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Thread: What book are you currently reading?

  1. #2981

    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    I went for Orwell's "1984". One could see weird cold war imagination of pseudo-communism there.

  2. #2982
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Been kinda meh but I did finish the first book in "The Strain" trilogy. I kinda enjoyed it (considering i never finished the first season of the TV adaptation) but I'm not sure I want to continue reading. A "viral outbreak" just feels a bit too real, even if it is centered around vampirism. Also I find it tough to imagine that could get real so fast. I think the entire book takes place over 3-4 days/nights and the vampires can only "reproduce" at night.

    Not sure what to read next. But I have about 5 weeks before I end my goal since I started in late January.
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  3. #2983
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    I hadn’t read for years but at the beginning of the year started the Witcher series. Getting back into it with Blood of Elves now.
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  4. #2984
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Not sure what to read next. But I have about 5 weeks before I end my goal since I started in late January.
    I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm crazy impressed how much you've managed to read.

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  5. #2985
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Is currently on The Way of Kings, its got a refreshingly varied cast of perspectives that the story unfolds from.

  6. #2986
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    I'm reading "The Ottomans" by Marc Baer, not finished yet but I need to pop this pimple of frustration.

    I'm guessing the book is aimed at debunking half-arsed "West Triumphalist" narratives because it feels like history is being shaped into a blunt tool. The narrative structure is awkward, each chapter has a fairly bare bones account, with some loaded terminology (sufis keep getting labelled "deviant dervishes" wtf? and the Devsirme is neutrally dubbed "the collection"), then some strawmanning "the western version is the Ottomans blocked all trade and therefore the West discovered America, but the truth is trade from Constantinople increased after the conquest in 1453", bizarre and nonsensical a lot of the time, perhaps fit for demolishing brainlet "Nazis were Socialists" tier nitwits but nothing else.

    Some good points are made about identity, with Ottomans struggling to develop an authoritative theory of rule as Khans, Sultans and Caesars. Race is treated lightly as its not a major them of Ottoman history really, language culture and religion all played a more prominent role and this is mentioned in passing, mostly in relation to the family of the ottoman ruler. The point about tolerance not equalling equality is well made.

    The discussion of the "Age of Discovery" is a low point, apparently the Ottomans didn't need to discover America because Asia was richer, but they definitely were discoverers because their naval policy was a response to Portuguese intervention in the Indian Ocean (a known region) and they failed to establish an oceanic empire [checks notes] because of a jew?...the non sequiturs fly thick and fast. Its seems squarely aimed at the Great White Men school and stoops low to reach that level.

    Edit" the absolute idiocy of the argument "Mughals called the Ottoman Sultan "Caliph of the World", this would not be possible unless they were an oceanic empire participating in the age of discovery"

    Other examples are how European the Ottomans were (a few pages after describing how they moved out of yurts 3-4 generations before they conquered Constantinople) and how Ottoman otherness is a construct (failing to mention the constructed otherness of East Rome, while using artificial terms like "Byzantine").

    The Ottomans Roman heritage is acknowledged, but Islam's broader Roman inheritance is not, and its mostly framed as "Ottomans claimed and continued the heritage of Rome", with the role of the "Byzantines" in this process not clearly defined. The Ottoman administrative system of paid public officials is described as an innovation, rather than as standard Roman (and in many places Islamic) practice.

    So far the cherry on top is "the Renaissance started in Spain and Sicily, as a gift of Islam", and the idea it came from East Rome was a lie propagated by a flood of "Greek Humanists" (who apparently spent their time inventing Islamic and Ottoman otherness, rather than teaching Greek Humanism). Ottoman opinions of their own otherness to the west are mentioned but dismissed without engagement.

    The arguments are lame arse, but the narrative is at least moderately accurate, and the cover is pretty. I'd hate for this to be someone's introduction to the Ottoman history as is garbled by the author's clear intention to use past history to fight present battles.

    I guess I should update this when I read the last few chapters, but I feel like flinging it away.
    Last edited by Cyclops; December 14, 2021 at 02:04 PM.
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  7. #2987
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    I'm currently on my third or probably fifth read of the great Ivo Andrić "Bosnia Chronicle"
    Great characters and powerful images in a Tolstoy style

  8. #2988
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    On the cusp of reaching 110 books. I have been taken in by the Quarry series which has been fun little short reads as work has gotten chaotic and stressful in this time. I'm not sure I will have the energy or willpower to read any more long books for the time being. But I have exactly one month left (if I am sticking to 365 days since I began) to see how many books I can read in a year. I'm curious how well I would have done if I had not taken about 2 months worth of time not actively trying to read.

