Books

[Requiem[9]]

Really? That's rather disappointing. Did you read/enjoy Freakonomics, or do you just not like those types of books in general?

Speaking for myself, I think SuperFreakonomics is very journalistic while Freakonomics was scientific, if that makes sense. Freakonomics largely came from Levitt's own research and the emphasis was on the specific, unusual results of that research and the conclusions that could be drawn from them. SuperFreakonomics is mostly about research done by others and is hypothetical, vague, and often insubstantial. For instance, there's a chapter where Dubner largely just talks about how horses caused problems in the 19th century similar to the problems cards are causing today and how the automobile was an unexpected solution to those problems, and isn't it ironic and isn't the free market wonderful. He then gushes about Nathan Myhrvold and his plan to literally blacken to sky the counter global warming for a few pages, and "concludes" by saying that the solution to global warming is going to be something unexpected and unforeseeable, which I imagine most people could surmise. Another chapter is mostly an interview with a higher-class escort. There are enough statistics and such in the journalism to satisfy, but most of the chapters read far more like extended magazine articles than economic papers. There are a few chapters of the same spirit as Freakonomics though, and even the "bad" chapters are very good for what they are. I think it's still worth reading if you liked Freakonomics, but it's not nearly as good.

It's also been a fair amount of time since I've read either, though.

 

[Hipmonlee]

I agree with all the positive things you have said about Never Let You Go, but, I just found that all of that was inside this rather cramped room with that rather large elephant of a premise.

And more importantly, all of that good stuff was in Remains of the Day, so I guess coming at it from that direction I had high expectations that really were never going to be surpassed..

When you say remains of the day is not for everyone I assume you meant Never Let You Go.

I'm actually finding that with what I am currently reading, The Penultimate Truth, by Philip K Dick.. The premise is just so silly.. It buries anything else I could say about this book. I really cant get past that. Still a nice easy read so I will finish it anyway, it's kinda just a case of a historical lesson about how weird people were in the 60s with their cold war paranoia..

Also still working through Chateaubriand's memoirs.. About a 6th of the way through it after about 6 months..

 

[Juicy Fruit]

I'm just gonna throw The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo out there as a great book, don't think I'm the first to notice that though...

Seriously though, if you haven't read it, do it now.

 

[Gengan]

Hide

I was cleaning out my room today when I found this age-old gem. I'm not exaggerating that this is one of my favorite books that I've ever read (I've only read it once because ffs it's giant) and it's immensely entertaining. This is kinda what its about (taken from the back):

"ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD
LOOKING FOR
SPECIAL OPPORTUNITES?"​

When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear reader, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. With their newfound friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all?

 

[jumpluff]

I agree with all the positive things you have said about Never Let You Go, but, I just found that all of that was inside this rather cramped room with that rather large elephant of a premise.

And more importantly, all of that good stuff was in Remains of the Day, so I guess coming at it from that direction I had high expectations that really were never going to be surpassed..

When you say remains of the day is not for everyone I assume you meant Never Let You Go.

I'm actually finding that with what I am currently reading, The Penultimate Truth, by Philip K Dick.. The premise is just so silly.. It buries anything else I could say about this book. I really cant get past that. Still a nice easy read so I will finish it anyway, it's kinda just a case of a historical lesson about how weird people were in the 60s with their cold war paranoia..

Also still working through Chateaubriand's memoirs.. About a 6th of the way through it after about 6 months..

I actually think Never Let Me Go has more popular appeal, because:

- The setting is more relatable, and while this is debatable, I think it's more immediately sympathetic
- The main characters are more relatable
- The plot, while it's not an actionpacked scifi thriller and more of a carefully-paced speculative work, doesn't meander as much (The Remains of the Day is very slow, which works perfectly with the kind of book it is, but I can see the masses losing patience with it rather than being enraptured)

I loved both books, I just think more people would enjoy Never Let Me Go. I guess you could say the premise is definitely a large elephant, but it's the kind of thing that appeals to my tastes (I found Never Let Me Go looking for books within that kind of genre), so yeah :x

 

[Philip7086]

*snip*

Thanks for the info. I'll probably end up reading it anyways, but that's a bummer that the book is mostly different and not as good :(

 

[Smith]

I've been trying more and more to be a book person so I thought I'd start on some of the classics before moving towards more modern novels!

