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The North Tower posted:Older Italian guy I work with scoffed at it not being “real literature”. I followed up and it seemed like it was just a ‘women=inferior’ usual amount of idiocy. Sot Weed Factor by John Barth!
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Jan 24, 2020 00:02
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Anything by Pynchon, V. is especially playful. The Man Who Was Thursday, Celine’s Journey to the End of the Night. mason & dixon is the most rabelaisian pynchon
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Jan 24, 2020 00:02
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thehoodie posted:Sot Weed Factor by John Barth! I didn't realize this was the name of another book until Literary Hangover's most recent ep (which I haven't listened to yet  )
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Jan 24, 2020 00:07
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CestMoi posted:the golden rear end by apuleius is the original picaresque 'stuff just happens' and it owns. The Satyricon is pretty good too. The beginning and ending have been lost, but it's a very episodic story anyway. The highlight is a dinner party by Rome's most vulgar nouveau riche.
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Jan 24, 2020 00:19
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The North Tower posted:Older Italian guy I work with scoffed at it not being “real literature”. I followed up and it seemed like it was just a ‘women=inferior’ usual amount of idiocy. Please read Mulata by Miguel Angel Asturias. Thank you.
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Jan 24, 2020 01:14
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Lex Neville posted:is a pretty popular take, actually Seems so. Onward to REAL literature about a professor who’s sad because slightly fewer of his grad students want to gently caress him and he’s about to turn 48.
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Jan 24, 2020 05:33
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The North Tower posted:Seems so. Onward to REAL literature about a professor who’s sad because slightly fewer of his grad students want to gently caress him and he’s about to turn 48. that stuff is bad as well.
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Jan 24, 2020 06:14
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lost in postation posted:Water Margin reminded me strongly of Rabelais. The unabridged text is a little intimidating but it's loads of fun throughout. Which translation did you read? I've got the FLP edition cos it was cheap, but I don't know how good it is. Rabelais guy, read Journey to the West and Jin Ping Mei.
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Jan 24, 2020 06:37
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Safety Biscuits posted:Which translation did you read? I've got the FLP edition cos it was cheap, but I don't know how good it is. I read it in French, sorry! That said, the Shapiro translation is pretty highly regarded afaik.
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Jan 24, 2020 08:48
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ulvir posted:a woman who worked at the bookshop in Bergen's house of literature also scoffed at Ferrante that's a nice bookshop, btw. I went there once and the lit mag display wall alone was worth the trip.
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Jan 24, 2020 18:08
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The North Tower posted:Older Italian guy I work with scoffed at it not being “real literature”. I followed up and it seemed like it was just a ‘women=inferior’ usual amount of idiocy. Gulliver's Travels, obvi.
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Jan 25, 2020 23:15
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btw the genre you're looking for is called Menippean satire
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Jan 26, 2020 00:10
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Just started Rabbit, Run. Never read any other Updike. Seems like an exercise in making GBS threads on Americans for 300 pages? also wow this dude really likes to describe light doing things
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Jan 28, 2020 06:39
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PTSDeedly Do posted:Just started Rabbit, Run. Never read any other Updike. Seems like an exercise in making GBS threads on Americans for 300 pages? former(?) forums poster tricia lockwood wrote a big rear end updike thing for lrb recently https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n19/patricia-lockwood/malfunctioning-sex-robot
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Jan 28, 2020 06:56
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Tree Goat posted:former(?) forums poster tricia lockwood wrote a big rear end updike thing for lrb recently awesome I will read this thank you
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Jan 28, 2020 07:10
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Jan 28, 2020 07:53
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thehoodie posted:Sot Weed Factor by John Barth! fyi it's insanely, surrealistically rapey. Like, pretty much every character is either raping someone or preparing to rape someone/be raped on any given page.
