Author Topic: What are you reading?  (Read 845484 times)

Listener

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Reply #250 on: December 13, 2007, 07:03:39 PM
I do have a gripe, and I don't have the vocabulary to name it.  I'll call it the "editing" style.  No apostrophes, no quotation marks, few periods.  It's not stream-of-consciousness, like Kerouac or Joyce, he just drops punctuation.  To my eye, it comes off as ridiculously pretentious.  I'm sure there's some sort of symbolism involved about the decay of societal norms, but I just found it cheap.  I've never read anything from McCarthy before, so I don't know if this is his "thing" or if he cooked it up special for the occaision.
I hope that wasn't too long-winded.

Not at all.  For what it's worth, I've read 4 other books by McCarthy and they all have little to no punctuation in them.  I think all he uses are periods and the very occasional comma.  It takes a little while to get used to, but once you do, yeah, he paints some beautiful pictures. 


I've found valid use for that technique in a limited basis, but I find that to be the exact opposite of the way I write.  I use a LOT of punctuation and craft very complex sentences with several nested ideas -- not all the time, but at least a few times in each story.  I use the no-punctuation technique, or more likely a LOOOOOOOOOONG run-on sentence with a ton of commas, to indicate a rush of emotion or action.  I think it might bother me, though, if I saw it used on more than just a limited basis.

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gelee

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Reply #251 on: December 13, 2007, 10:17:05 PM
I do have a gripe, and I don't have the vocabulary to name it.  I'll call it the "editing" style.  No apostrophes, no quotation marks, few periods.  It's not stream-of-consciousness, like Kerouac or Joyce, he just drops punctuation.  To my eye, it comes off as ridiculously pretentious.  I'm sure there's some sort of symbolism involved about the decay of societal norms, but I just found it cheap.  I've never read anything from McCarthy before, so I don't know if this is his "thing" or if he cooked it up special for the occaision.
I hope that wasn't too long-winded.

Not at all.  For what it's worth, I've read 4 other books by McCarthy and they all have little to no punctuation in them.  I think all he uses are periods and the very occasional comma.  It takes a little while to get used to, but once you do, yeah, he paints some beautiful pictures. 


I've found valid use for that technique in a limited basis, but I find that to be the exact opposite of the way I write.  I use a LOT of punctuation and craft very complex sentences with several nested ideas -- not all the time, but at least a few times in each story.  I use the no-punctuation technique, or more likely a LOOOOOOOOOONG run-on sentence with a ton of commas, to indicate a rush of emotion or action.  I think it might bother me, though, if I saw it used on more than just a limited basis.
There is certainly a place for it, like the stream-of-consciousness stuff that Joyce wrote in Ulysses.  A lot of great writers play with grammar a bit to convey something without spelling it out.  Your example of a long run-on sentence is a great one.  I've also seen sentence fragments used to convey confusion.
My gripe with McCarthy is that us does it through the whole novel.  I was able to read past it after a while, but it was kind of "WTF?"  What is his point?  "I'm too cool for grammer because I have a Pulitzer."  Maybe someone here knows him and now thinks I'm an ass, but it just seems contrived.



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Reply #252 on: December 20, 2007, 06:18:02 PM
Currently reading "Year's Best Fantasy and Horror #3", from the late 80s, edited by Datlow and Windling.

Got it for a buck at a library sale.  Can't beat that.

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Reply #253 on: December 20, 2007, 06:53:39 PM
I do have a gripe, and I don't have the vocabulary to name it.  I'll call it the "editing" style.  No apostrophes, no quotation marks, few periods.  It's not stream-of-consciousness, like Kerouac or Joyce, he just drops punctuation.  To my eye, it comes off as ridiculously pretentious.  I'm sure there's some sort of symbolism involved about the decay of societal norms, but I just found it cheap.  I've never read anything from McCarthy before, so I don't know if this is his "thing" or if he cooked it up special for the occaision.
I hope that wasn't too long-winded.

