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So Koestler sounds fascinating, where should I start?
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Apr 29, 2016 05:35
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the_homemaster posted:So Koestler sounds fascinating, where should I start? Darkness at Noon, obviously
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Apr 29, 2016 05:38
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The book 6 (so far, it's like 1200 pages and I've only read 100) is very satisfying because after books 3-6 going back to childhood/student years, it's back to present now and starts when book 1 is just being released. Very meta, feels like you've grown with the author if you've followed the series over the years. And at same time it has same feel as books 1 and 2, Proust is discussed and Knausgård sits half an hour in rental car because he doesn't know how to start it and is afraid they'll take the car away if he goes back in to ask. I've leafed through the rest and I saw loads of lit references so I expect it to get even better.
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Apr 29, 2016 06:41
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mallamp posted:and Knausgård sits half an hour in rental car because he doesn't know how to start it and is afraid they'll take the car away if he goes back in to ask. lol. maybe I should actually read this series. I liked the first book of his newest project.
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Apr 29, 2016 09:32
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It ranges from almost Woody Allen-esque awkwardness (another example from newest book: He's reading Gombrowicz diary before interview and interviewer sees it and mentions it in the article, but Knausgård actually hates it and abandons the diary alter same day, for years he's known as Gombrowicz expert, and at parties big lit figure Dag Solstad is like "hey Karl, Gombrowicz is my favorite author, let's talk", and for years he pretends he's Gombrowicz fan because of that) to more depressing awkwardness (he feels like paedophile when washing his daughters) to just sad and depressing (won't spoil since it wouldn't do justice) and then suddenly he's randomly analyzing Hamlet or something and it turns into essay and so on. Books 3 and 4 are just childhood memories so they're not as awesome/poetic, and you also have to accept that Knausgård is really vain and irritating aswell. But generally it's the best
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Apr 29, 2016 09:55
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Nothing I've ever read about Knausgaard has made any of this sound even remotely appealing
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Apr 29, 2016 10:00
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that's how i felt too, but then i read the first book and it was really quite good. not the earth-shattering experience, but definitely something you want to suggest to your friends to check out, which is probably why it spread so far and quick
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Apr 29, 2016 11:49
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Solaris is pretty baller. I mean the writing style is really weird (maybe it was bad translation or something) but it has a lot of cool ideas.
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Apr 29, 2016 12:05
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Ras Het posted:Nothing I've ever read about Knausgaard has made any of this sound even remotely appealing "Får god" -Karl Ove Knausgård
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Apr 29, 2016 13:14
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Ras Het posted:Nothing I've ever read about Knausgaard has made any of this sound even remotely appealing That's the thing. Second-hand descriptions of My Struggle always make it seem boring. But it has this quality... when you start reading it, you become entranced.
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Apr 29, 2016 13:24
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Ras Het posted:Nothing I've ever read about Knausgaard has made any of this sound even remotely appealing Guy talks about his life in a weird way for thousands of pages is potentially cool, but there's probably other books like that I would be more likely to read. The Dennis System posted:Solaris is pretty baller. I mean the writing style is really weird (maybe it was bad translation or something) The old translation was itself based on the French translation rather than being direct from Polish to English, so if you got that one then that might be the case. The new translation which is direct from Polish is ebook only iirc because of weird copyright issues(or it was last I heard). A human heart fucked around with this message at 13:52 on Apr 29, 2016 |
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Apr 29, 2016 13:49
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blue squares posted:That's the thing. Second-hand descriptions of My Struggle always make it seem boring. But it has this quality... when you start reading it, you become entranced. Yeah, several of the cover blurbs are on point about this. Why would anybody bother to read this multi-volume behemoth of an autobiographical novel by a neurotic Norwegian? Because it's that loving good. Zadie Smith said it well when she noted that there shouldn't be anything remarkable about any of it, except for the fact that it immerses you completely. I've never been a fan of the Proustian genre, but Knausgaard somehow captures what it feels like to live and think in this world at this time in history. Yes, he's arrogant and insecure and a bit vain, but he's also Real Fuckin' Good at this. If this is what it felt like for his contemporaries to read Proust, I think I get it a little bit more now. Edit: this doesn't even get into the translation, which is so drat good it feels like it was written natively in English. Maybe Norwegian is easier to render in English than other languages? In any case it's a remarkable job. mdemone fucked around with this message at 13:54 on Apr 29, 2016 |
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Apr 29, 2016 13:52
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I'm non-native but I've learned Swedish and it's super easy compared to French and German for example, Norwegian is similar.
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Apr 29, 2016 14:40
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The Dennis System posted:Solaris is pretty baller. I mean the writing style is really weird (maybe it was bad translation or something) but it has a lot of cool ideas. Stanislaw Lem is magnificent. I'm slowly working my way thru his corpus and it rules. Many of his other books were translated by this dude named Michael Kandel, who did a real good job, like he should get a medal and a back rub and the Nobel, since Lem can't anymore. Also if u like Solaris the book, watch the 2 movies. The Tarkovsky version is a masterpiece, and the Soderbergh one is good too.
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Apr 29, 2016 14:58
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david crosby posted:Stanislaw Lem is magnificent. I'm slowly working my way thru his corpus and it rules. Many of his other books were translated by this dude named Michael Kandel, who did a real good job, like he should get a medal and a back rub and the Nobel, since Lem can't anymore. Also if u like Solaris the book, watch the 2 movies. The Tarkovsky version is a masterpiece, and the Soderbergh one is good too. Yea I watched both movies too the Soderbergh one is good but holy poo poo the Tarkovsky one is amazing. That reminds me I need to watch Stalker (ironically I've read Roadside Picnic but not Solaris go figure eh?) The Lem I have read is Return from the Stars which was solid but then Memoirs found in a bathtub which is hilarious, it's like if Kafka wrote dystopian sci-fi about spies.
