If you'll excuse me... I was talking to MikeyC.

On one hand, this is some 2005 era forum behavior that is truly jarring to see in the wild. Can't remember the last time this forum had an honest-to-goodness flame war like that little spat. Calling for mods to ban people in a post is some juvenile cringe that I haven't seen in eons so this post is pretty funny. If a user is being a shithead, just file a report (which somebody else did, which is why I even checked this thread) and we'll make a judgment.

On the other hand, yeah this guy has been a colossal fuckin dickhead in here with absolutely jack-nothing productive to add beyond being a smug asshole so he does deserve the boot. Dear god he's just been a kind of entertaining idiot in the Music Discussion forum that I'd been just kinda letting slide because entertaining idiots aren't necessarily against the rules, but being a needlessly aggressive prick for no reason absolutely is.




I'm glad you enjoyed it but man I hated this one . It's just It's A Wonderful Life set in a library, which is fine, pure originality isn't necessarily a requirement to be enjoyable, but the message kinda turned out to be "Hey if you would have pursued any of these other potential life choices you would have been an incredibly gifted generational talent at it because you truly are super fuckin special and excellent at everything, and returning to your previous life wound up being the best choice because actually your life was super perfect and fulfilling already and everybody always loved you bunches and you only thought otherwise because you got a case of The Sads. Losing your job and your friends and pets and family isn't a bad thing because you never actually lost anything and just jumped the gun because you're an impulsive selfish idiot who would be better if you just cheered up." Not to discount anybody who took a positive message out of it, the author was clearly aiming for an uplifting story, but if I had read this at my lowest it would've just pushed me into a darker place because everything good in the narrator's life was totally out of her control and all of her misfortune just reversed for no reason after her suicide attempt. Sometimes you just get dealt a shit hand and I find it much more useful to learn how to cope with that and move on and live anyway instead of being told that if I just sit patiently everything will just work out fine because some omnipotent author will just fix it all in the last fifteen pages.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra is the worst book to start Nietzsche with. Consider Human, All Too Human instead, his concerns there are explained with clear, logical language. Without the context of his other work, TSZ is just confusing.

I’m glad that you found my meltdown funny, even if that means laughing at my expense. It was the first time that I did lose my cool in such a cringey way. Insulting my education (which is minimal as I had numerous valid reasons not to go to college, including for financial reasons) has something to do with it. Again, fuck me for mentioning this in the first place but I don’t think it’s a good reason to treat someone differently.



I never should’ve mentioned that I was into this book. My bad.

^No need to take that last comment as a jab. I read it as a friendly recommendation.

Speaking as a former educator, so I'm biased...but anyone trying to get into the history of philosophy deserves to be supported and encouraged. It's a rare and respectable thing to care about the subject. Part of the reason it's rare is the quality of the writing - often dense, obscure, rambling, over-technical, etc. One critic praised G.E. Moore for being the rare sort of philosophical writer whose goal was not to "dazzle," but to be understood; maybe this remark was too cynical, but it's easy to see where it comes from.

But anyway, IMO, the Nietzsche of Zarathustra does not write as someone who's simply trying really hard to be understood, so Sepulchrave's recommendation is a good one. I've never been able to relate to the tone of Zarathustra, a sort of esoteric spiritual poetry.

Alternatively, one of the more common recommendations I've seen is to focus on (or at any rate start with) the Genealogy of Morals and/or Beyond Good and Evil. Both works explore many/most of the essential themes of Nietzsche's thought. The Genealogy is supposed to be unusual for him in that it has more of the tone and structure of an academic essay-series (which might be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your tastes and goals); BGE is thematically very similar to Genealogy, but written in the usual, more "colorful," aphoristic style. (Disclaimer: I haven't read the Genealogy, am foggy in my recollection of BGE, and am generally not a Nietzsche person in the first place; I'm just repeating a recommendation I've seen.)

I took a class on Zarathustra in undergrad and that was indeed a rough introduction to Nietzsche, EVEN WITH a professor who studied under a famous Nietzsche scholar.

I'd recommend Genealogy of Morals!

Although I will say that I think there's absolutely no shame in reading secondary sources first or alongside primary thinkers, as long as you're aware that you're dealing with someone's interpretation.

People with a serious screen dependency, how do you manage to stay off of the phone/pc and actually focus on a book?

^I try to use my laziness to my benefit. Find a comfortable* place to sit, and set your device in a location just slightly more than an arm's length away. That way, if it buzzes, you'll have to debate whether it's worth getting up to check it. Pick a time of day when it's less likely to buzz.

*Not so comfortable that you end up falling asleep. Don't lie down, either, unless you know the book is agreeable and engaging enough to keep you awake.

If you're reading for pleasure, make sure it's a good book!

In terms of reading nonfiction, it really helps if I'm taking a course or doing a reading group to have some accountability.

Everything you said here is absolutely correct, and I liked the book anyway. I definitely get what you're saying, but I thought it was a good book and it kept me enthralled, even within the last 15 pages.


I go in phases of reading lots to reading nothing at all. I prefer non-fiction and getting engrossed in a story, so that helps me get off the PC or my phone. I like reading in bed or on the couch with the TV off and my phone somewhere outside of arm's reach, in silence.

