What is everyone reading?

[Asteriktos]

About a third of the way through. Hopefully this becomes more substantive, otherwise it's just the story of a mentally unbalanced adulterer with a nearly-perfect husband who knows she's doing horrible things but hopes that name dropping mystics and philosophers and dwelling on, like, totally deep thoughts and stuff (in quotable tidbit size), will make things better somehow.

 

[Maximilian]

The Innocence of Father Brown, by G. K. Chesterton.

It's a little too 'trad' for me so far, but as a guilty pleasure it works OK.

 

[RaphaCam]

Right now, I'm studying labour law ethics. More interesting than it sounds.

 

[Volnutt]

Right now, I'm studying labour law ethics. More interesting than it sounds.

It does sound interesting, yeah. I think it would just make me angry, though.

 

[RaphaCam]

In the US, most probably...  :-\

 

[Agabus]

Addison Hart's "The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd."

 

[RobS]

Gulag Archipelago abridged

 

[Ainnir]

My daughter, actually: The Action Bible.  I'm not sure how I feel about (and haven't read it myself), so I'll refrain from yelling and waving my arms.  I just told her to treat it like the rest of her entertainment.  :-X

 

[biro]

Still re-reading "The Hobbit."

 

[Iconodule]

The Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe. Has anyone else read this book/ series?

 

[Arachne]

The Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe. Has anyone else read this book/ series?

I have the omnibus edition on my Kindle, but haven't got around to reading it yet. Wolfe's writing style, judging by the few short stories I've read, can be a bit of an acquired taste.

 

[Agabus]

Still re-reading "The Hobbit."

I re-read Fellowship this spring.

As someone who works with honing copy down, I came to the conclusion that, if someone was to print an abridged version of the book, Peter Jackson's edits for his screen adaptations were exactly the right ones.

 

[Iconodule]

The Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe. Has anyone else read this book/ series?

I have the omnibus edition on my Kindle, but haven't got around to reading it yet. Wolfe's writing style, judging by the few short stories I've read, can be a bit of an acquired taste.

This is one of the beautifully written books I've read in any genre. I wish I'd read these years ago.

 

[Volnutt]

My daughter, actually: The Action Bible.  I'm not sure how I feel about (and haven't read it myself), so I'll refrain from yelling and waving my arms.  I just told her to treat it like the rest of her entertainment.  :-X

I'm not opposed in principle to comics based on the Bible (R. Crumb's version of Genesis is interesting, if obviously written from a skeptic's POV), even ones with generic-looking pseudo-manga art. But I have a hard time believing that anything billing itself as "The Action Bible" can have much value.

 

[Ainnir]

My daughter, actually: The Action Bible.  I'm not sure how I feel about (and haven't read it myself), so I'll refrain from yelling and waving my arms.  I just told her to treat it like the rest of her entertainment.  :-X

I'm not opposed in principle to comics based on the Bible (R. Crumb's version of Genesis is interesting, if obviously written from a skeptic's POV), even ones with generic-looking pseudo-manga art. But I have a hard time believing that anything billing itself as "The Action Bible" can have much value.

Well I think it wants to basically be a children's type Bible, except in graphic novel form.  I'm such a curmudgeon that I don't actually love children's Bibles, either.  But that's just me, and I don't feel strongly enough to tell her she can't check it out from the library.  A lot of insinuation can occur in paraphrasing, though.  So, idk.  I'll have to have a look.  She's read Bone I don't know how many times, and I guess I should find that more offensive than something based on the Bible, but I find my inclinations are the inverse of that for whatever reason.  ???

 

[Antonis]

Finished The Case for Jesus, and am working through The Heresy of Orthodoxy. I'm realizing that the second is something like a larger Evangelical version of the first. Having completed the former, I highly recommend it.

 

[Volnutt]

My daughter, actually: The Action Bible.  I'm not sure how I feel about (and haven't read it myself), so I'll refrain from yelling and waving my arms.  I just told her to treat it like the rest of her entertainment.  :-X

I'm not opposed in principle to comics based on the Bible (R. Crumb's version of Genesis is interesting, if obviously written from a skeptic's POV), even ones with generic-looking pseudo-manga art. But I have a hard time believing that anything billing itself as "The Action Bible" can have much value.

