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What book are you reading? Part 20


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Lastly, on the topic of e-readers, if you get a Kindle, amazon has a large cache of free books "hidden" in the kindle store. When I first got mine they were in their own section under "classics" or something like that, but last I checked they'd done away with the categorization. The iphone kindle app used to actually have a button for them as well but they made it so you can't access the store directly from the app for whatever reason. Point being, there is an unreasonable amount of free books for the kindle. I've gotten the complete works of Poe, Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground/Brothers/Idiot/Crime and Punishment, and all the Sherlock Holmes stories for free off of amazon just to name a few. They also run specials every once in a while, I got the complete works of Hemingway for $1.98 a year or so ago, really nothing bad to say about that. I still buy hard copies of certain books, but it is a great thing to have.

 

 

I'd rather get the Nook Tablet over the Kindle Fire after having researched both. The only problem with the Nook Tablet is that of the 16GB on the devices, you only can use 1GB for your own ebooks and multimedia, and the other 12GB (because the nook uses 3GB to run) are allotted for purchases made through the barnes & noble store, BUT you can add extra storage space, which you cant to do on the 8GB kindle fire. As for buying the books, sites like library.nu have a pretty good selection of books in .pdf and .epub format (and kindle fire doesn't read .epub, while the nook tablet does)

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The Sun Also Rises is about so much more than a drinking bender, in fact it's really not even about that at all. I'm not going to explain what a two second google search would uncover but suffice to say that you should have gotten more out of it. That said, Hemingway is great but his novels really aren't where he shines. You want to go after the short story collections and his non-fiction pieces, those are the main reasons he is revered in my opinion. I'd skip For Whom The Bell Tolls, it's not a bad book, but if you didn't like Sun Also Rises there's almost no chance you'll like it.

 

I saw the guy under you compare Hemingway to Steinbeck in saying that Steinbeck was a better writer anyway, etc... That really isn't an apt comparison as the two writers have entirely different styles. Steinbeck's work is defined almost entirely by his major novels whilst Hemingway's major novels are often glossed over in favor of his short stories. It's simply idiotic to compare something like East of Eden or Grapes of Wrath to something like For Whom The Bell Tolls or Snows of Kilimanjaro; they're just different in too many aspects. It's almost like comparing Faulkner and Twain, both draw on southern cultural elements but write in a radically different style (though not necessarily always, hence the almost).

 

To contribute, I just picked up The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick and have been reading it every chance I get. It's around 1000 pages including intro and commentary supplements but I can't recommend it enough to anyone who has an interest in his writing (especially Valis or Ubik in particular). It's not so much a story as an account of an evolving idea, so if you're interested in a science fiction writers philosophical/cosmological ramblings, pick it up.

 

Funny you mention Hemingway's short stories, I remember while reading The Sun Also Rises thinking that I might like some of his shorter works better. I did get more out of it than I described, but to be completely honest, at the end I simply felt like I had just finished a well written drinking memoir. It wasn't unpleasant or anything, just kind of bland with more attention paid to what drinks were being consumed than actual character or plot development. Also, it was a book I almost exclusively read on the bus, and we all know how that goes. I think I will pick up a collection of shorter works at some point, thanks for the advice.

 

Speaking of Phillip K. Dick, I just got Valis and will probably start that in a day or two. I've never read anything written by him, but have been recommended numerous times. Looking forward to it.

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The Sun Also Rises is about so much more than a drinking bender, in fact it's really not even about that at all. I'm not going to explain what a two second google search would uncover but suffice to say that you should have gotten more out of it. That said, Hemingway is great but his novels really aren't where he shines. You want to go after the short story collections and his non-fiction pieces, those are the main reasons he is revered in my opinion. I'd skip For Whom The Bell Tolls, it's not a bad book, but if you didn't like Sun Also Rises there's almost no chance you'll like it.

 

I saw the guy under you compare Hemingway to Steinbeck in saying that Steinbeck was a better writer anyway, etc... That really isn't an apt comparison as the two writers have entirely different styles. Steinbeck's work is defined almost entirely by his major novels whilst Hemingway's major novels are often glossed over in favor of his short stories. It's simply idiotic to compare something like East of Eden or Grapes of Wrath to something like For Whom The Bell Tolls or Snows of Kilimanjaro; they're just different in too many aspects. It's almost like comparing Faulkner and Twain, both draw on southern cultural elements but write in a radically different style (though not necessarily always, hence the almost).

 

To contribute, I just picked up The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick and have been reading it every chance I get. It's around 1000 pages including intro and commentary supplements but I can't recommend it enough to anyone who has an interest in his writing (especially Valis or Ubik in particular). It's not so much a story as an account of an evolving idea, so if you're interested in a science fiction writers philosophical/cosmological ramblings, pick it up.

