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Earwicker posted:are you saying that things like "pig costume" and "escaping getting raped by malcolm x in a jazz club restroom by climbing down the toilet" are things that make a book sound good? because that makes it sound like some kind of alt history scifi garbage
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Dec 30, 2015 20:09
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That's not why the book is good though. Good books can have clone hitlers and supermen, but those shouldn't be the primary selling points.
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Dec 30, 2015 20:12
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The boring summary actually makes it seem decently interesting.
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Dec 30, 2015 20:14
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Earwicker posted:Maybe I don't know what it means to be a person either, but just to be clear, what does it mean to be a person, according to you? If I could explain it eloquently in a few sentences I would be too busy polishing my nobel prize to post about it online
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Dec 30, 2015 20:14
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Cloks posted:The boring summary actually makes it seem decently interesting. if it works for you, it's cool. i just wanted to let people know that it's not a generic family saga about the sufferings of Eastern Europe, but i guess i didn't stress the right things. welp,
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Dec 30, 2015 20:29
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Gaiman is probably cool to read if you're 17 years old or something
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Dec 30, 2015 23:22
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A human heart posted:Gaiman is probably cool to read if you're 17 years old or something Mallamp, confirm/deny
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Dec 30, 2015 23:28
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blue squares posted:Mallamp, confirm/deny blue squares has ascended to top-tier
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Dec 30, 2015 23:46
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A human heart posted:Gaiman is probably cool to read if you're 17 years old or something Neil gaiman writes cool fairy tales and sometimes accidentally tries to write a book for adults that isn't so cool.
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Jan 1, 2016 02:40
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Tao Lin is cooler
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Jan 1, 2016 08:20
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idk what mortal kombat has to do with books
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Jan 1, 2016 08:28
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Mortal Kombat: The Novelization IV confirmed January BOTM
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Jan 1, 2016 08:42
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mallamp posted:Mortal Kombat: The Novelization IV confirmed January BOTM I was thinking the novelization of the new lego game for Star Wars: Force Awakens
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Jan 1, 2016 09:01
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I finished Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses a day ago and I still can't stop thinking about how great it was: as a retelling of Othello but exploring how someone can become an Iago, and identity crises wrt being an immigrant. As a chaser to The Blind Owl (for I guess last year's booklord challenge), that was some serious compare/contrast wrt portrayals of madness. Are Rushdie's other books worth digging into? Any other books like Satanic Verses to recommend?
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Jan 2, 2016 00:44
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saphron posted:I finished Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses a day ago and I still can't stop thinking about how great it was: as a retelling of Othello but exploring how someone can become an Iago, and identity crises wrt being an immigrant. As a chaser to The Blind Owl (for I guess last year's booklord challenge), that was some serious compare/contrast wrt portrayals of madness. Shame is extremely good IMO. It's more focused and less surreal than The Satanic Verses, but just as much worth reading. Sort of an allegorical modern history of Pakistan.
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Jan 2, 2016 02:04
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saphron posted:I finished Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses a day ago and I still can't stop thinking about how great it was: as a retelling of Othello but exploring how someone can become an Iago, and identity crises wrt being an immigrant. As a chaser to The Blind Owl (for I guess last year's booklord challenge), that was some serious compare/contrast wrt portrayals of madness. How well do I have to know the quran before reading Satanic Verses?
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Jan 2, 2016 02:11
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Beyond sane knolls posted:How well do I have to know the quran before reading Satanic Verses? You don't really need to know it at all, everything is pretty well explained within the context of the book.
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Jan 2, 2016 02:15
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saphron posted:I finished Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses a day ago and I still can't stop thinking about how great it was: as a retelling of Othello but exploring how someone can become an Iago, and identity crises wrt being an immigrant. As a chaser to The Blind Owl (for I guess last year's booklord challenge), that was some serious compare/contrast wrt portrayals of madness. Try "Joseph Anton" It's his memoirs about going into hiding after writing the Satanic Verses
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Jan 2, 2016 02:39
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Earwicker posted:Shame is extremely good IMO. It's more focused and less surreal than The Satanic Verses, but just as much worth reading. Sort of an allegorical modern history of Pakistan. Definitely going to look this up, thanks! Mel Mudkiper posted:Try "Joseph Anton" ...oh snap. Thanks for bringing that up, will read.
