ThunderPeel2001

Books, books, books...

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I wouldn't say I hated it, but I did actively dislike Kvothe's "I am great at everything"-thing. I had the feeling that was toned down a bit in the Wise Man's Fear, or at least it bothered me less. Plus, it had him fucking up a lot more.

Did you end up liking it after all then, Baron?

Yeah I ended up liking it a lot, a lot more than I've enjoyed a book in a long time actually. The fact that the book started off with him being a child of somewhat humble beginnings is probably what made me able to like him as I originally was completely unable to care about him because it seemed like he was just a character that someone wrote with the sole purpose of being super awesome and better than everything else in the story. Once I saw that he wasn't just boringly perfect it got a lot better for me.

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Yeah, Kvothe, while annoying at times, is actually a pretty interesting character. He is somewhere between anti-hero and hero. He seems to have good intentions most of the time, but will lie, cheat, steal, destroy if it benefits him.

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I recently picked up a book on game audio implementation "The Game Audio Tutorial: A Practical Guide to Sound and Music for Interactive Games",and it has a website with videos and a UDK map and stuff to download, and the downloads have the best DRM to make sure you bought the book.

"Videos Unlock Code README

We've gone for some old-skool copy protection.

Take the first letter of each of these words and they form a word.

The first word of the title of Chapter 08

The second word of the heading on page 104

The first word of the heading on page 386

This is the password for the Videos Zip file.

Have fun !"

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I've heard good things about Finch and want to check out either that or another Jeff VanderMeer book. Has anyone here read anything by him?

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Experimental Lit Geek Alert:

I am reading Life: A User's Manual (translated into English). It is weird and awesome.

A bit like Dictionary of the Khazars in that it is more about a collection of only loosely related stories than it is a contiguous single story (although there nominally is an overarching plot and it isn't really approachable non-linearly the same way Dictionary is).

Just through the first section of the book and there have already been passages that include some sort of convoluted discrete math/logic proof, a recipe, and multiple pages devoted to excerpting from a mail order catalog and that's just what I remember off the top of my head.

:tup::clap:

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Been reading a lot of comics lately. In the actual book front, I finished Supergods, by Grant Morrison. It's a pretty fascinating series of essays on comics and their effect on popular culture.

In comics, I finished my annual re-read of Scud: The Disposable Assassin. It isn't the most thought provoking comic by a long shot, but it has a maniacal glee that makes it extremely fun to read. And when the story suddenly decides to get emotional, it's actually quite competent. I also recently got into The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, which is a great example of a comic with low ambitions that turns out way better than expected. It's a throwback to the old power fantasies of yore, but also happens to be the most violent comic I've read since Preacher. Seek it out.

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I have a lot of comics on my list, most from Vertigo, and Preacher is one of them.

I'm also planning to pick up Jim Henson's Tale of Sand, has anyone here seen/read it?

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I'm also planning to pick up Jim Henson's Tale of Sand, has anyone here seen/read it?

Yeah, I picked this up last week. It's BEAUTIFUL. I think it's something I'll have to read a few times to really appreciate, though. It's mostly a silent story, very much in the vein of Timepeice, but a little more serious.

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Experimental Lit Geek Alert:

I am reading Life: A User's Manual (translated into English). It is weird and awesome.

Perec is pretty great. You should look up some of the other OULIPO works. Interesting. I wish Life was a little more concise, though, as it seemed to drag for me after a while.

As a technical feat, I think A Void is his most impressive novel. The entire thing is written without using the letter E (which is actually much harder in French, and it's ridiculous that he did it AND that someone translated it into English without the letter E).

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Perec is pretty great. You should look up some of the other OULIPO works. Interesting. I wish Life was a little more concise, though, as it seemed to drag for me after a while.

As a technical feat, I think A Void is his most impressive novel. The entire thing is written without using the letter E (which is actually much harder in French, and it's ridiculous that he did it AND that someone translated it into English without the letter E).

Yeah I've read the English translation of A Void before. Interestingly, some of the excerpted reviews on the back had chosen to follow the constraint as well. I'm a pretty huge Oulipo fan after stumbling across the Oulipo Compendium a while back.

