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Pk_JoA
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Pk_JoA »

1984 is just GREAT. I just finished "Animal Farm" from the same author (Orwell) and I can say that it is VERY good too.
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turin
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by turin »

I went to the library today and checked out:

* Gene Wolfe's Book of the Short Sun, the trilogy that will finish off the Briah Cycle (i.e. all the books by Wolfe set in the world of Briah).
* Cormac McCarthy's The Road and No Country for Old Men, both books I've been wanting to read for a while (The Road because it's post-apocalyptic and sounds interesting, NCfOM because the movie based on it is one of my favorites).

I meant to check out Watchmen, after seeing the movie on Saturday (it was really good, BTW), but they didn't have it. Pity.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Ardent »

Right now I'm reading Anthony Swofford's "Jarhead" and like it - the style reminds me of fight club, except this is based on reality ;)

To those of you who like Orwell (personally I love all his work) - it is very interesting to read "Burmese days", "Homage to Catalunya", "War diaries" and after that "1984" in a row. You can see how his ideas and views change and evolve through the 14 years between these books.
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Rex Umbrarum
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Rex Umbrarum »

I just finished 1984 a bit ago. Is it bad that I actually thought "Oh, everyone is happy now, what a nice society" for a second at the end? :roll:

Now I'm going through Terry Prachett, reading "The Fifth Elephant" at the moment.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Ardent »

I just finished 1984 a bit ago. Is it bad that I actually thought "Oh, everyone is happy now, what a nice society" for a second at the end? :roll:
Depends - do you consider Thomas Man's "Utopia" an utopic society? ;)

If yes, I'd guess you are not from a former eastern block country so you miss some of the "fun" with 1984 :)
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by unsung »

The camulod chronicles. I can't remember the actual names, but I'm amazed at the authors skill in managing to create a good historical basis for the king arthur stuff.
A little annoyed at his failure to understand that arrows ripping through mail armor isn't true, but I was able to forgive him.

I'm reading a few other books, but they're all for my history course, not sure if they count.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by turin »

After seeing the Watchmen movie on Saturday, I read through the entire graphic novel between 2PM yesterday and 2AM today. (Yes, that was the first time I'd read the graphic novel - yes, I saw the movie before reading the book.)

Both are worth seeing/reading; I actually prefer the movie in a lot of ways. I wrote a more detailed explanation here.

I also finished The Road two days ago, time to start on the Book of the Short Sun.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by thespaceinvader »

I've gotta see watchmen. But i definitely want to read it first - i tend to try to experience the original before the adaptation.

I'm currently reading the Gotrek and Felix omnibus editions. Complete trash lit, but it's a pleasant escape from anythign resembling thinking.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Turuk »

thespaceinvader wrote:I'm currently reading the Gotrek and Felix omnibus editions. Complete trash lit, but it's a pleasant escape from anythign resembling thinking.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by thespaceinvader »

Is it just me, by the way, or is the Dwarf on the front cover not actually Gotrek? His axe is consistently described as double bitted throughout the books, and the Cover Dwarf has a single bitted axe o_O

This seems like a pattern in Games Workshop derived books - the Comissar on the cover of the Gaunt's Ghosts books never seems to be any of the major characters either, due to not matching the descriptions of their appearance and/or kit...
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Turuk »

thespaceinvader wrote: Is it just me, by the way, or is the Dwarf on the front cover not actually Gotrek? His axe is consistently described as double bitted throughout the books, and the Cover Dwarf has a single bitted axe o_O

This seems like a pattern in Games Workshop derived books - the Comissar on the cover of the Gaunt's Ghosts books never seems to be any of the major characters either, due to not matching the descriptions of their appearance and/or kit...
I was talking to one of the authors, and he explained to me that the artists read the book, or as much as they can before they draw the cover art, but often the art is done before the book is even halfway and so the two do not always match. Also, the artists are allowed a bit of artistic license in how they portray the characters. G&F is not so great, nor are the Ciaphas Cain covers, but some of the others nail the characters down pretty well.

Particularly for CC, I know that he is considered to be adept with a chainsword and therefore fairly strong, but did you see his biceps on the one cover? :shock: I do believe he bench presses small vehicles.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by thespaceinvader »

Ciaphas Cain covers, as far as I am aware, explicitly don't depict the character as he is presented in the books - they're designed to seem like the sort of propaganda posters he'd star on late in his career, and therefore are meant to be extremely exaggerated and overly badass and heroic. However, it's worth noting that despite his apparent cowardliness, he is still an extremely competent swordsman (the man duels Khorne berserkers for goodness' sake...), and practices swinging what's essentially a 4 foot one-handed chainsaw several hours a day. That's gonna put some bulk on you...
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Turuk »

Very true, though I find that when I try to practice with my own version with the chainsaw I modified from Home Depot, someone always seems to call the cops about some "lunatic running around."

Other covers, like those for the Gaunt's Ghosts books or Eisenhorn are pretty spot on though. In particular on the latter, as many of the accoutrements that he picks up over the course of the novels are displayed on his character on the cover of the omnibus.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by thespaceinvader »

The Eisenhorn one's awesome. Most of the Gaunt's Ghosts ones are fine, but for the fact that the Cover Commissar is usually depicted with dark hair and Gaunt's gear, where Gaunt is explicitly blond haired.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Turuk »

True true. I have some more good examples but I'll just revert to hunting you down later on IRC so we don't steer this thread off track.
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