The Reader’s Nook - The N&G Book Thread

Bull Shannon said:
Just an update, I'm stalled out about 40% into Gardens. A lot of reviews claim the book is confusing or dense, but the operative word I'd use is obfuscated. There's clearly a world, and some larger conflict, but what the individual characters, or even their larger factions, are doing remains vague. I put it down after a couple weeks, and in picking it up again I wasn't lost but I couldn't recall the significance of anything/anyone.

Furthermore, and I understand this gets better as the series goes on, but it's super clear that the author based this world/story on their DnD campaign. You can feel the novel shuddering under the weight of the Worldbuilding Bible, and it's really clear which character(s) were the author's player character during the campaign. I'll probably try to dive back in over winter break, but the further I get from a book I've set down the more the odds of revisiting dwindle.
Click to expand...
Definitely see where you're coming from with this. It wasn't necessarily the most fun read, but it's the closest something has come to filling the ASOiaF void I've been trying to fill for years. The consensus I've found is that the payoff of the whole thing is extremely worth it, but if you don't feel like reading all 10, you should at least do the first 3 (the 3rd i think is considered one of, if not the best one). So I think i'll try to get at least that far, and figure out the future from there.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to start out 2024 with The Brothers Karamazov.
 
Maybe this could go in Movies but I'll put it here because looks like I'm going to have to pick up a book:
www.worldofreel.com

PTA’s New Film “Confirmed” As Modern-Day Set ‘Vineland’ — World of Reel

After months of speculation, Daniel Richtman appears to have confirmed what I was theorizing in March of 2023 : that Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film will be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland.”
www.worldofreel.com www.worldofreel.com
Vineland will be the fourth Pynchon book I'll have picked up (V, Inherent Vice, Bleeding Edge); maybe it'll be the first for me to finish.
 
Bull Shannon said:
Maybe this could go in Movies but I'll put it here because looks like I'm going to have to pick up a book:
www.worldofreel.com

PTA’s New Film “Confirmed” As Modern-Day Set ‘Vineland’ — World of Reel

After months of speculation, Daniel Richtman appears to have confirmed what I was theorizing in March of 2023 : that Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film will be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland.”
www.worldofreel.com www.worldofreel.com
Vineland will be the fourth Pynchon book I'll have picked up (V, Inherent Vice, Bleeding Edge); maybe it'll be the first for me to finish.
Click to expand...
Not sure how trustworthy this site is but the set photos that came out certainly do point to Vineland. The novel taking place in the Reagan era is pretty tied into the plot so I'm really curious how he'll adapt it.

It's probably my least favourite Pynchon novel but it is still very good, and I think it could make for a fantastic movie, especially by PTA. Pynch heads rise up.
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
Not sure how trustworthy this site is but the set photos that came out certainly do point to Vineland. The novel taking place in the Reagan era is pretty tied into the plot so I'm really curious how he'll adapt it.

It's probably my least favourite Pynchon novel but it is still very good, and I think it could make for a fantastic movie, especially by PTA. Pynch heads rise up.
Click to expand...
I haven't found a good primary source, but many similar sites are bullish on the notion. Weird to think it'll be PTA's first contemporarily-set film since Punch-Drunk Love.
 
Bull Shannon said:
Maybe this could go in Movies but I'll put it here because looks like I'm going to have to pick up a book:
www.worldofreel.com

PTA’s New Film “Confirmed” As Modern-Day Set ‘Vineland’ — World of Reel

After months of speculation, Daniel Richtman appears to have confirmed what I was theorizing in March of 2023 : that Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film will be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland.”
www.worldofreel.com www.worldofreel.com
Vineland will be the fourth Pynchon book I'll have picked up (V, Inherent Vice, Bleeding Edge); maybe it'll be the first for me to finish.
Click to expand...
I listened to Gravity's Rainbow on audiobook years ago (and actually really enjoyed it), and have been meaning to get to the rest of his work. Maybe this will be the next one.
 
May I recommend you give The Crying of Lot 49 a go -- as far as Pynchon goes it's positively short. It's like, 200 pages. Don't get me wrong, it's still just....unbelievably dense and hard to read, but compared to say Gravity's Rainbow it's a goddamned Chick Tract. Plus you'll get a radiohead reference or two.
 
Bull Shannon said:
turned wi-fi on my kindle to download some library books and now every book I've sideloaded is deleted from it; it appears some purchases were removed and need to be downloaded again as well. Google tells me this is a common and recent phenomenon. Talk about malicious design.
Click to expand...
I’ve marked all the stuff I want loaded via calibre so it’s not hard but it’s annoying and tedious to do again

Amusingly all the books I loaded on the kindle by emailing to the kindle address for conversion are available.
 
yukbon said:
I’ve marked all the stuff I want loaded via calibre so it’s not hard but it’s annoying and tedious to do again

Amusingly all the books I loaded on the kindle by emailing to the kindle address for conversion are available.
Click to expand...
I may try emailing a grip of them to myself. Otherwise my calibre has the exact list of everything I've loaded, so it should be trivial to restore (though all my progress is wiped; again, an inconvenience at worst). I try to keep off wifi most of the time but it's frustrating that I'll have to risk starting over anytime I want to download a library book or purchase.
 
Bull Shannon said:
turned wi-fi on my kindle to download some library books and now every book I've sideloaded is deleted from it; it appears some purchases were removed and need to be downloaded again as well. Google tells me this is a common and recent phenomenon. Talk about malicious design.
Click to expand...

yukbon said:
I’ve marked all the stuff I want loaded via calibre so it’s not hard but it’s annoying and tedious to do again

Amusingly all the books I loaded on the kindle by emailing to the kindle address for conversion are available.
Click to expand...
The send to kindle option is pretty good too and they seem to have started favouring epub over mobi or whatever it was.
 
Thackeraye said:
View attachment 196092
Unlike Europe, Australia sells knock off Eames chairs. We now have our own book nook! This is probably half of our library, just need to build some shelves to get more books in here. Loving it so far.
Click to expand...
Looks beautiful, Grae. As much as I love my Kindle, there's nothing quite beats a bookcase full of books. I was looking at the Vitra Eames chairs recently and in a nice leather they set you back nearly 10k. I'll have to get the kids through school before I even start a conversation with Mrs Moore about one of them!
 
Mr Moore said:
Looks beautiful, Grae. As much as I love my Kindle, there's nothing quite beats a bookcase full of books. I was looking at the Vitra Eames chairs recently and in a nice leather they set you back nearly 10k. I'll have to get the kids through school before I even start a conversation with Mrs Moore about one of them!
Click to expand...
The chair came in at under $1,000 AU, so under £500? Australia doesn't give a shit about copyright on these things, so we can get then dead cheap.


Here's the difference - $200 for 4 replica dining chairs! The replica I got is below.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top