read any good books lately...

Equality 7-2521 wrote: The T wrote: After devouring "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", the 1200+ book on, well, the subject is obvious, I'm studying more of the era with the fantastic trilogy by Richard Evans The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power and, eventually after I finish this one, The Third Reich at War. Then we will leave this part of history alone and will focus on others...  I found a copy of that on the steps of a factory when I was young. I'm guessing its worth reading?

If you're interested in that part of history of course. The book is from the 60s so a few concepts have changed over the years (the writer was a conservative and he made it obvious he considered things like homosexuality aberrant, something you would rarely find in a historic book today) and it reads too much as a narration of events (with great detail) and less as a true historical treaty analyzing events with a greater emphasis on their context and how culture, society, history, etc were affected, but even with a few flaws, it's a fantastic book on the subject. The writer is not a historian but a journalist, and that might have a few disadvantages but it also has advantages, as the book has a rhythm that makes you devour it quite quickly despite of its size. 

^It's a little too "Germans were always war-hungry and antisemite and militaristic therefore the Nazis were just a logical and unavoidable conclusion to their history" without doing more analysis of how not all Germany was like that, how the whole Europe was antisemitic, how WWI was the crucial determinig factor in cooking nazism out of that boiling pot. Yes, it has its flaws. But I would say is the perfect primer on that history. The other three i'm reading now are much more in-depth but would've been less effective had I read them first.

really starting to get into Medium Raw, didn't know he'd become so depressed;  careening in a jeep toward certain death, his addictions considered romantic and cool by the very people & chefs he'd try to warn away from that life with Kitchen Confidential.   Good stuff and I'm only on page 60.

After quite a break...finished "Seeing" by Saramago.
Was a good read, pretty brutal ending. Also we never find out who was really responsible

Was a bit more avant garde than I expected, not just in style but how it seemed to move. Lots of detail on obvious/unnecessary things, with overly verbose statements to say simple things...I'm guessing that was all part to help create a "governmental" feel.
O I see what you did there...

Alitare, if you see this by any chance: Did it hurt not having read "Blindness" ? It was referenced a lot, I looked up what it was about but not sure if actually having read it would have shed more detail.


Edited by JJLehto - February 28 2012 at 03:03

Kotro wrote: tupan wrote: EXCELLENT book by the australian writer Max Barry! Funny and thought-provoking sci-fi! It's not bad as entertainment goes, not so good on the distopian literature scale. Personally I prefer his previous book, Syrup (albeit a bit naïve) and his hilarious take on business management Company, both of which I highly recommend. I am still to read his new one, I believe it's called The Man Machine or something.

I've read everything by Max Barry and I love the guy, his novels are really funny.
Jennifer Government is my least favourite, maybe because it is too action-oriented and has too many characters.
Syrup is the best, it is a hugely entertaining take on the marketing industry.
Company is funny as sh*t, starts as a sort of Office Space then has a Matrix-like plot development.
I read Machine Man recently, the premise is interesting but I feel it reads too much like a Hollywood movie. The mix of action-oriented plot and "philosophical" bits is a bit gratuitous. Still enjoyable.

harmonium.ro wrote: Orhan Pamuk's My Name Is Red: amazing book, borderline 10/10 for me. Currently re-reading One Hundred Years Of Solitude, still the fundamental masterpiece that shook my world a decade and a half ago

so tru
& so tru

JJLehto wrote: Alitare, if you see this by any chance: Did it hurt not having read "Blindness" ? It was referenced a lot, I looked up what it was about but not sure if actually having read it would have shed more detail.

It doesn't hurt. Seeing picks up the events and characters from Blindness giving enough info. Blindness is still a book of its own and a hell of a book. You may want to not grab it right away, though, if Seeing got heavy enough for you in certain moments. That didn't happen to me, though. I read it in a few days, sometimes not clutching to it for hours. I was luckily in vacation, up in the mountains. Sure picked a book not to be able to relax with.

Ricochet wrote: JJLehto wrote: Alitare, if you see this by any chance: Did it hurt not having read "Blindness" ? It was referenced a lot, I looked up what it was about but not sure if actually having read it would have shed more detail. It doesn't hurt. Seeing picks up the events and characters from Blindness giving enough info. Blindness is still a book of its own and a hell of a book. You may want to not grab it right away, though, if Seeing got heavy enough for you in certain moments. That didn't happen to me, though. I read it in a few days, sometimes not clutching to it for hours. I was luckily in vacation, up in the mountains. Sure picked a book not to be able to relax with.

Honestly, only at the very end.
It was actually a difficult read for me, first getting used to the style but second just holding my interest. I wasn't really captivated till near the end and the VERY end is when I was pretty shocked (though it wasn't even surprising, now that's some writing)! I mainly plowed forward to finish it and also find out what exactly happened...so it was pretty great when you never actually know who was the mastermind/what happened.

Someone else mentioned Blindness as being superior and an amazing read. Will pick it up today probably!

Jim Garten wrote: Just finished: Now well into: Dem pesky Lannisters!

If anbybody is well taught in Dutch or French or German, please help me with this:

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=85240