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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Huntn
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Ratings in the US are irrelevant in Europe.
And from what I have read, it appears these ratings are for an individual who, in the words of Bernard Goldberg (from CBS) observed that "Savage's brand of over-the-top bile...puts him right in there with the angriest haters of the Left."
And, with respect, the UK is an extraordinarily tolerant society in some ways.
Nevertheless, I find it interesting that while the ban on him entering the UK was initiated by the Labour Government, it was continued by the subsequent Conservative led administration.
On books, I have finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
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I have not even marked the 5th hour of my return, and already the temptation to misbehave has beset me. Oh cruel fate, why must you test me so? May I have the strength to bear such indiscretions!
pfftt PFFFTTT FFFTTT PFFFTT PFFFF...errk..PFFRTTTT...FFFRRTT
:walks away:
A very warm welcome back, and very good to see you on here again.
Just a thought - can we reserve any mention of Savage for the "Politics, Religion, Social Issues" forum? Definitely where it belongs - rather than polluting this otherwise very civil thread 
I am still working on "The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto" after having finished "Death by Cliché." Really enjoyed Death by Cliché - it is a fun book full of RPG tropes and clichés and fourth wall breaking ... and yet somehow endearing and it builds a nice narrative that propels you to the finish.
Also loving Frankie Presto - the style of narrative is really engaging, as is the very premise. I'm only ~25% through it, but every chapter is a new adventure!
I am still working on "The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto" after having finished "Death by Cliché." Really enjoyed Death by Cliché - it is a fun book full of RPG tropes and clichés and fourth wall breaking ... and yet somehow endearing and it builds a nice narrative that propels you to the finish.
Also loving Frankie Presto - the style of narrative is really engaging, as is the very premise. I'm only ~25% through it, but every chapter is a new adventure!
Just finished Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
The premise was interesting and parts of it were fairly captivating
Other parts lagged as he droned on and on about some things
Overall, I was intrigued
But the ending left much to be desired IMO
It was like he lost interest in the book himself
It could have been epic
But it wasn't
I really enjoyed his Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, so this was disappointing in the end
Not a total waste, but didn't live up to my expectations
The premise was interesting and parts of it were fairly captivating
Other parts lagged as he droned on and on about some things
Overall, I was intrigued
But the ending left much to be desired IMO
It was like he lost interest in the book himself
It could have been epic
But it wasn't
I really enjoyed his Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, so this was disappointing in the end
Not a total waste, but didn't live up to my expectations
Never read Snow Crash but I thought Cryptonomicon was brilliant, and also hugely enjoyed The Baroque Cycle.
I've bumped into books like that now and then, and even wondered if that's actually what happened. A good editor should be able to make that a little less noticeable if it's really the case. Or at least hint there's maybe a sequel afoot, possibly explaining lack of a clear denouement.
Haven't tried any Neal Stephenson, and despite your and @Scepticalscribe's favorable remarks, his books would have to join quite a line here. I'm making some headway this summer, having decided to just keep on through the unread stacks instead of making my usual "deep dive" most summers into one or another topic or author's works. Still there are lots left in my queue.
Just now I'm reading Douglas Rogers' Last Resort: A Zimbabwe Memoir, about the times after his return to his parents’ home in Zimbabwe in 2001, just after Mugabe’s thugs had begun to throw black and white farmers alike off land held by whites. Tsvangirai’s MDC party ended up supported by blacks and whites as the quality of Mugabe’s government slid further into corruption... but then as time went on it became clear that the “David” of modern Zimbabwe’s David and Goliath also had plenty of flaws. Now Mugabe’s practically come full circle as senior military officers and many among the war veterans who forcibly “settled” farms during the Fast Track Land Reform have begun to withdraw support for the aging tyrant.
The memoir is at times very funny (the "resort" of the title is in fact a resort once favored by backpacking tourists and eventually in Rogers' parents' desperation during the Mugabe years, partly rented out as a brothel). But it's a fascinating personal glimpse into history as well, not least because Rogers’ British ancestors had lived in Zimbabwe for 350 years; one of his grandmothers had never even set foot out of Africa.
Yet the 30,000 white among 13 million black Zimbabweans had found themselves in terrible peril, not upon Mugabe’s election but beginning 20 years later as Mugabe turned on them, ousting farmers who had employed hundreds of thosands of black Zimbabwean farmers, installing instead his cronies, who promptly launched the country’s abrupt decline in agricultural output.
