Reading anything?

[lester1/2jr]

http://mises.org/books/lessons_for_the_young_economist_murphy.pdf

anarchist economist Roberty Murphy's new econ textbook. I don't really like reading PDF files but I have nothing else to do

[ChaosTheory]

I've been reading the owner's manual for my new Libre e-reader, although it's kind of sparse.  I probably figured out more of the functions just playing with it.

Also reading Under The Dome, almost halfway through.  I have mixed feelings about it.  The story's good but the characters are pretty cliche (or maybe they just seem that way b/c I've read a lot of King.  He likes his tropes.)

[AndyC]

I've been thinking about getting a Libre, when I can justify the expense. I've been getting a lot more reading material in electronic form, and reading books off a monitor can be a pain.

Is the Libre any good? The reviews seem positive, the specs look good and the price is right.


As for what I'm reading right now, I finished Watchmen. I can certainly understand why fans were disappointed with the revised ending of the movie. The scheme in the comic was much cooler.

I'm back on Koko, and wouldn't you know the story picks up steam within a few pages of where I put it down. It's also gotten more complicated, which I like in this kind of thriller.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es.

This is not your father's omnibus.

Apparently, there were two omnibuses based on the film Character Indiana Jones.

The first one was subtitled: "The Further Adventures," and was published by Marvel Comics as a monthly between January, 1983, and March, 1986, except for the months of June, August, October, December 1985; and February 1986.

They also published special illustrated editions of "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

The second one was not subtitled and was published by Darkhorse Comics between 1991 and 1996 and was meant for an older audience than the first omnibus.

In comparison to the first omnibus, there are both ++ and -- to the second omnibus.

++
The artwork is better.
The stories are more complex.
The characters are more colorful.
And it references characters and events from the past.

--
It is more violent.
The stories are more confusing.
The characters are more unlikable.
The evens are more illogical.
And there is less comedy.

One of the strangest differences I found between the two ominbuses is that in the first omnibus, as in the films, Jones teaches at Marshall in Connecticut, but in the second ombibus he teaches at Barnett in New York State.

Next time: "Robin: Year One"

[ChaosTheory]

I've been thinking about getting a Libre, when I can justify the expense. I've been getting a lot more reading material in electronic form, and reading books off a monitor can be a pain.

Is the Libre any good? The reviews seem positive, the specs look good and the price is right.

I've only had mine a couple days but I'm liking it so far.  I hear ya on the price thing; what sold me on the Libre was, it has an SD slot so you can really expand the holding capacity.  It's a little smaller screen but you can rotate it to read vertically or horizontally.  It's compatible with epub, pdf and text files and the 100 free books it comes with are actually legit classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Iliad, Plutarch's Lives.  There's no backlight on the screen and no glare if you read outside.  The only bad things, it loads a little slow when you select your books (although transfering from the computer to the reader is fast) and the battery life isn't great, but it does come with a charger.  Overall it seems to be a good reader for the price.  If you're looking for lower-priced readers, I would advise not getting a Kobo, at least not yet.  The Borders where I work has had to return at least half a dozen due to bugginess.    Hope that's helpful! 

[The Gravekeeper]

I just picked up "Frankenstein" again. So yeah, I'm among the few people who get annoyed when people call the monster "Frankenstein" and when they assume that the monster was this lumbering, dumb creature. Maybe people just assume that because it's an old book that it will contain lots of flowery language that they don't understand. I personally don't think the general use of language in the novel is that different from what we'd hear today (except that there are few contractions and slang is pretty minimal, though that's likely because the writer was associated with poets and whatnot). As for coming across words you don't understand: it's called a dictionary.

[The Burgomaster]

I just picked up "Frankenstein" again. Maybe people just assume that because it's an old book that it will contain lots of flowery language that they don't understand.

I recently finished reading THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and I think your FRANKENSTEIN comments apply to this one, too.  I anticipate reading both FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA in the near future as they are included in the 100 Greatest Books Ever Written by the Easton Press, which I'm currently working my way through slowly but surely.  I started reading both books when I was much younger, but didn't finish either of them.  I probably made 2 or 3 attempts at each.  They were library books and I always ended up returning them before I finished.  I thought DRACULA was brilliant, so I'm not sure why I never finished it.  I was less enthusiastic about FRANKENSTEIN.  But I was probably only 12 or 13 years old when I tried to read them and I'm sure I'll have a much better appreciation now.