The last book I read was 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. It's an adventure novel, obviously, but its not so heavy on the novel side and a lot heavier on the adventure side. Each chapter is like a new, enticing story, and it's a fun book to read, but it's just not very thematically oriented.

Before that was the Slaughterhouse 5, which I immensely enjoyed. I think it's probably just the writing style, which I find very authentic and personal and fun to listen to, but the storyline is also very interesting and paradigm shifting. Good, quick read.

Before that was Frankenstein, which completely re-wrote what the word "tragedy" meant to me. I really like the themes behind it, and both Frankenstein and the monster are probably 2 of the least fortunate creatures in literary history. Very captivating.

As far as books I've read in English, I actually really liked A Tale of Two Cities (if you couldn't tell by the user title) and The Power of One. I think most people have read AToTC, but the Power of One is basically a coming-of-age story set in apartheid era South Africa, very very good read. Next on me list- the Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

 

[Ivysaur]

man i love books, not gonna lie one of the only reasons i was excited about going back to school is having access to their library :B

i just recently finished this book for my english class called What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson, it touches on a lot of spirituality (samsara, karma, soul mates, the continuation of life after death, that sort of stuff), and it was a really interesting read in that regard. But at the center it is a story about a man so in love with his wife that he's willing to go through hell and back just to reach her, and it's a really nice story overall. My english reacher told me it might be a bit "weird" but overall i thought it was a pretty touching love story with a lot of profound aspects.

a lot of books I really enjoyed I read in my english class, so a lot of them are more classic reads, I guess. I absolutely loved Lord of the Flies, even though my class seemed to hate it. I thought it was a pretty perfect survival story, Hatchet and Brian's Winter ain't got shit (though i only had to read those in public school haha) I had to read the Diary of Anne Frank when I was in 9th grade, and not knowing much about history then I didn't find it very enjoyable. I think I'd at least appreciate it more now.

We have to read The Book of Negros and Life of Pi this year for my english class. I've already read Life od Pi, I thought aside from the first maybe 25% of the book, which was rather dry (like enough to make me want to put the book down) it was an amazing story. The last few chapters make you question the entire book, and I'm looking forward to rereading it. My brother and I saw a trailer for the movie adaption being released this fall, and I can't wait, omg

I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower when I was in grade school, and in fact stole the book and reread it maybe last year. It definitely resonated better after going through a bit more of the teenage experience, specifically the parts where he takes drugs ahhah. I'm happy to see there's a movie coming out soon! Another book I recently read that touches on drugs is Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas, which I can say without a doubt I enjoyed more than the movie. You really can't transcribe a drug user's rambling, incoherent thought process in film as well, you know?

I'm a huge fan of the Orwell books I've read so far, 1984 for grade 11 english, and Animal Farm recently. Both are absolutely phenomenal reads, and I recently watched the 1984 movie with my dad and brother, who are huge fans of the book. It's probably one of the best book-->film movies i've ever seen, extremely accurate, and fittingly released in 1984 as well. I heard a ruour that Tim Burton is to direct the new rerelease, that should be interesting. They already released a great film adaption, so even if he fucks it up hard, it should at least be an interesting take. Animal Farm was a great (if not short) read, and one of the most amazing allegories I've ever read. I'm pretty divided on the ending though, as an allegory, it's fantastic, but as a story, it doesn't really tie up all the loose ends.

I got about 50 pages into Huxley's Brave New World before I totally forgot I owned it and haven't picked up since. It's good so far, I'll probably return with my thoughts on it if the thread is still kicking.

