Any book readers here?

[Ack]

Clarke's Childhood's End is my favorite book. I'm serious, I think it's absolutely phenomenal.

[General Chaos]

It is indeed an amazing book. It left me philosophically challenged for weeks, if not profoundly impacted to this day. I would nearly rank it as my favorite book but (diehard Clarke fans may find this blasphemous) The Light of Other Days is my favorite Clarke book. Granted, it is co-authored with Baxter, which brings me to ponder why I haven't started reading his work yet.

[Ack]

It's ok, I wouldn't consider myself anywhere near a die hard fan of Clark. I've read a good bit of science fiction, but I have trouble claiming I really know the genre because there's just so much of it.

I have read a good bit of the classics in it, though, and I can make a recommendation or two if required.

[General Chaos]

It's ok, I wouldn't consider myself anywhere near a die hard fan of Clark. I've read a good bit of science fiction, but I have trouble claiming I really know the genre because there's just so much of it.

I have read a good bit of the classics in it, though, and I can make a recommendation or two if required.

Please do. I read Clarke but I need something new. I like hard science fiction that makes you challenge assumptions but I also like a little drama and philosophy. Asimov's Foundation series really didn't do anything for me.

Have you read Connie Willis? She's a very "soft" sci-fi writer but I thoroughly enjoyed Doomsday Book. Lincoln's Dreams was awful though.

[Ack]

Unfortunately I can't say that I have. I don't know what your thoughts on it would be, as it's considered by many to be Catholic SciFi, but Walter A Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz was an excellent post-apocalyptic book. I'd say check it out, if you haven't.

Oh, and a book that actually created quite a shock when it was released...Starship Troopers. Forget the movie, read the book. Because you don't know what good literature is until you've personally emptied a payload of explosives into a village full of Skinnies.

[lordofduct]

Have you read The Rum Diary? If not, i'd reccomend checking it out as it's distinctly different from most of Hunters other work, while remaining a great short story.

Ummm, no, I won't be reading him... at all... no matter what.

you have piqued my curiosity now. care to elaborate?

I try to avoid explaining every little quark to my complete and utter disrespect for Hunter S. Thompson. I have a big problem with him as a man. It is sorta like how much I don't like Hemingway, but in the case of Hemingway I respect his great contribution to Post-Modern literature. I may not enjoy a good deal of his themes... especially the womanizing side of him. But in the end it is similar to any writer and how they are a doorway to their own time and the social conditions of that period. On top of that, the man was a father of one of my favourite periods of literature.

Hunter S. Thompson on the other hand is a view into a world I utterly can't stand to such lengths that I can't get passed it. It is just me. He is the epitome of all that is the Gonzo style journalism... the father of it most might even say. I'm starting to tread on risky waters going further because I actually once had a man punch me in the face for explaining my displeasure in this period of American literature. So far as much that both the combined dislike of Hemingway and utter vomit inducing disgust in Thompson rewarded me an unexplained 'F' in one of my college literature course!

As if preference in literature has anything to do with my ability to comprehend and interpret said literature. But bias lays in wait everywhere you turn.

You see a great deal of personal opinion, as many know, are based on personal experiences and morale. Many Christians don't like "Harry Potter" because they think it is blasphemous. And if they don't want to read the books, they don't have too. I think it is a bit far for the small percentage of them to go and burn said books and try to ban them, but they are only a tiny fraction of the rest. The rest understand they just don't have to read that which they don't like.

I as well base a good deal of my preference on personal morale and experience. And Hunter S. Thompson embodies a life style of which I grew up around. Something I personally find gross and disgusting. It's kind of like if some one were to put on a song that reminds you of a time in your life that you rather not think about, and yet the person who puts it on demands you listen to it (say, if it's in your car and you can't leave). You probably will get very upset due to the memories it brings back. Well if it were up to you, you probably wouldn't have put the song on in the first place. That's probably the the best analogy I can make when it comes to my bias preference against Hunter.

But that is not enough to warrant my disrespect for the man. As I said before, despite my disgust in Hemingway as a person I respect him as a writer and forefather in American Literature. Why don't I have that for Hunter S. Thompson.

Well I'm sorry, I can't elaborate into that right now. I have to just hold it to the simple form of, I think he is a horrible and talentless writer not worth the parchment he is written on, so far as much I laughed when he shot himself. May sound harsh, but I have more harsh things to say about him... so ::shrug:: be happy I don't say more.

[Bootaaay]

I'm not about to pretend I totally understand your distaste for Hunter and the era of American culture he epitomises, but all I know is this; if I worried about the moral disposition, opinions and actions of every writer I read, I would have robbed myself the experience of a great number of literary classics.

Anyways, i've just started reading Small God's by Terry Pratchett again, it's probably one of the Discworld books i've read the least, so I thought i'd go back to it again. Anyone else here a fan of Pratchett & Discworld?

