Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Everyone says the writing is really good in Lolita, but I don't want to seem like a goddamn pervert if I get a library card in my new town and check out that ONE book.
Its no use, he sees her
He starts to shake and cough
Just like the old man in
That book by Nabakov
- The Police,
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Librarians are
very aware of this, and make an effort to keep borrower's records private. It's too bad that it wasn't Judge Bork's
library book borrowing history wasn't exposed in the newspapers rather than his
video rental history when he went for his confirmation for the Supreme Court. As a result of that, there is a federal law that prohibits one's video rental history from being disclosed absent permission from the subscriber or a court order or the equivalent. Your rental history at Blockbuster is protected against disclosure except under very limited circumstances, but your library history is not as protected. But librarians keep your records private because they understand the sensitivity.
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Is -- are people gonna be cool with this? If I check the book out? I don't particularly want to purchase it either.
I haven't read it, but I've heard there's sometimes problems with these Russian writers, in which their novels tend to be depressing. I've wanted to do Dostoyevski but I've never gotten around to him, although I understand he's supposed to be
very interesting. Robert A. Heinlein reported how his wife learned Russian in order to be able to read those classic authors, like Fyodor and Vladimir in the original Russian. Apparently they're even
more depressing in the original Russian!
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:It also amazes me that a non-native speaker of English can write a book in English that is almost universally praised as being well, well-written. Maybe this is because I am more exposed to the kind of broken English that Ben and I normally encounter over at the DEFCON forum and so forth.
One of the greatest books I've ever read was Ayn Rand's
Atlas Shrugged, which changed my life. She came here from Russia and didn't understand English at all, and by the time she wrote this book it is
extremely literate and well written. I'd probably have killed myself by now if I had not read it. So here I am as a result. To quote Socrates, "Which of those would have have been better, God only knows."
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Please tell me if you have read this book and enjoyed it!! Tell me I am a moron for even trying to write as a hobby without having read Lolita.
I have written two complete books, am working on a third while finishing the second, and have 1/2 of a fourth in the works. I've never read
Lolita either (although part of one of my stories involves a 15-year-old girl having sex with a bunch of guys who are all older men. Or is she really 15? Depends on whether you take how long she's been conscious (over 200 years) or how long she's been alive (15).)
It could be worse, you could have rented
The Tin Drum and be accused of watching kiddie porn! (Some dimwitted Sheriff in some backwater town tried to make a name for himself by confiscating copies of the movie [even though it's been out for like, twenty years] because he claimed the film's depiction of a minor in it meant it represented someone underage having sex, which means it was
child pornography. Apparently he came to his senses and the material was returned a few weeks later.)
[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Everyone says the writing is really good in Lolita, but I don't want to seem like a goddamn pervert if I get a library card in my new town and check out that ONE book.[/quote]Its no use, he sees her
He starts to shake and cough
Just like the old man in
That book by Nabakov
- The Police, [i]Don't Stand So Close to Me[/i]
Librarians are [i]very[/i] aware of this, and make an effort to keep borrower's records private. It's too bad that it wasn't Judge Bork's [i]library book[/i] borrowing history wasn't exposed in the newspapers rather than his [i]video rental[/i] history when he went for his confirmation for the Supreme Court. As a result of that, there is a federal law that prohibits one's video rental history from being disclosed absent permission from the subscriber or a court order or the equivalent. Your rental history at Blockbuster is protected against disclosure except under very limited circumstances, but your library history is not as protected. But librarians keep your records private because they understand the sensitivity.
[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Is -- are people gonna be cool with this? If I check the book out? I don't particularly want to purchase it either.[/quote]
I haven't read it, but I've heard there's sometimes problems with these Russian writers, in which their novels tend to be depressing. I've wanted to do Dostoyevski but I've never gotten around to him, although I understand he's supposed to be [i]very[/i] interesting. Robert A. Heinlein reported how his wife learned Russian in order to be able to read those classic authors, like Fyodor and Vladimir in the original Russian. Apparently they're even [i]more[/i] depressing in the original Russian!
[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]It also amazes me that a non-native speaker of English can write a book in English that is almost universally praised as being well, well-written. Maybe this is because I am more exposed to the kind of broken English that Ben and I normally encounter over at the DEFCON forum and so forth.[/quote]
One of the greatest books I've ever read was Ayn Rand's [i]Atlas Shrugged[/i], which changed my life. She came here from Russia and didn't understand English at all, and by the time she wrote this book it is [i]extremely[/i] literate and well written. I'd probably have killed myself by now if I had not read it. So here I am as a result. To quote Socrates, "Which of those would have have been better, God only knows."
[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Please tell me if you have read this book and enjoyed it!! Tell me I am a moron for even trying to write as a hobby without having read Lolita.[/quote]
I have written two complete books, am working on a third while finishing the second, and have 1/2 of a fourth in the works. I've never read [i]Lolita[/i] either (although part of one of my stories involves a 15-year-old girl having sex with a bunch of guys who are all older men. Or is she really 15? Depends on whether you take how long she's been conscious (over 200 years) or how long she's been alive (15).)
It could be worse, you could have rented [i]The Tin Drum[/i] and be accused of watching kiddie porn! (Some dimwitted Sheriff in some backwater town tried to make a name for himself by confiscating copies of the movie [even though it's been out for like, twenty years] because he claimed the film's depiction of a minor in it meant it represented someone underage having sex, which means it was [i]child pornography[/i]. Apparently he came to his senses and the material was returned a few weeks later.)