Sorry, I didn't meant to come of as aggressive, I'm of course not trying to argue that one is worse than the other, and I'm definitely not saying that Bin Laden wasn't targeting civilian, and if my post came off as me having any sympathy for anything related to him, it was ill-phrased.

Because you haven't met anyone with sympathy for Bin Laden doesn't mean no-one does, in Muslim countries it would be another story (you don't live for years a few meters away from Pakistani military command without a few supporters).

It's available for Kindle for the price of the cup of coffee (in the UK at least), I"ll probably give it a try this weekend; I'm happy to give the author another chance, it seems a better option than a 500 pages book.

My not watching the movie has nothing to do with the subject, just thought I'd mention it in case the movie somehow presented a different view; but I had no doubt that there wouldn't be any ambiguity in the treatment (Assayas would never have received French financing otherwise). It's always been more or less on my…

What I've read as a young'un that I still love would be the Asterix comics.

Murray was also in the Lohan Freaky Friday, I want to rewatch it now…

Austen novels ranking:
Persuasion
Mansfield Park
Pride and Prejudice
Northanger Abbey
Emma (I have to re-read that one, wasn't in the mood to enjoy stuff at the time)
Sense and Sensibility

I haven't actually seen the movie, but that he could defined as anything but a terrorist rather surprises me, he wasn't even just a terrorist, he was The Terrorist.
I find it really shocking that militant icon is the first description the article gives, and describes him as freedom fighter before terrorist, especially…

Depends what you mean by militant, I'm as leftist as they come, and so is/was my father, but as far as I'm concerned, he was a terrorist, The Terrorist even; before 9/11, he was the only one whose name I'd heard of, after my father explained to me what terrorism was after his arrestation was on the news.

Carlos a militant icon… I wonder how long it will take before Osama Bin Laden is remembered like that too, or would that somehow be crossing a line?

Thank you for the reply, there's clearly a lot of that I didn't catch.

Fiction is not just about the stories or language, you can also see as a window to other cultures and experiences, reading the literature of another time or place is just as good a way to learn about those than non-fiction.

I'll recommend regardless of availability in English or translations, Le Cid is the classic every French schoolchildren had to read, and for good reason; l'Illusion Comique was the other one, a bit on the lighter side, almost an early post-modern work, Polyeucte, Horace, and Cinna are the other acknowledged classics.…

I really don't remember Yiddish, so shouldn't say too much really, but while I get your point about K&C, it seemed that every single one of their plans or initiative ended being thwarted (Kavalier's younger brother in particular comes to mind), you'd almost think they'd have been better off leaving it all behind.

I second the love for Homicide, one of the most gripping books I've ever read, completely enthralling, being a Wire fan probably helps (or Homicide I suppose), but it's just amazing regardless.

I didn't like Goon Squad at all, and that part about the future had a lot to do with it. Overall I thought it was biting more than it could chew, I found the construction not as clever as it imagined it was, and just didn't really care about any of these character.
For those who liked it, what did I miss?

It's a been a while since I've read Yiddish Policemen's Union, but Kavalier and Clay is a bit more fresh in my memory, and I found that rooting for them more from pity than anything else between Kavalier losing one by one his whole family, and Clay trapped in a lie, it at times almost felt like a bad tearjerker.

Reading it (for the first time) at the moment too, but compared to the others I've read by him, barring M&D, I'd say it's the one where the character are the most developped, the Traverse family in particular actually seem like people.

Order of the Phoenix was horrible, it seemed to have been written in preparation for the movie (which in turn wasn't that great), and Harry just came off as an even more annoying and slappable Holden Caulfied (God did I hate Catcher in the Rye)..

I indeed loved the Western parts, and Pynchon is an author I find hard to put down, usually because I wonder what he'll come up with next; but Against the Day is the first one where I genuinely want to know where the story is going.