[disorderlyvision]

Hunter S. Thompson on the other hand is a view into a world I utterly can't stand to such lengths that I can't get passed it. It is just me. He is the epitome of all that is the Gonzo style journalism... the father of it most might even say. I'm starting to tread on risky waters going further because I actually once had a man punch me in the face for explaining my displeasure in this period of American literature. So far as much that both the combined dislike of Hemingway and utter vomit inducing disgust in Thompson rewarded me an unexplained 'F' in one of my college literature course!

somone punched you in the face because you don't like an author? wtf? closest i have came to something like that is over my religious beliefs, i am an atheist, and i catch a lot of crap for it. usually it just solidifies why i am an atheist. i can feel you about the F in the class too. a class i am in now the teacher requires a bunch of reflection (opinion) papers over reading assignments. I had to write a disclaimer first stating that i don't like to write opinion papers, because mainstream thought is dominated by conservative or liberal ideologies, and my views tend to be very libertarian. i tend to disagree with the left and the right 90% of the time, and i feel like i may get punished for my views gradewise or otherwise. i would rather the teacher go ahead and state that they are liberal so that i can write a biased liberal paper to appease them. that way i can make them happy and still hold my own beliefs outside of class.

too bad you don't like thompson, but it sounds like you have some personal reasons for that, and to each his own. i'm not going to punch you in the face i promise

[lordofduct]

I'm not about to pretend I totally understand your distaste for Hunter and the era of American culture he epitomises, but all I know is this; if I worried about the moral disposition, opinions and actions of every writer I read, I would have robbed myself the experience of a great number of literary classics.

I've never robbed myself of a great number of literary classics. My dislike for an author comes after reading them a couple times. It isn't like I've never seen a book by any of them in my life. I did, I hated them, and I threw them out.

somone punched you in the face because you don't like an author? wtf? closest i have came to something like that is over my religious beliefs, i am an atheist, and i catch a lot of crap for it. usually it just solidifies why i am an atheist. i can feel you about the F in the class too. a class i am in now the teacher requires a bunch of reflection (opinion) papers over reading assignments. I had to write a disclaimer first stating that i don't like to write opinion papers, because mainstream thought is dominated by conservative or liberal ideologies, and my views tend to be very libertarian. i tend to disagree with the left and the right 90% of the time, and i feel like i may get punished for my views gradewise or otherwise. i would rather the teacher go ahead and state that they are liberal so that i can write a biased liberal paper to appease them. that way i can make them happy and still hold my own beliefs outside of class.

too bad you don't like thompson, but it sounds like you have some personal reasons for that, and to each his own. i'm not going to punch you in the face i promise

It's probably because I kept my mouth shut, and we are on the internet. In person I'm a very abrasive and aggrivating person to speak with because I am a natural debater. I can discuss a topic at length and reach back to my library for all kinds of resources to prove my points and topics. I run into many people who tell me I'm wrong for whatever reason, but with no proof. So after I stack 3 books with marks, and a bunch of urls to visit with proof supporting mine they tend to get very upset with my:

pomposity

As if because my proof makes me a smart ass know it all. Which is kind of ironic wouldn't you think?



Speaking of that teacher who failed me. I still got a B in his class at the end of the year. He mostly didn't like me because I raved on about how depressing and boring Sylvia Plath was and I used him as an example in my distaste for Hemingway. I explained how I found it a joke so many feminist women love his "romantic" stories ( not like a romance novel, any literature nut will know what I mean ) when underlying all his beautiful words and concise writing is an extremely strong distrust of women ( ::thinks to himself about Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Sun Also Rises:: ). His response was about how his wife was a strong feminist and activist, and she too loves Hemingway, so I must be wrong.

"Oh, so because your wife is an activist... this changes who Hemingway was does it? How does her actions change anothers? I believe maybe she is just a fan and she beats you into submissiveness for having a penis."

Compact this onto a story I wrote for fun. The first paper assigned was a paper about "Gender Realization"... more liberal BS that made me want to vomit. The theme was to look into our past and write a story about when we embodied our gender stereotype. Well I'm a man, the gender stereotype is that of being a womanizing bastard who only cares about sex. Easy, I wrote a story about it. He called me a sick depraved person and failed my paper. The beginning of a semester of hilarious antics between the two of us... I wonder what my peers though watching me preech in class against this man.

So the last paper came where we had to "interpret" a piece of published work. It didn't matter where it was published, just published none the less (it annoyed me more that he said movies and television were acceptable... in a literature course!? ) So I dug into my high school career and located a poem I wrote some time ago and had published under a pen name. The guy failed me again and explained WHY my interpretation was WRONG. So I went up and asked him:

"do you know who Lynda E. Tesh is?"
"No, she's kinda amateurish, but pretty good."
"It's an anagram of my name."

And I tossed the balled up paper in his face.



You know, looking back at my papers I can tell that yes they were rather lewd and far from conservative. But I worked at a Porn Site at the time (which the teacher also frowned upon) and it was something very difficult to come to terms with. I don't know if any of you know what it's like to work at an Adult Website, but its disturbing and really plays games with your head. I would NOT advise ever doing it.

My bosses favourite joke to play on newbies was to play this video of a transgender who simulates rape on himself. It was an hour and a half long. The first 10 minutes are funny, the rest makes you wonder what is wrong with society.

[Ack]

Would it be weird to say that I think I've seen parts of that video at my old job?