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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Huntn
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I've spent a lot of Christmas week curled up with G R R Martin's opus; having started A Game of Thrones about two weeks ago, and progressed in sequence through the series, I'm now reading A Feast for Crows.
Dance With Dragons is sitting on my sofa, as is the Steve Jobs biography and a few history books; I expect I'll get around to starting them next week.....which is also, as it happens, next year....
Dance With Dragons is sitting on my sofa, as is the Steve Jobs biography and a few history books; I expect I'll get around to starting them next week.....which is also, as it happens, next year....
It is one of the few books (in my entire life) that I started, but abjectly failed to finish. I bought it as a matter of principle (fearing that it might somehow become unavailable), but found it very heavy going.
Two - actually three - things struck me after having struggled with it: firstly, the simple fact that the fatwah was issued gave the book a notoriety that it may not have quite merited, as a work of literature, theology and philosophy. I have a horrible feeling that it might have sunk quietly without the fatwah - (it is entirely possible that Ayatollah Khomeinei sought a scapegoat or a convenient foreign distraction) and I am not in any way suggesting that Salman Rushdie actually sought such an outcome.
Secondly, the unkind thought occurs that the western literary establishment might have been more robust in their defence of Salman Rushdie's right to write and publish such a work, if he was not, Salman Rushdie, but rather, a white, middle class lad, from the west, rather than who he was.
Thirdly, some of his earlier work - Midnight's Children in particular - is absolutely electrifying. That is a seriously clever, brilliant, subversive, challenging book which covers - in an unorthodox manner - elements of the modern history of the Indian sub-continent(it managed the extraordinary feat of having been banned in both India and Pakistan, which should serve to commend it in the eyes of any objective person.) If you must read a book which shows what a writer Rushdie has been at his best, then, I'd recommend Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize) over the Satanic Verses, which, while a famous book for reasons less to do with content than context, is not - to my mind - his best by a long shot.
Just purchased The Walking Dead - Rise of the Governor on the iPad last night, and am already almost halfway through. It's a very good read if you like seeing how The Governor came to be in the graphic novels.
I'm waiting for Star Wars Darth Plagueis later in January. My only conundrum is do I buy the kindle version, or the ibook version. I enjoy reading my kindle on my commute but the iPad is easier to read at home because of the lighting. I also like the iBooks software/interaction over the kindles.
Attachments
Ian Kershaw's Hitler
(it's the first book I'm reading on my new Kindle 4. Quickly getting used to it.)
(it's the first book I'm reading on my new Kindle 4. Quickly getting used to it.)
An excellent biography, easily the best published in the last 30 years or so, and certainly the best since Joachim Fest published the first (postwar) German biography of Hitler.
How are you enjoying the experience of using Kindle? I haven't used it yet, but some of my friends and colleagues have begun to swear by it.
Excellent book indeed!
About the Kindle 4 (the $99 one):
Pros
It's very easy on the eyes.
Battery life is very good.
Instant access to a dictionary (English isn't my first language, and I sometimes need it). Just move the cursor before the word, and you'll se a short definition within the page. A couple clicks more and you'll get a full definition (that will take you out of the book you were reading, though)
Size and weight are, I think, ideal.
Cons
I'd have liked a warmer white.
I often turn the page by accident.
That's about it. I wouldn't have bought it for myself (if anything, I'd have chosen an iPad, which wouldn't have been nearly as good for reading but more versatile) but my sister got me one for my birthday and I'm loving it.
That's what happens to me too often. I miss the physical buttons on the side to turn the page. I could be wrong but the touch screen seems a tad sluggish as well. When on the menu or the home page I tap on something and there's a definite lag of when it responds.
Overall the kindle is nice but I wish they kept those side buttons for changing the page.
I just purchased the $79 Kindle 4 (the one with the ads) and I'm upset at myself for not having gotten it earlier. I've been reading on my phone for years...and obviously, this is light years better.
If you read a lot, I totally recommend it. It's easy to purchase and load books (if necessary), it's super light, the e-ink is SO easy on my eyes, and it is very, very easy to turn the pages (my version has the buttons on both sides).
Actually, I got the physical buttons.
The way I hold it (usually with my left hand) I often press the "Next page" button with my index knuckle.
Actually, I got the physical buttons.
The way I hold it (usually with my left hand) I often press the "Next page" button with my index knuckle.
Obligatory...
You're holding it wrong.
Excellent book indeed!
About the Kindle 4 (the $99 one):
Pros
It's very easy on the eyes.
Battery life is very good.
Instant access to a dictionary (English isn't my first language, and I sometimes need it). Just move the cursor before the word, and you'll se a short definition within the page. A couple clicks more and you'll get a full definition (that will take you out of the book you were reading, though)
Size and weight are, I think, ideal.
Cons
I'd have liked a warmer white.
I often turn the page by accident.
That's about it. I wouldn't have bought it for myself (if anything, I'd have chosen an iPad, which wouldn't have been nearly as good for reading but more versatile) but my sister got me one for my birthday and I'm loving it.
Thanks, both of you for taking the time and trouble to respond. Actually, I do read a lot, - fact and fiction both - I'm always reading, and, over the Yuletide break, my brother had sort of sounded me out as to whether I would be interested in a Kindle.
For now, I love the sheer physical pleasure of curling up with a good book, (for a fabulous work of fiction), or immersing myself in a serious history, philosophy or politics book or collection of essays (not curled up, for this is a different sort of reading).......but, I'm open to the idea of a Kindle. Given that I travel a lot, my brother suggested that a Kindle might be good company in some of the strange places I tend to visit.
Cheers
The third book was every bit as good as the first two. My next step is to see the movies.
Been wanting to start that series.
I am currently re-reading His Dark Materials triology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials
"Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World's Least Sustainable City" by Andrew Ross
"Distrust that Particular Flavor" by William Gibson
"Distrust that Particular Flavor" by William Gibson