This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
Currently reading the second novel of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
I'm enjoying it because I enjoyed the series but, honestly, the show feels superior to me. Basically the show gives you everything the novels do, and the translation is much more expressive. I still do enjoy the books as they do give some bits of depth in character backgrounds that wasn't properly explained in the series. But the anime gives you amazing directing by Noboru Ishiguro, incredible voice acting and elevates what is, frankly, a strong but unremarkable series of novels. It's getting much better with volume 2, however, now that a lot of the world-building is out of the way.
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Reading Mark Frost's The Secret History of Twin Peaks and completely engrossed, intrigued and smiling. It's mysterious, interesting, and cute.
However, like "never look at the comments" I shouldn't have looked at the Amazon reviews, which are full of "this isn't a real story," and "First, this is a 'novel' in the loosest sense. It is more of a scrap book." Because, apparently, there are people living in the 21st Century, who read books, who think that the epistolary novel isn't a thing. Or a "real" thing.
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I'm rereading The Karankawa Indians of Texas: An Ecological Study of Cultural Tradition and Change and learning so much more than they ever taught us in elementary school. It turns out I had a lot of misconceptions about these people. I thought they were primitive cannibals.
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One of my 2017 goals is to read more, and count how many books I've read. One of my friends does this and I believe last year they read 29 books! ...Yeah, they read a lot.
SOO I didn't finish any of the books I last said I was reading because I'm a lazy bum, but I shall eventually. I got the first Bakemonogatari novel for Christmas and I'm currently reading that, 'cause I loved the anime (only Bakemonogatari. I'm nottttt a fan of the rest of the Monogatari Series, but that's a rant for another day.).
I'm also reading Fahrenheit 451 whenever I have free time in school. I like it so far.
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Cert Guide CompTIA Security+ SY0-401 Third Edition.
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American Gods
I like it
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American Gods by Neil Gaiman? That from what i remember was such an trippy book. Enjoy.
Thanks to my E-reader am reading too much/many crappy smutty romance books...so on a quest to read some more serious stuff... I read All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation.
Which was a very interesting look at what life trends are poplar for a large number of American women currently. With a lot of background on how this section of society has impact the USA,...my summary is crap but the book is interesting.
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Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
I wish it wasn't peppered with random French lol
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Uprooted by Naomi Novik
It's meh.
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SexingTouga24/7/365 wrote:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman? That from what i remember was such an trippy book. Enjoy.
It is.
One of the best things I've read in a while.
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I am glad that you are enjoying it!
In addition to reading tons of smut! I a few weeks ago, I read a book about transportation in the USA called, Door to Door, then Weapons of Math Destruction: which is about how all the use of algorithms and the internet are impacting society. Now that I think about it, its unsurprising how both of them mentioned the Amazon as an example; I just thought about it.
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I finished Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett (R.I.P)! It's a really good, funny book. I think if you liked Utena as a show, which I suppose most of you do, then I think you'll like it!
Right now I'm reading The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters and From The Fatherland, With Love by Ryu Murakami. Kinda excited.
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I read some of Terry Pratchetts Going Postal. It was hilarious! I got a long list of books I have yet to read.
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yusaku wrote:
I read some of Terry Pratchetts Going Postal. It was hilarious! I got a long list of books I have yet to read.
Yeah it's good stuff! I should read more Pratchett too.
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I'm reading Animal Farm, which I haven't even looked at since like middle school. I hated it then, but with the same burning rage I felt for anything I was forced BY THE SYSTEM to expose myself to.
There's been a lot of talk about 1984 and how relevant it is right now, but I have to say Animal Farm feels more on the nose just now. Maybe it's the more juvenile writing and setting? Or that the system is maintained less by fear than by inflicted ignorance. But it's definitely a lot more valuable this time around, especially with the current US 'government' so consciously rewriting the commandments and saying things that happened didn't.
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Giovanna wrote:
I'm reading Animal Farm, which I haven't even looked at since like middle school.
I love Animal Farm. It was the only assigned book that I actually read in my high school freshman year.
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I'm enjoying it more now. The absolute best way to make me hate a book is force me to read it, so a lot of otherwise great novels just have bad juju for me because of the miserable way I had to read them.
The Scarlet Letter still sucks, though.
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The Scarlet Letter is a piece of shit with absolutely no merit worth speaking of and I simply cannot understand why people are made the read it, let alone study it, to this day.
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I've never read The Scarlet Letter, though since I'm not done with high school yet I may be forced to one year
Kind of a topic derail, but one book I absolutely hated that I was assigned to read was A Separate Piece. I hated the main character so much, and the fact that he reminds me a little of me didn't help, lol.
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J-K Huysman's L -Bas has been sitting on my Kindle, the public domain translation, and I'm finally getting to it. I'm enrapt, already. I love 19th Century prose that reads like 1980s prose. Crisp, elegant, moody as fuck. Somewhere between Clive Barker and Umberto Eco, and specifically, good Barker and Eco.
It's funny, to me, that it came to me down from namechecks by Rob Zombie and Grant Morrison, but I'm glad something put it on my radar and I'm not sure why it, or any of the author's later books were pinged for me before (even given that it's taken me almost ten years to get around to reading this).
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I'm reading the months-old that I haven't got to reading yet new Bakemonogatari novels. I'm a fan of the Bakemonogatari anime, mostly because I'm a pathetic weeaboo but ALSO cause I like how it blends folklore/mythology with personal problems. As for the rest of the Monogatari series... it's all mehh... and there are a lot of parts that made me feel uncomfortable (not to start any thread derailment so I'll just leave it there).
BUT YEah the translation is pretty wonky in my opinion. Some sentences just don't flow, I guess? I dunno.
Last edited by sailor-anthy (07-08-2017 07:13:53 PM)
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Recently read Anya's Ghost. I loved the cute art style! The story is simultaneously funny and dark. The ending felt a little bit cliche, but overall, still enjoyable.
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I finally finished Demian. It was really gay. It was also very interesting and brought me some insight to my own life and how I might start a cult around Abraxas. Also, Demain x Emil.
Ps, the Hebrew translation was really good! Usage of high language was hard for me to read at the start, but fitting for a book of this nature.
Last edited by itavin (09-19-2017 06:47:01 AM)
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Reading Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse right now to-and-from work. Bought it on the strength of Siddhartha. Enjoying it a lot. Might comment more when I'm done.
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Stardust by Niel Gaiman. First book of his I'm reading. I know, I know, I haven't even read Coraline (yet!).
I still need to finish Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas... I stopped right at Part 2 and haven't started back up again. Some books on my to-read list are Catch 22 and Push.
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