No.1150
I'm currently reading the fifth installment of the Dune series - Heretics of Dune - albeit I'm not the biggest fan. I'm halfway through, and it feels like it won't get close to God Emperor of Dune.
I've also started with a translation of Ursula K. Le Guins "The Dispossessed" in my native tongue. I already have an English copy of it, but the form factor and small text makes it near impossible for me to read.
No.1151
>>1150I've always felt uneasy about reading translations if I know the original language. Feels wrong.
No.1152
>>1151I think it depends how well the translation is made and how much the story depends on its original language.
For myself, if I read older English books I often have to look up words which can become a fun killer, especially when I'm tired and reading after work
No.1163
>>804Invisible Cities.
You just finished.
I'm starting.
1 page in.
Loving it.
No.1168
Oh boy, the last three months I was subscribing to the audiobook service. Digested more books in this period, than throughout my university (which I will finish sooon). It helped with my eyes, too.
Murakami's Dance Dance Dance - definitely the most dreamy position I read from him. I can recall so many scenes from this book, yet can't really connect them in anything that would make sense. I am not really a gifted thinker - prefer style over substance, and Murakami's writing is just so good in this aspect.
I also decided to read "What I talk about when I talk about running", which I recommend. A lot of self-reflection from Murakami, and some advice for kids.
Kawakami's Heaven. This one hurted. I will just say it is about bullying, and it is quite graphic.
1984 - gived up on this lecture in highschool, it was too boring. The audiobook service had a radio drama version, which was fantastic.
Also finished Kafka's Metamorphosis, only because it is a classic. I found it tremendously boring, even in the audio form. Gregor Samsa is just like me, though.
Now I read Crime and Punishment for the third time. There is a fair bit of humour in this book juggled with a feeling of hopelessness. Sonya? She just like me, for real.
No.1176
>>984Why did Penguin put a picture on the cover which makes Enderby look jewish?
Nothing in the the text supports that.
No.1193
Quick reviews of some works I finished
>Brutes or Angels: Human Possibility in the Age of Biotechnology
Surprisingly tame compared to the title. Its just "bioethics 101" when it comes to human modification. It explains an issue, the benefits, and then ends with the cons of it. If you've read any book on transhumanism or bio ethics this book is to simple for you. The only interesting factor was the religious sections were it explain different religious views on bioethics. Again if you read a book on relegion and bioethics doesn't add much.
>Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
A work about the authors relation to moss and her cultural identity. It manages to capture your attention when talking about some pretty dense moss facts. I say it's a nice intro to bryology.
No.1194
>>1193>A work about the authors relation to mossThat sounds fantastic and very cute
Moss facts appeal to me
No.1210
just bought some manga from amazon. im reading death note and fullmeteal alchemist
No.1211
>>1209"Cuckqueens aren't real, take your meds"
I cackled
No.1351
Recently re-read this. Almond tries to draw parallels between Sufism and 'post-modern' philosophy. The problem with books like this that have the opposite of their intended effect. If Zen Buddhism or Taoism are basically just like Deleuzian philosophy (or whatever's the fad), then people will just skip over Zhuangzhi or Kukai and read Deleuze. The pain for "Eastern philosophy" is that to be taken seriously we have to show how its simmilar to what people are currently thinking, but if we do that then philosophers just treat it as not worth reading because Derrida or Deleuze or whoever are saying the same thing anyway.
I also started Dream of a Red Bed Chamber because I need a break from mind numbing otaku trash.
>>1343I'm not a fan of the analytic approach to philosophy but I love the later Wittgenstein. I hope to read Ayer and Quine at somepoint and get familiar with formal logic. Philosophical Investigations is great.
No.1354
>>1343You should also read the work of Martin Löf
No.1364
>>1354Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into him after I'm one reading wittgenstein's works.
>>1343It is I who is now present to update my previously published book-reading status.
I'm doing a second read of wittgenstein because I feel like I didn't fully get it. The main idea (or atleast what I feel was like the main idea of the whole book) was that the words of a language only have meaning accurately, in its use as part of some "language-game" (or more accurately, that the meaning IS its use) and the several corollaries that follow from this idea, but I haven't absorbed all of the details.
