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    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeSep 18th 2012
     

    Yes he is. You need to read The Ancestor’s Tale, next. It goes into much deeper detail about the scientific underpinnings of his worldview, especially given his work in evolutionary biology

  1.  

    Yes he is. You need to read The Ancestor’s Tale, next. It goes into much deeper detail about the scientific underpinnings of his worldview, especially given his work in evolutionary biology

    Cool, I’ll give it a look (some library around here must have it).

    I feel like he’s reassuring, in a way. It’s sort of like he’s sitting me down and saying “Hey. It’s ok not to believe in God.”

    •  
      CommentAuthorAvidAbey
    • CommentTimeSep 18th 2012
     

    I like Dawkins’ combativeness, his heart’s in the right place. But his views on religion (that is, those beyond that it’s perfectly sensible and all right to disbelieve the supernatural) are often myopic, if not a bit silly.

    Lately, I reread Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep?, and this time around what impressed me was how interested in ethics (through the examination of empathy) it was. Great book. Now I’m on the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake, a set of Gothic novels (according to the foreword) set in the eponymous Gormenghast castle. It’s moody, dark and weird. And long-winded. Slow going, but I’m really enjoying it.

  2.  

    But his views on religion (that is, those beyond that it’s perfectly sensible and all right to disbelieve the supernatural) are often myopic, if not a bit silly.

    Which views are you specifically talking about?

    •  
      CommentAuthorAvidAbey
    • CommentTimeSep 18th 2012 edited
     

    Which views are you specifically talking about?

    I’m sorry to not be very specific, but mostly I mean his view to using religion as a whipping boy for ignorance, retarding scientific progress, etc., when the only real denominator for all of these things is people, whether they worship a god or pay homage to some other culturally conceived (in my opinion, of course) idea. What I’ve read of his critiques of religion seem neither historically cognizant nor especially well thought out, in contrast to his arguments against the existence of god which I’ve always found stimulating.

    In other words, I find him far too much of a reductivist when it comes to religion.

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeSep 18th 2012
     

    Rereading all the Tortall books by Tamora Pierce

    My childhood SO MUCH NOSTALGIA AND WIN.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeSep 18th 2012
     

    AvidAbey, have you seen his short documentary, The Virus of Faith? He sets out his main arguments against religious thinking quite clearly there.

  3.  

    Abey- tell me how you like Gormenghast! I’ve been meaning to read it for a while but haven’t picked it up yet.

  4.  

    Oooh, I just found out that Dawkins reads an audiobook version of On the Origin of Species.
    I need to get this so I can listen at work.

  5.  

    Saw several of CClares books, new and hardcover, for $2. Even then are they worth it to see what they’re really like?

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeSep 19th 2012
     

    I wouldn’t recommend it. I’d just go to the library if I was curious.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeSep 19th 2012
     

    No. No they are not.

    I paid full price for one for my Kindle, and I kinda regret it. The only thing making it tolerable is the number of good books it’s sharing digital shelf space with that I got for free.

    • CommentAuthorSen
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2012
     

    I’ve started on some stuff by Haruki Murakami and something immediately bugged me about the writing. I don’t know what you’d call it. It’s just so straightforward it was almost boring, but now I like it. Like, really like it.

  6.  

    I’m reading Surrender, which is by an Australian author. I’m liking it so far and it (and The Book Thief) makes me think that maybe I should read more Australian books.

    Also, I have a question for the Aussies on the forum: Is “kook” a commonly used word to refer to someone who is thought to be crazy? Because this book has a kid who keeps calling this other kid’s family “kooks” and “kooksville,” and though I understand the usage fine, it sounds strange to my US ears.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2012 edited
     

    “kooksville” sounds like an awkward nod to the 50s, but ‘kook’ is not uncommon, especially among 90s kids. It stems from ‘cuckoo’.

    Neuro, have you read Tomorrow When The War Began? or Storm Boy? Or for something a little more mature, My Brother Jack?

  7.  

    I have not read any of those, but I will look them up. I have heard of Tomorrow When the War Began, though. The kid saying it is strange, so “kooksville” sounding awkward seems right. Thanks for the answer. I had been wondering if it was a cultural language thing or if it was something that was actually odd for the setting. Turns out it’s a little of both.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeSep 21st 2012
     

    Storm Boy is awesome, truly one of the timeless Australian children/young adult books. And Tomorrow will have you on the edge of your comfy chair.