By Mugabe’s fiat the country was suddenly about Africans and ...whites... and so no longer just about Zimbabweans proud of their country, a once rising star of independent Africa for its literacy, economic achievements and astounding agricultural productivity.
A few years back it seemed that tens of thousands of independent black farmers had managed to regroup and make a living even from their small land acquisitions. Still there are so many blacks and whites who have left to try their fortunes in Zambia, South Africa or off the continent, there can be no netting out of the good and bad as far as indvidual human fates are concerned.
I just started the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. Quite good and highly recommended if you enjoy the fantasy, magic, fiction type books.
Not sure I fully understand the question.
Are you asking each poster to mention how many pages the book that they are reading actually has?
Or, are you asking whether the length of the book determines whether someone will want to read it?
In any case, for me, book length is not what decides whether I will want to read the book.
If the book is by an author I respect and rate highly, or, on a topic that interests me, or has received good reviews, I will be interested in reading it.
Just finished Purity by Jonathan Franzen. Reading Enchanted Wanderer; a collection of short stories by Nikolai Leskov, a late contemporary of the big 19th century Russian writers.
[doublepost=1472129903][/doublepost]Oh yeah, I read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in two evenings earlier this week. It was ok. I liked it, but sad that JK had to rely on a certain... "story technique"... to create a story. I think it could have been better. But better than nothing.
[doublepost=1472129903][/doublepost]Oh yeah, I read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in two evenings earlier this week. It was ok. I liked it, but sad that JK had to rely on a certain... "story technique"... to create a story. I think it could have been better. But better than nothing.
I liked the path of character development she had taken with Albus, (but was sorry not to see his siblings appear at all), and, above all, must say that Scorpius (tellingly, about the only wholly new character created) was both a revelation and an absolute joy.
Moreover, I rather liked the way Draco's character had evolved, too.
Interesting line for a work to take - that of studying the effects of a conflict on the children of those who have survived it - both the children of those who had been the victors (Harry, Hermione, Ron, & Ginny) and - of equal importance - the children of those who survived, but who had taken the losing side (Draco).
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I liked everything you mention. I just don't like the device ( literal and narratively ) used to move the characters through the story. I enjoyed Scorpius a lot.
Overall, I don't think I would enjoy the play as a performance though.
Point taken.
When it was used in one of the books, it was relevant and necessary; and yes, I would agree that this device - both literally and narratively - is more than a bit overdone in the play.
Nevertheless, while I would have welcomed a 'fresh' (and perhaps more modern) look at that world, - in a modern context and setting - I think the point that she (J K Rowling) might have been trying to make is that it is very difficult to overcome the legacy - legacies? - traumas, chains and claims of the past. That - as a survivor of conflict - and the children of such survivors - the past will haunt you, a sort of PTSD, the effects of which can linger far longer than people sometimes realise.
Another point that strikes me is that if you have an antagonist as compelling and comprehensively evil as Lord Voldemort, it is very difficult to come up with an antagonist who commands equal respect and fear (and narrative necessity) in subsequent works.
But, loved Scorpius, - he was an absolute joy - really wonderful - (and Albus) and was intrigued by how Draco (who had always had and had enjoyed the love of his family) had genuinely developed as a character.
Personally, I'd have liked to have seen more of Ginny - I think that her character could have been used more, and I am sorry that the neither Lily Luna, nor James Sirius put in an appearance, let alone Hugo; likewise, to my mind, they could have done more with Rose as a character, too.
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I would have liked to see more of the modern Wizarding World. Maybe a muggle investigative reporter sneaking into the Wizarding World somehow, or brought there to undermine the current regime of Dumbledore's Army.
Re the Harry Potter play, I had become so accustomed to long expository world building that the script felt jarringly terse. The story itself was fine, and I tend to agree with the criticisms above. I just wish all that blank page space had been filled with words.
I do, too, but I think the biggest problem was to give the characters a challenge - a narrative challenge (not a character challenge which Scorpius and Draco - and indeed, Albus to a lesser degree - managed impressively) - in the absence of Lord Voldemort.
When your nemesis has been killed, - and his armies defeated thoroughly, his vision lies in tatters, while his surviving followers - those that haven't been imprisoned - are living in discreet disgrace how do you convey a fundamental threat to your new world?
