Who reads books?

[thejamessea]

Favorite writers : Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Poe, Haruki Murakami, Asimov.

I'm currently reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's decent, not fantastic.

I'm actually a published writer myself, so I'm really happy this thread was started. I hope we can get a really good exchange of ideas and opinions going about the medium!

The people who are saying fiction is lacking due to the fact that it teaches nothing are just mind-blowing in their ignorance. I don't mean that aggressively. I mean it in such a way as to say that they just simply must not think about fiction as they're reading it like they do with non-fiction.

Just because a piece of writing is speaking in events, emotions, or abstracts does not diminish its ability to teach. Fiction almost always has more to show the reader than non-fiction, in my experience.

A book that tells you how economics work is no more valuable than a book that teaches you something of the world through the actions and thoughts of its characters.

Just my opinion, of course, but I think the non-fiction-o-philes should give fiction an openminded chance.

: )

[lordofduct]

I probably won't open up discussion about my opinions of literature. I've incited some very crude responses from others with my opinions about certain authors. So bad as much that one professor literally failed me for half his semester merely because how much hatred I had for one of his most beloved authors of Post-Modern Literature. It wasn't until I really called him out on his prejudice and made it obvious to the class he had singled me out as such that he stopped failing me and turned my grades around. Stupid schmuck.


It's something that bugs me, I've had people get very upset with me just because I don't like what the majority considers "classic". As an example, my roommates were offended that I think "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas" the movie is garbage and that I thought it was a rebirth for American Literature when Thompson shot himself. They were like, "but it's a Terry Gilliam film, he and Hunter are geniuses... blah blah blah. You just have no appreciation for art."

"And, I love Gilliam 80% of the time, and I don't care how genius you THINK they are. I still think its narcotic drivel for mindless masses obsessed with the drug pop culture. Screw Hunter and I applaud the shot gun shell in his frontal lobe!"

sorry boys and girls, if you can't except I don't like your shit... well get ready for me to say something really fucking mean about it.





... ooops, well I guess I shouldn't of said I wouldn't.

[kinn]

Loved everything Richard Morgan did (Altered Carbon his first book being the best IMHO).

Mainly into SCFI books BUT I find it hard to commit myself to reading the classics since they came out years ago. I know it sounds daft.

I just finished I Am Legend. Great read and yes, its better than the film.

Currenlty reading Alastair Reynolds - Revelation Space.

[scrotumwound]

lately i have not read much
but i mainly stick to fiction mostly Palanick books, the bible,
about to read world war z
i like bathroom readers a good find was elephants on acid
about hunter s thompson i think his books are good for the biz
just like those harry potter books are opening the minds of the masses so did hunters

[Ack]

Here's my reading list for the last year(it slowed down a lot for graduate school...):

The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori, by Mark Ravina
A Dreamer and a Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time, by S. T. Joshi
Gone South, by Robert R. McCammon
Myths, Mysteries, & Legends of Alabama, by Elaine Hobson Miller
CUT! Horror Writers On Horror Film, Edited by Christopher Golden
Cujo, by Stephen King
Intensity, by Dean Koontz
Coal Black Horse, by Robert Olmstead
Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tsu
The Analects, by Confucius
The Fighting Man of Japan: The Training and Exercises of the Samurai, by F. J. Norman
Japan: It's History and Culture, 4th Edition, by W. Scott Morton and J. Kenneth Olenik

Currently I'm reading Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings, followed by Yagyu Munemori's Book of Family Traditions on the Art of War. I've got a bunch of books I'm meaning to read, but I don't know how soon I'm going to get around to them unfortunately.

I don't think fiction should be discounted merely on the grounds it does not contain facts and won't teach you anything. Fiction can be excellent at inciting specific emotional responses, ones that are not triggered ordinarily. I enjoy reading horror stories because they incite fear in me, eliciting an emotion that I do not typically feel on a day to day basis.

From a historical perspective, a fiction story or series of stories may lend an understanding to the motives and issues of the time. For instance, James Joyce's The Dubliners gives an excellent impression of the people of Dublin, Ireland around the dawn of the 1920s. There is a potential for interpretation, an ability to see events in action that don't necessarily end up written into history books.

Fiction can also be used to illustrate societal problems that one cannot vocalize in a direct form. Science fiction is often pointed to as a showcase of modern ills taken to extremes, logical or otherwise. Sort of a look at where we might be in 5 to 500 years, so to speak.

