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Foul Fowl posted:Anything by Camus, basically. He's immensely readable and his prose has a subdued and wonderful power. The Fall and The Stranger are probably your best bets. I found an old copy of Exile and the Kingdom (costing 2/6) on a bookshelf in the house here. The pages are nicely yellowed. I just read the first story in it, The Adulterous Woman. Like you said, very readable and quite powerful in a way. I'm a big fan of the review extracts on the back of the book. 'Such is the evocation of atmosphere and scene that ... one is forced on stage to suffer vicariously the hapless characters ... These are powerful, jolting, thought-provoking parables told skillfully and with detached precision.' - Sunday Times 'These violent yet controlled stories confirm ... that Camus is no simple, superficial humanitarian. He is on the side of the angels, as he should be, but he gives the devil a very good run for his money.' - Observer
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Jul 13, 2017 19:25
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Is The Razor's Edge representative of all of Maugham's works? I've been meaning to read Of Human Bondage but given the lack of really anything in the former except for ease of style, I'm unsure as to proceed to the latter.
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Jul 13, 2017 23:15
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mdemone posted:Oooh, I didn't know Coetzee was like that. I have a fondness for Crusoe, so maybe I'll pick up Foe. coetzee seems like a huuuge prick (acting out entire lectures in his in-novel author alter ego) but his books have a very subdued and pedestrian metafictionality to them. slow man starts with the main character being in a horrible accident, and in the middle this same author alter-ego shows up and lectures him on how he's living his life because he's not making for a very interesting story. it's much better than it sounds.
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Jul 14, 2017 10:12
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Furious Lobster posted:Is The Razor's Edge representative of all of Maugham's works? I've been meaning to read Of Human Bondage but given the lack of really anything in the former except for ease of style, I'm unsure as to proceed to the latter. If you didn't like Razor's Edge i wouldn't bother with On Human Bondage.
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Jul 14, 2017 11:40
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Foul Fowl posted:coetzee seems like a huuuge prick (acting out entire lectures in his in-novel author alter ego) but his books have a very subdued and pedestrian metafictionality to them. slow man starts with the main character being in a horrible accident, and in the middle this same author alter-ego shows up and lectures him on how he's living his life because he's not making for a very interesting story. There's some quote by a former colleague about how he worked with Coetzee for a decade and only saw him laugh once. but Waiting for the Barbarians was pretty good, I thought.
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Jul 14, 2017 12:19
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Coetzee has a rare animal rights awareness so it's no wonder he's a sullen depressed weirdo
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Jul 14, 2017 12:39
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Coetzee was a white dude in apartheid south Africa who knew and acknowledged how inhuman the system was so I don't think it's surprising that he's not a barrel of laughs.
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Jul 15, 2017 03:40
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A human heart posted:Coetzee was a white dude in apartheid south Africa who knew and acknowledged how inhuman the system was so I don't think it's surprising that he's not a barrel of laughs. some would say he was basically the original SJW :[
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Jul 15, 2017 04:00
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Disgrace is a really good novel. Waiting for the Barbarians is alright but a bit unsubtle
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Jul 15, 2017 20:43
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Grizzled Patriarch posted:There's some quote by a former colleague about how he worked with Coetzee for a decade and only saw him laugh once. Coetzee has said that quote is bollocks and he's only met the guy who told the story once
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Jul 16, 2017 14:31
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I dunno, find me a pic of him smiling.
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Jul 16, 2017 14:43
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His author insert in Diary of a Bad Year is mentioned as having awful crooked teeth and being very self conscious about it, so that's another reason why old Mr. C does not smile. [edit] First Google result gives us this, which is apparently younger Cotzee smiling before having full awareness of animal suffering and the Apartheid. He's better looking than I thought, would definitely swipe right. 
ZearothK fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Jul 16, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 16:36
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I finished Camus' Exile and The Kingdom at the start of the weekend. It was a nice read, really easy to follow, and actually quite hopeful. There's a nice gentleness to his writing, everything progresses methodically and with a steady pace. The story about the artist reassured me in a lot of ways; a painter who doesn't particularly care about other artist' work and when he does he doesn't make much of their efforts. He's happy to have a few people like his work and receive some money for his paintings. He wants to live his life without trouble or strife, and not that much bothers him while he's plodding along. It made a change from the stereotypes of struggling, hurting, or sharply ambitious and deadly artist. Anyway, an important question, how do you pronounce Camus' name? "Kah-moo" was how I was told, but I've previously hosed up concréte by missing the accent on the e. Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet is next to my bed right now, translated by Richard Zenith. I'll get cut into it tomorrow.
