So, I started reading Moby Peepee, and I didn’t expect this book would be so funny. I’m currently on chapter 13, and up to this point Ishmael and Queequeg had so many “no homo” moments. Can’t wait for the Captain Ahab chapters.
I’ve also finished “It” by Stephen King. It was my first King book, and god, I didn’t expected for it to be 50% filler, so many pointless 
and endless backstories of side characters that never show up again, plus the creepy child gangbang 
near the end had some “50 shades of Grey” tier writing. A friend of mine recommended me “The Shining” but l’m not quite sure anymore.
What do you guys recommend?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I like the bit in Moby Peepee when he thinks going to church might set his mind at rest and instead he gets a ranting madman in the pulpit who thinks getting eaten by a whale is preferable to going to Portugal.
Recommend 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea for more nautical manliness with Ned Land- the most heterosexual Canadian in literature.
I'm reading Robots and Empire by Asimov. I'm reading all the Robots, Empire and Foundation books in their diegetic chronological order.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Lmao, the schizo priest just kept ranting about Jonah in the most Shakespearean way. Also Ishmael acts in the most neurodivergent way as possible with anyone he interacts with
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Ishmael is an 1860s hustle-bustler, going to experience the dynamic diversity and exposed red brick walls of Nantucket.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
And then he gets BLACKED during a onenightstand by a giant BBC attached to a man named Queequeg. Out of shame, he enlists in the Pequod. But who should he find is also there? You guessed it.
Awkwardness ensues for 700 pages
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
I was laughing through the entire fricking church scene. The fricking whale town’s church only does the the fricking whale sermon. God that fricking chapter describing Nantucket as the Most Whale Town Ever was so funny and the church just sent me over the edge
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Read Caves of Steel by Asimov I beg you.
it’s in my top 3 favorite books of all time.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Already read it.
So far I'm through
The End of Eternity
Caves of Steel
The Naked Sun
Robots of Dawn
And I'm currently reading Robots and Empire.
Next is The Stars Like Dust.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I don't think the makers of that show knew Demerzel and Daneel were the same person.
However, If if one watches that show without thinking of it as an adaptation, and simply enjoys large amounts of Lee Pace shirtlessness, then it's OK.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Have you ever been to Portugal?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Nope.
I have a cousin who's been to Brazil. She was traumatised- like those Japanese tourists who go to Paris.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
I was reading Moby Peepee last year and had the same thoughts. It was fun but then they got on the boat and I put it down and forgot to ever pick it back up again.
This week I finished The Hobbit because someone told me I should read that before I start LotRs. I no longer plan to start LotR's.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Tolkien writes like his readers have the patience of saints.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
His editor worshipped the ground Tolkien walked on and didn't seem to be able to tell him that nobody will ever like Tom Bombadil.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
That section almost kiled my motivation to keep reading. So boring.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
So much of the beginning of that book was dedicated to him and it had nothing what so ever to do with the plot.
I enjoy this article that someone here shared though.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
The movies tell that story much better than the books do.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
I just finished the Hobbit too. Also because someone recommended it as a relatively contained novel and a way to get into Lord of the Rings.
I thought it was decent, but the way it’s written does take getting used to. I was also planning to not read LotR anytime soon since I’ve heard it gets lost in the weeds and I don’t have a lot of patience for fantasy run-on worldbuilding. Maybe someday, but right now I’d rather try other authors and series.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
waht the frick is this shit?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Moby's autobiography about his peepee
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
You didn't like The Hobbit? I actually prefer it to LotR. Why didn't you like it?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Two main reasons
1. Everything between Bilbo leaving rhe Shire and meeting Smaug was fairly forgettable.
2. Dwarves.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Bilbo meeting Gollum was memorable. The whole mountain event was. I also remember the troll and spider subplots.
