The Sword and Laser discussion
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Empire State
Need a new term (like "lemmed")
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You call it a badly written book. This was the first book I have given 1 star on goodreads.
Jason wrote: "So we've all accepted "lemmed" at this point for a book you've stopped reading, but what's the term for a book you manage to finish, but do so by pretty much just zipping through? Whatever that t..."
Well how about 'empired' it or 'Adamed' it. BTW. You've done better than me. I lemmed that book. Just couldn't get into it. I also lemmed the Stross
"Empired" works for me. Any other suggestions?I finished Rule 34, but I totally want to try and find a use for the phrase, "Lemmed the Stross" now.
Ha-ha. Empired is a good word. Makes me envision you've conquered the annoyance by destroying the pages quickly before you spaced the book to the burner.
I just came up with a word for when one side of your headphones stops working: 'semimechdeaf'.
Mmmm... Empired sounds a good thing, but I can go with it.
Empired works for me... These terms never are the result of too much thinking, they just happen. And apparently "empired" just happened.
Tom 'islanded' Empire State, so at least he liked it.
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Also I'm beginning to take this personally. Lem is one of my all time favorite authors and as a result of whatever personality deficiency, I LOVED Empire State.
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Thank you Tamahome.
In my own personal dictionary:Rule 34: I don't like it, but I have to finish it anyway.
Maybe I should make it Rule 34(b) so as not to confuse it with the wider definition.
Just wondered, A)what factors make you lemm a book? And what makes you keep reading a unliked book? What factors make a islanded book into a lemmed book?
Victoria (vikz) wrote: "Just wondered, A)what factors make you lemm a book? And what makes you keep reading a unliked book? What factors make a islanded book into a lemmed book?"I can't speak for anyone else, but here's my thoughts:
It takes a LOT for me to stop reading a book. It has to offend me with its awfulness. I'm willing to Empire my way through just about anything (case in point, Empire State).
I can't remember the last book I lemmed. It's been a very long time.
I'd say for me to stop reading a book, it has to be really, really long (if it's less than 300 pages, I'll read it, no matter how awful) and clearly not something that appeals to me. Otherwise I'll just power my way through it in the off chance that there's something I like along the way.
I lem so often I have created a Goodreads category called Started-didnt-finish. If I don't get into a book in the first 20% (i don't use page number references anymore) of it, it gets dropped. My reading list is too large to waste time on books that suck.
I used to have a category for books I had lemmed but not given up on yet. It got to long though and I deleted it. It was too demoralizing. I have had books I finished but only because I skimmed through them. Redlaw was the most recent. We could call it fast-forwarding, although perhaps it's not unique enough.
Tom wrote: "But Empire was the best of teh Star Wars movies. Does it still work? "I'm with Tom in saying "empired" doesn't seem to fit. To many other connotations. Having not read this particular book I don't have an alternative but "empired" just seems to broad to me.
How about 'I endured'. It's difficult to think up a term. Maybe more for me- since, I confess, I am a lemmoholic. I lemm quite a few books. There are so many books out there and so little time.
I read both Empire State and Ready Player One this way, but neither "empired" nor "readied" is quite the right verb.Didn't-like-but-read-real-fast-to-get-it-over-with. Surely the Germans have a compound word for this.
I did this for The Magicians, so maybe Levved?
"Ready Player One" Rocked!RPO is a book that definitely hits home with a very specific demographic so I can understand how some didn't like it.
"Empire State" Not!
The end of this book is mottled mess that is a nightmare to follow and not rewarding enough if you do follow it.
Just my opinion.
Jess wrote: "I read both Empire State and Ready Player One this way, but neither "empired" nor "readied" is quite the right verb.Didn't-like-but-read-real-fast-to-get-it-over-with. Surely the Germans have a ..."
Compound words work better for nouns than for verbs. Sorry to disappoint you.
Anne wrote: "Compound words work better for nouns than for verbs. Sorry to disappoint you."you were our last hope........
Maybe there is another....
We do have a German word which is "querlesen", but it isn't really better than saying you "skimmed" a book, there's no geekiness or word innovation going on there.It can be loosely translated to "reading (a)cross" and describes when you just read through a book (or an article) by skimming it to get the gist but not focussing on the details. "Quer" also means diagonally, adding a bit of detail as to what the assumed reading direction would be.
(Wikipedia describes it as an official fast reading technique, by the way. So, yeah, we already seem to *have* a word for that, it's mostly missing the emotional state of the reader (as in "I just wanna finish that book" that has been described here.)
Jason wrote: "So we've all accepted "lemmed" at this point for a book you've stopped reading, but what's the term for a book you manage to finish, but do so by pretty much just zipping through?"Dude, that's called Jasoning.
aldenoneil wrote: "Dude, that's called Jasoning. "I like it. I just totally jasoned that book. Just couldn't get into it.
I think that works.
aldenoneil wrote: "Dude, that's called Jasoning."Yay! We have a winner!
Anne wrote: "aldenoneil wrote: "Dude, that's called Jasoning."Yay! We have a winner!"
I will happily accept this honor.
Not to burst the creativity bubble, but I call this... Wait for it... "skimming,"
I do need a name for when you read something or watch something but didn't pay attention and forget anything, leading to dumb looks in response to questions like, "So what *was* the smoke monster?"I mean... I watched it.... What was that important plot point? Huh.
Jenny wrote: "Not to burst the creativity bubble, but I call this... Wait for it... "skimming,""I thought about it, too, but I got the feeling that there is an emotional level added in the sense that while skimming is neutral (as in "I had to skim it, because I didn't have the time", which doesn't say anything about the quality of the text or the state of the reader), what we are searching for goes more in the direction of "Yeah, I didn't really enjoy that book, but I wanted to finish it, so I just skimmed through the last third."
Instead of the many words used in that last example, you can now just say "I jasoned it" and at least the S&L community will know *exactly* what was going on.
Jason wrote: "Anne wrote: "aldenoneil wrote: "Dude, that's called Jasoning."Yay! We have a winner!"
I will happily accept this honor."
I love it when a plan comes together. Cue the montage music.
Noted this is now called Jasoning. :) I'm a little late to the game lol
Whatever that term is, that's where I am with Empire State. I'm 82% of the way through, and I simply do not like this book. The paper-thin characters, the typos, the narrative glitches, the terrible dialog, and most of all, the extremely clunky prose have me wanting to race to the finish line and be done with this book already.
The premise was enough to get me this far, but man, I just want it to be over with.
So what do I call this?