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My other major is linguistics' date=' so as you might imagine, I'm kind of a language nut. My best ones are Japanese (completely fluent) and Dutch (decent reading ability), but I'm working on Finnish and Greek presently, and have looked into Chinese, Persian (as I mentioned), Tamil, Bangala, Korean (I'm actually going to take Korean as a class next year), and a lot of other ones. My favorite languages are Japanese and Finnish, though, hands down. I think they're the most beautiful, both grammatically and in how they sound.[/quote'] Wow, that's awesome! I have a lot of respect for that.
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I actually find Eastern religion far more understandable and relatable. But I also think that of Eastern cultures in general.
I believe that's because it seems more reasonable to some to remove the anthropomorphized characteristics of god/the monad/the infinite sea of being from the equation, especially when they can be viewed as the more temporal and/or imperfect characteristics of humanity which separate us from that which we cannot perceive. Removing omni-benevolence from the perception of god aids in the argument from evil, but renders this existence even more meaningless and worthless IMO. Seeing this world as an illusion or even an accident seems to better explain all of the suffering it contains, but also shifts the focus of life to finding a way out rather than improving the state of the world. There are pros and cons to either line of thought, but I find the whole study interesting. Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
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Actually' date=' Iceni, while we're kind of on the topic, I'd be interested in your thoughts on abrogation - I remember you mentioning it had come up during your reading of Calvin. I've always been curious where that principle came from.[/quote'] Abrogate basically the entirety of Mosaic law, we don't need it now that Jesus is out and about. Abrogation makes sense if there's a superseding principle that doesn't actively contradict the spirit of the 'old rule', whatever that happens to be. As for where the principle comes from - I suspect it's from the general notion that the Jews are not the only people who can be saved any more as they are not the sole owners of the law. Something had to have changed with Christ, the Old Testament couldn't apply entirely in all of its particulars so the motivation behind that law had to be analyzed. Abrogation, I assume, is linking the old with the new by a common thread.
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I just finished reading Silver On The Tree by Susan Cooper which is the last book in the 5-part The Dark Is Rising series of Fantasy books written in the sixties (I think). I very much enjoyed the series and elements of it reminded me of Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings, Lewis' Narnia books and even a little bit of H.P. Lovecraft in there too.

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I just finished reading Silver On The Tree by Susan Cooper which is the last book in the 5-part The Dark Is Rising series of Fantasy books written in the sixties (I think). I very much enjoyed the series and elements of it reminded me of Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings' date=' Lewis' Narnia books and even a little bit of H.P. Lovecraft in there too.[/quote'] I love those! I read them when I was a kid, and I've reread them recently and enjoyed them quite a bit. They were published between the mid sixties and late seventies. I didn't get much of a Tolkien vibe from them, though, nothing so alien; it was the historical references throughout that really captured my attention when I was younger. Do you read Neal Stephenson?
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I haven't read anything by Neal Stephenson. What stuff has he written? To be honest I've read very little fiction compared to the non-fiction I usually read but someone from work had persuaded me to read the series and I persuaded him to get into H.P. Lovecraft. I enjoyed the historical references and spiritual themes in the Dark Is Rising series.

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I haven't read anything by Neal Stephenson. What stuff has he written? To be honest I've read very little fiction compared to the non-fiction I usually read but someone from work had persuaded me to read the series and I persuaded him to get into H.P. Lovecraft. I enjoyed the historical references and spiritual themes in the Dark Is Rising series.
There aren't really many similarities between Stephenson and Susan Cooper, aside from their deep concern for history. She was writing young adult fantasy, after all... but they both have an overriding interest in contemporary life, as opposed to some purely escapist fantasy. He's written sci-fi, historical fiction, and alternate-historical fantasy, and frequently deals with philosophy, mathematics, and the development of technology, especially computing. His books are usually pretty long and involved. Cryptonomicon is a great place to start; it splits its time between a couple of characters in WWII and some 90s computer geeks. If you want something really long, the Baroque Cycle is a takeoff on that, in the form of a prequel. For more sci-fi, futuristic stuff, try Zodiac or a more recent book called Anathem. I love his books. Hard to go wrong IMO.
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I mostly like classic novels - Bronte's etc. Just finished Dracula. Reading it really shows how no film adaption has ever really been accurate - the Coppola version is good if only they hadn't added the Dracula/Mina romance when it's not in the book. I like Herzog's 1979 remake of Nosferatu (1922) actually - They are both really creepy and have a sense of doom not really present in others. The silent one perhaps more so because it's so old - somehow the grainy black and white adds to it.

