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What book are you reading now/have finished?

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  • edited July 2012
    Finished the Warrior Prophet. Was enjoyable but really found myself disliking Kellhus more and more. Partly due to his arrogance and party due to how he treated others. That and how easily everyone is manipulated, its like they are just blank slates to his god like mightiness. . Proberly going to take a brake from the serries for a book or to then go back for the Thousandfould thought.

    Also read Curse of the Gloamglozeler. Fun and easy to read with some cool concepts.
    You are reading properly. You aren't supposed to like Kellhus! He's a manipulative bitch.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • Kellhus is Jesus Christ: Ubermensch. He isn't the messiah the Three Seas (or humans anywhere) want but he's the messiah we deserve and need right now.
  • Finished The Infinity Puzzle. Good history of particle physics starting after WWII.
  • The way in which he holds no guilt about any of the things he does or any of the lives he ruins starts to grate after a while. That said it didn't make me want to put down the book. The problem it presents is that for Kellhus to have his comeuppance others would suffer worse.
  • I just finished The Warrior Prophet this weekend. Started book 3 today. I'm not reading too much into anything, I'm just going along for the ride.

    Totally addicted though. There is no way in hell I'm taking a break. I need to know how this ends!
  • You are reading properly. You aren't supposed to like Kellhus! He's a manipulative bitch.
    I like him a lot actually. He has moments of humanity if you read closely. Thoughts of Serwe come unbidden at one point. ;^)

  • Rym can relate to Kellhaus.

    We're all fucked. Fucking Dunyain.
  • RymRym
    edited July 2012
    Well, think about this. What is Kellhus doing? What is his goal? His shortest path is to what end?

    In the first three books, we're given insight into his thoughts. We can see things from his perspective. What is he going after truly? Think about that very carefully at the end of the third book, when the shit goes down and he
    confronts Moengus in the cave.


    In the second set of books, we never get back into Kellhus's head. Thus, we must infer what his motivations are. Think about the end of the third book, and about his outward efforts, and consider what he truly has in mind.

    By all appearances, Kellhus wishes to prevent the new apocalypse, and is likely the only human being capable of doing so.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • AmpAmp
    edited July 2012
    The impression that I got from the second and first was that he didn't care about anyone only about meeting his father. Serwe I always felt was an amusement or something to hold over Cnaiur, and that he only felt bad about after she was gone. He didn't seem to really care about his son, nor did he apologise to Akka even after he screwed him over in the worst possible way. Despite all that he risked, all he endured and all that he gave.
    Post edited by Amp on
  • So what you're saying is you're the messiah.
  • I would see my self more as Pyora. Slightly distrustful of it all and wondering what has happend.
  • The impression that I got from the second and first was that he didn't care about anyone only about meeting his father. Serwe I always felt was an amusement or something to hold over Cnaiur, and that he only felt bad about after she was gone. He didn't seem to really care about his son, nor did he apologise to Akka even after he screwed him over in the worst possible way. Despite all that he risked, all he endured and all that he gave.
    Heehee.

    Rereading the first trilogy is a revalation once you've read The White-Luck Warrior.
  • Still working through 1Q84. Just started the third book. I agree with some others who have noted that the writing is overly verbose and things get repeated way more than necessary. Still an interesting story though.

    Also got The Man Who Was Thursday so that I can tackle that when I'm finished. While we were at the store, my girlfriend also just randomly found Kavalier and Clay and decided she needed to read it. Good thing for me cause that's also on my list thanks to the book club.
  • 1Q84 also pulled a move that I HATE by randomly going extremely meta for no reason for a handful of paragraphs. Larsson did that in the first dragon tattoo book too and it threw me off where randomly halfway through the chapter it goes completely meta to how rape laws work in Sweden. The issue is that it was in a perfect position to explain it through dialog between characters but decides not to.
  • Has anyone read Cloud Atlas? I just saw the preview for the movie, and it looks very cool.

    The book is short, so I may give it a go, but was wondering if anyone has read it and their thoughts.
  • edited July 2012
    1Q84 also pulled a move that I HATE by randomly going extremely meta for no reason for a handful of paragraphs. Larsson did that in the first dragon tattoo book too and it threw me off where randomly halfway through the chapter it goes completely meta to how rape laws work in Sweden. The issue is that it was in a perfect position to explain it through dialog between characters but decides not to.
    Actually, I have the opposite problem. I like it when a narrator or meta text explains something the reader will not understand.

