Ben Babcock’s Profile
Ben's Recent Updates
|
Ben Babcock
is currently reading:
|
|
|
Ben Babcock
is finished with The Human Division
|
|
|
Ben Babcock
rated a book 4 of 5 stars
|
|
| My Carnegie reading list continues with Wonder. With this book, R.J. Palacio swept me off my feet and took me on an incredible, moving journey. She combines believable, authentic voices of children and adolescents and a sensitive, sensible approach t...more | |
|
Ben Babcock
is currently reading:
|
|
"Thank you! I was trying hard to find a way to succinctly express the dual layers Fitzgerald creates in his portrayal of that society. I think it’s har...more
"
|
|
|
Ben Babcock
is currently reading:
|
|
"
Cross-posted on Readerling
I am going to begin somewhat uncharitably by making fun of the cover for this book. Now, I know covers ain't content, and usually authors have close to zero say in cover choice, so I'm not making fun of Ahmed here. Howeve... " Read more of this review » |
|
"
...On a Red Station, Drifting is an interesting piece of writing. It is a novella full of tension between the characters. An environment under so much pressure that traditionally expected politeness and family bonds are forgotten and outright host...
"
Read more of this review » |
|
“No, but if I were an illegal, experimental replicant hiding the truth of an international conspiracy I would try and put myself out of the way of those investigating it, wouldn't you? I don't think hiding under a bed will be very successful. But, if you've any better idea of what the deadly robot assassin is up to, please feel free to act upon it.”
― Guy Haley, Reality 36: A Richards & Klein Novel
― Guy Haley, Reality 36: A Richards & Klein Novel
“This night the woman of his belittling deprecations was thinking how great and good her husband was. But over them both there hung a deeper shade than the shade which Angel Clare perceived, namely, the shade of his own limitations. With all his attempted independence of judgment this advanced and well-meaning young man, a sample product of the last five-and-twenty years, was yet the slave to custom and conventionality when surprised back into his early teachings. No prophet had told him, and he was not prophet enough to tell himself, that essentially this young wife of his was as deserving of the praise of King Lemuel as any other woman endowed with the same dislike of evil, her moral value having to be reckoned not by achievement but by tendency. Moreover, the figure near at hand suffers on such occasions, because it shows up its sorriness without shade; while vague figures afar off are honoured, in that their distance makes artistic virtues of their stains. In considering what Tess was not, he overlooked what she was, and forgot that the defective can be more than the entire.”
― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles
― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles
“I shall now explain my plan. You may then speak, but only to amend the detail. The broad outline is not subject to negotiation. Are you ready? Good … I propose to have sex with you. I believe it will be excellent sex. Your obedience on one particular issue of timing it will be required to make it unforgettable sex. I will explain that issue as we go. At the moment, I wish to hear your inevitable objection to the general sex part of this plan.”
― Nick Harkaway, Angelmaker
― Nick Harkaway, Angelmaker
“Mercer opens hi mouth to argue, and Bastion Banister chooses this moment to open his mouth and snap at the circling bee. To his own evident surprise, he captures it, and there’s a curious little glonking noise as he swallows it whole. Mercer cringes slightly, as if expecting the dog to explode.
Nothing happens.
“All right,” Polly Cradle says, and then, pro forma, “Bastion, you’re a very naughty boy.”
“Yes,” Mercer says acidly. “The dog has consumed a possibly lethal technological device of immense sophistication, deprived us of our only piece of tangible evidence and possibly doomed us all to some sort of arcane scientific retaliative strike. By all means, chide him severely with your voice. That will solve everyone’s problems.”
― Nick Harkaway, Angelmaker
Nothing happens.
“All right,” Polly Cradle says, and then, pro forma, “Bastion, you’re a very naughty boy.”
“Yes,” Mercer says acidly. “The dog has consumed a possibly lethal technological device of immense sophistication, deprived us of our only piece of tangible evidence and possibly doomed us all to some sort of arcane scientific retaliative strike. By all means, chide him severely with your voice. That will solve everyone’s problems.”
― Nick Harkaway, Angelmaker
“But I realized something. About art. And psychiatry. They're both self-perpetuating systems. Like religion. All three of them promise you a sense of inner worth and meaning, and spend a lot of time telling you about the suffering you have to go through to achieve it. As soon as you get a problem in any one of them, the solution it gives is always to go deeper into the same system. They're all in rather uneasy truce with one another in what's actually a mortal battle. Like all self-reinforcing systems. At best, each is trying to encompass the other two and define them as sub-groups. You know: religion and art are both forms of madness and madness is the realm of psychiatry. Or, art is the study and praise of man and man's ideals, so therefore a religious experience just becomes a brutalized aesthetic response and psychiatry is just another tool for the artist to observe man and render his portraits more accurately. And the religious attitude I guess is that the other two are only useful as long as they promote the good life. At worst, they all try to destroy one another. Which is what my psychiatrist, whether he knew it or not, was trying, quite effectively, to do to my painting. I gave up psychiatry too, pretty soon. I just didn't want to get all wound up in any systems at all.”
― Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren
― Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren
The Alternative World
— 150 members
— last activity May 16, 2013 09:10pm
A private group focusing on thoughtful, engaged discussions of speculative fiction. Interested? Click to request membership and Please Answer the chal...more
Goodreads Feedback
— 11505 members
— last activity 4 minutes ago
This is a place to give feedback about Goodreads. Feature ideas, bugs, or any other suggestion for improvement. The Goodreads staff monitors this grou...more
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
— 8835 members
— last activity 1 hour, 24 min ago
Welcome to the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club! Czar: Kim Czarina: Penny Originator: Nick PLEASE NOTE: From now on we will delete any post from an author want...more
Goodreads Librarians Group
— 28368 members
— last activity 1 minute ago
A place where all Goodreads members can work together to improve the Goodreads book catalog. Non-librarians are welcome to join the group as well, to...more
What's The Name of That Book???
— 6328 members
— last activity 3 minutes ago
Can't remember the title of a book you read a while back? Come post a description on our message board and we can try to help each other out. ***Note:...more
More friends…
Ben Babcock has
completed his goal of reading 120 books for the 2012 Reading Challenge!
Quizzes and Trivia
questions answered:
302 (0.2%)
correct:
205 (67.9%)
skipped:
147 (32.7%)
52335 out of 1739547
streak:
0
best streak:
12
questions added:
6
Polls voted on by this member





































