What Book Are You Currently Reading?
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 18, 2024, 09:32:50 PM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  General Politics
  Political Debate
  Book Reviews and Discussion (Moderator: Torie)
  What Book Are You Currently Reading?
« previous next »
Pages: 1 ... 18 19 20 21 22 [23] 24 25 26 27 28 ... 68
Author Topic: What Book Are You Currently Reading?  (Read 396401 times)
Insula Dei
belgiansocialist
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,326
Belgium


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #550 on: August 27, 2012, 12:48:04 PM »

And you didn't like him? How strange!
Logged
World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
Moderators
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 34,220


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #551 on: August 27, 2012, 01:01:36 PM »
« Edited: August 27, 2012, 01:03:48 PM by Nathan »


He's a formally talented writer, obviously, but I don't like the perspective from which he approaches his (themselves at times quite admirable) themes very much at all because I think his famed personal nastiness, unlike that of some other writers, does come across in his work.
Logged
Insula Dei
belgiansocialist
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,326
Belgium


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #552 on: August 27, 2012, 01:25:09 PM »

But the perspective is so vital to Naipaul's prose! I think one of the main objections to him is that so many people seem to be under the impression that's he's just another colonial apologist, the Trinidad wing of the Tory party, if you like. But it's important to keep in mind Naipaul's own comment that he doesn't care for politics. He is very much his own man, and his fiction is determined completely by that profound individuality.
Logged
World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
Moderators
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 34,220


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #553 on: August 27, 2012, 02:39:37 PM »
« Edited: August 27, 2012, 02:42:18 PM by Nathan »

Right; no, I understand and agree with a lot of the political criticisms of Naipaul but it's not really why I don't like him. I suppose I'm just not especially fond of Naipaul's particular individuality; it's a particular kind of critical, vaguely antisocial individualism that I don't respond well to, even though there are other kinds in literature that I do.
Logged
Filuwaúrdjan
Realpolitik
Atlas Institution
*****
Posts: 67,590
United Kingdom


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #554 on: August 27, 2012, 03:51:28 PM »

I think one of the main objections to him is that so many people seem to be under the impression that's he's just another colonial apologist, the Trinidad wing of the Tory party, if you like. But it's important to keep in mind Naipaul's own comment that he doesn't care for politics.

That just proves that he is, indeed, a colonial apologist from the Trinidad wing of the Tory party.
Logged
World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
Moderators
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 34,220


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #555 on: August 27, 2012, 04:12:02 PM »

I think one of the main objections to him is that so many people seem to be under the impression that's he's just another colonial apologist, the Trinidad wing of the Tory party, if you like. But it's important to keep in mind Naipaul's own comment that he doesn't care for politics.

That just proves that he is, indeed, a colonial apologist from the Trinidad wing of the Tory party.

This too. It's impossible to take a comment about not caring for politics from someone in Naipaul's position at all seriously.
Logged
Insula Dei
belgiansocialist
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,326
Belgium


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #556 on: August 27, 2012, 04:29:01 PM »

To be fair, the actual quote is about himself as a young man. The scholarship boy wishing to be Somerset Maugham who is one of his great recurrent topics. Obviously Naipaul doesn't exist in a political vacuum. I'd go as far as to say that he's one of the most perceptive observers of (post)colonial mores of our time.* But he's not 'political' in that banal way that many people seem eager to jump on so as to be able to dismiss him out of hand. Naipaul isn't nailed to one position or the other in West European intellectual and political disputes.


*:And obviously sometimes his way of seeing the world can be profoundly problematic, even borderline unacceptable.
Logged
minionofmidas
Lewis Trondheim
Atlas Institution
*****
Posts: 58,207
India


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #557 on: August 28, 2012, 01:03:02 PM »

Complete bull. Naipaul is the Trinidad wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Logged
Atlas Has Shrugged
ChairmanSanchez
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 38,043
United States


Political Matrix
E: 5.29, S: -5.04


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #558 on: August 28, 2012, 07:53:18 PM »

That was a good one for a campaign book Wink
Logged
FEMA Camp Administrator
Cathcon
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 27,279
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #559 on: August 28, 2012, 09:54:58 PM »


I should read it someday. Apparently it's at my library.
Logged
Beet
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 28,772


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #560 on: August 29, 2012, 07:34:08 PM »

Logged
J. J.
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 32,892
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #561 on: August 29, 2012, 07:50:18 PM »

I just read The Captain and the Enemy by Graham Greene as well as Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck.

Now I'm going to do Heart of Darkness.

The amazing thing about Heart of Darkness is that Conrad's English really isn't all that good and the book can get a bit tough despite being barely 60 pages long, but it's still one of the most compelling stories you'll ever read.

Heart of Darkness is probably my favorite novella.  What get's me is that it is based on a real person.
Logged
They put it to a vote and they just kept lying
20RP12
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 38,149
United States


Political Matrix
E: -5.29, S: -7.13

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #562 on: August 30, 2012, 04:36:57 PM »

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Logged
minionofmidas
Lewis Trondheim
Atlas Institution
*****
Posts: 58,207
India


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #563 on: September 01, 2012, 07:25:09 AM »

Why is the penis shaped like that? ... and other reflections on being human, by someone by the name of Jesse Bering.

Quote
You must be logged in to read this quote.
Logged
Peeperkorn
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,987
Uruguay


Political Matrix
E: 0.65, S: -6.78

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #564 on: September 04, 2012, 04:56:26 AM »


Didn't know you were an emo girl.
Logged
Peeperkorn
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,987
Uruguay


Political Matrix
E: 0.65, S: -6.78

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #565 on: September 04, 2012, 04:58:45 AM »

Logged
The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 45,130
Norway


Political Matrix
E: -6.32, S: -7.48

P P P

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #566 on: September 04, 2012, 02:02:14 PM »



Just got this in the mail, starting it today.
Logged
World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
Moderators
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 34,220


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #567 on: September 04, 2012, 02:48:48 PM »


Neverwhere is actually a good book, Mr North American Literature.
Logged
Peeperkorn
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,987
Uruguay


Political Matrix
E: 0.65, S: -6.78

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #568 on: September 04, 2012, 11:26:33 PM »


lol, read more Morrison or Moore and less Gaiman.
Logged
後援会
koenkai
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,265


Political Matrix
E: 0.71, S: -2.52

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #569 on: September 04, 2012, 11:50:25 PM »



It's very good so far. I've always been a fan of Minxin Pei.
Logged
World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
Moderators
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 34,220


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #570 on: September 05, 2012, 12:39:42 AM »


You don't want to start an argument with me about this type of writing. You seriously don't.
Logged
Insula Dei
belgiansocialist
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,326
Belgium


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #571 on: September 18, 2012, 03:48:52 PM »

Finally, finally, finally got round to Austerlitz (by W.G. Sebald, that is)
Logged
Platypus
hughento
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 21,478
Australia


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #572 on: September 18, 2012, 05:20:49 PM »

Burma by Benedict Rogers.
Logged
Rooney
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 843
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #573 on: September 20, 2012, 08:17:07 PM »

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion by Edward J. Larson. I have enjoyed this so far.
Logged
Platypus
hughento
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 21,478
Australia


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #574 on: September 21, 2012, 07:46:05 PM »

Finally started reading The English Patient, but I don't like it much.
Logged
Pages: 1 ... 18 19 20 21 22 [23] 24 25 26 27 28 ... 68  
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.045 seconds with 10 queries.