Clever, but I want to major in econ. I'll make you a deal, i'llgive you a free colonoscopy. free of charge. just for you :heart:Quote:
Originally Posted by Nessus
Printable View
Clever, but I want to major in econ. I'll make you a deal, i'llgive you a free colonoscopy. free of charge. just for you :heart:Quote:
Originally Posted by Nessus
This is the guy making the next economy bubble
Vote Pubbie, everyone
:rolleyes:
On the plus side, I'm actually getting to read my own books again! Granted it is nothing too intense or hard to read, but so far pretty entertaining for me. "Howl's Moving Castle". At least it is more engaging then what I read on a daily basis to K, she likes "F is for Farm" :bulb: I have that book memorized...
I'll be offering my services to Germany.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nessus
Cuntries? Are you trying to piss everyone off?Quote:
Originally Posted by Omega
If you exclude all the regional dialects in Pakistan I can speak (three), English is only my fourth language after Urdu, French, and Arabic. I might have omitted a letter by mistake, or not, since I don't have aspellcheck and my mastery of the english language is sub-par compared to any literate and native speaker. Youcan't expect me to oscellate back and forth from one language to the next and it's not as if I proof-read any of my posts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Somehow that rings false in light of the content of that post, and your generally misogynistic attitude.
This is a book? :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by Catgrrl
I thought it was solely a Ghibli studios movie?
Which I have, and it's very good. Astonishing visuals, as with many of Ghibli/Miyazaki's productions.
http://www.impawards.com/2005/poster...ing_castle.jpg
I love the movie (I also have it on DVD), so my sister got me the corresponding book for Christmas. It was a book first, and the movie strays off the book quite a bit. But it was still an enjoyable read (finished it last night). It's by Diana Wynne Jones. It's a childrens/preteen book I'd say. But at the point in my life I can't wrap my head around anything more in-depth than that. One day I will be back up to par on my reading/attention abilities. :)
lol, that's a word i haven't seen in a while. and naaah, i wasn't really serious either way. i'm just raging we're reading her work. one of the other books i read by the Bronte sisters was supposedly a lesbian manifesto according to this website. it was legit, they had quotes in their essay and everything. apart from that, i just think she's too verbose for no reason, her imagery is stupid. Subtly refernce red, don't reference red ALL the time. and like, "i wish were a bird" makes it so obvious bird represent freedom. she blatantly reveals birds=freedom. like i don't like those kinds of books.Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy
anyways, i finished Grapes of Wrath, i personally liked East of Eden better. same ending, but better plot imo.
I've still not seen it myself, only watched Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
Furiously maturating to Crime and Punishment. I surprisingly like Fyodor.
I remember reading the original in paperback. It did not have these errors.Quote:
Originally Posted by Omega
I was just messing, the publisher is probably a moron then.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewkowski
http://www.epbot.com/2011/01/book-re...-for-mars.html
I remember watching it explode, I was home sick from school and decided to watch the launch.
I just thought the book sounded entertaining in the blog post, added it to my list.
I'm currently rereading The Second Sex, incidentally. Hadn't read it since high school.
I'm reading through "The Girl Who Played with Fire" now. I really should be reading my textbooks instead.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Slow start, but great book.
Obtained today: About 2 000 pages of Finnish political history
Next 2 000 after I'm through these
Whee
Want an article on Finnish (and Swedish neutrality)? It's very recent.
Sure! I've been reading about it for the, uh, past month or so. But from an inside perspective. It'd be interesting to see which 'suomettumis'-cliches they invoke!
If by "outside perspective", you mean Swedes. :oQuote:
Originally Posted by Nessus
http://www.box.net/shared/7jcl3rok5o
Thought I'd try Dan Simmons, an American Sci-Fi ish author.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2790/...02be5245bf.jpg
About 2/3rds of the way through this one.
It's really rather good. :)
If a little bit strange. A marriage of Homer's epic; The Iliad, with all its Greek mythology and Gods abound, and futuristic sci-fi tech, nano-bots, and space travel. Then sprinkled with brave new world post-humans and spiced up with Jovian cybernetic organisms who have an appreciation for Shakespeare and Proust. :bulb:
The man has quite an active imagination.
Simmons seems to like writing sci-fi with heavy influence from classics. You should also try the Hyperion Cantos, which bears a lot of similarities to The Canterbury Tales.
But only read the first two books.
Almost finished with Scratch Beginnings.
http://www.amazon.com/Scratch-Beginn...0162400&sr=8-1
Pretty enjoyable and fits my world view too! (Though I thought he was a bit too understanding of the lazy bums at the homeless shelter he stayed at though).
