Now Reading

Yeah, so I now gather... The first part was exceptionally hard, but I plowed on and then some semblance of linear narrativity appeared, but it's still incredibly dense. GR was the only Pynchon in my local bookshop so I took the plunge, not really knowing that much about his work.

I got a few books for Christmas, so might dip into them and then see how I feel about GR after a few weeks. Perhaps it would be worth trying a short Pynchon like The Crying of Lot 49.

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I also started reading Pynchon with GR because it has the reputation of being difficult to read.

I probably didn't get half of it but I liked it from the start.

  On 1/27/2014 at 10:46 AM, Ron Manager said:

it's one of the funniest books i've ever read,

yup.

  On 1/27/2014 at 9:56 PM, mokz said:

I probably didn't get half of it but I liked it from the start.

yup

Also started with GR.

Actually had no idea about what kind of writer he was and only wanted to read Gravity's Rainbow because the title kept coming up as an aside in articles I'd read, I liked the sound of the name, I'd just finished a book at work so had nothing to read on the way home and knew there was a copy in the bookshop near Kings Cross.

Realised what I'd let myself in for after about 30 pages in and then doing a quick wiki/google.

Nevertheless I plowed on through and managed to finish it. That was in 2012 and I think I'm gonna be rereading it pretty soon.

Don't give up Ron! It's incredibly satisfying to finish. Also, don't get so bogged down in not understanding certain parts. I'm actually kind of looking forward to coming to those again and them making a little more sense on the second go'round.

Also, for some reason I found Lot.49 underwhelming. Maybe I spoiled myself with GR but I just found it kinda slight.

  On 1/23/2014 at 1:58 PM, Philip Glass said:

 

  On 1/23/2014 at 1:22 AM, logakght said:

 

  On 1/23/2014 at 12:55 AM, Philip Glass said:

Just remember to read the "revisited" after it!

 

please expand... i'm reading the "normal" one (I guess)... what's in the revisited?

 

He wrote a 100 page non-fiction analysis of the book thirty years later called "Brave New World Revisited". A lot of the versions of the book actually have it attached to the end of the original.

 

Almost done with the regular book. My copy has the revisited and I'm really excited to read how it ends and hear Aldous' take on it. I find the book very fascinating because the way Huxley lived his life is very much how this dystopian society lives. It almost feels like his fantasy of the future.

will try and start this tonight (or tomorrow night)

So Lolita is much more fun than expected; sure, Humbert Humbert has some .. unconventional urges, but the story is told in such a virtuous poetic manner, and which such delightful, humorous connotations that I sometimes find myself smiling cheek to cheek while reading it and also, it pains me to say, somewhat excited on the Humbert-Lolita interaction.

  On 1/28/2014 at 7:48 PM, Phoenix said:

and also, it pains me to say, somewhat excited on the Humbert-Lolita interaction.

Yeah. It caused uncomfortably pleasurable anticipation in me too...

I've finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I think this was my 6th or 7th book by Murakami - and it was one of his best and also one of his most disjointed. The majority of the book is about the main character who has absolutely no clue whatsoever what the fuck's going on and I can clearly see Murakami behind his writing desks similary having no clue about the plot. But the book is still - and maybe just because of it - strangely human and warm. I recommend it.

  On 1/28/2014 at 9:25 PM, Dpek said:

I've finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I think this was my 6th or 7th book by Murakami - and it was one of his best and also one of his most disjointed. The majority of the book is about the main character who has absolutely no clue whatsoever what the fuck's going on and I can clearly see Murakami behind his writing desks similary having no clue about the plot. But the book is still - and maybe just because of it - strangely human and warm. I recommend it.

lol, definitely

White Noise

Murray is one of the most epic characters I have ever seen.

-

Anyone read George Saunders? Tenth of December from last year was great. Pastoralia is also amazing. Both of those are in the form of a Novella/Novelette grouped with several stories.

Everyone should read Saunders. He was awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2006.

-

I also just finished Train Dreams by Denis Johnson. Basically a pretty dry, subtly humorous Jeremiah Johnson novella. And if you have not read Jesus' Son, you should.

I just finished Murakami's Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Impressive. Really loved it since the first chapter. People say it's one of his finest novels, but I can't really agree since I haven't read anything else from him. Suggestions? :)

  On 2/1/2014 at 1:12 AM, sheatheman said:

White Noise

 

Murray is one of the most epic characters I have ever seen.

 

-

 

Anyone read George Saunders? Tenth of December from last year was great. Pastoralia is also amazing. Both of those are in the form of a Novella/Novelette grouped with several stories.

 

Everyone should read Saunders. He was awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2006.

 

-

 

I also just finished Train Dreams by Denis Johnson. Basically a pretty dry, subtly humorous Jeremiah Johnson novella. And if you have not read Jesus' Son, you should.

civilwarland in bad decline is his best. read that. i thought tenth of december was weak. disappointing. i feel like he's getting pretty formulaic. his philosophy as a writer seems to be "be nice to people" which isn't very deep, is it? but he has mastered a certain tone and seems to capture the absurdity of corporate structures and the dehumanizing aspects of capitalism very well in easily digestible stories.