 

Lastly, on the topic of e-readers, if you get a Kindle, amazon has a large cache of free books "hidden" in the kindle store. When I first got mine they were in their own section under "classics" or something like that, but last I checked they'd done away with the categorization. The iphone kindle app used to actually have a button for them as well but they made it so you can't access the store directly from the app for whatever reason. Point being, there is an unreasonable amount of free books for the kindle. I've gotten the complete works of Poe, Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground/Brothers/Idiot/Crime and Punishment, and all the Sherlock Holmes stories for free off of amazon just to name a few. They also run specials every once in a while, I got the complete works of Hemingway for $1.98 a year or so ago, really nothing bad to say about that. I still buy hard copies of certain books, but it is a great thing to have.

 

Good contribution, and I agree with much of what you said. Once again, Ernest Hemingway - Men Without Women. Please read. This guy ain't trying to write classics.

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^you have to let me know how 'visit from the goon squad' is

i gave it to my dad when i gave him a kindle but i don't think he ever read it.

 

 

as for those not into hemingway, count me in that camp

i find the characters from 'the sun also rises' to be so lacking in depth that i despise them in many ways haha

 

i have a ton of free books on my kindle.. many classics already mentioned, and almost anything i want off demonoid.

Dostoevsky is a great writer though., i'd pick those up.

and russian literature really knocked my socks off, i loved anna karenina (though not her so much) and went onto read war and peace, a really amazing expansive saga

 

and Bukowski.. i simply cannot see what so many others love in his work. not saying it isn't good.. it's just not for me

maybe it's like the male version of a romance novel. maybe.

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i don't drink much anymore but still relate to bukowski's characters, emotionally void men without great vision or direction in life.

 

i'm not sure i know any women that aren't drunks who like him, or whatever-scene girls just saying they do... i don't think its equivalent to a romance novel, more like a too feminine novel--ie THE TIME TRAVELLERS WIFE.

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Speaking of Phillip K. Dick, I just got Valis and will probably start that in a day or two. I've never read anything written by him, but have been recommended numerous times. Looking forward to it.

 

Valis is in my top 5 favorite books of all time. I will caution though, it is basically hard-mode as far as Dick's novels go. I usually tell people to start with Scanner Darkly because it's pretty straight forward and leaves you wanting more. His bibliography is huge though so here's some of my favorites just to cut through the fat so to speak:

Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Lies, Inc.

Now Wait for Last Year

Counter Clock World

Everyone will tell you about Do Androids..., Man in the High Castle, and Flow my Tears... There's nothing bad about those but I find the ones I listed don't get recommended as often as they should.

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i don't drink much anymore but still relate to bukowski's characters, emotionally void men without great vision or direction in life.

 

i'm not sure i know any women that aren't drunks who like him, or whatever-scene girls just saying they do... i don't think its equivalent to a romance novel, more like a too feminine novel--ie THE TIME TRAVELLERS WIFE.

 

why come everytime i hear of niggas talkin bout buk or hemmingway or any other

writer deep rooted in the writings of the drink people say they can't relate? does one

have t relate to the drink parts or can one just dig the style of writing? i love the

shit outta buk because it speaks to my being partial to degenerates. i'm not even that

much of a booze hound myself at all. and as for the drinking. well thats just funny to me.

less people are alcoholics i can't see the reason behind not digging it.

 

 

*i'm been drinking also. for records sake.

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why come everytime i hear of niggas talkin bout buk or hemmingway or any other

writer deep rooted in the writings of the drink people say they can't relate? does one

have t relate to the drink parts or can one just dig the style of writing? i love the

shit outta buk because it speaks to my being partial to degenerates. i'm not even that

much of a booze hound myself at all. and as for the drinking. well thats just funny to me.

less people are alcoholics i can't see the reason behind not digging it.

 

 

*i'm been drinking also. for records sake.

 

 

uh, its easier to relate to characters who are similar to you and less easy to relate to characters that are unlike you... nothing too complex or 'deep'

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Symbols, I only just started the Goon Squad book today and am sucked in so far.

 

It might be worth mentioning to your dad that HBO is making a show out of it. I only just found that out.

 

 

Anyway, I just posted on my fb that I find it astounding that this writer and Jane Austen are the only two female authors I've read, as far as I can recall.

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thx weaponX

 

my dad hates TV though so that prolly won't help haha

 

why come everytime i hear of niggas talkin bout buk or hemmingway or any other

writer deep rooted in the writings of the drink people say they can't relate? does one

have t relate to the drink parts or can one just dig the style of writing? i love the

shit outta buk because it speaks to my being partial to degenerates. i'm not even that

much of a booze hound myself at all. and as for the drinking. well thats just funny to me.

less people are alcoholics i can't see the reason behind not digging it.

 

*i'm been drinking also. for records sake.

 

for me, it's the writing style, same as Hemingway..

just like Kerouac

it does nothing for me.

maybe it;s why i'm having such a hard time reading infinite jest even though war and peace was no problem. writing styleo

 

and drinking and i go way back. i'm very familiar with the ins and outs of drunkenness and hitting bottom through a bottle. i can't stand reading about that crap.. same as any shit about drugs

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