Now Reading

  On 11/3/2013 at 2:53 PM, very honest said:

 

plenty of obscure words and references to look up. great prose, dense with charged ideas. some real cool stories, too.

I have the same book. The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is pretty out there. :) "An Indiana Jones story written by Kafka on acid" is one of the descriptions I've heard. Which is kind of accurate.

Just finished recent novel 'Telluria' by this dude

Unfortunately, not translated from Russian yet

Speaking about non-English books, the Finns here might enjoy this book. It's pretty IDMz.

Don't know what that is but it looks well lush

Just finished Roald Dahl's Kid, his book about his childhood. I couldn't believe I hadn't read it. It is fanfuckingtastic. My only gripe is that it isn't long enough!

^ Weird, I finished that recently as well, except it's called 'Boy' in the UK edition. Bloody 'murricuns

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wasp_Factory

The Wasp Factory

The first bit is actually kind of relaxing and calm in its isolation which juxtaposes the mad stories the main character tells.

'It is written from a first person perspective, told by sixteen-year-old Frank Cauldhame, describing his childhood and all that remains of it. Frank observes manyshamanistic rituals of his own invention, and it is soon revealed that Frank was the perpetrator of three deaths of children within his family before he reached the age of ten himself. As the novel develops, his brother's escape from a mental hospital and impending return...'

I wouldn't read much more on the page.

  On 11/3/2013 at 2:53 PM, very honest said:

 

plenty of obscure words and references to look up. great prose, dense with charged ideas. some real cool stories, too.

Anyone play Fallout 3? I guess they reference HP Lovecraft a bunch, specifically The Dunwich Horror (http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/thedunwichhorror.htm).

  On 10/25/2013 at 5:39 PM, doublename said:

 

  On 10/25/2013 at 4:46 PM, Alcofribas said:

 

  On 10/24/2013 at 5:34 PM, doublename said:

Has anyone read The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton? I've learned to ignore the Booker Prize lately, but this actually sounds decent.

 

My wife is reading it presently and likes it quite a bit. From what she's said about it I'll prob check it out when she's done.

Cool, I'll add it to the list.

this was really good. it's like a victorian mystery novel with an intriguing presence of the mystical. her prose is very cool and detailed, which combined with the very long first half of the book may feel somewhat plodding. however, the pacing is very deliberate and as the book starts to gets moving one is grateful for her cool, clear writing. this could easily have been botched by a heavier hand, one more easily tempted to indulge in the fantastic.

definitely recommend it, it's quite a compelling story, very tightly woven and there is just the right touch of un-resolution throughout. the structure of the book really lends itself to a quick reading, despite its length.

lush/10

I am currently halfway through Heretics of Dune: where God Emperor of Dune was just really dense and confusing to grasp at times, I am really liking the pace of this book at the moment: Yeh, there, again, were a lot of made up words, which annoyed me at the beginning of the book, but now that I am in the go, I am digging it.

Also digging the chapter breaks: those little stories seem so relevant!

Just finished Life And Fate by Vasily Grossman, it was a fantastic novel. Basically a 20th-Century version of War And Peace but centred around Stalingrad. It's long but pretty easy to read, definitely ought to be better known.

Slogging through Pynchon's Bleeding Edge and almost finished with Vol. 1 of Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol.

  On 11/14/2013 at 2:52 AM, hateball said:

Slogging through Pynchon's Bleeding Edge and almost finished with Vol. 1 of Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol.

Bleeding Edge is lush, bruv

  On 11/13/2013 at 8:54 PM, Alcofribas said:

 

  On 10/25/2013 at 5:39 PM, doublename said:

 

  On 10/25/2013 at 4:46 PM, Alcofribas said:

 

  On 10/24/2013 at 5:34 PM, doublename said:

Has anyone read The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton? I've learned to ignore the Booker Prize lately, but this actually sounds decent.

My wife is reading it presently and likes it quite a bit. From what she's said about it I'll prob check it out when she's done.

Cool, I'll add it to the list.

this was really good. it's like a victorian mystery novel with an intriguing presence of the mystical. her prose is very cool and detailed, which combined with the very long first half of the book may feel somewhat plodding. however, the pacing is very deliberate and as the book starts to gets moving one is grateful for her cool, clear writing. this could easily have been botched by a heavier hand, one more easily tempted to indulge in the fantastic.

 

definitely recommend it, it's quite a compelling story, very tightly woven and there is just the right touch of un-resolution throughout. the structure of the book really lends itself to a quick reading, despite its length.

 

lush/10

 

Excellent, I'm already up 110th on the library waiting list for this! It'll be my fav read of 2015.

finished the hobbit, so warm, vivid and rustic. loved it.

