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I'm not really willing to assign a numerical score to Crowley's Book of Thoth, but I finished my first read through after only getting halfway through a few years ago. I won't even try to pretend like I understood everything, but I'm pretty certain the way I think has been changed in a fundamental way.

Not sure which death scene was more gripping: Studs Lonigain or the Death of Marcel's Grandmother.

Proust is making me like Studs Lonigain much more. Almost at the halfway point.

I got about 200 pages from the end of the Dune saga and just ran out of steam. How lame is that? I might still finish it. I've gone a month or two without making progress on it, but if I hurry I won't have to reread the whole thing. Anyway, they were all badass. I'd say

Dune - 9/10
Dune Messiah - 7/10
Children of Dune - 8/10
God Emperor of Dune - 9/10
Heretics of Dune - 9/10 (This one was so badass. Anticlimactic ending though)
Chapterhouse: Dune - 8/10

MANTIS wrote:I got about 200 pages from the end of the Dune saga and just ran out of steam. How lame is that? I might still finish it. I've gone a month or two without making progress on it, but if I hurry I won't have to reread the whole thing. Anyway, they were all badass. I'd say

Dune - 9/10
Dune Messiah - 7/10
Children of Dune - 8/10
God Emperor of Dune - 9/10
Heretics of Dune - 9/10 (This one was so badass. Anticlimactic ending though)
Chapterhouse: Dune - 8/10

I prolly like Chapterhouse a little more that Heretics, but yeah

you should read the 2 Dune 7 books now, so you can fall in complete hate with his Son and KJA for concluding the saga in the most retard way imaginable,

scheissleibe wrote:http://ia341227.us.archive.org/3/items/ ... /mohb.html

two years before oswalt.

The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi: 9/10

An excellent take on a dystopic future much like an asian Blade Runner. I would love to see it as a film.

mithrandir wrote: you should read the 2 Dune 7 books now, so you can fall in complete hate with his Son and KJA for concluding the saga in the most retard way imaginable,

Eh, I don't think I have time for 1000+ pages of something no one has anything good to say about.

Jack Mort wrote:The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi: 9/10

An excellent take on a dystopic future much like an asian Blade Runner. I would love to see it as a film.

The Wars - Timothy Findley - 7/10
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath - HP Lovecraft - 6/10
A bit overwhelming I guess, didn't need the ghoul-moonbeast battle at all, stuck out like a sore thumb

Heinlein - Starship Troopers - 8

where's the best place to start with heinlein?

I tried to read Starship Troopers once but got distracted

The Imitation of Christ - Thomas a Kempis
6/10

This is the second most read book in the Christian world, apparently, next only to the Bible. It was written by a 15th century Augustinian monk and was intended to serve as an instruction manual for other monks and clergy around the world. As such, it was frequently copied and eventually became popular with the laity. It was frequently memorized page for page as a matter of prayer, but was also used for general instruction in Christian faith. Strangely, I only came upon it because Kierkegaard's name was mentioned in connection with it. Evidently, Kierkegaard read it quite a lot before, during, and after the fit of inspiration he had while visiting Germany. The connection is pretty obvious almost right away. "Inner life" is the key phrase in almost every chapter.

The book has a lot of interesting material in it, mainly because it manages to touch on every major theological debate (modern, medieval, and ancient) without actually diving too far into the details. If you ever wanted a survey of the Christian faith, this is the perfect book for you. It does have a devotional tone, however, and that was enough to turn me off at many points. Once you get used to the language, the book becomes a little easier to read, but not much.

It also features a ton of repetition, with many phrases being used over and over again to assist the reader in memorization. This drags the book down a ton, moreso than most monastic writing (he makes Aquinas look like Dostoevsky). Because Kempis was so strict and because the material is more for monks than laity, there's a very depressing weight throughout the book... as in, "if this is what it takes to be a good Christian, then it's impossible." Apparently other monks agreed, and much of the debate about imitating vs. following Christ emerged from texts like this one. Still, there are a lot of very insightful passages in each section that help to explain basic ideas about humility and charity in very simple, direct language. Either you agree or you don't. Kempis doesn't argue or explain, he only declares.

On the up side, there's a LOT of Kierkegaard in this, and it's obvious why he was so inspired by Kempis and his asceticism. In particular, Kempis' focus on silence, secrecy, and illusion are clearly original and seminal; Kierkegaard's early career as a philosopher outside the university draws a lot of water from the second half of this book. There's practically a sketch of Fear & Trembling and Philosophical Fragments in there. Interior spirituality is also central to Kempis's work, and Kierkegaard's "leap of faith" must have found some justification in the stress put on grace and providence. Reverence is something the two authors share as well, mostly where humility applies.

Anyways, I should have read this book one or two chapters at a time, but instead I tried to get through it without picking up any other books. It's way too difficult and pugnacious for that. Not because it's a hard read, but because the material is difficult and sometimes quite boring. I wish monks could write more ornately. In fact, I wish a talent like Kierkegaard could have tackled exactly this kind of book. Maybe he has and I don't know it? I still need to read his more "mainstream Christian" stuff to get a flavor of it. I don't think I've read a single Kierkegaard sermon. I can only imagine they're much more simple than his philosophical writings.

The War of the World, Niall Ferguson - 8.2/10. Probably the best book about the 20th century I've ever read. Pretty much turns all silly arguments about the causes of conflicts, etc. completely around. Very nicely done.

http://www.amazon.com/War-World-Niall-F ... 298&sr=1-1



I think this was also turned into a PBS or BBC documentary series.

caldwell.the.great wrote:The Imitation of Christ - Thomas a Kempis

Did you ever get around to reading Augustine's Confessions? I can't remember...

