Latest Gene Wolfe book you read (1-10 scale)

[neckbeard]

The Politics of Jesus - John Howard Yoder
9
Originall written in the 70s updated slightly in 94. He takes a bunch of contemporary exegesis and makes a lay summary of it. Might be interesting to fans of Kierkegaard ; He's mentioned a few times, regarding the way people interpret everything as an inward, spiritual piety.

[MANTIS]

John Dies at the End - 8/10

Could have used an editor. The end dragged a bit and I liked Korrok better when I knew less about him but this was still highly enjoyable overall. One thing though...

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

John didn't actually die at the end.

[John Jr.]

really wish i could find where my copy of "Pacifism as Pathology" got off to.......

[caldwell.the.great]

reading The Idiot. Moving slowly. Enjoying it very much. I like Dostoevsky's psychological depictions; the way Natasya Filipovna is portrayed is absolutely brutal. All youthful force and stormy egotism. Awesome.

I read an awesome essay on dosteovsky by David Foster Wallace. It's in one of his collections. He explains how much writing has evolved and how nobody could possibly do what dosteovsky does because melodrama was once acceptable and now is not after the self consciousness of postmodernism.

I don't know anything about this Wallace guy. Will have to look into it.

I think it's funny that Dostoevsky's melodrama is always singled out by critics; Nabokov couldn't keep away from the topic, either. But, when I read his novels, that's the last thing I think about and the first thing I'm willing to forgive. His work is about so many other things, that the melodrama sort of passes by and the philosophy and politics sinks right in.

Postmodernism and self-consciousness. That sounds about right.

[neckbeard]

really wish i could find where my copy of "Pacifism as Pathology" got off to.......

I was looking that up and found this response to it
http://www.trainingforchange.org/nonvio ... that_heals

[father of lies]

PKD - The Divine Invasion - 9.25

Not quite as good as VALIS.

[ibn Horowitz]

Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf - 8/10
The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene - 9/10

[Gunny]

Nazis: A Warning From History 9/10
So yeah, its based on a documentary. However, I am one of those that find things much easier to digest when interpreted from print. Very insightful, very knowledgeable, and more than a tad stressful. Where's that Krieg guy... explain yourself, fucker.

Ok, so not all Germans are bad, and not all Nazis means the world harm. Whatever, damage done. I think there's a passage in the Bible about the sins of the ancestor fucking up the afterlife of the descendant. Maybe not. You guys don't know... Either way, shame on you assholes.

[Friendly Goatus]

Nazis: A Warning From History 9/10
So yeah, its based on a documentary. However, I am one of those that find things much easier to digest when interpreted from print. Very insightful, very knowledgeable, and more than a tad stressful. Where's that Krieg guy... explain yourself, fucker.

Ok, so not all Germans are bad, and not all Nazis means the world harm. Whatever, damage done. I think there's a passage in the Bible about the sins of the ancestor fucking up the afterlife of the descendant. Maybe not. You guys don't know... Either way, shame on you assholes.

Excellent review, bored. 8.5/10

[Gunny]

Fuck, I'm not "Bored"!

[altars of radness]

I'm almost finished with A Game Of Thrones, which came highly recommended and has therefore been highly disappointing. I realize that for some fantasy readers scope and world creation is as important as character development and dialogue, but in a fucking 800 page book you'd think there'd be room for all of those things. I don't think the way the book is structured allows it to build up much momentum or tension, either.

What I did enjoy about it were the purely fantastical elements -- heart trees, blue eyed zombies, etc. That shit was fun; the story not so much. I think Martin's imagination is a lot more honed than his storytelling.

5/10

[father of lies]

So like (Riley? Anybody?)

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

IS HE EVER FUCKING AWAKE GAH

[John Jr.]

Fuck, I'm not "Bored"!

you're just eloquent, and these philistines cant tell the difference.

[neckbeard]

I always tell people not to get started with those stupid books. Hey Altars, what are you reading now? Don't tell me it's A Clash of Kings

[riley-o]

So like (Riley? Anybody?)

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

IS HE EVER FUCKING AWAKE GAH

what ?

[altars of radness]

I always tell people not to get started with those stupid books. Hey Altars, what are you reading now? Don't tell me it's A Clash of Kings

No fucking way, man. I'll finish this dud tonight and move on to either The Human Stain by Philip Roth or The Dean's December by Saul Bellow.

[father of lies]

So like (Riley? Anybody?)

