Things Strike Doesn't Understand About Modern Literature

[Strike For The South]

1. 50 shades of grey. After 100 years of feminism, women prove all they want is to be dominated with some guy with money. The fact that someones fanfiction can turn into a bestseller is side turning

2. Building on my first point, Since when did creepiness replace romance? I mean I'm all for chains, hot wax, and massaing the prostate (male g-spot) but is this really the world you want to lose yourself in?

3. E-readers. If you own one of these the deepest pit of hell has a special place for you (Ohio). When Obama wins re-election and starts burning all the paper, you'll be sorry.

4. Excessively long fantasy books. Those hours spent reading 20,000 pages of George Martin could've been better spent brushing up on economic policy or understanding the root causes of the Napoleonic wars. Dragons aren't real, it's high time adults realzie that

I also can't stand the Minnesota accent. I watched Fargo yesterday and accidentaly shot my television.

[Hooahguy]

4. Excessively long fantasy books. Those hours spent reading 20,000 pages of George Martin could've been better spent brushing up on economic policy or understanding the root causes of the Napoleonic wars. Dragons aren't real, it's high time adults realzie that

Hey, there is nothing wrong wanting to escape this hell we call our world for a few hours a day.

[Strike For The South]

Hey, there is nothing wrong wanting to escape this hell we call our world for a few hours a day.

Yes there is.

[Whacker]

Yes there is.

No there isn't.

[Strike For The South]

No there isn't.

You read fantasy books and you end up thinking mining on asteroids is feaseble, the founding fathers were mouthpeices for equality, and Columbus thought the earth was flat

[Tellos Athenaios]

4. Excessively long fantasy books. Those hours spent reading 20,000 pages of George Martin could've been better spent brushing up on economic policy or understanding the root causes of the Napoleonic wars. Dragons aren't real, it's high time adults realzie that

Reading 20000 pages of pure fiction by Martin is a positively sane choice when the alternative is 20000 pages of spin regurgitated on Fox and MSNBC. Plus, existence of dragons is positively probable by comparison.

[Strike For The South]

Reading 20000 pages of pure fiction by Martin is a positively sane choice when the alternative is 20000 pages of spin regurgitated on Fox and MSNBC. Plus, existence of dragons is positively probable by comparison.

But those are not the only two choices

[Whacker]

You read fantasy books and you end up thinking mining on asteroids is feaseble, the founding fathers were mouthpeices for equality, and Columbus thought the earth was flat

You read only non-fiction and you end up thinking you know more than people with far more education and life experience.

[gaelic cowboy]

Hey Strike can I add a couple to that list of wisdom

2 Things Gaelic Cowboy is willing to put a bet on in Paddy Power that Strike also does not understand about Modern Literature

1: People who think Dan Brown writes non-fiction

2: Anything to do with Abstinace Porn

[Kagemusha]

You read fantasy books and you end up thinking mining on asteroids is feaseble, the founding fathers were mouthpeices for equality, and Columbus thought the earth was flat

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

Edgar Allan Poe

[Greyblades]

You read fantasy books and you end up thinking mining on asteroids is feaseble, the founding fathers were mouthpeices for equality, and Columbus thought the earth was flat

...Columbus thought the world was pear shaped.

[Lemur]

Strike, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Fantasy is the default human narrative. Kitchen-sink realism is a relatively recent invention.

Look at the old stories, your Beowulfs and your Gilgameshes and your Iliads. They would all be shelved under "fantasy" if Pyr put them out tomorrow.

Fantastic literature feeds some sort of primal need in the human psyche. Why get worked up about it?

S&M literature, on the other hand, is a more recent vintage. As a completely unqualified sociologist and psychologist, I'd suggest the rise in popularity has to do with nervousness about changing gender roles. (I suspect sexual dimorphism plays an unheralded role.)

[a completely inoffensive name]

In this thread...
OP: STOP LIKING WHAT I DON'T LIKE!
Everyone else: What's the problem, it makes me happy.
OP: STOP BEING HAPPY!

[Vladimir]

...Columbus thought the world was pear shaped.

See American is the world!

