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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Amph What book are you reading right now?

Discussion in 'Community' started by droideka27, Aug 31, 2005.

  1. YodaKenobi

    YodaKenobi Former TFN Books Staff star 6 VIP

    Registered:
    May 27, 2003
    The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost
     
  2. CT-867-5309

    CT-867-5309 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2011
    She's basically a Purity Sue...only written realistically. Her meekness is both a positive and a negative; yeah, she's impossibly forebearing, but that also makes her a pushover with hardly any personality because her personality is submissive to all others, most subsumed by Edmund's. Oh, and she's not totally pure, there's a bit of selfishness in her that wants Edmund all to herself, to the point of internally taking joy in any harm that keeps him apart from Miss Crawford; not that she would ever let this show, of course.

    It just makes me laugh that we scorn someone for being too nice, there's something backward about it. I actually found her unyielding kindness in the face of such abuse to be endearing; I couldn't help but wish for a happy ending for her. She's like Cinderella, really, in her suffering and rags to riches story.

    It does suggest the possibility of her making him a better man, but I don't think it's her refusal that brings him down, only reveals him and his supposed change for what they are; fake. That's the way I saw it, anyway. I think it reveals that Henry's character was irredeemable; too inconstant, too insincere, etc to be reformed. Edmund finds that Mary likewise cannot be improved.

    I don't think there was ever any change in Henry Crawford, it was all an act. I don't think he ever really loved her. He wants Fanny the same way men today want virgins; they are pure objects to be conquered, owned and shaped to their will. She's just another play thing to him, like Edmund's sisters, only a different kind of play thing. He doesn't really know her or understand her, so what does he love? Like when a man puts a woman on a pedestal, he loves only what he imagines her to be. She's a novelty to him, this pure thing.

    Edmund's country gentility is a similar novelty to Miss Mary Crawford, who keeps trying to change him. Edmund tries to overlook her flaws, hoping she will change, but she does not, she cannot.

    There's something there about trying to change the one you love. It works for no one. Ultimately, they are who they are, and they are not suited to each other.

    I agree Austen does show their good and appealing sides, though. Well, except Henry, who I found to be a sociopath. Him being "changed" by Fanny's purity is an act motivated by selfish desire. In a way, he's far worse than the rakes you've read in Austen's works before, because at least they are usually motivated by needed material gain; Henry Crawford is wealthy enough and plays with women for the fun of it, and he sees the naive and innocent Fanny Price as the ultimate play thing. The change in him is not genuine, he's simply playing the part required to conquer her. He is an actor, as we saw earlier.

    Just the way I saw it, I felt like I could see right through him and his supposed change. There are moments where Austen makes it clear or at least points to the possibility that it is a put on.
    I suppose I don't disagree about the ending, at first I was taken aback by it, but it took me no time to find that maybe it was better that way. At that point, everything has played out and there's no need to bother playing out the happily ever after, it would just be going through the motions.

    Of course Edmund and Fanny end up together, they're the only ones for each other. They could never go for any fast living city folk.

    Without a doubt, Mansfield Park is Austen's least loved work, and Miss Price her least loved character, but I think that's why I appreciate them, they're so very different. They dare to be boring. They make a case that Boring Is Good. This time around, I found Miss Price's forebearance refreshing coming off a bit of nastiness known as Pride and Prejudice.

    Also the book has a few sex jokes I found amusing, considering what we're reading here.

    There's more to it, I find it may be her densest work. For example, despite the Purity Sue protagonist, it continues Austen's feminist perspective and believe it or not I think Fanny works as a feminist hero.
     
  3. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    The New Rebellion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
     
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  4. PCCViking

    PCCViking Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2014
    And the villain inspired this new song:

    Kueller Deville, Kueller Deville
    If he doesn't scare you, no darksider will.
    To see him is to take a sudden chill.
    Kueller, Kueller
    He's like a rancor ready for the kill.
    Look out for Kueller Deville

    At first you think Kueller is a Sith Lord
    But after time has worn away the shock
    You'll come to realize
    You have seen those yellow eyes
    Watching you from underneath a rock
    That evil hawk bat, this inhuman beast
    He oughtta be locked up and never released
    The galaxy was a wholesome place until
    Kueller, Kueller Deville

    :p
     
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  5. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    [​IMG]

