summer reading list and review

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Delta-T

Minister of Fire
Feb 27, 2008
3,142
NH
Another summer gone, still digging through the many many classics I avoided, here we go:

The Picture of Dorian Grey:I like this book a lot, a lot. great characters, great message, full of wit and wisdom. I recommend, is a wordy book, be awares.

The Entire John Carter of Mars series (5 books I thinks): Very much fun, and pretty obvious E.R. Burroughs is a fan of Alexandre Dumas(me too)...John Carter is very much like D'Artagnon in 3 Muskett Ears...only on Mars..without the big hat. Recommend for Sci-Fi fans, but not for others.

Peter Pan: Very much enjoy the writing style, is sort of conversational narrative. Has been adapted to film very well IMO. Recommend for all.

The Prince-Machiovelli: Boring, and boring. I'm sure there's something to gleen from this, but, I'm no fan of the political/historical/subjective motivation for the writing in the first place. Probably significant to the time it was authored, but I just felt like I was going through the motions of reading.

Around the world in 80 days: I like, fun....you know there's no hot air balloon in the story? Why they always adding a balloon in the film reditions? I remind myself of Phileas Fogg sometimes.

Good and Evil: boring. very repetitious. Not unlike The Prince, it probably has greater significance to people reading it back in the day.

Various short stories by Philip K. Dick (he wrote the books that would become the films Blade Runner, and Total Recall, among others): I like his darkness. He almost forces you to disregard convention. If/when his writing becomes more poular...again, I think it has the potential to ignite a thought revolution, not unlike Rand.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something...oh ya, Vonegut....read some short stories i likes.
 
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I read Cat's Cradle (Vonegut) this summer. (read Slaughterhouse 5 in high school)- both great books.

Most of the other reading I've done this summer was more "how to". I'm forever hungry to learn mad skillz. The kids tell me you need mad skillz. Ya boyee- wits till the beetches see how I commence to welding/blacksmithing/building a pizza oven
 
For good read and a better cameo perspective on Machievelli I can recommend The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie. It's masterfully told and a great romp borrowing on factual history with a lot of delightful embellishments. The tale is an interesting POV on renaissance Florence and a fun, well researched historical fiction. Having visited Florence and Akbar's palaces in India it was a real hoot to have them brought to life. He is a master story teller in the Persian style, weaving story within story. This was my first Rushdie book. I will read more of his work now.
 
I like to read repair/technical manuals for cars/machinery. Not much of a plot but I do enjoy learning how things work, especially old stuff. Think about some of the things we have today that really haven't changed from when they were invented. sorry didnt mean to hijack. maybe I will start a seperate thread for that.
 
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I like to read repair/technical manuals for cars/machinery. Not much of a plot but I do enjoy learning how things work, especially old stuff. Think about some of the things we have today that really haven't changed from when they were invented. sorry didnt mean to hijack. maybe I will start a seperate thread for that.
is no hijack...conversation of all materials read is acceptable, encouraged even. I read tech manuals too. I have some great stuff on guitar construction that I thought was a lot of fun to learn.
 
I like to read repair/technical manuals for cars/machinery. Not much of a plot but I do enjoy learning how things work, especially old stuff. Think about some of the things we have today that really haven't changed from when they were invented. sorry didnt mean to hijack. maybe I will start a seperate thread for that.

I do the same thing! Always trying to pick up something useful.
 
I do the same thing! Always trying to pick up something useful.

heck, I just like to pick up stuff, useful or not.....

I also read the Epic of Gilgamesh this summer.....is not a good read, I chalk it up to poor translation. Am having a heck of a time fnding a decent english version of the Mahabaratah (sp?, Hindu text) or Zoroaster at my local used book outlet.
 
heck, I just like to pick up stuff, useful or not.....

I also read the Epic of Gilgamesh this summer.....is not a good read, I chalk it up to poor translation. Am having a heck of a time fnding a decent english version of the Mahabaratah (sp?, Hindu text) or Zoroaster at my local used book outlet.
I love reading important old texts. I've read chunks of all of those for classes, but none in entirety.

I did read Snorri Sturluson's "Prose Edda", as well as the Poetic Edda. Read some of the big Greek epics, and The Song of Roland- that was a good one, and not a long read.
 
;lol _g ...picture words for Jags...pine strikes again.
 
I've been reading a bunch of (as my wife calls it) "sci fi crapola" . . . I think of it as TV for the mind.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep . . . didn't care for it all that much . . . then again, I wasn't a big Blade Runner fan either.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell . . . this one is taking me a while since it's a pretty hefty book . . . think real magicians helping the English fight Napoleon (well, there is more to it than that.)

Dragonflight . . . this would be the "Summer Movie" so far of the books I've read . . . lots of action and fluff . . . not much deep thinking.

Ringworld . . . don't remember much about this one.

Childhood's End . . . don't remember much about this either.

I Am Legend . . . good collection of short stories . . . some good, some bad.

There may have been others . . . but since I can barely remember what I ate for dinner yesterday (tube steak and rice with boulie bread by the way) . . . I cannot remember the titles.
 
i did not really like Blade Runner either...but I did like Electric Sheep. You remind me that I read a collection of short sci-fi stories that were all made into movies in the 50's-60's (The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Thing, The Cyclops...and some others). It's intersting to see how "sci-fi" has evloved. I'd guess The Time Machine is probably one of the earliest "Science Fiction" type books/stories to gain popular exposure, and very litlle of the story has much to do with science, same with John Carter, written in 1914 or so, not so much science...and then in the 50's, post WWII, you get flying saucers, and ray guns, and stuff.
 
This summer I read "Ready Player One" (Earnest Cline) this was his first novel and I look forward to more. Also, "Earth Unaware" (Orson Scott Card/Aaron Johnson) as a prelude to the Enders Game series. My measure of a good book is goose bumps after finishing the last page and closing the book. Chills from both books.
 
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