As for the new book, it's just a more abstract and rigorous rundown of general relativity with more focus on differential geometry instead of only caring about tensor fields to describe space-time.
No.1416
Been reading 1984 recently, honestly it's alright nothing too great. I think it's just fine, really it doesn't do anything for me. I'm close to finishing it so I'll see if my opinion changes but most likely not
No.1417
>>1416I listened to an audiobook with actors speaking my native language and with sound effects, no music if I recall correctly. It was amazing, I was really impressed. Story was much more powerful this way.
No.1419
>>1417I usually don't listen to audiobooks often since they aren't really my thing but maybe I'll give it a shot, thx
Finished 1984 yesterday, I think I realized I liked the beginning and end quite well but not the middle so much, it's purely a me thing as I didn't care too much about the relationship between Winston and Julia but I get why it's there. Overall I liked its themes of anti-authoritarianism, mass-surveillance, & the eventual downfall of critical thinking ("doublethink", "newspeak", "thoughtcrime" etc…)
For the classic books I've read, I prefer Fahrenheit 451 over 1984, but 1984 is still worth reading imo.
No.1460
>>1453For those that just want a primer and exposure to the concept of hyperreality the short story that helped to inspire it might help, it's "On Exactitude in Science" by Borges. It basically takes the concept that "the map is not the territory" to its logical conclusion.
As for me, I have just started reading The Glass Bead Game. It is very interesting so far, but it might be that it just happens to be up my alley in several ways.
No.1465
>>1419The world in 1984 feels too hamfisted to me. Ingsoc’s totalitarian state seems cartoonish, like its 12 year old’s idea of what an authoritarian state would like. It’s hard to take seriously.
No.1467
>>1460Thanks. I'll check this out. There's also Philip K Dick's novel The Simulacra which was some inspiration for Baudrillard and Ecclesiastes too. Although the quote at the beginning is 'fake.' Its interesting that there are all these sneaky religious references in Baudrillard's writing. Its a tough read.
Today I went outside and sat in the park to enjoy the sunny weather and read bits of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics and al-Tusi's Nasirean Ethics. There are many things I like about the Aristotelian-Platonic tradition but a few things make me uncomfortable. The negative attitude to the body, overemphasis on reason and mental exercises. It also feels very rigid with a mapped out plan of all the virtues.
>>1464This is just depressing.
No.1476
>>1464wow it's me in 20 years
No.1512
I'm reading And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts. Written like a thriller, its probably the book that shaped how the 80s AIDS crisis was seen in the US. Shilts is a pretty good writer and he captures the human side of the crisis and political battles within the American gay community pretty well. He's too harsh on the medical establishment and some of the stuff written here doesn't pass the sniff test. The infamous scapegoating of so called patient zero seems to contradicts Shilts' own point that AIDS was a social issue not an individual problem. He's also too quick to pin the blame on Reagan and homophobic Christians when there were a bunch of other factors involved. Good read.
No.1514
I just finished The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem. It got kind of repetitive to read front to back, but I still really enjoyed it. I think its probably something better to read stories of every once in a while.
The two main characters were really fun, I like that kind of draumaturgical diad of the skinny pessimistic friend and the stout energetic friend. Some of the stories were really fun too, I particularly liked the mechanical beast one.
No.1515
I'm trying to read this book but its giving me fits. Its really giving me fits.
No.1530
I've been oscillating back and forth between Gravity's Rainboe and Gormenghast. It has been slow going but very interesting nevertheless.
No.1531
Been reading Crime and Punishment as of late. The grief of not being able to read this in its original language is really setting in for me…
No.1535
>>1531Hear me out on Raskolnikov
No.1537
>>1536>He was, by the way, exceptionally handsome, above average in height, slim, with beautiful brown eyes and dark brown hairTAKE ME ALREADY PLEASE NNGH
No.1551
Just finished "The People in the Trees" by Hanya Yanigihara. I enjoyed it. Her writing can be prosaic. After I finished it I read about the author's life and it was interesting noticing how much of her own life experiences she put into the book (father was a doctor, she's Hawaiian). I also ended up reading about the real life doctor her character was based on - Daniel Carleton Gajdusek. What a story! I picked up "A Little Life" by her but not sure if I want to read that next… Might read "Moby Dick" since I've actually never read it. I also have "Myth of Sisyphus" sitting at my bedside.
