The Syndicate

Good question, I don't think I have read a lot of fiction in the second person voice so I don't know how I feel about it...

Spacedaisy wrote:Good question, I don't think I have read a lot of fiction in the second person voice so I don't know how I feel about it...

It is pretty much only used in Choose Your Own Adventure books. "You open a door and behold a gleaming hoard of treasure. The very sight of it dazzles your eyes. Do you a) leave it alone b) grab as much as you can carry c) search for one really special item?"

Lol, that takes me back!

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

S~V~S wrote:I never read Infinite Jest, but i will say that Anna Karenina is the most accessible Tolstoy. It is really the most accessible srs bsns Russian novel except perhaps the Brothers Karamazov. Anna K is a bit less harsh on women then Madame Bovary, with a somewhat similar plot. I would never in a zillion years call it "feminist" , but it is more balanced that way than many 19th century novels.

I just reread Larry Nivens Footfall ( I <3 Sci Fi) and am about to start Stephen Kings Dreamcatcher. I lost touch with King around the time he wrote that book about the giant alien ship buried in someones yard in Maine, but I was told I might like this. So i will try it.

Ugh, the one you're talking about is Tommyknockers. By far my least favourite King novel. Complete and utter garbage.

I haven't had time to read much lately I've been going through The Signal and the Noise for ages now, but I haven't picked it up in weeks, to busy with course readings.

I did read a book called... Autobiography of Red for an existentialism course. The course itself is kind of blah (philosophy majors are the worst), but I enjoyed the book a lot more then I thought I would.

Done this semester in a few more weeks, so hopefully I'll have more time to read then. When I picked up The Last Policemen a while ago, the guy at the book store told me he had talked to the publishers, and that the 2nd and third books would be coming out around right now I believe, so I may get those if they're out (the 1st starts out pretty slowly, but I enjoyed it overall).

There are some Fringe books coming out (one for Walter/Belly set in the 70s or 80s, one for Olivia when she was a teenager, and one for Peter right before the show started) soon-ish. I'll pick up the first one at least to see if I like the author (I think those are the kind of books that will either be awesome or terrible).

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."

Epignosis wrote:

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."

That sounds like a pretty good mafia game to me.

LOL, not quite what i has inmind Robert.

choose your own adventure mafia = awesome!

I'm currently reading Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman. I thought he wrote books of essays exclusively, so it is interesting to see him write a novel. It's set in the very small town of Owl and ironically told in the 3rd person. Each chapter is from a different character's POV. I am enjoying it a lot and will prolly re-read it even. His style is one I have always envied as an essayst so watching him make this transition I think will be very educational for me.

I'm about to start a fraction of the whole.

I just finished Terry Pratchett's Sourcery from the Disc World series. Someday I would like to maybe host a Disc World game. It would be so much fun!

Spacedaisy wrote:I just finished Terry Pratchett's Sourcery from the Disc World series. Someday I would like to maybe host a Disc World game. It would be so much fun!

I liked Sourcery.

It was quite good. But then, I would be hard pressed to name a Pratchett book I have not liked, lol

Spacedaisy wrote:It was quite good. But then, I would be hard pressed to name a Pratchett book I have not liked, lol

I enjoyed Mort a lot.

I've only read a handfull of the discworld books as I only really get to pick them up when they are at the used bookstore, but I've enjoyed them all bunches.

I'm reading a book called Weird Sisters By (I think her name is) Elenor White. It's told in this odd mix of second and third person. (Which made me think of Daisy) and is about three sisters who return home when their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. Their father is a teacher of Shakespeare so the whole family quotes the plays through out the books and the girls are named after different Shakspearian characters. It's interesting what she's done with the voice and premise, though I'm not far along in the book. I kinda dig it for it's light reading quatlities.

Sounds interesting actually.

I'm currently House of Leaves (see other thread in this forum for details.I think a group of us on here are going to read and analyze it together).

For more on what I'm reading (I moonlight at a library and run its book club as well as my own local personal one -- PM me if you live near me and want an invite), check out my GoodReads account and add me on there.

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8210498-alison

I'm reading the first book in The Wheel of Time series. It's what I expect from a fantasy cycle. That said, it's epic in length (like 700-800 odd pages in the first one) and I'm only a little more than half way through the first book). The details are pretty impressive. I'm interested to see where he goes with things.

You don't happen to live in AZ do you mongoose? Cuz you would be my new RL bff. (I've always dreamed of being a librarian. No joke.)

I live in Florida, where everything bad that happens in the US happens.

Working at a library is legit crazy. We've had to call security every day this week! Nuts. This one guy eventually got trespassed because he was keeping logs of how often I left the Reference Desk to go to the bathroom.

But I really enjoy the creative side of it because I don't get that in law. I make all the announcement slides and promo posters for the library and organize a lot of the events.

Right now another librarian and I are trying to start a Roaring 20s party. We are going to show Great Gatsby (Redford version), have swing dance lessons, 20s-inspired food, and have the bookmobile come to visit. I'm trying my hand at grant writing a bit, so I'm procuring free magazine subscriptions for the library.

