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Post by magnusgreel on Apr 10, 2011 9:35:44 GMT
This past winter, I didn't do myself any big favors, by listening to a number of books on Arctic explorers in the wilds of northern Canada mainly, who were surrealistically determined to carry out their missions, but usually seemed to end up having to eat their shoes, and suffer and starve and freeze. Then there were a couple Antarctica books, which made Admiral Byrd out to be a sort of fraud. I've wanted to work in a book or two about Siberian arctic exploration before moving on.
Next I want to hear a book on Japanese history, and the Situationists. Right now I'm on the DW NA novel "Transit" by Ben Aaronovitch (sp?). Mostly, I have no idea who anyone is or where in the solar system they are, or why they're doing any of the things that they're doing. Other than that, I'm following it fairly well.
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Post by magnusgreel on Aug 25, 2011 3:21:39 GMT
I think I'm off the Arctic explorers. Now I'm bouncing around literature, catching just one big book, for now, from each major author, to make up for decades of concentrating on science-fiction (which I'll get back to). Listened to "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole, about a sort of Comic Book Guy (from the Simpsons) character... now am on book three of The Good Earth trilogy, Pearl S. Buck. Next is You Can't Go Home Again by Tom Wolfe. Also heard book of O. Henry short stories. There's little or no planning in any of this. I have to ask the person on the phone I order the tapes from to throw big name authors at me. I'm eliminating the stuff they make you read in school.... No Mark Twain, Hemingway, no Moby Dick...
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kirkg
Auton Daisy
"Hello, Sweetie!"
Posts: 442
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Post by kirkg on Aug 28, 2011 19:51:17 GMT
"Shackleton" is both a good read and a great miniseries. Plus, there's been a flock of books about the "Race to the Pole" between Amundson and Scott, I think. Have to go look it up on wikipedia or something. There's been a couple of good dramatisations of the true story.
I take it that nowadays, we accept that portions of Scott's diary have been edited out by well-meaning family members who wanted to preserve the best image of the "explorer" and British subject possible. But in reality, he wasn't all that well liked or respected by all his men, and made some bad decisions along the way. Some of which may have contributed to their ultimate death.
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Post by magnusgreel on Aug 29, 2011 17:23:22 GMT
Thanks for that, kirk! The author of the Byrd book related how suspicious and possibly paranoid the people were whom he contacted in preparation for writing the book. Their loyalty and suspicion made them seem a bit cult-like. The author tried not to be biased against Byrd, I think. He pointed out how supportive and loyal he could be with his men. Byrd apparently once dove into freezing water to save one of the guys transporting materials to build Little America. There were many negatives too, though. He'd build up his own personal legend, taking credit for what others did apparently, but this was a tool that he used to generate funding for expeditions and the scientific work done. Then again, he'd let the science lapse for the sake of "heroic" exploration, when it seems he couldn't even pilot a plane, lost his nerve when in danger before anyone else, and took credit for others' discoveries. Allegedly.
I've never heard why, on his second Antarctica trip, he spent a winter alone in a small shack, apart from the rest of the men.
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kirkg
Auton Daisy
"Hello, Sweetie!"
Posts: 442
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Post by kirkg on Aug 30, 2011 2:57:14 GMT
Oops, a big error on my part. I was thinking of the "Race to the Pole" between Amundson and Scott, I think. That's the great tale that I was saying has been dramatized. I was incorrect to assume that it was Byrd. The confusion is totally mine. So sorry!
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Post by magnusgreel on Dec 13, 2011 0:13:58 GMT
Most recently, I listened to the novel "Rebecca", which became the Hitchcock film. I'm now on "Crime and Punishment", once again not doing myself any favors by listening to a book with a murder told from the point of view of the murderer, and the rest's no picnic either as they say. I think it's getting to me. I need a funny book after this, before I go back to "classics". Actually if I knew what was good for me, I'd drop C&P right now. It's good though. I don't know about translations though-- I'm very conscious of the fact that apart from names of people and places, not one word was actually chosen by the author. It flows very well and I'm getting through it quickly, but should I be? Anyway, I couldn't believe it when the word "saccharine" popped up as an adjective. Yes, lots of articifial sweeteners in the 1860s!
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kirkg
Auton Daisy
"Hello, Sweetie!"
Posts: 442
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Post by kirkg on Dec 19, 2011 23:45:43 GMT
You wanna be creeped out by a story told from the murderer's perspective? Try "11/22/63" by Stephen King. I'm about a third of the way in, and I can't get myself to pick it up again.
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Post by magnusgreel on Dec 20, 2011 0:42:15 GMT
You've picked a wonderful book for Christmas too, Kirk... actually I've never read/listened to a Stephen King book. I figure there has to be at least one holdout! How is it?
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Post by Maggadin on Dec 21, 2011 22:41:38 GMT
This seems very interesting, Magnus. ATM I'm only reading homework. Fortunately, my homework is VERY interesting, as it concern one of the subjects nearest and dearest to my heart.
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Post by magnusgreel on Dec 26, 2011 18:01:07 GMT
What is that subject, Maggadin? I'm done with Crime 'n' Punishment. I didn't have other books lined up, so I'm back on Analog magazine on tape, May 2010.
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Post by Maggadin on Dec 27, 2011 21:22:20 GMT
It's Gender and Sexuality, Magnus
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Post by jjpor on Dec 30, 2011 20:45:08 GMT
Regarding reading materials, this week I've finished reading a sf novel called New Model Army by Adam Roberts. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes near-future sf dealing with technology and its effect on society. It's set in the near future and one of the plot strands concerns itself with a British civil war - the way things are going, some of the things it talks about seemed scarily halfway-plausible to me...
