Argobot

Also, this seems pretty relevant: http://www.vulture.com/2012/08/murakami-favorite-for-nobel-prize.html

I take breaks during books all the time, sometimes for long stretches. Like I mentioned earlier, I really hate to not finish a book once I've started to read it, so I'm willing to put a book down for a few months if that's what will help me eventually get through it. As I long remember the characters and the basic plot of what I've already read, taking a break has never been a problem.

Hey, thanks for answering my question about sexism in Video games! I think all three of you are completely spot on about the entire situation, especially when talking about too much 'noise.' The whole girlfriend-mode fiasco and the recent events with Todd Akin are two really great examples of this. On the one hand, I was really happy that people were voicing their displeasure with both these situations. On the other hand, just because you make a funny joke on Twitter about a Video game that you'll probably end up buying and playing (creating 'noise') that doesn't mean that you fixed sexism. I think a lot of people already responded to you with really thoughtful ideas, and I'm not trying to pile on, but, what do you mean here? How Video games are sexist? What exactly sexism is?

That's a shame. I heard that Norwegian Wood was really good, and I think I have a copy of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle somewhere. Maybe I'll just stick to those two. I really hate having to give up on a book once I've already started reading it.

Really been meaning to read this book; ever since I read Kafka on the Shore, I've wanted to get more into Murakami. If you've read his other work, how does 1Q84 compare?

Whoops, can't believe that I missed all those obvious answers, especially Harry Potter. I suppose my original fear of the movie/tv adaptation influencing the writer was a little unfounded.

I can't think of any other author who wrote their series while it was simultaneously being adapted. Even if they're following different paths, there's no way that the show's influence isn't creeping its way into Martins creative process. I imagine he's just constantly writing scenes and thinking: "Man, it'll be sweet to see Dinklage do this!" Whatever influence the TV show is having on his writing, I'm sure Martin is happy with the influence it's having on his sales: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/08/09/women-on-the-rise-among-the-worlds-top-earnings-authors/

Which reminds me of another thing: how has the TV show has affected the way he's writing the books? I know the fifth book was mostly done by the time the TV show became super popular, but he's writing the last two in this entirely different situation. The show has already made random characters more popular than they were in the books (in an interview Martin he said that the TV show has made Bronn a whole lot more popular than he ever was, as an example), and it'll be interesting to see if there will be more obvious effects on his writing process for the last two books.

I really, really wanted to like these books. I love the TV show and generally have a positive attitude towards fantasy, but I could just not get through the first book. I think a lot of my problem was I tried to read the books after watching the first two seasons of the show, and that really clouded my ability to appreciate the books. The same thing happened when I tried to read LOTR after seeing the movies; I kept mixing up Jackson's version with what I was reading. Lesson learned, always read the book first. I remember reading somewhere that GRR Martin didn't want his series to have a disappointing ending like 'Lost,' did. Are any of the people who have read the books worried that the series is headed in that direction? Or do you have faith that Martin knows exactly where he's going and what he needs to do to get there?

That's exactly what I did when I got to the end! Then I had to stop myself from just completely rereading the whole dang book again.

I know I’m basically replying to myself here, but I just finished Infinite Jest last night and felt a strong urge to talk about it on the internet. My mind is still processing everything that I read, but I can safely say that the book is now one of my favorites. Did anyone else notice all the Brothers Karamazov references? I know the book more overtly references Hamlet, but there’s a lot of Brothers K in there are well. It didn’t dawn on me how similar BK and IF are until near the end of IF, when there’s a direct textual reference to Ivan’s Grand Inquisitor speech in the Brothers K. There are a lot more subtle connections throughout the book (the parallel between the two sets of brothers is my favorite. Dmitry = Orin, Ivan = Hal, and Alyosha = Mario). To me, IF almost acts as a modern day mirror of the Brothers K, but that might just be the Russian lit. major wanting to see something that’s not there. Anyway, it was a great book. I'm so glad that I finally finished it and that it lived up to the high praise that everyone gives it.

After a year of putting it off, I am finally FINALLY reading this book. I'm on page 700 and am slowly losing my mind because I'm at work and can't read it right now (which yes, I realize the hilarity of being consumed by a book about people who are consumed by various things: drugs/'media'/other people). I was really worried that this book wouldn't live up to all the hype that surrounds it, but so far I haven't been disappointed. Everyone keeps telling me that the ending is amazing, but after spending so much time learning about these characters/this fictional universe, I'm a little sad about reaching the end and letting them go.

