|
speaking of writers who have received prominent praise from the LRB https://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n05/ian-sansom/build-your-cabin 
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2018 15:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 02:19 |
|
|
I subscribe to LRB and the Paris Review because they do a twofer discount. The Paris Review's print magazine isn't all that interesting nowadays, but their archives and current online content are well worth the price of admission. I also subscribe to Harper's—like the LRB, they split their focus on literature with lengthy and often excellent essays on history and current events by people who know what the hell they're talking about. I love the Times Literary Supplement and the NYRB, and sometimes stop at a certain local art museum just because they carry it in their reading room, but their subscriptions are too expensive for me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2018 15:41
|
|
|
maybe I'm too pedestrian but if I subscribe to something for book reviews I want it mostly to be book reviews
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2018 15:46
|
|
|
Mel Mudkiper posted:maybe I'm too pedestrian but if I subscribe to something for book reviews I want it mostly to be book reviews LRB's essays are always responding to and criticizing books under review. As for Harper's, I'm ok w/ it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2018 15:49
|
|
|
at the date posted:LRB's essays are always responding to and criticizing books under review. As for Harper's, I'm ok w/ it. Oh, by all means, I am not saying I think what LRB et al. is bad. If I were interested more in synthesis of philosophy, contemporary events, and lit, I would read it cover to cover. I just primarily subscribe to book review periodicals because I am trying to figure out what to buy this week
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2018 15:52
|
|
|
Mel Mudkiper posted:Oh, by all means, I am not saying I think what LRB et al. is bad. If I were interested more in synthesis of philosophy, contemporary events, and lit, I would read it cover to cover. IMO you'd be fine browsing the culture sections week to week. Also, find a good critic you enjoy and buy his or her book and work from there.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2018 16:49
|
|
|
Boatswain posted:IMO you'd be fine browsing the culture sections week to week. Also, find a good critic you enjoy and buy his or her book and work from there. I'm not looking for advice on how to find books but thanks
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2018 16:50
|
|
|
Sorry, I confused you with the guy asking about periodicals.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2018 18:55
|
|
|
hackbunny posted:I have no friends and I must read same my primary sources of literature are this thread and 1800's frontier era journals
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2018 02:01
|
|
|
Mel Mudkiper posted:speaking of writers who have received prominent praise from the LRB please don't post pictures of disgusting lizard men in this thread
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2018 06:30
|
|
|
my monitor is on
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2018 06:41
|
|
|
that guy looks gross and weird and has an awful cranium. i am uncomfortable even thinking about it
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2018 07:04
|
|
|
Does anyone know what Victor Pelevin's signature looks like, I noticed what could be a signature in my copy of Babylon but its in latin script so I'm not sure if it's really him or if someone has just written his name and a date in there
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2018 11:33
|
|
|
A human heart posted:please don't post pictures of disgusting lizard men in this thread 
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2018 15:12
|
|
|
I dreamt there was a netflix series of ulysses. the theme tune was a string quartet, and it took liberties with the source material, but won critical praise. That was my dream
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2018 16:24
|
|
|
new aphex twin looking good
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2018 17:12
|
|
|
J_RBG posted:I dreamt there was a netflix series of ulysses. the theme tune was a string quartet, and it took liberties with the source material, but won critical praise. That was my dream Did you know that there's a film adaptation of Finnegans Wake http://www.ubu.com/film/bute_fw.html
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 00:22
|
|
|
I need to get my hands on that 7 hour adaptation of Satantango
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 00:24
|
|
|
here's a good list by an American: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/59274-the-20-best-books-in-translation-you-ve-never-read.html
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 08:51
|
|
|
A human heart posted:Does anyone know what Victor Pelevin's signature looks like, I noticed what could be a signature in my copy of Babylon but its in latin script so I'm not sure if it's really him or if someone has just written his name and a date in there  (but he obviously could sign an English edition of his book in Latin script)
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 08:55
|
|
|
Burning Rain posted:
That actually does look kind of similar even though the script is different, ty
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 10:46
|
|
|
His Master's Voice is an extremely cool book
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 13:56
|
|
|
It was cooler when I thought it was going to remain ambiguous as to whether the message was even a message at all but it's still cool
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 13:57
|
|
|
CestMoi posted:It was cooler when I thought it was going to remain ambiguous as to whether the message was even a message at all but it's still cool I liked the bits where he described the Lord of the Flies, some crazy physical substance that attracts flies for some reason. Lem owns when he just describes gooey fibrous stuff. He does it in a way that I don't think can be represented visually, there's too many contradictions in the way he talks about matter that wouldn't work if you try to directly visualize it. Right now I'm reading Fiasco, which also owns. Shibawanko fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Feb 4, 2018 |
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 16:13
|
|
|
Mel Mudkiper posted:Supposedly 4321 is really good and I need to build myself up for 700 pages of Auster It's good but the first hundred or so pages can be a bit of a slog as a near-identical story is repeated four times.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 16:53