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Jan 2, 2016 03:51
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I really liked both Midnight Children and Fury. MC is more magical and layered, whereas Fury is much more straightforward and, well, angry. It also attracts nice reviews like: "an irredeemable piece of garbage that's sloppy and uninteresting, filled with trite observations and vapid, transparent characters bumbling around in a lame social satire that amounts to nothing deeper or insightful than whatever you and your friends might say about celebrity culture while watching "Entertainment Tonight""" so you can like it and feel contrarian
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Jan 2, 2016 07:56
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IDK if this is the right thread for this, but hell, seems like it, what's a good place to start with Flann O'Brien?
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Jan 2, 2016 11:54
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At Swim-Two-Birds. E: on second thought, it's a challenging work if you're not Irish / familiar with Irish legends and Irish literature / Catholic. It's his masterpiece, though, and really funny and just an overall delight.* It's a story nested inside a story nested inside a story, where characters come to life and torment their author with the help of a good-natured evil spirit and legendary hero Finn MacCool. One of my very favorite books. Maybe The Third Policeman would be a better introduction? (I've never read it  but it's highly praised). The Poor Mouth is a great satire of the woeful memoirs popular in Ireland at the time, also worth your time.If you still want to read At Swim-Two-Birds and you're not familiar with the things I listed above, at the very least, get your hands on A Celtic Miscellany and skim through it, so you can recognize the passages where O'Brien is satirizing the language of legend. (Plus, it's interesting in its own right.) *Then again, I'm reading Moby Dick now and finding it really funny and just an overall delight, so maybe my perception is off. Rabbit Hill fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Jan 2, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 15:05
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What long book should I read next: Gravity's Rainbow Moby Dick War and Peace First reply wins
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Jan 3, 2016 04:10
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Gravity's Rainbow Don't worry if you don't understand everything. Just take your time and keep going. It starts to make more sense when section 2 starts
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Jan 3, 2016 04:11
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Unnecessarily seconding GR, it's an amazing book
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Jan 3, 2016 04:28
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Cool, I've read Lot 49 so I kinda know what to expect (I presume).
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Jan 3, 2016 04:29
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Moby Dick summary -There is a boat -nothing happens -a whale smashes it
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Jan 3, 2016 04:30
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OK here's a question: Odyssey or Iliad? Just finished the latter and I don't rate it anywhere near as highly as the former.
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Jan 3, 2016 04:36
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Moby Dick summary the beginning is great, before they get on the boat. the_homemaster posted:Cool, I've read Lot 49 so I kinda know what to expect (I presume). Not at all. It's on a whole 'nother level blue squares fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Jan 3, 2016 |
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Jan 3, 2016 04:45
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the_homemaster posted:OK here's a question: Odyssey or Iliad? Iliad is better Aeneid is also good
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Jan 3, 2016 04:58
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blue squares posted:the beginning is great, before they get on the boat. Glad I am not the only one who thought that. First 100 pages were great and then whoops whale penis for the next 400 pages.
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Jan 3, 2016 05:00
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Rabbit Hill posted:*Then again, I'm reading Moby Dick now and finding it really funny and just an overall delight, so maybe my perception is off. No, you're right on the money. Flann O'Brien is the funniest author I've ever read. The Best of Myles had me in tears in the middle of a plane flight.
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Jan 3, 2016 06:33
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Moby Dick summary The parts where 'nothing happens' are the best though.
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Jan 3, 2016 09:08
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All of Moby-Dick is surprisingly cool, so you should read it. Also, get the version with the Rockwell Kent illustrations, it's way more worth it than the Norton Critical edition with the stuffy-rear end essays at the end.
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Jan 3, 2016 13:05
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I've started war and peace, and love it. tfw mansplaining was first described by tolstoy
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Jan 3, 2016 16:39
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WAY TO GO WAMPA!! posted:All of Moby-Dick is surprisingly cool, so you should read it. Essays are good, the more academic the better.
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Jan 3, 2016 23:35
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ulvir posted:I've started war and peace, and love it. tfw mansplaining was first described by tolstoy White males did everything, is there no end to their superiority?
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Jan 3, 2016 23:41
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A human heart posted:Essays are good, the more academic the better. 
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Jan 3, 2016 23:58
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Queequeg looking "devilishly" handsome there..
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Jan 4, 2016 04:10
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Moby Dick summary Sounds like this guy doesn't appreciate sperm the way I do
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Jan 4, 2016 04:15
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