Books!

[Down]

Can't find the time to read right now, too busy with my porn games and chinese cartoons =(

All my reading time gets sinked into reading stuff in japanese to improve my reading skills. I read recently the first volumes of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, the Chihayafuru novel and Kino no Tabi. It took a horrendously long time.

 

I still found a bit of time to pick up recently another Murakami novel, South of the Border, West of the Sun. I'm about halfway through it and I still have no idea where it's going, as expected of Murakami :3 It just seems to be the life of some random typical Murakami protag, I just don't know what to expect, but somehow it reads well...

[Funyarinpa]

Old thread here for reference.

 

Can't find the time to read right now, too busy with my porn games and chinese cartoons =(

All my reading time gets sinked into reading stuff in japanese to improve my reading skills. I read recently the first volumes of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, the Chihayafuru novel and Kino no Tabi. It took a horrendously long time.

 

I still found a bit of time to pick up recently another Murakami novel, South of the Border, West of the Sun. I'm about halfway through it and I still have no idea where it's going, as expected of Murakami :3 It just seems to be the life of some random typical Murakami protag, I just don't know what to expect, but somehow it reads well...

[Down]

I've been hearing about this "Murakami" and I have seen some of his books but have practically no idea what they're about, nor what sort of writer he is. Why is he so famous?

 

From the old thread:

 

I've read some books by Haruki Murakami (namely Kafka on the Shore, Spoutnik Lovers and Norwegian Wood). 

His writing is very digest, which makes those books easy to read. However, the construction of the story can be a bit anarchic at times, which I found damageable for the immersion and the comprehension. 

The main thing is, I find it hard to figure out his books. When I finish one, I'm like, "what was the point". It's a good ride, there's always those clues that there's a message going on here, but in the end I just don't know what to think and it's frustrating.

But there's definitely something that clicks me in his stories. I think he captures very well the era and the kind of people he's trying to portray - and since we're talking about a modern (or rather postmodern?) author it's easy to relate to it. 

 

So, yeah, good experiences, all of them. Do not read Norwegian Wood if you're going through a depressive period though.

 

His stories range from really weird stuff (Kafka on the Shore) to more plain dramatic/life stories. He also dived into SF with IQ84 but I haven't read that yet and the reviews are mixed. So far the best I've read from him is still Norwegian Wood.

 

I think the reason why he's so popular is because he writes somewhat relatable characters and depicts a number of their struggle with universal themes such as love, sex or finding a meaning to one's life. But also because he writes in a very light yet compelling style that makes him very easy to read (at least that's how the french translation comes across). There's probably a lot to criticize about his works but there are definitely elements that can make a book popular.

[Funyarinpa]

I see, thanks

[Clephas]

Currently rereading the Safehold series by David Weber... hoping the next one comes out on time, so I can continue the awesomeness.

[Funyarinpa]

Started Fahrenheit 451. Even though it felt abstract and had a tough language, I found myself easily toppling the first third of the novel. So far, it appears to be much deeper than Orwell's works (1984 and Animal Farm) in that rather than the focus being the dystopia and how it works, it feels more like it is about the protagonist's inner fighting with his self, as a person who was shaped by the said dystopia. The novel doesn't make dystopia the focus, but rather, even more so than the setting, it is the prime element that has shaped the protagonist, and the book is a study on how that affects the protagonist's mind.

[Tawm]

I'm currently re-reading American Psycho.

One of my all time favorites, and by far Ellis' most memorable work to date.

 

I did buy Dune some time ago, but haven't gotten to it yet.

[phersu]

Haruki Murakami's books are really good.

[rapid motion]

The books I prominently remember (beside stuff like harry potter or LotR etc.) were fantasy series:

 

- The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan (Some (japanese) animation studio even wanted to make this into an anime, but Jordan refused)

- Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness

- Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett

- The Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind

 

Other than that I guess I read LNs too (SAO, Mahouka, a lot more to-read)

[Funyarinpa]

I cannot decide to pick whether Foundation & Empire or Brave New World when I go to the bookstore the next time. I guess I'll go with F&E.

