Reading Thread 2: Pagemasters

flowersofnight

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faith

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I just finished The Picture of Dorian Gray...and it was oddly better than I expected. Though the way women were portrayed in it was pretty dum.

I'm not sure what the meaning behind James Vane's death was though. The book itself was so pedagogical that the rest was pretty self-explanitory. If anyone feels like explaining it would be appreciated.
 

PureElegance

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flowersofnight wrote:
PureElegance wrote:
The son of Captain Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega y Vargas
Wasn't that Zorro's real name?
Stop making fun of my (Incan) heritage.

Though the way women were portrayed in it was pretty dum.
I might have to read it again just to see this XD Can you believe I still haven't read Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew"?

In addition to all that I posted on the last page, also reading Max Weber stuff... didn't these Germans have anything better to do, gosh.
Along with "Stalin as Revolutionary" by Tucker C. Robert.
http://www.amazon.com/Stalin-As-Revolut ... 0393007383
Sexy Stalin on the cover.
 

flowersofnight

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PureElegance wrote:
I might have to read it again just to see this XD Can you believe I still haven't read Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew"?
I can summarize it in one line.
"Physically and mentally abuse your nagging wife till she falls in line! Ye Olde LOL"

I hate all of Shakespeare's comedies except "Merchant of Venice".

Some other guy did a "Taming of the Shrew" sequel, "The Tamer Tamed", where Petruchio's second wife gets the better of him, but it also sucked.
 

PureElegance

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flowersofnight wrote:
PureElegance wrote:
I might have to read it again just to see this XD Can you believe I still haven't read Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew"?
I can summarize it in one line.
"Physically and mentally abuse your nagging wife till she falls in line! Ye Olde LOL"
That's funny, I thought that plot sounded like something you'd love.

I haven't really read his comedies so I wouldn't know what to think of them. I've never been terribly interested in Shakespeare anyway other than for "King Lear," "Hamlet" (for one line in particular), and "Othello." I still get mad at Othello. He's one of the biggest pigs.

I never liked stories about wives getting the upper hand over husbands either (talking about that sequel now). I donno why they make me uncomfortable.

I had seen this old short movie about the two wives, one has a great kitchen setup and the other doesn't. So they make a plan for the one who lacks the BEST KITCHEN EVER to get her husband to buy everything. In the end the wife ends up with the greatest kitchen thanks to the plan and the husband's happy too. I mean, it wasn't such an evil or manipulative plan, but I didn't really like the whole idea of it XD Then again, I'm not sure how else they would've gotten a better kitchen if they hadn't done it, so I donno. Maybe it's that whole "the ends justify the means" thing ::meev::
 

Wandering_Fox

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PureElegance wrote:
I might have to read it again just to see this XD Can you believe I still haven't read Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew"?
I rewatched The Killer Shrews over the weekend, that is a staple classic for all lovers of B Horror films d(^___^)

Here's a fun drinking game: Every time a drink is consumed on screen, everyone takes a drink. You WILL be plastered by the end of the film. Thank goodness they have an endless mini-bar!
 

PureElegance

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Wandering_Fox wrote:
PureElegance wrote:
I might have to read it again just to see this XD Can you believe I still haven't read Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew"?
I rewatched The Killer Shrews over the weekend, that is a staple classic for all lovers of B Horror films d(^___^)

Here's a fun drinking game: Every time a drink is consumed on screen, everyone takes a drink. You WILL be plastered by the end of the film. Thank goodness they have an endless mini-bar!
LOL, oh so that's what you meant by B horror films!
Oh man, the shrews themselves look so awful XD ...Oops, I mean, they look SO scary! *shivers*
I didn't think they'd be drinking so much, don't they have to kill all those shrews? The threat to all mankind?