So far I've read Starship Troopers, The Puppet Masters, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (which I hated every page of), Citizen of the Galaxy, and Stranger in a Strange Land. SiaSL is probably my favorite, but that's because I'm a dirty hippie. Starship Troopers is probably a good one. I have a lot more to read.

I'm starting to get really really sick of the monologues from father figures, though.

Space Cadet!

http://www.amazon.com/Space-Cadet-Rober ... 663&sr=1-1

Yes.

Far superior book on every level, at least where enjoyability, narrative, and philosophy are concerned. Augustine's a phenomenal writer, so much so that his storytelling often overshadows his confession. I'm not afraid to admit that his mother's death pulled a few heart strings. And his explanation of his youthful shenanigans is second to none. But, my favorite part is when he realizes that time is a paradox. That shit is still fairly confounding, but can you imagine him sitting in his room, trying to puzzle out the nature of time and realizing that Zeno's paradox applies to it better than it does to space? I imagine he must have screamed a very guilty scream of joy. You know he was proud of that shit.

caldwell.the.great wrote:Yes.

Far superior book on every level, at least where enjoyability, narrative, and philosophy are concerned. Augustine's a phenomenal writer, so much so that his storytelling often overshadows his confession. I'm not afraid to admit that his mother's death pulled a few heart strings. And his explanation of his youthful shenanigans is second to none. But, my favorite part is when he realizes that time is a paradox. That shit is still fairly confounding, but can you imagine him sitting in his room, trying to puzzle out the nature of time and realizing that Zeno's paradox applies to it better than it does to space? I imagine he must have screamed a very guilty scream of joy. You know he was proud of that shit.

Yes! I love that book...the atmosphere of medieval life just streams through it, it's beautiful...

Augustine wrote: I was passing along a certain street in Milan when I noticed a beggar. He was jesting and laughing and I imagine more than a little drunk. I fell into gloom and spoke to the friends who were with me about the endless sorrows that our own insanity brings us: for here I was striving away, dragging the load of my unhappiness under the spurring of my desires, and making it worse by dragging it. And with all our striving, our one aim was to arrive at some sort of happiness without care. The beggar had reached the same goal before us, and we might quite well never reach it at all. The very thing that he had attained by means of a few pennies begged from passers-by -- namely the pleasure of a temporary happiness -- I was plotting for with so many a weary twist and turn

...

That very night he would sleep off his drunkenness: but how often and often I had gone to bed with mine and woken up with it, and would in the future go to bed with it and wake up with it.

That species of medieval honesty and self-reproach is precious...if you read Rousseau's Confessions you see it mirrored, but in a completely different way.

Never read it. I'll have to check it out.

What I love about Augustine is his honesty, maybe more than anything else. There's no bullshit, even when he's practicing his humility. "Why did I sin and steal the pears from the tree when I had no use for them? Because I wanted to be God." He just cuts to the fucking point, and he's not afraid to admit he did all kinds of crazy shit. Though you often wonder what kind of crap he pulled in the public baths, and what exactly he decided to leave out. He had a concubine, but apparently he had only one from the time he was a teenager to the time he spent in Italy? And his biggest fear about converting was not getting laid anymore. Incredible.

I talked with a priest in the Catholic church who said that Augustine did more damage to the church and sex than anyone else could ever hope to do. He said he loved the Confessions, but that Augustine's anti-sexual mania was ultimately too over the top. I was all when he said it, at least at first. But I think it makes sense now. Every Jesuit on the campus of Boston College wonders why a gay student body is such a big deal. Not because they care if you're gay or not, but because the figure most people are screwing before marriage, homosexual, heterosexual, or otherwise. Fact of life, not particularly interesting, move on, move on.

caldwell.the.great wrote:Never read it. I'll have to check it out.

I TOLD YOU TO READ IT 4 YEARS AGO DAMMIT.

But yeah, totally agree with your last post.

Jarry - Critical Lives series. Well researched and fair. Dense but easy.
Guide to Reading Proust - another secondary source - great summary and very light but valid criticism.
Paintings in Proust - a great way to complement reading the Search. Nothing I've not seen before but it does bring made of the ideas in the test to fermentation.
Flaubert - Temptation of St. Anthony - unread so far...

On page 1800 ish of Proust. Not looking forward to too many dense contemplations of homosexuality but Proust's writing really improves throughout the course of this Behemoth and it's getting easier and yeilding more complex understandings. My secondary sources and general education has helped this understanding as well. I know most of the writers and artists mentioned in the Search and have understood many of their works so his referrerenes are not lost on me. Benjamin's criticism has been the most insightful so far.

The Big Gold Dream - Chester Himes - 6/10
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye - Horace McCoy - 8/10
very fine book. main character is similar to Thompson's psychopaths but lacks their self-knowledge and awareness and the result is an even more unbalanced narrative

I started reading one of the John Steinbeck collections that I picked up from Library of America -The Grapes of Wrath & Other Writings 1936-1941. Just finished the first book in the collection "The Long Valley" which is a great collection of his short stories. I wasn't sure what to expect from his short stories because I've only read Of Mice and Men. Very depressing. I was floored by The Harness, The White Quail, The Vigilante, The Snake, The Red Pony and especially St. Katy the Virgin. Everyone should read St. Katy the Virgin. It's a religious satire piece that's brilliant, pretty much on the level of something Mark Twain would write. The Snake was great, for me it had this horror/sci-fi feel to it. My mind kept anticipating this lady morphing into some serpent creature and devouring this man alive. The Snake and Johnny Bear were the two really bizarre stories in the collection, which broke up the misery a bit. 8.5


I think I'm going to take a break and finish that Lovecraft collection I started a while back before I start on "The Grapes of Wrath".