    I should at least finish the Conquerors and Heroes of Olympus series at least. That will be five more books. If I get to 122 I will have achieved an average of 1 book every three days so maybe that is a good final stretch goal. Of course a lot of the books are relatively short but I never said they all had to be 500 page monsters.

    It may also give Akar an aneurysm.

    Edit: 110 down, 111 will be done sometime tomorrow. Then I will probably take a break until after Christmas.
    Last edited by TheDarkKnight; December 22, 2021 at 02:57 AM.
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  9. #2989
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    It may also give Akar an aneurysm.
    There's no blood left in my brain for that at this point, I'm afraid .

    That does remind me of a funny story from my youth though. Growing up my local library would have reading competitions in the summer and you would get prizes based off of how many books you read. The first year I did it I was probably 8 or 9 and a voracious reader, so at first I was doing really good just reading the sorts of books I would regularly read (mostly Star Wars ). But then I realized that there was no minimum page number required for a book to qualify. So next time I went down to the library I just read like 100 or so 10-20 page kids books and I rocketed to first place.

    Next year the books had to be a minimum of like 100 pages or something.

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  10. #2990
    Antiokhos Euergetes's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    That's a fantastic story, made me chuckle this morning. That I consider quite the accomplishment

  11. #2991
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Reading Words of Radience!

  12. #2992
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Quote Originally Posted by EarthFlatter View Post
    I went for Orwell's "1984". One could see weird cold war imagination of pseudo-communism there.
    He was a communist, well socialist. It was Stalinist Internationalism and oppression that forced his writing of Dystopias. Aldous Leonard Huxley his contemporary I think was actually closer to the mark on current society. Forgive this is not the platform

  13. #2993
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Well, it turns out everyone was a little bit right. I think we're currently headed towards Brave New World via a cross between Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. The disinformation and manipulation from 1984 and the TV and commercialization obsessed Fahrenheit 451 meets the pleasure, genetics, and hierarchically obsessed Brave New World.

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  14. #2994
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Has anyone read the Aftermath trilogy from Star Wars?

    Can't seem to get into it. Hopefully it's only the first one that's rough.

    Finished Of Mice And Men. Easily the most depressing book I have read, I think. Luckily it was short.

    112 down. Unclear what the next ones will be. If I can get into Aftermath I'll probably read those three next.
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  15. #2995
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Those are the movie tie in books, right? Honestly I gave up reading any Star Wars stuff since Disney took over.

    Finished Of Mice And Men. Easily the most depressing book I have read, I think. Luckily it was short.
    Check out Flowers for Algernon if you want depressing

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  16. #2996
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    They are ones that take place between OT and sequels. Basically setting up the First Order.

    It's picking up a little bit i just don't care for the majority of the characters.

    Some of the new canon is good.
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  17. #2997
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Some of the new canon is good.
    Well, sure - it just feels like a bit of a "two steps forward one step back" situation to me. Every time they do something cool they do something confusing and terrible.

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  18. #2998
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Fair.

    Though from what I understand the EU could be really hit or miss as well, which kind of matches my experiences so far. Like Dawn of the Jedi Into The Void was pretty...eh for me.

    Finished Aftermath and Force Unleashed, which I actually started months ago but never finished.

    I'm unsure if I want to continue with the Aftermath trilogy but I see online it improves a lot. We'll see what happens.
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  19. #2999
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Yeah, there was definitely some weird stuff going on in the EU at times.

    Most of it was confined to the comic books stuff, and a good deal of it was even marked as non-cannon when it was released - like the Indiana Jones/Star Wars cross over or the one where Chewbacca is encased in ice on Earth and becomes big foot.

    I still would rather have all of that be cannon than lose the cool stuff like the Vong and Jacen Solo and the Mandalorian and Thrawn and so much else .

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  20. #3000
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    Default Re: What book are you currently reading?

    Star Wars had a decent logic behind nuking the EU at first: There’s so much crap and much of it contradictory that we can re-canonize what works, remove the bloat and then make the ST a cohesive story removed from all the established canon while also taking some influence from the more popular EU novels that take place 30-40 years post ROTJ. The EU for all its fault had incredible world building and this seemed like a good way to include that worldbuilding while not being constrained to garbage like Dark Empire (most fans who supported killing the EU cited this awful storyline) which resurrected Palpatine.

    So what did they do? They nuked the EU and then were incredibly slow to bring back that quality of worldbuilding to the new canon, made a ST with no idea where it was going and that feels incredibly small/unoriginal, then wrote themselves into a corner and ended up doing Dark Empire anyway. Losing Legacy of the Force which was an incredible and expansive story of Han and Leia’s son going dark and has to be out down by his sister in exchange for a bad amalgamation of that storyline and Dark Empire is super disappointing. LotF is probably my favorite series of all SW EU novels if you’re looking for a good storyline even if the prose like most SW stuff is just meh.
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