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StashAugustine posted:Have you read Our Man In Havana, cause with the obvious exception of the loathsome Batista-era policeman most of the characters in that are relatively likeable in a dim-witted sort of way No, I haven't -- thanks for the rec. I've somehow avoided reading (not on purpose) his "political intrigue novels" like that one, The Quiet American, etc. I need to get on that. After I read more Melville 
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Jan 7, 2016 13:46
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What on earth did Greene write that's not a political thriller? They're all about getting chased around by agents of someone or other.
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Jan 7, 2016 15:24
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Mr. Squishy posted:What on earth did Greene write that's not a political thriller? They're all about getting chased around by agents of someone or other. End of the Affair?
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Jan 7, 2016 15:28
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Yo Hieronymous post the list of votes for this thread I want to see what wieners are voting us 1
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Jan 7, 2016 15:36
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:End of the Affair? My definition of the word political is expansive. Also I really hated that book. Hagiography is hard to make interesting and I really don't trust what Greene has to say about women.
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Jan 7, 2016 16:48
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Mr. Squishy posted:My definition of the word political is expansive. Also I really hated that book. Hagiography is hard to make interesting and I really don't trust what Greene has to say about women. Yeah book is really good at chasing the reader away from Catholicism. As to votes, I haven't looked and can't look right now for this thread, but as a general rule almost no threads in this forum get any significant number of votes at all, positive or negative. Too low traffic.
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Jan 7, 2016 17:43
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The low votes are from a sweaty half-crazed George R.R. Martin, registering accounts just to lower the rating on this thread. I'm about sixty percent of the way through City On Fire. I'll do a long post on what I thought about the book and all that when I'm done but I'm leaning pretty positive right now.
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Jan 7, 2016 18:03
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Mr. Squishy posted:What on earth did Greene write that's not a political thriller? They're all about getting chased around by agents of someone or other. Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, and The End of the Affair are traditionally considered his four "Catholic novels". This is kind of silly, because his first novel, The Man Within, and others like A Burnt Out Case and The Comedians, have also got religious and specifically Catholic themes running through them. (Good article talking about this) I've read all of the above except for The Power and the Glory and The Comedians, as well as The The Ministry of Fear, The Tenth Man, and a few of Greene's short stories. Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yeah book is really good at chasing the reader away from Catholicism.
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Jan 7, 2016 18:03
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Rabbit Hill posted:But then there's Graham Greene, of whose works I've read at least 6-7, and each one populated with deeply unpleasant people.....but Greene's plots, themes, prose, etc., are all so profound and dexterously handled that it just doesn't matter that I don't like anybody he writes about. (Seriously, not one single character of his is anything better than prickly and off-putting. Even so, he's one of my favorite writers.) Ida is great.
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Jan 7, 2016 18:53
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Mr. Squishy posted:What on earth did Greene write that's not a political thriller? They're all about getting chased around by agents of someone or other. Brighton Rock is a pretty straightforward crime novel. I guess there are technically "agents" in it of a criminal organization, but it's not really political at all.
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Jan 7, 2016 18:54
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Wasn't this a GBS thread originally? Probably where all the votes came from.
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Jan 7, 2016 20:46
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I didn't do any reading over the break, got some bad airport novels as gifts, and then had to return all my checked out books because they were all overdue. Anyway, I think I'm going to read shorter stuff because I apparently can't find the time to finish 1,000 page novels anytime soon. I still have Palm of the Hand stories to read though, I've been doing like one or two a day.
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Jan 7, 2016 21:14
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Nanomashoes posted:Wasn't this a GBS thread originally? Probably where all the votes came from. No, please do not own all of us by calling this a GBS thread
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Jan 7, 2016 21:18
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The first 5 pages of this thread were great for people calling Smoking Crow a fucker and threatening to track him down and beat him to death with a fantasy hardback.
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Jan 7, 2016 23:15
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Mr. Squishy posted:The first 5 pages of this thread were great for people calling Smoking Crow a fucker and threatening to track him down and beat him to death with a fantasy hardback. I'd still like to see them try.
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Jan 7, 2016 23:35
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Cloks posted:The low votes are from a sweaty half-crazed George R.R. Martin, registering accounts just to lower the rating on this thread. Why would he vote this thread down when the asoiaf bad thread is the one making GBS threads all over him? The worst we ever did is ignore him. Pretty sure the bad votes are from people who read the title and scrunched up their noses and voted '1' and went back to whatever s/f series thread. Or that one dude who requested a ban after he got owned in here about Cormac McCarthy lol.
