Now Reading

  On 5/10/2016 at 12:11 AM, Astro Tarot said:

I have not read that, but there is a bar in San Francisco named Moby Dick, I think it's named after the DJ.

 

 

I don't know that DJ, but those initials are close to my little brothers, who is related to me.

MDMA

The Terror - Dan Simmons

 

I haven't read anything in ages & figured since this book is being adapted by AMC for 2017 premier, I figured why not. I don't know how they're gonna cram this book into 10 episodes though. About 1/2 way through & enjoying it. Basically historical fiction about an actual doomed naval expedition trying to get through the Northwest passage. A supernatural creature thrown in for good measure. Not something I would have pursued back in the 1800s as a career. Hellacious infact. It can be a slow burn at times & the naval jargon goes over my head, but still a thumbs up for me as of right now.

 

Scurvy is definitely IDM.

Just finished the Martian and also watched the movie. The book was better - why did they pick Matt Damon?

9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9 :

https://www.reddit.com/user/_9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9/comments

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9

 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/05/9mother9horse9eyes9-the-mysterious-tale-terrifying-reddit

  On 5/10/2016 at 8:15 PM, andihow said:

Just finished the Martian and also watched the movie. The book was better - why did they pick Matt Damon?

After seeing the film I wish I had read the book first. The film is amazing yeah but it would have been great to read.

What's wrong with Matt Damon? He was probably partly chosen because of his massive popularity but I thought he was terrific in it.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Caribou

  On 5/19/2016 at 5:52 PM, Caribou said:

 

  On 5/10/2016 at 8:15 PM, andihow said:

Just finished the Martian and also watched the movie. The book was better - why did they pick Matt Damon?

After seeing the film I wish I had read the book first. The film is amazing yeah but it would have been great to read.

What's wrong with Matt Damon? He was probably partly chosen because of his massive popularity but I thought he was terrific in it.

He wasn't terrible, and it was enjoyable to watch, but in the book homeboy was way dorkier, cracking dad jokes and seeming less like... a jock turned scientist.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Still reading Moby Dick: at 49% way through the book, the first whale shows up. Halfway through!

 

Lots of amazing sentences: "We were looking at a field of sperm"

Is it interesting though? Are you slogging through the start or did it just take longer to get to the whales than you thought?

Eh. It's a book of its time i.e. long winded. Could definitely have been edited and you'd have been none the wiser. No wonder people found it boring at the time!

 

I recommend reading abridged, as I'm sure it focuses on getting onto ship, meeting Ahab and the slow build up to meeting Moby Dick (only mentioned in stories so far).

Currently feels like a mixture between a technical manual on how to whale in the 19th century and a bloody revenge story.

Honestly, the latter is more interesting. Some aspects of whaling are interesting, but do I really want a chapter about a type of wood used to make a bar stool? Answer:

 

 

Compared to the level of hype given to the book vs. the excitement of reading it, I'd say it's a slog so far. Staying in it for the Moby Dick battle at this point.

I believe it starts at 99%.

These Moby-Dick posts are triggering the fuck out of me. Love that book so much. Is it a yanqui thing?

Edited May 19, 2016 by doublename

I don't hate it--the texture / language of it is fantastic--but it's definitely digressive in a way I feel is distracting. Will finish it though, and I rarely finish books I hate.

Book of the New Sun gets really dense at times and I start to lose focus... but then it pulls me back in with some bizarre, juicy fantasy concept. Pretty much every character and plot device has a mysterious secret nature that I still haven't figured out.

 

The whole concept is a lot of fun - a fantasy novel set millions of years in the future, when civilization has plunged back into dark age mentality. You get hints here and there at how the world of the books relates back to our present/future, with stuff like space travel and advanced sci-fi tech having been accomplished but largely forgotten and now reserved for the elite. Massive vocabulary in this book too, I end up googling words every 5 minutes. At first I thought he was just making up a lot of terms, like fantasy authors do.. but it turns out pretty much all of them are real or based on real English words of antiquity. Fucking human dictionary this guy. At least now I know what a Baluchitherium is.

^ Sounds pretty cool. I've been starting/toying with writing something with a few shades of things mentioned there. That idea seems a bit more like John Crowley's Engine Summer though, which was more fantasy but great.

