Now Reading

Currently reading The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing. Can't believe it's taken me this long to read her.

does On The Road get good? i'm around 50 pages in and it's kind of a snoozefest.

On the Road's pretty tedious at times. I thought it made its point very early on in the book and proceeded to say it again and again in different ways. It doesn't get any better to be honest.

I've just started Frankenstein. Most of the shock factor is probably going to be gone, though all the retellings of this story I've encountered over the years have dealt solely with the monster's awakening. I don't have a clue what happens before and after, so I'm basically going into it blind. And I can't believe that some people still refer to the monster as Frankenstein, I mean for fuck's sake.

  On 4/12/2016 at 1:20 PM, Caribou said:

On the Road's pretty tedious at times. I thought it made its point very early on in the book and proceeded to say it again and again in different ways. It doesn't get any better to be honest.

 

I've just started Frankenstein. Most of the shock factor is probably going to be gone, though all the retellings of this story I've encountered over the years have dealt solely with the monster's awakening. I don't have a clue what happens before and after, so I'm basically going into it blind. And I can't believe that some people still refer to the monster as Frankenstein, I mean for fuck's sake.

AW SHEEEIT

Sisters Brothers - Pretty good, although it feels somewhat skeletal. But what was there was enjoyable enough.

The Rehearsal - an interesting confusing story like something Satoshi Kon would do. I think Eleanor Catton is a future great novelist and I look forward to more books from her.

Now starting: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and finishing Briefing For a Descent Into Hell by Doris Lessing, after getting near the end and my kindle then dying.

almost done reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons. just finished the detectives chapter and holy-moley i feel like an idiot for leaving this on the shelf for so many years. anybody here read The Terror? any other simmons recommendations?

half-way thru Norman Mailer's "Ancient Evenings" and trying to restart Alan Moore's "Voice of the Fire"

love the former but got interrupted by real life bs & the latter is superb for mindfucking brevity

The las of the hippies a hysterical romance, by crass artist Penny Rimbaud.

Heartbreaking! crazy how fucked up the story is and how little has changed since 1982

was OG part of Christ the album, it's just a fucking tragic book, so sad.

anarchy and peace

Added a couple of Nicola Barker books to the read pile, I hear she's insane.

Wow never heard of her, her book synposes look awesome.

I'm on the last three chapters of Shardik. Pretty deep/intense book, took me forever to read.

I just got a copy of Pynchon's V. so I might read that next. But also have Kingsley Amis' One Fat Englishman in my bag as a backup for when I finish a book when I'm out so maybe that.

  On 4/21/2016 at 9:28 AM, hello spiral said:

Wow never heard of her, her book synposes look awesome.

When I read the synopses I thought 'bet Spiral has read all of these'. Guess not! I think we're in for a treat.

edit: I have Burley Cross Postbox Theft and In The Approaches, which has a lovely cover:

Haunted Weather by David Toop - so far so engrossing & immersive

Electric Eden/Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young - same author who nailed the history of Warp Records works similar magic from folkier realms, bought for reading more on The Incredible String Band's back story. Still 1 of the best bands to emerge from these islands.

  On 4/22/2016 at 9:43 PM, cwmbrancity said:

Electric Eden/Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young - same author who nailed the history of Warp Records works similar magic from folkier realms, bought for reading more on The Incredible String Band's back story. Still 1 of the best bands to emerge from these islands.

Sweet, some author mentioned this on her reading list at the AV Club recently and sung its praises too, do you need to know much about folk? I have a fairly decent knowledge but fear this may be too niche.

link http://www.avclub.com/article/elizabeth-hand-her-5-favorite-books-about-music-234658

Reading Moby Dick on my kindle. First 10% of the book: sharing a bed with another man, waking up to find that man hugging you. And then he gives you a shrunken head as a present. No ships or whales so far.

Quality literature.

Ugh, given up on Moby Dick twice so far the only book I've done that with.

Hearing that it's a good book if you wish to learn about how to tie a knot is quite off-putting but then Leviathan by Mastodon is great so I don't know who to believe, one day I'll get round to it.

