[Book Chat] "What's Everyone Reading" Thread

[TheBertRam]

Finally got The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, been wanting to read it for a while.

[ilikeoctopus]

I finished reading "Brave New World".

It was...

huh.

I will think a bit before I share my thoughts on it.

Oh goodness that book. Can't say I particularly liked it... It had a way of making me feel awkward as I read it.

[MIster Scurvy]

If you want a very deep social commentary, check out Always Running. It's a memoir of a former mexican gang member. The language used is very poetic, and it'll leave you thinking about everything.

[tiiamat]

My parents went to a bookstore today and I asked them to get me a western novel.
There were none at the store.

I am really disappointed!

[liquidMountain]

Friend got me "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever". It starts off as being about a divorced writer with leprosy, and apparently becomes fantasy. Not up to that bit yet. Still loving it so far.

[Dmatix]

Friend got me "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever". It starts off as being about a divorced writer with leprosy, and apparently becomes fantasy. Not up to that bit yet. Still loving it so far.

That series doesn't get nearly the love it deserves. It's not an easy read (there is quite a Wham episode in the first book, you'll know it when you get to it) but the world is so deep and rewarding, the personal struggles so deep, the villain so threatening, it's easily worth it. One of my all time favorites.

[Triangle Man]

If you want a very deep social commentary, check out Always Running. It's a memoir of a former mexican gang member. The language used is very poetic, and it'll leave you thinking about everything.

I guess I'll give this a shot once I've cleared off the rest of my current reading list!

I did read Stephen King's The Crate the other day. I have to say that, in some strange way, it may qualify as the most wrapped story about 'Friendship' ever conceived...

Along with murder and a rather nasty monster...

My parents went to a bookstore today and I asked them to get me a western novel.
There were none at the store.

I am really disappointed!

I guess you'll need to look around or use something like Amazon, then.

Also, do you mind if I ask where you live. Your reference to 'Western Novels' has left me curious...

[Quirk]

Been making my way through St. Augustine's Confessions for philosophy class. Rather good read, but I shall say I am still very, very indebted to the invention of paragraphs. Paragraphs are nice.

[Dmatix]

Been making my way through St. Augustine's Confessions for philosophy class. Rather good read, but I shall say I am still very, very indebted to the invention of paragraphs. Paragraphs are nice.

I'm of two minds about Confessions; When Augustine talks about his past it's all very interesting, but whenever he starts praising the Lord for twenty pages my eyes glaze. Even my lecturer told us we should skimp those parts.

[Bohandas]

Right at this very moment (as I'm typing this) I'm listening to the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes on tape (well, technically its an MP3). Unlike most of the rest of the Bible, I really like the Book of Ecclesiastes because it contains such rare genuinely wise gems as "I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves are beasts.; For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts. For all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 3:18-19), and "That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." (Ecclesiastes 1:15), "Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?" (Ecclesiastes 7:16), and of course "Vanity of vanities, ALL is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). It kind of trails off disappointingly towards the end though, the author starts backpedaling a bit.

[Dmatix]

Right at this very moment (as I'm typing this) I'm listening to the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes on tape (well, technically its an MP3). Unlike most of the rest of the Bible, I really like the Book of Ecclesiastes because it contains such rare genuinely wise gems as "I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves are beasts.; For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts. For all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 3:18-19), and "That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." (Ecclesiastes 1:15), "Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?" (Ecclesiastes 7:16), and of course "Vanity of vanities, ALL is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

Ah, Kohelet (As it is called in the Torah) is truly a one of a kind book. Kohelet, who is the author, was known as the philosopher king (some think this is another name for king Solomon), and the book reflects it. one gem from it is: טוב לשמע גערת חכם מאיש שמע שיר כסילים- It is better to receive a wise man's recrimination than the praise of fools.

[Quirk]

So I'm re-reading/skimming Hunger Games.

I am also realizing that the book makes no sense at all.

[kaoticAntagonist]

Just enjoy the murder of the children and shut everything else out.

Thats what I do .

[Salricci]

Care to explain?

[Quirk]

Care to explain?

There is no conceivable way Panem could survive seventy-four years, much less seven. For the following reasons, among many.

• Distict 12 is the primary coal producer of Panem. Fine. It also has a population of ~ 8000. That is less than my own home county. Heck, my po-dunk middle of nowhere hometown makes up three quarters of that number. There is no way that 8000 people can support the coal necessary for a country.
• Avoxi. They are traitors, rebels, and political prisoners, who are then used as servants for high-priority clientele. And all they do is cut out their tongues. And the primary surveillance technique is bugging. Which does jack shit against people who would use sign language. I wouldn't put those people anywhere near my leadership, even if I had them lobotomised.
• The only connection between the Capitol and Disctrict 12 is that rail line. District 12 doesn't much like the Capitol. During the choosing, someone could easily start a mob, overpower the Peacekeepers, disable the train and rail, kill the representative, and then flee to the east coast or Canada before the Capitol could react. Because they don't seem to have an air force, and there is literally nothing stopping the populace from just getting up and moving.
• Apparently rebels hiding in mountains are easy to pick out and kill. I guess that explains why wars in Afghanistan are always over so quickly and with minimal loss of life OHWAIT.
• What in the hell happened to everyone else, i.e. China, Mexico, Canada, India, European nations, etc?
• The economics of District 12 are completely whacked in too many ways to count. Sugar is a luxury. Then how the fuck is there a candy store that is apparently profitable enough to be a candy store?
• There's a long string of bits and pieces that the only reason that people are starving is because their either scared (which they have no reason to be, Panem is brutally incompetent) or because they are completely stupid (more likely). If they really were starving, the land would be completely stripped of pretty much everything and they'd be eating boiled grass. But no. There are dandelions growing within the fence. And why no chickens? She claims chickens were expensive. PAH! Not nearly as expensive as that pig of Peeta's, who just so happens to consume human food and has a massive caloric intake compared to chickens. They should literally be drowning in chickens.
• None of the kids in the Games are actually starving. Katniss is far too tall and strong, and many of the other ones are described as being rather big. Growing big and strong is part of a healthy diet and not starving. Even Rue, who is described as being maybe 70 pounds, is still within acceptable range for her age.
• Making your citizens miserable incites rebellion, you dunkasses! If you're going to do it, pull a North Korea and make it so that they don't realize how miserable they are!

