Whatcha reading?

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eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
18 Feb 2018, 2:08pm
eumaas wrote:
18 Feb 2018, 2:03pm
I need to clear my head first and also learn to read properly again. After several semesters my brain has become locked into "reading for school" mode, where I go too quickly and just try to glean the most relevant material. Not the most enjoyable way to read. These two are old favorites that will slow me down a little.
This is very real. After I dropped out of school in Iowa, my reading became entirely by choice and with much more variety. And it was a learning experience to slow the pace and appreciate the details and gloss, and to read without purpose of edification but instead satisfaction.
Good to hear that it's not just me being stupid. School does some admirable things for learning, but the pressure of the environment leads to some bad habits as well.

I think it's exacerbated by social media usage (and computer/phone usage in general). Twitter, FB, and even this place to some extent also train one to flit about looking for only the salient bit. I feel my attention gets constantly divided. I miss the days of minimal multitasking. A bit of depth and richness to experience is gone. But I am confident I can retrain myself.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

eumaas wrote:
18 Feb 2018, 2:13pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
18 Feb 2018, 2:08pm
eumaas wrote:
18 Feb 2018, 2:03pm
I need to clear my head first and also learn to read properly again. After several semesters my brain has become locked into "reading for school" mode, where I go too quickly and just try to glean the most relevant material. Not the most enjoyable way to read. These two are old favorites that will slow me down a little.
This is very real. After I dropped out of school in Iowa, my reading became entirely by choice and with much more variety. And it was a learning experience to slow the pace and appreciate the details and gloss, and to read without purpose of edification but instead satisfaction.
Good to hear that it's not just me being stupid. School does some admirable things for learning, but the pressure of the environment leads to some bad habits as well.

I think it's exacerbated by social media usage (and computer/phone usage in general). Twitter, FB, and even this place to some extent also train one to flit about looking for only the salient bit. I feel my attention gets constantly divided. I miss the days of minimal multitasking. A bit of depth and richness to experience is gone. But I am confident I can retrain myself.
In his book Enlightenment 2.0, Joseph Heath argues (in part) that distraction is our great enemy in being critical thinkers. Serious thought is very hard work and requires concentration. We have too many things that catch our eye (literally and figuratively), and so becoming a better thinker means learning to shut out the other distractions. There is a part of me that wouldn't mind being sent to jail for five years or so if I could be assured that I wouldn't be abused and be allowed to read and write as much as I wanted. The opportunity to have that kind of minimal atmosphere to just fall into my imagination has a lot of appeal.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Flex
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Flex »

I'm a Tolkien fan. Silmarillion is fun.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. Strangers are tricked to an island off the mainland and they've all got something to hide. Something murderous, would you believe. This book has a special atmosphere and is readable as anything, but it's also kind of shit. It doesn't want to take you any further down into the themes of the story. I imagine Agatha Christie wondering, after having sent the manuscript off to the waiting publishers, if her novel was about anything, then moving on with her day of drinking tea and berating the maid. Got to congratulate it on its belatedly not-racist title, too. Exactly what I wanted from it.

Kinda - Terrance Dicks. Dr Who Audiobook as read by Peter Davidson. Heart of Darkness meets Ursula Le Guin, so says About Time, the Dr Who reference book. Lots of deep, meaningful resonance under the skin of this one, pretending to be children's fiction. It's about sex, and gender, and the mind, and the self, and colonialism and the memory of Empire.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 8:26am
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. Strangers are tricked to an island off the mainland and they've all got something to hide. Something murderous, would you believe. This book has a special atmosphere and is readable as anything, but it's also kind of shit. It doesn't want to take you any further down into the themes of the story. I imagine Agatha Christie wondering, after having sent the manuscript off to the waiting publishers, if her novel was about anything, then moving on with her day of drinking tea and berating the maid. Got to congratulate it on its belatedly not-racist title, too. Exactly what I wanted from it.
I've read that one and another famous Christie novel (can't remember which now) and I just didn't care for her prose. Way too wooden for me to get into the story.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 8:44am
Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 8:26am
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. Strangers are tricked to an island off the mainland and they've all got something to hide. Something murderous, would you believe. This book has a special atmosphere and is readable as anything, but it's also kind of shit. It doesn't want to take you any further down into the themes of the story. I imagine Agatha Christie wondering, after having sent the manuscript off to the waiting publishers, if her novel was about anything, then moving on with her day of drinking tea and berating the maid. Got to congratulate it on its belatedly not-racist title, too. Exactly what I wanted from it.
I've read that one and another famous Christie novel (can't remember which now) and I just didn't care for her prose. Way too wooden for me to get into the story.
She's all surface.
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Is ten times worse than prison