[Sleepyskull]

I just picked up "Frankenstein" again. Maybe people just assume that because it's an old book that it will contain lots of flowery language that they don't understand.

I recently finished reading THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and I think your FRANKENSTEIN comments apply to this one, too.  I anticipate reading both FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA in the near future as they are included in the 100 Greatest Books Ever Written by the Easton Press, which I'm currently working my way through slowly but surely.  I started reading both books when I was much younger, but didn't finish either of them.  I probably made 2 or 3 attempts at each.  They were library books and I always ended up returning them before I finished.  I thought DRACULA was brilliant, so I'm not sure why I never finished it.  I was less enthusiastic about FRANKENSTEIN.  But I was probably only 12 or 13 years old when I tried to read them and I'm sure I'll have a much better appreciation now.

That reminds me I need to finish Dracula! It was really good. I only got about 30-50 pages in so I might as well re-start the book since it's been so long.

[BTM]

I've been reading several of the trade paperbacks from the series Astro City.  It's a really good series!  It's about a city where lots of superheros dwell, but it focuses more on the various human aspects of their lives rather than super battles and stuff.  What's really unusual is that in many of the issues a regular person, rather than a superhero, is likely to be the main character (some stories have even centered around villains of various types.)

The series is written by Kurt Buseik who also wrote Thunderbolts, another great series.

If you like comics, I'd recommend you check it out!

[metalmonster]

I Have Read A Few Books In The Past Week


SCOOBY DOO AND THE ZOMBIE'S TREASURE
BEAUTY IS A BEAST
FAWN AND THE MYSTERIOUS TRICKSTER
BEEZUS AND RAMONA

[Rev. Powell]

"A Mencken Chrestomanthy" ("Chrestomatthy" is an obscure, pretentious word Mencken chose because he didn't want to put out yet another book title "anthology" or "omnibus"). These are short pieces, mostly newspaper column length, and I'll be picking it up and putting it down for a while. 

"Labyrinths" by Jose Luis Borges.  Philosophical fantasy. 

[BeyondTheGrave]

"War" by Sebastian Junger

[AndyC]

I recently finished reading THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and I think your FRANKENSTEIN comments apply to this one, too.  I anticipate reading both FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA in the near future as they are included in the 100 Greatest Books Ever Written by the Easton Press, which I'm currently working my way through slowly but surely.  I started reading both books when I was much younger, but didn't finish either of them.  I probably made 2 or 3 attempts at each.  They were library books and I always ended up returning them before I finished.  I thought DRACULA was brilliant, so I'm not sure why I never finished it.  I was less enthusiastic about FRANKENSTEIN.  But I was probably only 12 or 13 years old when I tried to read them and I'm sure I'll have a much better appreciation now.

I made the mistake of trying to read a few classics at too early an age, and it's actually made me wary of reading them now. Moby Dick springs to mind. I tried reading that when I was 9 or 10, and found it too long, too slow and too hard to follow. But Ishmael wasn't even on the ship yet when I gave up. I think he'd just encountered Queequeg for the first time. I've probably read plenty of books more challenging than that, but I still remember Moby Dick as it seemed to me at that age.

Had a similar experience with War of the Worlds when I was maybe a bit younger than that, but I picked it up around the time the Tom Cruise movie came out and almost finished it in a sitting. Not a long book at all, and for being over a century old, the language was surprisingly similar to the present day. A few odd turns of phrase, but other than that, it could have been a period story written today. Although, if it were, it would probably come off sounding more archaic.

[Mofo Rising]

"Labyrinths" by Jose Luis Borges.  Philosophical fantasy. 

I wanted to pick that up the other day, but the only edition I could find was a mass market paperback with a shiny silver cover which I cannot stand. A case where the book is the selling point trying to make up for the cover.

I made the mistake of trying to read a few classics at too early an age, and it's actually made me wary of reading them now. Moby Dick springs to mind. I tried reading that when I was 9 or 10, and found it too long, too slow and too hard to follow. But Ishmael wasn't even on the ship yet when I gave up. I think he'd just encountered Queequeg for the first time. I've probably read plenty of books more challenging than that, but I still remember Moby Dick as it seemed to me at that age.

But... spooning with Queequeg is the best part of the book!

[ChaosTheory]

This morning it was slow at work so I read "This Is Water", the commencement speech David Foster Wallace gave at Kenyon College (I've been on a Wallace kick lately).  It was really beautiful, not like most commencement speeches  ; I'll have to get my sister a copy when she graduates.