Let's talk fiction -

STM · #31 08-08-2012, 02:17 PM

I am also reading War and Peace, about a hundred pages in, the most interesting that that's happened is a policeman got tied to a bear. Still a good book, though.

Laser · #32 08-08-2012, 02:22 PM

To be moderatly on topic. I always have love for what TVTropes call the "BFG" in all fiction. Nothing is cooler than some big fucking gun used awesomely in fiction, regardless of what type it is (providing it has some context).

Wings of Fire · #33 08-08-2012, 02:35 PM

:

I am also reading War and Peace, about a hundred pages in, the most interesting that that's happened is a policeman got tied to a bear. Still a good book, though.

I actually found the whole ball/party/thing at the start pretty fascinating.

But yeah, I couldn't stop giggling with the bear. What a way to kick the plot of the world's greatest novel off.

STM · #34 08-08-2012, 03:34 PM

Don't get me wrong, the ball is intriguing, I love Anna and Pierre. Oh and Vasily. The other characters have yet to leave a lasting impression.

And I agree, I didn't expect Tolstoy to put any humour into the books, so it came as quite a shock to me when I saw it.

MeechMunchie · #35 08-08-2012, 06:15 PM

I really need to learn to read someday.

Mudokon_Master · #36 08-09-2012, 02:20 AM

Books are really time-consuming. If I'm going to read a book, I need to be certain it'll be worth my time. Speaking of reading, I finished the original script of Romeo and Juliet for school. Everyone complains about it but I don't think it's that bad.

Wings of Fire · #37 08-09-2012, 04:45 AM

Oh, I'm also reading Cloud Atlas after getting intrigued after watching the movie trailer. The first two narrators were insufferably terrible, but the third one was really awesome and the story is heating up plenty. Very interesting.

STM · #38 08-09-2012, 04:47 AM

Hmm, if you like War and Peace, WoF, you might like to try The Last Cavalier, it's something a tried to read years ago but got stumped on, it follows a similar vain. If I remember correctly.

Wings of Fire · #39 08-09-2012, 04:59 AM

The only thing remotely like War and Peace I've read before is A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov which is amazing and everyone should read it. One of only two texts I read for my Comparative Literature course in uni that I actually enjoyed (The other being Thus Spoke Zarathustra).

OddjobAbe · #40 08-09-2012, 08:24 AM

I used to read The Beano.

Wings of Fire · #41 08-09-2012, 08:42 AM

Well that's just dandy.

OddjobAbe · #42 08-09-2012, 08:50 AM

It's Korkyng.

Hulaabeo · #43 08-19-2012, 10:16 PM

"I am your father."

NOTHING LEFT TO DO HERE.

Wings of Fire · #44 09-04-2012, 01:55 PM

I finished Cloud Atlas today. It wasn't as good as a story as it could have been (The meta-lot was quite weak, but I think that was the point) but it was a great multi-faceted look at human nature over different eras and different nations. Perhaps the worst thing I can say about it is that the first half of the book was really really heavy going and as every short story finished halfway through, there was no emotional payoff until the second half of the novel where you get payoff after payoff as the story crams six well crafted endings into the last third of the book.

Also I've been on a CLAMP binge recently. They're a very very important and influential manga group who have been making award winning stuff for over twenty years.

I bought and finished Chobits over a year ago, but I can fit it in here anyway. It was a wonderful and sweet look at what can truly qualify as love and human emotions using android-computers that people fall in love with and there was no moralizing involved. Every cast member did their own thing and that was okay because everyone is unique.

I finished Magic Knight Rayearth which is a pretty old shojo adventure manga about three diverse girls who get trapped in a D&D style fantasy world. It was cute and friendly and cool and cuddly and the characters were very likeable and then the ending absolutely tore my heart in two. It had a sequel (Which I also read) which had a much higher quality throughout, but couldn't escape some of the trappings of the genre (It gave the main heroine a love interest for no other reason than the story was based around the power of love, so she should have a love interest) and the ending was worse by degrees and failed to rip my heart in two. Still damn good though.

I read Tokyo Babylon, which is oooooold and a damning satire on Japanese society. It was probably the most 'honest' of their works I've read, but really clumsy for that. The cast was great and the twist ending was fantastic (And tore my heart in two!). My biggest regret is it's out of print, so I had to read awful scans online.

