Currently Reading

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Gibby
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Gibby » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:28 pm

It's just a symptom of society and sensibilities changing. I read an article about how in our culture's past (and in other cultures today), physical affection between friends (such as linking arms or resting hands on shoulders n such) was commonplace, as opposed to GHEY. We settle for the bro-hug nowadays I suppose ¬_¬

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Sly Boots
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Sly Boots » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:33 pm

The last time I read my Sherlock Holmes collection there were plenty of times I'd giggle childishly and read a passage to my wife. As Gibby says, it's just changing times innit.

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Strudel
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Strudel » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:54 pm

I was a massive Tolkien fan back when the LoTR films came out (and I still am, just don't have time to read them again at the moment). I've got some really nice copies of LoTR, Silmarillion, and The Hobbit:

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As well the Histories of Middle Earth, which I've only ever got about a quarter of the way through:

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Strudel
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Strudel » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:55 pm

Sorry, tried to shrink the Silmarillion image but nothing I tried seemed to work. :(

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Pew-Pew
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Pew-Pew » Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:49 pm

I've got that Folio version of the Hobbit too, along with all of the LotR and Silmarillion ones. Lovely books.

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Strudel
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Strudel » Mon Aug 13, 2018 7:42 pm

Yeah, they're really beautiful. I never read them though; I've got crappy old copies of the main books for that, but I haven't read any of them in years now.

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The Jackal
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by The Jackal » Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:03 pm

It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. Almost finished it, a very good novel from 1935 that theorises a populist, anti-immigrant political outsider sweeping the Presidency and bringing dictatorship with it. I think it was re-released for a bit more than just its anniversary...

Before that, Metro 2034 after reading and loving the first book earlier in the year. Second book felt a bit flighty, but brought me back by the end.

Before that - and a bit of an inadvertent US politics theme developing - was Every Man A King, the autobiography of Huey Long. I thoroughly recommend T. Harry Williams' book on Long if anyone's interested.
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Gibby
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Gibby » Fri Aug 17, 2018 3:21 pm

Started a book called The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat. Recommended by The Jackal. A take of two ships during WW2, and those who crewed them. Not very far in but I like the way it's written.

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Bird
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Bird » Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:05 pm

Strudel wrote:
Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:54 pm
I was a massive Tolkien fan back when the LoTR films came out (and I still am, just don't have time to read them again at the moment). I've got some really nice copies of LoTR, Silmarillion, and The Hobbit:



As well the Histories of Middle Earth, which I've only ever got about a quarter of the way through:

They look pretty sweet, but do you have the old BBC cassette tapes in the big shiny box?!

Ps. I am reading The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. I also like highlighting things in bold. It's pretty good, sort of a tricky writing style for what was meant to be light reading, but definitely interesting and I guess fairly relevant again today.

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Strudel
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Strudel » Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:26 pm

Why would I have cassette tapes? I don't even use CDs any more. ¬_¬

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Hatredsheart
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Hatredsheart » Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:29 pm

Bird wrote:
Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:05 pm
They look pretty sweet, but do you have the old BBC cassette tapes in the big shiny box?!
Yup. And Tolkien himself reading LoTR and the Silmarillion.
Shame I no longer have a cassette player though. :lol:
Luckily I have the BBC dramatisation on mp3.
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Alan
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Alan » Thu Aug 23, 2018 9:43 am

After owning it for who knows how long I just started Masters Of Doom last night. The start isn’t great and I hate the way it refers to Carmack and Romero as “the gamers” constantly but the rest is really quite interesting. From Carmack experiments with thermite to how they coded Keen it’s almost all too perfectly crafted to be true. I’m around a third through it, just wrapping up the Keen stuff and dipping into 3D engine building. Good wee light read.
A man who could tell more truth and eat fewer pies.

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Medicine Man
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Medicine Man » Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:29 pm

Stormbringer wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 12:22 pm
Sly Boots wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 12:16 pm
Wow, those are beautiful. Are the illustrations on the inside as nice as it looks from the outside?
The interior illustrations are identical. They're by Alan Lee. He's actually not my favourite artist; his paintings are very desaturated and they rarely have characters in them, making Middle-earth look like a very bleak, dreary and severely underpopulated place. They do have a certain moodiness and austere beauty, but they're nowhere near as good as the works of John Howe.

Maturin wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 12:25 pm
Yeah, the illustrations are by Alan Lee and have a classic, realistic beauty to them, perhaps not your usual fantasy drawing style.
Relevant...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/article ... the-screen

Perhaps something for you to attend Doug?

https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festiv ... -lee-12008

Short notice I know but I thought it worth mentioning.

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Stormbringer
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by Stormbringer » Sun Aug 26, 2018 11:51 pm

Thanks, Medicine Man! I'm not sure if I'll go, but it's nice to know this is happening (even though John Howe's illustrations are clearly better than Lee's ¬_¬).
Between tedium and fright
Such is the song of the nether world
The hissing of rats
And the jarring chants of angels

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The Jackal
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Re: Currently Reading

Post by The Jackal » Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:09 am

I'm about to go back to The Silmarillion (boldened for reference, but I do think I need someone else to read them, like I'm being dubbed over), forthe first time since uni it must be. This is after having just finished an anniversarial re-reading of The Bell Jar,which just might be my favourite novel (if I ever had to pick only one).

With the completion of It Can't Happen Here (which was very, very good and I recommend it to anyone who at least will get a hollow laugh from the parallels to today's US politics), I believe I have finally finished this year's birthday books haul, which was itself delayed by the backlog from Christmas.
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