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Jan 28, 2020 10:47
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My SO has become a full-on Vannhead after reading Aquarium and Halibut on the moon. She already ordered Bright Air Black, but wants to read something not quite as bleak before it. The reason she loves Vann is the depth of emotion in his writing. Does anyone have good tips on authors who have this depth, but preferably on some other topics than generational trauma, suicide and depression?
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Jan 28, 2020 12:17
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sebmojo posted:fyi it's insanely, surrealistically rapey. Like, pretty much every character is either raping someone or preparing to rape someone/be raped on any given page. Yeah, it's a loving great book
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Jan 28, 2020 12:19
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Jan 28, 2020 14:51
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sebmojo posted:fyi it's insanely, surrealistically rapey. Like, pretty much every character is either raping someone or preparing to rape someone/be raped on any given page. 
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Jan 28, 2020 18:17
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Just finished Notes from Underground. I really love these books about complete loving losers who think they are above everyone. Any other's to recommend? (Have read Pale Fire, Lolita and The Loser which also have similar vibes of what I'm looking for) Also all these Russian books constantly reference Pushkin. What Pushkin should I read?
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Jan 28, 2020 20:42
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derp posted:Just finished Notes from Underground. I really love these books about complete loving losers who think they are above everyone. Any other's to recommend? (Have read Pale Fire, Lolita and The Loser which also have similar vibes of what I'm looking for) A Confederacy of Dunces Around half of the stories from Tenth of December by George Saunders The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Factotum by Bukowski The Moviegoer by Walker Percy The Toy Collector by James Gunn is pretty good dark middle-brow lit from a guy that would go on to make genre flicks. He wrote it during his Troma days. S'about a guy that steals prescription drugs from his hospital job so he can buy nostalgic collectibles while he constantly fucks up his life and alienates everyone around him.
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Jan 28, 2020 20:55
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Franchescanado posted:The Toy Collector by James Gunn is pretty good dark middle-brow lit from a guy that would go on to make genre flicks. He wrote it during his Troma days. S'about a guy that steals prescription drugs from his hospital job so he can buy nostalgic collectibles while he constantly fucks up his life and alienates everyone around him. How, uh, self-aware is this?
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Jan 28, 2020 21:01
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derp posted:Just finished Notes from Underground. I really love these books about complete loving losers who think they are above everyone. Any other's to recommend? (Have read Pale Fire, Lolita and The Loser which also have similar vibes of what I'm looking for) a bunch of pages back there were some good answers to a similar question, so click to see what else people suggested: Peel posted:what are some good books prominently featuring hypocrites and/or narcissists gonna stick with dead souls and correction tho
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Jan 28, 2020 21:04
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derp posted:Also all these Russian books constantly reference Pushkin. What Pushkin should I read? You will continue to miss references until you've read all of Pushkin, but Yevgeni Onegin is the major work, and I like Roger Clarke's translation
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Jan 28, 2020 21:35
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Heath posted:How, uh, self-aware is this? Pretty self-aware in many ways. Like I said, it was written over five years, during his Troma days (published in 2000) when he was living paycheck to paycheck in NYC. It is a very bleak book. It has more in common with Burroughs's Junky and Welsh's Trainspotting, or, for a film analogy, kinda like Good Time but without a heist element. Just a book about a severely depressed guy, loving over everyone around him, recalling memories of a crappy childhood with trauma and neglect, covering his wounds with totems of nostalgia, while still convincing himself that he's better than everyone around him. It's a strange outlier in his career, since he really never got anywhere as dark or as grounded as his novel. Kind of a shame he'll probably never write something as good as this, now that he's bouncing back and forth between DC and Marvel's films stuff. It's not all bleak. It has a dark and vulgar sense of humor throughout. It's polarizing, but I've read it multiple times at various stages in my life, and it holds up. There's a couple of book reviews out there where fans of his Marvel stuff read it and it broke them. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Jan 28, 2020 |
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Jan 28, 2020 22:12
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derp posted:Just finished Notes from Underground. I really love these books about complete loving losers who think they are above everyone. Any other's to recommend? (Have read Pale Fire, Lolita and The Loser which also have similar vibes of what I'm looking for) Any of Bukowski's books should fit the bill. I think I liked them all equally, but it's been a while. Mostly a snapshot of the beat generation but if he were alive today he'd probably be at my door to bone up me jaw by typing this. Philthy fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jan 28, 2020 |
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Jan 28, 2020 22:15
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Franchescanado posted:There's a couple of book reviews out there where fans of his Marvel stuff read it and it broke them. link
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Jan 28, 2020 22:36
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derp posted:Just finished Notes from Underground. I really love these books about complete loving losers who think they are above everyone. Any other's to recommend? (Have read Pale Fire, Lolita and The Loser which also have similar vibes of what I'm looking for) Envy by Yuri Olesha and Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo. Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov has powerful total loser vibes, although I wouldn't say the protagonist thinks that highly of himself. quote:Also all these Russian books constantly reference Pushkin. What Pushkin should I read? Eugene Onegin, followed by a collection of short stories (especially Tales of Belkin and Queen of Spades). Speaking of which, I'm starting my reread of EO today.
