Talk about just about anything else that is non-gaming here, but keep it clean
rainingman
Newbie
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2021 4:51 am

Re: Books!

by rainingman Fri Dec 17, 2021 7:24 am

Currently reading two books:
1. T.C. Boyle's Outside Looking In - I recently read his short story The Shape of A Teardrop on The New Yorker, and it occurred to me that it'd been a while since I read any of his works. This one is engaging and funny, except the drag of an Introduction featuring Hoffman's first encounter with LSD's mind-altering properties. But the book does frame the craze (however shortlived) for consciousness expansion in the context of therapy and analysis. It aims to ask how we went from the couch to taking a synthesized substance expecting the same results as from analysis, and indeed more. Very engaging.
2. Trevor Noah's Born A Crime - I hardly ever read anything by celebrities, coz one can never be sure just how much of their work was written by a ghost author. It's also sort of a rite of passage for celebrities to publish something. This one makes me wonder the same. Not sure how much of this book was actually written by Noah himself. It's ok as a tea-time read I guess.
Limewater
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 3341
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:01 am
Location: Northern Alabama

Re: Books!

by Limewater Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:00 pm

rainingman wrote:2. Trevor Noah's Born A Crime - I hardly ever read anything by celebrities, coz one can never be sure just how much of their work was written by a ghost author. It's also sort of a rite of passage for celebrities to publish something. This one makes me wonder the same. Not sure how much of this book was actually written by Noah himself. It's ok as a tea-time read I guess.


I've never been suspicious of a comedian's book. Trevor Noah writes professionally, so I doubt he'd trust someone else to write in his voice.

For a politician, musician, or actor? Sure.

Except for Mr. T. I believe him unequivocally when he writes at the start of his autobiography that Mr. T doesn't need a ghostwriter.
Systems: TI-99/4a, Commodore Vic-20, Atari 2600, NES, SMS, GB, Neo Geo MVS (Big Red 4-slot), Genesis, SNES, 3DO, PS1, N64, DC, PS2, GBA, GCN, NDSi, Wii
rainingman
Newbie
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2021 4:51 am

Re: Books!

by rainingman Sun Dec 19, 2021 11:56 pm

Limewater wrote:
rainingman wrote:2. Trevor Noah's Born A Crime - I hardly ever read anything by celebrities, coz one can never be sure just how much of their work was written by a ghost author. It's also sort of a rite of passage for celebrities to publish something. This one makes me wonder the same. Not sure how much of this book was actually written by Noah himself. It's ok as a tea-time read I guess.


I've never been suspicious of a comedian's book. Trevor Noah writes professionally, so I doubt he'd trust someone else to write in his voice.

For a politician, musician, or actor? Sure.

Except for Mr. T. I believe him unequivocally when he writes at the start of his autobiography that Mr. T doesn't need a ghostwriter.


You might be right. I just tend to have trouble believing such claims in general. Not right of me to diss him without evidence; suspicion alone is never enough after all.
Limewater
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 3341
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:01 am
Location: Northern Alabama

Re: Books!

by Limewater Tue Dec 21, 2021 8:54 am

rainingman wrote:You might be right. I just tend to have trouble believing such claims in general. Not right of me to diss him without evidence; suspicion alone is never enough after all.


Oh, I certainly don't expect a comedian's stories and general claims to be reliable. They are entertainers first, and you should never let the truth get in the way of a good joke.

I just expect them to write their own books.
Systems: TI-99/4a, Commodore Vic-20, Atari 2600, NES, SMS, GB, Neo Geo MVS (Big Red 4-slot), Genesis, SNES, 3DO, PS1, N64, DC, PS2, GBA, GCN, NDSi, Wii
User avatar
marurun
Moderator
 
Posts: 11964
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 8:51 am
Location: Cleveland, OH

Re: Books!

by marurun Tue Dec 21, 2021 10:46 am

Limewater wrote:I just expect them to write their own books.


If you can write a joke, you can write a book! Amiright?
Dope Pope on a Rope
B/S/T thread
My Classic Games Collection
My Steam Profile
The PC Engine Software Bible Forum, with Shoutbox chat - the new Internet home for PC Engine fandom.
Limewater
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 3341
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:01 am
Location: Northern Alabama

Re: Books!

by Limewater Wed Dec 22, 2021 11:29 am

marurun wrote:
Limewater wrote:I just expect them to write their own books.


