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Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

Posts 301 to 320 of 848

Black_Swordsman

Just finished Conrad's rather unfortunately titled ' Narcissus' book, I found it a great sea-worthy yarn, despite all the offensive material which was commonplace at the time. Given the times we are living in ,though, I think it is important to recognize that in that book and Heart of Darkness, it is those who deemed themselves superior in society at the time, that are the ones who Conrad demonizes.

Edited on by Black_Swordsman

"Man is the pie that bakes and eats himself, and the recipe is separation." - Alasdair Gray

PSN: Draco_V_Ecliptic

Black_Swordsman

I am now reading The Lost Estate (Le Grand Meaulnes) by Alan Fournier. Charming ,so far.

"Man is the pie that bakes and eats himself, and the recipe is separation." - Alasdair Gray

PSN: Draco_V_Ecliptic

nessisonett

I read Lolita because it’s a ‘landmark book’. That’s not a fun book to read, fascinating in terms of its portrayal of obsession but jeez, you really feel sleazy just reading it.

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

Thrillho

@nessisonett The worst “iconic” book I ever read was Moby Dick.

I seem to recall there’s about 20 pages dedicated to the different anatomy of whale species. It is painfully long and I had to go and read a 100 word synopsis to figure out what the hell it was all about.

Thrillho

nessisonett

@Thrillho My sister said the same about Moby Dick, funnily enough. She’s literally got a masters in English Lit and yet bounced right off that one. If I hear one more person say ‘but the whale is a metaphor!’...

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

TheFrenchiestFry

Worst "iconic book" I had to read was either Life of Pi or The Alchemist. Both of them had dreadful pacing and didn't really capture my interest until about 200 pages in and by that time it was already beginning to wrap up. The main plot of Pi doesn't even start until like more than halfway in. Better yet I had to read both for analysis in Grade 11 English class

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

nessisonett

@TheFrenchiestFry Oof, I got Sunset Song as my Higher English book. Now that was the most boring novel I’ve ever read. Pages upon pages of ‘bringing in the harvest’, a dodgy love triangle and a completely unlikeable main character. And incest, for some reason. At least we always got a Shakespeare a year, they were interesting!

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

Thrillho

I am also in a select minority that thinks 1984 is a bit rubbish. It’s undoubtedly a great idea and has some memorable ideas/lines but isn’t actually that good a book.

I do intend to re-read it at some point to see if I still feel this way.

Thrillho

TheFrenchiestFry

@nessisonett There's only so many times I can be reminded of Romeo & Juliet's significance in creating the template for all future love stories before I just want to move on to something else lol

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

Ralizah

As a pretty big Dostoevsky fan, I've never really gotten on with Crime and Punishment: while it's a bit overly talky, The Brothers Karamazov is probably his most epic and important work, and The Demons is probably still the best work of conservative fiction ever produced.

I've also never been particularly fond of Camus' The Stranger, which strikes me as pretentious and pointlessly nihilistic. The novel shares no real insight on its sociopathic protagonist, and the man's almost complete absence of an inner life makes me feel like centering an entire work around him is a bit much.

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

PSN: Ralizah

ralphdibny

@Ralizah I get that people can act pretentious about the stranger but I'm not sure it would've been considered pretentious when it came out.

I liked it a lot because I related to the main character, I don't think I'm a sociopath though 😂. It's more that I care about certain things and am quite indifferent to a lot of stuff that other people care about. The book just shows the farcical nature of how the lack of joining in with the condemnation of a perceived crime is actually worse than the crime itself. I haven't put that thought down particularly eloquently but hopefully you can understand it. I feel like if I gave as much thought to every single thing that happened in the world as well as making the time to condemn or condone it, then I literally wouldn't have any space in my brain to be well you know, me.

I feel like the book is especially relevant today in the age of the Twitter trial. Don't get me wrong, some very bad people get their just desserts but some mostly good people seem to get their lives destroyed by a kangaroo court that judges them for having an alternate viewpoint in life.

I do get that the book isn't for everyone though! At least it's a short read so you didn't lose too much of your life to it!

Edited on by ralphdibny

See ya!

Boldfoxrd

The 2nd star wars aftermath book. Not bad so far. Hopefully it will have a good ending.

Boldfoxrd

LieutenantFatman

I'm reading The Lost and the Damned by Guy Haley at the moment. One of the more recent Horus Heresy books. Always fun jumping into this universe.

LieutenantFatman

Black_Swordsman

@LN78 Did you ever read either of Moore's novels?

"Man is the pie that bakes and eats himself, and the recipe is separation." - Alasdair Gray

PSN: Draco_V_Ecliptic

Black_Swordsman

@LN78 Yeah Jerusalem is cool, but I like Voice of the Fire.

"Man is the pie that bakes and eats himself, and the recipe is separation." - Alasdair Gray

PSN: Draco_V_Ecliptic

TheFrenchiestFry

@LN78 I definitely think Born Again and The Man Without Fear are probably peak Daredevil writing but I also personally have a massive admiration for "In the Hands of Bullseye" and "Arms of the Octopus due to how often Miller likes to show Daredevil getting beaten to a pulp during fights and exposing the fragility of his humanity.

Reading his material and then watching the Netflix series thereafter really shows how much of an influence his run on the character had on how he's portrayed in that show

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

nessisonett

@TheFrenchiestFry I loved the third series of the Netflix show just for how faithful it was to the Born Again run while still weaving in elements from other classic stories. I like the Kingpin stories way more than Elektra/The Hand if I’m being honest.

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

TheFrenchiestFry

@nessisonett Elektra has been far from my favorite in terms of comic book love interests. Apart from Black Cat I just never liked the idea of a male hero falling in love with someone on their power level like Catwoman or Elektra, especially if they're morally gray in the case of the former. It's always been considerably more interesting seeing two characters from different walks of life form a connection, like Peter Parker and Mary Jane, or even Daredevil himself with Karen Page, which made the Born Again story even more heartbreaking

TheFrenchiestFry

PSN: phantom_sees

nessisonett

@TheFrenchiestFry Some couples are great, some just felt weird. My least favourite ones usually involve Black Widow, she seemed to get her claws into loads of heroes. I really hated Tony Stark and Maria Hill, that was just wrong. I liked Hawkeye and Mockingbird, Vision and Scarlet Witch and Gambit and Rogue though. I think couples usually just depend on the writing, it’s not like Rob Liefeld would make a particularly great romance story. Probably my favourite couple in Marvel is Wiccan and Hulkling just because of how stable and realistic it is, considering that they’re both powered. I agree about Black Cat though, I always hated how she got in between Spider-Man and Mary-Jane.

Plumbing’s just Lego innit. Water Lego.

Trans rights are human rights.

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