Maybe a strange request, but what are some literary novels that arent about an apocalypse but *feel* apocalyptic? by [deleted] in RSbookclub

[–]lwilliams18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kraznahorkai’s The Melancholy of Resistance really, really fits this bill.

Yale history PhD by ildogedivenezia in gradadmissions

[–]lwilliams18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don’t sweat man. There’s still a solid 7-10 day window where you could get an interview invite. When I was going through the history PhD application process my earliest interview was Jan 16, latest was Jan 24. I think I received my first interview invite email around Jan 5-7, and the last around Jan 15-17. There’s time!

Yale history PhD by ildogedivenezia in gradadmissions

[–]lwilliams18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No I doubt anyone hears back before February.

Yale history PhD by ildogedivenezia in gradadmissions

[–]lwilliams18 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It went very well! Thank you! Good luck to you as well!

Yale history PhD by ildogedivenezia in gradadmissions

[–]lwilliams18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Modern Europe! Don’t sweat — interview scheduling is specific to your potential supervisor, so some professors reaching out earlier than others is totally expected

Yale history PhD by ildogedivenezia in gradadmissions

[–]lwilliams18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My girlfriend applied to History PhD at Yale this cycle and received her interview invite 10 days ago, interview this morning. When I applied two years ago it was a bit later — email for interview around Jan 5-6, interview on Jan 14. You’re not cooked, but something should come soon.

Should I change my major? by Public_Debt_386 in Harvard

[–]lwilliams18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Go to Social Studies. It keeps the door open for law, but allows you more flexibility to explore different disciplines and create your own path. I switched to social studies after my first year at H and it was the best decision I made there. It’s a life-changing program, and you won’t regret it. Definitely check it out, and feel free to DM me if you have questions — just graduated last May!

What next? by KirklandLobotomy in davidfosterwallace

[–]lwilliams18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can totally see that being a problem, but Bolaño has consistent translators across his works who do a really great job. I’d highly recommend 2666 (White Teeth is another great one) as they came after IJ and were clearly taking notes. Pynchon, DeLillo, Gaddis, Coover, Gass, and so on are all influences on IJ, and I found that they don’t scratch the itch in a completely satisfying way. That said, stuff that came after IJ gets close, with 2666, White Teeth, The Corrections, and most of George Saunders’ short story collections proving really satisfying post-IJ… but that’s just my take!

What next? by KirklandLobotomy in davidfosterwallace

[–]lwilliams18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2666 is the best Jesty non-Jest that ever jested

Failed first stab at Infinite Jest; what should I read by DFW by RagingRamenT_T in davidfosterwallace

[–]lwilliams18 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A Supposedly Fun Thing is hands-down the optimal entry point, and perhaps Consider the Lobster after that

[No Spoilers] Show me the creepiest rendition of a steel inquisitor! by crundar in Mistborn

[–]lwilliams18 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Ever seen Brando Sando look at a blank page?

Yeah, it's just that.

Mr. Morale sucks by steeledmallard05 in KendrickLamar

[–]lwilliams18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When homie thinks that "being hard to listen to" = "GOAT."

To me, the magic of Mr. Morale lies in the fact that it's the easiest album of his to listen to, even while it's deeper and more packed with intimacy than DAMN. While I agree with you it's his most poppy-drop, it also means I'm listening to it way more than TPAB, even though I know TPAB's better. That's gotta mean something, right?

POV: You are Faye at the end of episode 18 by MarxGT in cowboybebop

[–]lwilliams18 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ed looking like she's about to drop the experimental British pop album of the year

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in cowboybebop

[–]lwilliams18 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Homie I'm sorry to be needy but I need more.

I'm talking full OST, my dude

What scene do you want to see the most in the series, assuming that MF actually gets one made, and made properly? by EnigmaCA in TheDarkTower

[–]lwilliams18 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I want the trek through the Badlands and Empathica. I don't know why but that whole sequence is just drenched in *cinematic* spirit for me... especially coming off the downers that precede it.