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tepista
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by tepista »

Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 8:26am
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. Strangers are tricked to an island off the mainland and they've all got something to hide. Something murderous, would you believe. This book has a special atmosphere and is readable as anything, but it's also kind of shit. It doesn't want to take you any further down into the themes of the story. I imagine Agatha Christie wondering, after having sent the manuscript off to the waiting publishers, if her novel was about anything, then moving on with her day of drinking tea and berating the maid. Got to congratulate it on its belatedly not-racist title, too. Exactly what I wanted from it.
I read that. Except it was a movie and instead of reading it I watched it. (1945 version better than 1965 version) ('65 version did have the racist title)
We reach the parts other combos cannot reach
We beach the beachheads other armies cannot beach
We speak the tongues other mouths cannot speak

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

tepista wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 1:54pm
Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 8:26am
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. Strangers are tricked to an island off the mainland and they've all got something to hide. Something murderous, would you believe. This book has a special atmosphere and is readable as anything, but it's also kind of shit. It doesn't want to take you any further down into the themes of the story. I imagine Agatha Christie wondering, after having sent the manuscript off to the waiting publishers, if her novel was about anything, then moving on with her day of drinking tea and berating the maid. Got to congratulate it on its belatedly not-racist title, too. Exactly what I wanted from it.
I read that. Except it was a movie and instead of reading it I watched it. (1945 version better than 1965 version) ('65 version did have the racist title)
If only Ten Little Indians was the worst title for the story to have gone by. The n word proudly adorned the '39 book.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


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tepista
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by tepista »

Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 5:50pm
tepista wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 1:54pm
Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 8:26am
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. Strangers are tricked to an island off the mainland and they've all got something to hide. Something murderous, would you believe. This book has a special atmosphere and is readable as anything, but it's also kind of shit. It doesn't want to take you any further down into the themes of the story. I imagine Agatha Christie wondering, after having sent the manuscript off to the waiting publishers, if her novel was about anything, then moving on with her day of drinking tea and berating the maid. Got to congratulate it on its belatedly not-racist title, too. Exactly what I wanted from it.
I read that. Except it was a movie and instead of reading it I watched it. (1945 version better than 1965 version) ('65 version did have the racist title)
If only Ten Little Indians was the worst title for the story to have gone by. The n word proudly adorned the '39 book.
No kidding? I wonder how much my original copy of Murder on the Chink-Train is worth.
We reach the parts other combos cannot reach
We beach the beachheads other armies cannot beach
We speak the tongues other mouths cannot speak

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

tepista wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 5:53pm
Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 5:50pm
tepista wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 1:54pm
Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 8:26am
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. Strangers are tricked to an island off the mainland and they've all got something to hide. Something murderous, would you believe. This book has a special atmosphere and is readable as anything, but it's also kind of shit. It doesn't want to take you any further down into the themes of the story. I imagine Agatha Christie wondering, after having sent the manuscript off to the waiting publishers, if her novel was about anything, then moving on with her day of drinking tea and berating the maid. Got to congratulate it on its belatedly not-racist title, too. Exactly what I wanted from it.
I read that. Except it was a movie and instead of reading it I watched it. (1945 version better than 1965 version) ('65 version did have the racist title)
If only Ten Little Indians was the worst title for the story to have gone by. The n word proudly adorned the '39 book.
No kidding? I wonder how much my original copy of Murder on the Chink-Train is worth.
This is my favourite post of 2018.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