  8.  

    Added all three on Goodreads, assuming Storm Boy is by Colin Thiele (there were actually several books called Storm Boy). Storm Boy actually sounds kind of like Fly Away Home just by the basic description.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012
     

    Colin Thiele is right. I didn’t know there were other bopoks with that name, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012
     

    Finished readin chaper 8 of City of Ashes and honestly, this one actually makes me want to smack Cassandra Clare. The only purpose of this chapter was the obvious fan service at the end, and while I can appreciate fan service, it should not come at the cost of moving the plot forward.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012
     

    I hated that chapter, and, no, Clary never really gets called out for it.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012
     

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012
     

    •  
      CommentAuthorThea
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012
     

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012 edited
     

    •  
      CommentAuthorThea
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012
     

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012
     

  9.  

    Reading River Out of Eden, by Richard Dawkins, which is pretty much a brief overview of human evolution.

    My current goal is to stuff my brain with as much evolutionary biology as I possibly can so I can defend myself when my creationist family tries to poke holes in my worldview.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAvidAbey
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2012
     

    Abey- tell me how you like Gormenghast! I’ve been meaning to read it for a while but haven’t picked it up yet.

    In the end, I thought Gormenghast (the first book that is, Titus Groans) was good, but not great. It’s got a serious flair for language at times, and really paints a detailed picture of a place. The overall mood and theme is dark and really killer, and most of the time its characters are really quite interesting and equally weird. At other times, however, they’re one-dimensional or a bit inscrutable, and the plot is more a series of vignettes without much of a climax or strong sense of narrative direction, and there isn’t a huge amount of insight to be had like you might get in other, non-narrative books. I don’t think its strengths quite covered up for its weaknesses, but if you love descriptions of moldering castles, strange, oppressive places and some pretty striking descriptions, I’d say go for it.

  10.  

    I finished Surrender by Sonya Hartnett. I have to say that I’m a bit disappointed with the ending. I’m all for messy endings that don’t wrap up everything, but this was more like an ending that asked a bunch of new questions without having time to answer or even really examine them. This book is very well-written. The prose is kind of pleasant to read, and it flows really well. The story is definitely interesting and keeps you guessing, but I’m not sure that all the guessing is necessarily rewarded at the end. I think the ending disappointed me because I felt that the rest of the novel was so strong. Though I wouldn’t say that the ending ruined the book for me, which has happened with book in the past.

  11.  

    if you love descriptions of moldering castles, strange, oppressive places and some pretty striking descriptions, I’d say go for it.

    Hmm…I have been wanting to improve my description. I’ll see if I can get my hands on it.

    •  
      CommentAuthorThea
    • CommentTimeSep 23rd 2012 edited
     

    I just finished My American Unhappiness and I’m not sure why. The narrator is entirely nuts (and yet I’m not sure he’s supposed to be entirely untrustworthy) and an ass and just…sad. It’s kinda funny, and a number of people have labeled it as ‘humor’ on GR, but. I don’t know, it was a rather surreal reading experience.

    I’ve been looking forward to reading Gormenghast. I just wish I knew a free way to get a hold of it (trying to be cheap right now). I’ll get there.

  12.  

    Forgive my ignorance, but can you guys tell me what Goodreads is, exactly?

  13.  

    Like IMDB but for books.

    •  
      CommentAuthorFell_Blade
    • CommentTimeSep 26th 2012 edited
     

    So I’m a pretty big Star Wars fan, but I’m just now getting around to reading Kevin J. Anderson’s “Jedi Academy” trilogy… And it sucks. Big time. I don’t know about his other works, but here Anderson is a crappy writer and has no concept of how to describe the Star Wars universe or write the Star Wars characters. I know it’s gotta be tough to take material from previous authors and try to write your own story from that, but this is bad. And his metaphors and similes are so cringe worthy it’s just pathetic. Any kind of tension is immediately killed at the end of every chapter because he shifts POV between too many characters, going from a major space battle to C3P-0 taking the Solo twins to the Zoo. Just…Argh!!! Why?!

    And after reading this, I am beginning to wonder how many book like this Paolini read before writing Eragon…

  14.  

