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Jimmithy posted:finished American Gods and thank god, I'll not be reading any more of gaiman the only thing interesting about it was how clearly gaiman was writing out comic book scenes in prose.
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Jul 31, 2016 13:37
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Foul Fowl posted:the only thing interesting about it was how clearly gaiman was writing out comic book scenes in prose. Yeah this is exactly what I felt execpt for the finding it interesting part
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Jul 31, 2016 13:41
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Jimmithy posted:Yeah this is exactly what I felt execpt for the finding it interesting part Interesting premise but boy what a crappy book.
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Jul 31, 2016 14:27
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Jimmithy posted:Yeah this is exactly what I felt execpt for the finding it interesting part interesting as in notable, not as in enjoyable or novel. the book reminded me a lot of fiction written by teenagers; a vaguely interesting if too on the nose premise ruined by shoddy execution and action scenes that read like zack snyder's screenplay.
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Jul 31, 2016 16:18
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Libraries are socialist handouts holding back the free market
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Jul 31, 2016 19:57
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Foul Fowl posted:action scenes that read like zack snyder's screenplay. gaiman also wrote the screenplay for the cgi beowulf film, lest we forget
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Jul 31, 2016 20:36
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Nanomashoes posted:A man who got famous for writing comic books Gaiman's comic book stuff up to the end of Sandman is excellent. Notoriety destroyed his talent.
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Jul 31, 2016 22:29
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Was it really bad, it's been a while since I read it all the way through.
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Jul 31, 2016 22:49
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Abalieno posted:Gaiman's comic book stuff up to the end of Sandman is excellent. Notoriety destroyed his talent. He's still good sometimes, just not nearly as often (I'd point to Graveyard Book as a solid entry). But yeah, he basically lost his edge once he got famous. If nothing else, he lost his poo poo filter.
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Jul 31, 2016 23:05
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Why are we talking about Neil Gaiman in the lit thread anyway, a man who exclusively writes Fantasy?
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Jul 31, 2016 23:06
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Just saw Eowyn Ivey, author of MMK BOTY 2012 "The Snow Child" has a new book out this week. Hype.
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Jul 31, 2016 23:23
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Just saw Eowyn Ivey, author of MMK BOTY 2012 "The Snow Child" has a new book out this week. Hype. Awww yis, that's my boo
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Jul 31, 2016 23:33
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What, the fantasy writer? Pass
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Aug 1, 2016 00:12
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Mbad
rest his guts fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Jun 24, 2019 |
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Aug 1, 2016 02:17
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Welp edit: welp Jrbg fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Aug 1, 2016 |
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Aug 1, 2016 12:12
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Fake
the_homemaster fucked around with this message at 12:37 on Aug 1, 2016 |
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Aug 1, 2016 12:34
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Abalieno posted:Gaiman's comic book stuff up to the end of Sandman is excellent. Notoriety destroyed his talent. But Sandman: Overture was also excellent. Maybe he just needs to stop writing things that aren't Sandman.
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Aug 1, 2016 12:41
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Bandiet posted:Why are we talking about Neil Gaiman in the lit thread anyway, a man who exclusively writes Fantasy? Because I was recommended him earnestly by someone I trust and now i am hurt and betrayed and needed somewhere to bitch
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Aug 1, 2016 12:43
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I've only read Coraline, which was short and not bad, but the movie handles the story better. I preferred the book when it was called The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. I tried reading a collection of stories that Gaiman edited and the profits went to some child's literacy program, and even that was pretty bad. I'm overwhelmed with my reading list right now, but the BotM choices are all awesome titles I'd love to read. Except for Snow, since I'm still finishing up My Name Is Red. I loved Wolf In White Van; it's a very bleak book.
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Aug 1, 2016 12:57
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Wolf in White Van was better than I thought it would be but not really good enough to be something I remembered fondly. A lot of its themes and context make me feel like its "Baby's First Literature" but it is probably just me being a snobby prick
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Aug 1, 2016 13:35
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I enjoyed Wolf in White Van for the most part but there was something missing for me but idk what it was exactly
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Aug 1, 2016 13:43
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Wolf in White Van was better than I thought it would be but not really good enough to be something I remembered fondly. You, snobby prick? Since when? Everything about it should have worked against it. "Celebrity" novels are usually trash, and I was hesitant even though I like his band. Non-linear storytelling call fall into a lot of sinkholes, but it works and fuels the story. I liked that it really didn't stick with the plot that it's selling. Sure, it's about a mail-in game, and an incident involved with some of the players, backlash of that incident, and the main character's personal traumas, but it never really cares to look at them head-on. The narrator can't look at them head on: he's so deep in his misanthropy and depression that any exploration of his life has to be danced around, and when he does, he can only concentrate on very specific details, like the brush strokes in a painting that he saw before *bad stuff*. I don't disagree that it's an easier work to dissect, but that's not necessarily a bad thing for TBB, where the definition of Literature is argued constantly to justify genre and other bullshit. It also leaves so much for the reader to decide for themselves, so it'd be fun to talk about.