If you have trouble reading, the best I can say is don't overthink it and don't feel like you have to read a 6-part series with thousand-page books. Read a smaller book, one chapter at a time. 5-10 minutes. Over time you might find you'll want to read more because the book is interesting.

I read five books by Nietzsche, and Zarathushtra ranks the lowest - it's too metaphorical and he takes too much time parodying the bible; I don't like when ideas get burdened under style. My favourites are Antichrist and Beyond Good and Evil, just beware of the horrible misogynist part in the later. Nietzsche should be read carefully, and I would not recommend him to the people on the right wing of political spectrum. BGE was the last one I read and I'm still captivated by his passionate, long sentences, not devoid of wit and irony.

Also, two novels I read recently, compatible with extreme metal aesthetics: Down There by Joris-Karl Huysmans (black metal) and The Torture Garden by Octave Mirbeau (death metal). The former is one of my favourite books, laced with long, meandering sentences, opulent in vocabulary and strong in resentment, with vivid and poetic episodes of Gilles de Rais' crimes... The later is just what the title says - a gory and floral attack on senses:

Finished another read of the new Dennis Lehane novel SMALL MERCIES. His first in six years. This is a pretty simple one for him prose-wise, less of the crazy narrative tricks and twists and turns of his last one SINCE WE FELL (my favorite novel as of these last few years). But morally it's just so good and interesting, a lot to sink your teeth into. It's a fictional take on the real 1974 busing controversy in Boston as schools were being integrated. His main character is a fascinating mess of contradictions - very human. Book makes you really see the realities of a lot of things back then, especially with how fraught race relations are here in the US now even. Plus it's a killer mob tale too. I never want his stuff to end.

Gonna read LOLITA for the first time in a decade next I think.

I've been reading the Wool series that the current Apple show Silo is based on. It's popcorn fiction but it's definitely scratching my post-apocalyptic/dystopian mystery itch.

Anyone read either of Sally Rooney's novels? Both were published in the last couple of years, 'Normal People' I guess is the more famous one. I read that last week while I was totally alone at home and had Covid and found the characterization and very real-world psychology of the main characters extremely enlightening, not to say comforting.

I've read that one and her new one 'Beautiful World Where Are You' - the newest one I was especially taken by, a really interesting book as a fan of long, realistic dialogue sections. Lots of thorny, quite in-depth characterizations. I thought maybe it ended too easy though.

You mean 'Beautiful World' ended too easy? I haven't got my hands on that, didn't actually know she had it done. The dialogue is definitely the best part of any of them in my view, as well as how the characters eventually kind of figure each other out in ways that totally make sense.

Yeah I meant Beautiful World... it's a really detailed book for these characters' psyches, and so much of it is taken up with these quite rich conflicts, that the ending feels like she did take the easy way out a little. But eh I always looked at things for the journey rather than the destination.

I can say that the ending of Normal People felt quite neat and simple as well. But on the other hand it was exactly the ending you'd have chosen for those characters, it felt like they had worked into a position where they were mature enough to see what they both needed. Seeing the ending actually happen like that - instead of some post-modern "never quite finished" thing - felt more empowering and encouraging. Is that anything like Beautiful World?

I was kind of out of it reading Normal People, under the weather, but that one I remember being a lot more direct action than Beautiful World which was like half epistolary stuff all told through letters the characters write.

That would probably make a difference then, it would need something a bit more pithy to make it all worthwhile. In general though, I'm all for a novel just giving me my catharsis shot and not taking the ending too seriously. It's not like any of these are mystery thrillers, so it's got to be kind of predictable in the end.

One Last Spin: The Power and Peril of the Pokies by Drew Rooke



This is about the devastating effect of poker machines in Australia, with a particular focus on New South Wales, my home state. We have over 50% of all pokies in the country, which gives us the 2nd biggest amount of pokies anywhere in the world, only beaten by Las Vegas. The power these companies have over governments and legislation is nothing short of disgusting. This book was written a few years ago now, but I don't think too much has changed in that time. A real eye-opener of how bad the situation is in NSW and a sobering read for citizens here.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig



Fiction book that follows a main character with anageria, a made-up condition that makes him live for hundreds of years without aging. Chapters go from modern times to the 16th century, depending on what the story wants to tell. Very engaging book and - while the ending was a bit sappy for my liking - it was a great read and explores the perils of living such a long time when others don't. Really enjoying this guy's books, and makes me want to be a writer like him.

I missed that part skimming through the thread, which is yet another reminder for me to read what people say slowly on internet forums, rather than light up at the mere mention of something I'm interested in and come up with my own hot take.

But still, TSZ still sucked a little IMO. It's kind of like his musical compositions - flashy, passionate and grandiose but poorly developed and muddled. I like Nietzsche at his most direct and polemical, like in The Antichrist.

Wow, that sounds pretty interesting.

RIP Cormac McCarthy, a writer I’ve described as my favourite living novelist for about fifteen years. Now among the greatest dead ones.