Not at all.  For what it's worth, I've read 4 other books by McCarthy and they all have little to no punctuation in them.  I think all he uses are periods and the very occasional comma.  It takes a little while to get used to, but once you do, yeah, he paints some beautiful pictures. 


I've found valid use for that technique in a limited basis, but I find that to be the exact opposite of the way I write.  I use a LOT of punctuation and craft very complex sentences with several nested ideas -- not all the time, but at least a few times in each story.  I use the no-punctuation technique, or more likely a LOOOOOOOOOONG run-on sentence with a ton of commas, to indicate a rush of emotion or action.  I think it might bother me, though, if I saw it used on more than just a limited basis.
There is certainly a place for it, like the stream-of-consciousness stuff that Joyce wrote in Ulysses.  A lot of great writers play with grammar a bit to convey something without spelling it out.  Your example of a long run-on sentence is a great one.  I've also seen sentence fragments used to convey confusion.
My gripe with McCarthy is that us does it through the whole novel.  I was able to read past it after a while, but it was kind of "WTF?"  What is his point?  "I'm too cool for grammer because I have a Pulitzer."  Maybe someone here knows him and now thinks I'm an ass, but it just seems contrived.

That's interesting.  I think it would bother me if he wasn't consistent about it throughout the book -- actually, I think that's why it works for me, because his voice is consistent throughout.  Then again, I got annoyed when Charles Frazier substituted something esle for quotation marks in Cold Mountain. (I believe Charlie Huston does this in his books, too.  Maybe it's a Charles thing?)

"What is his point?" especially with the way he tosses punctuation is an interesting question, though.  I'd like to know his reason behind it. 


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Reply #254 on: December 21, 2007, 11:09:20 PM
I do have a gripe, and I don't have the vocabulary to name it.  I'll call it the "editing" style.  No apostrophes, no quotation marks, few periods.  It's not stream-of-consciousness, like Kerouac or Joyce, he just drops punctuation.  To my eye, it comes off as ridiculously pretentious.  I'm sure there's some sort of symbolism involved about the decay of societal norms, but I just found it cheap.  I've never read anything from McCarthy before, so I don't know if this is his "thing" or if he cooked it up special for the occaision.
I hope that wasn't too long-winded.

Not at all.  For what it's worth, I've read 4 other books by McCarthy and they all have little to no punctuation in them.  I think all he uses are periods and the very occasional comma.  It takes a little while to get used to, but once you do, yeah, he paints some beautiful pictures. 


I've found valid use for that technique in a limited basis, but I find that to be the exact opposite of the way I write.  I use a LOT of punctuation and craft very complex sentences with several nested ideas -- not all the time, but at least a few times in each story.  I use the no-punctuation technique, or more likely a LOOOOOOOOOONG run-on sentence with a ton of commas, to indicate a rush of emotion or action.  I think it might bother me, though, if I saw it used on more than just a limited basis.
There is certainly a place for it, like the stream-of-consciousness stuff that Joyce wrote in Ulysses.  A lot of great writers play with grammar a bit to convey something without spelling it out.  Your example of a long run-on sentence is a great one.  I've also seen sentence fragments used to convey confusion.
My gripe with McCarthy is that us does it through the whole novel.  I was able to read past it after a while, but it was kind of "WTF?"  What is his point?  "I'm too cool for grammer because I have a Pulitzer."  Maybe someone here knows him and now thinks I'm an ass, but it just seems contrived.

That's interesting.  I think it would bother me if he wasn't consistent about it throughout the book -- actually, I think that's why it works for me, because his voice is consistent throughout.  Then again, I got annoyed when Charles Frazier substituted something esle for quotation marks in Cold Mountain. (I believe Charlie Huston does this in his books, too.  Maybe it's a Charles thing?)

"What is his point?" especially with the way he tosses punctuation is an interesting question, though.  I'd like to know his reason behind it. 
I'm sure I'm blowing it all out of proportion, but pretentiousness just really gets under my skin.



