Lastly, the bulk of this semester's reading has imparted me with a new love of the ancient Greeks.  Anything with the Atreides has me enthralled.  It's a bit sad that I now have a full psychological profile of Agamemnon from my obsessive cross-referencing.

LOVE FOR THE CLASSICS!

I demand you share said profile!!

Yasha wrote:

OH GOD I had to skip most of that chapter

Seriously, that disturbed me more than anything else he did...I could feel his absolute lack of grip on sanity in that moment, and it was horrendous. The irony being, of course, that the inappropriate use of Huey Lewis in the movie just made me laugh my ass off. Because THAT was quality comedy.

Actually, has anyone here read much Chuck Palahniuk? I've only read Fight Club, which I adored, but I haven't looked at anything else. Recs, anyone?

Giovanna wrote:

Clarice wrote:

Chuck Palahniuk?

http://www.seizureandy.com/stuff/guts.html

Rather gross short story. My coworker couldn't get through it, and he talks about women swallowing his smegma.

My guts hurt. Whether from laughter or from the thought of them going through a swimming pool filter, I will never know.

That line about the dog at the end was the best bit of it. God.

Last edited by Clarice (12-17-2006 09:16:33 AM)

Firstly, a pre-emptive apology if this becomes rambling...but yes, Agamemnon.

Agamemnon experienced trauma quite early in life, upon the murder of his father Atreus by Thyestes (co-conspiring with Aegisthus and, to some degree, Agamemnon's mother Aerope, who was having an affair with Thyestes).  I'm of the believe that, in the immediate aftermath of the murder, the environment was quite chaotic -- before Agamemnon and Menelaus were spirited away to Tyndareus in Sparta, it isn't hard to believe that the elder Atride suffered quite a bit of abuse at the hands of his uncle (or whatever co-conspirators were lingering about).  This would lend him quite a feeling of powerlessness, leading him to become the cocky, arrogant king we are familiar with, one blind to others' perceptions in favor of his own self-preservation: if he can keep his slate as clean as possible, it will prevent him from slipping back into the role of "victim" he so loathes.

Also of note is his relationship with his younger brother, Menelaus.  Compared to Agamemnon, Menelaus is much more mutable.  While the Trojan War sought to reclaim his wife, Helen, it was not Menelaus who spearheaded the movement; rather, it was Agamemnon, defending his brother's honor (in fact, when the suitors were calling on Helen, Menelaus did not even make an appearance himself -- Agamemnon represented him!).  For all his defecting to his brother, the submissive role does not seem to bother him.  It seems, having endured such hardships together in early life, they have a much more intimate understanding of each other.  With Menelaus, Agamemnon can be assured that he will always be a figure of strength to someone without having to feel that strength is being contested.  He will assume the other's responsibilities as his own to garner favor, assuring himself that he is always useful.  Menelaus seems to be the only one he'll make a concerted effort to care for -- while it can be argued that it still serves a selfish end, that being Agamemnon's own self-image, I feel Menelaus was a constant in his life long enough to have negated the possibility of him posing a threat to his older brother.

Lastly, the parallels between Agamemnon's mother, Aerope, and his wife, Clytemnestra, are somewhat unsettling.  Aerope had an affair with Thyestes, which led to Thyestes, upon being punished by Atreus for such philandering, taking revenge by murdering his twin brother, with help of his son (produced by incestuous union with his own daughter), Aegisthus.  Agamemnon, while away at war, loses Clytemnestra to whom but Aegisthus, and the two eventually murder the king upon his return.  Perhaps in marrying Clytemnestra he thought he could at last, in some way, conquer that part of his past, be the dominant figure whose authority would override that of one who was once superior to him. 

That's the layman's version of it.  Perhaps I'll refine it (as it's dreadfully rough now) once I'm more awake.  Popping onto IRG first thing in the morning, while fun, does not always yield the most coherant replies.

I'm sad, I keep avoiding this thread 'cause it was so long when I first saw it, but it just keeps getting longer and I keep avoiding it...

Anyway, right now I just finished up all of Alina Adams figure skating mystery novels - had to take a break from all the heavy junk I had to read during the semester! I'm also reading a book called New England's Crises and Cultural Memory... uh, which isn't light reading at all... ^^;;;

Personal_IceQueen wrote:

A Day Without Me wrote:

I'm sad, I keep avoiding this thread 'cause it was so long when I first saw it, but it just keeps getting longer and I keep avoiding it...

Anyway, right now I just finished up all of Alina Adams figure skating mystery novels - had to take a break from all the heavy junk I had to read during the semester! I'm also reading a book called New England's Crises and Cultural Memory... uh, which isn't light reading at all... ;;;

the title of that book sounds like something you would read for school....

Haha, yeah, it does, but I'm reading it for fun

My favourite books and authors?

Anything by Piers Anthony or the late Douglas Adams. Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series is definitely thought-provoking, as is his popular Xanth series (which runs to about thirty or so books).

Douglas Adams not only wrote the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, he also did two books featuring "holistic detective" Dirk Gently. Both books -- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul are excellent reads.