    Finished The Canterbury Tales, on to The Faerie Queene. I was bored out of my mind when reading it on my own, but the way my professor interprets it makes it so much more interesting, so I have hope that I will grow to like it.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeSep 26th 2012 edited
     

    Just to tell you, The Faerie Queen is boring.

    At least I thought it was boring. Something about Spenser’s writing just didn’t appeal to me. Others might disagree.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeSep 27th 2012
     

    Oh, that’s a pity. I’ve always wanted to read The Fairie Queen, but never got around to it. I may give it a miss, then.

    •  
      CommentAuthorFell_Blade
    • CommentTimeSep 27th 2012
     

    I don’t know about that. I had to read Faerie Queen in high school and actually really liked it.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeSep 27th 2012
     

    I’d either read the spark notes or try it out.

    As I said, other people might think it’s awesome, I just didn’t really enjoy it much. I think it’s something you decide for yourself through.

  15.  

    I’ll let you guys know how it goes, huh?

    Also started Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed today. So far, I’m very impressed. I need to read more of her books.

  16.  

    You’re starting with one of her most difficult books. Try The Left Hand of Darkness or The Lathe of Heaven next.

  17.  

    ^ I’ve already read all the Earthsea books, although that was several years ago. Anyway, I didn’t choose the book myself. I’m in a sci-fi/political fantasy book club and this is our first selection.

    EDIT: Randomly came across A Song For Lya. It was really good, but I felt like bawling afterwards.

    •  
      CommentAuthorThea
    • CommentTimeSep 29th 2012
     

    I’ve read two of Le Guin’s short story collections this year: The Compass Rose and Unlocking the Air and am devoted for life. I mean, I read at least the first Earthsea book, and enjoyed it, but it didn’t affect me this way.

  18.  

    ^ I knew that A Wizard of Earthsea was very well written when I read it, but connected much more to the second book, The Tombs of Atuan, than any of the others. But I’m planning on rereading the entire series at some point, so maybe my opinion will change.

    •  
      CommentAuthorThea
    • CommentTimeSep 29th 2012
     

    Maybe I should go back to it. I haven’t read the first since middle school and I still liked the Cat Who books then (and those are terrible, so bad I was devastated when I picked up the first one again much later).

  19.  

    I feel like I’m telling everyone about this site, but it’s seriously the best thing ever.

    Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog

    Just read the newest entry.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeSep 29th 2012
     

    Chaucer’s had a blog for a long time now, but it’s always good to go back to.

    OF THE CATTE OF NYAN

    And sum men seye that in the ile of Langos ys the doghter of Ypocrasis who hath been transformid. She appeareth yn the maner of a grete pye of swete berryes wyth the hede and limbes of a catte, and the which singeth a songe of Nyan as it daunceth acrosse the skye. And yt ys seyde that he who kan watche thys catte for longir than eny other man, he shal have the doghter of Ypocras who shal turn ageyn yn to hir owene kinde and be a woman. But the songe ys of swich a nature that no man can heare yt and lyve.

  20.  

    Yeah, it seems pretty well-known, but I never had reason to look for it until my GSI happened to recommend it as a antidote to paper exhaustion.

  21.  

    A Northern Light was pretty meh.

    • CommentAuthorDeborah
    • CommentTimeSep 30th 2012
     

    ^Yes, that book kind of bugged me. I didn’t really read it—only flipped—but from what I saw there didn’t seem to be any positive relationships between the men and women.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeOct 4th 2012
     

    Reading Cloud Atlas and… egh. It’s taking everything I have not to quit right now.

    I’m sure the idea of a Russian nesting-doll type work sounded good on paper, but the author decided only to do that in a literal sense, rather than a literary sense. Someone needed to explain to him the difference between “novel” as an adjective and “novel” as a noun, because it deffinately isn’t the latter, though it claims otherwise. The amount of praise it’s recieved is only turning me off even more.

    But here’s the thing that really did it for me, dramatized for your potential enjoyment:

    Plot Bunny: hops up to writer “Hey! This side character has vanished, and your protagonist doesn’t know why! She should investigate! It’s a mystery!

    Writer: Well, that would add drama, suspense, and encourage the reader to continue with the narrative. But it would also make the story into a work of genre fiction, and as my University profs. taught me, genre works are stupid and bad, and have no merit whatsoever. I know just what to do with you! proceeds to bash in Plot Bunny’s head with a rock Ah, that’s better. What now, though? Ah! I know! I’ll have my protagonist recieve a phone call from her overbearing mother! I’m a genius!

