What Are You Reading? Part Deux

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Wayoftheredpanda

Flaming Wonder Telepath
May 15, 2018
4,907
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My interest in Floating Dragon has pretty much died, I don’t know why. Still not ready to start the final Dark Tower book. Thinking of starting Battle Royale by Koushun Takami.
Just started, already very engaging.

Battle Royale (1999) by Koushun Tekami

Plot: “In a dystopian version of 1997 Japan, now ruled under fascist military dictatorship, a class of 42 junior-high students hop on a bus to go on what they believe to be a class field trip. Little to their knowledge, they are the test subjects of a new military experiment being conducted by the government, where they are drugged and then taken to a remote island located off the coasts of Japan. On this island, they are given deadly weapons and one task, kill each other or be killed yourself, until there is one student remaining”

I understand the novel was very controversial among its releasing, considering it literally depicts children being forced to murder each other, but it ended up gaining Cult status. And considering the concept was so shamelessly rip-offed by Suzanne Collins to make the whole Hunger Games franchise, which is a favorite among the young adult novel community (ironically), it’s easy to see its cultural impact. The hardest part of reading this is going to be having to memorize and keeping track of names from a language I’m not familiar with.

I like how the book’s first chapter introduces all 42 students and their relationships with each other, completely unaware they are lambs to the slaughter and will have to make desperate desicions not too long from now.

The introduction is also very clever, explaining what a “Battle Royale” is in concept and it’s use in sports. It talks about the importance of teamwork and relationships in sports games that use it, and that no matter how good a teammate is or how good of a friend they are to you personally, there’s always a high chance one of you will be forced to betray the other in order to win. Cleverly foreshadowing the plot, especially when it shows all the relationships the students have in the first chapter.
 

Hill lover35

Well-Known Member
Jan 8, 2017
3,717
20,019
42
Alberta canada
I am reading pet sematary and I am about half way in. It is starting to haunt me., lol. Man Louis and Rachel have a lot of sex in this book. Lol. So far my favourite is Ellie teaching gage words. Like when she said say **** gage, and he repeated it, and he started saying fart. It was funny..
 

Wayoftheredpanda

Flaming Wonder Telepath
May 15, 2018
4,907
22,094
20
I'm reading a book called Stoned. It's not about weed but jewels. It's fascinating as the author spins tales of history and how jewelry affects it. Like the L'affaire du Collier and La Peregrina which greatly affected the French Revolution and the Tudor succession, respectively.
You mean it’s not about the ancient execution style either?
 

Tery

Say hello to my fishy buddy
Moderator
Apr 12, 2006
15,304
44,712
Bremerton, Washington, United States
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As entertaining as it is incisive, Stoned is a raucous journey through the history of human desire for what is rare, and therefore precious.

What makes a stone a jewel? What makes a jewel priceless? And why do we covet beautiful things? In this brilliant account of how eight jewels shaped the course of history, jeweler and scientist Aja Raden tells an original and often startling story about our unshakeable addiction to beauty and the darker side of human desire.

What moves the world is what moves each of us: desire. Jewelry—which has long served as a stand-in for wealth and power, glamor and success—has birthed cultural movements, launched political dynasties, and started wars. Masterfully weaving together pop science and history, Stoned breaks history into three categories—Want, Take, and Have—and explains what the diamond on your finger has to do with the GI Bill, why green-tinted jewelry has been exalted by so many cultures, why the glass beads that bought Manhattan for the Dutch were initially considered a fair trade, and how the French Revolution started over a coveted necklace.

Studded with lively personalities and fascinating details, Stoned tells the remarkable story of our abiding desire for the rare and extraordinary.
 

Grant87

Well-Known Member
Jan 3, 2015
389
2,040
36
In my hiatus months, i was able to finish like 6 books because i’m in a middle of projects and works and reading time was reduced, specially i’m a year away from graduating.

I’m currently re-reading Deception Point by Dan Brown because my friend said so lol
I've read all of Brown's Robert Langdon novels, and I've been meaning to read his other standalone books. How is Deception Point so far?
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
How Not To Die

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Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
9,682
65,192
59
sweden
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A history pf the popes from Peter until Benedict, the reigning pope when the book was written. The pope now in action, Francis, was not yet elected. Take up the problems they had to handle. their personalities. As the writer says somewhere some of them were without a question saints, some of them monsters and most of them somewhere in between..