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Aug 1, 2016 13:48
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coraline is something I literally read to my pupils during lunch when I was student-teaching 6th grade a couple of years back (quite popular in school libraries as well). from then on I just assumed in all honesty that any Gaiman book was intended as children's literature.
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Aug 1, 2016 14:05
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Franchescanado posted:. Sure, it's about a mail-in game, and an incident involved with some of the players, backlash of that incident, and the main character's personal traumas, but it never really cares to look at them head-on. The narrator can't look at them head on: he's so deep in his misanthropy and depression that any exploration of his life has to be danced around, and when he does, he can only concentrate on very specific details, like the brush strokes in a painting that he saw before *bad stuff*. This was my problem, his misanthropy and depression came off as very trite and unfulfilling. It came off as C-rate existentialism and didn't really feel very authentic to me.
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Aug 1, 2016 16:10
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Mel Mudkiper posted:This was my problem, his misanthropy and depression came off as very trite and unfulfilling. It came off as C-rate existentialism and didn't really feel very authentic to me. Fair enough. What's one of the best examples of misanthropy and/or depression that you find fulfilling and authentic? I read The Art of Fielding at your recommendation, which dealt with depression from chasing perfection, and The Vegetarian covered it (both books coincidentally used anorexia as a symbol), and while enjoyed both a lot, I wouldn't give them an A-rating.
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Aug 1, 2016 16:24
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Franchescanado posted:Fair enough. What's one of the best examples of misanthropy and/or depression that you find fulfilling and authentic? The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Claire Mitchell Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace - say what you want about DFW, but he understood depression elegantly
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Aug 1, 2016 16:35
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Darnielle uses a couple of lines he already used in songs in Wolf in White Van and it bugs the hell out of me but other than that it's good.
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Aug 1, 2016 16:49
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Mel Mudkiper posted:The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud Cool, I'll keep these in mind. A Reunion of Ghosts just got bumped up on my shelf. Nanomashoes posted:Darnielle uses a couple of lines he already used in songs in Wolf in White Van and it bugs the hell out of me but other than that it's good. Dude's got close to 700 published songs since '91, I'll let a few previously used lyrics slip by for a 200 page book.
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Aug 1, 2016 17:49
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Mel Mudkiper posted:This was my problem, his misanthropy and depression came off as very trite and unfulfilling. It came off as C-rate existentialism and didn't really feel very authentic to me.
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Aug 1, 2016 18:03
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Mel Mudkiper posted:This was my problem, his misanthropy and depression came off as very trite and unfulfilling. It came off as C-rate existentialism and didn't really feel very authentic to me. 
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Aug 1, 2016 21:50
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Solitair posted:But Sandman: Overture was also excellent. Maybe he just needs to stop writing things that aren't Sandman. Well, it's my own point. I think Sandman Overture is really bad, and it's a comic book written at a ridiculous pace of FIVE months for 24 pages. That's an average of ONE PAGE a week. And I think it's bad. No other writer in the comic book industry would ever be allowed to write so slowly. Those are all privileges for being famous. To not even consider for how many years he might have thought about that story. For me it's just one more sign he can't write anymore, he can only cultivate small occasional side projects that are more hype than substance.
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Aug 2, 2016 00:07
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Smoking Crow posted:I recommend my favorite book, Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. It's a beautiful look at the types of hosed up people that choose to live in small Midwestern towns. It's wonderful and dripping with subtext. Make sure to read every chapter twice to get the full meaning! I recommend Crum by Lee Maynard if you like that kind of book. It's like the book you mentioned but West Virginia and won a bunch of awards and was profiled on NPR a while back.
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Aug 2, 2016 01:14
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Neil Gaiman is a good fantasy writer, even if he stumbles sometimes. I quite like The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains.
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Aug 2, 2016 02:30
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I loved Wolf in White Van. The main character felt like a recovering misanthrope, which isn't usually the point in a misanthrope's life that gets covered in a novel. I think misanthropy and depression are inherently trite and unfulfilling, and that probably any book that suggests otherwise is a bit too far up its own rear end. Not that I don't enjoy those books from time to time, but I have to recognize that the only reason I enjoy them is because I'm also pretty far up my own rear end about my trite and unfulfilling misanthropy and depression.
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Aug 2, 2016 03:10
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Are you making light of depression? Wow, triggered.
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Aug 2, 2016 03:24
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Tree Goat posted:i live in the middle of nowhere, my library is an unfathomable number of hexagonal rooms each containing shelves each containing books each containing quasi-random combinations of characters. I too live in a Murakami novel
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Aug 2, 2016 03:40
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Twerkteam Pizza posted:I too live in a Murakami novel nice troll
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Aug 2, 2016 03:47
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Tree Goat posted:nice troll I think I should have said Pynchon but it's too late
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Aug 2, 2016 03:48
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Twerkteam Pizza posted:I think I should have said Pynchon but it's too late borges
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Aug 2, 2016 04:02
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Smoking Crow posted:borges Oh Oops
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Aug 2, 2016 04:05
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