 

sent using magic space waves

Doing on Nadler's cover ov The Wire, curious about Apex's ambient works Vol 2 (33 and a 1/3) anyone read that? I'm sure I'll get around to it.

 

want to read the 33 and a 1/3 on Kanye's Twisted Fantasy too, other than that it's liner notes for days, psychic bible and England's Hidden Reverse

  On 5/28/2016 at 5:58 AM, Astro Tarot said:

Doing on Nadler's cover ov The Wire, curious about Apex's ambient works Vol 2 (33 and a 1/3) anyone read that? I'm sure I'll get around to it.

 

want to read the 33 and a 1/3 on Kanye's Twisted Fantasy too, other than that it's liner notes for days, psychic bible and England's Hidden Reverse

Aphex 33 book is not worth reading really. a genuine scarcity of ideas, dull writing, maybe one or two neat factoids otherwise the book's major points are the record has beats and the internet named the tracks Edited May 28, 2016 by Alcofribas

One of Us by Asne Seierstad

If there's a 33 1/3 book that's worth reading it's the Celine Dion one

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Talk-About-Love-People/dp/1441166777

 

the guy mentions not owning a TV in the first page but it's worth reading

Edited May 28, 2016 by ThatSpanishGuy

Finished Jane Eyre. Twas a splendid read. Now to start on these Nicola Barker books finally.

 

It's interesting how much less words there are on a page in new novels then there were in the old: one page of Jane Eyre or Moby-Dick contains double that of Burley Cross Postbox Theft. Newer novelists are lightweights compared to the old.

 

 

  On 5/28/2016 at 5:55 PM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

If there's a 33 1/3 book that's worth reading it's the Celine Dion one

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Talk-About-Love-People/dp/1441166777

 

the guy mentions not owning a TV in the first page but it's worth reading

 

lol

  On 5/28/2016 at 8:28 PM, VIII said:

 

  On 5/27/2016 at 12:32 AM, Boxus said:

Book of the New Sun gets really dense at times and I start to lose focus... but then it pulls me back in with some bizarre, juicy fantasy concept. Pretty much every character and plot device has a mysterious secret nature that I still haven't figured out.

 

The whole concept is a lot of fun - a fantasy novel set millions of years in the future, when civilization has plunged back into dark age mentality. You get hints here and there at how the world of the books relates back to our present/future, with stuff like space travel and advanced sci-fi tech having been accomplished but largely forgotten and now reserved for the elite. Massive vocabulary in this book too, I end up googling words every 5 minutes. At first I thought he was just making up a lot of terms, like fantasy authors do.. but it turns out pretty much all of them are real or based on real English words of antiquity. Fucking human dictionary this guy. At least now I know what a Baluchitherium is.

 

i think in urth of the new sun severians story gets pretty mind bending towards the end, even more so than the earlier novels... i tried reading some of gene wolfes other material outside of severians tale and it wasnt the same level of quality

 

 

I just finished the 2nd book, I gotta keep going cause so much of the plot is still a complete mystery to me. What the fuck is up with the Autarch?

 

Taking a break though, and reading Michael Crichton's Sphere. More of a smooth pageturner kinda book. Refreshing. Still pretty trippy tho

  On 5/28/2016 at 5:55 PM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

If there's a 33 1/3 book that's worth reading it's the Celine Dion one

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Talk-About-Love-People/dp/1441166777

 

the guy mentions not owning a TV in the first page but it's worth reading

 

 

I saw this used at the bookstore and didn't buy it.

but I also don't own a TV, so we have something in common.

Canadians though, geese///

Couldn't really get into the beginning of War & Peace for some reason so I now started reading Madame Bovary first, which is a pretty nice book so far

Finished Moby-Dick: the beast is slain! Blood and thunder! Forty barrels of sperm all round!

 

Now to start on Franzen's Purity.

Also, can I say that I'm tearing through Nicola Barker's Burley Cross Postbox Theft and it's fantastic. Spiral, I really think Nicola Barker is right up your alley.

 

I'm probably going to read all her other stuff too, if it's anywhere near as enjoyable as this one.