[quote="discovolante"]Finally started on 1Q84, and I'm already in too deep. I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it before school starts...[/quote]

Same here. Them 926 pages.

[quote="ChubbyRaccoon"][quote="discovolante"]Finally started on 1Q84, and I'm already in too deep. I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it before school starts...[/quote]

Same here. Them 926 pages.[/quote]
I'm not sure how many times I'm going to "start" before I accept the fact that I'm never going to read it.

Finished 1Q84 last week. Great book. I won't say too much cuz I know others here are reading it.

Was it terribly complicated in that special Murakami way?

[quote="ChubbyRaccoon"]Was it terribly complicated in that special Murakami way?[/quote]
Borderline incomprehensible? :dizzy life:

[quote="Aplaca"]
Borderline incomprehensible? :dizzy life:[/quote]

This is what I mean. I'm taking it slow because I know after reading it I'll look back and be like, "WAT." But if I don't think about it too hard it makes sense.

[quote="Blank"]I finished the Magician King. It was much better written than the first book, but parts of it I still found to be annoying.

Honestly, The Magicians may as well not even have been written as far as I'm concerned.[/quote]

Finished it last week as well. The books were very different. I'm still not sure what I think of the ending though.

Although there is clearly more story to tell, I was almost hoping that would be the end of Quentin's story, because it's going to be difficult to up the ante after this book. But he's writing a sequel.

http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=8f3 ... eeedffdb1a

I need to remember to try to get 1Q84 next.

I'm like, 80% done with Magician King, I have to wait for my girlfriend to catch up!! Harumph.

Thanks for not spoiling anything, guys.
Blank, for some reason I'm again thinking opposite from you. So far I'm liking the first more, simply because it seemed like there was more direction. Up until about where I am now (finding out what the Seven Golden Keys were for), it felt sort of disorganized. Characters were introduced, crises occurred, characters got developed, mini adventures happened...but nothing ever really approached "THE BIG ADVENTURE," like, the main plot of the book. Grossman was very clear in the whole "A-story" (Quentin and the gang) and "B-story" (Julia's past, which is highly interesting) writing style, but that only served to break up the already questionable plot. I'm glad things are starting to come together now, but it's quite far in the book already. So I dunno. The first book had the introduction to magic, the training, the discovery of Fillory, and a big crisis. Sure the events of the Magician King perhaps match the aimlessness of the kings'/queens' lives, but...eh.

Then again, disregard what I say, cause I'm one of those people who doesn't understand why The Empire Strikes back is the best Star Wars. I feel like The Magician King is very TESB.

Also, given where I am (seeing Penny again, and learning about the Gods of magic) I feel like The Magicians = The Matrix, and The Magician King = The Matrix Revolutions. Goin real heavy with the architects and philosophy and shit.

The Dispossessed - Ursula Le Guin

A brilliant scientist leaves from the 'political rigid' anarchistic planet of Anarres to the capitalistic planet of Urras.

I started reading with a prejudice of the book of being not well written, simplistic and too sci-fi,
but I'm in de middle of it now, and it's quite interesting actually.

I'm 25% into The Basic Writings of Nietzsche. [color=#FF0000]B[/color][color=#FF8000]r[/color][color=#FFFF40]i[/color][color=#00FF00]ll[/color][color=#0000FF]i[/color][color=#8000FF]a[/color][color=#BF40FF]nt[/color] thus far. He is quickly becoming one of my most favorite people ever.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]I'm like, 80% done with Magician King, I have to wait for my girlfriend to catch up!! Harumph.

Thanks for not spoiling anything, guys.
Blank, for some reason I'm again thinking opposite from you. So far I'm liking the first more, simply because it seemed like there was more direction. Up until about where I am now (finding out what the Seven Golden Keys were for), it felt sort of disorganized. Characters were introduced, crises occurred, characters got developed, mini adventures happened...but nothing ever really approached "THE BIG ADVENTURE," like, the main plot of the book. Grossman was very clear in the whole "A-story" (Quentin and the gang) and "B-story" (Julia's past, which is highly interesting) writing style, but that only served to break up the already questionable plot. I'm glad things are starting to come together now, but it's quite far in the book already. So I dunno. The first book had the introduction to magic, the training, the discovery of Fillory, and a big crisis. Sure the events of the Magician King perhaps match the aimlessness of the kings'/queens' lives, but...eh.

Then again, disregard what I say, cause I'm one of those people who doesn't understand why The Empire Strikes back is the best Star Wars. I feel like The Magician King is very TESB.

Also, given where I am (seeing Penny again, and learning about the Gods of magic) I feel like The Magicians = The Matrix, and The Magician King = The Matrix Revolutions. Goin real heavy with the architects and philosophy and shit. [/quote]

I'm really looking at The Magician King from a stylistic standpoint. It had far less aggravating things about it to me than the original. The side characters are still really flat and all of that jazz but if the second book were to stand alone, I think it would come away as having less discrepancies overall.
[quote="rockman240"]I'm 25% into The Basic Writings of Nietzsche. [color=#FF0000]B[/color][color=#FF8000]r[/color][color=#FFFF40]i[/color][color=#00FF00]ll[/color][color=#0000FF]i[/color][color=#8000FF]a[/color][color=#BF40FF]nt[/color] thus far. He is quickly becoming one of my most favorite people ever.[/quote]

Have you read any Kierkegaard or Heidegger?

I started reading Heidegger and I got the sense that he was a dumbass so I didn't get very far, but I would like to challenge myself. Is there a writing that you would personally recommend, brah?

[quote="rockman240"]I started reading Heidegger and I got the sense that he was a dumbass so I didn't get very far, but I would like to challenge myself. Is there a writing that you would personally recommend, brah?[/quote]
It depends what you're into. The world of philosophy is both broad and deep.

Heidegger is more about deconstructionism, so if you don't like that, I'd suggest reading someone else.

I put that awkwardly; let me clarify.

When reading certain philosophical texts, do you get the sense that the writer is asking all the wrong questions? That the questions themselves are based on assumptions that defy logic, and frame their argument to appear legit? That's the sense I got from Heidegger, but I wasn't in the mood to examine it much at the time.

Is there a writing by Heidegger that you found particularly enlightening or entertaining? I am definitely interested in deconstructionism.

[quote="rockman240"]I put that awkwardly; let me clarify.

When reading certain philosophical texts, do you get the sense that the writer is asking all the wrong questions? That the questions themselves are based on assumptions that defy logic, and frame their argument to appear legit? That's the sense I got from Heidegger, but I wasn't in the mood to examine it much at the time.

Is there a writing by Heidegger that you found particularly enlightening or entertaining? I am definitely interested in deconstructionism.[/quote]
Sometimes asking the wrong questions yield interesting and fruitful answers.

Heidegger's Dasein pretty much uses wrong questions so to speak [u]because[/u] they're wrong. He turned an introspective lens onto certain notions we take for granted.