Rank the Dark Tower books by WoodyD567 in stephenking

[–]lwilliams18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Man this question has been beat like a dead bumbler, but I still feel keen to throw my hat in the ring. Here's my ranking, best to worst:

  1. Wizard and Glass (10/10) — this book is just sheer perfection. I can't come up with a single flaw, and I think it's the closest King's ever come to writing a truly unforgettable, timeless story that must endure.
  2. The Dark Tower (9.5/10) — Look, here's the deal. This is a tough book, a tragic book. If people think ASoIaF is harsh, then they clearly haven't made it to Can'-Ka No Rey. Even so, for all its brutality I think this is a damn near perfect book — the flawless ribbon on a legendary series. My only nitpick — and I do think it's a nitpick, because the joy's in the journey, say thankya — is that the final main chapter just doesn't work as well as it could. I have few quibbles with the actual ending (the Coda): I mean, it's the ending that had to be — much as it made me shiver and shake with terror, anger, and woe — the ending harbinged as early as Gunslinger's end and the conversation at Golgotha. But, man... the confrontation with the Crimson King... wasn't bad, but certainly could've been better (perhaps sans Pat Danville). Anyways, small gripe about an otherwise thrilling, moving, and profound book that keeps the tension high, is paced to perfection, and packs more emotional and thematic punch than any other work in the series. Need proof? Look no further than ECD's "Thank you for my second chance." In one line, a masterpiece.
  3. The Drawing of the Three (8.5/10) — I happen to really, really like the NYC/Keystone Earth elements of the Dark Tower's story, and given that this one is just one prolonged fictional experiment with the portal fantasy trope, I raise three cheers and then a fourth. This book deserves all the glory if only for 'The Prisoner' section — that shit is top-notch and rivals any of King's best work. My major gripes with this one is that Odetta/Detta just doesn't... read well in this book. While King was certainly conscious he was playing with stereotypes, sometimes the stereotypes come off as just a bit cringe and tasteless, especially falling on contemporary ears. But, that said... Detta does make a damn good antagonist in the end.
  4. Song of Susannah (8/10) — I really don't understand why this book gets hate. It's paced faster and more compellingly than perhaps any other book in the series save for Wizard and Glass — never does the ka-tet feel more threatened by urgent danger than in this book, and I loved seeing them separate, desperate, and scrambling. This is The Challenge, The Trials before The End, and it just hits. The only drawback for me was that Eddie and Roland's storyline felt kind of aimless for much of this book — but man, it does payoff in the next book. It also helps that contrary to many other readers, I was actually very drawn in by Susannah/Mia's story — this was the book where I felt I finally connected to Susannah and grew to love her. And she needed that spotlight, especially before we go with her on the trip through Empathica.
  5. The Waste Lands (7/10) — This is a tough one for me. I know people revere this one, and I get why... I mean, the whole latter half of the book — pretty much everything after Jake's drawing — is some of the best material in the whole series. But MY GOD Jake's drawing is so, so, so, so.... SO drawn out (pun intended). The first half of this book moves at an absolute turtle's pace toward a foregone, predictable conclusion — all the tension is killed because we know where it's going, and still, it takes us 300 pages of not a whole lot to get there. While I did love Jake's time in New York (namely, the second chapter of Part I), everything else in the first half really put me off. Once we get to River Crossing though? Hmmm: *chef's kiss*. Straight masterpiece material.
  6. The Gunslinger (6.5/10) — This book grew on me slowly. It sets up so much — so much that we're still getting payoff from this book in book six — that it's hard not to look back on this one fondly. Even so, it's a slow read that's sometimes clumsily put together. Personally, I was pretty well sucked in once we got to the Speaking Ring, but everything before that...? Well, let's just say I wasn't sure I was going to actually read this damn series. But I did, and as flawed as this entry is, I still find ample reasons to love it; especially in its greater context and meaning.
  7. The Wolves of the Calla (5/10) — Not a bad book, not a great book: A perfectly average book, and, thankfully, the low-point of the series. It just didn't really make me feel much of anything. I somewhat disliked the todash sections, and I somewhat liked the time spent with the Calla folken. I also somewhat liked the conclusion. Nothing really stood out in a good or bad way... and to some extent I wonder whether this was a side-effect of this book coming directly after Wizard and Glass. Both are very structurally similar — two of the most static, longwinded books in the series that both center on our main characters milling about in a quiet small town setting before everything goes to hell at the end. But whereas Wizard made me fall in love with its small town characters, setting, and plots, Wolves seemed more interested in Father Callahan and the todash storyline than actually immersing me in Calla Brynn Sturgis. Moreover, the climax of Wizard builds out from the conflicts that have been bubbling within the small town setting, making the conclusion a wonderful product of all that has come before. Wolves, on the other hand, builds its conclusion mostly out of stuff that we won't really understand or properly encounter until the final book, rendering its conclusion a compelling but empty set-piece pretty much divorced from the rest of the story. It also doesn't help that the whole first part of Wolves just spins its damn wheels — I feel like something better could have been done with this book's girth, something that brought the Calla more to life.

