Books: a literary discussion

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Comments

  • edited January 2011
    It seems to me that if everyone else in the industry is using a format, and you refuse to support it across various hardware iterations, it's at least partially your fault for stubbornness. "You" being Amazon in this case, I have no personal beef with you. I'm just rounding out the reader opinion and supplying my personal experience and hoping it's helpful. :P

    I hear you and am forced to agree (and I knew the word "you" meant someone, in this case Amazon.)

    I wonder though if Amazon is going to be about Kindle like Apple is about iPod/iTunes; which is to say "we have the largest market share, so we do w/e the heck we want."

    I imagine that no matter how many people complain, at the end of the day Amazon may only go out of their way to resolve the library issue if it's deemed to have made a significant enough dent in their sales figures.
  • edited January 2011
    I got 3 Poirot books. "the murder of roger ackroyd" "cards on the table" "curtain Poirot's last case".
  • edited January 2011
    They're pretty good choices, all three of them, I would say. Curtain is the last of the Poirot stories, as the title says, but I guess there is no reason why you'd have to read them in order.
  • edited January 2011
    Avistew wrote: »
    They're pretty good choices, all three of them, I would say. Curtain is the last of the Poirot stories, as the title says, but I guess there is no reason why you'd have to read them in order.

    I guessed as much since I can watch any ep of the TV series and not be confused. And there was a 3 for 2 sale. XD
  • edited January 2011
    Barnes & Noble is discontinuing the 3G model of the Nook, apparently. This doesn't apply to the WiFi-only model or the Nook Color(which never had 3G). The 3G model is $50 more and comes with free 3G for life for the purposes of shopping for and downloading books. This has been my model that I've been using, and it's been nice particularly for titles that I purchased but neglected to download or hadn't realized I hadn't downloaded. If you're planning on getting a WiFi-only device though, you're still perfectly fine.
  • edited January 2011
    André Franquin's Schwarze Gedanken.
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    Patrick Süskind's Das Parfüm.
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    Jack Vance's Demon Princes serie.
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  • edited January 2011

    I don't understand this. First, they create the Nook Color to compete with the iPad more than the Kindle, and now they are even further distancing themselves from direct competition with Amazon by dropping cell access.

    I don't get it.
  • edited January 2011
    It's possible that they think people who buy the Kindle would buy the Kindle either way, so they want to compete with other devices because they think they have a better chance of making a difference there.
  • edited January 2011
    Maybe they can't afford the cost of providing free 3G access for the life of their devices, or perhaps whomever they have contracts with to provide said access wants too much money for it and B&N didn't want to pay it.

    For whatever reason, I say it doesn't bode well for Amazon. It doesn't help Dish Network to drop the YES Network (NY Yankees Sports) when they wanted too much money to let Dish broadcast it.
  • edited January 2011
    Olivier Pond's and Georges Abolin's Jenseits der Zeit.
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    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust (I+II).
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    Bedenke Phlebas from Ian Banks.
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  • edited January 2011
    The Watchmen serie by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
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    Thomas Bernhard's Elisabeth II. – Keine Komödie (and many others).
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    Jack Vance's Dying Earth serie.
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  • edited February 2011
    Finished the two towers. Some ending there. I look at the table of contents, so Fellowship's ending wasn't as much as a surprise as this one. Onto the film and then ROTK.

    And edit after spending the several hours watching The Two Towers: Film was slow, but last hour was completely excellent in every possible way. The new Fall of Saruman didn't bother me either, as I thought it might.
  • edited February 2011
    i've finished a book just now, quite good and would read it again

    (also the book was 'an idoit aborad, the travel daires of karl pilkiton')
  • edited February 2011
    Ribs wrote: »
    Finished the two towers. Some ending there. I look at the table of contents, so Fellowship's ending wasn't as much as a surprise as this one. Onto the film and then ROTK.

    And edit after spending the several hours watching The Two Towers: Film was slow, but last hour was completely excellent in every possible way. The new Fall of Saruman didn't bother me either, as I thought it might.

    Oh cool, are you reading each book, then watching each movie? I've been meaning to read the books and watch the movies again, I've only seen/read them once. It actually took me years to get through the books on and off - strange, since I've read the Hobbit so many times...
  • edited February 2011
    Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira serie in black&white.
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    Hans Magnus Enzensberger's Der Zahlenteufel.
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    Piers Anthony's Doppelwelt serie (the first books).
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  • edited February 2011
    skeeter wrote: »
    Oh cool, are you reading each book, then watching each movie? I've been meaning to read the books and watch the movies again, I've only seen/read them once. It actually took me years to get through the books on and off - strange, since I've read the Hobbit so many times...

    Yeah, it took me a few months to get through fellowship, but just less then a month for the Two Towers. And I'm watching each movie sort of as a back up in the oft chance I didn't understand something correctly.
  • edited February 2011
    I suggest that you watch Kerr's fanedit of LOTR. Kerr has fixed the movies so that they are much more like the books (eg. Faramir never takes Frodo to Osigliath)

    The fan edit, like the book, spends more time with each part of the fellowship before switching to another. Also, it has been split up into six movies instead of three to reflect the way that each book is organized into two parts.

    I really do like it a lot better.
  • edited February 2011
    Chyron8472 wrote: »
    I suggest that you watch Kerr's fanedit of LOTR. Kerr has fixed the movies so that they are much more like the books (eg. Faramir never takes Frodo to Osigliath)

    The fan edit, like the book, spends more time with each part of the fellowship before switching to another. Also, it has been split up into six movies instead of three to reflect the way that each book is organized into two parts.

    I really do like it a lot better.