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

IS HE EVER FUCKING AWAKE GAH

what ?

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

I'm trying to figure out if there is a particular thread of "actual" reality anywhere in here. Is his memory in cryosleep of Rybys being such a bother and noticing that her dome is filthy his actual memory? Or is Belial's influence on Earth bleeding through like the music and tainting all that has gone before? If Yah can turn Zina's world into the real world...? The apparent rise of Harms and Bulkowsky in Zina's world surely has to do with Belial's anticipation of escape? During the cop encounter, is he perceiving Belial bleeding over into his mind as still being asleep, because he's asleep but not in cryosleep? To actually defeat Belial, don't they need to actually restore him to the Godhead? Fuck!

[Morpheus]

Since it looks like another year of part time work and dossing about for me, I've decided to read as many books as possible. I tried reading Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness' but it was too eloquent, I couldn't understand a lot of what he was trying to say, but besides, from the other things I've read by him he seems like an idealistic romantic, so maybe it's better I stay away for the time being.

I'm currently reading Liberty by John Stuart Mill. After that I'll try Descartes, Kant and Locke, and then on to Hegel and some of the postmodernists.

The last book I finished was "The Oriental Heritage" by Will and Ariel Durant, the first volume of their "The Story of Civilization" series. 10 skulls.

[danox3]

Just finished the New Dead anthology (lot of crap in there)

Just started the Novelization of The Devil's Rain.

[caldwell.the.great]

Since it looks like another year of part time work and dossing about for me, I've decided to read as many books as possible. I tried reading Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness' but it was too eloquent, I couldn't understand a lot of what he was trying to say, but besides, from the other things I've read by him he seems like an idealistic romantic, so maybe it's better I stay away for the time being.

I'm currently reading Liberty by John Stuart Mill. After that I'll try Descartes, Kant and Locke, and then on to Hegel and some of the postmodernists.

Sartre too eloquent? You might be the first person I've ever heard say that. He's certainly idealistic.

Be careful with that reading list. Kant and Hegel are two of the most difficult philosophers you could choose to read next to each other. I highly recommend having some secondary reading material nearby when you venture in the lands of the Critique and Phenomenology of the Spirit. It's not that they're so hard you couldn't understand them, it's that they're so particular and use such a rarefied language, it's easy to completely misunderstand them no matter how smart you are. The context is totally important.

Also, if you get into the Critique (of Pure Reason), make sure you get the Norman Kemp Smith translation.

http://www.amazon.com/Critique-Pure-Rea ... 611&sr=8-9

It's so good that most German readers read IT instead of the original German. Kemp Smith was an excellent translator and devoted a large chunk of his life to making Kant's English translation both sensible and true to the original. He did such a great job, some people think he explained Kant's ideas better than Kant could.

Anyway, that's a life-changing text, even if you disagree with everything he says. The rest of philosophy from Hegel and Kierkegaard to Marx, Freud, Lacan, Bataille, Derrida, Heidegger, Husserl, and everyone else spills right out from him.

[Mr. Budd]

Husserl did more for me than the rest of that lot.

[riley-o]

So like (Riley? Anybody?)

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

IS HE EVER FUCKING AWAKE GAH

what ?

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

I'm trying to figure out if there is a particular thread of "actual" reality anywhere in here. Is his memory in cryosleep of Rybys being such a bother and noticing that her dome is filthy his actual memory? Or is Belial's influence on Earth bleeding through like the music and tainting all that has gone before? If Yah can turn Zina's world into the real world...? The apparent rise of Harms and Bulkowsky in Zina's world surely has to do with Belial's anticipation of escape? During the cop encounter, is he perceiving Belial bleeding over into his mind as still being asleep, because he's asleep but not in cryosleep? To actually defeat Belial, don't they need to actually restore him to the Godhead? Fuck!

oh ! sorry man i haven't read that one in a lot of years.

[neckbeard]

What Would You Do? - Yoder
9

[ibn Horowitz]

The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi - 8/10
The Hugo should have went to this by itself, The City and the City wasn't nearly as good (nor as topical!).
Just didn't like the cheshires, though.

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

sweet baby christ i want to know what HAPPENED IN FINLAND

[Coelacanth]

Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice - Rudolph Rocker 10/10

Excellent summary of Anarcho-syndicalism, it's aims, history, what and who influenced the ideas behind it etc. It's definitely a great place for anyone interested in the subject to start.

Now reading Unto This Last - John Ruskin and some more H.P. Lovecraft.