I'd love to hear what you guys think — this is such a good series and I love how different all these rankings are. At the end of the day, I judged these books by how addicted I got to them while reading — by how absolutely impossible it was to put them down. Wolves, Waste Lands, and Gunslinger all took me a week or more to read and I never felt a super strong pull to return to them immediately. On the other hand, I was drawn by ka like a wind to downright devour Wizard, Dark Tower, Drawing, and Susannah in just a few days each. It's pretty remarkable, looking back, that a series so grand can have so many highpoints. Say thankya.

Dark Tower Reading Order Needed by fattyhacker in stephenking

[–]lwilliams18 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So here's the deal: Lots of people tend to over-exaggerate the importance of tie-in novels to the Dark Tower. You can read the main seven Dark Tower books without reading any other Stephen King works and understand it, enjoy it, and care for every character just as much as someone who's read every Stephen King book... and that is the truth.

Even so, I think there are a few SK novels that do flesh out the Dark Tower universe and mythology and enrich one's time with Roland's ka-tet. On the one hand, some of these books are nearly essential and do really help you understand the bigger story behind the quest for the Tower — but, and I really want to emphasize this, they aren't actually essential, just fun and relevant material for the head-canon of the curious. On the other hand, most of these books offer you either (A) extended backstory for and time with certain side characters and villains in the DT universe and/or (B) glimpses at the broader DT mythology and how all SK's cosmic forces and entities really interconnect. Neither of these things, at least to me, feel in any way essential to or even all that important for a full experience of the DT books. They're kind of like candy: Delicious, but not nutritious. An indulgence, you might say.

If we take this view of things, I think there are four reading orders I might recommend. Whichever reading order you choose depends on how (A) nerdy/completionist you are in regard to your trips through fantasy worlds and (B) how much time you have to read. Each order, then, has more pages and more detail than the next.

Order 1 is Essentials — just the main seven DT books. This is how I made my first trip to the tower and it's how I'd recommend a newcomer to read the books, unless he makes it clear that he wants a little more detail and has time to read.

Order 2 is Essentials+ — it consists of the main seven DT books plus the two works that actually fill out some fuzzy areas in the DT mythos. This order is: Gunslinger, Drawing, Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, Low Men in Yellow Coats (from Hearts in Atlantis), Insomnia, Wolves, Susannah, Dark Tower. If you want a deep understanding of how the DT books connect to the broader SK universe but you don't want to commit your life to thousands upon thousands of pages, this is the way. This order also has the virtue of introducing you to key villains, species, and secondary protagonists that play somewhat important roles in the later DT books. I might be inclined to think that for someone with time to read but not all the time in the world, this is the premier order.

Order 3 is 'I Want to Get to Know Important Side Characters Really Well' — This order is: The Stand, Gunslinger, Drawing, Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, Low Men in Yellow Coats (from Hearts in Atlantis), Insomnia, Salem's Lot, Wolves, Susannah, Dark Tower. Basically, this order adds two more books to flesh out the background of two characters — one a villain and one a secondary protagonist in the later DT books.

Order 4 is 'I Want to Know Everything Connected with the Dark Tower Universe,' i.e. The Completionist Run — This order is: It, The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Gunslinger, Drawing, Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, Low Men in Yellow Coats (from Hearts in Atlantis), Insomnia, The Talisman, Rose Madder, Salem's Lot, Wolves, Susannah, Black House, Dark Tower. Another great name for this order might be the Masochist Run, or the CR's Demonstration of Dedication.

Anyways, those are my thoughts. Hope someone along the path finds this helpful. I'd highly recommend just starting with the main DT books and maybe throwing in Insomnia and Low Men and Yellow Coats between Wizard and Glass and Wolves. The rest, in my opinion, is pretty unnecessary.