What are you currently reading?

[greg]

In what way? (I've never heard the M9 btw)

Really? Hmm... first of all, go listen to it. Now! 
Second of all, I guess I'm looking for a book with the same qualities- long, very cathartic and philosophical, though violence is also very welcome. And a plus if it makes me think and sort out what's going on with plot lines or whatever.

I just read the first chapter of Crime and Punishment and it does look good. I might choose this one to read if I don't find another one that attracts my attention more. (i go back to school tomorrow, so for the next few weeks I won't have time to read)

[MN Dave]

War and Peace, perhaps? (I haven't read it, but I know it's a tome... about war and peace. )

Don't frighten the lad.

[karlhenning]

Both Crime and Punishment and War and Peace are wonderful, of course.

[greg]

Don't frighten the lad.

I saved a copy of it to my hard drive, but at nearly 3000 pages, I can just imagine how long it'd take to read. 
That itself isn't a problem (since I like epic stuff like that), but during summer, I'm planning to start composing something- between just that and work, ehhhh... might be hard.

Not to mention that I have to return a game I'm borrowing called Xenogears to a friend once I'm done. This is also a 50-70 hour game- I've only played an hour or two and the story is awesome. 
I can probably on realistically handle 2 different long projects at once.

[MN Dave]

I saved a copy of it to my hard drive, but at nearly 3000 pages, I can just imagine how long it'd take to read. 
That itself isn't a problem (since I like epic stuff like that), but during summer, I'm planning to start composing something- between just that and work, ehhhh... might be hard.

THE STRANGER by Camus. Short, if I recall correctly.

[karlhenning]

. . . during summer, I'm planning to start composing something

Excellent!

[greg]

THE STRANGER by Camus. Short, if I recall correctly.

Yeah, it is. The book is 123 pages, but the pdf I downloaded has more on each page, and ends up as 77 pages.
I read the first chapter and... I can't say it's actually enjoyable. But it's only the first chapter. Does it get different from here on?

[Opus106]

Thread duty:

I borrowed a couple of books from the library. The first was The Picture of Dorian Gray, and of all things the first page of the novel was missing! Not from the Introduction, nor the Chronology, or not even from the Notes to the Introduction -- it had to be the novel. I couldn't hold on until I could print the first page out, from Google Books or something, so I picked up Something Fresh, instead.

[karlhenning]

Thread duty:

Dude: The Big Book of Zonker

I was never a devoted reader of any comic strip, but I did occasionally cast an eye on Doonesbury.  Getting all the "fill" in the Zonker saga has been worth springing $3 for this compilation.

[MN Dave]

Yeah, it is. The book is 123 pages, but the pdf I downloaded has more on each page, and ends up as 77 pages.
I read the first chapter and... I can't say it's actually enjoyable. But it's only the first chapter. Does it get different from here on?

Well, what are you looking for?

[Opus106]

Well, what are you looking for?

Mahler's 9th, transcribed for piano.

[MN Dave]

I bet he's looking for Neal Stephenson.

[Opus106]

Who?

[MN Dave]

http://www.nealstephenson.com/

[Opus106]

http://www.nealstephenson.com/

Thanks.

[greg]

Mahler's 9th, transcribed for piano.

Lol... actually I prefer playing passages at the piano while reading from the score. A piano transcription just dirties things up.

Well, what are you looking for?

Um... stories like this:

Story overview

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni takes place during June 1983, at a fictional rural village called Hinamizawa (雛見沢?) (based on the village of Shirakawa, Gifu, a World Heritage Site),[1][2] which has a population of approximately 2,000. The main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to Hinamizawa and befriends his new classmates Rena Ryuugu, Mion Sonozaki, Rika Furude, and Satoko Hojo. Keiichi joins their after-school club activities, which consist mostly of card and board games (and punishment games for the loser, usually him.) Hinamizawa appears to be a normal, peaceful, rural village to Keiichi. However, the tranquility abruptly ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro. Keiichi learns that every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered and another has gone missing on the day of the Watanagashi Festival. Keiichi himself soon becomes drawn into the strange events surrounding the Watanagashi Festival and Oyashiro. In each story arc, he or one of his friends become paranoid, and a crime is committed. Usually, the crime involves the murder of one of their own friends. While it seems impossible to tell their delusions apart from the mystery of Hinamizawa, slowly the truth is revealed.
[edit] Story arcs

