ways_back_room | DE: For want of a good book

Enzo has several popular comic bytes on his pull list. Adventures of Tron, Tron's Pal Ram, Flash EPROM… you know, the usual. He likes adventure novels as well, and has made a particular pount of reading some User classics (e.g. Treasure Island), although the older they are, the more confusing they get at times.

Joshua has always liked science-fiction. It's why he got into 'strange science' as he puts it. Milli-canon, his favourite book is Time Machine, even before he met Helena. Otherwise, he prefers modern stuff, rather liked Harry Potter, and tries to avoid romance.

Helena is systematically going through her successors, shall we say. Some of them she likes, some of them she doesn't. Just dont' get her started on zombies or why Miss Austen's works seem to need supernatural elements lately. Otherwise, she likes the classics, hates Twilight and 50 Shades, and does not understand steampunk. (The Victorian era wasn't that great the first time, darlings.)

Fantine's reading skills are mediocre at best, but if she could, I think she'd love Jane Austen and other historical romances.

Edited 2013-07-09 13:19 (UTC)

Tommy is just not a big reader. He'll read the newspaper and Sports Illustrated, but books, not so much. He has, however, read every worthy biography about Mickey Mantle, and when I had to come up with things he might have on his bookshelf at home, I included a biography on Babe Ruth, volumes about the history of the NY Yankees and baseball in general, a compilation of hockey articles and essays, and some World War II books. Because war and sports. Rawr.

EVERYTHING.

Ben loves military thrillers and recommends this guy named Greg Rucka. He also loves sport biographies and science fiction. Not so big on reading fantasy but loves watching it. He also reads a lot of Popular Mechanics.

Hank is currently reading The Adventures of Tintin and highly recommends it. He also loves Asimov and other early science fiction authors.

Andrea loves romance novels, especially Lorna Sterling (who is native to Andrea's canon). She's open to all romance but particularly loves pirate themed ones.

As to reading for my pups, well I did get most of the way through Physics of the Impossible in an attempt to expand my technobabble score. I don't think it took. I've also read Your Inner Fish which was very interesting but didn't quite fit Hank's voice/field of knowledge. The Monster Hunter International books had lots of great detailed info about guns, which was perfect for Andrea. Too bad in seems to have gone in one ear and out the other with me.

Edited 2013-07-09 15:05 (UTC)

Flawless comment.

... I think Joshua has that Physics of the Impossible book. He's probably written notes in the margins.

It was an interesting read but like the ballistic data, none of it stuck in my head. =(

Opps...another pup journal but still bjorn. =]

Ray's got a library the likes of which small colleges would envy, but he doesn't recommend most of it to other people unless they're already in the parapsych field. It's just not a good idea. Also a lot of engineering texts and a small but growing selection of stuff about medieval chemistry/alchemy.

Gordon has a fondness for The Lord of the Rings, and slugged his way through the Silmarillion, although he lost most of his interest somewhere around the Akallabeth and only kept going because you don't quit books. He read and liked Dune, read and sort of liked Dune Messiah, read and put up with Children of Dune, and read God Emperor of Dune before saying "yeah, no, no more". (Although he quite liked the Dune Encyclopedia, but that was a fanwork rather than Herbert.) He will also quite happily recommend most of Richard Feynman's work to the general public, and Hawking's to a lesser degree, as he's aware that most people will give up somewhere around chapter 8 of A Brief History of Time.

Shephard reads quite a lot of history books and the occasional murder mystery, but is firmly convinced that John Milton's Paradise Lost is pretty much the masterwork of the English language. He will occasionally grudgingly admit that the work of William Blake has merit. Most of his preferred reading is in the public domain or is on the old side, as it was easier to come by growing up and easier to snag a cheap copy of from the local used book pit when he got older.

Medic- Library of Congress subclasses RD57, RD92-97.8, RD120.6-129.8, RD151-498, RD701-811... I'm not really sure about the rest of what he reads as his recreational reading is all in his native language.

Mordin: anything you can put in front of his eyeballs.

Varric: Varric isn't really from a time when recreational reading is a thing, from what I can tell of the Dragon Age universe- but he's working on changing that. The impression that I get is that most books in his day are either histories, treatises, or other reference works, and that movable type doesn't exist in Thedas- the captain of the city guard warns him at one point that he's very close to losing his printing blocks. That kind of implies that the printing technology of Thedas is probably on the order of the block books of fifteenth century Europe, which probably means that mass-market books are around fifty pages or less- which fits in rather nicely with references being made to Varric writing serials. Put it this way: Varric doesn't so much read other people's stuff. His recommended reading list is whatever volumes of his own work he's currently trying to sell.

Santo: I really don't know, but he looks badass and wears the mask while he's reading it, whatever it is.

