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I liked Infinite Jest. I feel like Wallace is a lot like Tom Robbins - the latter writes really clever, memorable sentences but mediocre books; the former can write really good scenes but the final product is less than the sum of its parts. There's several 5-10 page sections of IJ that'll stay with me forever (the nuclear-war-as-tennis-game bit, that one conversation Orin and Hal have about finding their dad's body, the mini-essay about why video phones stopped being popular), but it's probably something I'll never read again, as there's so many parts that just drag on and on.
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Apr 8, 2015 17:56
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Popular Human posted:There's several 5-10 page sections of IJ that'll stay with me forever (the nuclear-war-as-tennis-game bit, that one conversation Orin and Hal have about finding their dad's body, the mini-essay about why video phones stopped being popular), I am like that about the gunshot victim in the hospital refusing morphine
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Apr 8, 2015 18:00
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Mel Mudkiper posted:EL Doctorow not Cory Doctorow 
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Apr 8, 2015 18:02
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with the current state of TBB, I can never be sure Another part of Infinite Jest that stays with me is the woman recovering from a suicide attempt at a mental health hospital. Its probably the best description of how depression leads to self-harm I have ever read, and it comes off as very tragic in the shadow of DFW's loss to that battle.
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Apr 8, 2015 18:05
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I do think it's become sort of the literary bible of the American twenty something though and that's kind of obnoxious. Fixed.
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Apr 8, 2015 18:08
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I'm fine with lacking cohesive narrative, that's not incredibly important to me as a reader. I think part of the problem is I came into Infinite Jest on the back of reading (and really enjoying) E Unibus Pluram so I'm often looking for the post post modern angle that DFW advocates there. And what he does is nothing like that, he indulges in the maximalist excesses completely, there's a denial of narrative + metanarrative and every emotion is behind a veneer of irony. He's just writing a postmodern novel, and not a very good one at that because instead of sacrificing coherence + ethics for beauty, he ditches coherence and writes ugly prose. There are bits that are good, but those are always the bits that come closest to being written by Pynchon or Gaddis, rather than being a powerful reaction to them.
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Apr 8, 2015 18:10
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CestMoi posted:There are bits that are good, but those are always the bits that come closest to being written by Pynchon or Gaddis, rather than being a powerful reaction to them. I read Infinite Jest in isolation rather than as part of a larger dialog so I can see how you might have a different experience with it. Its definitely extremely ironic, but that might be a large part of it being written at the dawn of the millennial irony zeitgeist.
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Apr 8, 2015 18:15
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Burning Rain posted:I couldn't see the book through all the fart jokes, fart related names and 16th church minutiae seen thru a farting rear end that had me constantly looking at the endnotes (there were no footnotes in my edition). some of the jokes were good, but they're always followed by a 5 page long gag about some bishop who drank too much with an endnote of the same length It seems pretty weird to read a book renowned for dick jokes and complain that there's not enough plot, because of all the dick jokes.
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Apr 9, 2015 01:49
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Egil's Saga is Best Saga egil's owns but the best saga is actually the Eyrbyggja saga, which has no real plot to speak of but does include a scene where an undead ghost-seal rises halfway through the floor of a hall and a kid has to smush it back down with hammer by whamming it repeatedly on the head
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Apr 12, 2015 02:36
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End Of Worlds posted:egil's owns but the best saga is actually the Eyrbyggja saga, which has no real plot to speak of but does include a scene where an undead ghost-seal rises halfway through the floor of a hall and a kid has to smush it back down with hammer by whamming it repeatedly on the head I :club: baby seals this, though: http://www.viking.ucla.edu/Scientific_American/Egils_Bones.htm
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Apr 12, 2015 02:39
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Gunter Grass 
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Apr 13, 2015 13:58
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Gunter Grass guess it's time to reread The Tin Drum.
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Apr 13, 2015 15:37
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read Eduardo Galeano instead
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Apr 13, 2015 15:44
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Ras Het posted:read Eduardo Galeano instead ok.
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Apr 13, 2015 15:52
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I've never actually read Tin Drum. Any recommendations on translations? I have an older translation but I know a brand new one just came out.
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Apr 13, 2015 16:38
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I've never actually read Tin Drum. Any recommendations on translations? I have an older translation but I know a brand new one just came out. I have the one by Breon Mitchell, and it's fine, for what its worth.
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Apr 13, 2015 17:18
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Ras Het posted:read Eduardo Galeano instead Actually read both, theyre both good.
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Apr 13, 2015 17:48
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I've never actually read Tin Drum. Any recommendations on translations? I have an older translation but I know a brand new one just came out. I read the John Reddick translation and I enjoyed it a lot.
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Apr 13, 2015 18:50
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If only they would make an anime adaptation of ulysses op's life would be complete.
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Apr 14, 2015 04:14
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Stephen King is everyone's first serious author. I suppose this is true. I did start reading It for the reasons you posit. However, I realised about a quarter of the way through that It is awful. And while I read all of The Dark Tower, that too was pretty average. Does Phillip Pullman count? Pretty sure HDM set me up in my (non)religious beliefs. But really I think it was George Orwell that was my literary crossover/appreciation moment. Animal Farm, 1984 and Shooting an Elephant. Mel Mudkiper posted:If you guys haven't read David Vann yet quit being useless shitfuckers and read David Vann I'm not just going to 'read' David Vann. Which book? Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I bought How To Read a Book http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Touchstone-book-ebook/dp/B004PYDAPE/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid= And now I have a big list of books to read. Thankfully I read The Odyssey ahead of time. thehomemaster fucked around with this message at 07:59 on Apr 14, 2015 |
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Apr 14, 2015 07:37
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Mr. Unlucky posted:If only they would make an anime adaptation of ulysses op's life would be complete. There's a manga.