tepista wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 5:53pm
Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 5:50pm
tepista wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 1:54pm
Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 8:26am
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. Strangers are tricked to an island off the mainland and they've all got something to hide. Something murderous, would you believe. This book has a special atmosphere and is readable as anything, but it's also kind of shit. It doesn't want to take you any further down into the themes of the story. I imagine Agatha Christie wondering, after having sent the manuscript off to the waiting publishers, if her novel was about anything, then moving on with her day of drinking tea and berating the maid. Got to congratulate it on its belatedly not-racist title, too. Exactly what I wanted from it.
I read that. Except it was a movie and instead of reading it I watched it. (1945 version better than 1965 version) ('65 version did have the racist title)
If only Ten Little Indians was the worst title for the story to have gone by. The n word proudly adorned the '39 book.
No kidding? I wonder how much my original copy of Murder on the Chink-Train is worth.
When I was a kid, I remember a bully at my school who'd torment a Chinese kid by singing, "Chinky chinky Chinaman, sitting on a fence / Trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents."

Extra context: That bully never messed with Lee Pete because he knew Lee would have fucked his shit up ten ways to Sunday.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

tepista
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by tepista »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 7:42pm
tepista wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 5:53pm
Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 5:50pm
tepista wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 1:54pm
Silent Majority wrote:
20 Feb 2018, 8:26am
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie. Strangers are tricked to an island off the mainland and they've all got something to hide. Something murderous, would you believe. This book has a special atmosphere and is readable as anything, but it's also kind of shit. It doesn't want to take you any further down into the themes of the story. I imagine Agatha Christie wondering, after having sent the manuscript off to the waiting publishers, if her novel was about anything, then moving on with her day of drinking tea and berating the maid. Got to congratulate it on its belatedly not-racist title, too. Exactly what I wanted from it.
I read that. Except it was a movie and instead of reading it I watched it. (1945 version better than 1965 version) ('65 version did have the racist title)
If only Ten Little Indians was the worst title for the story to have gone by. The n word proudly adorned the '39 book.
No kidding? I wonder how much my original copy of Murder on the Chink-Train is worth.
When I was a kid, I remember a bully at my school who'd torment a Chinese kid by singing, "Chinky chinky Chinaman, sitting on a fence / Trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents."

Extra context: That bully never messed with Lee Pete because he knew Lee would have fucked his shit up ten ways to Sunday.
I love Lee Pete.
We reach the parts other combos cannot reach
We beach the beachheads other armies cannot beach
We speak the tongues other mouths cannot speak

Silent Majority
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Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Raising Steam - Terry Pratchett. I've been putting off reading this, the last Discworld novel, for years because I didn't want to run out. Written while the author was dying of Alzheimer's disease, it's a respectable, even triumphant end to a series I've been reading since a child - all 40 books and more. In this one, the steam engine comes to Pratchett's grotty, liberal version of Middle Earth, basically bringing it into an industrial revolution. I'm not sure how much the main character - conman turned high politician, Moist von Lipwig - distinguishes himself against other Discworld protagonists, and the plot trundles onto an anticlimax, but I loved going back into this world and seeing these characters. It was the joyful balm I knew it would be.
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Is ten times worse than prison


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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Heart of a Dog - Mikhail Bulgakov. Early soviet satire that's funny, spooky, bourgeois, and short. It's about a scientist who, Frankenstein style, puts glands into a stray dog which makes him mutate into a horrible uppity little prole with ideas above his station. Very well-written and filled with mot justes and mind expanding imagery. I enjoyed it a lot, despite my ambivalence around its politics.
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Is ten times worse than prison


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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Wolter »

I thought you were joking about the original title of And Then There Were None. HOLY SHIT.
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