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Author Topic: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013  (Read 58108 times)

Sappho

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #615 on: July 26, 2013, 12:31:49 pm »
Spoiler: 1 through 29 (click to show/hide)

Book 30: Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

I'm on a roll! Catching up quickly. As has already been pointed out, this is one of Neil Gaiman's best books. Very funny, even when dark things are happening, and very clever. And there's one subtle thing in the book that I thought was really well done throughout:

Spoiler: No major spoilers, just discussion of a running theme you might prefer to discover for yourself. (click to show/hide)

All in all, I highly recommend this book. As well as American Gods, but you don't have to read that first (and at over 600 pages, I'd understand if you'd rather skip to the shorter one).

Total pages read: 9542
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Ancre

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #616 on: July 26, 2013, 01:44:19 pm »
Boy, I haven't been here in a while. I finished a few books.

Spoiler: 16 so far (click to show/hide)


I was reading the Lord of the Rings, but somebody stole my book :( Who steals books from people I wonder. I'm going to see if it's available at the library nearby, but I'm not sure I'll find it since I want it in english. It's a shame, I really liked it so far.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2013, 01:48:17 pm by Ancre »
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Vector

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #617 on: July 26, 2013, 05:51:00 pm »
Spoiler: 33/52 (click to show/hide)

Hard Times is the very worst book I have ever read.
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"The question of the usefulness of poetry arises only in periods of its decline, while in periods of its flowering, no one doubts its total uselessness." - Boris Pasternak

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FearfulJesuit

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #618 on: July 26, 2013, 09:11:15 pm »
Quote from: Vector on July 26, 2013, 05:51:00 pm
Spoiler: 33/52 (click to show/hide)

Hard Times is the very worst book I have ever read.

...maybe I'm tempting hyperbole here, but have you tried Fifty Shades of Grey?
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Vector

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #619 on: July 26, 2013, 09:20:30 pm »
No, I have to say that I think that Hard Times is actually worse.

Fifty Shades of Gray has a pretense to a plot.  Twilight has some value--it is high-quality wish-fulfillment glurge.  Hard Times is incoherent without a single story arc or attempted moment of character development, without even a scene of guilty pleasure or secondary layer to a single personage; the Chekhov's guns are never fired.  Its Dickensian setpieces are so heavily shoehorned in that any pleasure is subsumed to the recognition of the message: "I AM CHARLES DICKENS AND I WROTE THIS NOVEL."  Even his attempts at melodrama are sickeningly dull.

It was even worse than The Scarlet Pimpernel.
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"The question of the usefulness of poetry arises only in periods of its decline, while in periods of its flowering, no one doubts its total uselessness." - Boris Pasternak

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Kirbypowered

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #620 on: July 28, 2013, 10:12:48 am »
In the end I grabbed a book that looked interesting and was actually at the library at the time. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss was the book. Fantasy type setting with multiple types of magic, ranging from sorta science-y sounding to completely magical. Probably the most traditional fantasy book I've read, which doesn't mean a lot, coming from me. Kinda interestingly done, the larger part of the book being a story within a story, and the story telling taking place over a single day.

Thoroughly enjoyed it in any case. The main character does seem to be all kinds of perfect at everything, but I came out finding it believable, so props to Rothfuss on that. First of an as of yet incomplete series. The second book's also in the library near here, but I'll give myself some time before I jump into it. It is almost a thousand pages long...

Spoiler: 6/40 (click to show/hide)

This time I know where I'm going; Abercrombie's first book, The Blade Itself. As a bonus, it's less than 500 pages. Woo!
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i2amroy

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #621 on: July 28, 2013, 09:36:41 pm »
Two more books go down; The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven, both by Robert Jordan as I continue my reread of the series.

Spoiler: Books Finished 37/52 (click to show/hide)
Total Pages: 16,625

Quote from: Kirbypowered on July 28, 2013, 10:12:48 am
In the end I grabbed a book that looked interesting and was actually at the library at the time. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss was the book. Fantasy type setting with multiple types of magic, ranging from sorta science-y sounding to completely magical. Probably the most traditional fantasy book I've read, which doesn't mean a lot, coming from me. Kinda interestingly done, the larger part of the book being a story within a story, and the story telling taking place over a single day.
I definitely enjoyed that series, owning both of the two books currently out. A very fun series, especially if you enjoy a bit of that "wizard school" type of story.
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Flying Dice

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #622 on: July 29, 2013, 12:18:47 am »
I've/ been sort of piddling along reading bits and pieces this summer. Just finished burning through a delightfully violent take on what is otherwise a rather trite series, though.

He Who Fights Monsters
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29/7/13
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Vector

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #623 on: August 01, 2013, 12:15:29 am »
Spoiler: 35/52 (click to show/hide)

Hard Times was horrible, but Welcome to Hard Times is definitely the best Western I've ever read.  It's a jewel.  Pick it up right away.  Two hundred pages of flawless perfection.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was kind of as expected--I was just finishing it, anyway.  The end didn't feel like much of a lagniappe but the theory is worth the time if you're unfamiliar with it.

Now I'm reading The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property by Lewis Hyde, which is phenomenal and I recommend for anyone who is feeling their life is somehow lacking or who might need a little boost with their creativity, as well as continuing to plug away at Auden's volume of translations of Norse poetry.
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"The question of the usefulness of poetry arises only in periods of its decline, while in periods of its flowering, no one doubts its total uselessness." - Boris Pasternak

nonbinary/genderfluid/genderqueer renegade mathematician and mafia subforum limpet. please avoid quoting me.

pronouns: prefer neutral ones, others are fine. height: 5'3".

i2amroy

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #624 on: August 03, 2013, 03:26:09 am »
Three more books go down. Lord of Chaos, from the Wheel of Time series and Toaru Majutsu no Index volumes 7 and 8. With a little less then a month left before my next semester starts, lets see how big of a margin I can give myself before my free time rapidly diminishes. (Who knows, maybe I'll be able to hit the 70/75 mark before the end of the year. :D)

Spoiler: Books Finished 40/52 (click to show/hide)
Total Pages: 17,983
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Quote from: PTTG
It would be brutally difficult and probably won't work. In other words, it's absolutely dwarven!
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varnish

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #625 on: August 06, 2013, 12:25:44 pm »
I just read Titus Groan. That was amazing.

And I read a couple of others too.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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GlyphGryph

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #626 on: August 06, 2013, 12:43:18 pm »
I got a new book and I have read it about 20 times now. Does that count 20 times towards the challenge?

1-20: To Be or Not to Be (And I can probably squeeze 32 more times out of it before I hit everything... :P)
« Last Edit: August 06, 2013, 12:49:18 pm by GlyphGryph »
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Lectorog

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #627 on: August 06, 2013, 12:55:51 pm »
That definitely does not count for 20 according to the rules. And check how many pages you actually read - it's a choose your own adventure book, so you're not going to read every page in it every time. I'm still waiting for my copy; so jealous.
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jhxmt

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #628 on: August 06, 2013, 04:17:34 pm »
Hmm, I may have to take this challenge at some point, I've been meaning to revitalise my reading habit.  :)
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Dutchling

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #629 on: August 09, 2013, 01:36:09 pm »
Finished book #18, 1984 by George Orwell.

This book is so much more depressing than I expected it to be Dx. Reading the last third was like reading the Red Wedding. Over and over again.

;_;

5/5
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