Ellen: Books being hard to come by in her world, Ellen will almost certainly read anything she can find before turning it over to the Brotherhood Scribes for archiving and/or reprinting. That said, she has a great fondness for comic books, particularly Grognak the Barbarian and Drake Tungsten, Chrono-Cowboy (with the adventures of The Manta coming in a distant third). Worth noting: Grognak the Barbarian has been millicanoned as being drawn by a real stickler for detail who insisted on accurate models for his pictures, thus justifying its use as the Melee skill increasing book- the art in the comic shows people genuinely sword-fighting or axe-fighting or whatever.

*snigger* I figured.

And really, Joshua probably gripes at the author in the margins, too. He gets a bit sensitive when people say teleportation is impossible.

We're gonna have to get Varric and Andrea together. I'm going over transcriptions of his unique dialogue in the game and I've found more than a few references to his romance work.

I've thought of this many times before and worry she will become his favorite fan. ;D

Aveline: All right, tell me. How does it end?
Varric: Beg your pardon?
Aveline: That guard story of yours. The... the one with a guardsman who falls in love with a templar knight-captain.
Varric: Oh, the romance! Swords and Shields. I just started that serial. It's got ten chapters to go.
Aveline: Yes, but you know how it ends! Just tell me.
Varric: I've got an idea, but the story... the story will go where it wants to go. The characters drive it, not me.
Aveline: You're the author! That makes no sense at all!
Varric: A good story, you don't really write. It was always there. You just uncover it.

Complete non sequitur, if I ever bring in Nolan or Dr. Yewll from Defiance, they are going to be so confused by Helena. ; p

Why yes, I am watching the finale as I work.

AHAHAHAHA. That would be hilarious, actually.

I promised her that I wouldn't ever make her Albino Helena (as I tend to call that character) for Hallowe'en or suchlike. I might not keep that promise. I'm not sure yet. >:D

Knox reads lots of newspapers and the occasional magazine, and a fair amount of crime novels and sports books. But he's not a big reader.

Howard likewise is not big on books. Certainly not big on fiction. He tends to read a lot of science and engineering works, along with newspapers and magazines.

Kirk would be a voracious reader if he only had the time. He loves a good history or biography, and is well grounded in at least the more popular works of fiction from the past 1,000 years or so. But he tends to read a book maybe five or six times a year.

Cy used to read a lot of comic books till his life became one. Otherwise, he is a sad example of a contemporary youth with little interest in reading for pleasure.

Gibbs is functionally illiterate.

And Charlie...he reads everything that comes his way. A reflection on my part of the eclectic recommended reading list that Denny O'Neil gave in the comics way back when. Charlie's curiosity thus extends to all kinds of books. Even if he doesn't really have a great appreciation for structure or use of language.

Will can read, he learned in Bar but its never got to the point of being easy and pleasurable to him. Its something he feels bad about, that he should do more with it since he can do it but its just not a part of his life.

Charles reads a wide variety of books and journals. He reads scientific journals, magazines, all types of books though in my head canon, some of his favorite books are fantasies he read as a child. They captured being an other in a way that made sense to him and while he finds science fiction interesting, it doesn't click as well for him. He's happy to try reading almost anything as he likes to keep up to date on the world. I also see him as a fast reader.

Sameth is a little trickier for this as his reading isn't mentioned a great deal in canon but he reads older books in the Old Kingdom libraries. His primary type of reading is research about the Charter in histories and books trying to learn what he can.

Moist tends to read more for research which means books about an eclectic mix of topics depending on the newest job. He's aware of all the popular reads around the Disc but I'm not certain about pleasure reading. I think he enjoys mystery stories.

William loves adventure stories especially ones not set in his part of the world. At the moment, he's loving Robert Louis Stevenson who's books feel real to him but aren't of his time and place. He has a collection of dime novel serials that he reads through since they're fun and there.

Jane reads everything she can get her hands on but searches out novels as she's writing one.

Demeter, I think reads a lot of different things but she enjoys cookbooks and romance novels.

Tumnus has been reading his way through the library at Cair Paravel as he's working on his history of Narnia as well as using that information to help him be a good advisor to the Pevensies.

The Pirate King reads a variety of books, I'm not sure of his specific favorite genres but I think he adores reading about how newspapers write about him.

Oh, good, something I know off-hand! Currently he's devouring these three, though he has about 80+ in his sylladex at any given time.

Ako reads... huh. Not a lot for purely recreational stuff when looked at from the outside. Learning new things is fun. (Reviewing her textbooks less so, but needs must.)

Tyler keeps an eye on the competition. Right now, that means other horror novelists every week or so. For pure entertainment, comic strip collections. He needs to see about getting a new copy of some of the Calvin and Hobbes ones. They're getting a little worn.

Robo doesn't actually read for fun much, instead he listens to radio adventure serials. It keeps his hands and eyes free.

Janet reads gossip and society news. She also pays half-hearted attention to the science news, because it helps to pick out keywords when Hank gets going.

Artemis has, gah, probably a collection of historical romances the likes of which I've never even looked at, stuck as I am in the SF&F sections. No one gets to see them. E-readers, especially unnetworked ones, are great for this, since you can't tell what someone is reading from the cover.

Felix certainly can read, but he doesn't often do it for recreation.