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Apr 14, 2015 10:36
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thehomemaster posted:
Literally any of them
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Apr 14, 2015 13:03
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The only Stephen King I ever read was "Running Man" when i was 10 or something. It was alright for a kid's book.
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Apr 14, 2015 23:18
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I'm reading Bloom's Western Canon and while he's a bit weird about the School of Resentment stuff, his passion for literature is incredibly infectious and reading it makes me want to read all the time. I'd recommend it, so long as you don't care too much about reading a man who really can't stand the idea of any critique that isn't solely concerned with aesthetic beauty.
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Apr 17, 2015 22:46
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What's up thread. I am reading Fourth of July Creek right now and it's good. Pulitzer announcement tomorrow  Who ya got?
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Apr 19, 2015 22:30
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I just finished The Clown by Heinrich Böll, it was pretty good. lots of monologues about how the protag's ex-gf is a massive slut (book's words) for leaving him, and he dreams of ways to own "former" nazis
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Apr 19, 2015 22:47
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ulvir posted:I just finished The Clown by Heinrich Böll, it was pretty good. lots of monologues about how the protag's ex-gf is a massive slut (book's words) for leaving him, and he dreams of ways to own "former" nazis Ever read The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum? That is my only experience with Boll, although I do have Group Portrait with a Lady laying around,
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Apr 19, 2015 23:58
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Ever read The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum? That is my only experience with Boll, although I do have Group Portrait with a Lady laying around, no, this was my first Böll novel. is it good?
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Apr 20, 2015 08:02
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ulvir posted:no, this was my first Böll novel. is it good? I liked it. Its scope is surprisingly narrow for a literary novel, but it still rings true 40 years later.
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Apr 20, 2015 13:23
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Yo ulvir, you a Solstad man? I'm trying to decide whether to pursue a thorough reading of his stuff or Fløgstad's next. Got anything in particular to recommend? I've read some of the more famous novels of both guys (re: Solstad I've read, type, Irr! Grønt!, T. Singer and Gymnaslærer Pedersens Beretning, but none of the newer books and nothing really obscure) - I'm currently tending towards Fløgstad, but if you have any must-reads from Solstad I'm all ears.
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Apr 20, 2015 14:00
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ulvir posted:no, this was my first Böll novel. is it good? I c an vouch for it too. Also, "Billiards at Half-past Nine" is fun, dunno about the others, but I don't see why they shouldn't be good. His novels might be a touch too dramatic, but they're also great reads while not shying away from getting quite deep in some serious stuff. A bit like Hans Fallada or more literary Erich Maria Remarque in my memory.
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Apr 20, 2015 14:19
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I liked it. Its scope is surprisingly narrow for a literary novel, but it still rings true 40 years later. Burning Rain posted:I c an vouch for it too. Also, "Billiards at Half-past Nine" is fun, dunno about the others, but I don't see why they shouldn't be good. His novels might be a touch too dramatic, but they're also great reads while not shying away from getting quite deep in some serious stuff. A bit like Hans Fallada or more literary Erich Maria Remarque in my memory. Cool, I'll add it to my list. edit: also added Billiards at Half-past Nine V. Illych L. posted:Yo ulvir, you a Solstad man? I'm trying to decide whether to pursue a thorough reading of his stuff or Fløgstad's next. Got anything in particular to recommend? I've read some of the more famous novels of both guys (re: Solstad I've read, type, Irr! Grønt!, T. Singer and Gymnaslærer Pedersens Beretning, but none of the newer books and nothing really obscure) - I'm currently tending towards Fløgstad, but if you have any must-reads from Solstad I'm all ears. sorry, the only thing I've read of Solstad is his short story titled, well, «Novelle». Haven't read any Fløgstad either, I might need to rectify this at some point, on both accounts. ulvir fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Apr 20, 2015 |
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Apr 20, 2015 14:52
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Mel Mudkiper posted:The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum Haven't read it, but I can say that the 1974 film of this is good and cool.
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Apr 20, 2015 15:05
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Mel Mudkiper posted:What's up thread. I am reading Fourth of July Creek right now and it's good. Just went to All The Light We Cannot See.
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Apr 20, 2015 20:05
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Not sure how I feel about "All the Light We Cannot See" winning the Pulitzer prize. It was a good book, but it didn't really feel like a masterpiece, especially held against some other competition. Between this and The Goldfinch winning last year I am worried they are taking too much of a populist approach. Also Joyce Carol Oates and Richard Ford being finalists. wtf. It's not 1993 anymore guys. EDIT: I really think if you take the last decade or so in retrospect, the National Book Award is much more on target these days than the Pulitzer. Mel Mudkiper fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Apr 20, 2015 |
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Apr 20, 2015 20:06
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That said the sixth extinction looks like a good read.
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Apr 21, 2015 10:28
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Thinking about reading "Anna Karenina." What's the best translation?
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Apr 21, 2015 10:53
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I'm on kind of a Japan kick, and for that reason I started to read Kokoro today. Man this book is depressing
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Apr 21, 2015 16:55
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paint dry posted:I'm on kind of a Japan kick, and for that reason I started to read Kokoro today. Man this book is depressing http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=359
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Apr 21, 2015 17:01
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:Thinking about reading "Anna Karenina." What's the best translation? Pevear and Volokhonsky are considered nowadays to be the most accurate.
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Apr 21, 2015 17:02
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