Favorite Books and Current Reads

[beekee]

A yaoi novel sounds awesome, actually. Is it a light novel?

@Maxine: Scy is right; you do read this guy. More generally, I sometimes will parse through a writing book to read the parts I'm most interested in first. This is especially so if a particular writing issue is troubling me and I'm hungry for answers. However, just as often I will actually sit down and read through a writing book much like a novel.

Stoker's Dracula story is a classic for a reason, and I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it.

@Kino: So reading The Farthest Shore with you. Totally. In.

@Trifmuffin: I know, it's so hilarious! Very cute in places too. I now feel guilty wearing pants while I write.

[Kinokokao]

@Farthest Shore

fuck. yes. let's do this! Looking at the timeline for when the book arrives vs. ITL Book Club, I'll probably start it after the Last Unicorn.

@Jubelon

yes, it is a light novel! DMP has released a few BL light novels now. I have one other, because I utterly adore the illustrator, that I haven't read yet -- I think it's about an arranged marriage between a Duke and a commoner? And, yes, it's BL. So :3 I think you can guess why I picked it up (other than loving Tooko Miyagi's art). Hinako Takanaga illustrated a series called "Guilty" about a novel writer who seduces his naive book editor -- it's actually an incredibly cliche premise, so I'm really torn about getting it. On the one hand, Hinako Takanaga. On the other... potentially boring story.

Anyway, this one is called "S" and it's about an undercover cop who works in illegal arms control. He has a spy, called an S, who he uses as an informant to garner information about illegal activities. I've just started reading it, but so far I actually like it!

[scy]

Gardner (Future Babble) really rips into Toynbee a bit in the confirmation bias and illusion of control part. Which, really, is quite fair I suppose. A Study of History was an interesting read to a point, as it made a fairly nice argument towards the cycles of history ... besides the whole being wrong thing. Though a part of me feels a little guilty to use his legacy as proof of the whole "not deluded despite their intelligence but deluded because of it."

But, really, confirmation bias discussion always makes me giddy. I love the analysis of it. I love reading about human experiments involving human thought and the brain. It's always so fascinating to read experiments proving how stupid we are at times.

[Trifkin]

[scy]

Future Babble is basically just chock full of fun little moments about that. Really, the part of me that enjoys the hell out of seeing failure like that is getting just too much out of this book in that regard. Which is either a problem or working as intended.

Huge criticism on Paul Ehrlich (The Population Bomb) in regards to his status as a celebrity expert and what that term even means; likewise, Peter Schiff's prediction of the dot-com and real-estate bubble bursts vs other experts. Then there's aforementioned confirmation bias and Toynbee (A Study of History) that's just beautiful. Even the cited experiment was fascinating and makes me feel like I missed the boat for cool social science experiments*.

Oh Schiff. How I wish I watched this stuff more when I was younger.


Watching the clip makes me realize how true it is that we really don't care about missed predictions. They're old news, not new news. Only when a prediction is right does it matter; any incorrect prediction is merely lost to history. Nobody drags those incorrect predictions out into the open. That treatment is only for those that hit the mark.

For the record, Schiff has a pretty bad track record for the period as well so it's not like he was some economic and stock market genius that was overlooked. He got the two bursts right, with a little leeway given to time frames, but he also sticks to his guns pretty hard on his ideology so he's bound to be right. To put it in perspective, it'd be like always calling "Tails" when I flip a coin. You'll eventually be right half the time.

*

[scy]

[SirthOsiris]

Finished Homeland in the Drizzt legend. Not half bad, will probably continue.

[NessySchu]

Went to the used bookstore today and completed my collection of the Anne of Green Gables books. I've read the first one plenty of times, and the second and third a couple each, but I've yet to read the fifth through eighth, which I picked up today. I'm excited to read them when I finally find the time! (And finish the large pile of library books that's been beside my bed for a couple of months already. )

[Trifkin]

@Jubelon - Hehe, "Trifmuffin." ^ ^ <3 I'm still reading through it. I laugh at almost every single paragraph.