 

 

The books I prominently remember (beside stuff like harry potter or LotR etc.) were fantasy series:

 

- The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan (Some (japanese) animation studio even wanted to make this into an anime, but Jordan refused)

- Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness

- Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett

- The Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind

 

Other than that I guess I read LNs too (SAO, Mahouka, a lot more to-read)

 

Chaos Walking was incredible. I read the first book (The Knife Of Never Letting Go) in a single night where I could not sleep and the experience had shaken me in a way that I never thought it, or any book for that matter, would. From the beginning I expected it to be lame but that novel was one bizarre roller coaster ride of feels.

[joehawks12]

i've been reading the disaster artist.  I fucking love this book, and i cannot WAIT for the movie to come out.

[Funyarinpa]

For future reference: I created another thread which was then merged into this one.

 

Anyway, I'm now more resolute on buying Brave New World instead of Foundation & Empire, as the school librarian recommended me that I read BNW first.

[Stray Cat]

Personally I wasn't too fond of Brave New World but Sci-Fi is usually my least favorite genre. 

 

Honestly can't say I read much aside from scholarly articles these days.

 

For the bit of free-reading I do have, I tend to read Shakespeare and books on mythology, culture, and evolution.

 

This is the last thing I read: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81788.Why_We_Get_Sick

[Yeah Way]

Finally got my hands on "Paradise Lost"! Just started reading, and it's every bit as great as I'd hoped. Not quite as 'poetic' as "The Divine Comedy": it's more novellistic I suppose. Still has the 'old-fashioned' style of writing that I just adore.

[Funyarinpa]

I just finished Fahrenheit 451.

 

The most interesting fact about the book is that, according to my copy's afterword, Fahrenheit 451 was initially published on the very first issues (issues 2,3 and 4) of Playboy.

 

EDIT

Apparently; Arthur C. Clarke, Roald Dahl,  Haruki Murakami and a few other famous writers also have stories that were published on Playboy...

[Rilarion]

I mostly read Fantasy novels; Harry Potter was the first one I ever read, Lord of the Rings is also a must to read for any fantasy lover.

some of the other series I read are:

 

Wheel of Time saga(Amazing series I recommend it to every fantasy lover)

Night Angel Trilogy (This one's also awesome)

I've read the Drizzt saga from Forgotten Realms.

Song of Ice and Fire is also one of the oldest ones I've read.

There are other's too but these are the ones that came to mind right now.

[phersu]

I mostly read Fantasy novels; Harry Potter was the first one I ever read, Lord of the Rings is also a must to read for any fantasy lover.

some of the other series I read are:

 

Wheel of Time saga(Amazing series I recommend it to every fantasy lover)

Night Angel Trilogy (This one's also awesome)

I've read the Drizzt saga from Forgotten Realms.

Song of Ice and Fire is also one of the oldest ones I've read.

There are other's too but these are the ones that came to mind right now.

[Funyarinpa]

Finished Fahrenheit 451 last night. I give it a 7/10, I kind of liked how abstract it felt but it just isn't too enjoyable overall.

[edwd2]

Favorites:

 

Dubliners (James Joyce)

Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)

The New World of Mr. Tompkins (George Gamow)

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Yukio Mishima)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong)

The True Story of Ah Q (Lu Xun)

Civilization and Its Discontents (Sigmund Freud)

Cosmicomics (Italo Calvino)

Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)

[crunchytaco]

I cannot decide to pick whether Foundation & Empire or Brave New World when I go to the bookstore the next time. I guess I'll go with F&E.

 

 

 

I HIGHLY recommend Aldous Huxley's works in general. Brave New World was one of the most influential books in my life. Sure it starts off super slow, but it needed to establish a background for you to understand the rest of the book. At the half-way mark is when the book gets quite interesting and by the end you'll be taken on a ride you can't forget.

 

Another book that really hits home with me is JD Salnger's the Catcher in the Rye. That book got me hooked right from the start. Holden Caufield is the original Chuunibyou in my book; a tragic one at that. It's something about his narration and the sardonic tone from the 50's Classic American style in the way he speaks that makes me laugh in pain for him. When the book was at its height in popularity, it created imitators (ironically) and blamed for many of the young male suicides around the country, showcasing the influence it had. I read this book in the early 2000s around the same time I had watched Neon Genesis Evangelion. I was pretty messed up in the head for awhile. 

