The Batlord

Oh baby. On that note I just started the third episode of Last Podcast on the Left's JFK series and while the boys have done some great send-ups of certain psychos (like Ted Kaczynski), the pure character assassination they're perpetrating on Lee Oswald is just bullying and it's amazing. I'll never be able to think about the JFK assassination again without picturing Oswald in his underwear practicing leaping in his apartment while his poor Russian wife just pours another drink.

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Frownland

This was excellent. It weaves hilarious elements like the biting depiction of white america with tragic themes like the humiliation of aging, the reactionary nature of identity, and the mental toll of social expectations. Great writing, imagery, and character building all around too. I've met every character in this book, I may even be one.


I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

grindy

^How is it? Currently reading GEB.

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A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.

SGR

That is one strange book - I don't think I ever finished it (GEB, that is).

Frownland

Super intriguing so far and a lighter read than I expected with his down to earth writing style and self-critical analogies. Trying not to read things into it but it seems like he's exploring a lot of the same questions and inconsistencies that I got hung up on in the free will and consciousness discussions that I've had on here with batlord.

Some of the math explanations take a close reading or two for me, feels like I would absorb that information a lot better in a lecture setting with real time diagrams than reading it. Maybe not though, proofs were my least favourite part of my math schooling and it could just be that bias.

I probably should've done it the other way around but GEB's on my queue after Loop. What do you think about GEB so far?

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

WWWP

The Corrections is so good, I like to reread it around the holidays lol. If you haven't read Freedom it's also great - I've never been able to decide which one I like best.

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#DEMODFROWNLAND
#TERMLIMITSFORMODERATORS

Frownland

Nice, I was wondering which Franzen novel I should pick up next. I love his writing style, it had me swinging from laughing to crying to cringing within the same page like I was having an episode.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

WWWP

Freedom is very much that plus a commentary on suburbia. And tbh Peggy > Denise

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#DEMODFROWNLAND
#TERMLIMITSFORMODERATORS

Lucem Ferre

After rereading Harry Potter series I'm reading 1984.

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Art Is Dead. Buy My ****.

grindy

It's kinda the second time I'm reading GEB.
I had finished about 80% three years ago but then I had a ****ty period in my life and didn't have the energy for demanding literature.
Reading it the second time I like it a bit less. The barrage of puns can get a bit groan inducing. I also struggle a bit more with the math and programming stuff. The last time my brain was still better with that from having studied mechanical engineering not long before.
But apart from that I still think that it's a fun and cool book and there's a lot of food for thought, although the basic thoughts are not new to me and are close to my own philosophy and way of thinking.

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A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.