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Apr 29, 2016 15:16
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The Dennis System posted:Solaris is pretty baller. I mean the writing style is really weird (maybe it was bad translation or something) but it has a lot of cool ideas. Eden and Fiasco are both thematically similar to Solaris and also own. Eden especially is probably even more relevant today than it has ever been.
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Apr 29, 2016 17:19
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Lem (when asked about Solaris and 2001): The movie by Kubrick - 2001 - was in my opinion not good, and Solaris wasn't either. I find the task to evaluate which of two weak works of art is weaker uninteresting. Like Heine writes "they both are smelly just the same". I used to read a lot of Lem and can recommend some of his less known works (that is, my 16 year old self recommends them, I haven't revisited Lem in a long long time). I loved Katar, which is a mystery novel on the limits of scientism. In Hospital of the Transfiguration he processed some of his own experiences (I think) from Nazi occupied Poland and for this reason feels much more personal than Lem's other books. It is part one of a three part novel but don't worry that the other two have not been translated to English, they are not very good and the tonal shift is pretty jarring. Maybe I find my old notes about other stories I'd recommend. Bonus fun fact: Unlike Knausgård, Lem loved Gombrowicz. true.spoon fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Apr 29, 2016 |
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Apr 29, 2016 17:43
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A human heart posted:Guy talks about his life in a weird way for thousands of pages is potentially cool, but there's probably other books like that I would be more likely to read. wtf why do you have an av now????
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Apr 29, 2016 18:49
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CestMoi posted:wtf why do you have an av now???? he got lumed
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Apr 29, 2016 18:50
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Smoking Crow posted:he got lumed Andn ow you're a smoking crow again!!
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Apr 29, 2016 18:52
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CestMoi posted:Andn ow you're a smoking crow again!! your still a lovely goat
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Apr 29, 2016 18:53
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blue squares posted:your still a lovely goat I never found out whether you were actually the guy who had asparagus i sunglasses as his avatar because I asked you and you said I was a bad poster.
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Apr 29, 2016 19:00
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CestMoi posted:I never found out whether you were actually the guy who had asparagus i sunglasses as his avatar because I asked you and you said I was a bad poster. Yes
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Apr 29, 2016 19:03
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The Dennis System posted:Solaris is pretty baller. I mean the writing style is really weird (maybe it was bad translation or something) but it has a lot of cool ideas.
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Apr 29, 2016 22:23
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I browse w/ sigs off so thanks for keeping me updated
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Apr 29, 2016 22:35
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Mr. Squishy posted:I browse w/ sigs off so thanks for keeping me updated we're talking avatars you loving shithead idiot p.s. CestMoi you used to just shitpost and then you got real smart or something. I like you now.
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Apr 29, 2016 22:36
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It is very kind of you to say so. I find your posting style endearing.
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Apr 29, 2016 22:52
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I never found Cest Moi to be a shitposter. He is earnest and passionate about his ideas and sometimes I disagree with those ideas so I call him fuckface
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Apr 29, 2016 23:01
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Rusty posted:For a while I was looking for something like Solaris and the closest I came to was Eden. Eden is good, but it isn't great like Solaris. I do want to read more Stanislaw Lem, but I don't think anything can top Solaris as far as sci-fi goes. His Master's Voice is similar 2 Solaris, and is even better, IMO. Pls read it
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Apr 29, 2016 23:01
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blue squares posted:we're talking avatars you loving shithead idiot avs are just sigs to the left
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Apr 29, 2016 23:06
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avatars are the historiated initials, and sigs the marginalia, of the illuminated manuscript that is internet posting.
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Apr 29, 2016 23:14
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yes, and like forums, manuscripts are living documents, added to and elaborated upon by centuries of hands. unlike forums, manuscripts are now locked up in archives, enforced into artificial death. thats why i drew a dick in the Auchinleck manuscript, your honourMel Mudkiper posted:When you really get to it all fiction is fantasy because it deals with unreality in one form or another its all just a matter of the extent is this a Borges joke
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Apr 29, 2016 23:27
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CestMoi posted:wtf why do you have an av now???? i've been given a beautiful gift
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Apr 30, 2016 00:31
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david crosby posted:His Master's Voice is similar 2 Solaris, and is even better, IMO. Pls read it
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Apr 30, 2016 03:13
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so, which Houellebecq should I begin with? map and territory? possibility of an island? i'm not planning on reading more than one of his books unless the first one really grabs me, btw
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Apr 30, 2016 06:43
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Imo all Houellebecqs are pretty badly written so pick one with interesting theme. Platform if you want to go all-in into his fixations. Possibility of Island is scifi so it's bit different.
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Apr 30, 2016 07:23
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Burning Rain posted:so, which Houellebecq should I begin with? map and territory? possibility of an island? i'm not planning on reading more than one of his books unless the first one really grabs me, btw Here are the Houellebecq novel tier rankings: Ace: Map and the Territory, Elementary Particles Good: Possibility of an Island Dece: Submission Real Bad: Whatever, Platform
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Apr 30, 2016 08:21
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cool, that's exactly what I've been looking for, thx!
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Apr 30, 2016 12:36
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Fairly recently someone recommended David Vann so I picked up Aquarium from my local library. It is very good so far, I like the words he uses and the order he puts them in is particularly apposite. The fish drawings are also a nice touch.
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Apr 30, 2016 16:05
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Dead Goon posted:Fairly recently someone recommended David Vann so I picked up Aquarium from my local library. the legion grows
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Apr 30, 2016 16:22
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