[Veho Nex]

What about reading 10,000 pages (cause thats what I've read so far by Turtledove) of alternate history such as if the CSA won the war of Secession or if aliens invaded during WW2

[Sir Moody]

Even as someone who's bookcase looks like this

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I have to admit the latest Game of Thrones is starting to fall into the "Wheel of Time" trap...

The books are getting longer and less and less happens...

[Hooahguy]

I have to admit the latest Game of Thrones is starting to fall into the "Wheel of Time" trap...

The books are getting longer and less and less happens...

Well there's only 2 left, and winter comes in the next one, so that should be interesting.

[Lemur]

Attachment 5368

Hmmm ... can't access that image, and looking at your coding, there's just the attribute "5368" given. Maybe try again with the [IMG] tag?

[Sir Moody]

that any better?

(also that's not the entire bookcase I have 2 more shelves + another case across the room which includes the entire Discworld series...)

[a completely inoffensive name]

What's wrong with e-readers by the way? I have read more this week than I did in all of Jan/Feb combined. Without it, I never would have read the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes which I am now enjoying since it was free from Amazon (public domain yay!)

[HoreTore]

Strike can pry my iPad from my cold, dead hands.

I love it! Of course, I don't read books on it, but it's wonderful for newspapers I can't get in the mail(like the foreign ones). And of course various .pdf's, which is my main reason for having one.

[Papewaio]

Who was the top recruiter for NASA?

Hint it has to do with fiction.

Fiction including religion is often the vision and mission statement on what we desire or wish to overcome or just plain escapism. Escapism is fine, it's like a reboot/defrag for the mind if used properly. Improperly and you have people turning up to work in star fleet uniform or thinking that they can do less work for equal pay based on each breaks for religious observances.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Those hours spent reading 20,000 pages of George Martin could've been better spent brushing up on economic policy or understanding the root causes of the Napoleonic wars.

And how is that going to improve your life? What makes reading it worthwhile?

[Kralizec]

I can't speak about any of the points Strike mentioned, but I hardly ever read any recent literature. I don't bother even starting with a book unless I'm pretty sure beforehand I'm going to like it. Generally that means classics of 20+ years ago, with sometimes a more recent book that has near universal acclaim.

Well, except maybe point 4. If a (fiction) book is enjoyable and thought provoking, that's a double plus for me. I never really got into the fantasy genre.

[HoreTore]

And how is that going to improve your life? What makes reading it worthwhile?

I'd say both improves your life.

A mind needs something to be occupied with. It needs impulses in order to grow and activate the parts that enables you to ponder and reflect. Reading fantasy novels tickles your brain because it makes you fantazise, dream and generally think in a creative way. Reading about Napoleon or economics may do the same thing, it depends on your personality. Or doing something else of course, if reading a book isn't your thing. The main point is getting that brain working in new ways, how you accomplish that is up to you. And that also means that dragging yourself through a tome you're not interested in at all isn't going to do you much good. You might pick up a fact or two, but in the end it's mostly wasted time.

A tickled brain is a happy brain. A happy brain means a happier life.

[HoreTore]

I can't speak about any of the points Strike mentioned, but I hardly ever read any recent literature. I don't bother even starting with a book unless I'm pretty sure beforehand I'm going to like it. Generally that means classics of 20+ years ago, with sometimes a more recent book that has near universal acclaim.

Well, except maybe point 4. If a (fiction) book is enjoyable and thought provoking, that's a double plus for me. I never really got into the fantasy genre.

Books from the 80's are called "classics" now? Boy, I'm getting old...

[a completely inoffensive name]

Books from the 80's are called "classics" now? Boy, I'm getting old...

1982 was thirty years ago. That's why they are classics.

[Kralizec]

Books from the 80's are called "classics" now? Boy, I'm getting old...

I can't think of any example from the 80's right now, but: if a book is considered extraordinarily good and is still widely read after several decades, it's a "classic". Or at least that's the way I used the term when I wrote that.

Also a brief look at your profile tells me that you're about the same age I am, so you're by definition not old.

[Slyspy]

Arguably a history of the Napoleonic wars could quite easily be a work of fiction. All you need to do is change the names! The truth, they say, is stranger than fiction.

[Major Robert Dump]

The only fiction I read is the New York Times