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What'cha Reading?

N

NPcomplete

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I'm slated to read 'In Search of Lost Time' by Marcel Proust as part of my literary snob phase, but I've had the attention span of a gnat lately.

Oh good luck with that! His sentences can span pages! I still remember those French dictations from Proust. Fun times. (Not!) (Oh definitely not!)

I found a book in the library called "Everybody does it! Crime by the Public" by Thomas Gabor. Hopefully it will keep me interested for long enough to get arguments against the "Everbody does it, do why not?" concept.
 

Colors

The Destroyer
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Orangey taking the words out of my mouth! Yeah, I hated The Wizard of Earthsea (talk of fluffy, predictable, boring, sexist fantasy), but if Le Guin dropkicks that in Tehanu for "gritty", "feminist", and "bitter", I'm all in again. I only ask Dali whether I have to read the two middle books to understand Tehanu.

Right now I'm in love with Edith Wharton and Osamu Tezuka.

Breezed through the later's Ayako today (crazy! but not as crazy as Tezuka can get, and I find all the exalted critical praise for how consistently serious is in the work to be misplaced. Tezuka does his best work with tonal shifts that create a heightened aspect to really sell the outrageous humanism and bleakness in a single package).

And I'm still working through a collection of short stories by Wharton: ghost stories! Wharton isn't much interested in the ghosts though, she as always is totally into the characters. (I reread Age of Innocence, and read Ethan Frome, Summer, and House of Mirth this year. Strong all, except Ethan Frome. Though my love of her is making me wonder if I'm becoming an incorrigable romantic.)
 

Octarine

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Finally got around to finishing "Sophie's World" and now I'm going to read "Snuff" by Terry Pratchett.
 
D

Dali

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I recently finished The Tombs of Atuan but I'm still working through other books before starting The Farthest Shore. The tasty description of Tehanu however makes me want to toss the other books aside and focus on the Earthsea books.

The author was a part of the feminist wave of the 70's and, I guess, Tehanu was her making her ideals a big part of her work and clearly seemed to me to be her way of making amends for the traditional male hero/protagonist and patriarchal bent that was evident in her earlier books. She went way overboard and, dare I say, misandric even (all the male characters were, with one exception, ineffectual, cold, misogynistic, cruel... *insert negative attribute*... and all the women were painted in a positive light, including those who'd committed terrible atrocities).

My main gripe with it was how she completely changed the tone of the whole series, kind of like JK Rowling writing an 8th book where Hermione runs off to Hollywood to become a playboy bunny and Harry joins forces with the death-eaters. And having it set in Wyoming.

Now I'm interested.

You might enjoy it. Different strokes.
 

FunnyDigestion

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I finished Moby Dick about 10 days ago, it's good.

[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S-tkuOh4iA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S-tkuOh4iA[/YOUTUBE]
 

Undeclared

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A guide to graphology. picked it up out of the trash in my friends house and been glued to it ever since xD. First book I've ever read like this it's kind of strange.....
 

mmhmm

meinmeinmein!
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51lQnG3MX-L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg


jock and i are reading this.
well, he's reading it to me.

this would be my first fantasy
book that i'm reading willingly.
i like it so far. super descriptive
imagery.
 

Lark

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Jun 21, 2009
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I'm done with the Fromm books, all finished.

Still reading Robert Bloch's collection of stories, it has an out of date charm I like, and What I believe by Hans Kung, which is excellent, just need to ration it or I'd be finished it in one reading.
 

SilkRoad

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Just finished reading Tehanu; the fourth book in Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea Chronicles.

Let's assume someone served you the most delicious lasagne. You picked your way through the dish, savouring every bit of it, and with the last spoonful of it, bit into a whole peppercorn, the bitter taste of it flooding your mouth and ruining, or somewhat hampering, your enjoyment of the meal.

Tehanu is that peppercorn for me. I read the first three books during my spare time in a week, enjoying the beautiful characters, the otherworldy tone, the simple yet complex wisdom and the magic of it all; it was quite solidly high-fantasy fiction, in every way. Then, seventeen years after the third book, along came a gritty, introspective, real and bitter treatise on feminism and child abuse packaged as the final book in the high-fantasy series. The only things about Tehanu that linked it to the trilogy were the characters and the places within the book. She couldn't have penned it as a separate book; she had to have it ride Earthsea's coattails.

I always found those people who ranted passionately about filmmakers 'ruining their memories' of certain movies, with unnecessary remakes and sequels, to be a bit melodramatic but I now know exactly how they feel. I loved the Earthsea trilogy (I refuse to see this book as part of it) but find my recollection of it to now be somewhat tainted. Frankly, I'm quite mad and sad about it. :(

I think I felt similarly about Tehanu at first, and it's still not my favourite but I've come round to it quite a lot. People change, their outlook changes and it recognises that. Perhaps she went a little too far in some respects but I can see what she wanted to do.

You might (or not...) want to read Tales from Earthsea and The Other Wind, which follow Tehanu. It didn't turn out to be the last book. To me, they sort of balanced out between the first trilogy and Tehanu. They reflect the views put forth in Tehanu but relate more to the earlier books, I think. Then again, if you're not into iconoclasm you might have a hard time with some of the stuff in those two books as well. I thought they were beautiful, although I still return with most pleasure to the first three books.

I'm generally not into rewriting of the worldview of my treasured childhood memories. But Le Guin does what she does so well that I at least have to pay attention.
 

Saslou

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I went to the library recently and got:

The Watkins Astrology Handbook - I know quite a bit about astrology but not in-depth so i hoped this book would help with the houses, aspects and modes etc.

Almost finished Blink by Malcolm Gladwell which is a very interesting read.

Then onto Dreamwork: Using your dreams as a way to self-discovery and personal development.

Then onto Pagan Paths: A guide to Wicca, Druidry, Asatru, Shamanism and other Pagan Practices

Then books on Hinduism and Buddhism.
 

Aquarelle

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Just finished:
The_caliph's_house.jpg


Now reading:
28760054.JPG

Thanks [MENTION=10714]Qlip[/MENTION] for the recommendation! I'm not very far into it yet, but I love that there's a Minneapolis connection!
 

Qlip

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...

Thanks [MENTION=10714]Qlip[/MENTION] for the recommendation! I'm not very far into it yet, but I love that there's a Minneapolis connection!

Oh, where was that? Was that where Finkle-McGraw was from? I remember a lot of midwestern stuff going on with him.
 

ICUP

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What book should a person who reads hardly at all (me), read?
 

Salomé

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What book should a person who reads hardly at all (me), read?

Le_Ton_beau_de_Marot.bookcover.amazon.jpg


It will put you off reading completely, thus saving you a great deal of time and money and wastefully pretentious navel-gazing.

You're welcome.
 
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