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novamute posted:I definitely didn't identify with the characters in The Magus at all. As I was reading I kept thinking, "Man am I glad that I'm not an angsty teenager anymore and that I don't think and feel like this guy". I didn't feel like that got in the way of me enjoying the novel though. For me it was more about the sense of mystery and dread that Fowles is able to evoke and I've never read anything else that did it so effectively. The pacing is a big part of that since he never really lets things die down; just piles weird on top of weird until you're just as confused as Urfe as the rules of his world get shifted around behind the scenes constantly. Yeah, when I first opened the book, I felt like I could identify with Urfe for the first bit. But it faded quickly. Nonetheless, I felt the characters did deepen as the story went on, even if it was in ways that I found annoying. I tried to look past that to just see how Fowles constructed them and their settings. That's kind of what I was getting at. He did that masterfully. It was a monumental task to deepen the characters and keep them as still themselves in that ever-changing kind of setting. Strangely, I was reading Faulkner's "The Wild Palms" (or "If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem) at the same time and I kept getting confused because the introduction of the protagonist and the woman he loves are strikingly similar. But Faulkner's character, Harry, was afterwards, to me, much easier to identify with. It was all so similar though, I kept wondering if Fowles had read that.
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Dec 17, 2014 15:34
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Falstaff Infection posted:Never read the corrections, but I found Freedom to be complete garbage. It read like a parody of "MFA lit." I think it's basically pseudo-Updike. I liked Freedom. I can see why you wouldn't though. Franzen tries to bridge the gap between complex and accessible and that can end up displeasing people used to either. I think his characters are well fleshed out and the plotting is well paced. As someone who grew up in the midwest, it's an excellent cross-section of personalities you'll find in the area. Much like someone said about The Corrections (which I've not yet read) it's a product of it's time. The prose is unimpressive, though. As someone who usually reads for prose or characters and not plot, that was off putting, since a lot of the "oh poo poo" moments come from the plot and not the prose.
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Dec 17, 2014 15:57
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Reading Victor Hugo first twenty-odd pages of the novel is just a list of how obscenely wealthy the English nobility is, I love it
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Dec 18, 2014 00:10
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V. Illych L. posted:Reading Victor Hugo Which book?
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Dec 18, 2014 00:19
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Hi, I think Life of Pi is a good book, thank you for reading
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Dec 18, 2014 01:49
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It's okay.
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Dec 18, 2014 02:06
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I'm reading Catcher in the Rye and it is also okay.
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Dec 18, 2014 02:06
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Smoking Crow posted:Hi, I think Life of Pi is a good book, thank you for reading I liked Life of Pi but what really bugged me was when he gave his spiel about the difference between atheists and agnostics and in my opinion he got it exactly backwards.
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Dec 18, 2014 03:17
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V. Illych L. posted:Reading Victor Hugo
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Dec 18, 2014 15:02
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This is a good thread My experience with English classes really killed my reading interest after graduating high school and now that I'm getting into college I'm starting to actually want to read for funsies again. I've been reading Winesburg, Ohio while going through this thread for more recommendations and I've been enjoying it, but I find that my mind starts to wander a lot while I'm reading it after a couple of chapters. Some of the other books mentioned here that seemed like they'd be up my alley include the Mabinogion, Catch 22, Gravity's Rainbow and Big breasts and wide hips. Before I've started reading this thread and Winesburg though I had been itching for some nonfiction, where does this thread stand on it? ObscureThought fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Dec 18, 2014 |
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Dec 18, 2014 18:41
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Non-fiction is really cool, I have been trying to read more this year. Since I am a big dumb baby who needs facts spoon fed in the form of easily digestible narratives, here are some of the authors I have read multiple books from and liked: Jared Diamond Dava Sobel Bill Bryson Michael Lewis
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Dec 18, 2014 19:25
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Smoking Crow posted:Hi, I think Life of Pi is a good book, thank you for reading I got 100 pages in and said no way. I usually like stories with unlikeable/immoral protagonists, but a smug, self-righteous protagonist was too much for me. That and he's the narrator. Plus, I'm a strong athiest, and even though I'm supportive of people's religous choices, I can't deal with those themes in literature. They aren't particularly interesting to me. I also can't get over this whole "spiritual not religious" bullshit it was spewing en masse. Like, when Pi is confronted by his parents and religious leaders for going to multiple churches of different faiths and his response is "I just want to love God." Yeah, on his terms. That's not love at all. That's selfish.
