Board 8 > B8 Books & Lit Topic 42 - A Squeeze of the Hand

(+) Yeah! (+)

i got 2 new books from amazon and i'm annoyed because of the condition they came in. cover on one's bent a little and some inside pages on the other are folded.

more annoyed because it's probably not worth complaining too much about but FUCK.

I mean, they are new. They should have packaged better.
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i actually filled out a feedback form because i got so annoyed.

and i looked through the second book more and there were more pages folded than i originally thought. and a couple had small tears because of them.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo is probably the most terrifying childrens book i've read in a while. i think what it really made clear to me was the difference in perception between adults and children. it's obvious when you think about it but you (at least for me) forget it sometimes.

The book is about a sentient china rabbit doll and a series of circumstances that takes him on the journey referenced in the title. We are told about the rabbit's thoughts and feelings but he can't physically move his body so he is left to the mercy of whoever last handled him.There's one section where he is on a ship and ends up overboard. He sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor face-down and is stuck in that position for almost a year. Holy shit.

>hears DiCamillo
>has and read the wonderful Tale of Despereaux

You have my attention.
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i started reading 120 Days of Sodom because you know "how bad could it be?"

WTF counter: 3

The first 60 or so pages of the book serves as an introduction basically saying "this is going to be really fucked up; turn back now"

kateee posted...

120 Days of Sodom

You kinda dug your own grave there.
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i'm not regretting it or anything like that. it's a very unique experience. though i can't exactly call the book 'good'.

http://www.avclub.com/article/25-percent-young-britons-have-lied-about-reading-l-254205

have you ever lied about reading a book (lying to your teacher doesn't count)?


...why if so?

This is the way the world ends

Guess none of us have lied about reading (except to teachers/professors)
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kateee posted...

http://www.avclub.com/article/25-percent-young-britons-have-lied-about-reading-l-254205

have you ever lied about reading a book (lying to your teacher doesn't count)?


...why if so?

i lied to my dad about reading his favorite book because he was making me read it while i was being homeschooled so i don't know if that counts
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throw your favorite classic literature (novels, short stories, plays, epic poems, etc) at me so i can amass a list that i need to read to be a better literature teacher
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tabiicat42 posted...

throw your favorite classic literature (novels, short stories, plays, epic poems, etc) at me so i can amass a list that i need to read to be a better literature teacher

throws william blake
throws orwell
throws brave new world
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NFUN posted...

tabiicat42 posted...

throw your favorite classic literature (novels, short stories, plays, epic poems, etc) at me so i can amass a list that i need to read to be a better literature teacher

throws william blake
throws orwell
throws brave new world

Give me moar I've read a bunch of Orwell and Blake and I've read brave New world. We did a dystopia unit in my ap literature class
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kateee posted...

http://www.avclub.com/article/25-percent-young-britons-have-lied-about-reading-l-254205

have you ever lied about reading a book (lying to your teacher doesn't count)?


...why if so?

I used to have a bit of a problem with lying about reading books or playing games that I was going to be reading in the near future. About half of the time I would get distracted and never actually get around to it.

Somehow I always felt compelled to appear just a step ahead of where I was in actuality. It could have something to do with all the procrastination I did throughout school and appearing to be working more than I really was.
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That's such a HUGE topic (what are favorites, what is important to read) I'm not sure where to begin and end. I've personally never been too enamored or interested in certain texts but I can't deny their importance/influence. There are works that are taught are important in historical context or otherwise but I think a lot of people shy away from reading them because they are "boring" or "too old." Beowulf, Don Quixote, Canterbury Tales, Oedipus Rex, Divine Comedy, The Republic, The Art of War, Machiavelli's The Prince, The Odyssey, The Bible, etc.

There's works now that are considered pretty "entry-level" that almost everyone has read. These are relatively "easy" to understand the themes/purpose of and serve as the gateway into analysis like Animal Farm/1984, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc.