No.1690
Well, I just finished reading Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.
…I have to say, I'm glad I read it.
I feel a bit better about myself. I read a "classy" book. I read something that well-read people read, so that was good. I actually did read something. I feel like there's this seemingly endless list of things I "should" read, and I've read one thing, so that was good, but yeah, I had to read Wikipedia's article on the short story in order to really understood what I read.
I was thinking whilst reading - even if Tlon is a world where the existence of things depends upon it being perceived, where is this going?
I suppose there was something interest that happened in the story which is when a drunk man is found dead, and at the site of his corpse is a collection of coins and a strange object that had up until this point only been described in the Encyclopaedia of Tlon. It felt like something out of that Control videogame with that "Jesse Faden" woman. This mysterious object that nobody understands is now present in our realm. But I suppose it's not meant to be like that. That object is possibly in the encyclopaedia of Tlon, since it was recognised to be from Tlon.
The conformity of the world to Tlon was a bit disappointing as well, as it seemed like more and more people were just obsessed with learning about it. The mysterious aspect of Tlon-objects appearing in the world wasn't really the driving mechanism like I hoped it would have been, with more objects from Tlon spontaneously appearing. Instead, there's just more intense study on Tlon.
After reading about the short story on Wikipedia, I've come to conclude that being a Borges fan is predicated upon being a literature fan. You have to be in the know about all of the latest ideas and theories and whatnot. That's how it seems to me. The short story makes reference at one instant to an idea of "Hume". I believe that's David Hume? I've never read Hume - not a single word. I just know that he's an important philosopher, and that for me as a Catholic, a potential enemy (supposedly he argued that the soul should serve the desires of the flesh).
That's my run-through with this short story. I don't know if I'll read more Borges. I probably will, as I'll bring myself to read the books I ought to, but I think, for fun, I'll turn to Light Novels instead.
Although perhaps the other short stories might be more entertaining? I'm curious as to whether or not I'll like them. I think Borges says in the prologue of the compilation-work that there's a story where a man, equipped with a knife, must go to a town to fight bestiality. I burst out laughing every time I think about it. Maybe that one'll be good.
No.1700
I read another Borges short story from the "Ficciones" book (also knows as "Fictions" and "Labyrinths". The next time I post a review regarding this book, it'll be the entirety of this Short Story compilation, rather than individual short stories.
"The Approach to Al'Mutasim" is what I read. It's like a literary commentary? I believe I know a little bit about Borges to expect stuff like this. He's basically reviewing a fictitious book. Interesting, I guess. I did quite enjoy this read, although my reading comprehension was somewhat poor I feel. I don't feel I always understood what I was reading.
So, what did I even read? A review of a fictitious story about a man who murders what seems to be a Hindu, and goes on the run, looking for this saint "Al'Mutasim"? I won't be checking Wikipedia to understand this short story this time. If I don't get it, I don't get it. And yeah, I don't get it.
It was somehow interesting to read though. As the narrator speaks about the literary world that he's in, how writers would often choose the more honourable choice of leaning into historical classics rather than leaning into their contemporaries, I thought insights like that were interesting as I don't know much about the world of literature. Apparently James Joyce's Ulysses makes heavy use of… well, I initially understood the text as saying that it made heavy use of Homer's Odyssey, but I think it just said that it made heavy use of Homer's texts. I don't know what else Homer wrote besides the Odyssey.
I feel like the parts of this short story that I enjoyed the most, were the ones where I was learning about this book he's reviewing. It did seem somewhat interesting. I even learnt how it ends! And I learnt a lot of new words along the way.
languor
metempsychosis
cabalist
pullulation
Like man, I feel it's going to take some time to get used to books.
Well anyway, unlike what I said in my previous review, where I felt that one had to be a huge literature fan already before reading Borges in order to enjoy his work (to be fair, there was a lot of literature reference in this short story too…) I do feel like this short story was enjoyable, despite me not knowing too much about literature. But I don't feel it was particularly great, I think I just enjoyed reading it. Like I said, someday, I'll post a review of the entire compilation.