Reading now:
Smoldering Ashes: Cuzco and the Creation of Republican Peru, 1780-1840

EDIT: oh yeah, @faith: You reminded me that I need to read DG again! I really liked it, but I haven't read it in a while. I even bought it this year (I think I got it at my school library when I first read it along with a bunch of Jules Verne books) so I could read again, but I haven't touched it! I remember it was one of the first real books I read that had any effect on me XD
 

Iskanderia

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Your saying "can you believe I've never read The Taming of the Shrew" made me realize I've never read any Shakespeare other than bits of Romeo and Juliet in high school. And I'm okay with that. I don't like reading things that are worded so oddly or old-timey that I have to read it slowly and try to figure out what each sentence means. I'm not a dummy who can't handle "difficult" books, but if I can't read it quickly without frequently having to stop to try to parse the meaning of the words on the page, it feels like work and it's not enjoyable.

H.P. Lovecraft is the only writer like that that I actually enjoy reading but his writing isn't difficult, it's just that he likes to use as many obscure words as possible and I have to read him with a dictionary near by because he does it so often and it's not always possible to figure out the words from context.
 

PureElegance

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Iskanderia wrote:
Your saying "can you believe I've never read The Taming of the Shrew" made me realize I've never read any Shakespeare other than bits of Romeo and Juliet in high school. And I'm okay with that. I don't like reading things that are worded so oddly or old-timey that I have to read it slowly and try to figure out what each sentence means. I'm not a dummy who can't handle "difficult" books, but if I can't read it quickly without frequently having to stop to try to parse the meaning of the words on the page, it feels like work and it's not enjoyable.

H.P. Lovecraft is the only writer like that that I actually enjoy reading but his writing isn't difficult, it's just that he likes to use as many obscure words as possible and I have to read him with a dictionary near by because he does it so often and it's not always possible to figure out the words from context.
Gosh, well get yourself a No Fear Shakespeare book by Sparknotes! ::meev::
I think the only Shakespeare I'd recommend is "Othello" because the plot is SUPERB and I think it's pretty readable. It'll make you upset, I'm telling you. Iago was the best character, hands down. I think Shakespeare is better when acted out, not when read, at least for me.

I've only read Shakespeare when forced to, except for "King Lear," so I get what you're saying. (Oh wait, I did read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" lol) I prefer Greek tragedies (which aren't written in Shakespeare's English), especially the Oedipus plays. I also like Greek and Roman political writings, for some reason they appeal to me more. And I have a soft spot for Aristophanes. I understand Shakespeare's importance in the world, but honestly I don't often feel inspired by what he writes. I can read it fine enough, but the meaning of the words and the plays don't move me, make me feel as if I learned something about English writing, or... anything, really. There's just one line in "Hamlet" that I really like, and it's in the first act and it's about Hamlet's father.

Here:
But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two:
So excellent a king; that was, to this,
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Nerdy fact about myself: I get depressed over lost works of literature, especially Greek and Roman literature ::batsu::

I guess for "English" language/Western literature I like Romantic authors, historical fiction (I used to read this all the time when I was tiny), St. Augustine (he wrote in Latin but I'm just putting him here), F. Scott Fitzgerald, Margaret Atwood, but anyways, my favorite author is Virginia Woolf. She's tough to read at first, and I remember I had a hard time following how "flowy" (not sure if that's the right word) she was for the first few pages, but I finally got it and now I appreciate it so much more. She's not really tough, but she's kind of unusual in her writing so you're somewhat disoriented at first. I can go on about her, but I love her sentence structures, the words she uses, but most of all, the ideas she has. Besides her fiction, I love her essays about women, other authors, and about observations she has. And her diary entries are wonderful too since she's less reserved, a nerd, and is using her entries to practice her writing. Now SHE really inspires me to think about all sorts of things, whether it's mental illness or how moments are slipping by and how I wish I could cling on to all of them or anything really, and to practice writing.