I haven't read much Hemingway, but I really enjoyed The Old Man and the Sea when I read it. Any Hemingway fanboys wanna suggest another?

A few books I really want to read are The Catcher in the Rye, both Through the Looking Glass and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and also the Battle Royale book after having enjoyed the film

this has been a long and nerdy book post

 

[Thursday]

Might as well make a post relating what books I've been reading at the risk of sounding silly:

1. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I'm a little more than halfway through it at the moment. I can't stress enough how much of a triumph this book is. I have an affinity for Russian literature for reasons unbeknownst to me at this point, but in particular, "The Grand Inquisitor" astounded me. I'm a little dull, so it took me a while to grasp what Dostoevsky was trying to say, but it was definitely worth it.

2. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. I was going to introduce myself to Nabokov by reading Lolita. I'm glad that I didn't. Pale Fire is about a poem written by a reclusive prominent literary figure. It's very self-referential and I'm really enjoying it - I'm about a third of the way through, if that matters.

3. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge by Rainer Maria Rilke. I can't say much about this, honestly. I read the Duino Elegies about two weeks ago, liked them, and I decided to read this. Again, I can't say much, especially since I'm not very far into it, but I do enjoy the book so far. There was one quote in particular that caught me:

"Is it possible that all these people know very precisely a past that never was? Is it possible that everything real is nothing to them; that life takes its course, connected to nothing, like a clock in an empty room?"

(maybe I should have hidden that, oops)

4. Carpenter's Gothic by William Gaddis. I've tried to force my way through The Recognitions, but I gave up about seventy pages in. But I really liked Gaddis's prose, which, though I felt was fragmented and needlessly involute, was gorgeous. So I decided to run through another one of his novels. This one is interesting - it's dialogue-centered, which makes it a fast-paced read and it's only about two-hundred fifty pages so it's not that scary so far. I do miss the narrative voice he carried in The Recognitions, but the use of dialogue in this novel is creative (I can't say much more than this - I'm not good with articulating my thoughts on literature).

I've also made a few futile jabs at Proust's corpus; I love Swann's Way: the prose is gorgeous, but it's a bit of a slog and I don't see myself finishing it soon.

Also going to get Light by M. John Harrison in a day or two - I heard a friend of mine say a lot of positive things about the book and even though I don't read much science-fiction, I think it would be something that I would enjoy. I just have to remember not to juggle five or six books at the same time aaaaaaaa

I put aside 1984 because I was busy in July, but I may start reading it again. I really liked the third of it that I read, but I think I've lost it now!

The last novel that I read was Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. I loved it and I'm not sure if I enjoyed that or Slaughterhouse-Five more. Leaning toward Cat's Cradle.

those are the only two novels that i've read by vonnegut, so if anyone knows where i should go from here and would be nice enough to suggest what i should read next, that would be great!! i was going to go with either slapstick or welcome to the monkey house, though that's a collection of short stories.

 

[Vintage Books]

ive basically been reading a song of ice and fire for the last month. im up to feast for crows at the moment and i am absolutely addicted.

other than asoiaf, i read Wuthering Heights recently which is a favorite of mine. ive been lazy with books recently and i am normally really really tired when i get home from work at night so i havent been reading as much.

 

[Glen]

Also going to get Light by M. John Harrison in a day or two - I heard a friend of mine say a lot of positive things about the book and even though I don't read much science-fiction, I think it would be something that I would enjoy. I just have to remember not to juggle five or six books at the same time aaaaaaaa

light is, bar none, the best book i have ever read. it's not your typical science fiction fare; while the genre is saturated with people touting great ideas and sophomoric prose, harrison writes in a manner so undulate and visceral that every fucking word hurts.

when i get the chance i'll do a writeup of some on my favourites, and if you enjoy light you'll definitely enjoy them

 

[Hipmonlee]

Ok, I finished The Penultimate Truth, and for a book with such a silly premise that I hadn't really enjoyed that much the ending really makes up for it. It's still 60s scifi ridiculousness but he really nailed the execution. Definitely something I would recommend.

