The Reading Room

12:12 AM

@Randal'Thor again, "People aren't motivated by increasing the number of questions per day. They'll force themselves to ask some questions, but then they'll see that asking a few questions doesn't magically increase the number, so they'll stop". By people I mean anyone, whether they care about the site or whether they don't. I care about the site and want it to succeed, but I know from experience with past beta sites that I'll ask a few questions, see that the number stays the same, and be done.

However, if I'm in the mindset where I'm reading a book and thinking about all the interesting conversations I can have about that book on Stack Exchange, well then, you're going to get four or five questions from me for every book I read, and I'm not going to get frustrated or burned out; I'm going to be excited by all the cool answers I get.

Napoleon Wilson

12:59 AM

I very much doubt that Rand is really worrying about anything to begin with, rather than simply being happy about every new good question that's posted. I'm not sure people are maybe making a little too much of a statement that just meant "new good questions are nice", which I doubt anyone could seriously construe as a negative one.

Even if the questions per day stat means nothing for any serious considerations, new questions are, well, still cool, ya know.

user15026

1:53 AM

5

user15026

This poem is so well put together.

Rand al'Thor

@Ash I want to hear someone sing this.

user15026

@Randal'Thor Just saying it out loud is so pleasing because they nailed the cadence

Rand al'Thor

@NapoleonWilson Well, I was worrying slightly about the fact that we hardly got any new questions for a few days.

@Ash Speaking of which ... @BESW damn you for putting me onto Reginald Pikedevant's Youtube videos! :-) I think I'm addicted to them now.

Napoleon Wilson

@Randal'Thor Well, okay then.

Hamlet

2:27 AM

@Randal'Thor I'm going to have to resist clicking for the next two weeks bc I have so much work

Rand al'Thor

@Hamlet The funny thing is there aren't even very many of them. I've just been watching over and over again.

Shokhet

4:07 AM

Anyone who's read Sandman? ...I just finished Preludes and Nocturnes. On the back of the book, it says that P&L "is the first volume of eleven in THE SANDMAN LIBRARY. These books can be read in order or as individual volumes."

...opinions? ...should I read all of them? in order? Skip any particular volumes? Other?

(This probably wouldn't make for a good reading-order question. This one is entirely opinion based, I think)

@Gallifreyan ^^^^

You're the only pingable asker of a Lit.SE Sandman question :)

Hamlet

4:36 AM

@Shokhet I'm reading Sandman right now. I can't say I particularly enjoy it; I'm reading it for a friend who likes comic books, and sandman is the only comic book I was able to get into

If you're going to read them, IDK you might as well read them in order.

who is staring things? as far as I can tell I'm the only active person here.

I'm not really sure how I would rank sandman on a good/bad scale yet, but I haven't really noticed any big differences in quality between books

user15026

I never finished all of them but I would suggest reading them in order, if you plan to read them all anyhow

BESW

7:32 AM

The one thing about Sandman order is, if you might read just one, it should probably be World's End.

Otherwise publication order's probably the way to go.

World's End is a good stand-alone sampler of the Sandman experience without spoiling anything really important or needing any context from prior issues.

Gallifreyan

7:48 AM

@Shokhet you could ask which volumes can be read as standalone works, and I could probably answer that one. But if you ask me, reading them in order is probably best (note that their arrangement in paperbacks is not the same as their issue publication order, if memory serves). You'll still have to go back and read previous volumes to recall previous interactions with some characters - I certainly did.

I admired how some characters from volume I suddenly pop out in later volumes, or become central. The interweaving is very intricate. And after you finish the volumes, you can read Overture, or Lucifer, or _Endless Nights. The latter has some of my favourite stories, especially the one about Desire and Dream (which you can read without reading other works, by the way)

BESW

Twitter thread: Ursula Vernon's notes on how to improve Fall of the House of Usher.

Gallifreyan

@BESW wombat ^_^

Wombats are in a sense better than koalas they are bigger, so easier to hug, and they are not as few in numbers, so easier to obtain one.

BESW

@Gallifreyan Spunky amateur mycologist vs enraged ancient fungus god, apparently.

@Gallifreyan Wombats can also crush a foe's skull with their butt.

Gallifreyan

@BESW so they can replace not just koalas, but also guard dogs? And cats, I imagine

BESW

Their rears are padded with at least an inch of callous. One of their responses to being attacked is to go head-first into a burrow, then crush the predator's skull against the side of the tunnel with their butt when it follows them in.

(The "Mortal Wombat" jokes have already been made.)

Gallifreyan

8:06 AM

@BESW Ok, I need one. Make it two, in fact.

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