I am reading Cardcaptor Sakura which is just simply the best manga ever. The art is wonderfully expressive, the setting manages to be both overly saccharine and charming (Which is a pretty hard balance to keep and especially to achieve) and it's a dense exploration of love and friendship around a very special nine year old girl. Pretty much everyone is in love with everyone else and it's astoundingly well done. Well well well worth reading.

I read Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, which is a big silly plotless romp through the depraved mind of a closeted lesbian. It's very fun and fanservicey, but not much else. I'd definitely recommend the oneshot anime adaptation (I know full well nobody ever listens to my recommendations, but there you go) simply because it has some of the best cinematic timing ever and is very charming.

I read Tsubasa Reservour Chronicles, which is sort of like their mass crossover series where alternate universe grown up characters from Cardcaptor Sakura journey through a variety of worlds to get plot macguffins and then plot twists and clones and sort of incest and time travel and crazy metaphysics and it suddenly becomes tied with CCS for my favourite manga. Really really good, but you need to be paying attention not to be caught out towards the end.

I read xxxHolic (Not what it sounds like) which is sort of the companion series to Tsubasa which tells around the plot of Tsubasa when it's not doing its own thing. Its own thing starts off a little stale and boring, but quickly gets very compelling and interesting when it builds up a cast of side characters. It's about the nature of wishes and belief, and how they can interact in less than stellar ways with human psychology. It also has an open and utterly depressing ending that leaves you feeling hollow inside. Sort of like what Steven King obviously wanted from the Dark Tower ending, but wasn't nearly talented enough to make work.

And finally I'm reading X. It's a big dark gloomy end of the world story where women give birth to swords and hemaphrodite androids and sociopathi civil servants go around hastening the end of the world. It's pretty trashy and contains far too much standstill pacing, but it's somehow endearing despite that.

Oh

I'm also reading an exceedingly trashy manga called Mahou Sensei Negima which someone from this forum who will not be named recommended to me. An evil time travelling chinese girl from mars is trying to expose the secret of magic to the world and I'm loving every page.

Also War and Peace continues to be Peacey. I'd like me some war in it please.

Bullet Magnet · #45 09-04-2012, 02:50 PM

Working my way through the Horus Heresy. They're not exactly landmarks of literature, but great if you're interested in that universe. And want to scream in frustration and despair at the traitorous Primarchs (and the Emperor) for their mistakes. And recoil in horror at the fall of Fulgrim. Jesus Christ. I hadn't thought much of Slaanesh before, but now I think s/he's the worst one by far.

OANST · #46 09-04-2012, 03:02 PM

Warhammer novels.................

Warhammer.......novels...............

War.........hammer...........novels...................

War................................................................................................. ..............................ham.............................................mer................... ..................................no......................................................vels...... .................................................................................................... ................................................................................................

Bullet Magnet · #47 09-04-2012, 03:05 PM

Yeah, they're trash, but I'm enjoying them. Too fucking many, though. I'm going to have to pick up something heady like Orwell soon, just to take a break.

OANST · #48 09-04-2012, 03:15 PM

Read Le Guin's Earthsea books. I forced WoF to do it, and he really liked them.

Bullet Magnet · #49 09-04-2012, 03:18 PM

Noted.

Wait, how did you force WoF to do anything? Do I even want to know?

OANST · #50 09-04-2012, 03:22 PM

That was back when he impressionable. You know, before I taught him to hate.

AlexFili · #51 09-04-2012, 11:06 PM

I like a lot of things in stories, generally ones where the hero learns a valuable lesson, or makes friends with someone new. I like seeing a character smile. One other thing I like are 'shout outs' to other pop culture films and books.

One thing I don't like is the "parents don't believe the kid" bit, you know where the kid sees something, and then the parent comes to look and the thing has of course, moved away. It annoys me every time.

Happiest story without being cheesy? Harry Potter. It has some really dark stuff and some heartache for the main characters... but in the end the heroes come out with a lot of strength and in general is just well told in every way.

MeechMunchie · #52 09-04-2012, 11:08 PM

:

Warhammer novels.................

