Now Reading

  On 8/20/2016 at 1:41 PM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

the thing with IJ is that when I had absolutely no idea what was going on, and there was nothing resembling a proper plot, it was pretty exciting to see what the next vignette was gonna be about, and what the hell is wrong with these characters, etc. etc.; but now 550 pages in, having caught up to Wallace's tricks and prose, and there being something resembling a proper story to follow what with the samizdat and whatnot, it's becoming a bit more of a crawl. Still a very enjoyable book, dont get me wrong, still love it. But having read nothing but IJ in months and with the initial sense of wonder gone, it's a bit more of a struggle.

 

You're halfway! Keep going! *dabs at face with wet sponge*

I'd really like to do a re-read of IJ too but i just keep telling myself to wait longer cause for some reason i've got it into my head that it'll be better the longer i wait. Maybe my brain's way of subconsciously begging me not to put it through that again?

 

Really though i don't think i've ever been as wrapped up with characters as i was with IJ. Of course due to DFW's writing but also just the sheer amount of time you spent with them because of the book's length. I found it fully addictive, like it's got such a weird kind of pull to it (love that gravitational description above bechuga), and when i was finished i just couldn't get it out of my head for weeks. Kinda ironic considering one of the main driving forces of the plot being the Entertainment. 

btw I stumbled upon this vid for reasons unrelated to IJ oddly enough

 

 

sorry about the spam you can keep talking about Pynchon now

Edited August 20, 2016 by ThatSpanishGuy

log lady introductions from twin peaks

  On 8/20/2016 at 2:24 PM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

btw I stumbled upon this vid for reasons unrelated to IJ oddly enough

 

 

sorry about the spam you can keep talking about Pynchon now

 

Honestly surprised they haven't turned IJ into a mega-dense US TV show by now. An entire episode about Eschaton would be nifty.

Finished Against the Day! My arms are now thicker than a tree trunk!

 

Now to read something less than a hundred pages long, with only a few sentences per page.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Bechuga

  On 8/16/2016 at 9:31 PM, tec said:

 

  On 8/15/2016 at 7:05 PM, olo said:

Started Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. So far, not too bad.

I can see where Guillermo Del Toro got the idea for The Strain from.

 

I did not like this at all, but good luck. 

 

 

You were right tec. I was fine with the first 3rd, but this one fell apart quickly. Basically a pissing match over a chess game. Fuck off.

 

2 old geezers stroking each other in the shower / 10

  On 8/24/2016 at 7:13 PM, olo said:

 

  On 8/16/2016 at 9:31 PM, tec said:

 

  On 8/15/2016 at 7:05 PM, olo said:

Started Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. So far, not too bad.

I can see where Guillermo Del Toro got the idea for The Strain from.

 

I did not like this at all, but good luck. 

 

 

You were right tec. I was fine with the first 3rd, but this one fell apart quickly. Basically a pissing match over a chess game. Fuck off.

 

2 old geezers stroking each other in the shower / 10

 

 

Aw, sadly unlike watching a shit film a shit book has taken far more time. The main thing I learned from this is that whilst Stephen King's stories are great his recommendations can be a load of old toss.

he's a pretty bad writer tbh

  On 8/24/2016 at 11:07 PM, tec said:

 

  On 8/24/2016 at 7:13 PM, olo said:

 

  On 8/16/2016 at 9:31 PM, tec said:

 

  On 8/15/2016 at 7:05 PM, olo said:

Started Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. So far, not too bad.

I can see where Guillermo Del Toro got the idea for The Strain from.

 

I did not like this at all, but good luck. 

 

 

You were right tec. I was fine with the first 3rd, but this one fell apart quickly. Basically a pissing match over a chess game. Fuck off.

 

2 old geezers stroking each other in the shower / 10

 

 

Aw, sadly unlike watching a shit film a shit book has taken far more time. The main thing I learned from this is that whilst Stephen King's stories are great his recommendations can be a load of old toss.

 

 

I powered through just to finish the goddamn thing. I truly respect people who can just drop a book/movie without finishing or knowing the outcome. I, alas, have to see it through to the end. I should bill Dan Simmons for my time. I think I've read as much as I can by him at this point. Although I hear Hyperion may be some of his best. Not sure if I got it in me.

 

Any under the radar horror novels you suggest tec?

I've read a lot of horror but aside from the classics most novels tend to run out of steam quite quickly so I mainly read short story collections now. If that's your thing Robert Aickman is very good, similar to M.R James, and Thomas Ligotti is fantastic. A couple of graphic novels worth a look are Wytches by Scott Snyder and Through The Woods by Emily Carroll. Not particularly under the radar I'm afraid but hopefully you've not heard of at least one of them. 

  On 8/28/2016 at 4:10 PM, tec said:

I've read a lot of horror but aside from the classics most novels tend to run out of steam quite quickly so I mainly read short story collections now. If that's your thing Robert Aickman is very good, similar to M.R James, and Thomas Ligotti is fantastic. A couple of graphic novels worth a look are Wytches by Scott Snyder and Through The Woods by Emily Carroll. Not particularly under the radar I'm afraid but hopefully you've not heard of at least one of them. 