Well I think it wants to basically be a children's type Bible, except in graphic novel form.  I'm such a curmudgeon that I don't actually love children's Bibles, either.  But that's just me, and I don't feel strongly enough to tell her she can't check it out from the library.  A lot of insinuation can occur in paraphrasing, though.  So, idk.  I'll have to have a look.  She's read Bone I don't know how many times, and I guess I should find that more offensive than something based on the Bible, but I find my inclinations are the inverse of that for whatever reason.  ???

I wish my parents would have let me read Bone as a kid lol. I mean, the opportunity never came up, but I'm assuming they wouldn't have.

I guess in general telling a kid they can't have something just creates a forbidden fruit effect, that's how it was with me anyway. Of course, I don't have kids. I guess if you're concerned, you can talk to her about it. Let her know that sometimes translators get things wrong by mistake and that she should be careful with what she reads (I mean, assuming that won't just go over her head, I don't know how old she is).

 

[Ainnir]

My daughter, actually: The Action Bible.  I'm not sure how I feel about (and haven't read it myself), so I'll refrain from yelling and waving my arms.  I just told her to treat it like the rest of her entertainment.  :-X

I'm not opposed in principle to comics based on the Bible (R. Crumb's version of Genesis is interesting, if obviously written from a skeptic's POV), even ones with generic-looking pseudo-manga art. But I have a hard time believing that anything billing itself as "The Action Bible" can have much value.

Well I think it wants to basically be a children's type Bible, except in graphic novel form.  I'm such a curmudgeon that I don't actually love children's Bibles, either.  But that's just me, and I don't feel strongly enough to tell her she can't check it out from the library.  A lot of insinuation can occur in paraphrasing, though.  So, idk.  I'll have to have a look.  She's read Bone I don't know how many times, and I guess I should find that more offensive than something based on the Bible, but I find my inclinations are the inverse of that for whatever reason.  ???

I wish my parents would have let me read Bone as a kid lol. I mean, the opportunity never came up, but I'm assuming they wouldn't have.

I guess in general telling a kid they can't have something just creates a forbidden fruit effect, that's how it was with me anyway. Of course, I don't have kids. I guess if you're concerned, you can talk to her about it. Let her know that sometimes translators get things wrong by mistake and that she should be careful with what she reads (I mean, assuming that won't just go over her head, I don't know how old she is).

Well I'd have to read it myself to say much intelligent beyond, "Treat it like the rest of your entertainment" (meaning we don't allow it to inform our thoughts, words, or deeds).  I don't worry much about things going over their heads, but a discussion about translations and paraphrases wouldn't go over hers anyway; she's 12 and it's not a new subject.  I just don't know if this particular one has a slant, and if so what (until I read it).  Plus the idea in general feels like taking Holy Scripture out of its proper place.

I was a lot stricter with content when they were younger, though, for what it's worth.

 

[Volnutt]

David C. Cook is the publisher, looks like generic evangelicals (the dust jacket quotes from the website are all from nondenom churches with nightclub names) and Southern Baptists. The "author" (Wikipedia's words), Doug Mauss looks to be an ELCA youth pastor. So maybe a tad liberal, but I'm guessing it would more likely be "too paranoid about offending somebody from either side of the isle to say anything more than the most anondyne sentiments." It's also sold by Answers in Genesis, though #excusemewhileipuketillthesunexplodes

Huh, they also offer a version that uses ESV text.

I think the thing that offends me most so far is that Sergio Cariello is just kind of a boring, Marvel House Style artist. The Bible should be rendered by Ben Templesmith or Mike Mignola or Bill Sienkiewicz, somebody who can capture the otherworldly (or at least the paintings of Alex Ross). Now THAT would have set twelve year-old me's Christian imagination on fire lol!



Err, I didn't mean to imply that you were too strict or something. Just musing out loud.

I agree, that it would be a lot better if it were just a set of adaptations of Bible stories. I don't like it either when an interpretive work is marketed as being a Bible. I think there's a distinction.

I guess you can get free samples of their parent and teacher stuff off the website http://www.theactionbible.com/action-bible-curriculum/

 

[Ainnir]

Err, I didn't mean to imply that you were too strict or something. Just musing out loud.

Oh I know!  Sorry that wasn't clear.  Just pointing out that Bone wouldn't have been available to her when she was 8 or something.  Which is good, because reading Bone led her to read Moby Dick, and I'm not sure she would have stuck it out at 8. 

I haven't heard of that publishing company.  But knowing how I do library books, it'll probably be around for a couple of months.  The lesson plans would probably just annoy me.  :angel:

 

[WPM]

Human Man/Messiah Jesus . . .