  On 11/14/2013 at 3:10 AM, doublename said:

 

  On 11/14/2013 at 2:52 AM, hateball said:

Slogging through Pynchon's Bleeding Edge and almost finished with Vol. 1 of Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol.

 

Bleeding Edge is lush, bruv

What do you think of Doom Patrol? I think it's second only to Animal Man as far as Morrison goes.

 

  On 11/13/2013 at 8:54 PM, Alcofribas said:

 

  On 10/25/2013 at 5:39 PM, doublename said:

 

  On 10/25/2013 at 4:46 PM, Alcofribas said:

 

  On 10/24/2013 at 5:34 PM, doublename said:

Has anyone read The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton? I've learned to ignore the Booker Prize lately, but this actually sounds decent.

My wife is reading it presently and likes it quite a bit. From what she's said about it I'll prob check it out when she's done.

Cool, I'll add it to the list.

this was really good. it's like a victorian mystery novel with an intriguing presence of the mystical. her prose is very cool and detailed, which combined with the very long first half of the book may feel somewhat plodding. however, the pacing is very deliberate and as the book starts to gets moving one is grateful for her cool, clear writing. this could easily have been botched by a heavier hand, one more easily tempted to indulge in the fantastic.

 

definitely recommend it, it's quite a compelling story, very tightly woven and there is just the right touch of un-resolution throughout. the structure of the book really lends itself to a quick reading, despite its length.

 

lush/10

 

Excellent, I'm already up 110th on the library waiting list for this! It'll be my fav read of 2015.

 

Doom Patrol is a nice juxtaposition to The Invisibles, which put me through the eye of a needle last winter. Pretty sure that tome changed/will change my life. DP is a lot easier to follow (so far!), and I like the artwork. Not too well-versed in comics, but it's a medium I have a newfound respect for.

Currently reading 'Leonardo da Vinci: A Psychosexual Study of an Infantile Reminiscence' by Sigmund Freud. I've never read Freud before but had always been aware of the criticisms of Freudian Psychoanalysis and so I figured what he was doing was slanted by his own perceptions. However, I'd have to say that he does a fairly good job of addressing misgivings that the reader may have along the way. I tend to think now that those that dislike him just resent his ability to make connections between traits and behaviour to parental influence simply because it's quite often painful, so they prefer the comfort of him being labelled as misguided crank.

If their timelines had been different it would have been fascinating to read him try to analyse Andy Warhol and his work, especially in regard to his voyeuristic tendencies.

Reading American Gods. About 300 pages in and it is not delivering at all

Hardboiled-Wonderland and the End of the World, Murakami.

Cool.

  On 11/18/2013 at 10:54 PM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

Reading American Gods. About 300 pages in and it is not delivering at all

Which books do you enjoy most?

I have just finished two weeks leave and realised I haven't finished Pynchon's Vineland (only half way through). Gonna finish it and probably speed read it again to smooth out the gap.

  On 11/18/2013 at 11:14 PM, hello spiral said:

  On 11/18/2013 at 10:54 PM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

Reading American Gods. About 300 pages in and it is not delivering at all

 

Which books do you enjoy most?

 

 

 

I have just finished two weeks leave and realised I haven't finished Pynchon's Vineland (only half way through). Gonna finish it and probably speed read it again to smooth out the gap.

Even as a Pynchonite that book does my head in. Not Tom's finest hour.

Finished Hugh Howey's Wool (the first part), a post-apocalyptic mystery type thing. I usually take a long time to get a book read, but got through this in a a couple of days, very captivating and could see it working well as a TV miniseries, has plenty of twists. Painted the world well and interesting premise overall. Will continue with the second book, Shift. The last part, Dust, won't come out until February as paperback. Otherwise the whole series is available as ebooks if that's your thing.

  On 11/18/2013 at 11:14 PM, hello spiral said:

 

  On 11/18/2013 at 10:54 PM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

Reading American Gods. About 300 pages in and it is not delivering at all

 

Which books do you enjoy most?

 

I don't know, I was expecting the book to focus on the Gods and the personified, modern technology-Gods but there's none of that, all of the god stuff is pretty unspecific and it focuses and Shadow who is as boring as a main character can get

edit: didn't even answer the question but I though I'd rather be more specific in my critique than answer directly

I only just joined the site so obviously I haven´t looked closely at all the topic but some people were saying they were thinking to start The Recognitions. I´m just at the end of part 1 and so impressed. I know Gaddis will become one of my favourites, totally respectful of the characters but he shows their flaws painfully clear, it´s so funny and so embarrasing.

Gaddis is rather chavenet

Reading about different cured meats sounds really good while plays in the background.