 

Not heard of either. Thanks for the suggestions. Just started getting back into this reading thing. I'm poorly out of touch.

gone the full Jung:

 

The Red Book

 

Alchemical Studies

 

Secrets of the Golden Flower

 

Memories, Dreams & Reflections

 

& Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principal

 

so far, so mind fucked, The Red Book in particular is staggering in its scope

Finished The Story of A New Name by Ferrante (good!), now to begin In The Approaches by Barker, who is a treat to read. After that, V. perhaps? More fucking Pynchon?

 

Also reading The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing and finding it difficult because the main character is so annoyingly unaware (authoral intention) of how contradictory and bad her decisions are, not to mention her devotion to a person who despises her and treats her less pleasantly than garbage. If this character comes to a bad end, she brought it all on herself.

 

It's funny too, in a sardonic way, which is how Lessing rolled.

 

[youtubehd]vuBODHFBZ8k[/youtubehd]

Edited September 1, 2016 by Bechuga

Ugh I've got to get back to The Good Terrorist at some point.

iNeed 2 read that aslo. her interview above is great !

 

just finished alan watts 1973 autobigraphy, " in my own way". plenty o' joie de vivre & insight, an eg.

“…if a flower had a God it would not be a transcendental flower but a field - moreover a field as discussed in physics, an integrated field of energy, a field which would not only be flowering, but also earthing, raining, shining, birding, worming & beeing. A sensitive flower would through its roots & membranes, feel out the entire pattern & so discover itself as a particular exultation of the whole field.” p. 211  

 

Nicola Barker is great: characters that sneeze lines of dialogue, chapters from the viewpoint of a parrot called Baldo and an overarching storyline that is building to something very dark, along with one character developing blisters so bad his buttocks fuse together. Marvellous, everything I wanted in a book!

 

Also, even Alan Moore is somewhat obsessed with David Wallace: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/books/review/alan-moore-by-the-book.html?_r=0

 

Also, he seems to have read Infinite Jest in under a month. While finishing Jerusalem, which I hope to start when my copy FINALLY arrives...

Edited September 15, 2016 by Bechuga

Just what Moore needed, falling in love with the most overwritten novel of the past century (no disrespect to DFW) (all disrespect to Moore))

dfw shines when he's limited by length and format. infinite jest is probably the worst entry point into his work. and moore is probably already worse off because there's no real thematic reason for his books to be so overwritten and heavy on description. at least with infinite jest it's part of the overall point. moore is just self indulgent.

Edited September 16, 2016 by keanu reeves

After Bech and someone else here said good things about Vineland I decided I might as well continue in chronological order and reread it after the GR reread, seeing as I started this Pynchon jag with V.

Seems the 2nd time is the charm for me when it comes to Pynchon. 200 pages in and enjoying it a lot. Much moreso than the I remember from the first time.

 

My gf picked me up the new Stephen King short stories collection too, now it's out in paperback. Reading one of them before bed the last few days. Enjoying it but I am a massively biased King fan from pre-adolescence.

 

Also picked up a bunch of Sacks and Rushdie's Satanic Verses on a whim after reading up on all the Fatwah Fun while bored at work.

Edited September 16, 2016 by hello spiral

 

This was an incredible read, and was based on the recommendation of Henry Miller (my favourite author). 
Originally published in 1890, it reads like it could have come out 100 years later. It basically follows a psychologically troubled young writer as he starves on the streets of Olso. You're not even sure why! My only gripe is that it ends abruptly.

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

  On 9/16/2016 at 8:58 AM, gnarlybog said:

 

This was an incredible read, and was based on the recommendation of Henry Miller (my favourite author). 

Originally published in 1890, it reads like it could have come out 100 years later. It basically follows a psychologically troubled young writer as he starves on the streets of Olso. You're not even sure why! My only gripe is that it ends abruptly.

 

his books pan and mysteries are both strong. i think the former is probably his best. i couldn't finish the book he actually won the nobel prize for, growth of the soil. too bad he was a nazi sympathizer, but whatevs, those two books plus hunger are very good.

Edited September 16, 2016 by keanu reeves

  On 9/16/2016 at 9:30 AM, keanu reeves said:

 

  On 9/16/2016 at 8:58 AM, gnarlybog said:

 

This was an incredible read, and was based on the recommendation of Henry Miller (my favourite author).

Originally published in 1890, it reads like it could have come out 100 years later. It basically follows a psychologically troubled young writer as he starves on the streets of Olso. You're not even sure why! My only gripe is that it ends abruptly.

his books pan and mysteries are both strong. i think the former is probably his best. i couldn't finish the book he actually won the nobel prize for, growth of the soil. too bad he was a nazi sympathizer, but whatevs, those two books plus hunger are very good.

in addition to pan and mysteries his other major work of the 1890s is Victoria, also "quite good." after this his books begin to take a turn away from the bizarre and charismatic individual characters and focus more on larger casts of characters in small Norwegian villages. the link between these two styles are two books collected under the title "the wanderer." his last novel "the ring is closed" is an unexpected return to the style of his 90s period, you might want to check that one out.

 

one of the masters of Norwegian literature, nothing quite like him (in any language really). definite shame about the nazi thing though lol.

 

oh btw: the translations by Sverre Lyngstad are the ones to get.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Alcofribas

oh shiiit. I bought that book from a 2nd hand bookshop when I was around 13 or 14 because the cover haunted me. Was like half remembering a dream or nostalgia for a past life or something. Remember how bewildering it was to read at that age too.

Seriously need to reread it, still have that copy:

 

 

 

 

Anyone notice Benjamin Horne namedrop him on Twin Peaks?