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Reply #255 on: January 02, 2008, 07:45:39 PM
Finished reading The Road and thoroughly enjoyed it.  In addition to the lack of punctuation, I also noticed there weren't any real paragraphs, only paragraph breaks (with the exception of dialogue).  Like when you read an online magazine.  It didn't really detract for me, but I understand the frustration with pretentiousness. 

Not really sure what I'll jump into next. 


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Reply #256 on: January 02, 2008, 08:00:41 PM
Finished reading The Road and thoroughly enjoyed it.  In addition to the lack of punctuation, I also noticed there weren't any real paragraphs, only paragraph breaks (with the exception of dialogue).  Like when you read an online magazine.  It didn't really detract for me, but I understand the frustration with pretentiousness. 


Got a B & N gift card for Christmas, I might have to pick up The Road.  Has anyone read The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier?  That also looks interesting. 

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Reply #257 on: January 03, 2008, 06:21:10 PM
Currently reading "I Am Charlotte Simmons", by Tom Wolfe.  It inspired me to outline and write a story that could potentially turn into a novel.  It's not SF/F/H, though, so probably won't appear here.

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Reply #258 on: January 04, 2008, 03:47:34 AM
Finished:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Took me a little while to get use to the style, but enjoyed it even more because of it.
Ender's Game - Terrific story, and although I kind of saw the end coming, I loved the twist.
A Wizard of Earth Sea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore - terrific stories

Reading:
Shibumi - Jury is still out on this one. Only a few pages in.

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Reply #259 on: January 04, 2008, 09:46:54 PM
Finished:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Took me a little while to get use to the style, but enjoyed it even more because of it.
OK, I'm curious about something.  Did you read Manny with an accent?  If so, what kind?  I stuck an accent on him right away (I won't say what kind) and it seemed to fit all the way through, but it occurred to me that it might be the wrong one.  After all, he grew up on Luna.  Why have any accent at all?



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Reply #260 on: January 05, 2008, 12:27:25 AM
Finished:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Took me a little while to get use to the style, but enjoyed it even more because of it.
OK, I'm curious about something.  Did you read Manny with an accent?  If so, what kind?  I stuck an accent on him right away (I won't say what kind) and it seemed to fit all the way through, but it occurred to me that it might be the wrong one.  After all, he grew up on Luna.  Why have any accent at all?

Everyone has an accent.  (I'll have to go read that, now, so I can contribute something more intelligent that just that. :) )

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Thaurismunths

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Reply #261 on: January 05, 2008, 03:43:00 AM
Finished:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Took me a little while to get use to the style, but enjoyed it even more because of it.
OK, I'm curious about something.  Did you read Manny with an accent?  If so, what kind?  I stuck an accent on him right away (I won't say what kind) and it seemed to fit all the way through, but it occurred to me that it might be the wrong one.  After all, he grew up on Luna.  Why have any accent at all?
Now that you mention it, it did seem a little Australian in that it had origins in low-brow, butchered English... And I mean that in all the nicest possible ways! *waves at the Kiwis real friendly like while getting ready to run*
 

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Reply #262 on: January 05, 2008, 09:23:27 AM
Finished:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Took me a little while to get use to the style, but enjoyed it even more because of it.
OK, I'm curious about something.  Did you read Manny with an accent?  If so, what kind?  I stuck an accent on him right away (I won't say what kind) and it seemed to fit all the way through, but it occurred to me that it might be the wrong one.  After all, he grew up on Luna.  Why have any accent at all?
Now that you mention it, it did seem a little Australian in that it had origins in low-brow, butchered English... And I mean that in all the nicest possible ways! *waves at the Kiwis real friendly like while getting ready to run*
 

Umm, Aren't the Kiwis the New Zealanders?  Maybe you should just start running.



