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thehoodie posted:Read Alvaro Enrigue's Hypothermia. Weird depraved Mexican author. Book features orgies, infidelity, being struck by lightning, and reality TV cooking show embarrassment. It's super cool. This sounds good. 3/4 of those things are cool, and 2 are sins and therefore not allowed. Thanks everyone else for all the replies. Should be set for a year or so. I hope y'all have recommended lesser known but still cool overlooked writers who are talented and worthwhile, and not Pulitzer winners or something embarrassing. I'm reading the stories of John Cheever, they are mostly pretty good but sometimes a little too obvious. Often he tries to hard to be like a neutral observer to a tragedy and it comes off a little weak. still the stories are neat, did you know that people were depressed and hated their spouses in the 1960s??? wow I had literally no idea.
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May 17, 2016 02:11
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david crosby posted:This sounds good. 3/4 of those things are cool, and 2 are sins and therefore not allowed. Cheever is definitely best when he's being weird as hell.
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May 17, 2016 04:43
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I'm reading The Goldfinch at the moment. I'm about 460 pages in and I'm struggling to pick it up again. I want to finish it though. Reading regularly has been tough for me, since I usually end up falling asleep pretty quickly. This book has been the exception. It's well written and the structure is compelling. But man, it is getting really hard to deal with Theo constantly loving everything up. I'm losing sympathy for him, which would be fine if there were something interesting to replace that sympathy. Usually I like books with unlikable protagonists, but for some reason this one isn't sticking. Should I be looking at this from a different perspective? Is something more interesting about to come up? I really want to finish it before starting Oryx and Crake or that short story collection from Karen Russell.
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May 17, 2016 19:22
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UnoriginalMind posted:Is something more interesting about to come up? no
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May 18, 2016 12:17
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God drat it. THEO. GET YOUR poo poo TOGETHER.
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May 18, 2016 14:05
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Hello thread, have you heard the good words of chilean literature? Hopefully not, otherwise i'm not saying nothing really interesting. What i come specifically for is an announcement you may have looked over. On july 19th, penguin books will publish Alenjandro Zambra's multipe choice. Now, i must admit to not having read zambra book, only interesting essais and the like, but he makes quite the noise around here, one of my friends swears by his name, and my dad has all the books. And well, even though i'm more into poetry, I feel i have to read more by him one of these days. So what im trying to say is, this sounds like and amazing book, and an amazing opportunity to see one of the most celebrated recent additions to a rich literary tradition, so here i am, sharing it. Ps: As you could easily infer, i'm chilean and read a little of our literature. so if anyone is interested in that topic, ask away! I'm not the most informed, but i'm very willing to talk about what little i know.
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May 18, 2016 17:43
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unao posted:Hello thread, have you heard the good words of chilean literature? are you alejandro y/n?
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May 18, 2016 18:04
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Mel Mudkiper posted:are you alejandro y/n? No. I can only write poo poo. I began reading multiple choice right after that post and it blew me off twice at least. ps: it may sound exaggerated, but you don't see modal poetry everyday
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May 18, 2016 18:08
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My barber (who recommended me Bolano and Ferrante before they were "cool") also told me about Alejandro Zambra, so I will check it out. In other news, I'm reading Taipei by Tao Lin and I seriously can't tell if this is satire or in earnest. Please help. Also he is not as good of a writer as he thinks he is.
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May 18, 2016 18:19
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unao posted:No. I can only write poo poo. I began reading multiple choice right after that post and it blew me off twice at least. Just joshing ya bro I all about that Chilean lit.