In the Higurashi games, there are several story arcs, the original eight of which are referred to as either question arcs or answer arcs. The answer arcs generally recapitulate the events of the corresponding question arc, but from a different perspective, using the change of protagonist to solve various mysteries and come to a different conclusion. Each of the eight original games for the PC represented separate arcs of the overall storyline. Apart from the main question/answer relationship, the stories of the arcs are not directly connected, although a multitude of parallels exist which allow the observant reader to gain extra insight into the mystery.
[edit] Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

The Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に, When Cicadas Cry?) games form what are referred to as the question arcs. These first four games of the series were meant to give the player a sense of the world where the story takes place and introduce the mysterious circumstances surrounding the village of Hinamizawa. Since there are no concrete answers given to the questions that the story presents in these arcs, the question arcs allow the player to form his or her own opinions about the events taking place in Hinamizawa. Each question arc game contains all of the previous question arcs.

Onikakushi-hen (鬼隠し編, Spirited Away by the Demon Chapter)?, (Released August 10, 2002)
    This chapter introduces the player to the world of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. The player is shown the simple rural life of Hinamizawa, the after-school club activities, and the friendships of the main characters. However, things take a sinister turn after the Watanagashi Festival, when Keiichi discovers what his new friends have been concealing from him. This chapter implies that Rena Ryuugu and Mion Sonozaki are the villains.

Watanagashi-hen (綿流し編, Cotton Drifting Chapter)?, (Released December 29, 2002)
    By this chapter, the player should have an overall idea of how life in Hinamizawa is like. Once again, this chapter begins innocently, with the Watanagashi Festival again marking the start of the sinister events in Hinamizawa. An ancient curse strikes, and a pair of sisters are not what they seem. Shion Sonozaki makes her first appearance in this chapter, while Mion Sonozaki is portrayed as the villain. Oishi believes that it is Shion impersonating Mion who commits the murderous acts as Mion's body is found in the well and not Shion's.

Tatarigoroshi-hen (祟殺し編, Curse Killing Chapter)?, (Released August 15, 2003)
    Tatarigoroshi-hen is longer than the previous two chapters. Keiichi attempts to help Satoko with drastic measures, but as more and more people die, it is clear he is not the only one involved in this. This time, the spotlight shines on Satoko Hojo as being the "victim". Despite good (though misled) intentions, Keiichi Maebara is believed by some of the others to be a villain in this chapter.

Himatsubushi-hen (暇潰し編, Time Killing Chapter)?, (Released August 13, 2004)
    Himatsubushi-hen is both a direct prequel and a direct sequel to Tatarigoroshi-hen. This chapter takes place five years before the previous three. In contrast to the first three chapters, this chapter is shown through the eyes of Mamoru Akasaka, a young police investigator from Tokyo who comes to Hinamizawa in order to investigate a kidnapping of a politician's grandchild. Soon, he too becomes implicated in the mysteries of Hinamizawa. This chapter focuses on Rika Furude as being the key part of the mystery.

or this:

Elfen Lied takes place in Japan, focusing specifically onto a new strain of the human race - a species known as Diclonius, creatures almost entirely similar to ordinary human beings, yet greatly different at the genetic level and notable due to physical abnormalities, the most notable being a pair of short horn-like protrusions located on both sides of a Diclonius' head. One such Diclonius, a girl named Lucy, takes role as the central plot and main anti-heroine of the series: initially held in a facility built for experimentation on the Diclonius race, located off the coast of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, she manages to escape and wreak havoc in the compound, though she's injured in the process, an event which help develop a secondary, child-like personality known as Nyu, her name being the very first word she ever spoke.

