Books

[Original Alear]

No, it's called "djinn"

Secondly, my mother tongue isn't English. So grammar mistakes can happen.

And yes, Hatari, fantasy.

I was making a rather poor joke which misread "djinn" as "doujin" (a japanese word which refers, in the sense I meant it, to a fanwork based on an anime, manga or video game) and reinterpreted the Sumerian goddess Ishtar as the character Ishtar from Fire Emblem 4 and 5.

(I don't know if the fictional character Ishtar you were referring to is the actual Sumerian goddess, but I am sure the author drew the name from that source).

Generally, at least in my case, when I quote a person's post and then make changes, it is with the intention of expressing a meaning different from the prior poster. I did not mean to suggest you had done something "wrong" and that I was "fixing" your mistake. I did not intend to offend you, or to indicate that I know your intentions better than you do.

Edited March 12, 2010 by SeverIan

[Amelia]

Whoa~ I finished it today~

500 pages in 3 days, 4 hours per a day!

[BrandedRogue]

republic commando.

and a lot of crap for school <_<

[Hatari]

Republic commando is what now? A series, a book? Summary?

[Hero]

I'm sad that none of the people who mentioned classics mentioned any of the great Russian authors. Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov is probably one of my favorite books. Dostoevsky's short stories are also quite enjoyable (as are Tolstoy's). Never managed to read a Tolstoy novel though. Don't have the time anymore.

I'm almost the opposite of you here. I love Tolstoy but have never been able to get into Dostoevsky. I plodded through Crime and Punishment awhile back but hated a lot of it, I know I'm going against nearly every literature professor in the world when I say this but I thought a lot of it was forced sentimentality and vintage 1860s pop-philosophy. The novel has been made obsolete by any number of more recently books that take the same concept and do it more smoothly and in a smaller number of pages.

I really like Tolstoy, though. I've never seen anything like War and Peace and his short stories completely break the cliche of nineteenth century Russian literature as hard to read. I'm also a fan of Mikhail Lermontov, who a lot of well-read Russians still consider to be number one in their national literature.

As far as greasy fantasy goes, I really like the Shannara series despite how utterly bloated it is at this point. The original book is pretty much a straight Tolkien rip-off (but a pretty damn good one) but later books roam all over the place. It's kind of an interesting setting. I really enjoyed the Wheel of Time series too. I can't argue that it's great literature, but screw that- it's very entertaining.

I agree with you, it's kind of hard to be a literary snob when you're talking on a forum about video games. I've been reading Wheel of Time since I was eleven (though of course I didn't understand any of it back then).

Whoa~ I finished it today~

500 pages in 3 days, 4 hours per a day!

Good discipline.

---

Am I the only one here who thinks history books are engaging and sometimes entertaining? I'm asking this question more out of curiosity than anything else.

[Hatari]

Am I the only one here who thinks history books are engaging and sometimes entertaining? I'm asking this question more out of curiosity than anything else.

Given the fact that I'm a total history buff, no. I enjoy reading history books, and even fictional history (given that I don't stop reading, checking my history book and going, that's wrong. that's also wrong.)

I enjoy books on Royal Courts...

[Dracohon]

Am I the only one here who thinks history books are engaging and sometimes entertaining? I'm asking this question more out of curiosity than anything else.

Sometimes I like them, sometimes not, it really depends on the way the book is written. I have a brother who really loves reading them, though.

In other news, I'm now reading a compilation of stories that were all co-authored by H P Lovecraft. I love that guy's writings.

[BrandedRogue]

Republic commando is what now? A series, a book? Summary?

a series.

[Kriemhild]

Am I the only one here who thinks history books are engaging and sometimes entertaining? I'm asking this question more out of curiosity than anything else.

Well, I'm very interested in history actually but I find it quite difficult to find books that explain the history in a proper unbiased view. Annoying orientalists. But yeah, I do enjoy reading them sometimes. I mostly just listen to lectures though to learn about the history.

[Hatari]

Well, I'm very interested in history actually but I find it quite difficult to find books that explain the history in a proper unbiased view. Annoying orientalists. But yeah, I do enjoy reading them sometimes. I mostly just listen to lectures though to learn about the history.

History is all interpretation Proto...Have fun finding that unbiased view.