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May 18, 2016 18:35
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Just joshing ya bro I all about that Chilean lit. Don't worry i have internerded enough to get it. I'm just a sour person. I would love more discussion about hispanic lit in general, but i don't know what has been translated and i'm into poetry so it's a double wammy. I think Altazor by huidobro has an english translation and while it's higly unlikely to have as much weight in english, if it has even only a fraction i higly recommend it. And well, part of his poetic project was being beyond lenguage, and while pretty much everyone agrees he failed, it should help Huidobro's Altazor is kind of a culmination of his project. He was from the early twentieth century and very into the avant-garde movement, enough to create his own, the first on chile. It was called creationism and posited the poet as a "god", creating a world in their poetry, and thus endorsed a poetry that didn't need anything of the outside world. He went as far as discarding real words in the seventh and final canto of altazor. But while what he did was higly interesting and can be very striking, I prefer the first three cantos plus the preface. There he shows an amazing poetic sensiblity the usage of words, the ways he talks, is beautiful and grandiloquent, in a way that isn't a turn off. i wish i could be more concise, but i read a few years back. That said, i eill read it again soon. It's one of these reads that meits a reread Lastly, canto ii, musicalised https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzhgOPoJP5w PS: There are things i feel could't explain properly, but i found a critique that does http://www.bookslut.com/poetry/2004_01_001302.php unao fucked around with this message at 19:04 on May 18, 2016 |
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May 18, 2016 18:58
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thehoodie posted:My barber (who recommended me Bolano and Ferrante before they were "cool") also told me about Alejandro Zambra, so I will check it out. That's a rad barber
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May 18, 2016 19:02
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unao posted:I would love more discussion about hispanic lit in general, but i don't know what has been translated and i'm into poetry so it's a double wammy. The major Chilean authors who are big in English I know of are Ariel Dorfman, Isabelle Allende, and Roberto Bolano. Dorfman and Allende both write in English as well though so it helps.
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May 18, 2016 19:02
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Double post
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May 18, 2016 19:04
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Mel Mudkiper posted:The major Chilean authors who are big in English I know of are Ariel Dorfman, Isabelle Allende, and Roberto Bolano. Dorfman and Allende both write in English as well though so it helps. Well, everyone knows about Bolaño, yeah, thats a cool thing i can't complain about, but allende is a joke and while dorfman seems cool, i frankly don't know much about him. the only time i have talked about him is pertaining his essay about donald duck, which is pretty cool. I only read a little (sociological essays are hard) but is a nice read if you are into coloniality, ideology, and general communist topics (it was written, after all, on our socialist govermernt). I seriusly didn't know he went on to be cool, so thanks for the info.
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May 18, 2016 19:13
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I've reads book of Bolano, Allende and Zambra and they were all really good. Different styles, but all enjoyable. I'd certainly recommend "The Private Lives of Trees". Never heard about Dorfman.
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May 18, 2016 19:17
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unao posted:Well, everyone knows about Bolaño, yeah, thats a cool thing i can't complain about, but allende is a joke and while dorfman seems cool, i frankly don't know much about him. the only time i have talked about him is pertaining his essay about donald duck, which is pretty cool. I only read a little (sociological essays are hard) but is a nice read if you are into coloniality, ideology, and general communist topics (it was written, after all, on our socialist govermernt). I seriusly didn't know he went on to be cool, so thanks for the info. "Still, to write - I swear I read it in a Chilean newspaper - that we need to hurry up and give Allende the National Prize before she wins the Nobel is no longer just a ridiculous farce, but proof that the author of such a claim is a world-class idiot." -Roberto B.
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May 18, 2016 19:34
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unao posted:I began reading multiple choice right after that post and it blew me off twice at least. Also this sentence fukken rules.
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May 18, 2016 19:35
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Zambra is getting some good english press for sure, there was even a praising article in new yorker about him recently: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/22/story-of-my-life-books-james-wood , which unfortunately automatically makes him uncool 
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May 18, 2016 19:40
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"unao" posted:dorfman seems cool, i frankly don't know much about him. the only time i have talked about him is pertaining his essay about donald duck, which is pretty cool. I only read a little (sociological essays are hard) but is a nice read if you are into coloniality, ideology, and general communist topics (it was written, after all, on our socialist govermernt). I seriusly didn't know he went on to be cool, so thanks for the info. His play Death and the Maiden is very good and he simultaneously released his memoir in both Spanish and English with different emphasized parts and details.