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeOct 4th 2012
     

    Lol.

    That is, to me, the problem with a lot of literary fiction. I know some people like it, but…some of it is just incredibly boring. For instance, I had to read The Cave by Jose Saramago, and not only did he spend seem to think that he was above such paltry things as paragraphs and periods, but he spend chapter on chapter talking about making dolls. The actual plot, finding Plato’s Cave underneath a distopian shopping mall, which really sounded interesting, wasn’t even discussed until the last ten pages, and then the characters just walked away.

    • CommentAuthorMegaB
    • CommentTimeOct 4th 2012
     

    A travesty I tell you.

    The day creativity disappears from the ink of our penmanship.

  22.  

    such paltry things as paragraphs and periods

    This always bothers me. For some authors that I really like (such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez) I will grit my teeth and bear it, but these are exceptions. Grammar exists in order to ensure that people understand what the hell you’re writing. You can ignore some rules if it serves a specific purpose the reader can understand and it adds to the story or the message. But I feel like messing around with grammar should be the last resort, not the first. There are other, better ways to go about the same purpose, in my opinion.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSpanman
    • CommentTimeOct 4th 2012
     

    I read Coraline recently. It was a bit creepy, but overall I liked it, and in hindsight the movie covered it quite well.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeOct 4th 2012
     

    Re: breaking rules of grammar: the hard part about telling people to never do it is that, well, there’s really good authors out there who’ve managed to pull it off. There’s great writers who’ve had ludicrously long paragraphs, ignored conventions of capitalization and punctuation, used words wrong all over the place. But to be able to do that, you’ve got to be seriously, seriously good. And if you’re wondering if you’re good enough… well, I’m pretty sure you’re not.

  23.  

    there’s really good authors out there who’ve managed to pull it off

    Yep, the whole thing only works because they’re exceptionally skilled in the first place. Thus my example of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

    EDIT: The Light Princess is adorable.

  24.  

    Feed by M.T. Anderson was pretty good.

    •  
      CommentAuthorThea
    • CommentTimeOct 16th 2012
     

    Finally finished Anathem by Neal Stephenson (he also wrote Cryptonomicon). It was fun. Silly fun, but not too bad. I liked that it had a sense of humor and all the Socratic-type dialogues, but the plot was so completely conventional I was taken by surprise considering the cleverness of the world building (though it was a little simplistic). I also felt weird being pleased by how few female characters had significant roles, but given how my friend responded to Reamde, it may just that he can’t write women at all, and I didn’t miss anything (Oh. did the end make me cringe).

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeOct 17th 2012 edited
     

    Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz is eerily similar in many ways to Harry Potter, except it was published nine years earlier.

    - Our hero is an undernourished wimpy kid living in an abusive household

    - his father is short, fat, balding, has a bristly moustache and is a high-level bank manager in London

    - his mother is a tall, thin, horsey woman who likes to gossip

    - he receives an eerily-accurate letter in the mail inviting him to a mysterious school to the far north of England

    - On the train from London, he meets and becomes friends with an intelligent girl and an even-wimpier-than-he boy who is fat, wears round glasses, and stutters

    - One of the teachers has eyes that “twinkl[ed] behind gold half-glasses”

    - At their train stop they are met by a man who is distinctly different from other people, and has a terrible accent

    - To get to the school they have to take a boat across a strait

    - The school is a mysterious eclectic thing like a castle met a warehouse and gave birth to a Dubai art gallery

    - The dormitories are high up in a tower

    - One of the teachers is a werewolf, who eventually attacks our hero when he is out on the grounds without permission one full moon.

    - One of the teachers is a ghost

    - The school is situated on a cliff, where it looks down on a great forest

    - The school is investigated by the ministry, but the investigator suffers an unfortunate mishap largely due to our heroes

    - The school has a large underground chamber with an entrance that can only be accessed by someone with the right talent/ability

    - The climax of the story sees our hero being confronted by an evil man offering him untold power, or death in a secret room in the school.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeOct 17th 2012
     

    I would argue some of those aren’t all that unusual (the poor wittow child in an abusive household, a creepy castle-looking place with towers, secret places only accessible by a select few, etc. etc.), but that is quite a surprising list.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeOct 17th 2012
     

    I’m reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. Partially for Native American Lit, and partially because I want to.

