What are you reading/last book you read

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eabaker
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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I finished Go Set a Watchman last week. It's a difficult book to discuss in some ways, and I came away from it with mixed feelings.

I mean, first off, there's the question of whether it should be classified as a unique book, or as a draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. My impulse would be to say it is the former, a unique book which contained the seed of TKaM, but which tells its own story. However, the way it was originally publicized, as a "sequel," isn't exactly accurate. Harper Lee wrote and sold it prior to TKaM; editor Tay Hohoff did not deem it ready for print; and, as the two of them re-worked what were deemed the most promising elements into what would become TKaM, some pretty key details about the characters and their history were ultimately changed.

It's a much more internal story than TKaM. It really has very little plot to speak of, just enough to give Scout the impetus for an identity crisis/crisis of faith. And that's fine; those kinds of stories can be quite wonderful. Unfortunately, this one has a lot of set-up (some of it rendered unnecessary by having read TKaM), and very little payoff. Having gotten us invested in Scout's inner struggle, Lee then rushes to a resolution, which feels very pat. The last thirty pages or so just fall completely flat, a real disappointment after a very strong opening.

The book is, to a lot of TKaM fans, sort of what TLJ was to a lot of Star Wars fans, in terms of seeming to undermine a beloved hero, in this case Atticus Finch. And, of course, I respect that for a lot of the same reasons that I respect the Luke Skywalker aspects of TLJ. What is revealed about Atticus in GSaW (if that's even the right way of looking at it, since there's no reasonable way GSaW as it exists could be called "canonical") is largely consistent with what we've seen of him in the past, but approaches him from a different angle and shines a light on a the kind of moral failing that, in truth, our heroes are just as capable of as anyone else.

Alas, as I said, the ending just doesn't do anything meaningful with its exploration of the character's flaws (very unlike TLJ in this respect), and instead focuses on what Lee wants us to see as Scout's major character flaw. But what is the final message it sends? It's something akin to, "Sure, the racists are wrong, but we just have to let them get it out of their systems. We must never be bigoted against the racists, though!"

It was an interesting read, much of it was quite good, but it is not remotely as good as TKaM, and the resolution is a complete failure. That said, it is a valuable record of part of the development of a masterpiece.
Last edited by eabaker on Wed Jan 01, 2020 9:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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Finished Red Army by Ralph Peters a few days ago, depicting a Soviet invasion of West Germany in the late 1980s entirely from the perspective of the Russians (and Uzbeks, and Armenians, and Estonians, and the other assorted ethnicities of the USSR). Fantastic novel and probably one of the best in it's genre, to the point I'd recommend it even to people who aren't technothriller fans or alternate history geeks. It's the closest I've seen a technothriller come to "true literature," so to speak.
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham

I've failed at budgeting for too long. This book is really helpful so far.

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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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Just finished Pterosaurs by Mark Witton, which was highly informative and one I would recommend, and Fact, Fiction, and Flying Saucers by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden, which was also informative, but suffered from sloppy, amateurish writing and editing quality, and generally just felt like a vehicle from which the authors could hit back against their detractors. Not undeservedly so, it would seem, but still. I've also been chipping away at the third volume of The New Teen Titans, which continues to be highly entertaining.

Next item on the agenda is A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin, which I'll be ordering from Amazon soon.
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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In May, I will be reading "Killing Crazy Horse: The Merciless Indian Wars in America" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard. I love those non-fiction Killing books! I've read all of them! :D

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Currently, I'm reading Star Trek: The Final Reflection by John M. Ford. My wife picked up some free used paperbacks at college, she thought I might be interested...

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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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LEADERS OF THE PACK:A Werewolf Anthology
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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Kong Reborn by Russell Blackford, a science fiction thriller. Had some appointments at the VA this morning, was looking thru the magazines and paperbacks, and there it was. Not a bad read, 1/3 of it done. Someone finds Kong's blood on the Empire State Building in 1999, and Denham's grandson clones Kong. That's the premise, anyway...