    The Complete Poems (1978) – William Blake, Alicia Ostriker

    This is the collected edition of Blake’s poetry that I’ve been using for all of the Blake stuff I’ve been reading and reviewing lately. I decided to throw up a brief review of the collection itself because of a couple of things. I talked in one or two of my other reviews about how heavily I leaned on the notes while reading The Four Zoas, Milton & Jerusalem, essentially reading the notes and the poem page by page in order to really try to understand and appreciate what was going on. The volume is over a thousand pages, but over three hundred of those pages are notes done by the editor of the book, Alicia Ostriker. Also, because of the fragmentary existence of a lot of these manuscripts, Ostriker has cobbled together something like ultimate editions of Blake’s longer stuff, noting which lines are missing in various manuscripts all the way down to noting where a single word or two is changed between different drafts. I really feel like Ostriker deserves a tremendous amount of praise for her work on this volume. And then the book also contains a lot of Blake’s shorter poetry that is taken from his private journal or letters to friends or fragments that Blake abandoned. There’s a rather lengthy piece toward the end called The Everlasting Gospel that’s really wonderful and, in a slightly earthier mode, it’s a kick to see Blake writing comedic/satirical poetry that’s nothing like his published stuff and using incredibly crude language at times. As I’ve gone through the larger works in Blake’s bibliography, I’ve certainly found things I didn’t care for and things that didn’t achieve greatness, but I really can’t do anything but call this collected edition a masterpiece. The entire corpus of Blake, taken as a whole, is just a staggering, unmatched literary achievement and it really does deserve to be read as a whole, not piecemeal. There are doldrums here and a few things that I really didn’t care for at all, but as a literary experience, both Blake and Ostriker have gone above and beyond what could reasonably be expected. 4 stars.

    tl;dr – incredible collection has some weak poetry, but Blake’s corpus is an overwhelming, unmatched literary achievement when taken as a whole; Ostriker’s notes & editing are superlative. 4 stars.
     
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  6. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson.

    I'm going to attempt to just mainline the last three WoT books. Helpfully Sanderson's writing style is a bit snappier than Jordan's, and because it's technically all one big finale **** is finally going down. Unhelpfully they're all on the longer end for the series. Ah well. At least Rand seems to finally be post-sad sack.

    The Top of the Volcano: the Award-Winning Stories of Harlan Ellison by... well...

    It's exactly what it says on the tin, and everything in here is predictably well-regarded and rock solid. It does lack the introductory remarks a lot of Ellison anthologies usually have, which are tremendous fun most of the time, so that's a bit of a bummer.

    A Stitch in Time by Andrew J. Robinson.

    Normally I avoid Star Trek books but this gets a lot of recommendations (even by equally skeptical folks who normally avoid ST books) as a fitting wrap-up to one of the more interesting characters in Deep Space Nine. So far it's pretty decent, so I'll most likely stick with it and then promptly go back to not reading these tie-in novels. :p
     
  7. vnu

    vnu Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2012
    Finished Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void.

    I feel like the author Tim Lebbon did an excellent job at creating fantasy worlds and world-building as a whole. He made it more fantasy/adventure than the early-Bantam sci-fi novels we used to get. That was a real plus. That being said, I'm not quite sure I fully understand this era: So these ships carry Force-users that become Jedi that live in their star system for a few thousand years? Kind of lame. I think I'd have to read the comics to fully understand/appreciate the era, but my library doesn't carry them unfortunately.
    But anyways, I know a lot of people criticize how many SW stories have the whole redemption arc and that Darth Vader just be an exception and not a rule, so they will appreciate the 'villain' Dal being killed at the end. I really liked the Lanoree/Tre relationship.
    The whole 'maintain balance' was done really well too. The Je'daii aren't afraid to kill, and the flesh alchemy Lanoree practices is considered something of the dark side, which makes sense because to extend life was something Plageuis/Palpatine/Vader wanted too. (I was hoping her experiment would somehow connect with using a lightsaber but I almost enjoyed her 'flesh' better because it showed elements of the dark side)
    The whole 'maintain balance' is obviously connected to The Prophecy the Jedi of the PT refer to. I wonder if they misinterpreted it and it refers to the old Je'daii era.

    Also enjoyed the short story Eruption.
     