Fluttershy is big on Con Mane and similar spy thrillers. Well, quietly big. She is, notably, the only one who didn't speak up to Rainbow Dash in defense of reading back in Read It and Weep.

Kain... I have no idea. I'm pretty sure he'd have to be literate, but I'm not getting any kind of answer.

Sazed's into all kinds of nonfiction, as well as stories that tell him something about a) the past, b) the teller, or c) the culture that produced them.

(It helps that he's got plenty of external memory.)

Edited 2013-07-09 18:21 (UTC)

Carol knows her way around a book, having been a writer and magazine editor herself. These days, she doesn't have as much free time for reading, so her mainstays are blogs and online news sites. She reads Jezebel, sometimes to agree with the writers, sometimes to yell at them through her screen. Ditto The Atlantic. She has a digital subscription to Bitch Magazine. She hasn't read too many novels lately, but she liked Mira Grant's Feed for the combo of journalism, politics, and punching zombies in the face.

Stiles reads a lot. Sci-fi/fantasy novels, electronics manuals, multi-volume histories of the Napoleonic wars, cereal boxes, and lately, all the books on folklore, mythology, and the history of lycanthropy he can find. (Does Prisoner of Azkaban count? Maybe he should read it again to be sure.) He spends too much time surfing Boing Boing and Reddit and is carefully honing his Google fu. Some of that shit out there on the internet about werewolves is weird.

Lady Mary makes fun of Matthew one, saying he probably prefers reading to country sports, but that's not really fair, because she reads quite a bit. Mostly for lack of anything better to do, but she does enjoy it. She's read your standard classics (Shakespeare, Ovid, etc.) but now mostly sticks to novels. She's read popular Victorian stuff (Waverly novels, Brontë, Dickens) as well as newer titles, both British and American. (Hey-yo, mun knows very little about lit between 1890-1920! Nothing important happened between the Victorians and the modernists?)

As for me, research wise Mary is the worst because it's easy to take for granted both how similar and how different life was 100 years ago. My go to's are The World of Downton Abbey and Edwardian Promenade. For Carol it's mostly various character wiki's to double check backstory details, Wikipedia articles on how the US Air Force works (military background, I have none!), and I have The Essential Ms. Marvel waiting for me on the coffee table. Stiles is easiest cause he lives in the contemporary US. For him I've got a few books about ADHD checked out from the library right now.

Edited 2013-07-09 18:40 (UTC)

Mary has read H.G., but has no idea she's a woman. Mary could probably learn some things from Helena.

Helena would be pleased to meet a fan. She loves teasing people and watching their reactions when she says she wrote the books.

Jane mainly reads science-oriented stuff like trade journals, new discoveries being published and that kind of thing. Headcanon says she also has a weakness for terrible romance novels.

Clark leans towards the classics; Roman, Greek, early science fiction, Cervantes, Shakespeare. Headcanon says he probably reads some astronomy and scientific magazines too, when he runs across them.

Raph is mildly dyslexic, so reading is a slow-going thing for him. Very slow-going. Like, he moves his lips when he does so slow-going. Most of what he reads, when he does read for fun, are magazines, the most highbrow of which is Rolling Stone. Usually though they're motorcycle, sports related, or martial arts based.

Years ago someone, I think it might have been Ginny Weasley actually, bought him his own copy of "The Art of War." He's still making his way through that.

Mike loooooves to read, and will read pretty much anything. Or...at very least he'll start to read pretty much anything. Whether or not he finishes it really depends on the subject matter and writing style. He loves comics, preferably the super hero variety, adventure stories of all kinds, and has a soft spot for trashy romance novels.

He gets that from his father.

Splinter at one point had a fair collection of books on philosophy, art history, and regular history. What wasn't destroyed by mousers was fed to the fire that consumed The Second Time Around junk store. These days he travels light, which is something that's much easier to do when you can just ask Bar for whatever book you want and then return it when you're finished.
(OH...and Splinter also loves trashy romance novels...)

Aang wasn't much of a reader outside of his classwork. I kind of imagine him to be far more drawn to live storytelling than reading.

Bumi will read anything, which says more about the limited resources underway than it does about Bumi's taste in reading material.

The Loompas read your diaries and your private letters...also The Anarchist Cookbook.

Ida really liked 50 Shades of Grey.

Mark reads comics, with his favorites being Science Dog, The Squadron of Cosmic Heroes, and Monkeyman and O'Brien. (The first is canon, the others are me.) He also likes to read speculative fiction, but he's not an avid reader, so he doesn't have a particularly huge collection. Debbie Grayson is a fan of some science fiction, so there are a lot of the classics in the house from her personal library, so Mark's familiar with Wells, Heinlein, Clarke, and the like, but not extensively. Being a fan of zombie films, he's recently discovered that the son of a famous comic actor and movie director has written a guide for dealing with the undead. He asked for a copy for his birthday, but his mom forgot, and life's been too busy for him to pick up a copy.

DE: For want of a good book

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject