public broadcasting system, in the States ) picked it up as a mini series. I later picked it up on CD as well to listen to as I worked on some research project at work. Anyways, suburb author, mature beyond her years.
Zadie Smith is from London and well known now, most or all her books are best sellers or on The New York Times Bestseller list. " Can't say fairer that that ! "
"All the Pretty Horses", "No Country for Old Men", "the Road", "Blood Meridian". Very Americana, Old Wetern"y" style, except "the Road". "The Road" is one of the finest novels I have ever read, but very depressing and gut wrentching.
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"If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt." - Dean Martin
This conversation brings the Coen Brothers to mind as directors. the movie " No Country for Old Men " and " Lady Killers" come to mind. Very odd guys and truly gifted at making the bizarre an intrigued story to watch. Another award winner was their " Fargo".
Oh the Lady killers was such a lovely surprise. I knew the old British version with Alec Guiness but I found that I enjoyed this one more. It was hysterical, and I almost never laugh when watching comedies.
Sharon Penman is in a league of her own, I've never read a novel that was as well researched, as true to history with such accurate rendering of historical characters. Her depiction of Richard the Lionheart during the third crusade was awe inspiring
found it Aegon, I just have to make up my mind of which book to purchase.
" On Beauty " by Zadie Smith, is taking me far from ASOIAF for the moment. The pace is so different, very modern England and USA. Her first book , " White Teeth " was incredibly witty and easy to read. That one was about a Bangladeshi man that hates being confused with Pakistani, and his best friend Archie. Their families and adventures are made for TV, I believe it may have aired on BBC, before I came to know of the book.
Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time". I read it a while back but I remembered it now because they recently did a stage adaptation that's apparently very successful. I loved the book, it's written with such warmth. Very witty and very tender. It's a short read as well, I highly recommend it.
Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time". I read it a while back but I remembered it now because they recently did a stage adaptation that's apparently very successful. I loved the book, it's written with such warmth. Very witty and very tender. It's a short read as well, I highly recommend it.
I read it one Christmas night and found it so terribly witty! Love it. Recomend it wholeheartedly.
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“Fear is a strange soil. It grows obedience like corn, which grow in straight lines to make weeding easier. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.”
I just started "Fevre Dream" ( I know, I have GRRM withdrawals), also "Day By Day Armageddon", a great zombie apocalypse book.
In case of Zombie Apocalypse, get behind a gamer! It is known.
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Rhaegar, despite wounding Robert, was struck down with a massive blow from Robert's warhammer, which scattered the rubies encrusted in Rhaegar's armor under the water. Rhaegar died with Lyanna Stark's name on his lips.
@Tir, Cary and anyone here who is a Terry Pratchett fan. I've stumbled onto this, apparently a TV series based on his City Watch Discworld novels has been greenlit, with the first season consisting of 13 episodes.
@Tir, Cary and anyone here who is a Terry Pratchett fan. I've stumbled onto this, apparently a TV series based on his City Watch Discworld novels has been greenlit, with the first season consisting of 13 episodes.
Very interesting. I have my reservations though, Pratchett's wit and humour doesn't seem to transcribe too good to the screen, so much is in the way he tells the story!
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“Fear is a strange soil. It grows obedience like corn, which grow in straight lines to make weeding easier. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.”
@Tir, Cary and anyone here who is a Terry Pratchett fan. I've stumbled onto this, apparently a TV series based on his City Watch Discworld novels has been greenlit, with the first season consisting of 13 episodes.
Very interesting. I have my reservations though, Pratchett's wit and humour doesn't seem to transcribe too good to the screen, so much is in the way he tells the story!
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"There's no cure for being a cunt." Bronn "King Stannis is my god." Davos "Who the fuck is Jon Snow?" Locke
I'm barely digesting " On Beauty " by Zola Smith. Too many reads these days seem like chewing on gristle compared to ASOIAF. I purchased " Simarillion ", but I have little appetite to read it.
I'm considering re-reading all my Octavia Butler books, beginning with " Wildseed ".
I'm barely digesting " On Beauty " by Zola Smith. Too many reads these days seem like chewing on gristle compared to ASOIAF. I purchased " Simarillion ", but I have little appetite to read it.
I'm considering re-reading all my Octavia Butler books, beginning with " Wildseed ".
I tried Silmarillion too, but can't get past the first chapter. I know it's a great book and hopefully I will get to the point where I can finish it. Aw, did not know "Wildseed" is a book! Will have to pick it up, too.