You tree hugging knife eared c*nt.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I never said I loved elves. I just didn't like the decision of having 13 characters and 10 of them being functionally the same person.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
That's racist
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
If you can remember the differences between them besides the king, the fat one, and the one that likes Bilbo, god bless you but you're a huge dork.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
The Sining is good and definitely different than the movie for a few reasons. In the book, you really see Jack's descent into madness through his thoughts and how he justifies his bad actions and his resentment towards his wife regarding his drinking problem rather than taking responsibility. It was like King was writing his own thoughts and state of mind as an alcoholic. So, in the book, Jack starts normal and goes crazy. In the movie, Jack just seems crazy off the bat because Jack Nicholson seems like someone who maybe terrorized a family in a haunted hotel in real life.
Anyway, I am on a mystery /detective novel kick and just finished The Big Sleep. Quick, fun read if you like mysteries
I think I'm going to read Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow next
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I knew Jack Nicholson was going to snap the moment the guy told him the previous hotel keeper murdered his family. So the book is more psychological? That seems like an interesting take
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Yeah, it really shows how tortured he is, how he gets really crazy and what's going on in his mind the whole time. I actually might read it again now that I'm talking about it.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Have you read King's Mr. Mercedes trilogy? It's so different from his other books that I almost believe the ghost writer rumor, but it's an interesting attempt at doing the "private eye sleuth" genre
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
No, that looks right up my alley though. I'm putting them on my reading list. Did you like them?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I think a good caveat is that I generally enjoy most of his stuff, even desite the obvious and sometimes laughable flaws.
In general, I'd say the the Mercedes books ("Finders Keepers" trilogy) are upper-middle decent popcorn stories, ok enough to comfortably surf thru a couple long airplane flights. I mostly think they're interesting bc they feel very out of pocket versus everything else he wrote before.
It's a little hamfistedly clear he's trying to "do" the detective genre schtick with them, but it mostly works.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Same here. I think his stuff is a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the Dark Tower series even though there was r-slurred schlock in there
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Nice. Something about the DT books just hooks me. I read them all in book form years ago, but also have them on audio book and have prob listened thru the whole cycle 6 or 7 times on long drives and flights.
I find more and more gaping holes and story problems on each listen, but Frank Muller & George Guidall's narrations are both peak auditory kino.
If you enjoyed the Tower books, then I recommend The Talisman & it's sequel Black House. The former has the same elegiac/nostalgic feels as the better parts of the DT books, and Black House has a good sprinkling of detective/noir. They're very very different books, but IMO Black House would be incomprehensible and probably not enjoyable if you haven't read the Talisman first.
The Eyes of the Dragon is an honorable mention, and IMO the plot is decently well grounded despite it being his attempt at writing a high fantasy fairy tale. Likewise The Wind Through the Keyhole.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
I like how every form of
was thrown at the protagonist and he swatted them all like gnats
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
That one b-word, Carmen, was absolutely insufferable. I just wanted to
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Imperial twilight by Steven Platt. It's about Chinese-west relations up to the opium wars. I am learning a lot
. I do wish there was a bit more from the Chinese point of view tho. I know the author speaks Chinese. 
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Interesting, I read Kissinger’s “on China” long ago and he talked about about that period on the first couple of chapters. Do you think the chinks could have done what Japan did during the Meiji era?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Absolutely. I think the biggest takeaway from the book is that there wasn't anything inevitable about the first opium war, which is how its often portrayed.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I haven’t read that book yet so I’m completely talking out my butt (I have a copy tho so I will get to it)
I’ve heard the “it wasn’t necessarily inevitable” argument for the Brits vs Indians thing as well. That seems awfully coincidental. Perhaps it wasn’t inevitable that the Brits specifically would BTFO these different cultures but it seems inevitable that someone would have eventually.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I'm not really familiar with the arguments as they pertain to India.
I definitely think that trade relations between China/west would have had to be renegotiated in a post Napoleon world, but I don't think it to take the form of the opium wars.
The book argues that the Chinese trade was so valuable to the British that they were extremely reluctant to do anything to risk it. Which is pattern you see through most of their diplomatic history up to that point.