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Reply #263 on: January 05, 2008, 02:53:38 PM
Finished:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Took me a little while to get use to the style, but enjoyed it even more because of it.
OK, I'm curious about something.  Did you read Manny with an accent?  If so, what kind?  I stuck an accent on him right away (I won't say what kind) and it seemed to fit all the way through, but it occurred to me that it might be the wrong one.  After all, he grew up on Luna.  Why have any accent at all?
Now that you mention it, it did seem a little Australian in that it had origins in low-brow, butchered English... And I mean that in all the nicest possible ways! *waves at the Kiwis real friendly like while getting ready to run*
 

Umm, Aren't the Kiwis the New Zealanders?  Maybe you should just start running.
Oh... um... right. Look! A dingo's eating your baby!! *Runs the other way*

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Reply #264 on: January 05, 2008, 04:22:47 PM
I kinda thought he was speaking with a heavy Russian accent.

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sirana

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Reply #265 on: January 06, 2008, 10:14:53 AM
Stuff I read recently:
- Thank you for Smoking by Christopher Buckley, wonderfull satire, much better than the movie
- Ender's Game by OSC, my first touch with him, one of the best SciFi books I ever read
- Old Man's War by John Scalzi, don't really know, seemed shallow in the beginning but got better towards the end
- The Brothers Lionheart and Ronja, the robbers daughter, by Astrid Lindgren, n-th reread, best children books that are out there
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, made be cry
- Diaspora by Greg Egan, mind-boggling

Stuff I'm reading
- Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, because anything that is called mannerpunk deserves a read
- The Call of Cthulu and other stories by HP Lovecraft
- The Scar by Cina Mieville, I'm "reading" this for quite some time now

Stuff i'm planning to read
- The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem, my brother gave me this for christmas as an audiobook, I'm really looking forward to listening to it

Stuff I'm waiting for
- A Dance of Dragons by G.R.R.Martin, GRRRRR, curse you Martin!!
-  Jhegala by Steven Brust
- Luminous by Greg Egan, his second (out of print) short story collection which will be reprinted in February

« Last Edit: January 06, 2008, 10:18:12 AM by sirana »



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Reply #266 on: January 07, 2008, 01:20:47 PM
I kinda thought he was speaking with a heavy Russian accent.
HAH!  It wasn't just my imagination!  I read it the same way, but I can see why others would read it differently.



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Reply #267 on: January 08, 2008, 04:18:03 AM
Finished The Line of Beauty I enjoyed it most of the way and then it just kind of crashes at the end...Which may be the point? But enjoyed the earlier parts better. Weird book, but good.

Still working my way through The Tin Drum. I get a cookie if I finish it before next semester starts.

Dearest got me Neverwhere, unabridged, read by the author, on CD, for Christmas so I am working my way through that as well. Not "reading" per se but I did read it in high school. I love Neil Gaiman to bits.

EDIT: I don't think I gave Manny an "accent" beyond what was on the page. I guess Lunar speech cadences might lend themselves to an accent much like many Earth speech cadences. It seemed like they might have an accent we were not meant to wot of, some kind of soup comprised of the national accents of convict settlers and isolation--so, like Australians only on the Moon?  ???  8)
« Last Edit: January 08, 2008, 04:22:40 AM by DDog »

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Reply #268 on: January 08, 2008, 09:17:57 AM
This is the first thread we have had that has been active for a year.  Happy Anniversary!  I find it very cool that our longest running thread is about reading.

I'm going to give myself a quick pat on the back, because this was one of the first threads I started.  Steve had just made me a moderator and I was just trying to come up with something to help get the forums moving.  It was just a shot in the dark.  I never thought it would go more than a week, but every time it goes quiet for a month or so, someone brings it back to life.  Maybe this is the real zombie thread.



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Reply #269 on: January 10, 2008, 04:32:25 AM
For the first time in my memory, I had a reading dry spell.  I went through most of the holiday season without really reading anything in particular!

Then came the day for Jury Duty, and I grabbed my magic time-passing talisman for the day: Use of Weapons, by Iain M. Banks.

Now, for those of you who either don't know, or haven't cared enough to figure it out - I'm a borderline pacifist who isn't really all that "into" weapons.  This is both why I choose to enlist in the Air Force (as opposed to the Marines) and why I got out (in May 2001, or as I like to call it, "the nick of friggin' time".)

