Thyroid

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Posts posted by Thyroid

  1. Posted

    Do autobiographies count? Memoirs of Napoleon, The Education of Henry Adams and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin are all great reads. You can get all three off of Project Gutenberg.

    Will in the World is OK for what it is. It's mostly speculation, you know? And Shakespeare by Another Name is an interesting read if you're wondering about the validity of the Oxfordian Theory on Shakespeare's authorship.

    I'm happily reading through Steven Englund's Napoleon: A Political Life, just for the hell of it. It's interesting.

    Biographies to avoid would be The Lives of John Lennon, which is this bitter, angry hate letter to Lennon, and Heavier Than Heaven, which is Kurt Cobain doused in a goo of Courtney Love-authorized tidbits and casting her as this poor victim. It also has these scenes where Cobain is alone and but where we get glimpses into what the fuck he was doing. Like walking home sniffing his fingers after having sex, or what he did up to and including the moment he stuck a shotgun beneath his chin.

  2. Posted

    Miffy, I'd roll with it, but after making it super-clear how you feel about both your girlfriend and your relationship with her. Re:you sleeping with someone, I don't know. There's this douche frat boy in me saying, "Do it!" And someone in me who knows that, I, personally, would get jealous later, and having sex with someone else would help ease that, so he's also yelling "Do it!". But some obscure part is saying don't.

    I suppose a threesome with you, your girlfriend and the other girl is out of the question.

  3. Posted

    Is there anything more upsetting than pouring your heart out over something that's been gnawing at you for ages, and getting a cold, sarcastic reaction? No, there is not. At least I've learned I have a hell of a poker face.

  6. Posted

    Yeah, I do, especially when I realize that a theme is being explored and I can't seem to grasp it. I sometimes do it while stirring a cup of coffee, or, more recently, while talking to my girlfriend, who claps her hands when I get the answer and even skips.

    That having been said, sometimes I can't be bothered, and just find the story itself enjoyable.

  8. Posted

    I'm loving the "no real bad guy" stuff.

    Same here. I love that the more time passes, the better you know these characters, even the ones who seem one dimensional at first. Sometimes, development is left for later volumes.

    Regarding

    Stannis, Robert and a son

    , it's actually GRRM knowing his characters pretty well. You'll understand that line of reasoning better later.

    Regarding everything else you said, keep reading! It's all explained in due time.

  10. Posted

    Check your inbox!

    How good was that, eh?

    I love that he plays completely fair, foreshadowing, showing you things, expecting you to connect dots. The Red Wedding is foretold at least three times

    .

    I wish I could link you to all the trivia that shows you how much you absolutely missed.

  14. Posted

    Ben, when you finish book three, tell me. I'll link you to an essay that explains it. Also, it's inevitable that you'll miss a lot. Like I keep saying, there's a second layer of work happening that most people will inevitably miss on a first read-through.

    That having been said, you have a good number of clues. Don't worry about that yet, though, since you've got some really serious shit coming-up.

  15. Posted

    The best thing about this series is that you go back later (or read online) and see this other, subtle layer that makes you appreciate the work on an entirely different level. All those small things that don't quite make sense on a first read-through. It's awe-inducing.

  16. Posted

    Now they're passing laws that say you can't talk about Jordan on the internet without proper licensing (meaning you say what they want you to say; oh glorious Jordan, best country of all time, past, present and future, if you had an ass I'd kiss it). :( I'm not sure if I'm depressed or angry.

  18. Posted

    Sherlock Holmes is fun.

    It's hard for me to take Penny Arcade's insights into books seriously; Gabe doesn't read anything besides Star Wars novels and Tycho over-writes beyond the point of saturation. I find it a bit weird that people take this as this "geek authority". In fact, I find that whole "geek culture" thing weird, but let's not get into that. My point is that I've never taken Penny Arcade's opinion any more seriously than I've taken anyone else's, and I find it bemusing that others do.

    I do have Perdido Street Station to delve into, though I suspect it'll be a few years before I actually read it.

  19. Posted

    They want to censor porn sites in Jordan. They think they morally corrupt youth.

    Because god knows having a libido is two steps away from being a gun-wielding psychopath.

    And people wonder why I hate it here.

  21. 1Q84

    in Books

    Posted

    I've read two Murakami books: A Wild Sheep Chase ("weird" is the word that comes to mind) and South of the Border, West of the Sun (which I can't be objective about, since it closely mirrors something of my old life; but Murakami has a gift for capturing mood and feeling, which he takes to full advantage here).

  23. Posted · Edited by Kroms

    I saw Shades of Grey on a shelf yesterday, but didn't go for it. Do you think it's worth going for in hardcover?

    Edit: Hey, I found it in mass market paperback. So I got it.

  25. Posted

    Some of these pictures are great. I especially love the one with the old lady on the chair; it's so well-framed, and perfectly timed. The one of the old man on the chair has a beautiful paleness to it.