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PaperclipPerfector  18d ago (text post)   2256 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 1, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

Still on The Conquest of Bread. Picking up Toffler’s Future Shock.

The Magician's Nephew with my daughter. Still just as fun as when I first read it. It might be my favorite book of the series.

Dick & Jane with my boys. Simple is best. They like the simple, classic art and it's easy for the older boy to read.

The Shadow of the Torturer has been on my shelf for a while. I got 20 or so pages in a while back and put it down. I need encouragement to pick it up again.

I need encouragement to pick it up again.

The writing style took some adjustment on first read but The Book of the New Sun ended up as probably my favourite book, and Wolfe my favourite author. It's even better on re-read.

The Shadow of the Torturer has been on my shelf for a while. I need encouragement to pick it up again.

Personally, I enjoyed books 2 and 3 of that series more than books 1 and 4. But I am far from a cultured reader.

Finished The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1956). Cyberpunk avant la lettre - if you can have cyberpunk without computer networks. Very 50s and very pulpy - it's no surprise that Bester also wrote comics - but well written with a manic energy that's the polar opposite of the likes of Asimov. You can just imagine the author smashing the typewriter keys while chomping a cigar. Reaches for the stars and sometimes grasps them.

A fantastic book. The fact that it's pretty heavily influenced by The Count of Monte Cristo doesn't hurt.

I didn’t like it for that reason- people always claim it’s the greatest sci-fi book ever and I was thinking the whole time reading it I might as well just read the original goven how derivative it was.

I've been put off the idea of reading The Count of Monte Cristo by people complaining about how long winded it is. Maybe I should swallow my pride and try an abridged version...

I'm about 90% done with Howling Dark, the second book in The Sun Eater series. I'm giving it a 3/5, but I enjoyed it a lot more than Empire of Silence. Demon in White, the third book, is up next.

Reading Journey to the East by Herman Hesse. It's pretty incredible, and quite short.

Finally finished The Goldfinch this evening. 6/10. Ending dragged on interminably which probably knocked a whole point off the score.

Not sure I ever got to the end of The Goldfinch but wow I love how Donna Tartt constructs a sentence.

Don't even bother with the film adaption.

So I've heard. It's pretty funny that Tartt hated it so much that she fired her agent.

She probably got a nice pay day with the adaption rights. Now, she can spend the next decade writing her fourth book uninterrupted.

The Goldfinch came out in 2013, she's already overdue!

The book came out in 2013, but she was busy with book tours, award ceremonies, speaking engagements, interviews, etc. Those activities took at least year and a half of her life. We could guess she found time to sit down and start her new book in 2015, maybe 2016. So, based on her publishing history, we could expect a new book by 2025 or 2026.

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