I'll list personal favorites but acknowledge that the scope covered by these is relatively limited. I'll do sort of a top ten and then list the rest. It's admittedly pretty heavily focused on prose and American lit so take that into consideration if you want.

Upon first thoughts, top ten (not in order) would be something like:
Hamlet - Shakespeare
Moby Dick - Melville
Jane Eyre - Bronte
Lolita - Nabokov
To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee
The Sound and the Fury - Faulkner
short stories of Flannery O'Connor (my favorite is "Good Country People" but others that are cited most frequently include "A Good Man is Hard to Find," "Everything That Rises Must Converge," "The Artificial Notallowedbygamefaqs," "The River," "Greenleaf" i'll just list all of them jeez.
Invisible Man - Ellison
Slaughterhouse-Five - Vonnegut
A Clockwork Orange - Burgess

Others:
The Little Prince - Saint Exupery
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Garcia Marquez
Waiting for Godot - Beckett
Lord of the Flies - Golding
The Catcher in the Rye - Salinger
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Carroll
The Stranger - Camus
The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises - Hemingway
Macbeth, King Lear, Richard III - Shakespeare
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - McCullers
Madame Bovary - Flaubert
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy
A Doll's House - Ibsen
Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky
Death of a Salesman - Miller
The Metamorphosis - Kafka
Animal Farm; 1984 - Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury
Huck Finn - Twain
Frankenstein - Shelley

I mean, I saY I WILL read them, but don't.
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https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/110189.B8_s_Top_100_Books

i'm reading like 7 books at once.


i need help.

As long as you can keep the plots straight, you're fine.
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it's not so much the plots as it is the subject matter and styles.

Did I give Foundation 10/10? If not I should have.
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yes you did

I Shall Wear Midnight, the 38th Discworld Book, finished. It's been two years since Tiffany Aching killed the Wintersmith by giving him a quick peck and simultaneously pouring the sun into him. Long story. She has since grown into her stedding, earning the respect as the Witch of the Chalk despite her young age of 16. Not all is fine however, since she and Roland has stopped their... whatever it was, and Rolan is now engaged to a soppy girl that gets on Tiffany's nerves. Because of the crying, not for any other reason. Worse though, is the strange mentality of the Discworld at large. Witches have become unpopular (well, even more so), and people have started attacking strange old ladies because they think they're witches. As Tiffany learns, it seems something ancient has awoken when Tiffany killed the Wintersmith. Something evil that hates witches, and isgoing after Tiffany.

Fortunately, she has help from a legendary figure among the witches. No, not Granny Weatherwax, the other one they don't talk about much.

Best Part:
- XD that giant statue with the giant tonker in the first chapter.
- And then we go dark with the man that punched his daughter so hard she miscarried. And this is a children's novel.

*checks*

Oh wait Young Adult's novel, nevermind.
- Holy **** the Cunning Man is such a damn monster. Creepy appearance, and I can feel the evil just hearing the words. *shivers*. Best (worst?) part is not even Granny and Tiffany can kill him permanently, and the Cunning Man is such an evil that ALL witches would have rallied together and take care of Tiffany if she failed to beat him.
- Preston is so much better than Rolan as a romantic interest. Intelligent and funny and a great man as well.
- We finaly get to see the genius behind Boffo, Mrs. Prout! She's fun.
- Speaking of fun, so is Letitia. The Princess Witch? I love that her magic allows her to make Boffo magic become actual spells, and her personality is just so fun!
- Eskarina Smith is so gooooooood. She's hilarious AND mysterious to boot. What caused her to abandon Wizardry for full time Witchcraft? How did she learn time travel? What happened to Simon? AND A SON? If I had to guess, she and Simon were an item shortly before the Sourcery War happened, and Simon died when he tried to preach no magic. A heartbroken Esk stopped using her staff and wizard magic, but continued her lover's research into time and space and keep watch over their son. But this is all just conjecture, but part of the reason of why I love this woman so much.
- OH SNAP FUTURE TIFFANY! I totally didn't see it coming, I thought it was the original witch that
- "Listen" I ****ing love the epilogue man