    For example, if Rym and I are talking about computers, we will just use tech words. If you don't understand it, you won't understand it. We don't explain what a word means every time we use it. If we did, it would make our dialogue very unrealistic and stupid. I see a lot of this unrealistic dialog in many places. You have lawyers explaining laws to each other, or musicians explaining musical techniques. If they are all experts, they will already know these things! It's better to have it explained in meta text to keep the dialog non-stupid.

    The best way to do this is to have a character that is a total newb and have the expert teach the newb and simultaneously educated the reader. That is the magic of the shonen genre.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • Has anyone read Cloud Atlas? I just saw the preview for the movie, and it looks very cool.

    The book is short, so I may give it a go, but was wondering if anyone has read it and their thoughts.
    This is the second time I've seen it mentioned, so now it is on the radar.

  • edited July 2012
    In 1Q84's case they weren't even explaining something that needed to be explained in my opinion. I only remember it had something to do with the narrator completely breaking away from Aomame and explaining how Uchigawa missed her because she missed Tengo, etc. Those sort of instances irritate me because it breaks the atmosphere.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • edited July 2012
    Has anyone read Cloud Atlas? I just saw the preview for the movie, and it looks very cool.
    The book is short, so I may give it a go, but was wondering if anyone has read it and their thoughts.
    This is the second time I've seen it mentioned, so now it is on the radar.
    Check out the trailer, it's all over the place. It's from the Wichowski siblings.

    Post edited by Rochelle on
  • edited July 2012
    I thought that book was gonna be about old people on ships and new relationships. All of a sudden future crazy shit.

    Also I wish Tom Hanks narrated my life.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • Just finished The Last Unicorn (can't believe I hadn't read it before) and Phillip Mansell's history of Constantinople under the Ottomans. Now reading Ian McDonald's Dervish House and maybe Airborn by Kenneth Oppel.
  • By all appearances, Kellhus wishes to prevent the new apocalypse, and is likely the only human being capable of doing so.
    The only other group that seem to be concerned with it is the Mandate, and there are two obstacles to their success: it's dubious as to whether they can convince anyone they're right, and they alone probably don't have the firepower to pull it off.

    Kellhus might have to Ozymandias the three seas to do it, but he'll get the job done.

    Disclaimer: I haven't read the 6th book.
  • I recently finished The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. I read her first book, The Historian, some time ago and really enjoyed it.

    I may be giving the author too much credit, but the really fascinating part of these books is that they are written in a way that reflects their subject matter. Where the Historian is about librarians and researchers and histories, the plot unfolds in a way that an actual historian might follow a trail of facts and clues to solve a 500 year-old mystery. And the Swan Thieves is about a painter, and the book is very much a character study, with pieces of the character's personality being drawn in broad strokes that eventually clarify into something cohesive. I would recommend them pretty highly, though the Historian gets more points than Swan Thieves due to the more adventure-y plot.

    Next up, I have just three more books left in my Wheel of Time re-read before the final book in January.
  • 1Q84 also pulled a move that I HATE by randomly going extremely meta for no reason for a handful of paragraphs. Larsson did that in the first dragon tattoo book too and it threw me off where randomly halfway through the chapter it goes completely meta to how rape laws work in Sweden. The issue is that it was in a perfect position to explain it through dialog between characters but decides not to.
    [Woo! Meta!]
    "The Wonderful Gilyaks!"

  • I'm rereading Dungeon World because I'm going to be running it soon, for the first time.
  • Quick question: In the Prince of Nothing series, what are Korrae bowman?

    Unless I missed the description, are they either bowman who all have Korrae on their person, or do they actually SHOOT Korrae AT the school?

    Surely it can't be just bowmen with Korrae, as an arrow is still an arrow, no matter WHO fired it.

    So they literally shoot trinkets? The most valuable of all things? I Imagine the post battle clean up would be interesting. Need to acount for EVERY one.
  • Yes, they shoot Korrae at schoolmen. They are very valuable, as they are the only working defense for a non-school-aligned army.
  • It's Chorae, not Korrae.
  • I was copying his spelling.
  • I was copying his spelling.
    I know. InvaderREN is at fault here.
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