Shawna Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Joe, you just like anything that has any sort of "tail" in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Joe Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Shhhhh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foolonthehill Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 I read "Lord of the Flies" for school. I strongly disliked it. It was just poorly written. I also disagree with his opinions on human nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLizard Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Yeah, I don't like that one either, for basically the same reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foolonthehill Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 it also doesn't really stand up to much analyzation, the symbolism and crap is really blatant and in your face, and it's pretty clear what he's getting at- "I hate people, and so should you". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawna Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 I'm reading Austen's "Emma" right now. Trying to get through the classics and whatnot. As enjoyable as I'm finding this book (definitely a chick book), it's tough to understand at places! The language is so stilted. Jeez, it must've been hard to think that quickly to say such flowery things off the top of yer noggin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earth-Angel Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 My "To Do" list for today... funny how things from yesterday have crept onto there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLizard Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 "For Whom The Bell Tolls" easily gets a 10/10. I'm a big Hemingway fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lea Posted April 16, 2009 Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 Has anyone read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand? If so, what is your opinion of it? I'm getting ready to listen to it but I'm wondering if I should maybe wait until I have more time because it's long and sounds like something I can't multi-task to without losing track of whats going on. It has something like six to eight parts to as an audible book. Any thoughts on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miamisammy29 Posted April 16, 2009 Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 Yeah. Watch the movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Seeker Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 The Buddha of Suburbia -- Hanif Kureishi I think this book is very much like Catcher in The Rye, in that it doesn't have much of a plot and it's just one big anticlimax... but I actually liked it very much. It's about a British-Indian teenager in London in the 70s, who's not all that sure about his identity, sexual orientation, future,... it;s great. Read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Joe Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 Sounds like a movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 The Rebel Sell: How Counterculture became Consumer Culture. - Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter I'm reading this book for my thesis and it's a bit sad that it says pretty much exactly what I want to say with my paper. I am contemplating scratching out the authors' names and writing my own instead. Written by two Canadians it covers the concepts of 'counterculture', 'romanticism' and 'cool' and all these combine to say that countercultures are 'cool' because of the romanticism associated with them. But, it's all a bunch of LIES. Countercultures and rebellious behaviours and trends are completely hypocritical. People with money spend lots of money to look and live like people without money - boho chic, veganism, organic produce, hippie-culture. And then they consider themselves to be anti-consumerism, they think they're sticking it to 'The Man', they think everyone who lives a 'normal' life is a lemming (as evidenced by the pic posted in that thread) without acknowledging the fact that if all these lemmings started acting the way they do - started talking back to their bosses, quit their jobs, ran off to China on a whim - the alternative lifestyle wouldn't be very alternative at all. The authors make the point that 'taste' and 'cool' are like property - there are only that many people who can have good taste or be cool, similar to how there are only that many people who can live in a prime location e.g. a loft in NYC. So in order to have good taste or be cool, there have to be several people who have bad taste and are uncool - like art or music - it's only good if few people know of it, or like fashion, it's only good if a few people can afford it. But the hypocrisy lies in the fact that they claim to be free spirits, anti-capitalists and other bohemian things without realising that capitalism is engineered towards THEM. Marketing and advertising are all about making brands appear different, distinct, unique, original etc. So the hippies had volkswagens, punk brought in Vivienne Westwood, grunge had Converse - every subculture ultimately has an associated brand - and then they go and say they're anti-consumerism? Kurt Cobain gets lucky though - the way I see it, he appears to be a victim from both sides of the fence. To the zillions of Nirvana fans he's a rock n' roll martyr - a victim of the system who had no choice but to kill himself in his Converse-clad feet. To the cynics of 'alternative' cultures, he's a victim because he never wanted to be mainstream, it went against what he believed music was about, but Nirvana was responsible for the commercialisation of grunge. And KC didn't want that. The authors actually use Nirvana as the prototype of alternative being the mainstream. This one book I want on my bookshelf at all times. I'm considering never returning it to the library. It's so insightful in so many ways and it sticks it to the ones sticking it to "The Man". Yeah, take that hipsters! Seriously, I'm just using whitener on their names and writing mine on top in ballpoint pen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 .. I need a couple thousand more words by monday - I should just copy and paste that ^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Being part of an elite is always needed to be cool. And in an age and society where the vast majority of the people are middle class, you have to set yourself apart from that. Obviously there are only two directions it can go - make it seem as if you have more money, or less money. Of course the former is the way more expensive option (not that the other is for free). But the main point is, in past, present and future, "you can't be 'cool' if you're part of the majority" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blind-fitter Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 I am currently part way through "Molesworth", an anthology of the Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle quadrilogy "Down With Skool!", "How To Be Topp", "Whizz for Atomms", and "Back In The Jug Agane", a student's eye view of life in St Custard's, a fictitious British boarding school in the early 1950s. Fabulously entertaining, the Molesworth books are brilliant socio-cultural satires, masquerading as children's literature but under-pinned by a humour and sub-text more likely to appeal to adult readers. It's a hoot. Highly recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiggsUK Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Chizz - not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 They're wot made me start saying 'chiz' all the time. chiz. I likey Moleworth's French lessons - Armand is utterly wet and weedy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Seeker Posted May 10, 2009 Report Share Posted May 10, 2009 Sense & Sensibility. :sleepy: It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted May 11, 2009 Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 Amélie Nothomb is funny... but she writes short books... I need, at least, a 400 pages book... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 Top 10 Longest Novels in the English Language Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawna Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 I am currently reading a laugh-out-loud funny girly novel by Janet Evanovich called "Plum Spooky." She's a great comic writer... and this one has a monkey in it, so I hope Shannon comes by and checks out this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lea Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 Her other Plum books are much, much better Shawna. I am a long time fan but "Plum Spooky." was not one of her better efforts IMHO Her whole Plum series rocks but the holiday ones she puts out really can't compare. I have them all on audio and I'll share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 I have tried to get into her books, and never could. Maybe I should try one of that series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lea Posted June 25, 2009 Report Share Posted June 25, 2009 Want I should send you one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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