[Tsundoku]

Oh you read English? Then you should try ...

[Morgoth]

Though, in addition, I've read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead (I had a friend in highschool whom was very enamoured by them) and I though they were complete rubbish.

I think you have to seriously identify with Rand's politics to be able to get any enjoyment out of it. Otherwise it's just a rambling preaching mess.

This post has been edited by Morgoth: 21 September 2021 - 07:53 AM

[Tsundoku]

Goes for most religious/ideological tracts really.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 21 September 2021 - 08:03 AM

[Cyphon]

Briar King, on 21 September 2021 - 12:00 AM, said:

I’ve heard her name like 5-7 times over the last 2 days watching WoT/Brandon Sanderson related videos. I think next time I’m in the bookstore I ll look at her shorter book if I remember.

And this is why YouTube can seriously fuck people up.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 20 September 2021 - 06:51 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 20 September 2021 - 06:03 PM, said:

She's a Republican hero right? Like a ton of them adore her.

Libertarian. So Right wingers PRETENDING they aren't right wingers. People who like Joe Rogan, for example.

Also mostly people who have not actually read her work.

[amphibian]

Gods stumbling into Iskaral Pust's verbal sinkholes, you do not want to waste your time with this bullshit, yet you're like am ornery goat attempting furiously to find a way to be as annoying as possible.

Just accept that this stuff is shit and move on.

[JPK]

amphibian, on 22 September 2021 - 04:18 AM, said:

Gods stumbling into Iskaral Pust's verbal sinkholes, you do not want to waste your time with this bullshit, yet you're like am ornery goat attempting furiously to find a way to be as annoying as possible.

Just accept that this stuff is shit and move on.

BK is going to BK. Tell me a single time that people piling on and telling him to do something differently than what he has stated he's going to do has ever served to do anything other than make him more determined to go through with it?

Seriously though BK, please save us all the torture of having to read your updates on a Rand book for the next six months to a year. That's just cruel and unusual punishment.

[worry]

Excoriate her books all you want, but please do not discourage anyone from watching the Atlas Shrugged movies. They combine the "why is this one book being turned into three movies" debacle of The Hobbit with the "nobody likes these movies, what are we going to do?!" production woes of the Divergent series -- the last of which was meant to be a grand two-parter Hunger Games style and wound up being one straight-to-video clunker.

Atlas Shrugged Part 1 to this day hasn't come close to turning a profit on its very modest budget, Atlas Shrugged Part 2 recast every major role because they couldn't afford anybody to return, and then Atlas Shrugged Part 3 recast every role again and is basically a green screen Kickstarter movie with a lower budget than a single Game of Thrones episode.

So yah, I want reviews.

[JPK]

Holy hell, you weren't exaggerating. How on earth did they manage to convince someone to bankroll a sequel to a movie that grossed less than 25% of it's budget? Then turn around and do it again after the sequel bombed nearly as hard? What were they thinking?

Edit: it's late here and I dropped some important words.

This post has been edited by JPK: 22 September 2021 - 07:32 AM

[Gorefest]

I dunno peeps, I always get a my heckles up a bit when I see people discouraging others from reading/viewing materials due to those not being in line with their own political or societal views. I'm of the opinion that you should always try and encourage people to sample multiple view points, after which you can have a more balanced and informed discussion on why you favour a certain outlook on others.

[Morgoth]

Gorefest, on 22 September 2021 - 11:05 AM, said:

I dunno peeps, I always get a my heckles up a bit when I see people discouraging others from reading/viewing materials due to those not being in line with their own political or societal views. I'm of the opinion that you should always try and encourage people to sample multiple view points, after which you can have a more balanced and informed discussion on why you favour a certain outlook on others.

That's very moderate of you, unfortunately most of the arguments you see in this thread is that the books are terrible, the terrible politics is there too, but you can love her politics and still accept that Rand never was much of a writer.

[Abyss]

JPK, on 22 September 2021 - 05:27 AM, said:

...
BK is going to BK. Tell me a single time that people piling on and telling him to do something differently than what he has stated he's going to do has ever served to do anything other than make him more determined to go through with it? ...

