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read any good books lately...
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Epignosis View Drop Down
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Points: 32476 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Epignosis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 02 2012 at 15:58
Regarding The Hunger Games:

SPOILER ALERT (Highlight text below to read):

Was it just absolutely lazy that the author suddenly and without warning introduced the "Two people from the same district can win" change to the rules?  Did that not completely ruin the whole premise of the novel?  I thought it was a lazy deus ex machina element that should have been left out.  Then to reverse the rule again at the end, and THEN reverse the reversal at the last minute.  WTF?
It nearly ruined the book for me.

END SPOILER
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Equality 7-2521 View Drop Down
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Also spoilers here obviously.

It didn't bother me so much. I could see how the game makers could see a huge profit potential which could be lost should one of the two of them die off. Knowing that the 2 winners rule would cause Katniss to seek out Peeta  and spark an onscreen romance makes sense enough. The sudden reversal at the end also makes sense. Nobody wants to see the two characters they rooted for kill themselves as the climax.

I guess what makes the least sense to me is the return to the only one winner rule at the end briefly and the notion that in all the years this situation hasn't occurred previously. However, neither of those things are really all that unbelievable.
"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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Points: 32476 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Epignosis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 02 2012 at 16:11
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Still, if an author sets up a premise (only one can live- the others must die), then the plot should work within that premise.  Changing the premise mid-game makes me think that the author couldn't come with a "solution" to the problems established by the main plot line. 

Personally, I would have had Peeta kill himself as the climax of the novel.  It would have been the greatest act of love he could have shown her.  And Katniss would have had to live with that.  Now we're stuck with an adolescent "she loves me, she loves me not" set up for the second novel (which I've not yet read).
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Originally posted by Equality 7-2521 Equality 7-2521 wrote:

I've never heard of this cat. 

If you can get a collection of some of his short stories, I think that's a great choice. Then there's his classic novels, Crash, Atrocity Exhibition and Empire of the Sun, but they differ, as far as I'm concerned, from the short stories.
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Spoiler Alert! Reply to Epignoisis:
I disagree, completley. I think it was a pretty good plot twist, and it makes sense that the captiol would do that sort of thing, to get the viewers more excited, more entertained. And when they take it back, it makes the point of the Hunger Games, that the capitol has complete control over them, more clear (or, atleast, that's what they tried to make more clear).
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Originally posted by The Quiet One The Quiet One wrote:

Originally posted by Equality 7-2521 Equality 7-2521 wrote:

I've never heard of this cat. 

If you can get a collection of some of his short stories, I think that's a great choice. Then there's his classic novels, Crash, Atrocity Exhibition and Empire of the Sun, but they differ, as far as I'm concerned, from the short stories.

Personal opinion time:  I found absolutely no redeeming qualities in Crash.  Worst book I've ever had the misfortune to read, even worse since I was required to for a class...Atrocity Exhibition was another read for the same class, and it was mildly better, but...based on those two books alone, I'm DEFINITELY no Ballard fan. LOL
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Points: 15745 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Quiet One Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 03 2012 at 01:37
Originally posted by SaltyJon SaltyJon wrote:

Originally posted by The Quiet One The Quiet One wrote:

Originally posted by Equality 7-2521 Equality 7-2521 wrote:

I've never heard of this cat. 

If you can get a collection of some of his short stories, I think that's a great choice. Then there's his classic novels, Crash, Atrocity Exhibition and Empire of the Sun, but they differ, as far as I'm concerned, from the short stories.

Personal opinion time:  I found absolutely no redeeming qualities in Crash.  Worst book I've ever had the misfortune to read, even worse since I was required to for a class...Atrocity Exhibition was another read for the same class, and it was mildly better, but...based on those two books alone, I'm DEFINITELY no Ballard fan. LOL

I haven't read any, but I've heard that from you before and from other people. That's why I insist with the short stories.
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Points: 288 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Grape_Jam Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 03 2012 at 01:46

Finished Animal Farm two days ago (it was terrifyingly wonderful). Am reading The Book Thief and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes currently.
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I wholly support Animal Farm. I've only read Crash from Ballard (which I found mildly amusing). I am interested in the short stories, though. The Book Thief was an excellent (if limited) take on Holocaust/WWII literature. I've no real interest in reading the Hunger Games series. I may pick up the first one a couple years from now. 

I read through the entirety of Chuck Bukowski's The Most Beautiful Woman in Town and Other Stories. I loved it. It was honest, funny, ridiculous, despairing, isolating, and vulgar. I can't recall how many whores, bottles of liquor, cheap hotel rooms, and sh*t jobs he goes through in that one. I'll be getting Tales of Ordinary Madness. I don't think I'll try any of his novels any time soon, though. 
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"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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Originally posted by Alitare Alitare wrote:

I read through the entirety of Chuck Bukowski's The Most Beautiful Woman in Town and Other Stories. I loved it. It was honest, funny, ridiculous, despairing, isolating, and vulgar. I can't recall how many whores, bottles of liquor, cheap hotel rooms, and sh*t jobs he goes through in that one. I'll be getting Tales of Ordinary Madness. I don't think I'll try any of his novels any time soon, though. 


I read some of his poetry but his short stories definitely sound right up my alley. May have to pick up a copy of what you read.
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Points: 21795 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote The Truth Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 06 2012 at 23:05
Just finished Winter's Tale and can't say I was overwhelmed but it was certainly not a bad book at all, the ending left me satisfied.

For me now:



Here we go!
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I've decided to start reading "Divine Comedy".
EATTTT YOUURRR BEEEEEETTTSSSSS!!!!!

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Anthony H. View Drop Down
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Points: 6088 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Anthony H. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 06 2012 at 23:08
I read all of The Lord of the Rings throughout June. Finished it about a week ago, for the first time.

Now I'm trying to catch up on my classics. I'm about 110 pages into Great Expectations, and it's just as brilliant as it's cracked up to be. I can't believe I've waited this long to read Dickens.
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Points: 6088 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Anthony H. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 06 2012 at 23:09
Originally posted by Grape_Jam Grape_Jam wrote:

Finished Animal Farm two days ago (it was terrifyingly wonderful). Am reading The Book Thief and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes currently.



The Book Thief is absolutely incredible.
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^I read bits of that and watched the movie. It was okay, another 21st century dystopia novel.
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I flew through it and it wasn't bad.It was my first time reading anything by Ishiguro and it made me want to check out his other books.

Right now I'm reading this superb young adult book on my Kindle:



Pretty good so far,a nice bit of space opera,which I love.Not as good though as Ernest Cline's book Ready Player One,which is the best YA book I have ever read.


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Originally posted by The Truth The Truth wrote:



For me now:



Here we go!


Nice, have fun! Read Infinite Jest at a formative stage of my reading tastes (a little older than you now); not sure how I'd react to it now, but it was an experience back then. His essays are worth reading, too.
I'll try and write up a few words on The Recognitions soon.
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I'm going through major withdraw because of this now.
"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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