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Author Topic: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013  (Read 58877 times)

i2amroy

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #690 on: October 26, 2013, 02:40:06 pm »
After a long dearth of not posting here it's time to update with 7 more books and 2,899 pages!

Spoiler: Books Finished 66/75 (click to show/hide)
Total Pages: 29,274
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It would be brutally difficult and probably won't work. In other words, it's absolutely dwarven!
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - A fun zombie survival rougelike that I'm dev-ing for.

Realmfighter

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Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
« Reply #691 on: October 27, 2013, 03:16:30 am »
    Quote from: Realmfighter on September 10, 2013, 03:01:27 am
    Spoiler: 32/52 completed (click to show/hide)
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    We may not be as brave as Gryffindor, as willing to get our hands dirty as Hufflepuff, or as devious as Slytherin, but there is nothing, nothing more dangerous than a little too much knowledge and a conscience that is open to debate

    Sappho

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #692 on: October 27, 2013, 05:38:19 am »
    Book 40: Just a Geek (Wil Wheaton)

    Actually pretty good. I never watched TNG. I love TOS but as a kid my mom tried to show me TNG and it was too scary for me. (They played E.T. as a "treat" in my 3rd grade class and I ran screaming out of the room, so my threshold for "scary" was pretty low.) I only heard about Wil Wheaton because of Big Bang Theory. Then I found his Tumblr and got his book by chance as part of a Humble Bundle a while back. He's very intelligent, an excellent writer, and a very funny guy.

    Now I'm only, what, 3 books behind? And I'll be doing NaNoWriMo in November, so that will cut heavily into my reading time. Guess I'd better do nothing but read for the next few days...
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    i2amroy

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #693 on: October 27, 2013, 03:26:56 pm »
    Quote from: Sappho on October 27, 2013, 05:38:19 am
    Now I'm only, what, 3 books behind? And I'll be doing NaNoWriMo in November, so that will cut heavily into my reading time. Guess I'd better do nothing but read for the next few days...
    Assuming you started on January first and your goal is 52 books, then yes. :P
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    Quote from: PTTG
    It would be brutally difficult and probably won't work. In other words, it's absolutely dwarven!
    Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - A fun zombie survival rougelike that I'm dev-ing for.

    Sappho

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #694 on: October 29, 2013, 11:36:27 am »
    Book 41: I Am Legend (Richard Matheson)

    This was my second time reading this book (which includes several short stories in addition to the main novella). I saw the film version before I read it, and I thought it was terrible, because it was. Really terrible. Then I read the original story, which has almost nothing to do with the film version. The book is excellent. If anyone saw the film and thought it was garbage, try the book.
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    Dutchling

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #695 on: October 29, 2013, 12:11:36 pm »
    I liked the film :P. Up until that woman and her child came, that is. Not very interesting after that.

    Still, added the book to my to-read list...
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    Sappho

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #696 on: October 30, 2013, 02:20:23 am »
    The film basically takes one idea from the book: most of the world is turned into "vampires" (although the film completely redefines what vampires are) and only one guy is left of original humanity.

    Then they take everything else in the book and, at best, throw it away, and at worst, completely reverse it. They do a total 180 on things like "the entire moral of the story." Actually, if you find the original ending to the film on YouTube, it was better, at least, but then test audiences were like "TOO COMPLEX NEED SIMPLE CHRISTIAN VALUES PLSTHX" and they totally reversed the ending.

    They take a story about psychology, morals, ethics, and the nature of humanity, and turn it into a monster flick with good guys vs. bad guys, with the most predictable Hollywood ending imaginable.
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    Dutchling

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #697 on: October 30, 2013, 03:54:52 am »
    Oh, once I heard it was based on a book that's pretty much what I assumed happened.