    I'm not a firm believer of 'They Changed It So It Sucks', as the Lord of the Rings films do things that I don't particularly mind, as it didn't make much of an impact on the endgame. Now, if you pull a Watchmen, and change the ending, that's not cool.
  • edited February 2011
    Ribs: The ending is the only part that matters. Change anything else, and as long as it leads to the same place, the overall structure really is of absolutely no consequence.
  • edited February 2011
    Wilhelm Busch's Max und Moritz.
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    Many poems from Rainer Maria Rilke.
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    Larry Niven's Ringwelt.
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  • edited February 2011
    Hergé's Tim und Struppi.
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    Paul Klee's Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch from his Bauhaus years.
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    Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous mit Rama.
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  • edited February 2011
    Gary Larson's The Far Side.
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    Erich Kästner's Die Konferenz der Tiere.
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    Ursula K. Le Guin's Die Enteigneten/Planet der Habenichtse.
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  • edited February 2011
    Taumel, are you really reading two or three books per day?
  • edited February 2011
    I don't know if he is either, but when I was a kid I'd read at least 150 pages per day. I'm far less of a reader than I used to be(though more than most americans), some of these could be read in a day(Die Konferenz der Tiere, for example, is only 99 pages). It's more than average, but if I was on a particularly strong reading binge it would probably be fairly manageable.
  • edited February 2011
    Nope, i sadly don't have the time to read this much anymore but i had my years when i was reading a lot and read tons of books. Currently i just enjoy making suggestions of very good comics and books i think people could enjoy a lot if they are interested in the genres. There often is a big difference between books which are available in a bookstore and those which are really good.
  • edited February 2011
    I used to read LOTS. Then I decided to read a book per week (on average. You can't expect to take the same amount of time for, say, Les Misérables or The Little Prince) and did that for a while, and on summer break I'd pretty much read one book per day (here again, on average, so some days I'd read like five, and sometimes I'd take days to read one).

    Now... I barely read at all O.O I have reading phases and stuff but they're few and far between. I think it's because I used to spend a lot of forced time around people (my family, school, work, etc) and reading was a way to be alone and away from everyone. Now I spend most of my time alone so I prefer activities that feel more social (IMs, Skype, forums).

    I'd like to go back into reading though. Maybe I'll join a book club of some sort (we never ended up starting ours, did we guys?).
  • edited February 2011
    Currently reading:
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    and
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  • edited February 2011
    I recently read Chuck Yeager's autobiography, it was one of the best biographies I've read! If you like badass american war hero test pilots, you'll love this
  • edited February 2011
    Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner.
  • edited February 2011
    I was reading a book called Boycotts & Barflies that my mom recommended to my wife and me. Turns out it's just a "chick flick" in book form, so I'm going to start reading the first book of The O'Malley Series instead. It's a mystery series that my wife likes.

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  • edited February 2011
    Frank Le Gall's Theodor Pussel serie.
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    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Der kleine Prinz.
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    Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis from Douglas Adams (not because it's written well but because of the ideas).
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  • edited February 2011
    I'm reading this:

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    It's from the 10th century, and supposedly, teaches how to achieve immortality. 3/4ths of it is the translator explaining what it all means. The text itself is pretty short, but man is it esoteric. Here's a verse:
    Just when the white tiger on the west mountain goes wild, the blue dragon in the east sea cannot handle it. Catching them both, have them fight to the death, and they will turn into a mass of violet gold frost.
  • puzzleboxpuzzlebox Telltale Alumni
    edited February 2011
    Just when the white tiger on the west mountain goes wild, the blue dragon in the east sea cannot handle it. Catching them both, have them fight to the death, and they will turn into a mass of violet gold frost.

    I love that this comes from a book titled Understanding Reality. :D
  • edited February 2011
    puzzlebox wrote: »
    I love that this comes from a book titled Understanding Reality. :D

    To be fair, the entire thing is written in metaphors. Or at least, I think it is.
  • edited February 2011
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    I'm reading this. Can we talk about how great it is?

    Also reading:

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  • edited February 2011
    Bill Watterson's Calvin und Hobbes.
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    Hans Saler's Zwischen Licht und Schatten.
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    David Gerrold's Die biologische Invasion serie.
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  • edited February 2011
    I really enjoy listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks as read by Stephen Fry. I have the whole set on mp3. :)


    It had been a while since I last heard Jim Dale's reading of the books, so I decided to listen to it for a bit, just to see if I'm not being fair in my preference of Fry over Dale.

    ...but it turns out that I just confirmed for myself that Stephen Fry is indeed far superior.

    I mean, seriously. compare these two:

    Jim Dale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeAzVwGdhNw&t=6m50s

    Stephen Fry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mIjBuu5L58&t=4m03s

    Hands down, Fry is better. The twins mocking Percy isn't even funny at all in the Dale version.
  • edited February 2011
    I dedicate this recommendation to Avistew:

    Jean-Philippe Peyraud's Schönheitsflecken.
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  • edited February 2011
    Chyron8472 wrote: »
    I really enjoy listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks as read by Stephen Fry. I have the whole set on mp3. :)


    It had been a while since I last heard Jim Dale's reading of the books, so I decided to listen to it for a bit, just to see if I'm not being fair in my preference of Fry over Dale.

    ...but it turns out that I just confirmed for myself that Stephen Fry is indeed far superior.

    I mean, seriously. compare these two:

    Jim Dale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeAzVwGdhNw&t=6m50s

    Stephen Fry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mIjBuu5L58&t=4m03s

    Hands down, Fry is better. The twins mocking Percy isn't even funny at all in the Dale version.

    That was absolutely fantastic! Stephen Fry is one of my favorite actors ever. And not much beats having Jeeves read Harry Potter. :D
  • edited February 2011
    Ulf K.'s Der Exlibris.
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    Detlef Kersten's Kommissar Kniepel riddle books.
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    Richard Morgan's Das Unsterblichkeitsprogramm.
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