Book thread

[Maclowery]

/Nerd on
Chatter regarding the picture:

Nice tribute to Darrell Sweet, who did the other covers but has since passed away. Lots of people say the series' covers are corny, but I like that they stuck with the general feeling. Sweet's unfinished cover art for the finale book:

[SHOW]

Anyway, regarding the actual cover:

[SHOW]

It's gotta be his descent into Shayol Ghul. Callandor is smaller than described. Moiraine and Nynaeve, whom Rand says are the only Aes Sedai he trusts, back there behind him. One poster over at a fantasy forum points out the eclipse, fitting with the prophecy of "twice dawns the day" before he spills his blood on Shayol Ghul. Yep, I'm excited to finally finish this series also, as I've struggled to keep interest in it throughout the years.

[Swirls]

Yeah, I was thinking the Blue could possibly be Egwene, whom he also trusts, but she would be wearing the stole of the Amyrlin Seat. So yeah I agree it's gotta be Moiraine, fresh from her rescue, and Nynaeve. Callandor looks about the right size to me - it appears to be about the same size as it did on the cover of book 3.

And I struggled pretty hard through boooks 9-11, and the first half or so of book 12, as you could tell Jordan was dying and his writing just wasn't what it used to be. The last part of book 12, where Sanderson took over, was really good, and book 13 may actually be my second favorite book in the series after book 1. The writing and pace were excellent, and Sanderson breathes a fresh new air to the finale of the series.

There's still a ton of events that have to happen though, so it'll be interesting to see how he manages to tie up all of the loose ends.

[The Third Man]

I've been reading more voraciously lately than I have in years. What I've been up to in the past week and a half:

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

This is what kicked things off; as a huge fan of John Updike's Rabbit series (which I read last summer in one big burst), when I heard about this through a friend it seemed a natural fit. I really enjoyed it, though not as much as the Updike series. Unfair comparison, though, so moving on. The ambivalent attitude towards the protagonist - treading the line between condescension/mild contempt and clear-eyed pity - was very well-handled. For whatever reason, I don't have much to say about this one, but it was a damn fine read.

White Noise by Don DeLillo

This...this, I freaking loved. The matter-of-fact, tongue-in-cheek treatment of technophobia, disease/mental illness, academia, suburbia, middle-class families, et al, had me hooked from start to finish. I almost always had a wry smile on my face, and DeLillo's prose is fantastic. I already ordered Underworld (which arrived today, for that matter), and am itching to check out several other of his novels, namely Americana and Libra. (Also, I'm even more excited for the David Cronenberg adaptation of Cosmopolis this summer, given how much of a Videodrome vibe this one gave me.)

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Way overdue. But yeah, it was surprisingly compelling given how much the narrative takes a backseat to Melville's in-depth exploration of the whaling industry as a conduit for philosophical, religious and political concerns. Dude can turn a phrase in a surprisingly fresh manner, too, I expected something more of a slog than it ever ended up being. Also, this book was really gay. More like Queerqueg.

And, speaking of white whales, I finally read something (in three days, natch) that has beaten me down several times already over the past few years:

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

Maybe it's because I'd already read large swaths of the first half several times (before inevitably setting it down and losing my grasp of the narrative, forcing me to start from scratch); maybe it's because I was willing to muscle through and let myself get caught up in the prose even when I started to get confused as all get-out about who was doing what where and when (which happened three or four times); maybe it's because I have a profane, twisted sense of humor as well as a love of sincerity and so was greatly in tune with Pynchon's approach to his characters/world; but for all its difficulties (and it's by far the most irreducibly complex book I've ever read) and inevitable confusions, I not only made it through to the other side with a pretty firm understanding, but I [expletive] loved it. I can't wait to read it again with the Weisenburger companion and really unlock some of the mysteries that still linger in my mind, but even with an amateur's grasp, it's the most impressive, and possibly the most amazing, novel I've ever read. So many great characters, so many incredible chapters and moments, so many beautiful and hilarious lines, and my god, that ending...

Lined up: The Crying of Lot 49 (already started), Vineland and Mason & Dixon (which is on hold for the moment, intimidated as I am at the prospect of diving into another esoteric opus, especially one written in deliberately anachronistic vernacular) by Pynchon; Underworld by DeLillo (which I can't wait to read); Portnoy's Complaint by Roth; and The Idiot by Dostoevsky, which has been sitting on my shelf untouched for years. And I've built up a healthy list of books I've been meaning to read.

My movie watching has dropped precipitously as of late, but I'm back on the literary saddle, and it feels fantastic.

[Freed Roger]

Ha, never read Moby Dick and had plans to this summer, but after your review I may not.

Just kidding.

Yeah, I need to get back to reading more books. I'm sort of like you, it seems I either am into reading books, or just watching movies. I rarely get on a kick where I do both. (probably because I doze off too easily, anymore).

Currently reading In the Garden of Beasts. , by Erik Larsen - non fiction revolving around the US ambassador to Germany in pre WWII era. Pretty good.

[Vidor]

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Way overdue. But yeah, it was surprisingly compelling given how much the narrative takes a backseat to Melville's in-depth exploration of the whaling industry as a conduit for philosophical, religious and political concerns. Dude can turn a phrase in a surprisingly fresh manner, too, I expected something more of a slog than it ever ended up being. Also, this book was really gay. More like Queerqueg.

When we read "Moby Dick" in 12th grade our teacher told us to go ahead and skip the whaling chapters. She even gave us a numbered list of chapters we didn't have to read.

[The Third Man]

So you skipped, like, 80% of the book?

[Vidor]

So you skipped, like, 80% of the book?

Not that much, probably a good third.

[lukethedrifter]

You're teacher sounds inspirational.

[Vidor]

Eh, she was a pretty good teacher. I think it was a matter of wanting to read the actual story of Moby Dick and not the part that's a whaling manual.

[Donnie Ebert]

I'm reading McCollough's Truman. I'm only up to 1940 (about 250 pages in), and even at this juncture it's hard to believe he went from a farmer to Senator to the man who dropped the bomb in such a short period of time.

So far, it's been a pretty riveting story.