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Jul 18, 2017 16:56
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Camus Aran
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Jul 18, 2017 18:10
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"Kah-MOO" is correct. More emphasis on the second syllable.
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Jul 18, 2017 19:16
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Mr. Squishy posted:Camus Aran Camus Heaney
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Jul 18, 2017 19:28
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Dear thread, The Third Policeman is very good, it's a different beast to At Swim-Two-Birds but it's cool. My favourite bit was the digression on how night-time is actually the result of tiny microscopic volcanoes and that we're asphyxiated into sleep. I also like the magnifying glass that magnifies so much things become invisible. The book reminds me a lot of David Lynch weirdly.
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Jul 19, 2017 00:11
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Third Policeman has one of the best scrotum jokes in modern literature.
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Jul 19, 2017 00:26
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I think it's time to get rid of all my books and go Kindle. I'm getting ready to move and will have to keep a lot of stuff in storage for a while. Not looking forward to dealing with that again.
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Jul 19, 2017 01:18
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blue squares posted:I think it's time to get rid of all my books and go Kindle. I'm getting ready to move and will have to keep a lot of stuff in storage for a while. Not looking forward to dealing with that again. what about all the stuff that isn't on kindle
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Jul 19, 2017 01:57
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A human heart posted:what about all the stuff that isn't on kindle library blue squares fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Jul 19, 2017 |
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Jul 19, 2017 02:03
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you don't have any books that aren't on kindle or in the library?
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Jul 19, 2017 02:13
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i have a kindle but i prefer paper books, because i like to gently caress the books after i finish reading them
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Jul 19, 2017 02:18
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A human heart posted:what about all the stuff that isn't on kindle I order that in hard copy off Amazon. Kindle helps me save room for the books I can't get on Kindle.
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Jul 19, 2017 05:37
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Tree Goat posted:i have a kindle but i prefer paper books, because i like to gently caress the books after i finish reading them what if you want to read them a second time?
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Jul 19, 2017 06:45
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then you buy the book a second time? you wouldn't eat the same burger twice, that's disgusting.
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Jul 19, 2017 09:41
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I have a kindle but I haven't used it in a year now. paper books aren't that impractical, and without diving too much into  here, there's loads of really annoying formatting issues with ebooks sometimes, even legally obtained ones from like project gutenberg and so on which can make ebooks less worthwhile and much more of a hassle. kindle is perfect for reading while travelling, but otherwise not as good as a regular old book. plus a home without books in the shelves just looks and feels incredibly empty and almost too sterile. I couldn't stand to live like that ulvir fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Jul 19, 2017 |
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Jul 19, 2017 15:38
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Ebooks have the potential to be absolutely incredible, like for example can you imagine how good the definitive Finnegans Wake ebook could be, but I don't have to charge physical books and I'm always bad with technology Now what I would like is the ability to read illuminated manuscripts on your device without having to navigate the British Library's lovely website
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Jul 19, 2017 15:48
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I was using eBook only for awhile getting Amazon deals and then using my library's Overdrive service, but lately I have been getting more books when they are not available in eBook format or even just when I want to read a physical book, which to be fair is a lot nicer. eBook is superior for traveling or commuting (especially when I am on the bus or train and have to stand and read) and it is also way more convenient for delivery/return of books when they're ready (I have a library super close but it can still be a pain to get there to pick up a hold during open hours). I also like that I can be anywhere, at work or out of town or even just visiting someone for an evening, and finish a book then have a ton of options to immediately start reading my next one, and don't have to carry several books in my bag or have my next choice queued up. My one big regret is that all of the books on my shelf reflect my tastes from like 10 years ago, since I switched to ebook and then library use. At some point I need to start collecting a bunch of my actual favorite books from the last decade, but I also don't do rereads a ton so I would mostly be spending a shitload of money to display books that I love but that most of my friends/family would not possibly be able to tell the difference from my current collection. It's quite the conundrum.