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Dec 19, 2014 18:37
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UnoriginalMind posted:Plus, I'm a strong athiest, and even though I'm supportive of people's religous choices, I can't deal with those themes in literature. They aren't particularly interesting to me. good luck enjoying anything that isn't sci-fi or fantasy written by neckbeards
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Dec 19, 2014 18:51
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UnoriginalMind posted:when Pi is confronted by his parents and religious leaders for going to multiple churches of different faiths and his response is "I just want to love God." Yeah, on his terms. That's not love at all. That's selfish. For "a strong atheist" this sounds like a strangely evangelical protestant opinion.
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Dec 19, 2014 19:01
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A Rambling Vagrant posted:So has anyone here read Cyclonopedia? I'm about halfway in & so far it's equal parts delightful, infuriating, brilliant & meaningless. Cyclonopedia is one of the most important works of the last 10 years.
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Dec 19, 2014 19:02
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I'm a strong vegetarian and cannot handle books with meat based themes, any recommendations? I tried reading Life of Pi and when he said something about how the tiger might eat him I had to put it down in disgust.
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Dec 19, 2014 19:47
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CestMoi posted:I'm a strong vegetarian and cannot handle books with meat based themes, any recommendations? I tried reading Life of Pi and when he said something about how the tiger might eat him I had to put it down in disgust. The Jungle ought to be right up your alley.
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Dec 19, 2014 21:37
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CestMoi posted:I'm a strong vegetarian and cannot handle books with meat based themes, any recommendations? I tried reading Life of Pi and when he said something about how the tiger might eat him I had to put it down in disgust. http://www.amazon.com/Still-Life-Adventures-Melissa-Milgrom/dp/B005DI9QK4
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Dec 19, 2014 21:39
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UnoriginalMind posted:I got 100 pages in and said no way. I usually like stories with unlikeable/immoral protagonists, but a smug, self-righteous protagonist was too much for me. That and he's the narrator. Plus, I'm a strong athiest, and even though I'm supportive of people's religous choices, I can't deal with those themes in literature. They aren't particularly interesting to me. What if I told u that God and Allah were the same guy
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Dec 19, 2014 21:47
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In the name of Annah the Allmaziful, the Everliving, the Bringer of Plurabilities, haloed be her eve, her singtime sung, her rill be run, unhemmed as it is uneven!
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Dec 19, 2014 22:04
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Reported.
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Dec 20, 2014 02:55
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Guy A. Person posted:Non-fiction is really cool, I have been trying to read more this year. Since I am a big dumb baby who needs facts spoon fed in the form of easily digestible narratives, here are some of the authors I have read multiple books from and liked: Bill Bryson is great. Life and times of the thunderbolt kid is one of the few books I can recommend to people who rarely read.
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Dec 20, 2014 03:49
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Going through this thread I find it funny that it's purpose is to wean goons off of genre fiction yet the recommendations for "serious" literature include Raymond Chandler and Shirley Jackson.
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Dec 20, 2014 04:53
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Borneo Jimmy posted:Going through this thread I find it funny that it's purpose is to wean goons off of genre fiction yet the recommendations for "serious" literature include Raymond Chandler and Shirley Jackson. read William James
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Dec 20, 2014 05:28
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Borneo Jimmy posted:Going through this thread I find it funny that it's purpose is to wean goons off of genre fiction yet the recommendations for "serious" literature include Raymond Chandler and Shirley Jackson. Its purpose is to wean goons off genre fiction that is bad. Read all the good genre fiction you want. Read raymond chandler and ursula k leguin and john le carre and patrick o'brian
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Dec 20, 2014 05:33
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What if I told you that Charlotte Bronte and Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote horror stories???????
