• Literary Discussion: Lets chat about books!
    194 replies, posted
If you want to read the actual Beowulf story get Seamus Heaney's translation.
Don't you hate it that when upon reaching the climatic ending of a book, a junkie happens to stumble into the street outside your house, begins to shout out at the top of his lungs what sounds like a crusty the clown impression — incessantly — for what seems like a whole hour, and then starts pissing against your parent's car?
Now reading Edward Said's [I]Orientalism[/I].
Anybody a fan of Haruki Murakami? If so, can you tell me if the Colorless Tzukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage are worth reading? [editline]2nd December 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=fritzel;46386043]^^The Trial by Franz Kafka ? Currently reading the same.[/QUOTE] I didn't get the ending. Enlighten me facepunchers.
[QUOTE=OficerHonkHonk;46299014]Hey. This thread isn't really alive, but I felt like contributing to it anyhow. I've been reading Metro 2033 and The Road as of late, and have been enjoying them quite a lot. I'm probably going to pick up Roadside Picnic whenever I get the money to do so. Anyone recommend any others I should read in a similar vain? I'm in love with the two I'm reading and would love more stuff to read.[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure the Roadside Picnic novella is available online. [URL="http://lib.ru/STRUGACKIE/engl_picnic.txt"]Here you go[/URL]. The link is [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Picnic#External_links"]from wikipedia[/URL], by the way, so it should be legit. [editline]3rd December 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=fritzel;46308696]^^ I left Metro 2033 around 70%. It's a long book but the story is quite engaging. Road was tedious to read sometimes but the atmosphere and setting justify that.[/QUOTE] Metro 2033 only pays off if you read it to the very end. Only then does it even make sense.
[QUOTE=MyBumBum;46617637] I didn't get the ending. Enlighten me facepunchers.[/QUOTE] To understand Kafka you pretty much have to know a bit about Weber and his views on the state and bureacracy, but essentially, Kafka sees the modern state as an oppressive machine which is actually harmless in its enforcing of laws (laws that are of course byzantine and self-contradictory), a paper tiger, if you will. The only reason people comply with it is that the scientific, legal turn that has taken society breeds a passive, obedient, sedated kind of people, with no passions or values to speak of. Josef doesn't really resist at any point in the novel and that's because the thought doesn't even cross his mind; even when he has the chance to give himself a decent death he refuses to do so. Behind the absurdity of bureacracy and law, lies the biggest unknown, which is actually God. This is of course a big oversimplification, but it's the nucles of many of Kafka's works.
Well, I liked this thread here. Anyone here read my books?
'eyyy So I finished the last Harry Potter book recently, and I finally got a chance to start reading The Trial. Apparently, I picked up a piss-poor translation of the book, because this is probably the most painfully awkward thing I have ever read in my entire life. There are almost no separate paragraphs, no indentation or new lines when a different character speaks, and the dialogue is incredibly unnatural and robotic. My girlfriend suggested I try the Stanley Corngold translation, does anyone know if it's better than Breon Mitchell's version?
easy way to get the full kafka experience: learn german. :v: Seriously thoughy, I know exactly what you're talking about. I tried to read The Trial and it was just a fucking chore. I seriously couldn't get past the first twenty pages.
A little less then 1/2 the books I read in the last 48 months, mainly ones I liked and wanted to keep near me; The other 30~ books I can't either remember, or can't find in the house; but I did finish the Maze Runner series, as well as The Uglies series, Crime and Punishment, Daemon series, Empire (Orson Scott Card), Animal Farm, Little Brother (It's sequel is in the picture, "Homeland") and a ton more that I can't remember. [t]http://s.gvid.me/s/2015/02/17/MR6-1424207960.png[/t] Of all the books there that stand out the most, I think [I]Dancing With Eternity[/I], [I]This Machine Kills Secrets[/I], [I]1984[/I], [I]The God Delusion[/I] and [I]The Believing Brain[/I] are among the top I would recommend to people. [I]Dancing With Eternity[/I] I don't know if I read it at a time in my life where it conveyed a strong message, but the its concepts of life in the far future, interstellar travel, space culture; all of it gelled really well with me. The sexual tension between Mo and Steele leads to an extremely potent response to her actions later in the book; The characters (despite their actual lack of fleshed out backgrounds) really convey that they're people who have lived many lives doing what they do. As for the story itself, all I can say is that it's more about the journey than where you end up in this case. I always recommend this book to people even remotely interested in sci-fi, despite it coming from an author (John Patrick Lowrie, the voice actor for Sniper in TF2) that doesn't appear experienced in the genre, the book conveys a believable sci-fi future. Only a number of the people I've recommended this book to (Surprise, college students don't have time to read random books, and high-school students don't give a shit) have actually read it; but the ones that did say it's changed the way they view life. [I]This Machine Kills Secrets[/I] This book was my introductory to being a cypherpunk. I think it's a great book simply because of the sheer information it conveys regarding the then Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and other cryptography activists. [I]1984[/I] It's a good book, I think the writing is top notch; it gets a lot of flack on FP because ~edgy~ or something. [I]The God Delusion[/I] The quintessential book for a closet atheist. [I]The Believing Brain[/I] Basically a book on why people believe irrational things.