For those of you about to be locked in a room for two days with 10 other dudes and 1 woman (it was a child molestation case, and the defense rejected as many women as he could, which backfired because we ended up convicting the SOB), I do NOT suggest taking a book that will give the wrong impression of your basic character.  I read Banks because I like his world building; I like the Culture, LOVE the ships, and am fascinated by the layers of character and the always-interesting structure of his books.  But the fellas saw "Weapons", and had seen me stand up when the judge asked about military veterans in the jury pool, so I was stuck talking about War Movies, hunting, guns, and football .... when all I wanted to do was read my book!

And did I mention that I really, really don't like football?  Not to the roomful of angry Ravens' fans, I didn't!

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Reply #270 on: January 10, 2008, 05:49:27 AM
And did I mention that I really, really don't like football?  Not to the roomful of angry Ravens' fans, I didn't!
What is it about sports? I have a fondness for the Packers and the Badgers because I grew up in Wisconsin, but I don't actually care whether they're any good; and I had a potential new friend ask me somewhat nervously if I would go ballistic if Michigan beat them because that was "her team." I don't know whether this person would've hated me if I actually had had a problem with "my team" being beaten...

(And parking here is INSANE because of that freaking team on game days...)

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Reply #271 on: January 10, 2008, 03:31:21 PM
And did I mention that I really, really don't like football?  Not to the roomful of angry Ravens' fans, I didn't!
What is it about sports? I have a fondness for the Packers and the Badgers because I grew up in Wisconsin, but I don't actually care whether they're any good; and I had a potential new friend ask me somewhat nervously if I would go ballistic if Michigan beat them because that was "her team." I don't know whether this person would've hated me if I actually had had a problem with "my team" being beaten...

(And parking here is INSANE because of that freaking team on game days...)

What is it about sports?  I can't figure it out either.  I grew up in WI also and am still a Packer fan/ once a year Lambeau attendee but if they lose it doesn't ruin my day like it does for some people I know.  A few of my friends are downright ornery if the Pack loses.  I now live in MN so I get regular anti-Packer emails from the rabid Vikings fans.  And if the Vikings beat the Packers that's all I hear about the following day.  Get over it!  It's not that big of a deal. 

That being said..........GO PACK Saturday.

Oh yeah - I'm currently reading A Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier.  
« Last Edit: January 10, 2008, 03:34:16 PM by Darwinist »

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Reply #272 on: January 13, 2008, 02:46:00 AM
Currently, I am reading "The World Without Us," by Alan weisman, and "Variable Star" by Spider Robinson (and, according to the cover, R.A. Heinlien; but, that's a whole different post I suppose).  "The World Without Us," while excellent, can be a bit dry at times; so, I'm enjoying the lighter break of the new Robinson book. Thus far, I have to give it to Spider. He's hitting Heinlien on the head (I desperately want to make a dead author joke here, but am refraining because they're so rarely funny), and I am a huge Heinlien fan.



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Reply #273 on: January 14, 2008, 07:52:32 PM
I'm reading Steve Gould's Jumper.  Wanted to read it before the movie came out.  It's an incredibly quick read (I'm about halfway through) and it looks nothing like the movie previews I've seen.  (For example, if Sam Jackson's character is in this book, I haven't met him yet).  Still, it's a fun book and the movie trailers look good. 


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Reply #274 on: January 14, 2008, 11:29:22 PM
Listening to an audiobook of Lethem's You Don't Love Me Yet, just finished Gavin Grant and Kelly Link's best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet collection and am just starting Hal Duncan's Vellum. I'm finding the Lethem as compelling as he always is despite the awkwardness of running into a big sex scene while I was listening at work. It's odd hearing that kind of thing in your ear while you're around other people doing their jobs and you're trying to focus on doing yours. The stories in the Grant/Link collection were very compelling and had some nice variety. I'd strongly recommend it to anyone who hasn't been reading the magazine so far.

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