It took a particularly ambitious Chinese anti opium commissioner who took the step of stopping all western trade in Canton to get the point where Britain considered war a long with a completely unqualified British Superintendent who exaggerated their bad treatment by the Chinese.
And even then, the article written to start the war barely passed parliament.
It's definitely possible that both Britain and China could have settled the problems of the Opium crisis without the war.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Was the opium crisis really as bad as it’s normally told? Because there’s a lot of talk today about legalization or decriminilazation, while China has the death penalty for drug trafficking as according to them there were so many junkies to the point society was no longer functional, or were there other economic or political reasons to stop the opium trade?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
It's funny that you bring up legalization, as this was an idea that both some Chinese intellectuals and anti opium westerners considered and advocated for before the war.
The Qing government was pretty weak at this point and despite the death penalties smuggling, China was most powerless to do much to stop it. At least if it was legalized (for non officials and soldiers) it could be taxed.
Unsurprisingly after the wars, when opium use became defacto legal and poppies were grown in China itself, rates of usage and addiction would become way worse then what they were pre ear
In terms of addicts, the book estimates that there were at most 1-3 million users at various levels of functionality out of a population of about 350 million. A lot, but hardly enough to cripple the country. Through I suppose the users were more likely to be relatively prominent.
To many Chinese officials, the biggest problem from opium was that it was hurting their trade balance. Because of it's illegal nature, the Chinese smugglers were using silver to purchase it.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Less silver in the country would have a deflationary effect, so people can buy more goods with the same amount of silver. This is bad somehow....
Spain had the opposite effect during its colonial days. Bringing back all that gold and silver inflated their currency and wrecked it for a good few years.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
By the way, 1493 is an excellent book about the Colombian exchange, it talks a lot about Spanish trade with China using Potosi silver and it’s consequences, highly recommend
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
I am not good at explaining economic policies
but my understanding: is that the smugglers pay for opium with silver which isn't subject to Canton taxes and duties > silver drains from China, flipping a trade balance which has favoured China for centuries and makes the gov big mad.
Through I guess if you were hoarding silver as a Chinaman all of this worked out quite well for you.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
That's silver leaving china from the smugglers using it to purchase. This reduces the amount of coinage available to the country. Gold was almost always used by the nobility or merchant massive purchases so silver is the most common coinage for everyone to use. Shortage of coinage seriously fricks up countries.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Very interesting, I’m gonna put it on my reading list
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Very neat
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I'm not a good writer so I'm probably not explaining this eloquently
but I strongly recommend it.
platt's book on the Taiping Rebellion is also fantastic
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Yeah, the bongs weren’t the only ones on India, Portugal was first with their outpost in Goa, then the Dutch and also the French. But the bongs had the largest navy and the East India Company was at its peak in the 1700s
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
The shining is better than IT.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I’ve watched the Kubrick movie and enjoyed it, but apparently King hated it for being unfaithful
. Guess I’ll give a try
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
I'm STILL reading Count of Monte Cristo, though I think it justifies its length unlike anything Stephen King writes (I also read The Stand
though I didn't complete it so I gratifyingly missed some 
scenes I'm sure)
I would recommend it if you want a 1000+ page book, it starts very strong but after the halfway mark you start having to mentally keep track of too many basically identical characters.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Count of Monte Christo is peak
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
I've listened to Stephen Fry narrate his Greek Mythology books, from Troy to all the heroes and God.
I want to have s*x with his voice
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Stephen King writes shit novels. He always adds nonsensical mystic elements (good authors do this, but he does it poorly) and gives his characters "realistic thoughts" (SEXSEXSEX).
Try JG Ballard's short stories? Or Stephen King's short stories, which are better than his novels.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I remember seeing an /r/books thread where redditors unironically bragged about how realistic, normal and relatable King’s characters are
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
+1 for King's short stories & novellas. They're much less plagued by his problems with over-writing and inability to come up with a decent ending.
The Mist
The Jaunt
The Long Walk
The Running Man
Hearts in Atlantis
All pretty good.