There was that thing with the trucksex, but we were mostly just egging him on to see whether he got arrested.

[amphibian]

Morgoth, on 22 September 2021 - 12:40 PM, said:

Gorefest, on 22 September 2021 - 11:05 AM, said:

I dunno peeps, I always get a my heckles up a bit when I see people discouraging others from reading/viewing materials due to those not being in line with their own political or societal views. I'm of the opinion that you should always try and encourage people to sample multiple view points, after which you can have a more balanced and informed discussion on why you favour a certain outlook on others.

That's very moderate of you, unfortunately most of the arguments you see in this thread is that the books are terrible, the terrible politics is there too, but you can love her politics and still accept that Rand never was much of a writer.

Morgoth said it well - if you want the political content, there's quite a few authors who are massively better at the actual mechanics of writing who have repackaged her stuff or improved upon it. We even discuss upthread how Terry Goodkind turned at least one of his Wizard's Rule books into a homage to her.

Ayn Rand's writing is truly bad. It's like eating a moldy 25 year old McDouble on purpose when there's fresh ones available that were made 5 minutes ago or even having the option of an actual burger from the cool diner in your town.

[Gorefest]

No worries BK, they're just jealous about the truck sex.

[Abyss]

Gorefest, on 22 September 2021 - 04:19 PM, said:

No worries BK, they're just disturbed by the truck sex.

ftfy

[Morgoth]

Briar King, on 22 September 2021 - 04:15 PM, said:

I fail to see how telling Mac it wasn’t the Rand Al Thor thing or saying to Morgoth because of the timing to his title drop that I saw something on Netflix with same title being ornery or trying to be as annoying as possible. Look in the mirror cause I’m not the one being cantankerous here..

My goodness all I said was that I may LOOK at her shorter book if I remember next time I’m in the store or I MAY watch a bit if 1 is up and it wasn’t. It’s like I’m speaking in a different language around here.

You’re ornery by defeault though, I’d be worried if you turned up one day all un-ornery.

This post has been edited by Morgoth: 22 September 2021 - 07:19 PM

[JPK]

I know I've seen Conn Iggulden brought up in the main thread before. I think it was involving some Roman period work. Has anyone tried his Wars of the Roses series yet? I've been eyeballing those pretty hard.

[QuickTidal]

JPK, on 27 September 2021 - 02:55 PM, said:

I know I've seen Conn Iggulden brought up in the main thread before. I think it was involving some Roman period work. Has anyone tried his Wars of the Roses series yet? I've been eyeballing those pretty hard.

Iv'e read his Roman series (solidly good), his Ghengis Khan series (Even better), and his Wars of the Roses series (it's good, about between the two other series in terms of quality)...it certainly helped me understand the MANY players in that conflict better.

I know Mac has read some of that as well, and I think he's even read the newest series by him about Ancient Greece and Athens....(I have it but have not Read it yet).

[Macros]

I haven't actually read all his war of the roses stuff yet.

I'd say Like QT, to get a grip on who was who yes, and he's a fairly slick writer. Its historical fiction and hear that in mind, have a sketch over the history of events after each book as theres plenty of deviations for dramatic effect.

If diverting from the historical track doesn't bother you (it doesn't bother me in the slightest) I'd say you'll enjoy his work.

For me the Chingus Khan books Are his best completed series. He wrote the Caesar stuff first and it shows as earlier work. Still ace though (again if historical inaccuracies (sic) bother you, he is not for you) I would say the last Rome book (tacked on like 8 years after book 4) is actually the weakest

[JPK]

Thank you QT and Macros.

I think I'll give the first book a shot and see how I like it. The historical inaccuracies shouldn't bug me too much as long as it hits the overall events more or less. I'm newer to this genre and the only thing that I've read so far that kind of fits into it is Cornwell and Uhtred's accuracy was clearly quite embellished. That said, it was very entertaining and I did look up more about the actual historical events due to the books. So, I think I'm looking for something entertaining that is at least slightly closer to historical events than that and from the descriptions the pair of you gave, it sounds like this will fit quite well.