    It’s been so long since I’ve read someone using first person the right way!

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeOct 18th 2012
     

    Yahtzee Croshaw’s new book Jam is pretty great. Everyone wakes up one morning to discover the world has been covered with three feet of strawberry jam. Strawberry jam that dissolves all organic matter. Including people. And one of the main characters is a Goliath birdeater tarantula named Mary.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeOct 18th 2012
     

    I got two books today for my Kindle for a total of about $5.

    Sometimes I really love technology.

  25.  

    Shada was good. Like extremely good. Nice to see a new Douglas Adams book come along after all this time.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeOct 18th 2012
     

    I’m reading the first book in An Experiment in Terror which I got on my kindle for free.

    If it wasn’t self published, I’d review it. Whiny female protagonist who can’t stop thinking about the threatening badboy male protagonist even when a sadistic looking lady is giving her threatening hints about a haunted lighthouse.

    And it could have been interesting too.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTheArmada
    • CommentTimeOct 21st 2012
     

    Marquis, a new Douglas Adams book? hasn’t the guy been dead for a decade? or are there multiple Douglas Adams?

  26.  

    It’s a book extremely faithfully adapted from an unpublished Douglas Adams script.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeOct 22nd 2012 edited
     

    Whelp, I gave up on Cloud Atlas. Three weeks and 77% of it gone, and the best it can get from me is a “meh.”

    I’m going to go clense my palate with Bloodsucking Fiends: a Love Story. Yes, it’s pretty much exactly what you think it is.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeOct 23rd 2012
     

    My opinions on what I’ve read in the past few weeks….

    Sold by Patricia McCormick: Unconventionally but very well-written. Not for the faint of heart, though. The story of a young Nepali girl who is unwittingly sold into prostitution in India is sad and disturbing. It made me want to hop on a plane for India and do something to help those girls.

    Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer: I wanted to love it, but halfway through I got bored and quit. By all accounts, I should have wanted to keep reading; a bunch of fairy covert operatives were about to pull off a daring rescue, saving their only female officer from the clutches of a twelve-year-old Bond villain. But the lack of well-rounded characters and too little magic (in a book about fairies, no less!) proved too much to bear.

    Dracula by Bram Stoker: How did we get from this to Twilight, exactly? Because whatever happened in between those two books should never have happened. There are a few things that keep me from entirely believing it’s an epistolary novel (the dialogue is too exact for that, the regional dialects too well-preserved) but the story is fantastic. For a book published in 1898, it’s remarkably readable.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeOct 24th 2012
     

    I haven’t read Artemis Fowl in awhile, but it may be one of those things you have to read as a kid (aka before you’re old enough to notice the problems) to really get into the series.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeOct 24th 2012
     

    I think that if I had read it at eleven or twelve, I would have at least liked it. As it stands, it’s just too boring.

  27.  

    I’m reading Wuthering Heights

    It’s pretty good so far.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2012
     

    Finished Dracula.

    The last 50 pages ruined it for me.

    I wish I could pretend they didn’t exist.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2012
     

    It was slightly anticlimactic wasn’t it?

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2012
     

    @Inspector – Do you hate all of the characters yet?

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2012
     

    Not only that, but Mina’s sudden transformation from strong, capable woman to pathetic damsel in distress really made those pages drag. I man, come on. She has the power to see through Dracula’s eyes and the men turn her into a glorified GPS.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2012
     

    Yeah, I remember that. I guess it was just a sign of its times or something. The girl had to, in the end, be saved by the guys.

    It’s still kind of odd to think that from Dracula came Edward Cullen.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2012
     

    It’s still kind of odd to think that from Dracula came Edward Cullen.

    Well, Lestat/ Anne Rice came in there, so it wasn’t a straight point-A to point-B thing.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeOct 26th 2012
     

    Yeah, I remember that. I guess it was just a sign of its times or something. The girl had to, in the end, be saved by the guys.

    I have to wonder if Stoker actually thought that was a good twist, or if his editor said he had to soften Mina because strong, independent women didn’t play well to Victorian audiences. And browsing the internet didn’t help. I got about 8,000,000,000 results on how Dracula is really just an extended metaphor for rape, but precious little on Stoker’s attitudes toward feminism. Humph.