Warhammer.......novels...............

War.........hammer...........novels...................

War................................................................................................. ..............................ham.............................................mer................... ..................................no......................................................vels...... .................................................................................................... ................................................................................................

One of my friends used to read them on the bus; He didn't even put them inside porn mags or something equally less embarrasing. I elected to stand back and let him get bullied. There's no point in me making an effort to protect him if he won't.

STM · #53 09-05-2012, 01:55 AM

:

Yeah, they're trash, but I'm enjoying them. Too fucking many, though. I'm going to have to pick up something heady like Orwell soon, just to take a break.

Read Burmese Days. Fucking hell is that a depressing book.

Bullet Magnet · #54 09-05-2012, 12:02 PM

Sounds like a laugh.

STM · #55 09-07-2012, 02:54 PM

Depression is comical to you? You changed, maaaan. You changed!

Bullet Magnet · #56 09-07-2012, 02:59 PM

It's all the same to me now.

STM · #57 09-07-2012, 03:05 PM

I know you're going through a rough patch right now what with Wil and all, but you'll get through it!

Mr. Bungle · #58 09-23-2012, 08:31 PM

I'm reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy right now for the first time. It's pretty great so far. I like the humour and imagination of the Universe. Can definitely see why it has such a large following.

Mac Sirloin · #59 09-26-2012, 02:50 PM

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I am reading Cardcaptor Sakura which is just simply the best manga ever. The art is wonderfully expressive, the setting manages to be both overly saccharine and charming (Which is a pretty hard balance to keep and especially to achieve) and it's a dense exploration of love and friendship around a very special nine year old girl. Pretty much everyone is in love with everyone else and it's astoundingly well done. Well well well worth reading.

It's certainly a far cry from the American translation of the Anime. Never in my adult life would I expect fucking Cardcaptor Sakura to be in my top ten good whatevers, but man, it's quality.

:

Yeah, they're trash, but I'm enjoying them. Too fucking many, though. I'm going to have to pick up something heady like Orwell soon, just to take a break.

Read Ravenor. Or anything else by Dan Abnett. He's not nearly as dry as most Warhammer writers and does a good job making the universe as relateable as he can, which is just enough to get lost in the pages. And the Protagonist is a brain in a jar. What's not to like?

Oh, I just remembered something I didn't like about them. Dang.

I'm reading A Feast for Crows. It seems like it's going to be a lot of winding down from the nonstop 300 page climax that was A Storm of Sword's final act. At this point, after Tyrion's sort of fall from grace Holy shit he killed his dad and strangled Shae to death with his little arms it's a tie between Jaime Lannister and Brienne as to who my favourite character is. The fact that Jaime was pretty much the one character I knew I wouldn't like reading the first two books and now has easily become one of my favourites just goes to show how much thought George Martin put into crafting the characters. I'm aware of Lady Stoneheart's ( Catelyn Stark's resurrected corpse ) appearance in A Feast for Crows and I am NOT looking forward to it. I never liked her. I never found anything redeeming in what she did. She even fucked up having the opportunity to kill Walder Frey and capitalizes on killing some idiot jester instead. But book after book I have the crap literally surprised out of my bowels ( "I killed her children, then I raped her, then I smashed her fucking head in, like this.") so gods knowses that I'll probably be yammering about how great she is come next week.

Can't say I'm really feeling Daenarys involvement any more. She's just kind of...there. Each and every chapter of hers in A Storm of Swords was "Alright, we just finished this battle that took place outside the narrative, better prepare for the next!" And so on and so forth. I love Barristan Selmy's reappearance though. I was wondering where that old man would end up.

In summary: Someone talk to me about A song of Ice and Fire before I type myself to death.

Bullet Magnet · #60 09-26-2012, 03:15 PM

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Read Ravenor. Or anything else by Dan Abnett. He's not nearly as dry as most Warhammer writers and does a good job making the universe as relateable as he can, which is just enough to get lost in the pages. And the Protagonist is a brain in a jar. What's not to like?

Two of them have been Dan Abnett so far. Horus Rising, the first one, and Legion. Legion is about the Alpha Legion, and in true Alpha Legion style their appearances are few and esoteric. Book reads more like a thriller than Warhammer.