there are more, but these are the ones that come to mind.

[Dmatix]

Brandon Sanderson did the entire "subjugate an entire empire to your will" better with the Final Empire in Mistborn. It was more plausible even though it ruled for a thousand years, not just 74. Just compare the Terismen to the Avoxi. The Terismen went through an indoctrination phase that lasted generations before being used as servants. The Skaa (most of the populous that are treated like slaves) are described as malnourished and act that way. The capital rules the world through a combination of a brutally efficient bureaucracy, religious fear and brute military force, and has easy access to remote parts of the empire through a system of canals and roads. That's how you build a dystopia.

[Quirk]

That's how you build a dystopia.

Best way to make a dystopia? Make them love you. Make sure that they know that you'll make things better. And then make things better. When they look back and see how good it is under your rule compared to before, at the first sign of someone taking all of that away, they'll tear the rebel apart. You don't even need to enforce anything. They love you. All you have to do is ask politely and they will give you whatever you ask.

Never be evul for evul's sake.

[Dmatix]

Best way to make a dystopia? Make them love you. Make sure that they know that you'll make things better. And then make things better. When they look back and see how good it is under your rule compared to before, at the first sign of someone taking all of that away, they'll tear the rebel apart. You don't even need to enforce anything. They love you. All you have to do is ask politely and they will give you whatever you ask.

Never be evul for evul's sake.

That's the best part about the book: the Lord Ruler (the emperor) has such valid reasons to everything he does. Even the heroes come to see him in a different light once the find them out. He rules through fear because love just wasn't an option for him. And he ruled himself for a millennia, and managed to keep order. Being an extremely powerful, near immortal individual helped too. For all the evil he did, the alternative was probably far worst.

[Quirk]

That's the best part about the book: the Lord Ruler (the emperor) has such valid reasons to everything he does. Even the heroes come to see him in a different light once the find them out. He rules through fear because love just wasn't an option for him. And he ruled himself for a millennia, and managed to keep order. Being an extremely powerful, near immortal individual helped too. For all the evil he did, the alternative was probably far worst.

Nothing like some well-done grimdark to make a story good. Being an SCP writer has me pretty used to the "we do bad things, but the alternative is worse" mode of thinking, and I rather like it when that's the case, rather than just BLAND GENERIC EVIL DYSTOPIA.

[kaoticAntagonist]

the Alternative was worse.

No probably about it.

It helps that he was immortal (Its said that he was set on fire and burned down to the bones and just waited until the fire stopped to reconstruct his body), had the strongest magic available, had insanely devoted servants who drove spikes through their eyes till the tips came out of the back of their heads and also had magic that was basically second to only him and a few other lucky bastards. And he could basically shoot up an entire crowd with prozac (that's a depressant right?) whenever the fuck he wanted cause of magic.

Also he was just about as crazy as shit you can be and still be an extremely smart, reliable, cunning person.


Also Sanderson notes that he only ruled the inner dominance with an iron fist. Everything outside of that he was constantly fighting wars with rebels.

Oh, and he had these 12 foot tall monsters with swords to fight for him out there too, with which he could make basically an unlimited supply.



These motherfuckers.


an interesting addendum, apparently these can successfully breed with humans.

Freaked me the fuck out when I learned that.

[Dmatix]

Sanderson did say the whole "set on fire and decapitated" was an exaggeration by the Steel Ministry to make him look more powerful. He could survive massive punishment, but not that much. And the Koloss were terrifying, especially once you learn everything about them.

[kaoticAntagonist]

Sanderson did say the whole "set on fire and decapitated" was an exaggeration by the Steel Ministry to make him look more powerful. He could survive massive punishment, but not that much. And the Koloss were terrifying, especially once you learn everything about them.

I believed that for a while.

Then I met Miles and I think it may be possible.

If on the far side of wishful thinking.

[Quirk]

I need to read these books to know what you guys are talking about.

[kaoticAntagonist]

[Dmatix]

I need to read these books to know what you guys are talking about.

Yes you should. Read The Way of Kings as well.

@kA That is bloody awesome. I assume Miles is from The Alloy of Law, which I have yet to read. I'm almost done with The Way of Kings, so maybe that's going to be next.