|
blue squares posted:Yeah keep that avatar imo a mod gave it to me so I don't really have a choice
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 17:53 |
|
|
blue squares posted:Chapter 2 onward. I'm on page 86 now When rereading it I found Wyatt the most irritating character, but he's really more of a foil for everyone else to want to be. I'd say it's worth perservering because there's a lot more great stuff in there.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:17
|
|
|
Mel Mudkiper posted:
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:21
|
|
|
Little Life is like if Eli Roth wrote YA about adults and it's also not good, but I guess you 'have to read it'
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:21
|
|
|
mallamp posted:Little Life is like if Eli Roth wrote YA about adults and it's also not good, but I guess you 'have to read it' Little Life confirmed as book of the year
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:23
|
|
|
Amory is a cartoon villain. He is never not a cartoon villain.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:27
|
|
|
His name is basically Amoral Ghoul
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:31
|
|
|
blue squares posted:His name is basically Amoral Ghoul oh jesus if this was deliberate
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:34
|
|
|
Lunchmeat Larry posted:I really didn't understand Crying of Lot 49 at all. maybe it was too American for me or something I think it's very much a product of its time, in a way that most Pynchon work is not. Maybe that's to be expected from an early work.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:42
|
|
|
Great dialogue is my #1. It doesn't have to seem authentic or realistic but if it isn't then it better be good. Clever, funny, poetic, insightful, whatever. Regular prose can get away with the same but I have less tolerance for length there.blue squares posted:Do you like Pynchon? Because I feel like his characters are deliberately inauthentic. Maybe that's part of his postmodernism, in that pomo fiction is self-aware of its fictionality. But his characters exist more to make literary and philosophical points rather than to exist in the world of the book Lunchmeat Larry posted:I really didn't understand Crying of Lot 49 at all. maybe it was too American for me or something I can't speak for all of Pynchon's work but Crying isn't impenetrable or anything.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:43
|
|
|
Probably not, since none of the other characters have names like that. An interesting thing about Hallberg is that he has been a book critic for years and has a huge number of articles on The Millions, so his thoughts about literature are easy to find: http://www.themillions.com/author/ghallberg Here's a really good one: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/magazine/why-write-novels-at-all.html?ref=magazine And here's one that he wrote right as he was beginning work on City on Fire: http://www.themillions.com/2010/09/is-big-back.html blue squares fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Feb 4, 2016 |
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:45
|
|
|
CestMoi posted:Actually, the thing that makes Mason & Dixon good is the tangents on 18th century surveying techniques. Or the things with the Werebeaver, the giant weed plants, and the hollow earth. The things that make Mason & Dixon incredible are the parts with Jenkins' ear, the english worm, and the calendar shift.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 17:48
|
|
|
lithub has a p. cool list of new & upcoming books by african authors (ok, oyeyemi has lived in UK since she was 4, but she's cool): http://lithub.com/25-new-books-by-african-writers-you-should-read/
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 19:55
|
|
|
Mr. Squishy posted:When rereading it I found Wyatt the most irritating character, but he's really more of a foil for everyone else to want to be. I'd say it's worth perservering because there's a lot more great stuff in there. his fate at the end in the monastery is what I aspire to
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2016 23:43
|
|
|
Most of what I read is highbrow masquerading as lowbrow. Up your game.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 00:14
|
|
|
Mr. Squishy I am sorry to say that I returned The Recognitions. I am vastly more interested in contemporary fiction, and I have a policy with non-current books: if I am finding the book to be a chore, and it's not some incredibly important book like Ulysses, I'm just not going to read it when I could be reading stuff that comes out now. So I replaced it with a book whose jacket blurbs mention Gaddis twice: Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava. I'd never heard of it, but it was one of my amazing bookstore's recommended books, and the effusive praise makes it seem like a book I am going to be in love with. I'll report back once i start it next week or so.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 01:37
|
|
|
blue squares posted:Mr. Squishy I am sorry to say that I returned The Recognitions. I am vastly more interested in contemporary fiction, and I have a policy with non-current books: if I am finding the book to be a chore, and it's not some incredibly important book like Ulysses, I'm just not going to read it when I could be reading stuff that comes out now. Naked Singularity is fantastic. I have no explanation for this but I always saw it as Infinite Jest if IJ was actually great, even though the novels don't have a lot in common. Prose style, maybe. Either way I found the book riveting once you get into it and I really hope you like it because the book doesn't get enough love.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 04:56
|
|
|
Jeep posted:Naked Singularity is fantastic. I have no explanation for this but I always saw it as Infinite Jest if IJ was actually great, even though the novels don't have a lot in common. Prose style, maybe. Either way I found the book riveting once you get into it and I really hope you like it because the book doesn't get enough love. I am about 10x more excited to read it now! Thank you!
