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| Literature Please come visit. People get upset, write poetry about it, and post it here. Sometimes we also talk about books. |
10-28-2005, 06:22 PM
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#51
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Within the dark recesses of my soul
Posts: 118
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I am shocked and stunned!
:???: Am I to understand that the vampire chronicles are going to get a pass here?
I'm about to do what I said I didn't want to do but the voices are screaming for Lestat's dismemberment, disembowelment, beheading, anything to rid the world of that pussy!
I found the initial potential, (yes I admit it had potential in the beginning) soon developed into cowardice on Anne Rice's part. The amount of potent storylines she could have developed were quickly dismissed. I had my heart set on a war between the vampires and the Talamasca. Blackwood Farm was the best one since Interview then it died a painful, prolonged death with the final instalment Blood Canticle. I was happy to sell them as a set on ebay and regain precious shelf space for more worthwhile reading, which I am sad to say I am yet to find but not from lack of trying.
There I said it and I feel better. May Lestat rot quietly and may the reprints dwindle into nothing.
Jules
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11-06-2005, 04:48 PM
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#52
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: I live in Iceland!!
Posts: 92
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I liked the vampire chronicles, ok sappy and sickening...but entertaining. I liked reading the bible too, even though I mostly disagree with it. I love Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Dracula was ok, The Grapes of Wrath was boring....but I can see how someone might like it, it's interesting.
I even like reading the dictionary, it's got so many interesting words.
But I HATE Ernest Hemingway!!! He is way overrated!
I drove an "ambulance" in the spanish civil war, he lived an interesting live and he wrote about interesting things....but with his writing style...it's all so ...boring...mundane.
A teacher of mine said that was his genius...writing about war and drama and make it sound as interesting as shopping in the local grocery store.
What a genius!! I think it's worth much more being able to make something boring seem fun and interesting.
Hemingway proofs the theory about being boring and being respected.
I'm against book burning....but I hate boredom even more, burn Hemingway!
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11-06-2005, 04:49 PM
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#53
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: I live in Iceland!!
Posts: 92
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ooops
I did not drive an ambulance ever.....He, Hemingway did!!
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11-07-2005, 09:21 PM
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#54
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,387
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Da Vinci Code!!!! God that book was hard to get through!
The only thing that book had going for it were the plot twists. They were amazing!
__________________
"And if you didn't get all that, here's a short synopsis. I FUCKING DON'T LIKE YOU, CUNT."
--Geisha
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11-08-2005, 12:36 PM
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#55
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: The People's Republic of Boulder, Colorado
Posts: 19
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by MondoHeather
I never got into Stoker's Dracula until I checked out a copy of it called "The Essential Dracula." It's the same book but with lavishly detailed footnotes courtesy of Leonard Wolf. It made a huge difference on how enjoyable a read it was. There are just details in the book that most modern day readers, like myself, would normally miss. So to have that kind of historical cushion was really nice.
As for overrated, definitely Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina." I love and respect a lot of Russian literature, even the stuff that I personally didn't care for. But I had an intense reaction to this book. Mainly one of boredom and annoyance.
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::hugs you::
I quit reading after the eighty pages on jam. Jam made with water... jam made without water... I get that the bastard was trying to be detailed for people who needed tedious reading, but good lord.
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11-08-2005, 10:13 PM
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#56
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
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I always finish a book I start, just in case I miss the author's point.
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Originally Posted by Juliet Bathory
:???: Am I to understand that the vampire chronicles are going to get a pass here?
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Yes. Interview and Vampire Lestat, I think, are genuinely good books. I don't think a series as long as the Vampire Chronicles should be considered one huge work that should be discarded because they're just not good enough. They were apparently enough to keep you entertained. Or did you just read all of them in seething hatred? People need to lay off Rice a little. She's no Mary Shelley, she's no Mervyn Peake, but she's not exactly nick the goth fuck shit guy whatever his name was.
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11-10-2005, 08:00 AM
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#57
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
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Who didn't?
