Recommend a book

[ChubbyTeletubby]

I'm just glad kids are reading.

Who HASN'T wanted to get hurt in an anal manner? It's just natural. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

And when that condom breaks it's just like...fuck it. I mean, pulling out is fine...as long as you spill it in my mouth so it's the same diff, right?

In the end we're all going to die from SOMETHING. Why not AIDS? It's trendy.

Seriously though, what the fuck? I'm all for gay rights but this shit crosses the line. But what's new? It's just not even shocking anymore.

It really isn't. I don't freak out about it. If I had kids who were reading this shit I'd have faith enough in the way I raised them for them not to go out and get butt fucked right after their 'fragile' brains absorbed this porn.

Really, who cares? I mean, they're going to get exposed to this shit sooner or later. If parents would simply do their jobs and not leave it to the underpaid educators to raise them..

Kids are more savvy then we give them credit for.

It's whatever. I don't have kids, don't plan on having kids. But if I ever DID, I know what NOT to do at least.

This kind of shit is the LEAST of our concerns. Focus, America! FOCUS!

[Leblanc4prez]

Books are nice... They are great fryed in oil.

[Locke]

Regarding Angels in America (I've heard of it, though I haven't read more than the excerpts in the post End linked to), from what I've seen it might have as much literary value as one of those Chuck Palahniuk books, but I doubt it. From that standpoint, there are a vast number of what most would consider better and more relevant choices for required reading. Ethically, I believe the school overstepped its bounds.

The community has certain expectations of the education and values their kids will receive at school, and the teacher or department who gave the go-ahead to that book betrayed those in a big way. Yes, teach tolerance, though I'm not sure how much good it will do for an unreceptive high-schooler, and to the others it's redundant. Tolerance is nice, graphic sex in novels assigned at school can only contribute further to our culture's decline.



Referring back to the thread's title, I read a novel online recently I enjoyed. I'm into speculative fiction in a big way; it's a broad genre and so many more of the stories seem so creative. I usually like something with a hint of sci-fi; this story was a bit absurd and gratuitously violent for me, but interesting nonetheless. http://www.nightshadebooks.com/Downl...ctronicARC.pdf

I like some of Ted Chiang's stuff, too. He's a serious mathematician who's written seven or so short stories along the way, and some are quite well-written. All that aren't listed in the link can be found with a little searching. http://www.freesfonline.de/authors/Ted_Chiang.html

That site in general has a huge amount of speculative fiction available free if you're into it: http://www.freesfonline.de/index.html

[End Master]

Hey Locke (or anyone else), here's an interesting site for speculative fiction/alternate history.

http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/index.php

You can even add to some alternate earth scenarios in the Shared Worlds section, or just create a "What If" scenario in any of the other forums and expand on it from there.

[wolfen44]

Any of the Discworld Books. They all rock.. I like the ones about Death best.

Ever Played the game it kicks ass

[End Master]

So I recently read Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor.

I thought it was cool to see how the villain in the comic got started on his path to... well, villainy.

It might be only of interest for those that have read the Walking Dead comic, but someone can easily read it without knowing anything about the comic since it still works as a straight up stand alone horror themed book. You just get a few extra references if you've read the comic.

[Vesnic]

I'm working for an insurance company in the KC Metro area.

Speaking of Kansas City, have any of you guys read a book by Thomas Frank (of Baffler fame) called What's the Matter with Kansas? The book is a few years old now, so of course it doesn't include the 2008 financial fuse-box explosion in its evaluations. However, like all political/historical books that age well, the 2008 meltdown makes perfect sense in the light of Frank's arguments.

Most importantly of all, he is a damn good writer, sharp and witty and sometimes villainously funny, yet simultaneously possessed of that Midwestern charm and modesty we've all come to admire so much in our dear Usoki. More successfully than others (though still not completely), this book attempts to answer the ubiquitous question, "What the fuck happened to America and why are people voting directly against their own interests?" Assuming I understood the book at all, the answer essentially boils down to, "This happens because all logical thinking and rational discourse have been excised in favor of populist appeals to emotion which gain their strength from an ingenious and self-propagating system of vociferous antagonism against absolutely everything."

Hmm, my version of the answer is pretty muddled...which is why you should read the book.

I feel as though I've also gotten a bit of a geography lesson about the little-known state of Dorothyland. I now know the difference between Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO, and I'm familiar with Johnson County and Mission Hills and names like Wyandotte and Garden City and Populism with a capital "P". I have to say Kansas sounds like an utterly insane yet periodically brilliant place where new religions are born and beliefs are held with the tenacity of bulldog-crab-letter-D's.

What's the Matter with Kansas? Mr. Frank won't mince words when he tells you. Highly, highly recommended.

[donteatpoop]

I'm currently rereading American Gods. Apparently HBO is making a series out of it. Solid story, excellent blend of mythologies. It's done as only Neil Gaiman can do it.

[Usoki]

That... does sound fairly interesting, actually. And not just because of the Kansas element- I love discussions on why people are so stupid.

...that Midwestern charm and modesty we've all come to admire so much in our dear Usoki.

Okay, yes... but you have to admit that over the years I've gotten better. (Worse?) I mean, granted, saying that I have less modesty is sorta like giving a toddler a knife and claiming that the kid is now much more dangerous... technically true, but not really worth saying.

I feel as though I've also gotten a bit of a geography lesson about the little-known state of Dorothyland.

The majority of Kansas City being in Missouri is just one of many absurd things about Kansas. One of our favorite things to do is to bastardize the pronunciation of words, and then ambush foreigners when they mess it up.

Olathe, Neodesha, Salina, El Dorado, Greenwich
o-LAY-thuh, Ne-O-deh-SHAY, sah-LIE-nuh, El-do-RAY-do, grEEn-which

So, anyway, the whole point of the thread...

I have to admit, I'm enjoying the works of Brandon Sanderson. I was worried, since he's been chosen to wrap up the legacy of one of the most verbose fantasy authors around. However, his own works seem to wrap up pretty nicely, and fairly quickly. He even has a few one-shot novels. My only complaint is that the guy has no understanding of 'trivial details'. Everything comes back later. It was ridiculous enough in Elantris... God only knows what will turn up when he has an entire trilogy to pull back from.

[Vesnic]

Anyone read and care to share thoughts on the Nightside series by Simon Green?

[Vesnic]

I just finished James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It was great, obviously.

No longwinded reviews tonight. Just the following, which demonstrates how very dearly Joyce loved his sheiza porn. I mean, how much he loved his little fuckbird, er ... girlfriend.