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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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It is said to be recommended by Bill Gates, this book is called "factfulness", is a book I think is still quite strong
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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On top of finally starting 'Daikaiju Yuki', I'm also reading 'It Came From Bob's Basement' (Bob Burns' 2000 autobiography about how he obtained some of the items in his legendary memorabilia collection and his life in general) and have read this 90s Predator comic that was another one of my birthday gifts:

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Last edited by Leviarex on Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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Finished reading Night Waves the other day. It's really good, body stealing sirens slowly taking over a sea side town.

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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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I've finished a translation of the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland, which is a collection of myths about the adventures of Finnish folk heroes, such as Väinämöinen, the man who was born an elder, who can control the elements with his singing (music has the power to magically influence the world, in Finnish folk tradition).

Haha, I don't suppose anyone here would care, but since this forum is full of people who enjoy monsters and myths, maybe Finnish myths would be worth learning about. The Finns didn't worship Odin or Thor, they had their own gods, characters, and monsters, and their folk stories have a gloomy, sensitive, earthy, humble peasant quality which you don't usually find in the more grand, hieratic, or faery-like myths of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse cultures.
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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Leviarex wrote:On top of finally starting 'Daikaiju Yuki', I'm also reading 'It Came From Bob's Basement' (Bob Burns' 2000 autobiography about how he obtained some of the items in his legendary memorabilia collection and his life in general) and have read this 90s Predator comic that was another one of my birthday gifts:

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Please tell me that's actually about a Pred using hand-to-hand to fight big game like lions and elephants.


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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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MM Raids Again wrote:
Leviarex wrote:On top of finally starting 'Daikaiju Yuki', I'm also reading 'It Came From Bob's Basement' (Bob Burns' 2000 autobiography about how he obtained some of the items in his legendary memorabilia collection and his life in general) and have read this 90s Predator comic that was another one of my birthday gifts:

Image
Please tell me that's actually about a Pred using hand-to-hand to fight big game like lions and elephants.
I haven't been an AVP fan in a long time (the stories got awfully repetitive), but I used to read the comics when I was a teen, including this one. If I remember correctly (perhaps Leviarex can correct me if I'm wrong), I was a little disappointed in the lack of animal fights. There were no Predators fighting lions, or if there were it wasn't an important feature. Though the first story was about an African hunter kicking a Predator's ass, which was fun.
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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Godzilloci wrote:I've finished a translation of the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland, which is a collection of myths about the adventures of Finnish folk heroes, such as Väinämöinen, the man who was born an elder, who can control the elements with his singing (music has the power to magically influence the world, in Finnish folk tradition).

Haha, I don't suppose anyone here would care, but since this forum is full of people who enjoy monsters and myths, maybe Finnish myths would be worth learning about. The Finns didn't worship Odin or Thor, they had their own gods, characters, and monsters, and their folk stories have a gloomy, sensitive, earthy, humble peasant quality which you don't usually find in the more grand, hieratic, or faery-like myths of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse cultures.
As a Finn, I'm pleased to see somebody else here having an interest in our folklore. :D
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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A Finn?! Awesome! My girlfriend is Finnish! I'm gonna marry her and become a Finn myself some day, hopefully next year! You people have a beautiful-sounding language, and such a peaceful country with such vast, silent woodlands! I've stayed in Vantaa for a month last year and visited Helsinki and Turku, and loved every moment of it. California can sink to the bottom of the sea for all I care!

And as someone who dedicates a lot of time to folklore, I must emphasize that Finnish is my favorite, what I've managed to learn of it at least! It has an emotional attitude I can't find anywhere else, a mixture of appreciative melancholy and raw physical strength derived from a humble existence in a cold place. My girlfriend has sung to me fragments from the Kalevala in Finnish, and has even shared with me many folk songs, such as a lullaby sung to children, comparing them to birds in the grass, which was also used as a funeral song.