Brought by the sea to Kamakura's coast, she is then found and rescued by two local residents, Kohta, who just moved in to study at the local university, and his cousin Yuka. They both agree to take in Nyu (they're the ones who give her the name), though in doing so they become involved with the numerous, often brutal, attempts to recapture Lucy/Nyu, which counts among them a Special Assault Team and a number of other Diclonius, who shift from completely oblivious of everything to murderous killer frequently, often driven by a primitive, violent instinct bent on survival of her species over the human race, deemed both inferior and extremely savage. Also, several characters who were apparently untied to the plot becomes entangled in it, from Bando, a SAT trooper who was mauled by Lucy and infected with the Vector virus, to director Kurama himself, a carrier of said virus.

While the animated rendition of the series ends with the violent fight between Lucy and Mariko, Kurama's daughter, after which Lucy disappears while fighting the military sent to capture her, the manga continues on by showing the mad plan of director Kakuzawa, leader of the Diclonius' research, and its ultimate failure due to its own inconsistency. Nevertheless, said plan still brings about a great crisis upon the world, whose side-effects the surviving protagonists witness in the years after the conclusion of the story.

The story is rarely completely action-packed, and while there are instances of brutal fights, they often end abruptly in massacres perpetrated by Lucy or the other Diclonius, or even the humans themselves. Also, humanity is often portrayed as extremely immoral or cruel, with instances such as the experiments the Diclonius constantly endure or the racist view humans and Diclonius give at each other. In fact, it is often confusing to assert who of the two factions is truly evil, given the fact that while humans are demonized through their cruelty over Diclonius, the latter are depicted as bloody murderers since a very young age - in fact, most of them are young children or teenagers at most.

or this:

A pair of high school students, Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato, are run over by a subway train in an attempt to save the life of a homeless drunk who had fallen onto the tracks. Following their deaths, Kurono and Kato find themselves transported to the interior of an unfurnished Tokyo apartment. The pair soon realize others are present and find that they are not able to leave the apartment. At one end of the room there is a featureless black sphere known as "Gantz".

After some time in the room, the Gantz sphere opens up, revealing a bald naked man with a breathing mask and wires attached to his head, and three racks protruding from it, that offer various items for them to use. These include the custom fitting black suits Gantz makes for each of them, giving them super-human abilities, a controller which acts as a radar and stealth unit, and three types of guns.

When the Gantz sphere opens, green text appears on its surface, informing those present that their "lives have ended and now belong" to him. A picture and brief information is shown of some of the Gantz Targets, Gantz ordering them to go and kill them. All but one target shown thus far, have been aliens living on Earth, which take on a wide variety of forms. After a period of time which varies between missions, everyone except Gantz are transported to the location of the mission.

Those sent cannot return from the mission until all enemies have been killed, or the time limit has run out. If they survive a successful mission, each individual is awarded points for the aliens they have killed. They are then allowed to leave, and live their lives as they see fit until Gantz summons them back again for the next mission. The only way to stop having to participate in the missions is to earn one hundred points, and choose the option to be freed. Several participants, including Kato, are killed through the third mission they are given, leaving Kurono as the only survivor and the new leader from the "Gantz Team". However, as the series continues, Kurono participates with the objective to revive his deceased friends with the 100 points he can obtain throughout the missions. After several missions, Gantz's sphere indicates that the human race will be over in a week for an unknown reason, but it also frees all the participants from the game.

The last one being influenced by a novel called "Time Murderer" by Robert Sheckly. Anyone ever read that one?...

[karlhenning]

I don't think I've read that book, but all the Scheckley I have read is good. Witty, and good.

[karlhenning]

One enduring favorite is the short story, "The Robot Who Looked Like Me"

[greg]

I don't think I've read that book, but all the Scheckley I have read is good. Witty, and good.

I think the article was wrong. The guy never wrote a novel called Time Murderer. 

One enduring favorite is the short story, "The Robot Who Looked Like Me"

What's that about? A robot who looks like the main character?

[karlhenning]

One enduring favorite is the short story, "The Robot Who Looked Like Me"

What's that about? A robot who looks like the main character?

About a fellow who is too busy, too busy even to court anyone himself, so he has a robot made in his likeness, to send in as a proxy.