My favorite writings though are classical Chinese novels and plays. I don't think they're particularly hard to read since it depends on the translation. For example, "The Tale of Heike," translated by some McCullough guy, was dry and complicated, and I didn't like it much even though it was a military epic, something I usually love.
Maybe I'm just used to classical Chinese literature since I've been reading it for so long now (I would say very close to a decade since I started in 6th grade), but honestly they're not that hard and the stories are just great. I think it does depend on the translator though, very much.
This is just me now speaking, but I wish we read more Eastern literature over here. I know it's only my opinion, but the books I've read... I don't know, it's just a completely different experience. I don't read as much in Chinese, so I can't comment on the language, but the themes, characters, structures, etc of all the books I've read were... I have no words for it! They're so vivid and stick in your mind, at least for me.

I'm also into Russian literature and now Spanish, uh, in South America literature XD Not sure how to categorize that, haha. I'm sorry this was long, but I basically agree that Shakespeare isn't my favorite thing ever.
 

Cerceaux

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I can't get into Jane Austen stuff. I like the movies, but reading the books is such a chore because of the writing style. Like, by the time I get the joke from the "snappy" dialogue it's not funny anymore.

Anyway, currently reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. Have never seen any Frankenstein movies so it's pretty cool. The dude in the book doesn't have bolts in his neck.

Iskanderia wrote:
I still have to pick up the second one.
I'm taking a break in between, but I'll probably get it at the library in the near future.
 

PureElegance

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Cerceaux wrote:
I can't get into Jane Austen stuff. I like the movies, but reading the books is such a chore because of the writing style. Like, by the time I get the joke from the "snappy" dialogue it's not funny anymore.
I totally get you. I read "Sense and Sensibility" and "Mansfield Park," and I sort of got into S and S, I pretty much understood it (probably not fully, but sufficiently) while glossing over some of the pages full of description, but MP was kind of boring and I couldn't get into it. The writing style is definitely part of it since she can go on forever about some things.

Anyway, currently reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. Have never seen any Frankenstein movies so it's pretty cool. The dude in the book doesn't have bolts in his neck.
My mom saw the old movie version of Frankenstein and said it was so good, better than she ever expected, so I'd suggest it! I'll have to see it one of these days too. You know Mary Shelley is the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, who died after giving birth to her, and William Godwin? Good lord, she's like writer royalty XD But the Wollstonecraft/Godwin love relationship looks so complicated and filled with political/philosophical drama (but overall it was great) that I need to look into it. ::batsu::

little thing from wiki:
Gradually, Wollstonecraft returned to her literary life, becoming involved with Joseph Johnson's circle again, in particular with Mary Hays, Elizabeth Inchbald, and Sarah Siddons through William Godwin. Godwin and Wollstonecraft's unique courtship began slowly, but it eventually became a passionate love affair.[37] Godwin had read her Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark and later wrote that "If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book. She speaks of her sorrows, in a way that fills us with melancholy, and dissolves us in tenderness, at the same time that she displays a genius which commands all our admiration."
d'awwww...

On 30 August 1797, Wollstonecraft gave birth to her second daughter, Mary. Although the delivery seemed to go well initially, the placenta broke apart during the birth and became infected; puerperal (childbed) fever was a common and often fatal occurrence in the eighteenth century. After several days of agony, Wollstonecraft died of septicaemia on 10 September. Godwin was devastated: he wrote to his friend Thomas Holcroft, "I firmly believe there does not exist her equal in the world. I know from experience we were formed to make each other happy. I have not the least expectation that I can now ever know happiness again."
omgggg.... ::zetsubou:: x100
 

Cerceaux

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When she was 16, Mary (the author) eloped with Percy Shelley who was married and later his original wife drowned herself while pregnant with his child. Percy and Mary married days after her body was discovered. So messed up. ::erm::
 

Wandering_Fox

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PureElegance wrote:
LOL, oh so that's what you meant by B horror films!
Oh man, the shrews themselves look so awful XD ...Oops, I mean, they look SO scary! *shivers*
I didn't think they'd be drinking so much, don't they have to kill all those shrews? The threat to all mankind?

Nah, all they have to do is leave the island, all the shrew will be dead within a week once their food supply runs out d(^___^) This is a problem that will solve itself, nothing to do but sit on the couch and watch an Animaniacs marathon or something until everything blows over :grin:

At least it wasn't The Giant Gila Monster, these people didn't even try... It was bad, even by B Horror standards... From Hell It Came was better, at least it had an evil tree walking around...

