I like books.

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mnementh
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I like books.

Post by mnementh » Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:56 pm

Why are we clubbing them?

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Re: I like books.

Post by Sessine » Sun Feb 24, 2013 4:44 pm

Most books are innocuous enough, Mnem, but some of them contain... ideas.

Very dangerous things, those.
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Re: I like books.

Post by someone » Sun Feb 24, 2013 6:09 pm

Perhaps because too many books in the same place are able to bend time and space? So we want to keep them seperate to prevent this forum from crashing into oblivion?

BOOKS = KNOWLEDGE = POWER = (FORCE X DISTANCE^2) ├À TIME.

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Re: I like books.

Post by John » Mon Feb 25, 2013 5:32 am

someone wrote:Perhaps because too many books in the same place are able to bend time and space? So we want to keep them seperate to prevent this forum from crashing into oblivion?

BOOKS = KNOWLEDGE = POWER = (FORCE X DISTANCE^2) ├À TIME.
Sorry someone, I gave up my ability to do arithmetic for a bonus feat.
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Re: I like books.

Post by SccrD25 » Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:50 am

someone wrote:So we want to keep them separate to prevent this forum from crashing into oblivion?
Oh my god I just realized what happened to the old forum!
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So books, books, books...

Myself, I'm just about to finish up Terry Goodkind's Stone of Tears. Loving it and already have Blood of the Fold ready and waiting to read next. I must admit I laugh every time something bad happens to Richard.
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Re: I like books.

Post by I'mBob » Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:53 am

SccrD25 wrote:
someone wrote:So we want to keep them separate to prevent this forum from crashing into oblivion?
Oh my god I just realized what happened to the old forum!
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Wait, what old forum?
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This account is on a hiatus until unknown.

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Re: I like books.

Post by SamWiser » Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:51 pm

SccrD25 wrote:
someone wrote:So we want to keep them separate to prevent this forum from crashing into oblivion?
Oh my god I just realized what happened to the old forum!
► Show Spoiler
So books, books, books...

Myself, I'm just about to finish up Terry Goodkind's Stone of Tears. Loving it and already have Blood of the Fold ready and waiting to read next. I must admit I laugh every time something bad happens to Richard.
I love those books. I'm actually rereading the first one now. It's great.
Thanks to Arch Lich Burns for the avatar, and Mnementh for the mustache.

ÔÇ£Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot him and there'll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland?ÔÇØ
ÔÇò Terry Pratchett

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Re: I like books.

Post by SccrD25 » Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:21 pm

SamWiser wrote: I love those books. I'm actually rereading the first one now. It's great.
Excellent! This is my first time through. They came highly recommended. Actually when I tried to put off the second for a bit I was directly threatened. Now that's a sign of good friends lol. She of course was right.

As I go along I've also been torturing myself by watching Legend of the Seeker in pace with my progress. I really enjoy yelling at the TV. Legend of the Seekers incites a LOT of yelling. My god how could they miss the mark so badly?
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Re: I like books.

Post by WastesTime » Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:49 pm

I've recently finished reading Terry Pratchett's Interesting Times. Best of Rincewind so far, I am left with The Last Continent, which I'll be reading as soon as I'm finished with the Earthsea Quartet. The Wizard of Earthsea was interesting and definitely had some nice wisdom-filled quotes here and there but overall it didn't appeal to me that much. Liked it but something was not quite right. Maybe it's because of switching from humorous to high fantasy, I'll see if Tombs of Atuan are better. And after that the time will come to finally see what the fuss is about with the Game of Thrones books. I've recently bought a set box of all 5 books (6 to be precise, I have the UK edition with the 3rd one split in half) and am anxious to read them.

As for others - I highly recommend to anyone who is familiar with Polish language reading the Witcher Saga. Sadly, the translation is somewhat sloppy (or so I've heard) so being fluent in Polish is the only way. Real shame, because it is the best the Polish fantasy has to offer. You haven't read a good dialogue if you haven't read the Witcher Saga.
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Re: I like books.

Post by SamWiser » Mon Feb 25, 2013 4:04 pm

SccrD25 wrote:
SamWiser wrote: I love those books. I'm actually rereading the first one now. It's great.
Excellent! This is my first time through. They came highly recommended. Actually when I tried to put off the second for a bit I was directly threatened. Now that's a sign of good friends lol. She of course was right.

As I go along I've also been torturing myself by watching Legend of the Seeker in pace with my progress. I really enjoy yelling at the TV. Legend of the Seekers incites a LOT of yelling. My god how could they miss the mark so badly?
I watched part of the first episode, and I was with them until I saw Zedd, and that was it. I turned it on a year later, and I saw another Confessor, and that was the last I ever watched it. One horrible casting choice (in my opinion) and a major plot change like that? I'll stick with the books.
Thanks to Arch Lich Burns for the avatar, and Mnementh for the mustache.