@The Fault In Our Stars/Kino/Jubie - OHMYGOD. I read that book in about two days. I was SOBBING last night while reading the last third or so. I had no idea what to expect going into the novel as there was no synopsis... that's pretty much my favorite way of diving into any book (of fiction) now. It has served me so well. TT-TT I highly, highly recommend this book.

@scy - Future Babble is definitely goin' on my list. The Poisoned Chocolates Case sounds good! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.

[zamisk]

When I was younger, my absolute favorite series was called Gregor the Overlander. It's by Suzanne Collins, who wrote the Hunger Games. I bought the second book in the series at a used bookstore today, as I owned the first. The third one is there too but I'm didn't have money on me, just store credit. I'll be back.

I don't really want to read them right now, but I will one day soon.

edit: the final book of that series, book 6 is the only book to ever make me cry, by the way. But I was a couple years younger and Collins is amazing. I haven't cried in anything else, other than Ultimate Spider-Man. *cough* (this summer.)

TT_TT

[Maxine MagicFox]

The other day my dad was watching Two Towers which was on TV. He asked me a question about something and me, being smart aleck-y at the time, opened my mouth to pop off with something smart (me and my Tolkien-Movie hate) but I stopped and realized.... o_o I can't remember what it is about the question that I had to argue about. I knew in the back of my mind that there was something that should have thrown me into a torrent of a rant but.... -_- I couldn't remember any of the facts of the stories at all.

I stay clear of the movies at all costs. But as I have grown up I realize that I had put "Tolkien is too mainstream for me to want to care anymore" that *shrugs* I've plum forgot what the hell happened in the story specifically.

Which I mean, is kinda understandable in its own way. I finished Return of the King in 8th or 9th grade - couldn't have been 10th since I was living in GA and I moved to CT my 10th. Back in '97 or so?

Yeah... 14 or so years. It is quite understandable that I would obviously have forgotten the story that I fell absolutely in love with as a child.

*shrugs* So, I'm rereading it! ^_^
(on my nook, no less. despite owning a very old, quite dusty, much loved boxset, and a pre-FotR-movie release omnibus...)



... I wish goodreads tracked re-reads....

[Skele Von Mann]

i would try and actually read the novels



but i have the feeling theres gonna be a 4 paragraph description of a rock and its history in it somewhere

[NessySchu]

Lol probably.

I have no interest in reading the books. I've seen the first two movies, and they were decent. I like Orlando Bloom. Also, "They're taking the hobbits to Isengard-gard-g-g-g-gard!" That's about it. And I've seen the play of The Hobbit done by my friend's school (she was the Goblin King), and will soon see it again at my old school.

[Maxine MagicFox]

*sigh* I remember a time when I was young that Nessy's post in particular would have upset me. Now it just makes me sad. Still, I've now accepted that anyone who is content with the movies despite probably being familiar with the concept "books are always better than the movies" is reaping their own punishment and I'm not going to waste precious air on bothering to try to correct such obvious, and willing, stupidity that would probably be tempered with an equally strong dose of mull-headed stubbornness. Be it Tolkien, Harry Potter, or any other such story. *shrugs* Sucks to be you, Nessy.

As for Rider's comment... at least his is more understandable and fully warranted. Still, I feel that Tolkien keeps the atmosphere beautiful even if he does tend to be slightly long winded. I was never bored while reading and drank it all in. But I won't lie. It's in there and I get what you are talking about.

[scy]

I used to tout the books are better than the movies (and light novels/manga are better than the anime, etc.) but there's an important distinction to note: They're a different medium entirely. To gauge it on the merits of the other is missing the point. Expecting a 1:1 retelling is a bit silly and, really, at that point you truly are better off just reading the source material. Adaptations are adaptations. They have their own two feet to stand on for evaluation.

Movie adaptations are not meant to replace the books so don't try to treat them as such. Watch them for them; enjoy them for what they present and bring to life.