My current title for favourite book is The Alphabet of Manliness, by the infamous Maddox of "The Best Web Page in the Universe." I wouldn't suggest reading it unless you have a great sense of humor or can tolerate anything in the IFD forums.

Another good book is From Soup to Nuts: The Cannibal Lover's Cookbook. Written by Jon Macks under the pseudonym of "Omnivorous" as a comedy book, I believe it firmly belongs in the culinary section of the bookshop. But that's just me talking out my rear.

But my all-time favourite book? A dictionary!! OMFG, read one of those every day and your lexicon will grow to new heights! A word looked up in a dictionary is a word always remembered, it has been said by wiser humans than I.

The last serious book that I have read in the last few months was 'Utopia' by Thomas More.

I guess that considering how common people lived back in the 15th century, the idea that gold was an item of ridicule and scorn, people all wore the same thing, everyone works only about 3 hours a day and other novel concepts would hold a great deal of appeal back then.

BioKraze wrote:

My favourite books and authors?

Anything by Piers Anthony or the late Douglas Adams...

Douglas Adams not only wrote the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, he also did two books featuring "holistic detective" Dirk Gently. Both books -- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul are excellent reads.

Douglas Adams rocks my friggin' socks off - his books are so amazingly awesome, and that lame movie did Hitchiker's no justice. I've actually been meaning to re-read the Hitchiker's trilogy (for those of you unfarmiliar with Adams' works, this trilogy happens to equal five books). I have to say I was a bit annoyed with the ending of Mostly Harmless, and although So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish had one of the best scenes in the entire series, I found myself wishing it was less romance, more sci-fi. But the first three were absolutely perfect. As for Dirk Gently, I enjoyed those books, too.

I also enjoy Kurt Vonnegut, although I definitely prefer his books lacking Kilgore Trout over those that he appears in. His best books in my opinion are Player Piano, and Galapagos. Galapagos is extremely cynical; Player Piano, while certainly cynical, has much more dark humor to it.

As for classic reads... well, I love Edith Wharton - Ethan Frome is one of my favorite books ever.

I figured there had to be few Douglas Adams fans around here. The Hitchhiker's "trilogy" is the best thing I've ever read. For those who didn't like how Mostly Harmless ended, Adams said that he had every intention of writing a sixth book but he died before he could do it. If you haven't already, check out the Douglas Adams Wiki.

Anyway, I also read Wicked a few months ago.  That's my second favorite book, but the ending felt so rushed. The last few chapters could have been filled out more.

I've read a couple of short vampire novels, but the my most recent literary conquest is Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. If you haven't read it, it's the first book in the Mayfair series. Now, I like her and I like her writing style, but I threw the book at the damn wall when I finished it. I had spent three weeks reading it; I intentionally took the long way home on the bus so I could dedicate an hour to reading it. (I knew when I got home that I'd get sucked into the TV, so I had to read on the bus.) When I got to the end and really soaked it all in(which took another week), I was soooo mad.

I realized at that moment that the whole purpose of that book was to start the series. There was no way it could truly stand alone. Everything that happened in the first 1000 pages was nothing but setup for what happens in the last 40, which is the foundation for the next book. So I just read a 1038-page paperback book with very tiny print so I could understand what happens in the next book, which I may not even read.

Then just to make matters worse, I wasn't even sure who the main character(s) was/were until halfway through the book, and I wasn't even sure when I finished. At least with the Lestat books, you knew that the primary focus was supposed to be on Lestat. I guess some would call it "genius" or "clever" that you don't know who the book's about until the end.

The next series I'm hoping to start is Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series.  I read two of the books in the middle already, so I might as well start from the beginning. Then I'm looking into starting Discworld or track down some of Octavia Butler's work.

A Day Without Me wrote:

I also enjoy Kurt Vonnegut, although I definitely prefer his books lacking Kilgore Trout over those that he appears in. His best books in my opinion are Player Piano, and Galapagos.

That's really encouraging, I was having some trouble getting through Player Piano (after gobbling up Slaughter-House Five and Sirens of Titan in the space of a week) and ended up putting the book down for a good year--I keep intending to pick it up again and then forgetting or putting it off. But hearing good things about it (the only other opinion I've ever heard of that book was "eh, it was all right"--which really made me want to keep reading it) gives me hope.

Anyway, Kurt Vonnegut is basically amazing.

Most recently, I reread Outlander, a historical/romance/fantasy novel written by Diana Gabaldon. I'm not a romance fan, but this one is surprisingly well-written. It's about a woman, Claire, who is just reunited with her husband in 1945 after WW2. On this second honeymoon she accidentally walks through a cleft in one of the standing stones of a stone circle and finds herself in 1743. She quickly becomes the captive of a band of Scots, and a physician to the wounded Jamie MacTavish, who (obviously) is just a leetle more interesting in a leetle different a way than the rest of the Scots.

My first thought is that someone with a little more Scottish history would be able to enjoy this book more, as it has a fair amount to do with the history and Claire's knowledge of the next two hundred years. My second thought is that this is a very enjoyable book to read, and while the characters don't exhibit any weird mental quirks, they do ring true to life. Sometimes a bit predictable, and sometimes a bit too focused on the love story, but all in all, this is a book I won't mind rereading again.