|
|
|
Cloks posted:near-identical story is repeated four times. Its cool, i've read Roth before
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 17:12
|
|
|
Shibawanko posted:I liked the bits where he described the Lord of the Flies, some crazy physical substance that attracts flies for some reason. Lem owns when he just describes gooey fibrous stuff. He does it in a way that I don't think can be represented visually, there's too many contradictions in the way he talks about matter that wouldn't work if you try to directly visualize it. Yeah the more I think about it the more I realise a lot of the interesting ideas can only happen in a story where the message from space is unequivocally a message and a story where it's more about scientists projecting a desire for meaning on potentially meaningless noise would only have that one thing about it and probably wouldn't hold together nearly as well as His Master's Voice does but I still want to read that book unless it's written by a regular sci fi idiot and not a good sci fi idiot
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 17:12
|
|
|
CestMoi posted:Yeah the more I think about it the more I realise a lot of the interesting ideas can only happen in a story where the message from space is unequivocally a message and a story where it's more about scientists projecting a desire for meaning on potentially meaningless noise would only have that one thing about it and probably wouldn't hold together nearly as well as His Master's Voice does but I still want to read that book unless it's written by a regular sci fi idiot and not a good sci fi idiot I'm writing my thesis about it. I think the issue in most of Lem's stories is not so much whether the message is sent by someone or not, but that the way in which something is measured directly affects the measured thing (intra-action). The reason Lord of the Flies is made is that they are unable to distinguish between form and content (they speculate about how some parts of the message may be purely formal, punctuation marks of sorts, or whether it all has some specific content), so they artificially choose some part of it and synthesize what they think its content might be. It's about how indeterminacy is fundamental to all signs and that all measurements (or all readings of a text) inevitably produce a measuring effect by collapsing the indeterminacy of the sign into a contingent single meaning. My take on sci fi is that it's a great genre but that it's so far only had one significant author. Shibawanko fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Feb 4, 2018 |
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 17:58
|
|
|
And of course conceiving of it in another, more unidirectional way automatically presupposes a sender whose originary meaning is uncovered through measurement, like reading a text to find the author's meaning preceding the text.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 18:14
|
|
|
OK, so I have a book by Lem with Futurological Congress, Observation on the Spot and Peace on Earth. I think I read them when I was 15 or smth, and I remember liking The Futurological Congress, but more because of ideas than anything else. Which one's worth re-reading, since I don't recall practically anything in any of them?
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 18:28
|
|
|
Burning Rain posted:OK, so I have a book by Lem with Futurological Congress, Observation on the Spot and Peace on Earth. I think I read them when I was 15 or smth, and I remember liking The Futurological Congress, but more because of ideas than anything else. Which one's worth re-reading, since I don't recall practically anything in any of them? Futurological Congress is fun but not my favorite, it has that absurd bureaucratic nightmare atmosphere like you find in the movie Brazil, but I prefer the more realistic novels. Honestly if you can find Solaris somewhere that's probably the best one to read first.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 18:37
|
|
|
Pride and Prejudice at 200: is it time for a video game?quote:The Regency society that Jane Austen wrote about was effectively a highly codified mechanism: a game system. Just like in a role-playing adventure, where certain "classes" of enemies can only be effectively fought after the required power-ups have been discovered, Austen's heroines faced a rigidly hierarchical environment in which every interaction was governed by status. Social engagements were arranged via calling cards, and elaborate rituals of acceptance and avoidance were developed to ensure everyone knew their place. Making friends and potential marriage partners was a question of understanding the etiquette – the game system – and playing effectively.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 18:38
|
|
|
Yeah, I've read Solaris (along with some Tichy short stories and the Magellan's Cloud around the same time, I think), but I re-read that one like 5 years ago, that's why I asked about these three... and now I think I only read the Futurological COngress from them, so I guess the question answers itself, as I'll just get to the second novel in that collection, sorry for bothering you, everyone!
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 18:40
|
|
|
Someone hasn't played Marrying Mr. Darcy
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 18:48
|
|
|
lol
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 21:15
|
|
|
Shibawanko posted:I'm reading Lem's Fiasco. It's great. Lem is a poet of inanimate matter. Homestuck. The answer's Homestuck, right?
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 21:18
|
|
|
the novel as form will superseded by: 1) ritualized food riots 2) competitive final sign offs from mass media 3) tone poems from the singing of the stressed steel beams of burnt out skyscrapers 4) grateful and eternal silence
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2018 21:38
|
|
|
The novel of the future will be blockchain
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2018 12:48
|
|
|
Burning Rain posted:OK, so I have a book by Lem with Futurological Congress, Observation on the Spot and Peace on Earth. I think I read them when I was 15 or smth, and I remember liking The Futurological Congress, but more because of ideas than anything else. Which one's worth re-reading, since I don't recall practically anything in any of them?
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2018 15:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 02:19 |
|
|
just read 'invisible cities' and i've realised: it's good
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2018 21:45
|
|