There are many benefits to being interested in fiction. Of course, that doesn't mean everybody will like it. Some naturally won't enjoy fiction. While I think that's a shame, I'll just say to each his own and try to recommend some history books or biographies. Do you guys have particular areas or eras that interest you in history? Radarscope mentioned American history.

[Radiant Hero]

Favorite writers : Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Poe, Haruki Murakami, Asimov.

I'm currently reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's decent, not fantastic.

I'm actually a published writer myself, so I'm really happy this thread was started. I hope we can get a really good exchange of ideas and opinions going about the medium!

The people who are saying fiction is lacking due to the fact that it teaches nothing are just mind-blowing in their ignorance. I don't mean that aggressively. I mean it in such a way as to say that they just simply must not think about fiction as they're reading it like they do with non-fiction.

Just because a piece of writing is speaking in events, emotions, or abstracts does not diminish its ability to teach. Fiction almost always has more to show the reader than non-fiction, in my experience.

A book that tells you how economics work is no more valuable than a book that teaches you something of the world through the actions and thoughts of its characters.

Just my opinion, of course, but I think the non-fiction-o-philes should give fiction an openminded chance.

: )

I just recently finished "The Road". It wasn't that bad. I enjoy McCarthy's minimalist prose. It's like Raymond Carver's.

[Radiant Hero]

I probably won't open up discussion about my opinions of literature. I've incited some very crude responses from others with my opinions about certain authors. So bad as much that one professor literally failed me for half his semester merely because how much hatred I had for one of his most beloved authors of Post-Modern Literature. It wasn't until I really called him out on his prejudice and made it obvious to the class he had singled me out as such that he stopped failing me and turned my grades around. Stupid schmuck.


It's something that bugs me, I've had people get very upset with me just because I don't like what the majority considers "classic". As an example, my roommates were offended that I think "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas" the movie is garbage and that I thought it was a rebirth for American Literature when Thompson shot himself. They were like, "but it's a Terry Gilliam film, he and Hunter are geniuses... blah blah blah. You just have no appreciation for art."

"And, I love Gilliam 80% of the time, and I don't care how genius you THINK they are. I still think its narcotic drivel for mindless masses obsessed with the drug pop culture. Screw Hunter and I applaud the shot gun shell in his frontal lobe!"

sorry boys and girls, if you can't except I don't like your shit... well get ready for me to say something really fucking mean about it.





... ooops, well I guess I shouldn't of said I wouldn't.

I honestly believe that Thompson is overrated. I do enjoy Vegas, but I believe he made his mark as a pop icon more than a literary genius. Oscar Zeta Acosta seemed far more prolific to me than Thompson. Acosta was more achieved as a political activist and author than Thompson was. It is a shame that his work goes unnoticed to the younger generation who are into rebellious lit. I guess that just gives Acosta more indie street cred.

[RackGaki]

@lordofduct

I don't like Thompson, either, but applauding his death is pretty sick.

I didn't mention Chuck Palahniuk before since I don't care for him, either. I loved the Fight Club debut, but every other book I read of his was narcissistic gibberish. I know, so was Fight Club, but it's interesting the first time around.

I also read Allen Ginsberg a bit when I was young, and before I truly considered the moral justification of his membership in NAMBLA. And when I thought poetry was good.

[lordofduct]

My monkey sphere is more rational then yours is empathetic. Which is better is a matter of morale, which is unmeasurable.

As the world is willing to demand the shrunken mortality of "evil" men in our world and we feel no remorse for their hanging or electrocution; when do we draw the line? It's a matter of rationalizing our morale and if this loss of this person benefits the world as whole or not. Some people are hard struck against the idea that all life is sacred and you probably are one of these members and I applaud your moral judgment that no man should have the power to take another's life. But many fall in the middle. I fall on the other side though. As I don't feel we should have absolute power to take life, but should I have to feel remorse for it as well? And if remorse is capable why can't gratification be as well?

The man had no direct relation to me and was merely a formidable pop culture icon. And as an icon I greeted his death with joy.

[TheyCallMeTheSwede]

I am not much of a book person, I just personally have no patients when it comes to books. I don't know why, but I guess I could not visualize of whats going on in books, I just personally don't see anything, all I really see is words, even if I try to imagine things, it just feel like its dragging on forever.

I mostly read Graphic Novels, I am currently reading The Sandman.