Has anyone read Paul Auster's New York Trilogy? Saw a recent post that said it was Kojima's inspiration for the post modern, fourth wall breaking stuff in MGS2.
It's on my shelf but I haven't read it. I really liked his Book of Illusions though.
Kindle Descriptions said:Governor Ed Rendell explains why America's leaders rarely call for sacrifice for the greater goodto avoid making any sacrifices themselves!
Rendell has seen job security become the primary consideration of any person with power in Americatheir own job security! Most politicians and bureaucrats can see no further ahead than the next election, sometimes no further than the next press conference. Americans are rarely afraid of sacrifice and hard work when they mean building a better future, but when was the last time you heard of a leader of anything making a sacrifice for the greater good? The people can only win when they make it clear to the powers that be that making the right choices, even the hard ones, is the key to winning the next election.
Finally read this and loved it. Other than the fact that this is about a boy who finds himself on a lifeboat with a tiger I knew nothing about the book and was pretty curious how this premise would make for an interesting read. Well I'm still not sure about the how, but an interesting read it was. Still don't believe in God though, but at times the book got me wishing I could.
Life of Pi
Finally read this and loved it. Other than the fact that this is about a boy who finds himself on a lifeboat with a tiger I knew nothing about the book and was pretty curious how this premise would make for an interesting read. Well I'm still not sure about the how, but an interesting read it was. Still don't believe in God though, but at times the book got me wishing I could.
I thought it was a rather scathing and cynical look on religion.
edit: On second thought, it wasn't actually scathing, but it had a depressingly cynical look on why we have religion. I really liked it.
Just finished:
At the end of the book I was like
So now I am onto:
Really? I don't know if saying that we have religion, because a good story is better (or at least nicer) to believe in than cold and rational facts is really cynical. Maybe if religion is understood only on a purely institutional level? But I think the book was more about believe than it was about institutional religions. And in this I did not found it to be cynical at all.
We'll agree to disagree then. I think that the view that people believe because they don't want to deal reality is pretty cynical imo. It's basically saying that religion (even on a personal level) is escapism. Well, at least that's what I got out of it. I do think that you're view is reasonable though.
I can't wait for the film.
Just finished this and awaiting the 2nd part from Amazon.
Awesome book. I can't believe I'd never heard of Gene Wolfe before (picked the book up at random at Barnes & Noble not knowing what to expect). Difficult to read at first due to the exotic vocabulary, but after a couple chapters I couldn't put it down. I love how the author presents a culture that's degenerated past the point of understanding its own technology (e.g. a mechanism powered by 'lightning' instead of electricity).
On no account should you overlook The Urth of the New Sun once you've finished all four parts of The Book of the New Sun. It will hugely intensify your appreciation of the series by expounding many fascinating details and plot strands that were only hinted in the earlier volumes. The overarching narrative it reveals blew my mind, and the insights it offers about several major characters made me want to read the series all over again.Need to pick up the third and fourth still. Finished the second one a while back but still haven't moved on.
On no account should you overlook The Urth of the New Sun once you've finished all four parts of The Book of the New Sun. It will hugely intensify your appreciation of the series by expounding many fascinating details and plot strands that were only hinted in the earlier volumes. The overarching narrative it reveals blew my mind, and the insights it offers about several major characters made me want to read the series all over again.
Urth of the New Sun is a satisfying conclusion to Severian's journeys and an exceptionally rich reward for all of the time you invested in the preceding books.
Also got The Fifth Head of Cerberus.
So to people reading The Dark Tower... how is Stephen King, generally? I tried to read Tommyknockers and got about 250 pages in before I had to put that shit down. So much padding and repetition, not to mention the boring and flat characters. Didn't like his style of writing at all. Is it representative of his work or is it one of his worst?
Yay new Pete Hamilton book coming out soon! And its a sci-fi detective novel!
Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton
I really need to get around to reading some Hamilton.
I really need to get around to reading some Hamilton.
So to people reading The Dark Tower... how is Stephen King, generally? I tried to read Tommyknockers and got about 250 pages in before I had to put that shit down. So much padding and repetition, not to mention the boring and flat characters. Didn't like his style of writing at all. Is it representative of his work or is it one of his worst?
Yay new Pete Hamilton book coming out soon! And its a sci-fi detective novel!
So to people reading The Dark Tower... how is Stephen King, generally? I tried to read Tommyknockers and got about 250 pages in before I had to put that shit down. So much padding and repetition, not to mention the boring and flat characters. Didn't like his style of writing at all. Is it representative of his work or is it one of his worst?
Ohh, nice. Also coming out this october is...
Can't wait!
Never read it. Was considering reading this or Game of Thrones, and I picked this.
Where's a good place to start with Iain M. Banks? I think I actually have Consider Phlebas laying around.