The Syndicate

I am currently reading:

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever

I have the first four books of the Game of Thrones series I plan on starting soon.

I also have The Gunslinger on my nightstand (along with many other books), but I've been reluctant to start it. Stephen King was the author who broke me into becoming an avid reader, but the allusions to the Dark Tower series in his other books (Insomnia, The Stand, et. al) put me off.

reywaS wrote:

Epignosis wrote:I am currently reading:

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever

I have the first four books of the Game of Thrones series I plan on starting soon.

I also have The Gunslinger on my nightstand (along with many other books), but I've been reluctant to start it. Stephen King was the author who broke me into becoming an avid reader, but the allusions to the Dark Tower series in his other books (Insomnia, The Stand, et. al) put me off.

What put you off exactly? I personally love the Dark Tower world/stories, but they are definitely not for everyone.

Have you ever read Insomnia? Strange book, one King admitted that he tried to "plot" too hard. But it mentions ka-tet, a crimson king, and gunslinger, if I recall correctly, and none of the references in the context of the novel made any sense. Also, King likes recurring characters, and Randall Flagg and his various namesakes appear all throughout King's novels.

All those things put together just seems like it would be a mess, I suppose.

Then again, The Gunslinger is a short book. It wouldn't kill me to just knock it out and see if I'm missing anything.

The Brothers Karamazov is a masterpiece of Russian literature.

May I recommend a shorter, lesser known Russian masterpiece? Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turganev. It really resonated with me in a visceral way. You can read it in an afternoon.

I'm starting A Song of Ice and Fire today. I've thumbed through the Appendix and looked at all the names. How in the world does he keep up with all these people?

Guess I'll manage it a chapter a day.

Not to spoil anything, but I read the first few chapters and already four people are dead. Good Lord.

I know I just started The Game of Thrones, and that I'm reading a lot of "epic" works, but I just read the first 35 pages of Dracula over tea at work today.

I'm reading Dracula. Good book so far.

Spacedaisy wrote:On a semi-related note, I have thought for some time that a Choose Your Own Adventure themed mafia could be quite intriguing!

No thanks.

HOST: "Do you choose the sensible action, or will you do the craziest thing imaginable that no person in his right mind would think to do?"
PLAYER: "The sensible action."
HOST: "You die in a fiery explosion. The End."

Dune

First time ever.

Hedgeowl wrote:We watched Divergent this weekend, so I decided to finish reading the trilogy and find out what happens. I just finished this evening. WTF Veronica Roth, you fail. The movie wasn't super good either. :/

I haven't read any of it, but I rarely put my faith in trilogies written by a young 20-somethings.

I adore Dostoyevsky. I must read him again soon.

fingersplints wrote:

Epignosis wrote:I adore Dostoyevsky. I must read him again soon.

do you have a preference for translation? I was reading online and I heard people saying things like "oh this translation of Dostoyevsky is the best" and I guess I just never considered who translated it when picking out a copy. I was just curious if you have noticed any differences in your reading

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

I just finished Dune this week (too me a year. I is slow. )

G-Man wrote:I've been reading Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (1996) for almost exactly a year and a half now. Last night I finally hit and blew past the halfway point. It's all downhill from here, right? Right?

No. You have R-S-T on the back 13.

Have fun.

Started Dune Messiah yesterday.

Just completed:

thellama73 wrote:How have I never heard of that Dr. Seuss book?

He originally wrote it under the name "Theo Lesieg."

nutella wrote:I just finished Memoirs of a Geisha and really enjoyed it, very beautifully written and I learned a lot about geisha culture/20th century Japan.

Loved it.

Illyria wrote:

Epignosis wrote:I'm starting A Song of Ice and Fire today. I've thumbed through the Appendix and looked at all the names. How in the world does he keep up with all these people?

Guess I'll manage it a chapter a day.

Do you watch the show? I read the first book, then GoT started, which made the second book muuuch easier as I had faces to put with names.

I refuse to watch the show until I've finished the books. So I'll watch in about 2024.

"It's really something."

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Oryx & Crake (by Margeret Atwood), per the book club list that fingersplints created. I'm reading that one right now.