Haha, I'm going a bit off topic with my enthusiasm, but this also ties into my enthusiasm for the Kalevala, which has such powerful images as the sky-mother who is helplessly swept along the landless sea, and the immense tree whose branches blot out the entire sky, and the dark land of Tuonela where there are beautiful enchantments guarded by terrifying demons, and all the scenes where Väinämöinen uses his singing voice to transform one thing into another, or to heal an endlessly bleeding wound, or to sink his foe into the ground! This is some amazing stuff that deserves more attention and interest!
Last edited by Godzilloci on Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:25 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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Godzilloci wrote:
MM Raids Again wrote:
Leviarex wrote:On top of finally starting 'Daikaiju Yuki', I'm also reading 'It Came From Bob's Basement' (Bob Burns' 2000 autobiography about how he obtained some of the items in his legendary memorabilia collection and his life in general) and have read this 90s Predator comic that was another one of my birthday gifts:

Image
Please tell me that's actually about a Pred using hand-to-hand to fight big game like lions and elephants.
I haven't been an AVP fan in a long time (the stories got awfully repetitive), but I used to read the comics when I was a teen, including this one. If I remember correctly (perhaps Leviarex can correct me if I'm wrong), I was a little disappointed in the lack of animal fights. There were no Predators fighting lions, or if there were it wasn't an important feature. Though the first story was about an African hunter kicking a Predator's ass, which was fun.
Well, the Yautja in the second story, 'Predator: The Pride Of Nghasa' does get into a couple of fairly short scuffles with some crocodiles and hyenas towards the end.

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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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I’ve been reading the “Terror of Godzilla” comic miniseries from Dark Horse. It’s the 6 part Manga adaptation of Godzilla (1984) and its available for free on archive.org. It’s pretty fun. Some interesting differences from the finished film.

Also just started reading the leaked “Duel of the Fates” script. It’s the script for the Collin Trevorrow version of Star Wars Episode 9. I’m not that far into it, but it’s surprisingly good. I think, based on what I’ve read thus far, it *could* have been better than the lackluster film we got in Rise of Skywalker. I emphasize “could” because there’s plenty of chances to screw up the process of turning a script into a finished film. But it definitely had serious potential. It’ll be interesting to see if I still feel that way once I finish reading it.

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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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I've read all of 'Venom: Lethal Protector' this week. While I enjoyed it overall, I'm disappointed that Venom didn't get into an actual physical fight with any of the symbiote clones.

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My magazine reading has taken a bit of a time capsule turn in that my list now includes 'Famous Monsters Of Filmland' issue# 6 (dated February, 1960) which has an article on 'King Kong' 33 titled, 'Kongfidentially Yours'.
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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A few months ago for a class I was reading through Foucault's Discipline and Punishment, which has some really interesting insight especially in terms of what is going on in the world today.
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Re: What are you reading/last book you read

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Rather than just state what I'm reading, I'll post how it's influenced me. Semi rant/self-intospection. But if art has made you do that, then it's "good art":

I'm about 2/3rds through East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I've also been listening to Childish Gambino a lot, particularly the album Camp. On the album, Donald Glover talks a lot about fitting into roles, and stereotypes. He notes that because he went to NYU, is flamboyant, and successful, a lot of Black people say he isn't black. At the same time, he sings about he is still racially profiled and suffers from racial experiences from white people. Yet despite this, he is incredibly outward and aggressive with doing his own thing, which I love. Meanwhile, in East of Eden, there is a character named Lee. In many ways, Lee is the "Horatio" of the story; he is often wise (but not in a wise old asian stereotypical way), and provides characters with a unique perspective due to his upbringing. Like Donald Glover/Childish Gambino, he is in a weird in-between.

Because Lee was born in America, he is American, and has a different view of China and the East. Despite speaking Chinese, there's a section where Samuel Hamilton, asks Lee why he doesn't "Go back to China". In that moment, Lee states the ultimate retort, that he had in fact, already had. He states that people there would not accept him for one reason or the other, mainly that he was different due to being born in America. Yet, he still faces heavy persecution and scrutiny from people in America. People expect him to be a loyal and faithful servant, and as a result are scared and don't trust him when he speaks fluent, and in fact more educated English than most of the common new settlers/working class people. As a result, he adopts a facade of being a stereotypical "China-man" and speaks pidgin to most people in a horrendous accent, and pretends to be dumb. The ultimate irony, is that Lee learns Hebrew, and in many ways surpasses a lot of the people around him, and eventually gives Samuel Hamilton and Adam Trask a unique interpretation on lines in the Bible.