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Jan 7, 2016 23:35
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I wish i could go back in time and recommend the guy who said all high lit is depressing Lucky Jim
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Jan 8, 2016 00:58
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Burning Rain posted:I have that impression, too, and that's why I haven't read any of his books yet. I want to give him a go this year, though. Which one should I start with? extension du domaine de la lutte is the only houellebecq worth reading e: oh and his essay on lovecraft
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Jan 8, 2016 05:11
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Is Kim by Kipling any good? The great game period sounds really interesting and apparently that's where the name came from. I'm open to suggestions if there are other good books about it. I'm kind of in a spy mood in general so I might try something by John le Carré.
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Jan 8, 2016 08:59
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DisDisDis posted:Is Kim by Kipling any good? just give it a read and find out for yourself
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Jan 8, 2016 10:00
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Turns out it's free online and only about two hundred pages. I think I'll do that.
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Jan 8, 2016 10:06
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Guy A. Person posted:Or that one dude who requested a ban after he got owned in here about Cormac McCarthy lol.
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Jan 8, 2016 10:36
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Bandiet posted:One of Vonnegut's rules of writing was "Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for." While I'm sure that's still not necessary for some people, I definitely agree with that more than thoroughly loving a character, which is pretty facile. I believe at some point he said that if you're a good enough writer you can break any of his rules except one: Don't make the reader feel like their time has been wasted.
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Jan 8, 2016 12:02
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Guy A. Person posted:Or that one dude who requested a ban after he got owned in here about Cormac McCarthy lol. wait when was this it sounds funny
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Jan 8, 2016 19:41
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Earwicker posted:wait when was this it sounds funny http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3643994&userid=16633 I felt kinda bad for him 
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Jan 8, 2016 19:43
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And here is his ban request, 11 minutes later: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3747810&pagenumber=2&perpage=40#post452446272
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Jan 8, 2016 19:49
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:he was my favourite because he'd been here for like ten years without getting in trouble and all it took for him to have a fatal meltdown was someone saying that Cormac McCarthy was good I mean, not even "good" just "not intentionally racist". Like he thought McCarthy was actually psyched about cowboys and native slaughter and got real upset and confused when people pointed out otherwise.
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Jan 8, 2016 20:30
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I know I'm reading The Recognitions but Agnes Deigh is the most Pynchon name I've ever seen.
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Jan 9, 2016 12:50
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Thomas Pynchon being the pseudonym Gaddis adopted after The Recognitions bombed so badly.
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Jan 9, 2016 12:54
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Mr. Squishy posted:Thomas Pynchon being the pseudonym Gaddis adopted after The Recognitions bombed so badly. and then after he was disappointed with V. he let Heller write under the name and started using Gass, yes.
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Jan 9, 2016 13:23
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Nanomashoes posted:and then after he was disappointed with V. he let Heller write under the name and started using Gass, yes. What is that letter from?
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Jan 9, 2016 14:59
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Invicta{HOG}, M.D. posted:What is that letter from? Some guy on /lit/ was posting some pictures claiming they were Pynchon's letters from the UT Austin library. I can't guarantee their veracity, but they seem very Pynchon to me. Here's an archive of everything he posted. Here's the thread.
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Jan 10, 2016 00:16
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Nanomashoes posted:Some guy on /lit/ was posting some pictures claiming they were Pynchon's letters from the UT Austin library. I can't guarantee their veracity, but they seem very Pynchon to me. Here's an archive of everything he posted. Here's the thread. I will inspect them and report back, as resident Pynchonologist.
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Jan 11, 2016 00:23
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mdemone posted:I will inspect them and report back, as resident Pynchonologist. Whats your major?
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Jan 11, 2016 01:14
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I manage to squeeze together enough time to read, Chinua Achebe's Things fall Apart, a story about the effects of colonialism on a confederation of Ibo villages, but mainly a description of their culture and way of life. I recently read the Decline and Fall of the British Empire so this novel made for an effective appendix from the native perspective. The descriptions of Ibo life is colourful and rich, but also very easy to follow. It also avoids glorifying their customs and behaviours, it simple describes a custom or attitude and then gives the reason for it and leaves it at that. I'll be on the lookout for more of Chinua's work in the future.
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Jan 11, 2016 18:10
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Things Fall Apart is really really bad
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Jan 11, 2016 18:16
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Ras Het posted:Things Fall Apart is really really bad Only if you read it through the lens of Western aesthetic expectations
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Jan 11, 2016 18:19
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OK, Nigerian aesthetic expectations are bad
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Jan 11, 2016 18:21
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what didn't you like about it, Ras? (i think it's A Good Book, myself, as is A Man of the People)
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Jan 11, 2016 18:23
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I read Invisible Cities. I liked it, but man, I should have picked a better time to read it. I don't think it's a book meant for reading on the bus. I missed a lot of small details and I feel like an idiot now.
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Jan 11, 2016 18:31
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