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, I really like it. I read the Fountainhead before and thought that was fantastic, but this one puts my thoughts and views into a novel in a way I never could.
I'd love to see Nessus' reaction to that ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Draco
It was long ago, but how did the folks here like the Foundation series (before the prequels)?
Caught hold of those in my freshman year in high school and fell in love with it.
You mean the original Asimov, not the later Brin stuff? I didn't care for Second Foundation, and didn't read any of the additions Asimov added after, but I liked the first two books.Quote:
Originally Posted by Veldan Rath
I think it's better for everyone if I keep it to myself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro
But let's throw this one in for good measure
Quote:
Two novels can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
I really love them. It has been a couple years since I read them last, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Veldan Rath
The series changes quite a lot as it goes along, the first book in particular is pretty ordinary sci-fi Fall of the Roman Empire stuff, but then it gets more, hm, funky with the telepathy stuff. And the last two books, Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth read much more like sci-fi adventure material, which is obviously a disappointment if one was intrigued primarily by the Fall of the Roman Empire in space aspect. And I personally think it's cool he tied it into the Robot universe in the end, but many disagree.
I don't have any problems with psi-fi, I quite like Schmitz' short stories, but I don't think Asimov did it very well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nessus
When I was around 13 and Babylon 5 was airing over here, I compared the Psi-Corps to the Mule and the 2nd foundation and at that time I preferred the Mule; it seemed more plausible to me that one could sense and control emotions rather than individual thoughts. Since I have no education on how the brain actually works, I can't today justify that with anything, but I think that's still the main reason why I like Asimov's take on psi-fi. (Neat term!) And I personally found Mule's character pretty believable, though the "super bull man of Kalgan" was a bit much. Asimov in general is a bit of a hit and miss writer though, and if he were writing today I don't know how highly I'd rate him.
When I first read Foundation (holy shit, that was nearly twenty years ago - I remember he died just as I was finishing the last one), the Mule stories were my favorite parts. Never read the later parts of the series, after Foundation's Edge (IIRC). I never had a desire to read Foundation stories written by someone other than Asimov.
Heh, without Asimov we Germans would have never had Perry Rhodan ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Wraith
you were 13 when B5 came out?Quote:
Originally Posted by Nessus
I feel really old
Finally got around to reading, and finishing Surface Detail, by Iain Banks. Not as good as the other culture books I've read so far. I suppose I should finish them off - still have Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons, the latter of which I keep hearing is really good.
Just picked up "Ilium" from Dan Simmons. It is fucking great! I can't put it down. 3 storylines, all completely bonkers and completely realistic at the same time. All connected by the story of Troy.
1. Battle of Troy. Scolics (people from current day Earth) are used by the Muses to check whether Homer's account of the Siege of Troy was accurate. Gods are real and use high-tech gadgetry to do their godstuff, but at the same time there's lots of mythology. But then the shit hits the fan.
2. 5 Constructs, one being a big fan of Shakespeare, one of Proust and arguing all the way there set off from Europa (the moon, not the continent) to figure out how Mars got terraformed all of a sudden. But then the shit hits the fan.
3. A community of people who all grow to be exactly 100 (or 5 Twenties as they call it), travel by faxportals. A select group goes in search of The Wandering Jew and find out a couple of disturbing facts about their way of life. The shit here is in the process of fan hitting.
John Scalzi *won the Campbell award for best new Sci-fi writer, in 2006* recently wrote Fuzzy Nation a reboot of H. Beam Piper's excellent Little Fuzzy world. It's not as personable or charming, but it's less dated than the original works are.
Heh, I saw that book on Amazon yesterday and thought of you.
Yeh Surface Detail was average. Not as piss-poor as Matter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wraith
Look to Windward which leaves me breathless, and Excession are my favourites. Use of Weapons is excellent for its ending.
Consider Phlebas was his first Culture novel (and perhaps his first sci-fi one too ...) and is a bit ... :bulb:
You should try his non-Culture sci-fi too. The Algebraist is :up:
~
It's good eh. Very readable. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziggy Stardust
~
Have just finished Christopher Brookmeyer's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye. Light-hearted, comedic, espionage page-turner.
And about half-way through the #1-selling and award-winning The Slap by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZjFgdIQwQ...00/TheSlap.jpg
Which is all about an adult who smacks his friend's unruly child's face when he is seriously misbehaving, during a suburban Melbourne barbeque.
Each chapter continues the narrative through a different person who was present, what their views are about this occurrence, and how they deal with it. A novel approach to this most topical of current affairs. A fantastic book, can't put it down.