It's joint use, so the top floor is technically a college library and the bottom is the public library. So downstairs we have Dewey Decimal and upstairs we have Library of Congress system. Library of Congress makes people angry. I don't know why.

We've also had a big problem lately with people pooping in the stacks. Morning crew will open up and their will be a pile of poop over in this philosophy section.

I can't complain too much because I read Gone Girl at work this week.

Your library sounds awesome.

Also - please tell me someone else besides me finds the irony of the poo being in the Philosophy section hysterical.

Library of Congress takes some time to get used to when all you know is Dewey. To this day, I can eventually find what I'm looking for with the Library of Congress system, but it's not near as easy for me to understand as the Dewey system is. I've just had more time navigating it.

It's like the difference between MLA and APA styles (MLA only thank you very much. ) I would get angry when I had the odd class that forced me to use APA style because I almost NEVER used it except for the rare proffie who made me do it.

I'm reading The Cuckoo's Calling because it was recommended to me and because not having any way to listen to music or watch videos forces me to rely on books for entertainment at the moment. So far it's pretty much what I expected, which is a good thing I think. I had an ebook version of Lolita on my other computer that I was halfway through before my computer's untimely demise, so I'll probably try to start reading that again.

bea wrote:Your library sounds awesome.

Also - please tell me someone else besides me finds the irony of the poo being in the Philosophy section hysterical.

Library of Congress takes some time to get used to when all you know is Dewey. To this day, I can eventually find what I'm looking for with the Library of Congress system, but it's not near as easy for me to understand as the Dewey system is. I've just had more time navigating it.

It's like the difference between MLA and APA styles (MLA only thank you very much. ) I would get angry when I had the odd class that forced me to use APA style because I almost NEVER used it except for the rare proffie who made me do it.

I actually never had to use APA! I feel lucky. However, it seems like all the kids coming in to get citation help all need APA help.

By the way, if anyone else is curious - Library of Congress is two letters followed by by numbers. Then a letter and more numbers. Then a year. Dewey is straight up numbers for non-fiction (0 - 999.99999) and fiction is alpha by author's last name.

We've definitely been on the LOLLercoaster about the poop in the philo section. I'm glad I don't have to clean it up.

A Person wrote:I'm reading The Cuckoo's Calling because it was recommended to me and because not having any way to listen to music or watch videos forces me to rely on books for entertainment at the moment. So far it's pretty much what I expected, which is a good thing I think. I had an ebook version of Lolita on my other computer that I was halfway through before my computer's untimely demise, so I'll probably try to start reading that again.

Is that the book under JK Rowling's pseudonym?

Mongoose wrote:

A Person wrote:I'm reading The Cuckoo's Calling because it was recommended to me and because not having any way to listen to music or watch videos forces me to rely on books for entertainment at the moment. So far it's pretty much what I expected, which is a good thing I think. I had an ebook version of Lolita on my other computer that I was halfway through before my computer's untimely demise, so I'll probably try to start reading that again.

Is that the book under JK Rowling's pseudonym?

It is. I haven't touched anything she's written since the last HP, so I wasn't sure what her other stuff is like.

Dude, seriously, dude. You have got to read The Casual Vacancy. It's so good. It reads a bit more like Jonathan Franzen's tragicomedies than Harry Potter.

So good.

Reading A Canticle for Leibowitz. I'm kinda unimpressed honestly, it's just not really capturing my interest.

I see there was lots of Russian lit discussion in here. I just finished reading Anna Karenina, and The Brothers Karamazov before that. I liked Anna Karenina, but I didn't really get into the Brothers Karamazov even though I loved Crime and Punishment.

Mongoose wrote:Dude, seriously, dude. You have got to read The Casual Vacancy. It's so good. It reads a bit more like Jonathan Franzen's tragicomedies than Harry Potter.

So good.

I'll definitely be reading it sometime soon, but not too soon. I have a habit of starting books and then not finishing them until months later. I'm currently rereading The Silmarillion and Dune in addition to Lolita and The Cuckoo's Calling. I also technically never finished Dracula but I lost my place and can't really be bothered to try and find it after such a long time.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen is hands down the best book I've read in the last 5 years. It literally changed my life.

Going to read The Corrections by him soon. So sad that the HBO series based upon that book got canned.

I also really liked the imaginative world of Super Sad True Love Story.

Great House was really solid.


linki - A Person. Sounds good

Mongoose wrote:Freedom by Jonathan Franzen is hands down the best book I've read in the last 5 years. It literally changed my life.

Going to read The Corrections by him soon. So sad that the HBO series based upon that book got canned.

I also really liked the imaginative world of Super Sad True Love Story.

Great House was really solid.


linki - A Person. Sounds good

Guess who has an autograph copy of Freedom?

Ironically, as much as I loved Freedom, I think I like the corrections better. I haven't read anything from Franzen that I haven't just adored though.

bea wrote:

Mongoose wrote:Freedom by Jonathan Franzen is hands down the best book I've read in the last 5 years. It literally changed my life.

