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Re: Not really, with quotes like this.

amaresu
2011-08-31 02:49 am UTC (link)

“Alone in the room, my curiosity got the better of me. Besides, what harm was there in “casually” observing anything that might be on the desk? There were no pictures so I had no clue as to what this guy looked like. On his desk sat a sleek black laptop, various car and sports magazines and an assortment of classic literary novels as well as Shang Tzu’s The Art of War. Writer, philosopher, and legendary bad boy, he was going to be a handful.”

I am so confused by this quote. Who is the 'writer, philospher, and legendary bad boy'? The mysterious desk owner or ~~Sun~~Shang Tzu? Because if it's the desk owner and they are legendary, why doesn't the narrator know what they look like? If it's ~~Sun~~Shang Tzu, when did he become a legendary bad boy? It makes no sense! Also since The Art of War is not included in the collection of classics does this mean it's no longer a classic? Because I own the Barnes & Noble Classics Edition and I think someone should tell them this.

I don't even have words for how offensive the last quote is.

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Re: Not really, with quotes like this.

rganymede
2011-08-31 03:18 am UTC (link)

Also since The Art of War is not included in the collection of classics does this mean it's no longer a classic? Because I own the Barnes & Noble Classics Edition and I think someone should tell them this.

Ah, but see, it's Sun Tzu's Art of War that's a classic. Shang Tzu's Art of War is presumably one of those works meant to cash in on confused people actually looking for a more popular title. It's like what the movie "Transmorphers" is to the real "Transformers". So, clearly, it makes sense to list it separately from the actual classics he owns.

It also means that desk-owning dude isn't really all that impressively well-read.

(Seriously, though, neo_prodigy couldn't take the 10 seconds it would require to get the real name(s) off Wikipedia? Arrgh.)

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	Re: Not really, with quotes like this. crysiana 2011-08-31 03:25 am UTC (link)
	The best guess I saw from anyone was a theory that he got Shang Tzu from Firefly. Which is why you don't use fiction to fact check. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Not really, with quotes like this. akedhi 2011-08-31 03:54 am UTC (link)
	Wasn't the fictional philosopher in Firefly Shan Yu, anyway? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Not really, with quotes like this. crysiana 2011-08-31 04:32 am UTC (link)
	Possibly? I've forgotten. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Not really, with quotes like this. amaresu 2011-08-31 04:45 am UTC (link)
	According to the Firefly wiki you are correct. He was a dictator, warrior, and poet. (Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: Not really, with quotes like this.

amaresu
2011-08-31 04:43 am UTC (link)

Ah, but see, it's Sun Tzu's Art of War that's a classic. Shang Tzu's Art of War is presumably one of those works meant to cash in on confused people actually looking for a more popular title.

Ah, like The Art of War for Dating: Master Sun Tzu’s Tactics to Win over Women. I've not gotten that far into The Art of War, but I'm relatively certain that it's not really something you want to apply to dating.

On the other hand, Transmorphers actually looks pretty entertaining. But I'm easy for Robot Apocalypses.

I never understood how owning certain books was supposed to make you well-read. I mean you look at one of my bookshelves and you hit an entire section of those books, look at another bookshelf and you'd think all I read was whatever the opposite of that is. Low-brow populous tripe? A small selection of books (especially what would fit on a desk) does not actually tell you very much about a person. Or even suggest that they've actually read the book. Why are the books never described as having cracked spines, turned down pages, or even just bits of paper sticking out of them? Things that imply they've actually been read?

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Re: Not really, with quotes like this.

issendai
2011-08-31 05:04 am UTC (link)

Seriously. Well-read people have houses cluttered with a mixture of nonfiction on odd and often unrelated topics, literary fiction, and a healthy serving of their trashy genre of choice, plus a little section of Official Literary Canon Books. Probably slightly dusty. 'Cos the thing with being well-read is, you've probably gotten through as much of the literary canon as you care to by your mid-twenties, and have long since moved on to fresher waters. A little diorama like this means "pretentious douchebag who's trying too hard."

And who reads car magazines at a desk?

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	Re: Not really, with quotes like this. sandglass 2011-08-31 06:01 am UTC (link)
	And you have a few copies of the same book! Either all different editions because you really love it, or just cuz it happens somehow. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Not really, with quotes like this.

issendai
2011-08-31 03:58 pm UTC (link)

Because you have extra copies to loan out, because all the translations are different, because *this* one has the alternate unpublished ending but *that* one has an awesome foreword, because this one is from high school and this one is from college but this one over here has better typography and is easier to read...

Well-read people's libraries look exactly unlike what non-readers expect, except for the mess. And if it looks like a design mag, then the only thing the owner reads is design mags.

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Re: Not really, with quotes like this.

seanchaigirl
2011-09-04 05:06 am UTC (link)

For the last time, yes, I NEED all four copies of The Master and Margarita. They're different translations, the footnotes are different and. . .oh, wait. You're not my ex-boyfriend. My bad. It's a reflex.

Back on topic, this book seems to be set at some sort of school. I don't know about anyone else, but the "classic literary novels" on my desk in high school and college wouldn't have told you anything about me except what I had to read for my English classes.

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Re: Not really, with quotes like this.

mmanurere
2011-09-02 07:35 am UTC (link)

...or because you keep loaning out copies of a few of your favorites and know that people (especially your mother) won't return them. Ever.

(On the bright side? I've turned my mother into a science-fiction reader. On the not-so-bright side? I had to re-buy all of my Ursula Le Guin and Nicola Griffith, half my William Gibson, most of my Octavia Butler and Joanna Russ, and a good chunk of my Samuel R. Delany.)

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Re: Not really, with quotes like this.

amaresu
2011-08-31 04:22 pm UTC (link)

This! So much this! My non-fiction bookshelf is ridiculous and I don't even consider myself that well-read. The literary canon is kinda boring, at least to me. I don't trust people who claim that they only read those types of book.

And who reads car magazines at a desk?

Sometimes I'll read a magazine at my desk, but usually only if I'm waiting for a download and need to kill 10-15 minutes. Or if I'm looking something up to order online.

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Re: Not really, with quotes like this.

athersgeo
2011-09-01 12:43 am UTC (link)

Taking your last question... I seldom read ANY magazines at my desk(s), but you'd quite often find at least one magazine sitting on my desk(s) because it/they represent a flat level surface I can dump stuff on!

And I now feel all well read, cause what you describe matches my bookshelves perfectly...which feels very weird because I'd previously felt I wasn't well read in the slightest!

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	Re: Not really, with quotes like this. eleutheria 2011-08-31 06:20 am UTC (link)
	I never like that feeling you get when you read something, even if it's not as horribly written as this, that's so transparently autobiographical, especially if it's really clear that this is what turns the author on. It's way more than I ever want to know about an author. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Not really, with quotes like this. issendai 2011-08-31 03:52 pm UTC (link)
	"Good writing tells us about the characters. Bad writing tells us about the author." Agreed. Ick. And it's not even the jubilant horribleness of OH JOHN RINGO, NO. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Not really, with quotes like this. ladyvyola 2011-08-31 08:21 pm UTC (link)
	The thing with OH JOHN RINGO, NO is that he was all, "Folks, there's some whacked-up shit in here and you know? I'm gonna own the hell out of it. Let's have fun!" And it wasn't the first, or only, thing he'd written. So there wasn't the sense that that was all that he had to share. With Dennis, not so much that there's anything else. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: Not really, with quotes like this. iczer6 2011-09-01 07:12 pm UTC (link)
	Maybe it was Shang Sung's Art of War? (Reply to this)(Parent)

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