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11-10-2005, 09:30 AM
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#58
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
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It's true, very true
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11-10-2005, 10:03 AM
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#59
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: technically in 8 places at once...
Posts: 506
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Kettu
the bible...
I never finished it
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I kind of just skipped to the end. That's where all the semi-interesting stuff is anyway.
__________________
I can read your mind.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
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11-11-2005, 04:55 PM
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#60
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Within the dark recesses of my soul
Posts: 118
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ThwanCondu
They were apparently enough to keep you entertained. Or did you just read all of them in seething hatred? People need to lay off Rice a little. She's no Mary Shelley, she's no Mervyn Peake, but she's not exactly nick the goth fuck shit guy whatever his name was.
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I kept reading because she managed to throw out the good hook at the end of each book. I wanted the war and I didn't get one and I can't for the life of me figure out why she didn't use what could have been a great plot development.
As for laying off Anne Rice, I think the propaganda machine has a lot to answer for. While her reply on amazon.com did little to change people's perception of her as a premadonna, when she is constantly touted as the queen of gothic fiction, it has to be expeted that people will voice their disappointment when they feel they have been let down. Stephen King is another one that has endured on a pedestal but I don't know anyone personally that still buys and/or reads his books.
The one thing the chronicles did teach me is how to get over book guilt. That delightful pull in the back of your mind that tells you that you should read something because someone, somewhere difined it as a classic at some point. Talk about liberating. However, for the Rice fans out there, if you didn't already know, her new book is out.
And still I wait to find a writer who can satisfy me... 
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11-11-2005, 04:57 PM
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#61
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Within the dark recesses of my soul
Posts: 118
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"Good little book the bible... Jesus dies in the end by the way" as quoted by some stand-up comic dressed in a nun's outfit on a comedy special I saw once.
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11-11-2005, 06:45 PM
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#62
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
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But the thing is, you're not just complaining about how she's not as perfect as made out to be, you were insulting the characters and asking if she'd 'pass' here as if she's not worthy of acceptance. I agree about the propoganda thing though. But then we have to have an open mind. It's like with Marilyn Manson. They are by far not the worst band in the world. But they're not an amazing one. They're good though. Any band who has become that famous and done so well for so many years can't be crossed off as just absolute rubbish.
Popularity is just such a huge turn off.
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11-11-2005, 07:07 PM
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#63
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Within the dark recesses of my soul
Posts: 118
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It was events like Louis' attempted suicide, Lestat's awakening at the end of Armand, Merrick's manipulation, the making of David, Julien haunting Lestat etc that wore me down. Don't get me wrong, hers is some of the best descriptive prose I've ever read, but I felt overall her characters' motivation and development was lacking as well as her plot development. She has earned her place, but I personally disagree with the theory that she is the best in the business. That said, I am still looking for something that really grabs me. I am open to suggestions and recommendations.
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11-11-2005, 10:02 PM
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#64
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 150
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Read some Poppy Z Brite then. Actually, read Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite. I don't think I've ever read a book quicker than that one.
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03-07-2008, 10:58 PM
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#65
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: El Paso, Texas/ Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
Posts: 9,203
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This thread is good and should be resurrected with my Jesus powers.
I concur with the above people in the following books being heavily overrated:
Dracula
Frankenstein (very amateur work)
Atlas Shrugged (I'm hating the fucking book!)
The Bible
And I'd also like to mention the Divine Comedy. I could never get myself into reading past Purgatory.
And Plato's Republic. It might be one of the first works of philosophy, but that's no reason to respect it when it works under such faulty premises.
__________________
"No theory, no ready-made system, no book that has ever been written will save the world.
I cleave to no system. I am a true seeker."
-Mikhail Bakunin
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Originally Posted by George Carlin
People who say they don’t care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don’t care what people think.
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03-08-2008, 01:35 AM
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#66
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 51
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Haha, The Bible......... so true...... lmao
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03-08-2008, 04:10 AM
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#67
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,678
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Harry Potter sucks.
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03-16-2008, 11:51 PM
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#68
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 40
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All vampires and mummies alike
Anne Rice
haha and yeah the bible too
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