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May 18, 2016 20:16
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i posted this a long time ago on the poetry thread, but didn't get any attention. there seems to be more interest in the topic here at this moment so: a poem from my favorite poet, rodrigo lira : http://jacket2.org/commentary/rodrigo-lira where theres also discussion about the translation process and other intertesting things unao fucked around with this message at 20:46 on May 18, 2016 |
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May 18, 2016 20:41
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Speaking of Hispanic literature, y'all should check out Mario Bellatin. A lot of his stuff is weird and experimental / goofy, and he just seems like a fun guy in general. He just had Mishima's Illustrated Biography translated into English recently, in which Mishima survives his ritual suicide and keeps on truckin' without a head. Also he has a sweet hook hand, which he sometimes swaps out for a prosthetic shaped like a giant dick when he goes to award ceremonies. Here's an article about him: http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/mexicos-literary-prankster-goes-to-war-with-his-publisher And here's one of his short stories: http://www.buenosairesreview.org/2013/11/black-ball/
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May 18, 2016 22:41
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Mel Mudkiper posted:His play Death and the Maiden is very good and he simultaneously released his memoir in both Spanish and English with different emphasized parts and details. I just finished watching the movie. holy poo poo. amazing. I'm not a person who cries with fiction, but i have to admit this had me close. Lol to you mel
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May 18, 2016 23:52
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unao posted:I just finished watching the movie. holy poo poo. amazing. I'm not a person who cries with fiction, but i have to admit this had me close. Lol to you mel I did a lot of reading about the Pinochet regime in college and its one of my real historical obsessions.
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May 19, 2016 00:03
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I did a lot of reading about the Pinochet regime in college and its one of my real historical obsessions. I feel the urgent need to message you (if you don't mind of course) but I'm not platinium, is there a way to talk about all the books without clogging this thread?
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May 19, 2016 00:09
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unao posted:I feel the urgent need to message you but I'm not platinium, is there a way to talk about all the books without clogging this thread? Honestly a lot of it is lost to the sands of time at this point. I will see if I can go through my collection later and remember some of the titles. EDIT: D&D book thread can probably also help you out
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May 19, 2016 00:10
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BTW, have you ever read Jose Donoso? I have been meaning to pick him up.
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May 19, 2016 00:18
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Mel Mudkiper posted:BTW, have you ever read Jose Donoso? I have been meaning to pick him up. No, i actualy have huge holes on what i've read, but it's pretty much a classic of those you only hear good things about, and if you are in any way into magical realism (which i'm not really into), the obscene bird of midnight is pretty much part of it's canon. Also i'm bad at expressing myself. What i wanted wanted to know if you would mind a more niche and in-depth chat, i you're ok with that i think i could upgrade my account for pm's.
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May 19, 2016 00:37
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unao posted:Also i'm bad at expressing myself. What i wanted wanted to know if you would mind a more niche and in-depth chat, i you're ok with that i think i could upgrade my account for pm's. Yeah sure. And don't worry too much about your English haha. I am an ESL professor, I read worse on a daily basis.
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May 19, 2016 00:41
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yo if anyone in here has read a lot of Chris Kraus, I finished I Love Dick earlier this year and loved it. I think I wanna make another one of her novels my next book, which one should i pick up?
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May 19, 2016 00:47
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unao posted:I feel the urgent need to message you (if you don't mind of course) but I'm not platinium, is there a way to talk about all the books without clogging this thread? I dunno, this thread moves at a mile a minute. Any more than ten posts per day total and we might lose track of the discussion. (Please do, it sounds interesting.)
