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The Book Thread
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Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:47:39
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase...Another great Joan Aiken book. Needs more Dido, though. Nyaa

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:00:09
July has been a good reading month.  Many hours in transit or on board etc.  Finished "The Slap".  Decent read.  Not great, but definitely worth reading.

Two books I re-read (and it wasn't just the second time) were:





At this point I got through all my books and had to read from what was on the boat.  So I read:



It was absolutely terrible.  Couldn't believe stuff so cheesy gets published, let alone praised in reviews.

Another borrowed boat read was:



Nothing special, and also quite cheesy but at least this was written over 60 years ago, unlike that awful A L Kennedy one.  This was quite readable.

Next book I read was one I'm sure most of you have read while still in highschool or something.  For some reason I had never read it until a few days ago.  Can't be cynical about it.  I absolutely loved it ...


Reading the book it's quite easy to see why Harper Lee never wrote another book and became a recluse

Now reading:


and



These are both great reads.  So very enjoyable.  I find it hard to choose one of the two to finish off so I keep alternating according to my mood.  

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:19:58
Oh right, this thread.  Well, I'm reading these two fairly slowly,

Defensive Design for the Web

The Practice of System and Network Administration

The latter is 950 pages

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:09:09

bugsonglass said:


and



These are both great reads.  So very enjoyable.  I find it hard to choose one of the two to finish off so I keep alternating according to my mood.  

The Master and Margarita is awesome!

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:58:52
Just picked these books up today:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 2

Having spent the last three weeks watching all seven seasons of Buffy on DVD (again), I figured I should venture on with Season 8. I haven't bothered with them until now since I've never been into graphic novels, but it's Joss Whedon's way of continuing the series, so I figured I'd give them a try (also helps that I got them all free from the library! Happy ). Anyway, I just finished reading Vol 1; it was quite different than what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I'm going to read Vol 2 and Serenity later tonight.

Serenity: Those Left Behind

More Serenity = more awesomeness.

Cool Willow drawing from BTVS S8, Vol 1

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:11:10

Ravenprose said:
Having spent the last three weeks watching all seven seasons of Buffy on DVD 

 Hey, wait a minute.  That's 7 episodes a day.

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:12:19

Yodariquo said:

Hey, wait a minute.  That's 7 episodes a day.

I was bored. LOL

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:29:55
Ravenprose said:

I was bored. LOL

When it's over the span of 3 weeks, I don't think you can call it boredom anymore.

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:49:43

Yodariquo said:

When it's over the span of 3 weeks, I don't think you can call it boredom anymore.

True.

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 07:29:13
No wonder he doesn't like games anymore. If you're watching that much Buffy per day you're bound to suffer some sort of brain damage. And I like Buffy.

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:23:55

Foolz said:
No wonder he doesn't like games anymore. If you're watching that much Buffy per day you're bound to suffer some sort of brain damage. And I like Buffy.

Dark Willow

"Bored now."

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:26:03
+1
Ravenprose said:

Dark Willow

"Bored now."

Yellow Crayon

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Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:16:32
LOL

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Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:24:55
Right, so I have finished The Master and Margarita as well as The Secret Agent.  TM&M is one of the best books I have ever read ... ever.  It can be appreciated and enjoyed on so many levels and it's so much fun to read.  The Secret Agent is also great though not equally so.  It is a little hard going at times (and the tiny font size of the print made it even more so) but enjoyable nonetheless.

My summer reading continues with another standard I've seen referenced numerous times but never actually read.  Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

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Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:37:42
I'm reading Lyndon B. Johnson: The American Dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

It's nowhere near as good as the two volumes about TR that I just finished ready by Edmund Morris.

Kearns Goodwin was too close to her subject, and the book reads as if Johnson was telling you his life story -- which I am sure is what most people enjoyed about the book -- but it's clearly full of a lot of self-editing and glossing over uncomfortable facts.

Anyway, a comparatively light read.

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Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:09:27
Finished City of Spades by Colin MacInnes awhile ago, and Absolute Beginners is next. Can't wait to read it as City of Spades was a great read, and Absolute Beginners is meant to be even better.
bugsonglass said:
Right, so I have finished The Master and Margarita as well as The Secret Agent.  TM&M is one of the best books I have ever read ... ever.  It can be appreciated and enjoyed on so many levels and it's so much fun to read.  The Secret Agent is also great though not equally so.  It is a little hard going at times (and the tiny font size of the print made it even more so) but enjoyable nonetheless.

My summer reading continues with another standard I've seen referenced numerous times but never actually read.  Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

Love TMM!

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Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:26:32
I'm about to start reading this. I've been itching to get a physical copy of it for a long time and I finally was able to borrow one.


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Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:14:38
I finished Brave New World over the weekend.  What an amazing book!  I feel stupid not to have read it ages ago.  Especially as I have read most of JG Ballard's books of futuristic utopias/dystopias and BNW I now realise was prime influence for all those books. Oh well, at least i've rectified that mistake.  oh and in keeping with the previous books, i'll post a picture of the cover which is also rather wonderful i think.


This book is often "compared" or mentioned alongside Orwel's 1984.  While both books are huge and equally prophetic, BNW seems to be the one more relevant still today as to what future we are moving towards (even though the danger of the rise of one huge totalitarian state was huge for long passages of the 20th century so 1984 was/is still very relevant).  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I recommend it to all, though I expect most of you read it already.

Right, I have now moved on to my next book.  Something rather different seemingly though in some sense a bit similar.  Jack Kerouac's Big Sur.



I have only read "On the Road" of Kerouac's.  Must say I think I will enjoy this just as much if not even more so.  There's no "story" or narrative to speak of.  Jack Kerouac escaped to a friend of his hermitage in Big Sur to be alone and write etc.  He couldn't stand it there very long so he hitched back to Monterey and San Fransisco area where he had a lot of buddies to drink with etc.  This book is an account of those days, including his thoughts and feelings, reflections etc.  I'm about 60 pages in (out of about 160) and really enjoying it so far

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Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:31:13

Just wondering, how many of you own a copy of Lord of the Rings?

If so, would anyone think about doing a yearly read through like Christopher Lee? 

We could read in sync, up to a certain chapter on a certain date.

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Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:39:22

gamingeek said:

Just wondering, how many of you own a copy of Lord of the Rings?

If so, would anyone think about doing a yearly read through like Christopher Lee? 

We could read in sync, up to a certain chapter on a certain date.

 I do. Some cheap pocket edition, but it works. I also own the Silmarillion. I wanted to pick up a huge ass hardcover from LotR with Alan Lee illustrations, but by the time I made up my mind, the book was already sold out. 

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