ÔÇ£Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot him and there'll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland?ÔÇØ
ÔÇò Terry Pratchett

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John
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Re: I like books.

Post by John » Wed Feb 27, 2013 9:00 am

Is there any interest for folks to actually pick books to read (reread) with a group of folks? I've never booked clubbed before, but I think it could be fun.
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Re: I like books.

Post by Wolfie » Wed Feb 27, 2013 9:26 am

There are a few books that I reread every year. I think it would be interesting to do a monthly Category read. Not necessarily the same book, but in the same general area. Like we could do a "childhood favorite" and I would read Watership Down, etc.
"This is my therapy dragon, she's for my panic attacks. I attack, everyone panics." (Quote found on http://outofcontextdnd.tumblr.com/)

"If I have a +2 strength sword and I stab you, you won't get a +2 strength, you get wounds" ~Sir Butcher

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Re: I like books.

Post by Alavar » Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:28 am

WastesTime wrote:As for others - I highly recommend to anyone who is familiar with Polish language reading the Witcher Saga. Sadly, the translation is somewhat sloppy (or so I've heard) so being fluent in Polish is the only way. Real shame, because it is the best the Polish fantasy has to offer. You haven't read a good dialogue if you haven't read the Witcher Saga.
I would like to add that sloppiness of translation is due to extensive usage of diffrent dialects, anachronisms and, well, complexity of polish language.
Well, there is a precious little gem of Anna Brzezińska "Wody głębokie jak niebo" and "Pan Lodowego Ogrodu" by Jarosław Grzędowicz. I'm unsure if they are translated, though (I highly reccomend first one, I heard only praises about second but never read it myself). There is Dukaj as well, but I never read anything by him as well, so I can't really recommend it.

From the s-f genre there is always Stanis┼éaw Lem. His works are old, but not outdated. And most were translated to english :). Tales of Pirx the Pilot (Opowie┼øci o pilocie Pirxie) and Mortal Engines (Bajki Robot├│w), and The Cold (Katar) come to my mind (mostly because these are the ones I read)

No i jest jeszcze Pilipiuk. Ale chyba lepiej, ┼╝eby obcokrajowcy nie poznawali Polski przez pryzmat jego prac :P Mogliby doj┼ø─ç do niepokoj─àcych wniosk├│w :P
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Re: I like books.

Post by mnementh » Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:04 pm

Alavar wrote:
WastesTime wrote:As for others - I highly recommend to anyone who is familiar with Polish language reading the Witcher Saga. Sadly, the translation is somewhat sloppy (or so I've heard) so being fluent in Polish is the only way. Real shame, because it is the best the Polish fantasy has to offer. You haven't read a good dialogue if you haven't read the Witcher Saga.
I would like to add that sloppiness of translation is due to extensive usage of diffrent dialects, anachronisms and, well, complexity of polish language.
Well, there is a precious little gem of Anna Brzezińska "Wody głębokie jak niebo" and "Pan Lodowego Ogrodu" by Jarosław Grzędowicz. I'm unsure if they are translated, though (I highly reccomend first one, I heard only praises about second but never read it myself). There is Dukaj as well, but I never read anything by him as well, so I can't really recommend it.

From the s-f genre there is always Stanis┼éaw Lem. His works are old, but not outdated. And most were translated to english :). Tales of Pirx the Pilot (Opowie┼øci o pilocie Pirxie) and Mortal Engines (Bajki Robot├│w), and The Cold (Katar) come to my mind (mostly because these are the ones I read)

No i jest jeszcze Pilipiuk. Ale chyba lepiej, ┼╝eby obcokrajowcy nie poznawali Polski przez pryzmat jego prac :P Mogliby doj┼ø─ç do niepokoj─àcych wniosk├│w :P
I'll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head, good sir, or I'll have to tell the Baba Yaga you took her toenail clippers. ;)


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Re: I like books.

Post by mnementh » Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:40 am

Dagganit, Alavar... now I have to go translate that. I was just pulling your leg; as with almost all of the Polish I've ever been exposed to, when you try and say it phonetically it just plain SOUNDS dirty. :P


Google sez:

"And then there's Pilipiuk. But it's probably better not to foreigners learned Polish from the perspective of his work: P They could lead to disturbing conclusions."

Ahhh... yes. The Polish perspective appears generally pretty dark; much like that of the Ukraine and Czechoslovakia. The nature of living in such harsh climates means that even today they see death as an everyday acquaintance; a neighbor you might pass on the street. Not like Westerners who, for the most part, just avoid the entire concept until they're FORCED to think about it by circumstance.