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I mostly like classic novels - Bronte's etc. Just finished Dracula. Reading it really shows how no film adaption has ever really been accurate - the Coppola version is good if only they hadn't added the Dracula/Mina romance when it's not in the book. I like Herzog's 1979 remake of Nosferatu (1922) actually - They are both really creepy and have a sense of doom not really present in others. The silent one perhaps more so because it's so old - somehow the grainy black and white adds to it.
Personally, I like the 1922 version most. The oldness gives it a somehow humouristic look and the music is just soooooo good.
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If you like nineteenth-century novels, you might enjoy Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell. It's pretty recent, but written in a retro 19th C style - magical fantasy, but not really focusing on spells and sorcery so much as just well- developed characters. Another "retro", sort of Dickensian, novel that I enjoyed when I was younger was The Quincunx, but I haven't read that in probably twenty years.

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I'm primarily a true-crime and autobio reader, but I dabble in novels from time to time. I'm almost halfway through American Psycho, and quite honestly despise it most of the time, but Im determined to troop through the purposefully monotonous dribble for the kill scenes. Im also sporadically reading Colin Cowherd's book currently, always loved his show and his approach to things.

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I'm primarily a true-crime and autobio reader' date=' but I dabble in novels from time to time. I'm almost halfway through American Psycho, and quite honestly despise it most of the time, but Im determined to troop through the purposefully monotonous dribble for the kill scenes. Im also sporadically reading Colin Cowherd's book currently, always loved his show and his approach to things.[/quote'] American Psycho wasn't my cup of tea either, although it's a good book to learn some new brand names.
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American Psycho wasn't my cup of tea either' date=' although it's a good book to learn some new brand names.[/quote'] haha I know right, and pretentious ass fashion tips. I understand what he was trying to do with it, driving forward the materialist nature of a sociopath in that environment, but damn man, 8 pages to describe the process of deciding which tie to wear? Ya lost me there.
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mostly true crime and musicians. My favorite being Ozzy's I Am Ozzy, hands down the funniest thing Ive ever read. American Desperado is a great one, by Jon Roberts who was one of the key players in the 80's cocaine explosion (don't believe the hype about Jung, Roberts was THE gringo). Frank Sheeran's I Heard You Paint Houses was interesting as hell too, he was the only Irish man to be (sorta) made in the Italian mafia. Also say what you will about Marilyn Manson but his book is a damn good read.

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mostly true crime and musicians. My favorite being Ozzy's I Am Ozzy, hands down the funniest thing Ive ever read. American Desperado is a great one, by Jon Roberts who was one of the key players in the 80's cocaine explosion (don't believe the hype about Jung, Roberts was THE gringo). Frank Sheeran's I Heard You Paint Houses was interesting as hell too, he was the only Irish man to be (sorta) made in the Italian mafia. Also say what you will about Marilyn Manson but his book is a damn good read.
I'll remember :) Among the few autobios I've read, there's nothing written by musicians, so I guess I should change that.
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I got three books out of the library yesterday, _Sound of the Beast:The Complete History of Headbanging Heavy Metal- I read a book about Metal once and loved it, so likely I'll enjoy this one as well. _The Art of Writing Great Lyrics_ A little forced maybe, but is it wrong to approach song writing as a craft? Of course not. _The History of Classical Music_ It is a short book, a primer I want to read to my one daughter while the other daughter is at music theater camp.

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Started this week with Låt den rätte komma in, I loved the movie, so I decided to give the book also a chance. Really great book so far and slightly different from the movie. Also, a good friend of mine recommended to read This House is Haunted, by John Boyne. I got it already from the libary, I'm curious, since it should be book that would totally fit me, according to her.

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