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Rhaegar, despite wounding Robert, was struck down with a massive blow from Robert's warhammer, which scattered the rubies encrusted in Rhaegar's armor under the water. Rhaegar died with Lyanna Stark's name on his lips.
I'm barely digesting " On Beauty " by Zola Smith. Too many reads these days seem like chewing on gristle compared to ASOIAF. I purchased " Simarillion ", but I have little appetite to read it.
I'm considering re-reading all my Octavia Butler books, beginning with " Wildseed ".
I tried Silmarillion too, but can't get past the first chapter. I know it's a great book and hopefully I will get to the point where I can finish it. Aw, did not know "Wildseed" is a book! Will have to pick it up, too.
I read Silmarillion when I was young and in my obsessed over all things Tolkein phase. My ADHD was a great help in those days. These days, my ADHD would be much more of a hindrance for a thickly written tome such as Silmarillion
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"There's no cure for being a cunt." Bronn "King Stannis is my god." Davos "Who the fuck is Jon Snow?" Locke
How did you manage ASOIAF then, Cary? I read Silmarillion in high school so I don't remember the number of pages exactly, but surely A Storm of Swors for example comes close to it. I can't read Tolkien anymore, I don't know why. Picked up the Children of Hurin a few months ago and couldn't make it past the first chapter.
I loved Children of Hurin, but perhaps it's cause I like books that are written not as a story but as an Historical Narrative, which is why I liked the Appendices in LOTR. WS and Lyanna, try listening to the Silmarillion Audio Book on youtube while reading it. Should go smoother.
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AS private parts we are to the gods, they play with us for their sport.
I'm barely digesting " On Beauty " by Zola Smith. Too many reads these days seem like chewing on gristle compared to ASOIAF. I purchased " Simarillion ", but I have little appetite to read it.
I'm considering re-reading all my Octavia Butler books, beginning with " Wildseed ".
I tried Silmarillion too, but can't get past the first chapter. I know it's a great book and hopefully I will get to the point where I can finish it. Aw, did not know "Wildseed" is a book! Will have to pick it up, too.
I read Silmarillion when I was young and in my obsessed over all things Tolkein phase. My ADHD was a great help in those days. These days, my ADHD would be much more of a hindrance for a thickly written tome such as Silmarillion
Martin is so good about putting his houses and characters in the back of his books for easy reference, which helped people who were newbies in GOT. A like a long story, thick books are a kick for me. But if it's the Book of Numbers, oh man, that is bedside reading for an instant snooze!
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Rhaegar, despite wounding Robert, was struck down with a massive blow from Robert's warhammer, which scattered the rubies encrusted in Rhaegar's armor under the water. Rhaegar died with Lyanna Stark's name on his lips.
I loved Children of Hurin, but perhaps it's cause I like books that are written not as a story but as an Historical Narrative, which is why I liked the Appendices in LOTR. WS and Lyanna, try listening to the Silmarillion Audio Book on youtube while reading it. Should go smoother.
Thanks, your Grace. I have a need for the written word, but will keep it in mind for my first audio book!
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Rhaegar, despite wounding Robert, was struck down with a massive blow from Robert's warhammer, which scattered the rubies encrusted in Rhaegar's armor under the water. Rhaegar died with Lyanna Stark's name on his lips.
Try Leviticus, our Sunday school teacher would start reading Leviticus if we didn;'t behave.
LOL! Thanks for the tip, your Grace!
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Rhaegar, despite wounding Robert, was struck down with a massive blow from Robert's warhammer, which scattered the rubies encrusted in Rhaegar's armor under the water. Rhaegar died with Lyanna Stark's name on his lips.
Reading "Love Stories" by Julia Kristeva, but you shouldn´t keep your hopes up ´cause this Bulgarian lady (a philosopher, literature and feminism´s theorist and a psychoanalyst) is quite a character, nothing romantic. I shouldn´t be reading this but she´s so interesting...
Just a quote: "Being a psychoanalyst is to know that all stories end up talking about love... Our society doesn´t have a loving code anymore. In each private, intimate, shameful story, we seek to decipher the meanders of that evil that has a strange relationship with words. Idealization, tremor, excitement, passion;desire of melting, ofdeadly catastrophe towards immortality, love is the figure of the insoluble contradictions, the laboratory of our destiny.
Philosophy, religion, poetry, novel? Love stories from Plato to St. Thomas, from Romeo and Juliet to Don Juan, from Stendhal's minstrels, the Baudelaire´s Madonna to Bataille. Large symbolic elaborations says nothing that is not heard in the shadows, every day. Being psychically alive means being in love, or imprisoned in analysis of literature. As if all of human history was nothing but a huge and permanent transference."