 

[The Cicada]

The Heir Trilogy.

 

[asterat]

Cat in the Hat

In all seriousness though, the Girl with the dragon tattoo series are Some of the best books I Have read in recent memory, as well as Townie by Andre Dubus III. I also really liked the Steven king book about JFK assassination, it was called 11/22/63 I think. If you are looking for a funny book, Kurt Vonnegut's breakfast of champions is hilarious.

 

[Ampharos]

Hide

I was cleaning out my room today when I found this age-old gem. I'm not exaggerating that this is one of my favorite books that I've ever read (I've only read it once because ffs it's giant) and it's immensely entertaining. This is kinda what its about (taken from the back):

"ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD
LOOKING FOR
SPECIAL OPPORTUNITES?"​

When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear reader, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. With their newfound friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all?

I'm really glad I'm not the only fan of this book (and its two sequels). Seriously, it's a fantastic read.

I recently read Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth, and they're pretty fantastic as well. Anyone who's a fan of the whole post-apocalyptic twenty-minutes-into-the-future genre should definitely pick them up.

 

[mrite]

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood:
A rather dystopian view of the future, told in reterospect by the best friend of the anti-hero, who has a view for his own future, and engineers it. A very good book, although a bit off the wall at times. Its hard to say more without spoiling the climax of the book, but it is worth the read

 

[junior]

just bought The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Apparently it's really depressing h3h3 keen to start reading it soon

 

[Lee]

picked up Hunger Games for a few quid (haven't seen the film) and i'm thoroughly enjoying it. Think I might just have to read the trilogy but after that I'll be picking reccomendations from this thread so keep them coming! I couldn't really read back home because my family house is crazy noisy with dogs and kids and shit but it's really peaceful out here and it feels great to be reading again...a forgotten treat.

 

[Stagnant]

Hunger Games target audience... 14 year old girls.
(still going to look into it)

Recently read Divergent. It was a good read... sort of lost my attention during the 'romance' scenes but other than that got to love dystopian themes.

I have about 30 pages left to go in Angels and Demons. Climatic ending.. have to take it in slowly.

 

[TrOwLa]

I don't understand the appeal behind "The Catcher In The Rye", I read it when I was 16 and it was the most random novel I've ever read. Apparently the man who assassinated John Lennon, was obsessed with this book and wanted to be just like the protagonist.

Good novels

- Artemis Fowl Series
- Matthew Reilly novels
- Dan Brown Novels (The Da Vinci Code is a must)

 

[Misty Swims]

I just started reading Watership Down, I really like it so far.

 

[Metal Bagon]

- Artemis Fowl Series

I found that the later books in this series were a big let down. Colfer started well but the storyline was unusual to start and as he kept going it got unbearably idiotic. I kinda want him to release another book so he can end the series on a high note but apparently that was the last one.

 

[Ray Jay]

I believe A Separate Peace is one of the most powerful things ever written by man.

 

[ButteredToast]

I believe A Separate Peace is one of the most powerful things ever written by man.

This better be a joke. My morning cereal box is a better read than that piece of literary dookie.

 

[NidokingKing]

I've been reading a few books for Junior year and I've been getting some mixed feelings on them.

The first book I read was The Great Gatsby. I don't think I should have to explain this book at all. It was a really great read and if you haven't read, I would suggest doing so.

The second book I read was The Woman Warrior. I found this book to be extremely bland and pretty difficult to follow. I only read through the book once, so maybe I just couldn't force myself to care halfway through the book (if I even cared by that point).

The most recent book I read (really a novela, but I digress) was The Heart of Darkness. I can easily say that the concept of a dream within a dream was stolen from this books story within a story. Some of the other people I talked to found this book hard to follow as all of the dialogue took place within the secondary story. I actually enjoyed this book, but it was a somewhat difficult read.