 

[mcarmichael]

I have completed my study of existentialism. Now I am reading Kurt Vonnegut' s "Player Piano". Which isn't about existentialism.

 

[Volnutt]

What did you read? Kierkegaard? Heidegger?

 

[Asteriktos]

"Niccolucio, a young Florentine Carthusian monk, leads a devout life until the Black Death kills all of his brothers, leaving him alone and filled with doubt. Habidah, an anthropologist from another universe racked by plague, is overwhelmed by the suffering. Unable to maintain her observer neutrality, she saves Niccolucio from the brink of death. Habidah discovers that neither her home's plague nor her assignment on Niccolucio's world are as she's been led to believe. Suddenly the pair are drawn into a worlds-spanning conspiracy to topple an empire larger than the human imagination can contain."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Volnutt]

You'd think the last place an anthropologist from plague world would want to visit would be the Black Death.

How is it? I'm always on the look out for sci-fi that includes Christian characters without being either a disguised sermon or a hatchet job. The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God by Mary Doria Russell are both pretty good.

 

[Jackson02]

The True Mermaids

http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2013/06/27/the-true-mermaids/

 

[Volnutt]

The True Mermaids

http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2013/06/27/the-true-mermaids/

I'm not sure they care given the number of cryptid shows they also air.

It's a shame, it could have been fun schlocky sci-fi if it were just on a different channel.

That is pretty cool about the lizards.

 

[Arachne]

Parody, down to the last detail. There is explicit sex, but it, like everything else about the book, is hysterically funny.

 

[Volnutt]

What's the point of a funny pen name if you're going to spoil it two lines later?

 

[Arachne]

What's the point of a funny pen name if you're going to spoil it two lines later?

A guy being behind it adds an extra layer of funny, especially for anyone familiar with Blackadder.

 

[Luke]

What's the point of a funny pen name if you're going to spoil it two lines later?

Probably humor.  I looked at it and smiled when I saw it.

 

[Asteriktos]

What's the point of a funny pen name if you're going to spoil it two lines later?

Possibly also a joke aimed at how the original Fifty was written by one author, but since it started as a Twilight fan fiction you could argue that it should be partly credited to an entirely different author.

 

[Arachne]

What's the point of a funny pen name if you're going to spoil it two lines later?

A guy being behind it adds an extra layer of funny, especially for anyone familiar with Blackadder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ZuapDOBbM

03:40-06:20 is where it's at.

 

[Volnutt]

What's the point of a funny pen name if you're going to spoil it two lines later?

A guy being behind it adds an extra layer of funny, especially for anyone familiar with Blackadder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ZuapDOBbM

03:40-06:20 is where it's at.

I know the episode. I just think it's kind pointless to immediately spoil on the cover that it's a guy writing. Makes it less funny.

 

[Arachne]

What's the point of a funny pen name if you're going to spoil it two lines later?

A guy being behind it adds an extra layer of funny, especially for anyone familiar with Blackadder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ZuapDOBbM

03:40-06:20 is where it's at.

I know the episode. I just think it's kind pointless to immediately spoil on the cover that it's a guy writing. Makes it less funny.

Why?

 

[Volnutt]

What's the point of a funny pen name if you're going to spoil it two lines later?

A guy being behind it adds an extra layer of funny, especially for anyone familiar with Blackadder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ZuapDOBbM

03:40-06:20 is where it's at.

I know the episode. I just think it's kind pointless to immediately spoil on the cover that it's a guy writing. Makes it less funny.

Why?

Kind of ruins the joke by explaining it too quickly rather than letting the reader find out later, like at the end of the story. Just imo, though.

 

[Arachne]

What's the point of a funny pen name if you're going to spoil it two lines later?

A guy being behind it adds an extra layer of funny, especially for anyone familiar with Blackadder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ZuapDOBbM

03:40-06:20 is where it's at.

I know the episode. I just think it's kind pointless to immediately spoil on the cover that it's a guy writing. Makes it less funny.

Why?

Kind of ruins the joke by explaining it too quickly rather than letting the reader find out later, like at the end of the story. Just imo, though.

A lot of readers wouldn't get the joke at all because they have no idea what a merkin is, so they'd take the name at face value. A lot of others would be positively gleeful because the material actually encourages gems like these.

 

[WPM]

Reading & Writing Secular Material

 

[Volnutt]

Alright, fair enough

 

[biro]

"Banewreaker," by Jacqueline Carey