[QUOTE=glitchvid;47160246] [I]1984[/I] It's a good book, I think the writing is top notch; it gets a lot of flack on FP because ~edgy~ or something.[/QUOTE] Really? I haven't met anyone on Facepunch who strongly disliked 1984 yet. It's my favorite book of all time. [editline]17th February 2015[/editline] I just started reading a series of murder mysteries by Charlaine Harris. The chapters are a bit short but overall it's decent so far, I like her writing style. I can't remember the last time I've read a murder mystery.
Just finished the Autumn Republic in the Powder Mage trilogy. I love the trilogy, but it was a very disappointing ending. One thing that constantly drew me out of it was that nearly every minor character they brought up in this one was a woman. It just felt really out of place. Apparently people complained to the author was that there weren't enough female characters but he WAY over compensated and it just didn't feel fitting. [QUOTE=Lordgeorge16;47161933]Really? I haven't met anyone on Facepunch who strongly disliked 1984 yet. It's my favorite book of all time.[/QUOTE] people don't hate the book, they hate how people constantly try to compare it to the modern world "gais, the nsa is literally 1984!"
[QUOTE][IMG]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81PsULMyLoL.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] Go read this. The guy was a high ranking poet and propaganda officer in North Korea when he fucked up in a tiny insignificant way and had to runaway from his entire life less than 24 hours later. He was well respected and even met Kim Jong-Il It's eye opening. There's shit you don't know about North Korea. It's really good. Nail biting escape. Also a great insight into an almost unknown North Korean practice called the 'Seed Bearing Programme' where they essentially got their female spies to have sex with high ranking people in Japan so they can blackmail them with a child, and then send the child back to Japan to be a spy (child looks Japanese). While the father is sending aid and food to help their child which they actually use to feed the high ranking officials in the North Korean regime. You won't regret reading it. [editline]24th February 2015[/editline] Also I remember somebody posted in a thread like this before looking for a fantasy involving a massive quest (like LOTR). I recommend The Belgariad series to whoever that was. Can anybody recommend a fantasy series with lots of interesting species which aren't just dwarf and elves? I'm tired of human-only fantasy btu don't want a poor man's Tolkien.
[QUOTE=OficerHonkHonk;46299014]Hey. This thread isn't really alive, but I felt like contributing to it anyhow. I've been reading Metro 2033 and The Road as of late, and have been enjoying them quite a lot. I'm probably going to pick up Roadside Picnic whenever I get the money to do so. Anyone recommend any others I should read in a similar vain? I'm in love with the two I'm reading and would love more stuff to read.[/QUOTE] I'm reading Metro 2033 right now. For the third time. I just love it. When that's done, you should read Metro 2034 as well. It follows Hunter on a different mission a year later. I really wish the books had more stories though, as many of them hints to great mysteries within the metro system. And I'm not just referring to the huge system no-one ever enters because the rats hide there, but other things like what happened south of Sevastapolskaya and what's going on with (warning, spoilers for Metro 2033. If you haven't read the whole thing, don't read this stuff.) [sp]the still-running trains around Pobedy park/Metro 2, and what happened when they got to the launch bunker. Like, did they find anything else?[/sp]. Other than that, I'm also reading Antony Beevor's "The second world war".
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