Going to read The Corrections by him soon. So sad that the HBO series based upon that book got canned.

I also really liked the imaginative world of Super Sad True Love Story.

Great House was really solid.


linki - A Person. Sounds good

Guess who has an autograph copy of Freedom?

Ironically, as much as I loved Freedom, I think I like the corrections better. I haven't read anything from Franzen that I haven't just adored though.

Hells bells. What's he like? If I like The Corrections more than Freedom, my head will explode. Gonna read The Family Fang soon too because it seems to have that vibe, but with an overwash of Wes Anderson.

My only autographed book is by Carl Hiaasen. I went to UF's Journalism school, and he came and guest-lectured so I hit him up to autograph my copy of Hoot, which had just come out. He was nice, but not overly friendly.

Also. The Imperfectionists. So good. You might like if you are fans of either Franzen's work or A Visit from the Goon Squad.


//We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town, beep beep!//

I'm sad to say, I didn't get to meet him. My BFF found out about the signing too late for me to get the time off for it. He procured me a signed copy of it though because he is awesome. Said BFF said he was quite engaging though and was very nice in offering writing advice.

I actually started reading Franzen because my BFF is an aspiring writer and said that Franzen was quickly becoming one of his influences (and I can see it coming out in his writing. It's funny, I can read what he's working on and think "here's where Franzen comes in, here's where Roth comes in, here's where Wolfe comes in, here's the bit of Irving, here's the bit of Vonnegut....")

My only other signed book is Diane De Prima's Memoirs of a Beatnik - which also was a gift. The sweetie has a signed copy of one of the Simpsons books as well.

I finished The Cuckoo's Calling, overall it was a good book.

I re-started The Etruscan. I read several pages a few years ago, and then abandoned it because I suppose didn't find it as exciting as The Egyptian or The Dark Angel.

I'm reading Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her

Cloud Atlas (I really will finish it k)

Re-reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog, one of my favorite books ever <3

Dune

First time ever.

Epignosis wrote:Dune

First time ever.

I wish I could read Dune for the first time again.

A Person wrote:Cloud Atlas (I really will finish it k)

And I really did.

Now I'm reading Kafka on the Shore and The Haunting of Hill House.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

I'm about 3/4 of the way through, so spoilers up to that point.

Oh boy. At the end of Dragon Tattoo, Blomkvist was one of the characters I liked the most, but over the course of the second and third book, I slowly began to despise him. He's a blatant Marty Stu who can do no wrong, bangs every single female character, and has this air about him, not really arrogance, or cockiness, but pure smug superiority. Don't get me fucking started on Erika Berger. Not even Robin Wright could save that character. Luckily Lisbeth hasn't changed very much, though there's only so much she can do trapped in a hospital room, Palm or no Palm. Her wrestler buddy, who I imagined as Mike Tyson, led to some of the most ludicrous moments in the series. The only character who isn't a strict black or white, good or bad guy, is Lisbeth. This can lead to some insufferably bland characters such as the couple working on the sex trafficking story, and Figuerola. Figuerola takes the cake for most boring bland character. She's apparently a super strong, smart, sexy, Sapo agent, with the character dimensions of a playing card. And her and Blomkvist bang for no discernible reason, most likely for Steig Larrson to masturbate to. I do get the sense her character is leading somewhere, most likely a third act death. If nothing fucking happens with her character, I'm going to be very angry! I may post things on the Internet!

The reason I'm still reading other than Lisbeth is the plot, which is still quite good, I have to admit. The parts are in place for some kind of climax, the only thing is, I don't know if I care about those who are involved.

Initiation into Hermetics by Franz Bardon. Probably the most practically useful book I've read so far.

You SHOULD be reading Vomps' Diary: https://www.facebook.com/vompsdiary

A Person wrote:

A Person wrote:Cloud Atlas (I really will finish it k)

And I really did.

Now I'm reading Kafka on the Shore and The Haunting of Hill House.

I took a break to read The Stranger, I liked it.

Just finished - Where is Joe Merchant by Jimmy Buffet.

I just finished the little-known Herman Melville novel "Pierre." Possibly the weirdest book I've ever read, including House of Leaves.

thellama73 wrote:I just finished the little-known Herman Melville novel "Pierre." Possibly the weirdest book I've ever read, including House of Leaves.

I'm not sure I'm man enough for Melville that's not Billy Budd.

Just being totally honest.

Also- house of leaves is weird.


also - aslo - I have a copy of a twain sci-fi book. I gave it to the hubster as a dating gift. I tried to read it but only got like 4 pages in before I had to give it to him. I thought I'd read everything twain put out - but this - I"d never seen till the bookstore owner put that print in my hands.

I am going to be starting the Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe later this week. Anyone read it? I am kind of surprised I never have before.

I finished The Silkworm yesterday, I liked it enough to want to read the next book in the series when it comes out.

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. :/