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Jan 28, 2020 22:51
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derp posted:Just finished Notes from Underground. I really love these books about complete loving losers who think they are above everyone. Any other's to recommend? (Have read Pale Fire, Lolita and The Loser which also have similar vibes of what I'm looking for) Hunger has a guy like that, also go for Woodcutters and (arguably) crime & punishment
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Jan 28, 2020 22:57
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Vernon Subutex by Virginie Despentes has a loser as protagonist. The titular character is a failed record shop owner, barely surviving in Paris, but also feeling above everyone else that can afford stuff like food or a place to live. It’s dire
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Jan 28, 2020 23:01
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ulvir posted:Hunger has a guy like that, also go for Woodcutters and (arguably) crime & punishment oh yeah, the motherlode of supercilious failures is bernhard's bibliography
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Jan 28, 2020 23:02
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Franchescanado posted:Pretty self-aware in many ways. Like I said, it was written over five years, during his Troma days (published in 2000) when he was living paycheck to paycheck in NYC. It is a very bleak book. It has more in common with Burroughs's Junky and Welsh's Trainspotting, or, for a film analogy, kinda like Good Time but without a heist element. Just a book about a severely depressed guy, loving over everyone around him, recalling memories of a crappy childhood with trauma and neglect, covering his wounds with totems of nostalgia, while still convincing himself that he's better than everyone around him. It's a strange outlier in his career, since he really never got anywhere as dark or as grounded as his novel. Kind of a shame he'll probably never write something as good as this, now that he's bouncing back and forth between DC and Marvel's films stuff. Welsh's novella A Smart oval office is a bit like that, it's loving devastating.
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Jan 28, 2020 23:15
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None of them are amazing, but here's a few:    The actual funny reviews are people who collect toys who wanted a book about collecting toys:   sebmojo posted:Welsh's novella A Smart oval office is a bit like that, it's loving devastating. Oh poo poo, this sounds fun. Thanks!
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Jan 28, 2020 23:20
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derp posted:Just finished Notes from Underground. I really love these books about complete loving losers who think they are above everyone. Any other's to recommend? (Have read Pale Fire, Lolita and The Loser which also have similar vibes of what I'm looking for) portnoy’s complaint
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Jan 28, 2020 23:30
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I see that Nabokov did a translation of EO...why on earth would i not want to get that one? And also thanks for all the loser suggestions, so many to pick from
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Jan 28, 2020 23:41
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derp posted:I see that Nabokov did a translation of EO...why on earth would i not want to get that one?
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Jan 29, 2020 00:09
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And Nabokov had very strong and very particular views on what a good translation should be like, which is always a danger sign
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Jan 29, 2020 04:47
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This reminds me of when I recommended Geek Love to a blogger and his review of it was "I thought this was going to be a cute nerd romance but it turns out it's the other kind of 'geek,' oh no"
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Jan 29, 2020 04:58
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