Post: #176

Anything by Ayn Rand is terrible. Talk about writing endlessly about the mundane (paragraphs devoted to SMOKING A CIGARETTE). The philosophy that she tries to push, is alluring, but also seems like an excuse to act like a pompous asshole.

The dialogue and commentary in all of her novels are didactic like a Baptist preacher. She never seemed to have an editor (that John Galt monologue was so fucking unnecessary). Her characters are one dimensional and nothing like people you experience in life.

It's funny, because I buy into the concept of living my life according to ideas similar to hers. I believe in individuality, self reliance, and being true and uninhibited. But Rand takes these ideas to the absolute extreme. Every book is genius vs. the world; the individual genius must be selfish; people are jealous of genius'.

She comes off as ego-centric, arrogant, and unfathomable. She's left her mark on the world but probably died without a single person who liked her.

Post: #177

I read a quote somewhere about the "fig tree of life" that came from "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath. It was beautiful and (not surprisingly) poetic and insightful.

I decided to give the book a shot. It seemed like an easy, quick read.

My god, it was repulsive.

Talk about first world problems. I wish I had the means and ability to buy 100,000 copies of the novel and airdrop them above someplace like Sudan, or Indonesia, or Cambodia. Not entirely sure about the extent of how autobiographical the novel is, but Sylvia Plath is pretty insufferable.

I am very empathetic to people who suffer from mental illness, and have spent a good portion of my life researching the brain. But it is difficult to connect with someone who whines and complains after being afforded every privilege life has to offer. And when the mental breakdown happens at the climax of the novel, it's not really interesting--nor are we given any insight on how it manifested, what her life was like (other than privilege) before her suicide attempt, or what really triggered it.

As the novel winds down, you'd expect her to somehow change, or give some worthwhile reflection, but nothing happens. There's no big reveal, or big lesson. I don't understand if there's even any thematic relevance to much of the book. You're left unsatisfied, and with a terrible taste in your mouth from the whining from the first half of the novel.

Please burn.

Post: #178

^^ "I am very empathetic to people who suffer from mental illness," I hope not. Empathy is feeling what others feel.

Post: #179

(09-05-2017 10:37 AM)the chef Wrote:  I read a quote somewhere about the "fig tree of life" that came from "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath. It was beautiful and (not surprisingly) poetic and insightful.

I decided to give the book a shot. It seemed like an easy, quick read.

My god, it was repulsive.

Talk about first world problems. I wish I had the means and ability to buy 100,000 copies of the novel and airdrop them above someplace like Sudan, or Indonesia, or Cambodia. Not entirely sure about the extent of how autobiographical the novel is, but Sylvia Plath is pretty insufferable.

I am very empathetic to people who suffer from mental illness, and have spent a good portion of my life researching the brain. But it is difficult to connect with someone who whines and complains after being afforded every privilege life has to offer. And when the mental breakdown happens at the climax of the novel, it's not really interesting--nor are we given any insight on how it manifested, what her life was like (other than privilege) before her suicide attempt, or what really triggered it.

As the novel winds down, you'd expect her to somehow change, or give some worthwhile reflection, but nothing happens. There's no big reveal, or big lesson. I don't understand if there's even any thematic relevance to much of the book. You're left unsatisfied, and with a terrible taste in your mouth from the whining from the first half of the novel.

Please burn.

This was your tell that it was a sucky book. I never read anything from Sylvia Plath, mainly because I have seen too many English majors/teachers get a hard on when they even mention the name.

Post: #180

Brave New World was painful. Yeah I get it dystopia...but that was a waste of my time.

Post: #181

(04-23-2017 12:41 PM)Alsos Wrote:  Thinking back, The Book of Job, Heart of Darkness, the Metamorphosis, and some Virginia Woolf trash were on the list, too. Seems a bit ghoulish and morbid for a high-school syllabus. Makes me wonder about the teacher.

lol. Yeah I read Job (shit storm for no reason), Hamlet (contemplates suicide), Camus' the Stranger (kills a stranger for no reason), Romeo and Juliet (teen suicide pact), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (sexual assualt/divorce?), Ibsen (cuckold). Yeah fairly dark lol. Curiously, we did watch the Franco Zaffereli directed Romeo and Juliett with a naked 15 year old Olivia Hussey.

My best memory of the class was when I friend of mine turned in Geddy Lee's "Red Barcetta" as an original poem. The album was just a year or two old at the time. Teacher liked it so much she asked him to read it in front of the class to the laughter of several Rush fans.

Post: #182

Coming of Age in Samoa, by Margaret Mead (for obvious reasons).

EDIT: I didn't actually read the book, but I've read summaries of it and I know what it's about.

Post: #183

OMG, there are forum members that read Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf? What were you thinking???

Post: #184

Don Quixote was hard for me to get through, and I gave up, but that's because Cervantes was getting paid by the page so he drew the story out a long as possible. It's basically a 200-page novel stretched out to 900, with a sequel.