However, outsiders rarely see the depth with which they live; immersing themselves in nearly every aspect of life, absorbing the small pleasures and great joys equally, while accepting the harshness that life deals them with experienced stoicism.

Tolstoy was both a great boon in that he was able to distill the experience of that culture to the written word such that it could be shared and understood by the rest of the world, and yet at the same time presented a great disservice in that even now, ALL of the culture of that region is seen by the rest of the world cast in that light which is now 100 years old. When it was new it was still primarily reflection upon a much older world, which was in upheaval even as Tolstoy wrote of it.

That view of course comes full circle, influencing writers of the region even now... adding another layer of cultural varnish to a gestalt which was old when the East India Tea Company thought they ruled the earth.


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Alavar
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Re: I like books.

Post by Alavar » Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:40 am

We in Poland are in Central Europe, bordering Germany, and climate isn't THAT different there :lol: (Certainly Lingrem had lower temperatures than us this year :P)

And for Pilipiuk, I was refering mostly to authors beliefs (he is antisocialist and monarchist) and that in his books there are two kinds of people: bad and stupid (and mostly from cities, more modern) and wis... errr "common sense" using villiage folks.
And his main character (and others are ALMOST always copies of Jakub) is deranged (more and more with every book), moonshiner and poacher who don't hesitate to murder someone not from "here", have recipies how to cook a ninja, and uses viagra as a lubricant. And he fights monsters. With common sense. And it is implied as a good and respectable behaviour for any Pole. Its kind of a bad PR :lol:

But, yep, many Polish works of fiction are pretty dark (The Witcher is a good example), but for different reason than Russian books. There it's the climate, here it's history of subjugation and, later communism.

In pretense of adding something new, I will tackle the issue of "Earth Children" series - don't try to read above tome 3. it's just not worth it
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Re: I like books.

Post by WastesTime » Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:35 pm

Alavar, stop killing poor mnem with our sick tongue-twisters or you'll be served "seashells which she sells at the seashore" etc. :P

And as for Poland - yeah, our works of fiction and in general, our literature is pretty dark as one has to remember that we've been oppressed by the neighbors and fought our way to freedom, failing many times, since around the XVI-XVII century. We hardly had time to enjoy ourselves and be positive about things, when Cossacks, Turks, Swedes, Austrians, Germans, Prussians and Russians tried to take a big chunk of land from our country. Damn, that doesn't sound too good, does it?
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Re: I like books.

Post by lingrem » Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:04 am

*whoosh* is the sound I heard mostly in this thread.

Why? because 1. I was busy going "I LOVE BOOKS!" which was very silly of me.
and 2. I was like "GOBLINS BOOK CLUB!!!" which was also very silly of me.

I'd be down for a Goblin's Book Club... I've never actually been in any sort of abook club. I'd just need time to well, get ahold of books... because... (and this is going to shock you)

There are no bookstores where I live.
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Re: I like books.

Post by Wolfie » Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:45 am

E-reader would work just as well :)
"This is my therapy dragon, she's for my panic attacks. I attack, everyone panics." (Quote found on http://outofcontextdnd.tumblr.com/)

"If I have a +2 strength sword and I stab you, you won't get a +2 strength, you get wounds" ~Sir Butcher

"How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them." ~Benjamin Franklin

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Re: I like books.

Post by Rogbull » Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:09 am

Or ordering from Amazon or whatevs. I can't stand reading books on a screen though. I get that TLDR feeling that books don't give.

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Re: I like books.

Post by RocketScientist » Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:25 pm

I wouldn't mind a screen if I had a Kindle or a tablet or something. But trying to read on a desktop or a laptop is the suck. >:?

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Re: I like books.

Post by Wolfie » Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:32 pm

I love my Kindle for the convenience of it, but nothing replaces the feeling of holding a book and reading it. Like when your arm goes numb and your hands cramp from holding the same position for too long :-?
"This is my therapy dragon, she's for my panic attacks. I attack, everyone panics." (Quote found on http://outofcontextdnd.tumblr.com/)

"If I have a +2 strength sword and I stab you, you won't get a +2 strength, you get wounds" ~Sir Butcher

"How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them." ~Benjamin Franklin

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Re: I like books.

Post by lingrem » Fri Mar 01, 2013 3:36 pm

I prefer real books to my Kindle - the cost is pretty much the same.

I do order online, but it takes weeks to get here, which is why I need time if I was to be getting a book for a set read :P
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Re: I like books.

Post by John » Fri Mar 01, 2013 3:45 pm

I'd love my kindle if my wife ever let me use it :(. Been rereading Treasure Island. Such a classic.
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Re: I like books.

Post by Rogbull » Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:41 pm

Also books don't fry my little guys if I put them on my lap. Very important

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