aurey09

Your opinion of idea-driven books is interesting.
I really liked Lord of the Flies and I loved Animal Farm. I haven't read Slaughter House Five, it's on my "to do" list. In the case of Animal Farm, part of the reason I like it so much is that I'm really interested in Russian history, so I enjoyed reading about it in allegorical form. I also *heart* Boxer. I cried when they carted him away. It also has some wonderfully resonant passages, the way the Seven Commandments change and are simplified is great.
Of course, the very best writing combines strong characters and ideas. All of Joss' work, for instance, is very idea-motivated (eg. female empowerment) but of course also character-driven.

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It's not that I hated them I just didn't feel emotionally invested. They're well written it’s just personal taste.

I also find Russian history interesting and I'm in the middle of reading 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'. And Chinese history has interested me ever since I read a book called 'Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.'

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I agree with you about not being emotionally invested in Lord of the Flies. I cared about the Animals of Animal Farm though. I liked it much more than 1984, although 1984 is definitely worth reading just for the ideas.

'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' - sounds familiar, who is it by?

Is there any particular period of Russian history you're especially interested in?

I don't know a lot about Chinese history. I was never drawn to Asian history at all until I started university three years ago and had to take an Asian history course as part of my major. I took Japanese history, and that was fascinating. What I found expecially interesting was how, after the US forced it to open up to trade, instead of clinging to their old ways - which were so important to them - the whole nation made this concerted effort to modernize and Westernize so that they wouldn't come under the "spheres of influence" of the western powers. They totally changed their country in such a short period of time, and went from being totally isolated to being an imperial power. It was impressive.

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I'm going to have to type quickly (one in the morning here and I've got to get up at six.)

The book is by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

The other book I mentioned looks over a few generations of one family - some of it looks at the conflict between Chine and Japan and then communism. I didn't know much about it at the time and I found some of it shocking.

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blueanddollsome.livejournal.com

Okay, I've tried microwaving marshmallows before, and they get all weird and inedible. How long do you microwave them for?

It's been a while since I've read Slaughterhouse Five, but I really liked it. I can see what you mean about not being invested in the characters, though. I'm just a fan of Vonnegut's style. I like the quirky.

How was "Of Human Bondage"? I've been meaning to read that. Also, have you read Joss' X-Men comics?

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Some makes of marshmallows taste better than others.

'Slaughterhouse Five' is the only book of Vonnegut's I've read, I was thinking about reading another. Is there one that you could recommend?

I liked 'Of Human Bondage.' It’s a very internal novel and deals a lot with beliefs, isolation and self-destruction. The parts about the main character's childhood really got to me. It was published in 1915 (I think.) I think the writer is one of those people who are ahead of their times.

You can download it here for free: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/351

I was going to read the X-men comics but haven’t got round to buying them yet, but I’ve read Fray and the Firefly ones. I’m not a big comic book person. But I’m still excited about Season 8 of Buffy - just not sure where I’m going to buy them from.

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blueanddollsome.livejournal.com

The other Vonnegut book I read is "Breakfast of Champions," but I think "Slaughterhouse Five" is better. I want to read more of his stuff though, because apparently there's these recurring characters who show up. Like Kilgour Trout (I forget if he features in Slaugterhouse), and I think the aliens, whose name I forget to spell, show up in a couple of other novels too. I just think that's really cool.

Free ebook! Yay!

Yeah, I didn't especially like the comic format when I read the Serenity series. It's just that I'm going nuts at the moment between spoilers for season 8, and I need something Jossy to keep me occupied. I wasn't interested in X-Men at all, until I read an interview with Joss where he talked about how he made Cyclopse cool, and played Wolverine for laughs without making a clown of his character. I thought that was pretty cool

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If you'd like to try more Vonnegut but don't wanna commit to a novel, you could always try his short stories. I really, really like "Harrison Bergeron."

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I'll check the book out sometime, thanks.

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Joss likes The Killer Angels?! That's one of my favorite books ever.

I'm also big with the soundtrack collecting -- like you, for shows I don't even watch. I'll collect anything by certain composers, such as John Williams or James Horner.

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Here's some quotes from Joss Whedon interviews where he talks about the book.

SCIFI.COM: What was the inspiration for Firefly?

Joss Whedon: It was The Killer Angels. It's a book. I think it won the Pulitzer. It's a very detailed account of the Battle of Gettysburg that I read in London when I was on one of my vacations where I didn't write anything, but I did come up with Firefly and a couple other shows. I read The Killer Angels. The minutia of the Battle of Gettysburg and the lives of the people in it really made Firefly just pop out of my head. I want to get into people's lives this intimately. I want to do it in the future and show that the future is the past. So I built the structure of the world and the look of the show on the Reconstruction Era.
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I: We all know how Serenity came to be, from Firefly's fall from grace, but Firefly was inspired by a book on the civil war?

JW: The Killer Angels, yeah, which was an account on the Battle of Gettysburg. It wasn't really the battle, it was just how deeply into these people's lives it got. It was basically the minutiae of frontier life that impressed me. It wasn't so much anything in the book, it was just the way it affected everybody's lives. I find that kinda interesting 'cos we're not leading it anymore, most of us.
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MF: You came up with the idea for the 'Firefly' TV series after reading the Civil War novel 'The Killer Angels.' What was it about the book that inspired you?

JW: It was the minutiae. It was the idea of the way these people lived -- how different it is than the way we're living now AND how similar. Ultimately, the idea was about that very tough kind of very immediate, very physical life that America is losing as our lives become interjected on the internet, on TV, and everything can be delivered to your door, from a pizza to a bride. That tough immediacy of life is something that I miss. I really just wanted to see the frontier again, but I wanted to see it as it could be. I wanted to see it as science fiction because that's where I like to live. And just the idea that in the future we may know more, we won't have more, we'll just have the same problems in different guise. That's what got me.
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Also in one books he says the book 'Tillie a Mennonite Maid' had an influence on the way the characters in the Firefly verse talk.

You can download it for free here: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4760

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So Firefly was inspired by one of my favorite books, which was turned into my favorite war movie? Great minds really *do* think alike! :-)

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There's Jubal Early in Firefly and I'm assuming that's a nod to the book.

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Yes, I recognized that name instantly. Actually, I wrote an article some time ago in which I compared Firefly to the post-Civl War American West. It even had all the archetypes for characters: The gunslinger, the prostitute with the heart of gold, the riverboat captain, and so on. Firefly is much more a western than it is science fiction, although it works well as both.

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myfeetshowit.livejournal.com

Did I manage to give you any stuff you didn't already have?

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Oh, yes -- and on a related note, I forgot to tell you that I got your latest package! Ironically, I haven't had time to play it yet, but Jillian's excited as can be, and so am I. :-)

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myfeetshowit.livejournal.com

Oh good. I hope it plays all right.

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evie-oh.livejournal.com

I'm not a huge fan of most classic books either (for example my most hated novel is Catcher in the rye, I'm sure that its probably a great book but I couldn't stand Holden)

And I completely understand the microwaved marshmallows thing :)

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I've read, 'Catcher in the Rye' I found it okay but it's not a book that I'd particularly want to read again. I know a lot of people that hated it though.

Finally someone gets the marshmallow thing, I like them when they're really crispy. They make a mess though and make people think you're childish and odd.

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