What are you reading?

Scorpio

Courtesy of Grail's doodling.
Just finished reading 1984. I thought it was a little slow at times, but after page 200 or so it got much more interesting and I powered through the rest of it. I think the slow parts had something to do with filling in backstory, and also with how Orwell beat some concepts to the ground, I suppose to make sure the reader understood the messages he was trying to convey. It just seemed too didactic for my tastes. Fantastic book overall, but between that and Catch-22 I'm looking forward to something a little less serious/depressing. I think The Complete Sherlock Holmes should do the trick, and since the stories are in the order they were written I'll be starting with 'A Study in Scarlet.'
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
1984 is something that took me a few years to appreciate. I remember finishing the book the first time, when I was still in high school, and after reading the last line, RIPPED THE BOOK into several portions. It was an infuriating experience. But now, two re-reads later, it's one of my favorite novels.

To fully appreciate it you have to take it in context with what Orwell was writing against - the spreading communist threat of Russia and the dying freedoms of Great Britain after World War II. The world he made in his novel was what he saw Britain becoming by 1984. Just before publishing it, he'd changed the title to 1948 since he'd recently become so incensed by the British government. But 1984 stuck.

The novel still holds up over time, and the radical in me can even see many of Orwell's dystopian ideas in our own society. Particularly Goldsteinism and the shifting enemy whom we're perpetually at war with (Afghanistan is evil! Kill Osama! No! Iraq is the enemy. Kill Saddam!).
 
S

Sanguinius

Guest
It's a good book, I think the best part was the "book within the book" Goldenstein's book. Of course it's not just actual war though, remember how he equated perpetuate peace to perpetual war and what the true purpose of the war was. So more than the recent ill defined potentially endless war against "terrorism", there's also been a war for decades already against drugs, and poverty and potentially a new "war" against financial instability at the moment. I wasn't too crazy about the whole book but Goldenstein's book within 1984 was a great piece of fiction and description of trends within the real world.

At the moment I'm reading a book on Econometrics, which I can't say I would widely recommend.
 

Scorpio

Courtesy of Grail's doodling.
Walter said:
1984 is something that took me a few years to appreciate. I remember finishing the book the first time, when I was still in high school, and after reading the last line, RIPPED THE BOOK into several portions. It was an infuriating experience. But now, two re-reads later, it's one of my favorite novels.

To fully appreciate it you have to take it in context with what Orwell was writing against - the spreading communist threat of Russia and the dying freedoms of Great Britain after World War II. The world he made in his novel was what he saw Britain becoming by 1984. Just before publishing it, he'd changed the title to 1948 since he'd recently become so incensed by the British government. But 1984 stuck.

The novel still holds up over time, and the radical in me can even see many of Orwell's dystopian ideas in our own society. Particularly Goldsteinism and the shifting enemy whom we're perpetually at war with (Afghanistan is evil! Kill Osama! No! Iraq is the enemy. Kill Saddam!).

I understood the period it was written in and what the message was he was trying to convey. I actually think I understood it a little too well, which is why parts seemed to drone on about the same thing occasionally. I wouldn't even call you a radical for noticing the parallels between the Party and our own administration. When Winston was reading Goldstein's book, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the possibility of Iran popped into my mind. Speaking of, the true author of the book caught me completely off guard, though by the end of Winston's ordeal in the Ministry of Love I knew what the last line of the book was going to be, so luckily my copy is still intact.

One aspect that did confuse me a little bit was O'Brien, or more specifically, why Winston was so taken with him especially in the Ministry of Love. I guess its probably similar to certain cases of spousal abuse, "I know you hit me because you love and want to help me." It's just something I have trouble relating to, especially since the conditions were so extreme.
 

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
I'm currently reading The Guin Saga. I have purchased the five books. Finished with book one. It's just got me introduced to the first set of main characters. We'll see how it develops.
 
Th3Branded0ne said:
I'm currently reading The Guin Saga. I have purchased the five books. Finished with book one. It's just got me introduced to the first set of main characters. We'll see how it develops.


Every book store in my city is sold out!! For like the last 5 months.
 

nomad

"Bring the light of day"
Finishing King's Dark Tower series. Not a fan of his work... but this one I may say took me by surprise.
 
I completely forgot about this thread.
Since i posted I've read:
Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
The Idiot - Dostoevsky
One hundred years of solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquéz
The importance of being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
Twelve pilgrim tales - Gabriel Garcia Marquéz
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
Fedon - Plato
Essay on Blindness - José Saramago

And I've been trying to read Dante's Divine Comedy, but it sure is difficult..

I highly recommend One hundred years of Solitude, truly a magical story.
 

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
I just finished reading "The Guin Saga Book Two Warrio in the Wilderness"and "The Guin Saga Book Three Battle of Nospherus". Pretty good so far. Since I know there are like more than 100 volumes to come if these volumes sell well, I will keep buying them to see where Guin's adventure goes. I recommend it. :miura:
 
fuxberg said:
And I've been trying to read Dante's Divine Comedy, but it sure is difficult.
I read this a couple years back. It definitely helps if you get a great annotated edition. Well, I'd even say it's impossible to read it without them, unless you're well versed in medieval italian history. Though, it gets old having to refer so often to researched information.
The Inferno was obviously the best. The Paradiso was AWFUL.

I can't remember if I'd posted my recent readings or not, so here they are:

The Films in My Life by François Truffaut

and
filmosophy.jpg
 
Yes I've got a great annotated edition (Portugal's finest translator did a great job);
And I've already past Inferno into Purgatorio. On a side note, his hellish descriptions are incredible (if you take the time to picture them); but alas Dante is sometimes so specific in his critics (Pope/s; historical figures of the Italian kingdoms) that tend to draw us away of the big picture. (I don't know if I expressed myself right, but I hope you'll get the meaning).
But in all its a great book, as were most of the literature back then..
 
richar13.jpg


"Richard Pryor is an alchemist who can turn the darkest pain into the deepest comedy. His writing doesn't go for the jugular, it goes straight for his aorta. I laughed, I cried, I set myself on fire."
-Robin Williams
 

SaiyajinNoOuji

I'm still better than you
Finished reading the 4th Vampire Hunter novel and I must say that its the best of the 4 that I have read so far. I guess since I already knew what was going to happen for the most part for the 1st and 3rd book so wasn't really surprised but the 4th left some loose ends that could change the entire world in there... which gets me really excited.

Another thing that I like about the books is that it goes into far more detail on what happened to the world and how it ended up to its present point. I am a huge sucker for a well developed story world. More info on the world and its history the better!
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
SaiyajinNoOuji said:
Finished reading the 4th Vampire Hunter novel and I must say that its the best of the 4 that I have read so far. I guess since I already knew what was going to happen for the most part for the 1st and 3rd book so wasn't really surprised but the 4th left some loose ends that could change the entire world in there... which gets me really excited.

Another thing that I like about the books is that it goes into far more detail on what happened to the world and how it ended up to its present point. I am a huge sucker for a well developed story world. More info on the world and its history the better!

Hmm, you make me want to give them a shot. Guess I'll finally add that series to my reading list! :guts:
 
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