If you can write a joke, you can write a book! Amiright?


If a thought pops into my brain, it's good enough to post! Amiright?
Systems: TI-99/4a, Commodore Vic-20, Atari 2600, NES, SMS, GB, Neo Geo MVS (Big Red 4-slot), Genesis, SNES, 3DO, PS1, N64, DC, PS2, GBA, GCN, NDSi, Wii
User avatar
marurun
Moderator
 
Posts: 11964
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 8:51 am
Location: Cleveland, OH

Re: Books!

by marurun Wed Dec 22, 2021 1:43 pm

Limewater wrote:
marurun wrote:
Limewater wrote:I just expect them to write their own books.


If you can write a joke, you can write a book! Amiright?


If a thought pops into my brain, it's good enough to post! Amiright?


I can't tell if your post proves us both wrong or both right... I'm very confused right now.
Dope Pope on a Rope
B/S/T thread
My Classic Games Collection
My Steam Profile
The PC Engine Software Bible Forum, with Shoutbox chat - the new Internet home for PC Engine fandom.
rainingman
Newbie
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2021 4:51 am

Re: Books!

by rainingman Thu Dec 23, 2021 1:58 am

Limewater wrote:
rainingman wrote:You might be right. I just tend to have trouble believing such claims in general. Not right of me to diss him without evidence; suspicion alone is never enough after all.


Oh, I certainly don't expect a comedian's stories and general claims to be reliable. They are entertainers first, and you should never let the truth get in the way of a good joke.

I just expect them to write their own books.


Strangely enough, there is plenty of truth in the exaggerations and fabrications employed by comedians (at least the good ones - the "good" might be subjective, so I'd like to clarify that by good I mean the deliberately provocative kind: Burr, CK, Dave, Carlin, Hicks).
User avatar
marurun
Moderator
 
Posts: 11964
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 8:51 am
Location: Cleveland, OH

Re: Books!

by marurun Thu Dec 23, 2021 1:27 pm

The best comedians aren’t just jokesters, but good storytellers as well. So it should be no surprise that a good comedian would at least be capable of writing an entertaining book.
Dope Pope on a Rope
B/S/T thread
My Classic Games Collection
My Steam Profile
The PC Engine Software Bible Forum, with Shoutbox chat - the new Internet home for PC Engine fandom.
User avatar
Jagosaurus
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 3910
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 12:15 pm
Location: Houston area, TEXAS

Re: Books!

by Jagosaurus Thu Dec 30, 2021 10:54 am

Love good story telling comedians. Big bonus points if comedian can casually bring in jokes from earlier stories into the current bits. Always makes me laugh to see the stories cross over somehow throughout a show.

Also, as mentioned some time ago, I did end up knocking out the first 3 books in this series:
Dread Empire's Fall
Worth noting the physical copies are well done with solid artwork and look nice on a shelf for full sized paperbacks.

Fun fact - Walter John Williams wrote the original book that inspired the Cyberpunk board game and ultimately Cyberpunk 2077:
Hardwired (novel)

Overall, fairly solid books. No spoilers: book 1 has a bit of a young adult side plot about a main character (flash back to teen years) & book 3 randomly has a murder mystery side plot thrown in. Those both seem a bit out of place, but the sci-fi elements of the books are done extremely well done and the mix of alien races and lore behind the universe are engaging. I looked for fan art of the alien species and was surprised to find none.

If you're a sci-fi fan, they're worth checking out IMO, if you don't have a backlog of other established series. I wanted to try something fresh, and these kept coming up on forums posts I dug up. There are 2 side books (1 actually more of a novella), and he is in the process of finishing a second trilogy in the universe. So in all there will be 8 books total. I will circle back in time once he finishes book #8.

More on series:
Dread Empire's Fall - Wiki

Also, just finished the 4th Halo novel, Ghosts of Onyx & immediately am cracking open the next one, Contact Harvest. These books do an amazing job of expanding on the game universe lore. Really interesting to see what got worked into future games from these books (currently in the 2006 release range).

My Retro Achievements Profile | My Console Mods
"Victory and honor do not grow from timid seeds" -Arbiter, Halo 5
Return to Off-Topic / Whatever

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 36 guests