I checked that out of a cruise ship library on my last cruise nine years ago. Yes, I read a novel on a cruise. Two actually. Eloh had just given birth to our son- the cruise was planned and paid for well before she knew she was pregnant- so we spent a lot of time in the cabin for nursing and naps.

I enjoyed it a lot, even if a lot of it felt dated. I plan to read the other books in the series someday.

An absolute treasure. This is one woman who should have lived past 39.

This thread.

James Joyce was a far better short story author than novelist. Dubliners is tops.

Ricochet wrote:

Ricochet wrote:Jeeeeebus, O'Connor's Wise Blood is close to giving me chills. I can't remember reading a protagonist so bitter and standoffish, apart from those governed by "punk" like dissent or moods, a la Holden Caulfield. I'm only a quarter in and this is pretty seething stuff.

Finished. I think this book gave me actual chills. Scary writer lady.

That's the one with Haze and Enoch Emery and the potato peeler, right? I've not read the whole thing- only the short stories that came from the novel.

O'Connor is one of my favorite short story authors.

Ricochet wrote: ↑Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:42 am Guess what I'm reading now.

Clue #1: On my phone, since it's not in stock or even translated.

Clue #2: Long enough to probably take me until March, considering how I've mishandled Atwood this summer.

Clue #3: What the heck are alewives?

An obscure book...Atwood...alewives.

*Snaps fingers*

https://www.amazon.com/Alewives-Tale-Hi ... 1625341059

Yeah, I never would've guessed.

One of the best things I've read in a while.

I've already got two boys who hate reading eating it up.

That's one I didn't really like.

What did you make of the word, "torture?"

That's awesome, Mongoose.

Mongoose wrote: ↑Sat Jun 09, 2018 2:52 pm

Charlie Blackmon wrote: ↑Thu Jun 07, 2018 11:05 pm That's awesome, Mongoose.

Ahhhh I just figured out your true identity. Is Tropic of Cancer worth the time I think it is?

I was drunk and just wanted to speak to you.

G-Man wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:47 pm Next up: the thesaurus.

I've already read it.

Sloonei wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 3:22 pm

Epignosis wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:01 pm

G-Man wrote: ↑Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:47 pm Next up: the thesaurus.

I've already read it.

How was it?

Wordy.

G-Man wrote: ↑Sun Feb 17, 2019 8:50 pm Reading update for January.

Learned two things, I did.

I have not. I have two books I like for composition. One fits in your pocket. The other one doesn't.

I understand the book you reference covers things like resumes and what have you, but really, at this juncture, almost everything you would need in that regard can be found online anyway. Personally, I hated the books we had to buy in college for this nonsense every semester (Such as).

G-Man wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 11:02 pm

Epignosis wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:42 pm I have not. I have two books I like for composition. One fits in your pocket. The other one doesn't.

I understand the book you reference covers things like resumes and what have you, but really, at this juncture, almost everything you would need in that regard can be found online anyway. Personally, I hated the books we had to buy in college for this nonsense every semester (Such as).

Strunk & White is on deck. I may save my copy of On Writing for when I’m ready to start on some fiction. I have a college text on writing fiction that I didn’t enjoy when I took a creative writing class. I may drag that one out around the same time as King.

The CV section of King's book is worth the price of admission.

G-Man wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:46 pm Reading update for The Bedford Handbook.

The questions I posted on Facebook:

To my educator friends at all levels:

1) Which pre-writing exercises (listing, freewriting, clustering, etc.) do you recommend most to students and which ones do you think yield the best results?

2) Do you tell students to revise and edit while they write or after they finish a draft?

3) Should college freshmen already know how to write a competent essay or term paper?

4) Do you feel that it is ever too late for a student to learn how to write according to the standards these kinds of guidebooks consider proper?

1. I don't recommend any because I don't use any myself, especially when it comes to formal writing. My preference is to write whatever comes to mind and then sort it out later. I certainly teach a variety of methods for my students to choose from, because obviously everyone is different.

2. If my students revise at all, in any capacity, at any time, I'm thrilled.

3. Yes. I wavered for a moment after an instinctive, resounding "Yes," but I'll not waver further: Writing a competent essay is not hard. It just isn't. Anybody going to college, no matter what the program, should be able to construct a basic written essay if physically able.

4. No.