To bring this whole discussion back to the thread topic (books), that Shock Value book I mentioned earlier heavily intimates that O'Bannon was jealous of Carpenter's runaway success with Halloween. While Carpenter was being talked about in the US, O'Bannon was in Europe, working an a movie adaptation of Dune that never got off the ground. That's where he met Giger, and the rest is...you know. The whole beach-ball-as-the-monster in Dark Star is where Carpenter learned to not directly show the monster on screen; having a wide-angle shot of a beach ball would destroy any kind of tension/emotion/believability. I personally think that Carpenter ripped off Black Christmas when he made Halloween, but that's just an opinion and not really based in any fact (except the fact that both movies have really similar plots/bad guys). Anyway, Shock Value is a great book. You should read it (and so should the person who originally requested film book recs---sorry!)

I get the feeling that there was a lot of bitterness from both Carpenter and O'Bannon. In regards to The Thing, I think Carpenter was diretctly influenced by the 1950s monster movie The Thing from Another World; his movie is a fairly similar remake. Dark Star had more to do with Halloween, because it taught Carpenter that the scariest/most effective part of having a movie monster is not actually showing it on screen. Plus, Halloween was his first big movie after Dark Star. Fun fact: the kids that Laurie Strode are babysitting in Halloween are actually watching The Thing from Another World on TV while Michael is running around murdering people. Carpenter really liked that movie.

True, but the story of how Dark Star influenced Carpenter and O'Bannon to make two of the most famous/important horror movies ever (Halloween and Alien) is super fascinating.

I don't know a lot about French New Wave, but if you're at all interested in the history of American horror movies/directors, then you should read Shock Value. It's all about how film moved from the overtop monster movies of the 1930s-50s to the more constrained horror movies of the 70s. Every chapter is a about a specific film and it's the director; the best is the chapter on Alien, and how Dan O'Bannon's early relationship with John Carpenter really influenced the development of that movie.

Or they're trying to provide an incentive to continue playing their game; in this case, the incentive is the (egotistical and slightly masochistic) need to collect as many achievements/points/awards as possible. I don't really have a problem with achievements like: 'play the whole game using only this hammer as a weapon!' or 'play the game on the super secret double hard mode.' It doesn't interfere with your initial play through and it gives you a reason (or an excuse) to go back and play the game again. If you don't want those achievements, you can just ignore them and play the game the way you want to play it. Overall though, I'm not a huge fan of achievements, for all the reasons listed above and in the podcast. I understand why they're there and why they appeal to a lot of people, but they're not really my cup of video game playing tea.

Considering that the book is a memoir of sorts, it'd be weird if she didn't talk about herself. Personally, I loved all the instances where she wrote more about her personal life; Ms. Bautman is an interesting lady! Her descriptions of her time in Uzbek were fantastic, especially if you have any experience with that part of the world. I found the whole book the exact opposite of shallow.

Wow, this is a difficult question. Almost every book that I've read in recent memory have had some pretty funny moments in them. Here are two books that I immediately thought of: The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz-- After reading the first page of this book--when the narrator starts hilariously insulting the (presumably) American reader for not knowing about their country's relationship to the Dominican Republic--I knew that it I would love it. Oscar Wao is such a believably pitiful character and a lot of the humor comes from how realistically Diaz is able to portray what a 21st century social outcast acts like. Also, there are a lot of good jokes about New Jersey. Pym Mat Johnson--This whole book was insane; its a modern retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's only novel (The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of NantuckettI), with a lot of Lovecraft references thrown in. The whole book is a critique of modern day racial politics/identity/etc, a topic that is normally the exact opposite of funny, but Mat Johnson some how manages to find the humor in it all.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a publishing house in possession of books in the public domain, will republish those books with more sex/zombies/monsters/EXPLOSIONS, etc.

Just adding my two cents here, everyone keeps telling me I need to read The Dud Avocado.

Well the movie isn't coming out until the end of October so there's still some time.....

International trailer for Cloud Atlas (don't watch the trailer if you haven't read the book unless you're ok with spoilers): http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-five-minute-international-trailer-for-cloud-atlas/ Personally, I'm not very excited for the movie and the trailer hasn't done anything to convince me otherwise.

Yeah, Melville's exclusion is the one glaring mistake in this list; Moby-Dick is the first 'real' American novel, so to not have him here seems really weird.