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 04:59
|
|
|
I have a similar problem. I loved JR, but I stalled out of The Recognitions not long after the introductory section. Maybe I'll give it another shot after I finish Ferrante.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 05:17
|
|
|
why's everyone reading ferrante
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 07:47
|
|
|
mallamp posted:why's everyone reading ferrante es bueno
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 13:53
|
|
|
im elena ferrante
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 14:48
|
|
|
Lunchmeat Larry posted:im elena ferrante ur books r pretty good
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 14:50
|
|
|
Lunchmeat Larry posted:im elena ferrante hosed up if true
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 14:52
|
|
|
I'm one of the four people who are secretly Thomas Pynchon irl
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 14:54
|
|
|
Apparently Annie Proulx is finishing up and publishing an 800 page epic this year. I really liked The Shipping News so maybe I will give it a shot
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 15:08
|
|
|
The new Julian Barnes novel is less than 200 pages and I can't wait because I'm bored of everything being stupidly overlong. Even when a book is a reasonable length it's like publishers are ashamed of it. I picked up the UK edition of A Spool of Blue Thread the other day and they've printed it in comically large font with loads of white space in order to pretend that it's a 500 page novel rather than a 350 page one.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 15:45
|
|
|
200 pages of Barnes is 200 too many.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 16:27
|
|
|
mallamp posted:why's everyone reading ferrante it's good, and this thread tends to do things in waves see also: that month when we all read dictionary of the khazars
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 18:20
|
|
|
I'm reading the Tao Te Ching, is this real literature
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 18:31
|
|
|
peanut- posted:The new Julian Barnes novel is less than 200 pages and I can't wait because I'm bored of everything being stupidly overlong. There was actually a study recently that showed American fiction is getting longer and European fiction is getting shorter.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 18:33
|
|
|
Smoking Crow posted:I'm reading the Tao Te Ching, is this real literature If it can be used to practically enrich your life in any way then it is not real literature.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 18:43
|
|
|
but it's really good, one of the few books i took w/ me when moving cuntries
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 19:08
|
|
|
I was told I won't fully understand it because I'm not Chinese c/d
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 19:18
|
|
|
Smoking Crow posted:I was told I won't fully understand it because I'm not Chinese c/d sorry but its impossible to fully understand anything. I hope this doesn't shatter your worldview too much
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 19:25
|
|
|
Popular Human posted:it's good, and this thread tends to do things in waves That was a good month. I am doing a challenge this year where I only read female authors so I am glad of the Ferrante and Proulx recommendations among others. I have a spreadsheet with like 50+ authors on it, at least 2 dozen from this thread. This also means I won't be able to participate in BoTM sorry Hieronymous
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 19:30
|
|
|
Maybe I'll do all male challenge this year
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 19:34
|
|
|
mallamp posted:Maybe I'll do all male challenge this year I get the distinct impression this is every year for you
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 19:36
|
|
|
Guy A. Person posted:That was a good month. Read lots of poems by Sappho and also The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan. I don't know if the second ones good but I'v heard it is and it's very very old and by a lady
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 19:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 17:53 |
|
|
blue squares posted:sorry but its impossible to fully understand anything. I hope this doesn't shatter your worldview too much This thread is a safe space from post-modernism All Post-Modernist have to leave this thread now
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2016 19:41
|
|