    It’s still kind of odd to think that from Dracula came Edward Cullen.

    Well, Lestat/ Anne Rice came in there, so it wasn’t a straight point-A to point-B thing.

    True, but it’s still odd to think that someone like Anne Rice looked at Dracula and thought “brooding, dangerous romantic interest” and that SMeyer looked at that and said “I’ll take out the ‘dangerous’ part and turn him into a fairy!”

    Gotta wonder at writers’ thought processes sometimes…..

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2012
     

    Not so difficult with Rice, as the vampire mythology has always (and especially in Dracula) included an element of mysterious romance. Dracula’s main thing was the seduction and corruption of the innocent. Early vampire stories were all ABOUT sex. Rice just sexed it up more prominently (instead of through innuendo and subtleties), and Meyer got rid of that annoying ‘can’t have picnics in the park’ trend. Doesn’t mean it’s good, but it is at least an evolution that makes sense.

  28.  

    Have you seen the Kate Beaton Dracula comics?

    EDIT: They address some of your concerns about Mina. She is also the gender-variant exception to
    The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (written by Alan Moore, drawn by Kevin O’Neill)

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2012
     

    Have you seen the Kate Beaton Dracula comics?

    I have now.

    Oddly enough, I managed to keep it together until Lucy did her rendition of “All the Single Ladies.”

    One of the funniest things I’ve ever read.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2012
     

    I managed to keep it together until Lucy did her rendition of “All the Single Ladies.”

    COURAGE, MAN

  29.  

    COURAGE, MAN

    That really did it for me.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeOct 27th 2012
     

    That, and Dracula eyeing Mina’s boobs…...

  30.  

    Z for Zachariah was odd. I think I liked it.

    EDIT:
    And I just saw that they are going to turn this book into a movie now. Two different descriptions say that two people show up to the valley where the protagonist lives. In the book, one person shows up. This is all on the book jacket, so I’m not spoiling anything. It’s pretty important that only one person shows up in the book, so I’m a bit annoyed that they are changing that (_if_ they really are changing that).

    •  
      CommentAuthorFalling
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2012
     

    This is going back a bit, but regarding the Jedi Academy and to Fell_Blade if you’re still here?
    Did you hate all the book equally? Maybe because Jedi Search was one of the first I read (and didn’t read the others till much later), but I kinda liked the Han Solo-Kessel storyline. But in retrospect, the twins story was a waste of time and assigning Wedge Antilles to the construction crew was a waste of character.

    But yeah, the Jedi Academy suffers like many of the poorer EU books by feeling compelled to have a storyline for every major/medium character from the movies. It makes for very cluttered storytelling.

  31.  
    Mistborn Trilogy anyone?
    •  
      CommentAuthorThea
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2012 edited
     

    All I can say is the first one caught me so well, I bought the box set. But I still haven’t read the second two yet. I’m scared to death they won’t live up the promise I saw in the first. Also, time.

    • CommentAuthorNossus
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2012 edited
     

    My current goal is to stuff my brain with as much evolutionary biology as I possibly can so I can defend myself when my creationist family tries to poke holes in my worldview.

    You shouldn’t even have to defend yourself.

    Also started Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed today. So far, I’m very impressed. I need to read more of her books.

    I’ve got seven or eight of her books, mostly the Earthsea series. I read The Left Hand of Darkness earlier this year and it was great.

    I love her.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2012
     

    Rereading Sorcerer’s Stone, and reading The Gospel of Ruth for the first time. I love Carolyn Custis James’ writing style.

    Just fiinished Killing Lincoln. I would have liked more footnotes, but they did reference their sources at the end, so I’ll let it slide. Plus, the writing was terriffic. I wish more history books were written that way (omniscient present tense, thriller-style). If they were, I doubt we’d have so many students ignorant of history.

    Aaaannnnd I’m done with Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede. I loved it until the last fifty pages or so, when I realized just how soft the rules of her magic system were. My suspension of disbelief was dealt a heavy blow when it was revealed that magicians can raise shields to keep out steam dragons and harm each other without touching, but there’s no spell to fix a broken axle. Seriously? And I would have loved to see some Native American magic systems, but there were no Native Americans. Humph. Still, a good read all the same.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAzure
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2012
     

    A Sporker’s To-Review List:

    Crewel by Gennifer Albin: The cover is pretty, and it seems to represent the book very well. You see a bunch of pretty colors and go, “Oh, that’s neat,” but when you take a closer look someone just slapped some color and a girl on it and it’s like every other YA book out there. Except it’s worse because the girl is photographed from such an odd angle that it makes her forehead look gigantic and the colors sploched over her face wash out her facial features and make it look like she has slits for a nose. And you’re left staring at the cover that was so beautiful a second ago and wondering where it all went wrong.

