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read any good books lately... |
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Epignosis 
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Eclectic Prog Team Joined: December 30 2007 Location: Raeford, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 30755 |
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 Topic: read any good books lately...Posted: July 02 2012 at 15:58 |
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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
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Joined: August 11 2005 Location: Philly Online Status: Online Posts: 14587 |
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Posted: July 02 2012 at 16:04 |
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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. |
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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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Epignosis
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Eclectic Prog Team Joined: December 30 2007 Location: Raeford, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 30755 |
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Posted: July 02 2012 at 16:11 |
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Response:
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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The Quiet One
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Joined: January 16 2008 Location: Argentina Online Status: Offline Posts: 15742 |
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Posted: July 03 2012 at 00:31 |
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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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smartpatrol
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Joined: April 15 2012 Location: My Bedroom Online Status: Offline Posts: 8910 |
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Posted: July 03 2012 at 00:44 |
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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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SaltyJon
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Posted: July 03 2012 at 01:27 |
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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.  |
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The Quiet One
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Joined: January 16 2008 Location: Argentina Online Status: Offline Posts: 15742 |
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Posted: July 03 2012 at 01:37 |
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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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Grape_Jam
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Joined: July 01 2012 Location: Pakistan Online Status: Offline Posts: 287 |
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Posted: July 03 2012 at 01:46 |
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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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Alitare
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Joined: March 08 2008 Location: Virginia Online Status: Offline Posts: 3597 |
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Posted: July 03 2012 at 19:06 |
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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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He gave her his town house and his racing horses. Each meal she ate was a dozen courses. She had a million dollars worth of nickels and dimes. She sat around and counted them all a million times.
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Equality 7-2521
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Joined: August 11 2005 Location: Philly Online Status: Online Posts: 14587 |
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Posted: July 03 2012 at 21:23 |
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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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The Truth
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Joined: April 19 2009 Location: At the Farms Online Status: Offline Posts: 20254 |
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Posted: July 03 2012 at 21:34 |
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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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The Truth
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Posted: July 06 2012 at 23:05 |
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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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lmaorofllollmao
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Joined: May 06 2012 Location: New Mexico Online Status: Offline Posts: 113 |
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Posted: July 06 2012 at 23:07 |
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I've decided to start reading "Divine Comedy".
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EATTTT YOUURRR BEEEEEETTTSSSSS!!!!!
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Anthony H.
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Joined: April 11 2010 Location: Virginia Online Status: Offline Posts: 6136 |
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Posted: July 06 2012 at 23:08 |
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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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Anthony H.
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Joined: April 11 2010 Location: Virginia Online Status: Offline Posts: 6136 |
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Posted: July 06 2012 at 23:09 |
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The Book Thief is absolutely incredible. |
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TheProgtologist
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Retired Admin Joined: May 23 2005 Location: Baltimore,Md US Online Status: Offline Posts: 27351 |
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Posted: July 07 2012 at 03:19 |
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The Quiet One
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Joined: January 16 2008 Location: Argentina Online Status: Offline Posts: 15742 |
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Posted: July 07 2012 at 03:34 |
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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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TheProgtologist
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Posted: July 08 2012 at 04:36 |
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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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Apsalar
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Joined: June 06 2006 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2841 |
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Posted: July 08 2012 at 14:47 |
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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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Sheer Hellish Miasma --- to love music above everything else means to be unhappy Paul Klee
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Equality 7-2521
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Joined: August 11 2005 Location: Philly Online Status: Online Posts: 14587 |
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Posted: July 08 2012 at 16:49 |
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 I'm going through major withdraw because of this now. |
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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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