Best Tiffany Aching book? Best Tiffany Aching book. It starts off hilarious before going off into the deep, deep darkness (well not that deep but still) of the the Discworld, and still peppers funny moments with awesome ones. Plus, best surprise returning character? Sorry Twoflower, but this one's got you beat. Plus, great supporting characters, and a much better beau than Roland (though he was still awesome at the end of Wintersmith)

Reaper Man > Thief of Time > Night Watch > Interesting Times > The Last Hero > I Shall Wear Midnight > Unseen Academicals > Making Money > Going Postal > Small Gods > A Hat Full Of Sky > Hogfather > Wintersmith > Jingo > The Fifth Elephant > Feet of Clay > Men At Arms > Thud! > The Truth > Guards! Guards! > The Wee Free men > The Last Continent > Soul Music > Wyrd Sisters > Moving Pictures > Monstrous Regiment > Mort > Witches Abroad > Lords and Ladies > Sourcery > Pyramids > The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents > Carpe Jugulum > The Light Fantastic > Maskerade > Equal Rites > The Colour of Magic > Eric
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I'm back to reading Riyria. This time the prequel books.

I really enjoy these characters so I'm loving it so far.
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gotta read for da kids

I'm tempted to start reading the Diamond Age if I have time.

Heard it was good; true?
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the sellout, by paul beatty, is absolutely hysterical

about the son of a black sociologist who grew up being experimented on, and the way he tries to improve his southern california ghetto ex-city by reinstituting slavery and segregation

haven't finished it yet because it doesn't DEMAND to be read, but almost every sentence is quote-worthy

"They say 'pimping ain't easy.' Well, neither is slaveholding."
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Hey guys which of these three fantasy series should I start

Broken Empire
First Law
Farseer (Or Realm of the Elderlings)


I think my favorite lately has been Gentleman Bastards, if that helps
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i read Uncle Vanya and i also feel like i've wasted my entire life

VeryInsane posted...

I think my favorite lately has been Gentleman Bastards, if that helps

Have you tried Riyria Revelations (Theft of Swords)? I don't know much about your tastes but it has a some similarities to GB. Two mercs (one a master thief the other a master swordsman) get hired to steal a thing and it ends up with them mixed up in a whole lot of bigger problems.

Its much more fantasy with dwarves and elves and what not, plus not as dark as GB but it seems like something you might like.

I also recently finished it and loved it so I am very biased. But might be something to look at.

Unless you want darker and more amoral, then Broken Empire might be more of what you are looking for (based on the one book in that series I read).
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muddersmilk posted...

VeryInsane posted...

I think my favorite lately has been Gentleman Bastards, if that helps

Have you tried Riyria Revelations (Theft of Swords)? I don't know much about your tastes but it has a some similarities to GB. Two mercs (one a master thief the other a master swordsman) get hired to steal a thing and it ends up with them mixed up in a whole lot of bigger problems.

Its much more fantasy with dwarves and elves and what not, plus not as dark as GB but it seems like something you might like.

I also recently finished it and loved it so I am very biased. But might be something to look at.

Unless you want darker and more amoral, then Broken Empire might be more of what you are looking for (based on the one book in that series I read).

I haven't but I will look into it at some point! Thank you!

(Mainly just went for ebooks that are cheap haha)
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might as well post it here.

going to get one of my friends a book since he's at least expressed interest in literature unlike others. but the thing is we don't have a lot of overlap in our tastes. am thinking Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises) or Catch-22 for now but still looking through lists. would appreciate suggestions if anybody can think of a good fit for him. no series though since we're going for a standalone story.

he likes history, strategy, a certain kind of masculine characters (like Andrew Jackson/Teddy Roosevelt). some movies he likes: Wolf of Wall Street, Amadeus, Dr. Strangelove. games like Fire Emblem (aesthetically as well) or Final Fantasy. Shakespeare's Henry V!

i know it's not too much to go on but wondering if you could come up with anything to pique his interest.

i'm thinking McCarthy now as well.