I never could get through Dune either; after the first 100 pages nothing happens and I just quit. I can only tolerate that in a book where I feel immersed in a relatable world, like the Lord of the Rings.

Post: #185

I can't get through novels or science fiction these days. It wears me out. I only read non-fiction.

Post: #186

To Kill a Mockingbird...

If I were Scout's father I woulda gotten the hell out of Maybury a long time ago.

Post: #187

Concerning Brave New World. I get tired of hearing Westerners whining about dystopia this and dystopia that. Come to Africa to see the real dystopia.

Post: #188

Has anyone said Lord Of The Rings yet?

I was OK with The Hobbit but LOTR put me to sleep, and I mean literally.

Post: #189

I got through LOTR, a couple times if I remember, but there are three parts that really drag the most: Gandalf's explanation to Frodo of the history of the Ring, the Council of Elrond, and the worst offender, the Entmoot.

The first two are necessary, but overly long, the latter just seems totally superfluous. I dunno, it's like Tolkien didn't have an editor.

Post: #190

I'm not sure if I posted about it, but here it goes.

Atlas Shrugged

Just the way she writes it would've been better if she had a bunch of 6 year old kids write her stories.

Post: #191

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon- I couldn't get past the first few chapters.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan- Not super famous, but it did win the 2014 Man Booker prize. I found it way too melodramatic and overwrought.

Also, when I was in AP English in high school I wrote in one of my reports that I thought Franz Kafka's stories sucked (I used the phrase, "The Worst"), which made my teacher extremely angry.

Post: #192

(01-09-2018 09:46 PM)Dulceácido Wrote:  OMG, there are forum members that read Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf? What were you thinking???

I was humoring the teacher by going along with her reading assignment.

Which in hindsight was a missed opportunity. Grown-up me in that situation would have read the text, then reduced the teacher to tears in classroom discussion. And probably earned myself detention with my colorful essays on the material, to boot.

If only I could have been the asshole then that I am now.

Post: #193

(07-11-2013 08:39 AM)Sailor Wrote:  Anything by Paulo Coelho

Have you read Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho? This is a good read to get into the mind of a woman. The Alchemist is almost Taoist in the way the story of the young Santiago unfolds. I recommend these two books.

Post: #194

'The Art of War' and 'The Prince'. I found both to be quite dry with little practical advice.

I loved 'The 48 Laws of Power' though.

Post: #195

Anything by Jane Austen. Purported romantic masterpieces written by a woman who never married and died a spinster. No thanks. Massively overrated.

Post: #196

(01-09-2018 09:52 PM)Super_Fire Wrote:  Don Quixote was hard for me to get through, and I gave up, but that's because Cervantes was getting paid by the page so he drew the story out a long as possible. It's basically a 200-page novel stretched out to 900, with a sequel.

I've read it in English and Spanish. It's a lot better in Spanish. It's also an excellent book for learning Spanish.

I was lucky to grow up in a multi-lingual household. Most native Spanish speakers, especially Spaniards, dislike it because it pushed on them in school the way Shakespere is pushed on English speakers.

Post: #197

I tried the first Song of Fire and Ice book and thought the writing was terrible. Turned me off so much I haven't tried the TV series. Then I saw a picture of the author and his obesity turned me off even more.

Post: #198

(02-19-2018 12:20 AM)bucky Wrote:  I tried the first Song of Fire and Ice book and thought the writing was terrible. Turned me off so much I haven't tried the TV series. Then I saw a picture of the author and his obesity turned me off even more.

I watched the first episode; Sean Bean was good in it, but otherwise it felt corny, and I like fantasy stuff.

Post: #199

Way back at school, I was forced to read some of the shittest books ever written. These included 'The Rainbow' by D.H.Lawrence, Mansfield Park (Jane Austin) and Mrs Dalloway (Virginia Woolf). Now, as an adult, I'm willing to believe that some of these books may have some merit and they may even be good for all I know. But fucking hell, how on earth can a school expect 17 year old boys to have the faintest interest in any of this shite!? I liked reading, but this trio almost killed my interest stone dead.

Our English teacher was an actual feminist which looking back made the experience of reading this drivel even worse. She loved this shit and pushed their themes hard every lesson. What those themes were are still a mystery, as to this day I have no idea what the 'Rainbow' was about.

Post: #200

(02-21-2018 12:11 AM)Super_Fire Wrote:  

(02-19-2018 12:20 AM)bucky Wrote:  I tried the first Song of Fire and Ice book and thought the writing was terrible. Turned me off so much I haven't tried the TV series. Then I saw a picture of the author and his obesity turned me off even more.

I watched the first episode; Sean Bean was good in it, but otherwise it felt corny, and I like fantasy stuff.

Friends try selling me on this series by describing it as a "modern" Lord of the Rings, which boils down to it being cynical, nihilistic, and full of rape and incest. And they can't understand why they're not persuasive.

I'll second the observation about Martin. He's viscerally repulsive, even for a mainstream SF/F author.