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[MetalSlimeHunt]

This is what I would like to think their posts are about, and perhaps not what they mean in reality.

And then there's the inevitable "You don't like reading anti-racism stories year after year after year therefore you're automatically racist!" response that shows up whenever anyone calls them out on it. So annoying.

I don't care about the continued existance of some racist people. They'll probably always exist, no matter how low their numbers become. What I do care about is the boring, repetitive, and unneeded expendature that is the constant mandatory reading of stories that all have the same basic point. It is not educative to beat children over the head with this for thirteen years in a row, and is overall a a waste of their (and by extension, my) time. You want the schools to promote anti-racism with their literature departments? Fine by me. Pick a book concerning it, of which there are many, and then move on to some other social issue or famous work of literature. Because right now, their method is to pick all the anti-racism books and flood the assigned literature with it for the entierty of the student's education.

[Levi]

Of course, there also my mandated summer reading, which, for the fourth year in a row if I recall correctly, documents another damn struggle against racism and slavery. Urgh, give it a rest already...

This. So much this. It's not even beating a dead horse anymore, it's beating the dry bloodstain where its corpse was before it decomposed. It's like the schools can't think of anything besides "RAICSM IS AR BAWD" again and again and again and again. We get it already. You don't want kids to be racist, message received lound and clear now stop it. And then there's the inevitable "You don't like reading anti-racism stories year after year after year therefore you're automatically racist!" response that shows up whenever anyone calls them out on it. So annoying.

I just want to say that I was misquoted here, someone else said that quote.  I'm too old for mandated reading.

I'm not against forcing kids to read stuff telling them racism is bad, but I'd actually rather they learn a bit of critical thinking instead and come to this opinion on their own instead of repeating the same points over and over.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Whoops. Original misquote edited.

[Bohandas]

Of course, there also my mandated summer reading, which, for the fourth year in a row if I recall correctly, documents another damn struggle against racism and slavery. Urgh, give it a rest already...

This. So much this. It's not even beating a dead horse anymore, it's beating the dry bloodstain where its corpse was before it decomposed. It's like the schools can't think of anything besides "RAICSM IS AR BAWD" again and again and again and again. We get it already. You don't want kids to be racist, message received lound and clear now stop it. And then there's the inevitable "You don't like reading anti-racism stories year after year after year therefore you're automatically racist!" response that shows up whenever anyone calls them out on it. So annoying.

You know, I'm kind of sick of hearing this constant "RAICSM IS AR BAWD" drumbeat too...  And I used to think it was about time they gave it a rest...

But then you see the folks who came out of the woodwork during the last election cycle.  Who openly admitted that they weren't voting for Obama because he was black.  Not because he was a Democrat, or they didn't like his politics, or whatever.  But because of the color of his skin.

And then you've got that Justice of the Peace down in Louisiana who refused to marry an interracial couple.

And the KKK is still around.  They're trying to portray a kinder, gentler face these days...  Going up against extreme loonies like Phelps...  But they're still about white supremacy.

And let's not forget all the lovely racial profiling we're doing these days...  If you look even remotely middle-eastern you're in for a fun time.

I couldn't believe it when my own sister-in-law freaked out because my wife and I voted for Obama.  Why?  Because he is black.  She couldn't believe that we'd actually vote a black man into power.  She was so upset by the idea that she was spluttering and unable to form complete sentences.

Racism is alive and well.  We just like to tell ourselves that it's died off.

Still though, constant harping on the issue, especially if this is done through the medium of dull and badly written books, is likely to simply numb people to the issue.

[Cheese]

I really want start reading some Lovecraft mythos. I'm not really sure where to start though. Any suggestions?

[Bohandas]

I really want start reading some Lovecraft mythos. I'm not really sure where to start though. Any suggestions?

Well, The Call of Cthulhu is Lovecraft's most famous story (closely followed by Re-Animator), but I personally prefer The Outsider, The Dunwich Horror, Through The Gates of The Silver Key, The Shadow Out of Time, and  The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (those last two are really long though, so you probably shouldn't start with them, as it is difficult to follow Lovecraft's prose style for any significant length if you aren't used to it)

By the way, here's a link to a bunch of free online copies of Lovecraft's work on wikisource

[Starver]

I'm Currently Reading Anathem.

Seeing this thread, I thought "I'll read through that, thoroughly, and when I get to the end mention that I'm about to start Anathem[1]", except that on the first page someone already name-checks it.

What book are do I want to read?  The next Pratchett novel.  A pretty perpetual wish, this, although (from memory) Snuff[4] is the current incumbent of that position, and that's probably out at the end of September, so a bit of a wait for that.


[1] Found in a Remaindered book shop, originally in that shop on sale for £2.99[2], but reduced to 99p to clear, which has a degree of foreboding, but it's Neal Stephenson, so it surely can't be because it's bad...  (although, hey, it's 99p for a hardback, you can pay as much for a genuine paperweight!)  Anyway, I live in hope, and I know he's been nominated for some awards for it[3].

[2] Inside cover indicates US$29.95 or Ca$31.95, but no UK£.  So... a Leftpondian edition?  How could I tell?  "Sidewalks" instead of... "sidewalks", 'cos of an American author anyway?

[3] Perhaps the lack of such mention on the covers is the reason this copy is remaindered, in preference to the newer stock?

[4] If not that, it's Raising Taxes or Scouting For Trolls.  I'd be happy with any of these, however.