[Inactive Account]

Well, I'm very interested in history actually but I find it quite difficult to find books that explain the history in a proper unbiased view. Annoying orientalists. But yeah, I do enjoy reading them sometimes. I mostly just listen to lectures though to learn about the history.

Eurocentrists get pretty annoying too... Yeah, neutrality's hard to find. I had a history class last semester and the professor spent the whole thing trying to teach us that Europe was the great evil and capitalism ran on the tears of forsaken children... the books we were assigned mostly took that tack too, though a couple were more neutral. It was kind of refreshing at first, since every class I'd taken beforehand had relied on books of the "AMERICA'S THE BEST Europe's pretty damn cool and those other guys... we guess they exist" sort. But yeah, well-written history books that stay pretty neutral are pretty interesting.

[Original Alear]

Am I the only one here who thinks history books are engaging and sometimes entertaining? I'm asking this question more out of curiosity than anything else.

What history books? I would say that Three Kingdoms is a very entertaining book which at the least has a historical focus.

I often find history books engaging, but I don't often find that "entertaining". This is probably because I most often find entertainment in a very micro scale (in personal human interaction) with a level of detail which history can't often accurately provide. It is true that a history summarizing modern times can be entertaining through the use of letters and videos and the like which detail some aspect of a person's moment-by-moment actions or thought processes. Although not historical, some of the books I've read about finance that have anecdotal details (for instance, learning the ways that employees at Banker's Trust referred to their clients) which can be entertaining, though sometimes in a slightly disturbing way. The watergate tapes, especially those besides the smoking gun tape, can be very entertaining due to the schism between the scandal itself (rather important) and the tapes, the events of which feel rather mundane when they are being listened to.

Occasionally there can be a sense of irony to be found in history, even when it is very abstract and general. However, I would say that the more macro a text gets, the less entertaining it tends to be (though it may be just as engaging or moreso). A historical fiction book is more likely to be entertaining than a history because it has the freedom to invent.

I don't read a lot of historical fiction, and a lot of what I have read is bad. However, Cecelia Holland is an excellent author of historical fiction, at least going by the books I have read of hers (Until the Sun Falls, about the Mongols invading Russia post-Genghis, and Kings in Winter which takes place during an invasion of Ireland in the 11th century). I think she is interested in seeing a "modern" man - more specifically an ancient man who, for rather believable but invented reasons, has become alienated from some of the aspects of his own culture - continue to interact with that culture, sometimes even as they are recognized as a particularly exemplary archetype of that culture (psinn, the protagonist of Until the Sun Falls, is The Shit, and sooner or later even the most obstinate Mongol royals who he is bullying into a measure of wisdom come to realize this). As the story goes on, each character is revealed to have complex motives and to some extent none entirely fit the stereotype we have, although the stereotype is somewhat validated by the exceptions that make the rule.

The balance between making the characters compelling and interesting and keeping their own time is one which she walks well, and when the performance is done it seems the conclusion of the story was indeed at the end of the narrow tightrope, as it stands upright at the other end.

[Kriemhild]

History is all interpretation Proto...Have fun finding that unbiased view.

Well, when you start listening to opposing views, you can start to make your own judgment. Which is still subjective, of course.

I don't normally read historical fiction though.

Edited March 15, 2010 by Proto

[Oceanbourne]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The general idea of Faust (via Kamelot's albums Epica and The Black Halo)

Eragon

Harry Potter

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Iliad

The Inferno

The Lord of the Rings

The Odyssey

Paradise Lost

Percy Jackson

The Taming of the Shrew

Treasure Island

and random Greek mythology.

[Hatari]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The general idea of Faust (via Kamelot's albums Epica and The Black Halo)

Eragon

Harry Potter

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Iliad

The Inferno

The Lord of the Rings

The Odyssey

Paradise Lost

Percy Jackson

The Taming of the Shrew

Treasure Island

and random Greek mythology.

Kamelot is awesome!! The story is interesting as well.

I've seen part of the Count of Monte Cristo anime, it looks interesting...kinda.

Yay, Mythology is awesome, but it's a lot of play reading...and plays are some of the hardest things to read imo, especially Greek plays. They take 45 mins to get one point across that was said within the first 10 minutes. Other than that, it's interesting. I'm also not a fan of Shakespeare, so that also might be why I have issues with plays.