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Dec 20, 2014 05:40
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Smoking Crow posted:What if I told you that Charlotte Bronte and Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote horror stories??????? Wrong they wrote Literature with a capital L
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Dec 20, 2014 06:34
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tatankatonk posted:Its purpose is to wean goons off genre fiction that is bad. Read all the good genre fiction you want. Read raymond chandler and ursula k leguin and john le carre and patrick o'brian John le Carre wrote like one or two good books, the rest and especially his later stuff is terrible & generally unfit.
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Dec 20, 2014 16:03
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Boatswain posted:John le Carre wrote like one or two good books, the rest and especially his later stuff is terrible & generally unfit. I don't like all of his later books but many of them are quite good, I don't think I've read a single book by him that approaches terrible.
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Dec 20, 2014 16:41
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YOu're only allowed to talk about books I approve of in this thread, being good literature has nothing to do with it.
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Dec 20, 2014 17:05
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Earwicker posted:I don't like all of his later books but many of them are quite good, I don't think I've read a single book by him that approaches terrible. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Dec 20, 2014 |
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Dec 20, 2014 17:21
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Absolute Friends is definitely one of his weaker books, I think because he let his anger over Iraq get to him. However I thought A Most Wanted Man and Our Kind of Traitor were both great reads, the newest one wasn't bad either. I would agree that none of his later books are really "literary" in the same sense as A Perfect Spy or The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, but they are still pretty far from being bad books. Earwicker fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Dec 20, 2014 |
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Dec 20, 2014 17:57
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The best review of Freedom that I've ever seen was a dude who gave it five stars for being the Platonic form of middlebrow lit
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Dec 20, 2014 19:12
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End Of Worlds posted:The best review of Freedom that I've ever seen was a dude who gave it five stars for being the Platonic form of middlebrow lit The Secret History
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Dec 20, 2014 20:53
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End Of Worlds posted:The best review of Freedom that I've ever seen was a dude who gave it five stars for being the Platonic form of middlebrow lit Haha, got a link?
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Dec 20, 2014 20:59
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There was a period in the late nineteenth early twentieth century when every "literary" writer was writing ghost stories. Speaking of which, M.R. James is fuckin great. "Oh Whistle and I'll Come for You, My Lad" is terrifying.
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Dec 20, 2014 21:01
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Earwicker posted:Absolute Friends is definitely one of his weaker books, I think because he let his anger over Iraq get to him.
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Dec 20, 2014 21:15
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Earwicker posted:I don't like all of his later books but many of them are quite good, I don't think I've read a single book by him that approaches terrible. I read The Night Manager and it was utter garbage, a too long and too mundane Bond movie with as ridiculous characters. On another topic, opinions on Marlen Haushofer? I've just ordered the three of her books available in England after a very favourable review in the LRB.
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Dec 20, 2014 21:54
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It occurred to me that I've never read Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Is there any consensus on the best translation to start with? I'm currently looking at going with Lydia Davis' version of the first volume.
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Dec 20, 2014 22:16
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cptn_dr posted:It occurred to me that I've never read Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Is there any consensus on the best translation to start with? I'm currently looking at going with Lydia Davis' version of the first volume. Get that translation! It's incredible, it slays the Moncrieff. You can get a sense of its power from just the first few sentences: quote:For a long time, I went to bed early. Sometimes, my candle scarcely out, my eyes would close so quickly that I did not have time to say to myself: “I’m falling asleep.” And, half an hour later, the thought that it was time to try to sleep would wake me; I wanted to put down the book I thought I still had in my hands and blow out my light; I had not ceased while sleeping to form reflec-tions on what I had just read, but these reflections had taken a rather peculiar turn; it seemed to me that I myself was what the book was talking about
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Dec 21, 2014 06:27
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