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May 19, 2016 01:31
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at the date posted:I dunno, this thread moves at a mile a minute. Any more than ten posts per day total and we might lose track of the discussion. don't worry i'll post more, i meant clogging the thread with direct responces to mel. In fact. Last summer i read an amazing poetry book, cipango by tomas harris. Rather than telling you about everything i loved about it, i'll begin with a characteristic that made the book pretty drool at times: Repetition. I don't fault the writer here, it was a rethoric tool he used with aptitude, and one that was understandable to use that much in a book like this, but he used it a lot, enough to make me tired of reading the book and made the book harder to understand. Other than that, marvelous. A book rich in meanigfull intertextuality, with the transversal allegory of the colonization of america standing for those dark years that must have been the eigthies in concepcion, an interweaving of autobigraphy with historical myth. a good turning-on-its-head of national topoi. all executed finely. I mean, even the aforementioned tool of repetition had a place here, at times particular to where it was used, but often mixed with the lenguage used to give a feeling of entrapment or fever or many other disgusting feelings appropiate to the poetic proyect of the book. I mean, if you are talking about the horrible conditions of the boat in a poem and use the same language later either in a similar situacion or one completely different, thats really twelling us something. Something like, this happened in the boat, this happened in the beach, this happened in the native community, when this happens now in our very city, it's not an isolate incident, it's not azarous, it's our history, our history of violence. And off course this "history of violence" is not something ingrained in our adn or somethig of that sort. It's a history of victimaries, injustice, colonization and military power. It has been ever since europenas found america. I would say that if the book had a particularly strong theme, a point to make, last pargraph would be a good contender
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May 19, 2016 05:49
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That's interesting, thanks a lot Half related: should I read galeano? If yes what?
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May 19, 2016 06:18
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Zesty Mordant posted:That's interesting, thanks a lot it really depends on what you're looking for. OPen Veins of Latin America still probably is on every latin american left-wing student's night table, the book about football is cool if, well, you're into football. apart from that, his main work is the Memory of Fire trilogy, which is unlike anything else. Basically, like most of his other books, it's a collection of miniature myths, legends about conquistadors, flash fiction and retellings of historical events that together form a history of Latin America. I didn't gel with it, because it's not something you sit down and read - it's more of a book you dip in every now and then. the little pieces are cool tho, so leaf through it in a library and see if it's something you'd like. a couple of shorter examples Eduardo Galeano posted:The Evening Star
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May 19, 2016 07:26
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Always funny when ESL folks apologize for their poor english that is like, significantly more legible than most of the stuff my friends type.
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May 19, 2016 08:00
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Hat Thoughts posted:Always funny when ESL folks apologize for their poor english that is like, significantly more legible than most of the stuff my friends type. I wasn't apologizing about my english, which i think is pretty decent, it was about my inability to express properly. i mean, i work a lot on it and even then you can see me being rambly as gently caress, making drastic jumps from one topic to another and sometimes just plainly saying somethig that doesn't actually say what im trying to say. i'm just kind of mentally deficient, got the papers and everything. And i guess i went full off topic, but i feel this is something that may be nice to be clear on if i make more posts here. (And i dislike people thinking i said something i didn't say)
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May 19, 2016 09:09
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haha my bad, sorry
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May 19, 2016 10:36
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Zesty Mordant posted:Half related: should I read galeano? If yes what? Yes, yes, yes. If have a very high tolerance for Marxist historical fiction, Open Veins, if only a high tolerance for Marxist historical fiction, Book of Embraces and Days and Nights of Love and War. And then Memories of Fire of course.
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May 19, 2016 11:00
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Is Children of Days any good? The library only has that one and the soccer one.
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May 19, 2016 15:28
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Ras Het posted:Yes, yes, yes. If have a very high tolerance for Marxist historical fiction, Open Veins, if only a high tolerance for Marxist historical fiction, Book of Embraces and Days and Nights of Love and War. And then Memories of Fire of course. Marxism is itself historical fiction so
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May 19, 2016 17:56
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