Now reading: Salesforce Fundamentals (For work... Learning Salesforce would probably be good for my career ::cred:: )
 

PureElegance

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Cerceaux wrote:
When she was 16, Mary (the author) eloped with Percy Shelley who was married and later his original wife drowned herself while pregnant with his child. Percy and Mary married days after her body was discovered. So messed up. ::erm::
You see, this is why I like writers, especially those from a while ago. They usually have some really cool stories and *cough*gossip*cough*. And they're intelligent and can express themselves well so whenever they write about an event it's so eloquent and well-done. They just make everything sound better.

I think that's sad about Wollstonecraft dying that way though. I can't believe that after a slow/complicated courtship, they're happy together, even if it wasn't always perfect, and THEN SHE DIES. How awful is that? Why is life like that? It's also sweet because Godwin was all "Marriage is evil, worst thing ever" and then he gets married to her.
After her death he published "Memoirs," revealing much about MW's life, including many things that don't make her look so great, and he was criticized for that. He said he did it out of love, just for everyone to know who she was. I don't know, I think he did it too soon maybe? Leonard Woolf published Virginia's things after her suicide (I'm mostly talking about "A Writer's Diary" here and some other books), but he edited out entries she wrote that wouldn't make her look too good, he thought it was too soon for any of that to come out and knew they'd come out eventually, many years later.

Why do I feel like there are rules on 'how to handle your writer wife's death'? ::meev::

OMG I'm reading the intro for the book "Godwin & Mary: Letters of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft." Totally pulling at my heart-strings here ::squee::
"... a love that fused two human beings into one couple. Each was a stronger and better person for the fusion; each had found through it fulfillment--a fulfillment which Mary had long sought in vain and which Godwin had never before known to exist." AW~

Fox wrote:
At least it wasn't The Giant Gila Monster, these people didn't even try... It was bad, even by B Horror standards... From Hell It Came was better, at least it had an evil tree walking around...
LOL, the Gila Monster one made me laugh. I love the scene where the 'monster' (a lizard.) is walking by the toy cars. It doesn't get any better than that. I want to see this XD
(you've gotten the Animaniacs theme song stuck in my head.)

Anyways, I keep trying to find the version I want of "The Voyage Out," but I can't find it :( For some reason the only one I've found on Ebay has weird coffee stains on the back cover and the others are somehow sold out and refunded my money! >__< I don't know if I should just order it from Amazon and get what they give me, I just wish it was the same since I like the picture on the cover, the style, the paper, and the fonts used.
 

faith

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Yay! I just finished the first book of 1Q84. That's 534 pages in French!

Now I am starting the second one...
 

MissUMana

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faith wrote:
Yay! I just finished the first book of 1Q84. That's 534 pages in French!
Wow! Sincères félicitations, faith!
*personnellement je déteste les "pavés"*
 

faith

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Merci!! Normalement moi aussi!
Mais je l'ai choisi comme manuel pour apprendre le vocabulaire français, et après avoir lu plus de 500 pages, il semble dommage de ne pas finir l'histoire...même si ça prend beaucoup de temps :cry:
 

MissUMana

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Un conseil à toutes les deux : lisez "La ballade de l'impossible" ou "Au sud de la frontière, à l'ouest du soleil". C'est magnifique.

@faith : superbe! Pas une seule faute! C'est PARFAIT! :grin:
 

faith

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Bien sûr, je suis FABULOUS comme tout, tu vois ;)
Mais en changeant vers l'anglais pour les non-francophones (les pauvres lol)...

I've heard of those books actually. Maybe I'll take one of them for my next textbook.

@Lempicka - the story is like a snowball rolling down a hill. The first 200 pages aren't that great and I almost stopped reading it. But after the events started connecting and the story picked up speed, and by the end of the first book I was really interested in it. I bought the second book for pleasure - forget the vocabulary! It can be learned another day with a different book lol
 
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