[Starver]

After that I'll likely read Neal Stephenson's Anathema

And again.  Well, I'll be in good company, then...

(Shutting up now.  Although I'd also champion Asimov, but I've already read almost all of his non-obscure stuff, a couple of decades ago[1], such that I'm hazy as to what among his oeuvre I am missing.  Maybe that means I should revisit it.  Actually, it does mean that, doesn't it?)


[1] When I was going through the Sci-Fi/Fantasy shelves of the local library in alphabetical order, picking up swap-ins whenever I noticed them.  So, as you can imagine, I read quite a bit of Asimov[2], Brian Aldiss, Poul Anderson, Ray Bradbury... etc, but not so much Roger Zelazny and his various immediate shelf-mates.  Although Wells (HG) and Verne (J) managed to get a good look in, at other times.  Albeit that Paris In The Twentieth Century (a more recent read, obviously) was... shall we say, unsatisfying even while being curious.

[2] Winning a prize for my review of Foundation And Earth while in college.  I don't know whether that was because of or despite finally giving up over re-doing the hand-written version (to which I remember I'd keep introducing completely new errors in transcription, when trying to write out a new version to correct the bad penmanship of the prior one) and printing it out from my computer instead... probably the only example of a dot-matrixed submission that the judges received.

[Starver]

Try From The Mountains of Madness, The Rats in the Walls, and The Nameless City first. They're easier to read then most of his works.

Having just heard BBC Radio 7 4 Extra's rendition of FtMoM, I am very much minded to believe various opposing verisimilitudes, insofar as that the prose is muchly reminiscent of my own occasional extreme trends towards unnecessarily concocted polysyllablism and obfuscation of expounding, during which temporal periods it mayhap be shown to exhibit such flourishes of the Anglo-American tongue as to create within the horror of its deep, dark, echoing depths a veritable shroud of impenetrability and manifest a striking down of the soul of all so far unprepared for such linguistic flairs.

(And yet 'ere whilst the words are short and sharp, the sense of phrase does give the read a pace not fit for men from out this time or place.  The heart does scream, the head takes fright, the words by craft have made their mark as well they might.  With a case and shell, both tough and thick, round phrase and verse as if from Poe, the likes of his text it does strike one's soul all to the quick.)[1]


[1] It was much, much harder to write that bit of purely monosyllabic words than the bit before, and I think I drifted off into other authorial styles in doing so.  So what was supposed to be a (bad, bordering on terrible) parody is probably so much further off of the mark, now.

[Lord Shonus]

The Shadow over Innsmoth is a very readable lovecraft story.

[Patchouli]

My friend froths over House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

It's pretty weird from what I've seen. It's one of those books where the text is all over the pages in unconventional formats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HouseOfLeavesPage134.gif

[Max White]

Does this count?
Just finished reading, and I have to say, beautiful work. Creative and wonderful in context, deep and sad in subtext. Very enjoyable on both levels. It is going on my recommended reading list as one of the most accurate portrayals of depression I have ever read.

[Haschel]

Try From The Mountains of Madness, The Rats in the Walls, and The Nameless City first. They're easier to read then most of his works.

Having just heard BBC Radio 7 4 Extra's rendition of FtMoM, I am very much minded to believe various opposing verisimilitudes, insofar as that the prose is muchly reminiscent of my own occasional extreme trends towards unnecessarily concocted polysyllablism and obfuscation of expounding, during which temporal periods it mayhap be shown to exhibit such flourishes of the Anglo-American tongue as to create within the horror of its deep, dark, echoing depths a veritable shroud of impenetrability and manifest a striking down of the soul of all so far unprepared for such linguistic flairs.

(And yet 'ere whilst the words are short and sharp, the sense of phrase does give the read a pace not fit for men from out this time or place.  The heart does scream, the head takes fright, the words by craft have made their mark as well they might.  With a case and shell, both tough and thick, round phrase and verse as if from Poe, the likes of his text it does strike one's soul all to the quick.)

I just found a nicely printed hard cover collection of Lovecraft works for sale. Combine that with the post above, and my day has officially been made. Thanks.

[MorleyDev]

Lovecraft's works are wonderful, I've got an omnibus collection of pretty much every story he ever wrote. I'd say my favourite but it's too hard to pick just one xD

I've returned to reading Telling Lies by Paul Ekman, which I stopped after getting about 3/4's the way through (coursework got in the way and I never picked it back up again). I still have Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche and The Lucifer Effect by Philip G. Zimbardo on the to-read stack so I'll probably get to them eventually. I probably should give Numerical Recipes a proper read as well, but that's more of an encyclopaedia than a book (or at least, that's more what I've been using it as) xD

Plus I'm still eagerly awaiting Ghost Story, the next book in the Dresden Files series too which comes out next month and should be a hoot I finished Changes not long ago and damn the cliff-hanger ending

[Ephemeriis]

Still though, constant harping on the issue, especially if this is done through the medium of dull and badly written books, is likely to simply numb people to the issue.

Agreed.

I really want start reading some Lovecraft mythos. I'm not really sure where to start though. Any suggestions?

One of the nice things about Lovecraft's stories is that they've pretty much all fallen into the public domain...  So you can get your hands on them completely free.

The Shadow over Innsmoth is a very readable lovecraft story.

Yup.  It's usually what I recommend to people.  Relatively action-packed for a Lovecraft story, but it hits on a lot of the things that makes him unique.