    Doesn't change my opinion of the movie though.
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    Pnx

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #698 on: October 30, 2013, 10:28:28 am »
    Quote from: Sappho on October 30, 2013, 02:20:23 am
    Then they take everything else in the book and, at best, throw it away, and at worst, completely reverse it. They do a total 180 on things like "the entire moral of the story." Actually, if you find the original ending to the film on YouTube, it was better, at least, but then test audiences were like "TOO COMPLEX NEED SIMPLE CHRISTIAN VALUES PLSTHX" and they totally reversed the ending.
    Ok, I just watched the alternate ending, I now really want to read the book. I think it's going on my reading list.
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    Sappho

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #699 on: October 30, 2013, 10:38:51 am »
    Hooray! Remember, however, that the book was first published in 1954, so a lot of things are very different. The book also has some other short stories in it (though this is not mentioned on the cover, presumably because most people prefer not to read "short stories" collections), several of which are very good. My favorites are "The Near Departed" and "Mad House."
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    Sappho

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #700 on: November 01, 2013, 02:27:19 am »
    Book 42: The Poison Eaters and Other Stories (Holly Black)

    I have mixed feelings about this book, which came with my Humble Ebook Bundle a while back. The writing style sounds like it's targeted towards children or young teenagers, but the themes are so dark. There is a great deal of violence, murder, gore, sex, drugs, suicide, and other such things. I would never dream of telling these stories to someone so young. A couple of them were a bit violent and gory even for my taste. Furthermore, the characters in them seem mostly to be very young, children or young teenagers like the target audience. I did like a couple of the stories near the end of the book, but for the most part, I just wanted to get through this one so I could be done with it.

    Interesting that, completely by chance, the last two books I read, leading up to Halloween, were collections of horror stories. I knew I Am Legend was horror, but since they don't celebrate Halloween here I wasn't thinking about it. I didn't have any idea what The Poison Eaters would be like, so that was pure luck.
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    RedKing

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #701 on: November 01, 2013, 09:40:56 am »
    I think I initially said 26 books, won't get anywhere near that. But I have actually read a few lately.

    Spoiler: 5/26 (click to show/hide)
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    Quote from: MaximumZero on October 26, 2012, 11:28:55 pm
    Remember, knowledge is power. The power to make other people feel stupid.
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    jhxmt

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #702 on: November 01, 2013, 07:05:44 pm »
    Kinda forgot to update this, so I'm a couple of books ahead now (well, ahead of where I was - still massively behind target!)

    Spoiler: 7/52 (click to show/hide)

    Currently working my way through A Storm Of Swords (two-book version, though I guess it only counts as one!)
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    Dutchling

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #703 on: November 02, 2013, 04:54:44 pm »
    Spoiler: 27/52 (click to show/hide)
    Finished book #27, Fathers and Sons by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev.
    I expected something far less readable. It being a classic and well, Russian :p. I'm not entirely sure what was so revolutionary about the book, but then again, I'm not very familiar with Tsarist Russian politics.

    I was also pleasantly surprised with a brief description of what happened to everyone after the story proper ended.

    5/5. Will read more Russian/Turgenev books :D

    Starting on the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire now. This book only has 28 of it's 71 chapters, but I think that's enough for it to count as book for this thread's sake...


    Spoiler: 28/52 (click to show/hide)
    Finished book #28, Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol.

    5/5. This book was absolutely amazing. Too bad the second part was only half finished :/. Still, best book I have read this year!


    Spoiler: 29/52 (click to show/hide)
    Finished book #29, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

    Sappho made me curious about the book, so I read it. I definitely liked it, although the ending felt a bit abrupt. Still better than the movie's ending though :P.
    Sadly, my version didn't have any of Matheson's short stories. Still, I give this book a 5/5.
    « Last Edit: November 10, 2013, 11:39:58 am by Dutchling »
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    Sappho

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    Re: The Official Bay12 - 52 books challenge 2013
    « Reply #704 on: November 12, 2013, 04:07:12 pm »
    Book 43: Prelude to Foundation, Isaac Asimov

    The end was a real eye-roller, and I really didn't enjoy this one as much of the others. It wasn't as compelling or enlightening. I guess I like earlier Asimov better.

    Now to go re-read I, Robot...
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