All the Literature and Reading Stuff...

[Raithe]

My ever growing obsession Jules Verne..

 

Have you guys ever heard of him?

 

He does kind of clock up there with H G Wells as one of the fathers of sci-fi. Plus these days he's considered fairly influential on the steampunk genre.

I'm trying to ponder if you're serious about asking if anybody had heard of him, or if it's just my general case of bookworm/geek-hood that makes me think he's much more wildly known than he is.

Edited June 21, 2017 by Raithe

[ManifestedISO]

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/4fd4b8b7-4b30-46ee-94e3-90952fd19fba

 

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/e0c34465-85b2-436b-9e13-460f5305aa73

Edited June 21, 2017 by ManifestedISO

[Guard Dog]

My ever growing obsession Jules Verne..

 

Have you guys ever heard of him?

 

Of course! 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island were two of my favorites growing up. I also loved The Lighthouse at the End of the World. It's not as well known as his other stuff but it's every bit as good IMO.

[Raithe]

The one thing to pay attention to with Jules Verne, is that due to various reasons, there is a large amount of badly translated books out there. In fact a lot of the original translations added pages, words, and renamed things. It's more the last quarter of a century or so that decent translations have been published, but a lot of the freely available from public domain versions are based off the original translations from back in the day rather than the more accurate recent ones.

[Guard Dog]

The one thing to pay attention to with Jules Verne, is that due to various reasons, there is a large amount of badly translated books out there. In fact a lot of the original translations added pages, words, and renamed things. It's more the last quarter of a century or so that decent translations have been published, but a lot of the freely available from public domain versions are based off the original translations from back in the day rather than the more accurate recent ones.

That's true of a lot of books. I could not choke down The Count of Monte Cristo until I read the Robin Buss unabridged version. The Gutenburg Free Press translations are pretty good too I've heard.

[Raithe]

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of those books I pretty much read at least once a year. There's just something about it that always manages to pull me in.

[Guard Dog]

Now reading:

 

[Malcador]

Going to try tackling Anna Karenina again

[Gromnir]

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of those books I pretty much read at least once a year. There's just something about it that always manages to pull me in.

has any writer managed to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life," as did dumas? 

 

alfred bester's the stars my destination is typical gonna get our more frequent rereads even though it is clear is an homage to dumas' work.  we like dumas, but at the time the count of monte cristo were released, publishers paid by the word, and more than a writer, dumas were a businessman.  in fact, is tough to say exact who wrote any o' dumas mid-late works as he had dozens o' writers all churning out stories and novels under his name. dumas works were intentional padded to a frequent campy degree. such padding weren't bad... well, such padding were bad but it were kinda charming if you could get into the correct frame o' mind.

 

the stars my destination is one our favorite scifi novels 'cause it manages a seeming paradox.  bester's work is derivative and groundbreaking.  arguable the firstest cyberpunk novel is a remake o' a dumas work from mid 1800s.

 

many years ago had a job interview during which we were asked one of those unbalancing questions:  what is your favorite literary character and why is he/she your favorite? 

 

gully foyle.  'cause the hero o' stars had a can-do attitude and boundless energy.  no obstacle were insurmountable as long as gully foyle envisioned his goal. etc.  am lucky the person interviewing us had never read bester's novel.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited June 23, 2017 by Gromnir

[Guard Dog]

I love that question for an interview. Definitely better than some of the Dale Carnegie questions I've heard. Like you it's not a question I'd have been able to answer honestly.

[ShadySands]

I've wondered what I'd answer if ever asked a question like that since almost all of my reading is obscure-ish sci-fi and fantasy and often times not particularly good.

[Guard Dog]

I've wondered what I'd answer if ever asked a question like that since almost all of my reading is obscure-ish sci-fi and fantasy and often times not particularly good.

Someone from Lord of the Rings or any of Issac Asimov's work would be appropriate.

 

My honest answer would be John Galt from Atlas Shrugged or Wolf Larsen from The Sea Wolf. I don't think either would endear me to an employer however. So I'd probably go with Robert Jordan from For Whom the Bell Tolls. The virtuous prototypical hero who does his duty, saves everyone with a self sacrifice in the end, etc. etc. Something they won't have to think too hard about.

[ShadySands]

If only I'd read any them

 

Maybe I could fudge it from the movies

[Malcador]

Someone actually found The Sea Wolf interesting ?  That's a surprise. 

 

If I had to pick one, I'd say Nadia from the Mars books as she's a good ideal engineer.  I always hate fluff questions like that on interviews, almost as much as the riddle ones (though people use the Die Hard with a Vengeance one too often)

[Guard Dog]

What?! You.... you didn't like The Sea Wolf? I'm shocked sir... shocked!

 

Actually it's one of my all time favorites. Although the ending was a little weak. I would have gone for a more Joseph Conrad ending if it were me.

[Malcador]

Read it near 20 years ago, all I recall was being rather fed up with how long it took the guy to die and didn't find it all that captivating.

[Blarghagh]

Clearly the correct answer is Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide.

[Guard Dog]

Clearly the correct answer is Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide.

 

  Do you feel like you're walking in a circle forever TN?

[Blarghagh]

Yes, also talking to me makes people want to kill themselves. Hence why I keep interacting with troll members. >:D

[SonicMage117]

Yes, also talking to me makes people want to kill themselves. Hence why I keep interacting with troll members. >:D

I get the feeling that people think of me that same way sometimes. Don't worry, people can ignore you but they can't take your freedom. You can reply to everything everyone writes and nobody can do anything about it so keep being you

[aluminiumtrioxid]

Yes, also talking to me makes people want to kill themselves. Hence why I keep interacting with members. >:D

 

fixed it for you

[Guard Dog]

I've got a hardcover collector's edition of Hitchhiker's. I've got to give that one a re-read. It's been a long time.

[Azdeus]

I used to listen to it every night as I went to bed for a while. I think it's time to do that again.

[Guard Dog]

"So long and thanks for all the fish!"

 

That's right! It's time to re-read The Guide. I suggest you all do the same!

Edited June 26, 2017 by Guard Dog

[Amentep]

I was just thinking about reading my collection of the HHGTtG. “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.”  Don't really have time atm, too many other things to read.

 

...

 

I hate those oddball questions in interviews.  Thankfully only had one: "What kind of bird do you see yourself as?"  Couldn't think of any bird at all except the damn albatross because of Rime of the Ancient Mariner.  Finally said it, and the interviewer kindly said "so you see yourself as being able to stay aloft over sea for long periods of time" which I guess was a better interpretation than "results in curses for sailors who shoot them".