  8. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
     
  9. PCCViking

    PCCViking Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2014
    And that book was one of the few times a Jedi (or the forerunner) wasn't at a Sith's throat (species or order). :p
     
  10. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    Well, his style is a bit more concise regardless, and he's fleshing out notes that he doesn't want to stray too far from, so that explains the former. As for the latter Jordan could theoretically have reigned it back in, but he sort of lost some of the threads in the late books, so perhaps that's the impression that situation creates.
     
  11. vnu

    vnu Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2012
    I feel like a lot of books aren't directly Jedi vs Sith. The Bantam books were largely New Republic vs Empire. Haven't read much of the NJO but aren't those mostly Jedi vs Vong? And even Clone Wars books were often Jedi vs Separatists, and not Dooku/Sidious specifically.
    But anyways, yes, Lebbon could've made Dal some Dark Side Force-user, but instead went for an antagonist who's 'upset' that he doesn't have Force Powers, which is something that really hasn't been done before. I saw one post stating that that could be something which leads to the Jedi not adopting marriages: If a child isn't born with high Force Power, it could lead to trouble.
     
  12. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    I'm reading Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brant
     
  13. JEDI-SOLO

    JEDI-SOLO Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 12, 2002
    Rereading Malazan. Currently on book 3 Memories of Ice. This is so fun picking up on events from later in the series this time around. Also Tigana which I'm really liking. It's my 1st GGK and I chose this specially cause of its divided rep by fans. Then Safehold 8. Blah this story has gotten so horrible and has been a slog since bk 6.
     
  14. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    Is that David Weber's Safehold series, JEDI-SOLO? I liked the first 3 or 4, but honestly don't remember how many more I read before I lost interest. Ditto for Honor Harrington, except that I must have read about 10 or 12 of those. Weber is in desperate need of an editor to cut out all the unnecessary fat in his books. If Reader's Digest cut them down to size, I'd probably read a lot more Weber.
     
  15. JEDI-SOLO

    JEDI-SOLO Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 12, 2002
    Yes that's it. The story itself is a great popcorn read but he throws in 20 pg sections of geography, industry building, economic raising, strategy talking around a table BLOAT it just is hard to care about cause it's so much info dumping. When the story is moving or battles happen it is quite fun! I have been reading the books back to back so I feel the burnout much harder then reading as they come out. I will finish it as there is only 1 left after this one and then PROBABLY never touch another Weber again unless he writes another set in Safehold but bk 9 is defenitly the end of this particular part of the series I heard.
     
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  16. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998


    Let us know if you finish it. I'm mildly curious about how it turns out, but not curious enough to slog through more of those fat morbidly obese books.
     
  17. PCCViking

    PCCViking Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2014
    Heir to the Empire

    Going to start reading a couple of books at a time. Doing a re-read of the Thrawn trilogy as I continue with the rest of Legends.
     
  18. LAJ_FETT

    LAJ_FETT Tech Admin (2007-2023) - She Held Us Together star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 25, 2002
    I do that with regular books. I normally have a fiction book (crime/SF/horror) going in the evening and a non-fiction or short story book for odd moments during the day.
     
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  19. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    I loved that book. I thought Lanoree was a genuinely compelling character and this is one of the EU books I'd really love to see a miniseries version of. Rated MA of course for graphic violence. I can't get that final image of Lanoree's brother out of my head. You know the one. Really loved this one. And that ******* alchemy of the flesh scene. ******* epic.
     
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  20. Talos of Atmora

    Talos of Atmora Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 3, 2016
    Hmm. I always got the impression that you hated it for some reason.
     
  21. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    Oh, interesting. No, I'm a fan of all of the stuff from that era, really, except maybe the last trade of the comic series. It's okay, but I think Into the Void & The Prisoner of Bogan are genuinely great, character based, but also great plotting. .
     
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  22. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    "The New Rebellion"
     
  23. PCCViking

    PCCViking Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2014
    The Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
     
  24. Juke Skywalker

    Juke Skywalker Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2004
    Just finished; Golden Son by Pierce Brown. Absolutely fantastic second part to the Red Rising trilogy w/a gut punch ending that has me eager to begin book 3.

    About to start; Morning Star by Pierce Brown. Excited to see how this ends, yet sad to see it end. Haven't been hooked by a series like this in a long time.
     
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  25. SWpants

    SWpants Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2004
    Yeah that series is amazeballs.

    Also, I don't know why I said I was reading "A New Rebellion." I finished that 2 books ago. I'm on Ambush at Corellia by Roger MacBride Allen now.
     
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