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Jul 19, 2017 16:10
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I have like 80gb of books on my hard drive but i decided I hate ebooks because i can never remember anything about them. With a physical book I can remember what it looked like, where I was when I read it and all the stuff that happened but ebooks just exist in this realm of I was probably on a train
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Jul 19, 2017 16:12
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ulvir posted:plus a home without books in the shelves just looks and feels incredibly empty and almost too sterile. I couldn't stand to live like that I live in cramped quarters without that many shelves, and once I had to move five times in two years. I'd rather not carry any more boxes of books than I have to.
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Jul 19, 2017 16:18
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What was that Woody Allen movie where he lived in an apartment where every wall was a crammed bookshelf
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Jul 19, 2017 16:20
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Lightning Lord posted:What was that Woody Allen movie where he lived in an apartment where every wall was a crammed bookshelf All of them?
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Jul 19, 2017 16:23
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CestMoi posted:I have like 80gb of books on my hard drive but i decided I hate ebooks because i can never remember anything about them. With a physical book I can remember what it looked like, where I was when I read it and all the stuff that happened but ebooks just exist in this realm of I was probably on a train I cannot do e-books unless they are specifically on smart ink because a traditional backlit screen distracts me too much and effects my concentration. I bounce back and forth between liking e-books or not. Currently I am on a physical book kick.
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Jul 19, 2017 16:24
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Lightning Lord posted:What was that Woody Allen movie where he lived in an apartment where every wall was a crammed bookshelf the one where he plays a neurotic intellectual who is unappreciated by his peers and fails to win the love of his life against a handsomer philistine
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Jul 19, 2017 16:25
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Hey lit thread, Looking for some contemporary novels in a somewhat specific vein: Stuff that manages to balance hyper intellectual prose with beauty, satire and fun (Martin Amis, David Foster Wallace, some John Barth) Extremely strong character work (to the point where the writer will just let you sit and watch these characters talk for a while) - think Philip Roth's best work, or Richard Yates (only having read Revolutionary Road) A childlike sense of wonder on top of it all (Ali Smith, Bohumil Hrabal) It's hard to navigate contemporary lit since everything is drowning in praise and most of it is dull realism or half-baked pseudo-genre experimentation with nothing really driving it along. Other writers I love: Alasdair Gray Ishmael Reed Dorothy Baker Fran Ross Samuel Beckett (plays mostly, I find the novels dull) Flann O'Brien Give me more! Preferably stuff from the last 20 years. And I've probably read or given up on all the huge names, so don't recommend Bret Easton Ellis or whatever. Thanksssssss
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Jul 19, 2017 18:02
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J_RBG posted:Ebooks have the potential to be absolutely incredible, like for example can you imagine how good the definitive Finnegans Wake ebook could be problem is that they aren't. I remember reading infinite jest on the Kindle, and I think it actually hampered the reading experience more than anything, because it just couldn't handle endnotes-within-endnotes in any way at all. pressing the back-button more than once would throw you back into the book, not where you were, but where you were when you started the current reading session, and it was just such a pain in the rear end. give A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk a try. idk what you mean by hyper intellectual prose, but it at least checks all the other marks there.
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Jul 19, 2017 18:22
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ulvir posted:
Thanks! Pamuk is a writer I've always been curious about but has intimidated me for some reason. Having a good entry point should push me past that. By hyper intellectual prose, I'm just referring to the moments in stuff from Martin Amis, DFW, or Nabokov that just make me freak out that someone could be so brilliant not just to think up that idea, but also write it in a way that a dum-dum like me can understand. I'm not looking for stuff like Don DeLillo that just feels like a smart guy wanking his ideas at me with no regard to whether or not I can remotely follow along. Pynchon is the perfect middle ground of what I'm looking for and what I'm extremely not looking for. If this makes sense.
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Jul 19, 2017 18:40
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It has none of those things but you should read Aquarium
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Jul 19, 2017 18:58
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jonnykungfu posted:Thanks! Pamuk is a writer I've always been curious about but has intimidated me for some reason. Having a good entry point should push me past that. The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway is good but it might be a little more pulpy than what you're looking for. The Recognitions by Gaddis as well but it's fairly dense although if you like Pynchon and DFW it's probably a non-issue.
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Jul 19, 2017 19:03
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