    This whole thing was a metaphor for the book. I actually plan to write a review for it when I finish, but I’m hoping that the last quarter of the book will redeem itself.

    Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson: The other tab open on my computer is my sporking of it. If that doesn’t clue you in, nothing will.

    Nevermore by James Patterson: Is this even part of the Maximum Ride series? Either way, I skimmed through the last half of the book, and wound up laughing out loud at the ending. I’m afraid that I’ll die from laughter if I have to talk about it right now, so let’s just leave it here.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2012
     

    Crewel by Gennifer Albin: The cover is pretty, and it seems to represent the book very well. You see a bunch of pretty colors and go, “Oh, that’s neat,” but when you take a closer look someone just slapped some color and a girl on it and it’s like every other YA book out there. Except it’s worse because the girl is photographed from such an odd angle that it makes her forehead look gigantic and the colors sploched over her face wash out her facial features and make it look like she has slits for a nose. And you’re left staring at the cover that was so beautiful a second ago and wondering where it all went wrong.

    Sad. I’ve heard mixed reviews about that book. It has over four stars on Goodreads….but then again, so do most of the Hush, Hush books.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSoupnazi
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2012
     

    Azure: No no no, don’t mention the ending of Nevermore! I want to go in fresh when I finally read it for my sporks. (And yes, it is a Maximum Ride book, even though its name doesn’t fit AT ALL.)

    •  
      CommentAuthorFalling
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2012
     

    @IcyColdHand

    YES! This last month I just finished the first one. Really slow going through now that school has started. But I quite like the first of the Mistborn which is pretty good as I“m not usually into huge magic fantasy. The opening sequence on the plantation I was a little unsure if I’d like it, but once they got into heist mode I really started enjoying it.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPryotra
    • CommentTimeNov 23rd 2012
     

    Crewel by Gennifer Albin: The cover is pretty, and it seems to represent the book very well. You see a bunch of pretty colors and go, “Oh, that’s neat,” but when you take a closer look someone just slapped some color and a girl on it and it’s like every other YA book out there. Except it’s worse because the girl is photographed from such an odd angle that it makes her forehead look gigantic and the colors sploched over her face wash out her facial features and make it look like she has slits for a nose. And you’re left staring at the cover that was so beautiful a second ago and wondering where it all went wrong.

    Is it published or self-published?

    •  
      CommentAuthorAzure
    • CommentTimeNov 23rd 2012
     

    @Danielle: Meh. It’s a YA romance. I’m actually working on a review right now, and I’ve just finished the book. It wound up having some redeeming qualities at the end. I’d give it two out of five stars for “Not being as much of a jerk as you could’ve been”.

    @Soupnazi: No worries! I’m just going to pretend that that book doesn’t exist for now. Let me know when you finish reading it and we can laugh together.

    To me, the Maximum Ride series ended at The Final Warning, and that’s stretching it. When they started naming the books after the characters and moved into “Save the earth or you’re evil” territory, it felt Locke a whole different series. Also, I am disappointed that nobody named a book after Nudge or Iggy. Gazzy, I can understand, but, c’mon.

    @Pryotra: It’s published. There’s this gigantic market for anything vaguely dystopian these days. Plus the book included a love triangl*, so yeah. Let’s get this published today!

    I originally thought that it was a love quadrangle based on this excerpt from the summary:

    Adelice must decide who to trust: her kind mentor, Enora; the handsome and mysterious valet Jost; or the charismatic Guild ambassador Cormac Patton. They each have secrets, but Adelice is about to unravel the deadliest one of all, a sinister truth that could destroy reality as she knows it.

    Only one of the people mentioned is actually a love interest. Go figure.

    I hope that that misplaced comma in the last sentence is the webpage’s fault. I’ll check later.

  32.  

    Okay, I’ve read my fair share of old books with outdated gender norms, but Paradise Lost is just making me mad.