As for his novels, I think the first 9/10ths of Duma Key is great. I also liked the Dark Tower books, even though that series has some pretty glaring faults
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Even the movie adaptation had a better ending
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Direct quote from Stephen King:
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
I love Moby Peepee. I have no clue why it’s gotten a reputation for being boring it’s fricking entertaining.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
The chapter where he classifies five types of whales
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
I believe that for many people the language and prose is a turn off, same is true for those unacquainted with Shakespeare. Personally I think the prose is beautiful, my native language is Portuguese but I’m reading it in English, and while there are some archaic words I’ve to look up in the dictionary it’s still a good way to learn said words in order to read older classics.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
A Geometric Approach to Differential Forms - Bachman
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I think we should include math textbooks recommendations in some future thread, I have a few from my time in college
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Absolutely. I collect
books 
and have hundreds of math 
texts. I also have like 20gb of math 
pdfs. Lets fricking 
goooo
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Trying to get back into The Journey to the West.
I read the first volume and a half a while ago, but I ended up dropping off. Something about the length, the episodic structure, and a general lack of a cultural literacy on my part--particularly surrounding the many references to eastern spirituality--made it hard to get through. But that's kinda what I signed up for when I decided to read something so outside my own culture so
.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
My least favorite is the spoiler paragraph in the beginning of each chapter. I hate the editor for not shoving that into the end of each chapter.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Ernest Hemingway: A Biography
by Mary Dearborn
Before that I reread The Sun Also Rises and also To Have and Have Not (both by Hemingway).
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Different type of literature, but reading some research articles I’ve been meaning to catch up on for the past few weeks from ASH. Once I’m caught up on that, I’ll switch back to normal literature. Been looking into starting Frankenstein or invisible man since I never read them and I want some light reading.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Between this and his private letters I'm starting to believe Melville was a homo. Even by the standards of 19th century decorum and norms it seems excessive.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
I know that male friends were more physically affectionate back then, but still, there’s a paragraph were Ishmael talks about how he slept with Queequeg as if they were husband and wife, and how they talked looking to each other at bed like an old couple. So I wonder what 1850s readers thought of this, and whether Melville got bussyblasted by a Maori
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
It's highly likely, considering how much time they spent at sea with no women around . That reminds me tangentially of the plot twist in Grande Sertão, which I stupidly spoiled for myself because I am a spastic. It's obscure here but what I've heard of it is that it's one of the great classics over there so maybe you know what I'm talking about. I haven't actually read it yet but that's probably what I'll read next.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
i only read 1984 and war and peace and lolita because i am smarter than you
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Carp told me the Three Body Problem sequels were good, so I'm on the 2nd book- The Dark Forest
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
They’re excellent
The ending made my soul ache a bit for a few days
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context
Heart of Darkness was all right. Some scenes were memorable, but 1st-person-from-a-3rd-person writing style is kinda pointless. 20,000 Leagues under the Sea was fun, but whenever the guy starts nerding out about some imaginary sponge fish, I skip the paragraph.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Wrapping up Memories of Ice. Probably one of the weirder books in this series. There are too many characters and they are all doing so many different things. Makes it tough to get invested in anyone.The story arc in this one is cool though. I don’t love Itkovian and tbh I don’t understand what he’s even doing. There’s a lot of nonsensical, wuv and forgiveness going on that I really am not following.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
reading Everything Under the Heavens by Howard French , it's alright. Read The Party by Richard McGregor before this one, its one of my favourite books on China
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Layli and Majnun by Nezami in the Peepee Davies translation along with Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz, also translated by Peepee Davies. You can find a surprising number of books just by googling an author and title plus 'pdf'. Also
a few articles from Academia.edu about the Safavids and Qajars. Persianmaxxing.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Thirst for Annihilation. It's a slog.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Reading Hyperion. Very cool scifi with space catholics implanted with stigmata parasites fighting future humans that look totally alien.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
As a feminist ally I read the "Chasing Cosby" book this week. He's a prolific serial male feminist. Pretty solid.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context