That's an interesting topic for the thread:

What Books Have You Given Up On?

I gave up on a Japanese light novel called Zaregoto: The Beheading Cycle by Nisio Isin that was absolutely bereft of anything I like in books i.e. subtext, deeper meaning.

In fact, most of those light novels are kinda shit and empty. Apart from Welcome to the NHK, which is the Japanese nerd version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

And also, perhaps controversially, Lord of the Rings. Compared to The Hobbit, which is a fun adventure and I surprisingly loved, it's a bit serious, a not needed sequel imo. Got twenty pages and thought 'eh'.

Lol. Twenty pages. It does take a while to get going.

there's books I've given up on but not because I didn't like them but because it wasn't the right time to read them (ie: books where it's hard to lose track of characters/events in times where I dont have much time to read). I did properly give up on the Foundation prequels, can't remember which one of the 2. Shitty adventure indiana jones kinda novel. blergh

I gave up on Neuromancer, Lord of the Rings, 1Q84, Game of Thrones.

Moby Dick is awesome, f u

Finished Freedom. Excellent book! Not as perfect an ending as the Corrections but still a magnificent book.

Now to read this slim le Carré novel before I move onto Burley Cross Postbox Theft. So many good books to read.

  On 4/12/2016 at 12:23 PM, QQQ said:

does On The Road get good? i'm around 50 pages in and it's kind of a snoozefest.

i was big kerouac fan for a while in my 20s and read a lot of his stuff. On The Road to me was more interesting later in the book but when i read it a 2nd time many years later i was pretty bored.. but it's one of those books that's more about what i thought about after reading it than what i thought about while reading it.

fwiw i liked Darma Bums way more. something about the meditative nature of it appealed to me at the time. i haven't re-read that one though.. it's been a long time.

Vanity Of Duluoz is very autobiographical and more or less a personal history of kerouac's life or at least a chunk of it. the language is fun and it's an interesting era of american history. if you want to get the vibe of the beat generation read the Neal Cassady biography The First Third about his first 30 years and you'll see where all that energy comes from (other than speed) cassady was the muse.

btw.. the movie of On the Road with Kristen Stewart as Mary Lou is actually pretty decent. I thought it would totally suck and be just awful and who the fuck is this guy playing kerouac he sounds nothing like him etc etc.. but it ends up delivering the futile sadness of the friendships and the wanderlust vibe pretty well and kristen stewart to her credit goes for it pretty good as mary lou and it's a time when kerouac was younder and more optimistic than sullen alcoholic so is less dark.

blah blah blah..

currently reading The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolano. great at times. i read 2666 last summer and liked it but was blown away my the whole middle section which is 300 or so pages of retellings of police reports about women being murdered in mexico. wtf.

read neal stephenson's SevenevS a while back. really loved it as is usual for me w/his books.

I was reminded of Moby Dick when I was reading Shardik.

In Shardik he has this archaic way with metaphors and he uses 2 or 3 of them in a row to prove a point, and it can be tedious.

Moby Dick is the same. It's like that Buzz Killington character from Family Guy: "now, you may not believe me when I say there are creatures in the ocean as big as I say. So let me tell you several 50 page anecdotes in order to convince you....."

  On 4/23/2016 at 10:40 AM, tec said:

 

  On 4/22/2016 at 9:43 PM, cwmbrancity said:

Electric Eden/Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young - same author who nailed the history of Warp Records works similar magic from folkier realms, bought for reading more on The Incredible String Band's back story. Still 1 of the best bands to emerge from these islands.

 

Sweet, some author mentioned this on her reading list at the AV Club recently and sung its praises too, do you need to know much about folk? I have a fairly decent knowledge but fear this may be too niche.

 

link http://www.avclub.com/article/elizabeth-hand-her-5-favorite-books-about-music-234658

 

plow into it, its immense as a provenance filter for all manner of themes, from myths & religions to sounds to the deeper melodies tucked away in lost songs