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Post by magnusgreel on Jan 2, 2012 18:03:32 GMT
Jjpor, all the new-civil-war talk in this country, which people aren't kidding about (I never thought I'd live long enough for that), is something I try not to think about, and the book you're on right now sounds too close to home. I didn't know there was anything like this going on in the UK.
I am interested in any fiction about future technology written from the perspective of now, because I'm not familiar with much. In Analog, either the same 3 or 4 premises get thrown at you, because they're fairly certain of coming true, or stories are written less technically and from a point of view from decades ago. The anime series "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone complex" does deal with those kinds of things, though. Japan's doing better in that respect.
I'm trying to avoid SF now, only because I've neglected all other genres in my life, up until now.
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Post by jjpor on Feb 1, 2012 22:11:56 GMT
I hope it's wild hyperbole, certainly, but I don't know. I feel like we're living at some sort of tipping point in history - another one. The world's going to be a very different place by the end of this century, I think, and I just hope the changes that come do so relatively peacefully, but knowing human beings, what are the odds? From what I see of Japan, it seems in many ways much less afraid of technology than Western society and more willing to embrace it and the life-changing possibilities it offers rather than, as our governments and movers and shakers seem to want, wanting to pick and choose the changes (ie only the ones that maintain something basically like the status quo). I think these efforts are doomed to failure - our civilisation is changing, for better or worse, even if nobody alive today may live to see the ultimate outcome. Hmm, philosophical... ;D No, quite, Magnus - I myself feel not particularly well-read sometimes, having focused so much on genre literature over the years. Like you, I try to broaden my horizons when I can, but so much to read... And I don't have your medical disadvantages. Good luck with your reading, anyway, and I hope you keep us informed on it when you can.
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Post by Maggadin on Feb 5, 2012 2:17:42 GMT
I think that humanity's penchant for thinking that we're Super Special is what's made us make most of our mistakes, really.
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Post by magnusgreel on Mar 1, 2012 11:59:48 GMT
I think that humanity's penchant for thinking that we're Super Special is what's made us make most of our mistakes, really. How about if I attach a giant megaphone to your remarks, Maggadin, and broadcast them to everyone living, in the Maggadin Cluster, etc.? jjpor--I sometimes think that we may as well hand our destinies over to the Japanese.
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Post by jjpor on Mar 1, 2012 20:59:42 GMT
They would not do a worse job of it than the people currently in control of our destinies, that's for sure.
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Post by magnusgreel on Mar 3, 2012 4:38:48 GMT
I'm done now with "The Secret River" by Kate Grenville (about settlers on the Hawkesbury River near Sydney, early 19th century), and "The Last of the Mohicans" by James Fenimore Cooper. The latter seemed too much like a typical book they give to schoolkids, though not me. I'd vowed to avoid those: no Moby Dick, Hemingway...
That's just what it is, and I soon started to wonder about all the interminable run-on sentences, crammed full of possibly irrelevant asides, and unrelenting formality, coming out of the mouths of people shooting and stabbing and wrestling for their lives in the wilds of 1757 upstate New York. (I'm from there, sort of.) I had to wonder, did people speak like this? How would I know?
After Googling "run-on sentences" and the author's name, I then found "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Atrocities" by Mark Twain, in which he slaughters Cooper but humorously, listing one by one all the problems I did notice, and ones I'd only noticed out the corner of my eye so to speak... Twain's very specific. He went through a long list of words Cooper uses, which mean something vaguely close to what Cooper means them to mean... but not really. No wonder I got confused, and over a lot of the words mentioned.
The funniest bit, I think, is when Twain comedically pretends to assume that "Chingachgook" (the Mohican) is probably pronounced "Chicago", then proceeds to refer to the character as "Chicago" a couple of times later!
It was just enjoyable to be validated in this way. Hooray, I can criticize "classic" authors and live! ... and find a heavyweight is on my side...
I also found that someone's re-published TLotM and Twain's article together in one volume! Now that's mean....!
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Post by Maggadin on Mar 4, 2012 1:41:14 GMT
I think that humanity's penchant for thinking that we're Super Special is what's made us make most of our mistakes, really. How about if I attach a giant megaphone to your remarks, Maggadin, and broadcast them to everyone living, in the Maggadin Cluster, etc.? Why thank you, Magnus! The Maggadin Cluster needs to be a real thing. Oh, wait, it is: It's my room *eyes cluster of mess on floor* Anyway, I'm going to make a valiant attempt to read most of the books in this list: www.listology.com/ukaunz/list/1001-books-you-must-read-you-dieI'm doing it alphabetically, so my first, which I've started reading, is The Adventures of Augie March. Unfortunately, my uni library only allows three-week loans and extensions cost money, so I'm going to borrow it multiple times...
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Post by magnusgreel on Mar 4, 2012 4:59:47 GMT
I actually got through Augie March a few months ago. That list is endless. I'm just aiming for the biggest names and books from, say, 1800-1970, maybe, before branching out. Upton Sinclair coming I think. Nice of them to put you to work, reading a thousand books before you die. Wonderful way to put it. I want to listen to a lot of books well before I die, so I'm not forming new ideas on life only to snuff it the next day. I'm tired of people reminding us about the time limit.
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