While my situation is a lot different than the real life Donald Glover, and the fictional Lee, as a lot of things I have done throughout my life are more conscious choices, I can't help but notice some parallels to both of their scenarios. Now that I have lived in Japan for a year (And intend to keep living in Japan for the foreseeable future) I can't help but feel ostachized from both sides. If/when I return to America, either briefly or permanently, I will be expected to fill a role. People will assume Japan is all sushi and anime, and I will be labelled a weeb, either jokingly or un-jokingly. When I say I teach/taught English, people will assume the I am either a lecherous fetishizer or a Neo-colonialist trying to instill the values of the white man onto people. In reality, I just like interacting with students, and helping people learn. It's also a good gig, and unlike a lot of those reprobates, I'm well qualified with my degree, TESOL and prior teaching experience. Meanwhile, in Japan, there are people who view me as a "friendly and helpful white man" or on the reverse end, from nationalists "an evil/dumb foreigner". When I meet people on the street, or at bars, a lot of it is really awkward. People box me in to a category. For example, "Do you like sports" (all Americans must love sports). The instant I begin to talk about non-basic things, like beyond praising Japan, or talking about food, I've noticed people suddenly get weirded out. This relates to Lee.

Occasionally, I act like Lee. I purposely make my Japanese a lot worse than it is. While I am not fluent, the dangerous thing is I am very good at understanding what a lot of people around me say. Additionally, I do consume a lot of Japanese media, and have a lot of strong opinions on the positives and negatives of Japan and Japanese society. I'm mostly afraid to say the negatives, and I also understand that my perspective is one from an outsider, and I should be careful not to criticize culture as all cultures are different, and something that may seem negative or bad to me might be fantastic to others. And at the same time, a lot of the things I love about Japan and see the beauty of, might be things that a lot of people here take for granted. Maybe, maybe not. At the same time, it's fun occasionally pissing people off, or doing things they don't expect. This is why I really like a lot of tracks on Childish Gambino's albums, like Bonfire and You See Me. It's fun to be in peoples faces, and be jovial about it with zero-shame.

The thing that pains me about all this, is that I am only realizing this now, at the age of twenty four. While I have always had generally liberal ideas, I don't think until I moved to Japan I could really understand a lot of things, what it's like to feel out of place. Many people I've grown up with, have always known these truths. People I've dated in the past have talked with me at length about these issues, and at the time I didn't understand and sort of ignored them. I suppose it is better to realize this sooner than later. I wish more people had these realizations, and felt uncomfortable. Not because being uncomfortable is a good thing, but it leads to a lot of empathy and mutual understanding.

It's precisely the idea that makes you realize why "Black Lives matter" is important, and just because things work for you, and you're comfortable with your life doesn't mean everyone else around you. It's why when Pence says,"All Lives Matter" he's a fucking idiot. When people like Pence/Trump espouse nationalistic beliefs, they are in a crippling position, beyond just being a failure as a leader or racist, but they are weak and vulnerable. Similar echoes reverberate through the leadership in Brazil and China. They can't offer or accept outsider perspectives, expect thoughs that show how superior their ideas are. Because of that they have no "Lees". They are sure that their interpretation of reality is correct. Being different is beautiful, but at the same time being different can also lead to coming together.

Added in 10 days 1 hour 28 minutes 47 seconds:
Finished East of Eden. I'm going to order a bunch of books online, including more by Steinbeck. Part of me wants to read Gravity's Rainbow, it's been 8 years since I've read it and I'm wondering if I'll be able to comprehend it better. At the same time, I want to read some shorter things. Might wind up re-reading some of Dazai's work or The Divine Invasion by PKD. Picking what the next book between books between books is the most difficult.

I may read Tropic of Orange by Karen Tei Yamashita.
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There's also some books I have to order and read for my MA. Might just read them earlier and then re-read them during the course to make my life easier.

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I finished Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck. Fun (relatively) light-hearted read. A lot of humorous moments and justifications for opting out of responsibility or promises. Since it's essentially a book of short stories that builds towards something, it's an easy read. Glad I read it, and I'm glad I'm quickly becoming an expert on Steinbeck, but that shouldn't be a surprise since he's one of my favorite authors.

I'll probably read Carson McCuller's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" next, and then after that some books by some female authors.
Last edited by LSD Jellyfish on Sat Jun 20, 2020 3:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
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