Incidentally, if anyone out there is vaguely interested in experimental writing and has no idea who the Oulipo are: The Oulipo Compendium is just about the best thing ever. :tup::tup::tup:

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Debt: The First 5000 Years

Some other books in the same vain as this:

Ha-Joon Chang, 23 Things they don't tell you about Capitalism and Bad Samaritans

David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism and The Enigma of Capital

Andre Gunder Frank, ReORIENT

Just finished Killing Hope, which if you ever want to get so angry and upset that you feel sick, is a great book!

I'm currently reading Altered Carbon, and I'm sort of getting sick of the main character. It was recomended to me cos I love Iain M Banks, but man, I am fucking struggling. Has anyone finished and can say if it's worth pushing through?

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I'm currently reading The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, and I'm loving it!

Tristram Shandy is fantastic, and super fucking dirty!

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I'm currently reading The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, and I'm loving it!

:tup::tup::tup:

Gods that thing is fantastic. So very, very out of time.

Also, since someone mentioned it above--

Debt: The First 5,000 Years is one of the most important books I've ever read. It's actually short for its subject matter (which is, essentially, the entirety of human history through the lens of debt) but packed with absolutely revelatory insights (with the data to back it up).

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I'm not sure if this is one of those "genre" books I shouldn't be reading, but I'm currently very much enjoying The Forever War - 'Nam in space!

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I'm not sure if this is one of those "genre" books I shouldn't be reading, but I'm currently very much enjoying The Forever War - 'Nam in space!

AWESOME book! Loved it!

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So, I've been mulling over a story in my head and was wondering about perspective and protagonists in books. Juxtaposing the narratives of a classic, single-protagonist story (Harry Potter) with an ensemble cast story (Game of Thrones) and figuring out what are the benefits of both. The story I have in my head is slightly dependent on mystery, so having too broad an ensemble cast would undermine the sense of suspense (though Agatha Christie did some interesting things with this format). However, most single-protagonist characters I know tend to be on the uninteresting side because out of necessity they require broad appeal. So I came upon the idea of following a limited group (say, three) people in the cast to circumvent these problems.

Note: this story may never actually be developed any further, depending on a thousand factors.

More note: I don't know what anyone is supposed to do with this post.

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No, sorry, I don't know those books. I read they're classics with a tie to Hitchcock, but they never made it to the Netherlands. In any case, my story will probably never get made and is most likely really pulpy and shallow :getmecoat But, you know, I try.

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Ah yes, a typo on the “for”. There are a few sequels to the Forever War as well. I didn't enjoy them as much as the original, but they are worth a read. There is a very good novella about Marygay when they are separated too.

Troopers is indeed rather gung ho - i just read on its wiki page that it is recommended reading for the US Marines. In what way would you find it difficult to read? I always find a good science fiction book removes me enough from the proselytizing that I can discover what the author is putting forward without being turned off the book by the arguments presented.

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Ah yes, a typo on the “for”. There are a few sequels to the Forever War as well. I didn't enjoy them as much as the original, but they are worth a read. There is a very good novella about Marygay when they are separated too.

Troopers is indeed rather gung ho - i just read on its wiki page that it is recommended reading for the US Marines. In what way would you find it difficult to read? I always find a good science fiction book removes me enough from the proselytizing that I can discover what the author is putting forward without being turned off the book by the arguments presented.

I have no idea what you just said, but reading something that's pro-facism would not be a pleasant experience for me.

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TLDR: I'm a secret facist trying to get you to read propaganda by posting gibberish.

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However, most single-protagonist characters I know tend to be on the uninteresting side because out of necessity they require broad appeal.

I disagree. Broad appeal makes for an uninteresting character. Out with the Mary Sues, in with the Hamlets. Ignatius J. Reilly made A Confederacy of Dunces what it is.

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As I wrote that, I knew I was generalizing and that there are tons of interesting single-protagonist story characters. But also really crappy ones. So, I'm sorry.

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As I wrote that, I knew I was generalizing and that there are tons of interesting single-protagonist story characters. But also really crappy ones. So, I'm sorry.

Comparing Harry Potter and Game of Thrones is a pretty specific example because those are both series/franchises. An author simply writing a novel, and not beholden to writing a long (often even indefinitely long) series like that is probably less likely to be worrying about that crowd-pleasing thing, because what's important is creating a satisfying and meaningful work in and of itself, and not a character (or set of characters) the reader is compelled to keep following for many books' worth.

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