I'm on the 4th book of Malazan: Book of the Fallen (House of Chains) and in case I haven't said it already, this series absolutely destroys ASOIAF.

I felt pretty let down with the realization that George R. R. Martin would never finish the series after catching up with it a few years ago, but now I don't give a shit.

I can't put Malazan down. I'm reading more than I have in years. This is probably gonna go down as my favorite book series of all time.

What a talent he was. I still got so many more of his books to read. These last two he did in 2022 were so good - just weird, wild works of art.

I loved both of them, especially The Passenger, which was the best book I read last year out of more than forty. You really can't go wrong with him, no matter which one you choose next.

Pale Fire is best digested slowly and in small bits.

Which translations are you reading of Nietzsche and Huysmans?

The Road sucked.

My favorite fiction book read last year was Lolita. My favorite nonfiction was Between Parenthesis, naturally. These were selected out of more than fifty books read last year.

Translations are from German/French to Serbian. Nietzsche was translated by Jovica Aćin, Gligorije Ernjaković and Vladimir Ćorović, and Huysmans by Svetlana Stojanović.

I'm on the 6th one, The Bonehunters and it's indeed a phenomenal series. There are some insanely epic moments and also quite a few effective gut punches and tearjerkers. I also adore the camaraderie between the characters (mainly among the bridgeburners) and the humour sprinkled here and there.

Started reading Toni Morrison BELOVED. Rich engrossing prose, reads as easy as a rock skipping on water. Foreboding already. Love a book that makes me want to write.

Upgrade by Blake Crouch



Main character Logan Ramsay was unwittingly injected with a serum that alters DNA, making him stronger, smarter, and more resilient to attack. There's more technical language used in the book but that's the basis of it. I didn't quite understand the biological nomenclature in the book, but it was a very good read about how he upgrades and the strain it has on his personal life, while also understanding what happened and bringing down the forces that made it happen. Even if you don't understand all of it, it's worth reading.

I love books since childhood, I am always searching for something cool to read, and managed to maintain my reading activities through the years. Something i am very grateful for. I recognize it's difficult to stay off the many screens of nowadays life and be quiet, focused on a book; but I managed to learn to use my reading like an escape from the "screen dependency". I love to leave my phone on plane mode and just read.

As I am forced to read through legal papers and law books in my job, I tend to focus my hobby reading on sci-fi, fantasy, poetry, anything "not mundane".

As for current reads, I am reading Mage the Ascension (the 90's RPG) core book and several related supplementary books. Starting a game with some friends this very weekend. But just the reading and immersion on it have been super fun for me.

Before that, I had just finished Dracula, a book I had stopped midway several times before.

In recent years (since pandemic) I've read a lot of Conan and Lovecraft (clichés, but I do love it), the Sprawl trilogy by William Gibson, Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers, third re-read of Tolkien works (last time was in my 20's), Frank Herbert's Dune (books 1 - 4), Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell, some of the work from Clive Barker (The Hellbound Heart and Books of Blood); that is from the top of my head, so you people got the picture of what is the kind of literature I like.

I wish to start in Steven Erikson's Malazan saga for years now, will fix it soon.

Side note: books in Brazil are quite expensive, we (usually) don't have cheaper paperback or pocket editions, for people who just want to Read. Books printed here tend to be in luxury editions, so people put them on their shelves like trophies, without ever reading them, in many cases.

It's grim down south

To be honest none of the humor ever lands for me, but the fantasy concepts going on and crazy things I've never read anywhere more than make up for whatever I find lacking in humor.

I don't feel like I'm grasping all the expansion of the Tiste people and the Rashan warren going on in House of Chains, but I'm still plowing through and enjoying.

Currently over halfway through 'Girls Against God' by Jenny Hval (original title being Å Hate Gud). It's a very interesting read with several mentions and references to black metal and growing up in southern Norway during the 90's, it's very experimental but I like it. I'm reading it in Norwegian, the original version and I honestly have doubts about the English version being able to give this book it's justice. Really excited to read her other book as well.

(I also found out that she was in this really cool gothic metal band called Shellyz Raven in the late 90's)

Ok so while serving in the Army I sometimes didn't have much stuff to do and I read Ted Kazinscky's manifesto.

It baffles me about how much a person can say so many right and reasonable things while talking about technology and its abuse. He said those things in 1995! On the other hand it throws his whole argument in the bin by... blaming it on the left? Accusing the French and the Russian revolutionaries of things they never claimed to believe?

This "book" was a clusterfuck of ideas brought together and mixed with a really big emulsifier; that being Ted's own tunnel vision on left wing politics. All in all it was like reading about politics from someone that tries to simplify things in order for those things to make sense. Disappointment.

I really like Industrial Society and Its Future, the ideas about ecology are really interesting.
But unfortunately, its critic of progress is marred when he confuses technological progress with social progress (at least in the french translation, everything is called "progress" and is dispraised).
Industry is destroying the Earth, but social regression is not the right answer.

Finished Beloved a little while ago. What a torrential novel. Pain and rage, and of course there is, with the core of this being slavery and the dehumanization of Black Americans - this really hit hard and the writing and execution were so poetic and well done.