  On 2/1/2014 at 7:58 AM, zaphod said:

civilwarland in bad decline is his best. read that. i thought tenth of december was weak. disappointing. i feel like he's getting pretty formulaic. his philosophy as a writer seems to be "be nice to people" which isn't very deep, is it? but he has mastered a certain tone and seems to capture the absurdity of corporate structures and the dehumanizing aspects of capitalism very well in easily digestible stories.

Well, the corporate structure faux utopia thing is a launchpad into other stuff. I agree that Tenth of December uses a formula, and I was able to predict several of the outcomes, but it is HIS formula (!) See that? He is the father of parenthetical punctuation, and lots of people who run literary journals say that everyone is trying to sound like Saunders and have been for the past few years. It's more than tone, he has really tapped into the fragmentation of the american psyche.

The main reason I read ToD was for a craft talk I was attending. I had previously read Pastoralia after reading about it in the forward of a a Robert Sheckley collection, Store of the Worlds.

If you've not read Pastoralia, you will see that his strategy is deeper than "be nice to people." But loving your characters is not a philosophy lacking depth. It's the only way you can produce A: real characters and B: real outcomes.

Anyway, glad to find another Saunder's fan. I have not read CivilwarLand, but I'm sure I will. Right now I'm reading The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, and In Persuasion Nation, or I will in the next few months. I've got at least 20 books to get through this semester, and I have to write 5 new stories and make revisions of the first 4 of those stories.

Have you ever read Geek Love by Katherine Dunn?

I've read all of his work, known about him for quite some time. His strongest works are Pastoralia and CIvilwarland. His stuff after Pastoralia has been less than inspired, although there are some bright spots (commcomm). I'm actually a little tired of his voice, which sounds the same in nearly every story. I think he needs to step outside his box and challenge himself. That's what I mean by formula. His philosophy is not particularly deep, although it's welcome. It's basically "try to be empathetic to all people", which i can get behind. I don't think his stories are as involved as you're making them out to be, but he's cut out a path in mainstream literary fiction (lol) that is unique and his own. I'm just kind of tired of his voice and wish he would (could?) write something a little deeper. This might require him to write a novel, which he's said repeatedly he doesn't want to do. I can respect that, but after ToD I'm not rushing out to read his next work.

I haven't read geek love.

Just started Amir Aczel's Mystery of the Aleph. Only a few chapters in, but it seems it's following Cantor's life struggling with the continuum problem and somehow connecting that with the Kabbalah. Curious to see how many threads tie together in there...I've read a bit of the author's previous stuff and, though his writing is always interesting, the solidity of the connections he makes are sometimes too loose to really be of much strength.

  On 2/3/2014 at 5:17 AM, zaphod said:

I've read all of his work, known about him for quite some time. His strongest works are Pastoralia and CIvilwarland. His stuff after Pastoralia has been less than inspired, although there are some bright spots (commcomm). I'm actually a little tired of his voice, which sounds the same in nearly every story. I think he needs to step outside his box and challenge himself. That's what I mean by formula. His philosophy is not particularly deep, although it's welcome. It's basically "try to be empathetic to all people", which i can get behind. I don't think his stories are as involved as you're making them out to be, but he's cut out a path in mainstream literary fiction (lol) that is unique and his own. I'm just kind of tired of his voice and wish he would (could?) write something a little deeper. This might require him to write a novel, which he's said repeatedly he doesn't want to do. I can respect that, but after ToD I'm not rushing out to read his next work.

 

I haven't read geek love.

From a craft standpoint, a story like Semplica Girl Diaries is astounding. The stories themselves are not that astounding necessarily. But I'm coming at it from a "what is he doing and what is it achieving" standpoint just as much as I am reading it blankly and absorbing it. I find I do more of the former even. Half the stories in ToD didn't connect with me on that deep, hard-to-express level (!) and that could be a criticism, it is, but ToD had real ingenuity in craft.

What about Barry Hannah and Rick Bass?

i think i've read some rick bass, "the watch" maybe? i dunno, it was a long time ago. i'm more into genre writing than anything "literary". saunders reminds me of barthelme mixed with david foster wallace, if that's possible.

I'm not allowed to read genre. Very verboten.

I've read very little in my life, to be sooth. I just absorb from everything. I have never read Infinite Jest.

The Watch is an amazing collection I'd say. The title story is pretty much perfect.

AndnBarry Hannah has some of the best, most condensed dialogue of all time. You'll get a sense of it from Airships.

Pretty nuts so far, hopefully the first story isn't the best, it would make an awesome short film.

^ Fucking NICE man!

I have that on a 'to get' list. Think it's pretty hard to get hold of.

First heard about it from the book below, which has a tribute story called 'the king', In: YELLOW.

  On 2/6/2014 at 10:17 PM, Atop said:

 

Pretty nuts so far, hopefully the first story isn't the best, it would make an awesome short film.

pretty good. you read any arthur machen?

The King in Yellow is free on kindle prime.

  On 2/7/2014 at 12:49 AM, sheatheman said:

The King in Yellow is free on kindle prime.

I think the kindle version might be free for everyone. Which probably means awful formatting and frequent typos, but, hey, free.

  On 2/7/2014 at 12:17 AM, zaphod said:

 

  On 2/6/2014 at 10:17 PM, Atop said:

 

Pretty nuts so far, hopefully the first story isn't the best, it would make an awesome short film.

 

pretty good. you read any arthur machen?

 

I've read a little Machen, love what I have read so far. Just looked this King in Yellow book up, looks very interesting.