Odyssey and Iliad is fun too.

[peener weener]

I am now currently reading Dune.

[Life]

One of my favourite series. Jasper Fforde can use wit like no other. It is incredible.

Anyone who knows a bit about older classics may understand the title.

"'Good. Item seven. The had had and that that problem. Lady Cavendish, weren’t you working on this?’

Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts. ‘Indeed. The uses of had had and that that have to be strictly controlled; they can interrupt the imaginotransference quite dramatically, causing readers to go back over the sentence in confusion, something we try to avoid.’

‘Go on.’

‘It’s mostly an unlicensed-usage problem. At the last count David Copperfield alone had had had had sixty three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim’s Progress may also be a problem due to its had had/that that ratio.’

'So what’s the problem in Progress?’

‘That that had that that ten times but had had had had only thrice. Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked, but not if the number exceeds that that that usage.’

‘Hmm,’ said the Bellman, ‘I thought had had had had TGC’s approval for use in Dickens? What’s the problem?’

‘Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,’ said Lady Cavendish.

‘You would have thought that that first had had had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had approval but had had had not; equally it is true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not.’

‘So the problem with that other that that was that…?’

‘That that other-other that that had had approval.’

‘Okay’ said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, ‘let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim’s Progress, had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC’s approval?’

There was a very long pause. ‘Right,’ said the Bellman with a sigh, ‘that’s it for the moment. I’ll be giving out assignments in ten minutes. Session’s over –and let’s be careful out there.'"

Edited March 29, 2010 by Admiral Lifey Crunch

[Le Communard]

I am now currently reading Dune.

I'm not sure if you have the water-discipline for that. Perhaps if you tame a Great Maker you might prove yourself.

One of my favourite series. Jasper Fforde can use wit like no other. It is incredible.

Anyone who knows a bit about older classics may understand the title.

Jane Eyre? Funny, and I just had someone suggest that book earlier today.

Edited March 29, 2010 by Le Communard

[Life]

Jane Eyre? Funny, and I just had someone suggest that book earlier today.

What Fforde does is ingenious. He bases his books around other books. His main character is one that he created but he views books as plays in which characters do the actions that they are supposed to on paper but once they aren't in the narrative anymore, they can do or say whatever they want.

Read the quote and you'll see what I mean.

Edited March 29, 2010 by Admiral Lifey Crunch

[Le Communard]

What Fforde does is ingenious. He bases his books around other books. His main character is one that he created but he views books as plays in which characters do the actions that they are supposed to on paper but once they aren't in the narrative anymore, they can do or say whatever they want.

Read the quote and you'll see what I mean.

Sort of like Tom Holt's My Hero? It seems pretty funny--I might check it out if I ever get time to read again.

[Inactive Account]

Seconding the recommendation for The Eyre affair, and all of its sequels. Excellent stuff.

[Original Alear]

Never read Jane Eyre. Still recommended?

EDIT-Based on some of what has been said, I think those who enjoyed it might be interested in John Barth's Chimera, an interesting retelling of the Arabian Nights, the story of Perseus, and the story of Bellerophon.

Edited March 29, 2010 by SeverIan

[Life]

Never read Jane Eyre. Still recommended?

Jane Eyre is recommended. A nice classic.

Word to the wise, know your classics before you read any of Jasper Fforde's books that involve Thursday Next. You'll appreciate the jokes a lot more.

ie. "Two genres bad, four genres good." - Animal Farm

"To choose or not to choose, that is the question..." - Hamlet

"Extraordinary stalker Millon De Floss." - The Mill on the Floss

I don't know the last two off by heart but the Hamlet quote is based on Hamlet trying to order a coffee and Millon De Floss's name is a pun on the book by George Eliot.

[peener weener]

So, I'm almost finished with Dune. Pretty nice.

Yes, I know I'm slow. And I was reading it little by little.

[Zanarkin]

Am I the only one here who thinks history books are engaging and sometimes entertaining? I'm asking this question more out of curiosity than anything else.

I like reading them when there is nothing to do in class. I often find myself engaged in the reading too but then the bell rings and i forget about it :/