-- Edited by andrea on Monday 15th of October 2012 11:56:46 AM
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"I´d not prolongued the chewing up, Doc. Nor the being spat out. Not go out a cunt. It´s the dispatch I find inglorious. The whole delusory fucking self importance.". Al Swedgin ;).
That sounds like a really interesting read, Andrea, never heard of her. Hmmm, this needs fixing.
Reading A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong (I'm not one for 'short histories' but I got this to read on my phone while riding on the metro) and Asimov. Every story of his that I can lay my hands on. LOVING it, and it was an author long overdue for me.
That sounds like a really interesting read, Andrea, never heard of her. Hmmm, this needs fixing.
Reading A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong (I'm not one for 'short histories' but I got this to read on my phone while riding on the metro) and Asimov. Every story of his that I can lay my hands on. LOVING it, and it was an author long overdue for me.
yes, you should fix that but I think I know why you never heard of her. This woman made me cry tears of frustration when I studied her. She makes a re-interpretation of the concept "surplus value" to literature (in “Semiotics”) that cost me hours to understand. I think my brain made a noise that night... like a "crack"... you know. Try it. Kristeva can drive you crazy, but it's worth it.
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"I´d not prolongued the chewing up, Doc. Nor the being spat out. Not go out a cunt. It´s the dispatch I find inglorious. The whole delusory fucking self importance.". Al Swedgin ;).
I haven't finished Midnight's Children yet, but it is fantastic! Totally insane, wonderful prose. I've also started Dan Simmons' Song of Kali. Oh and just ordered J.K.Rowling's new book, we'll see how that is.
Started reading Simon Scarrow's the Eagle series. Really a good read. Finished the first one and it reignited my passion for the Roman Empire and the Legion.
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AS private parts we are to the gods, they play with us for their sport.
not currently reading, just a suggestion for those who enjoy the classics... or not, although is not written by a Greek. This is a small and very original version of the Odyssey (just a part): "Homer´s daughter" by Robert Graves. There´s a theory that says the Odyssey was written by a woman: Sicilian princess Nausícaa.
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"I´d not prolongued the chewing up, Doc. Nor the being spat out. Not go out a cunt. It´s the dispatch I find inglorious. The whole delusory fucking self importance.". Al Swedgin ;).
Robert Graves, tell me quickly what have I read of his works, because I definitely know him. And because shitty memory.
I Claudius, Belisario, Greek Myths, King Jesus
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"I´d not prolongued the chewing up, Doc. Nor the being spat out. Not go out a cunt. It´s the dispatch I find inglorious. The whole delusory fucking self importance.". Al Swedgin ;).
So weird I just threw away Graves' "The White Goddess" the other day. No one would take that shit as a donation.
WUT??? years, YEARS looking for that book.
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"I´d not prolongued the chewing up, Doc. Nor the being spat out. Not go out a cunt. It´s the dispatch I find inglorious. The whole delusory fucking self importance.". Al Swedgin ;).
Finally! I was waiting month for this book: "El libro más peligroso" ("A most dangerous book"), Germania of Tacitus, from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich by Christopher Krebs, prof of Classics (?) at Harvard University. It´s a study book but wow, very interesting. If you like history go for it.
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"I´d not prolongued the chewing up, Doc. Nor the being spat out. Not go out a cunt. It´s the dispatch I find inglorious. The whole delusory fucking self importance.". Al Swedgin ;).
“Fear is a strange soil. It grows obedience like corn, which grow in straight lines to make weeding easier. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.”
I've started The Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton. Hamilton has put out several series of books, all of them wonderfully character driven epic Sci-fi stories (with a hint of fantasy elements to them).
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"There's no cure for being a cunt." Bronn "King Stannis is my god." Davos "Who the fuck is Jon Snow?" Locke
I've started The Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton. Hamilton has put out several series of books, all of them wonderfully character driven epic Sci-fi stories (with a hint of fantasy elements to them).
This was just published, right? I think I've heard about it. I should read Hamilton, I think I'd like him. I'm reading The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson. Pretty ok so far.
ooooh give me some time dear, but I´m sure you´d love it.
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"I´d not prolongued the chewing up, Doc. Nor the being spat out. Not go out a cunt. It´s the dispatch I find inglorious. The whole delusory fucking self importance.". Al Swedgin ;).