The Potterworld equivalent of retribution coming from those hanging out hiding in the jungles of Brazil or the Altiplano of the high Andes isn't going to compel an audience to give consideration to the possibility that Lord Voldemort's scattered followers might return: After all, they had returned once before - some of them from Azkaban - and - eventually, after a terrifyingly close shave, true, - were completely defeated for a second time.
I thought the glimpses of what might have happened had certain key events turned out differently - or, not happened at all - very interesting. (And that is something that could have been explored to a far greater degree). And yes, I also thought it - telling, that word again, - quite telling, in fact - that the most horrible version of Harry himself appeared in an alternative world. (That was also something that might have been worth exploring further).
However, I regret that some of the surviving characters - Ginny is the obvious one - weren't fleshed out further; Hermione (as always, great value - I've loved her as a character from the very beginning) and Ron are recognisably themselves, but Ginny - who was no shrinking violet - was shamefully under-utilised.
Draco's character arc was very satisfying, though, and I'm very glad to see it.
Likewise, I was pleased to see a more nuanced take on the whole idea of Slytherin, and what Slytherin represented, as - while that House played host to most who supported the ideal of blood purity nonsense, for narrative purposes, it was too easily the default narrative 'shorthand' for a portrayal of what 'being evil is all about - (though, granted, some attempt was made to present a more complex portrait with the introduction of the character of Professor Slughorn, and what we later learned about Severus Snape), - other themes, such as power corrupting, or, just Because You Are On The Side Of Good Doesn't Mean That You Are Always Good could also have done with examination.
But, yes; while I enjoyed this, I'd have preferred to see it as a fully fledged book. A fat, heavy, inviting book, stitched solidly between two hard covers.......
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Agree, too, with @mobilehaathi about the regrettable and unfortunate lack of background world building; it added enormously to the attraction - and narrative depth - of the books.
As someone who spent quite a bit of my life in classrooms, both as a teacher and as a student, I loved the scenes set in class; J K Rowling didn't just write 'Professor X taught Y', or 'as they left Potions class...', she actually allowed us into the classroom where we experienced what was actually taught in the class and accompanied the characters as they attempted to master the challenge of learning the course of study that had been set on that particular course.
Another feature of the books which I real liked was the narrative structure - which, in the first six books (the seventh, which was superb, had an entirely different structure) took the accessible form of invariably starting in the non-magical world, transiting through a semi-magical series of venues (such as Diagon Alley, The Burrow, Quidditch World Cup, Grimmauld Place) where the world of the Muggles co-existed uncomfortably, uneasily and unknowingly alongside that of the story's witches and wizards, and ending up - usually, but not always - via the Hogwarts Express - at the magical school.
As the series progressed, the 'transiting' section took on an increasingly important - and lengthy - part of the story, adding yet another layer of depth and meaning to the tale.
For a variety of reasons, the play (and script) seems to have felt that this would not be appropriate, but that is another thing I regret the lack of.
As someone who spent quite a bit of my life in classrooms, both as a teacher and as a student, I loved the scenes set in class; J K Rowling didn't just write 'Professor X taught Y', or 'as they left Potions class...', she actually allowed us into the classroom where we experienced what was actually taught in the class and accompanied the characters as they attempted to master the challenge of learning the course of study that had been set on that particular course.
Another feature of the books which I real liked was the narrative structure - which, in the first six books (the seventh, which was superb, had an entirely different structure) took the accessible form of invariably starting in the non-magical world, transiting through a semi-magical series of venues (such as Diagon Alley, The Burrow, Quidditch World Cup, Grimmauld Place) where the world of the Muggles co-existed uncomfortably, uneasily and unknowingly alongside that of the story's witches and wizards, and ending up - usually, but not always - via the Hogwarts Express - at the magical school.
As the series progressed, the 'transiting' section took on an increasingly important - and lengthy - part of the story, adding yet another layer of depth and meaning to the tale.
For a variety of reasons, the play (and script) seems to have felt that this would not be appropriate, but that is another thing I regret the lack of.
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I had also read the two little pamphlets JK put out years ago, which also had a decidedly different feel. I think this would work well as a play, but I'd much prefer real sequels along with it.
Because gardeners make of the earth a paradise.
Looks like a gorgeous book, one which, in another time, I might have bought for my mother.
Thanks to yaxomoxay, Niall Ferguson: "Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist". (2015).
Please let me know what you think of it.