Philotic Web

Hahaha, sorry. I used to always feel like the young-un, but now I mostly feel like... the middle-un. What with these kids in college here, and a couple in high school, I think. But yeah, it's been out for 15 years, I read it about 12 years ago, in seventh grade.

For the record, it doesn't even feel like it was that long ago, but it must have been.

I have this thing where I believe everyone is the same age as I am.

This happens to me all the time, though sometimes it goes the other way and I forgot how old I am.

ETA: And Mich... you're an 88er? I thought you were part of our 1987 Club! For shame.

All you old farts in here. 1990 is WAY cooler.

Dang, you are all so little. 1990? I remember 1990. Like, fairly well.

1990 was my freshman year of HS...

Jurassic Park is older than most college freshmen...

Jurassic Park is older than most college freshmen...

Shut your face.

ETA: And Mich... you're an 88er? I thought you were part of our 1987 Club! For shame.

It's okay, you'll always be a grumpy old man to me.

It's okay, you'll always be a grumpy old man to me.

Ditto.




Well. Either a grumpy old man or a baby in diapers. Same difference, really.

Jurassic Park is older than most college freshmen...

Shut your face.

http://xkcd.com/891/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

87, 88?

heh, kids...

Well. Either a grumpy old man or a baby in diapers. Same difference, really.

Definitely the same thing. Can I be a grumpy old-man baby in diapers?

David has this thing where he believes everyone is the same height he is, regardless of any blindingly obvious evidence to the contrary.

I'm the same way, except I believe everyone is three feet shorter than I am and I've yet to find any evidence to the contrary.

David has this thing where he believes everyone is the same height he is, regardless of any blindingly obvious evidence to the contrary.

I'm the same way, except I believe everyone is three feet shorter than I am and I've yet to find any evidence to the contrary.

Just how many feet do you have? 5?

New, free Neil Gaiman short story, available for free download (that earns a charity donation) until Halloween:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/10/s ... appen.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Buh they gave me a hellish time trying to download that. I went to the British site and foolishly used my Canadian credit card details, as those were what I had with Amazon. They refused to let me download it even after I changed all of my details because "they're not authorised to sell it to me in my country". (This, even though it said British/Commonwealth would be fine with that link.) Eventually I had to set up an entirely new account with a different e-mail address and none of my Canadian specific details.

I will listen to it properly once I've stopped being so annoyed.

Still on The Darkness that comes before reread:

Often, in his soul's eye, she was inexplicably thin and wild, buffeted by rain and winds, obscured by the swaying of forest branches. This woman, who had once lifted her hand to the sun, holding it so that for him its light lay cupped in her palm, and telling him that truth was air, was sky, and could only be claimed, never touched by the limbs and fingers of a man. He couldn't tell her how profoundly her musings affected him, that they thrashed like living things in the wells of his soul and gathered stones about them.

I love this book.

Currently reading When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, a re-imagining of The Scarlet Letter. It's set in a future where abortions are murder and the penalty is a month in prison followed by 10 years (add 6 more if you don't give up info like baby-daddy or doctor who perfomed it) of having your skin dyed red to show the world you committed the "crime" of abortion.

About 50 pages in and it's really good. If I were a terrible person, I'd call in sick to finish it because I really want to know where this goes (and haven't read TSL, so I can't guess).

Yay! My hold on Ready Player One is finally available for download! I have to at least get through Atonement before I can start it, but I am quite excited.

I finally finished Ready Player One last week. Sooooo good!

Yay! It is crazy nice to have someone agree on a book every so often.

I am currently reading two youth graphic novels (Giants Beware - Aguirre, Jellaby - Soo) and will be starting Fairest of All by Valentino.

Anyone ever read the amory wars by claudio Sanchez? <--- random side note

I just finished reading The Lovely Bones. Pretty weird...but nothing less than what I like. Also read another one by that same author called The Almost Moon.

I also really liked Ready Player One and my husband is going to read it soon, too.

Reading "Ruins" ...

This, so much this.

It's a cop-out to ascribe the appeal of science fiction and fantasy to escapism. Lots of literature is escapist and the very act of reading (whatever the content) necessarily takes you out of a given moment. For me, Dune was escapist, but more importantly, it was expansive. It was a glimpse at the infinite; at histories barely hinted at but wholly felt; at destinies constructed over millennia, thwarted in a lifetime and rebuilt in a heartbeat. Its scale was so vast that it literally redefined possibility for me.

Not having read the article, but responding to the quote: A huge part of science-fiction and fantasy is exploring themes of humanity and reality in ways not easily achieved when set in familiar terrain. At the same time, a lot of escapist literature IS set in familiar terrain because it makes it easier to align a sort of temporary wish-fulfillment to our own lives.

*bump*

I just read three books that were all great and all really fast reads.

Redshirts by John Scalzi is a hilarious parody of the SciFi genre - a meta look at Star Trek and bad scifi shows. That's kind of a bad description, because it's funny for people who aren't Star Trek fans too.

Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) is the funniest book I've read in a long time. I had to put the book down sometimes from laughing so hard. It's a memoir, though she admits to stretching the truth a bit, and it is so funny. (VelvetElvis - it is so up your alley if you haven't read it already).

Lastly, I picked up The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik. I knew that the movie Hugo was based on it (starring Ender actor), but I haven't seen it yet and so had no idea what the book was about. I did not realize it was over half illustrations! It is an absolutely beautiful book in every way.

Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) is the funniest book I've read in a long time. I had to put the book down sometimes from laughing so hard. It's a memoir, though she admits to stretching the truth a bit, and it is so funny. (VelvetElvis - it is so up your alley if you haven't read it already).

+1

I read it a few months ago and ditto to the funniest book I've read in a long time.

I enjoyed Invention of Hugo Cabret much more as a book than a movie. Very fast read.

I am currently reading Silent Strike - Volume 2 of the Formic Wars graphic novel series and I've started Ruins (by OSC, of course).

I just finished Page by Paige, a graphic novel, and fell in love with both the style (no color but no color was needed) and the story. It felt very personal.

I am currently reading:

Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill (lovely illustrations throughout but not a graphic novel in either a comic or Diary of a Wimpy Kid sense)
Ender's World

In my To-Read pile:

Franklin Richards - Son of a Genius Ultimate Collection 1
Legends of Zita the Spacegirl

A friend gave me Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling. I've only just started it, but it comes to me highly recommended so I have hopes.

In addition to the above post, I've also resumed reading Lovecraft's stories. I had stopped because the site I was reading them at had light text on a dark background, which I have trouble reading, but in the past week I've been playing a lot of Arkham Horror and Elder Sign, so I tracked down an easier to read version. Nothing quite keeps up the Christmassy mood like fighting elder evils.

Perhaps I'm not as naturally analytical of books I read as some of you but I was pleasantly surprised to find I thoroughly enjoyed Ender's World. It had a slow start and never rose above familiar, informal essays but I walked away from some of these seeing characters and points to the story I had never seen in my decade+ of being a fan of the series.

And now I have nothing to read. Good thing I work in a building full of books...

Tyler got Evertaster by Adam Glendon Sidwell for Christmas. He read it in 3 nights and loved it, so now it's my turn. It's a super fun novel about a kid who is very careful, not picky, with what he eats, because he only wants extremely good tastes in his mouth. (Mom's cooking just doesn't do it) He ends up on a quest to find the ingredients for the one ultimate recipe for the best food ever which is encoded onto an egg beater left to him by a dying chef. All the while, a band of chefs in red uniforms and cleavers is hot on his tail trying to steal the egg beater so they can have the recipe to themselves.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through and I'm finding it highly enjoyable.