[Clephas]

I don't really like Brave New World, because too often its themes are used as a brainwashing tool for neo-Luddites. 

[crunchytaco]

Aldous Huxley is anything but anti-technology and science. They need to read Island if they seriously think Brave New World is advancing the idea of neo-luddism. 

 

This has been around for awhile so I'm surprised it's still up 

 

edit: Link to full article is dead unfortunately

 

Jeffrey Kripal on Aldous Huxley:

I find it strange, and more than a little depressing, that, despite all of this well-known biographical and metaphysical material, Aldous Huxley is best known today for his dystopian novel, Brave New World. Why is a man who had so much to say about the synthesis of science and spirituality and the deeper dimensions of human consciousness known primarily for a novel about the authoritarian horrors and technological dead-ends of the modern consumer state? Why is this consummate individualist, intrigued by the potential for spiritual ecstasy, still mostly identified with a story of moral despair and fascist political control? Obviously, part of the answer is because Brave New World was so incredibly accurate. But Huxley did more than diagnose the disease; he also provided what he thought of as a realistic treatment in Island.

I interviewed Laura Huxley about Island a few years ago (she died last year at the age of 96). She described the novel to me as "the last will and testament" of her late husband. Island, she suggested, is where he left his most sincere convictions and deepest thoughts about what human beings are capable of at their best. He was very careful, she pointed out, not to include anything in the novel that was not possible, that had not been practiced somewhere before and found useful. So he was quite upset when Island was received as a piece of fantasy rather than a practical program for translating his abstract philosophy of consciousness and existential mysticism into effective social, educational, and contemplative experiments. Island was no fantasy for Aldous Huxley. It was, as Laura said, his "ultimate legacy."

This seems like the right time to entertain the possibility that Aldous Huxley is more relevant now than he ever was, that Island is as important as Brave New World, and that the two novels should be read together. I am particularly struck by Huxley's vibrant critique of religious literalism and the whole psychology of belief in Island. "In religion all words are dirty words," the Old Raja's little green book declared. Hence the novel's ideal of the "Tantrik agnostic" (Aldous's grandfather returns) and its scorn for that "Old Nobodaddy" in the sky (the expression is pure William Blake). Hence the humorous prayer of Pala: "Give us this day our daily Faith, but deliver us, dear God, from Belief." The scarecrows in the fields were even made to look like a God the Father, so that the children who manipulated them with strings to scare off the birds could learn that "all gods are homemade, and that it's we who pull their strings and so give them the power to pull ours."

Link: Brave New Worldview: The Return of Aldous Huxley (Chronicle of Higher Education)

[Funyarinpa]

Going to the mall with a friend today. Going to buy Dune(Frank Herbert), Childhood's End (Arthur C. Clarke) and 2001: A Space Odyssey(Arthur C. Clarke). If I can't find any of the three, I'll buy Brave New World instead.

 

Also, who else has read Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck? My school made me read it as the summer reading assignment between 5th-6th grades, and the book -unlike most other novels the school made us read- resonated with the whole grade and most of my friends fell in love with it. It's my favorite "classic" novel to date, as I fell in love with the characters and the story.

[babiker]

I've been reading a Turkish Historical novel called "My Name is Red", very interesting book, though it sure took quite a bit of research to understand everything, including Khosrow and Shirin. The book requires the reader to have a good background of the Ottoman empire, and of art in general. And some chapters within the book can be so awesome, even if they have no connection what so ever with main plot, my favorite being "I am the devil"  ]

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Name_Is_Red

[Funyarinpa]

Finished Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. It was alright, but the characters felt like they were from a normal Turkish soap opera, which is never a good thing.

 

6/10 overall.

 

Started reading Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Some concepts the novel's introduced so far(and by that, I mean the first 30 pages or so) are pretty interesting. My favorite thing about it right now is the writing style, I like how ...Dick (Sorry, couldn't keep a straight face) uses the language.