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Segue posted:Finally read Achebe's Things Fall Apart and it is obviously a masterpiece. The prose is so sharp and so clear and it sits like a weight in you. Arrow of Gods and No Longer at Ease aren't as good, but they're pretty interesting, especially Arrow.
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Apr 4, 2024 04:00
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Nobody told me that more than rocketry per se, Gravity's Rainbow is downright obsessed with the field of organic chemistry. Kekulé and Mauve and IG Farben and nylon, on and on...
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Apr 5, 2024 13:39
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It's cool that GR opens with a holocaust train. A simple observation, but still cool.
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Apr 6, 2024 18:59
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Mrenda posted:It's cool that GR opens with a holocaust train. A simple observation, but still cool. Doesn’t it open with people in London going down into a bomb shelter?
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Apr 6, 2024 19:04
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It opens with the banana breakfast scene. What the hell are either of you talking about.
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Apr 6, 2024 19:05
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It opens with a screaming across the sky, actually
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Apr 6, 2024 19:19
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Heath posted:It opens with a screaming across the sky, actually It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.
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Apr 6, 2024 19:21
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Should've given him a gag
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Apr 6, 2024 19:22
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i finished the short stories that came bundled with Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. robert wrote some hot trash to be sure while doing serials and its inclusion is funny cuz while they usually have cool ideas, they always sort of fall over limp in the end. but there's a couple of stories here real excellent, A Lodging for the Night and Markheim. they're both about lowlives and both culminate in philosophical moral debates, and stevenson really puts in the extra effort in the latter's prose to really sell the time dilation so unique to books as a medium. check this passage out:quote:From these fear-stricken rovings, Markheim's eyes returned to the body of his victim, where it lay both humped and sprawling, incredibly small and strangely meaner than in life. In these poor, miserly clothes, in that ungainly attitude, the dealer lay like so much sawdust. Markheim had feared to see it, and, lo! it was nothing. And yet, as he gazed, this bundle of old clothes and pool of blood began to find eloquent voices. There it must lie; there was none to work the cunning hinges or direct the miracle of locomotion - there it must lie till it was found. Found! ay, and then? Then would this dead flesh lift up a cry that would ring over England, and fill the world with the echoes of pursuit. Ay, dead or not, this was still the enemy. "Time was that when the brains were out," he thought; and the first word struck into his mind. Time, now that the deed was accomplished - time, which had closed for the victim, had become instant and momentous for the slayer. i think it's cool stuff. imo these two short stories were just as good if not moreso than Dr Jekyll. and even in the poorer stories stevenson still offers cool ideas like young men with lost ways drawing cards to determine who would kill and who would die and the reader re-identifying reoccurring characters through new POVs, etc but they still run flat in the end. The Bodysnatcher was interesting. won't be commenting on Thrawn Janet. o ya and this guy wrote Treasure Island
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Apr 7, 2024 17:47
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I finally acquired a copy of Terra Nostra
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Apr 7, 2024 19:50
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fridge corn posted:I finally acquired a copy of Terra Nostra sick
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Apr 8, 2024 02:49
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was recently at a very nice bookstore in Buenos Aires and couldn't resist splurging. Picked up Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead, The Morning Star, Spring Snow and also a non-lit Gregory Bateson book I'd been looking for. just finished the Tokarczuk, what a book! I saw a bunch of Carlos Fuentes and Bolaño stuff that isn't that easy to find but I was all booked up already
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Apr 9, 2024 20:43
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read a minor detail today. didn’t see the supposed antisemitism in it. I think germany might be a bit crazy otherwise a middle of the road book.
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Apr 9, 2024 21:57
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ulvir posted:i told myself that i had read enough danish literature for a while so it's time to give swedish a go, and then Solvej Balle has another volume out + i also end up buying a tome by Theis Ørntoft Just started reading Solvej Balle Ifølge Loven ("According to the Law", not sure if its available in English for the non-Scandis here) last night and wow this is excellent. Four short stories, each preceded by a law paragraph (eg. first is the Danish law that obduction is required when there is doubt about cause of death, second is "eye for an eye" from Exodus, etc). Very vivid and meditative prose, loving it 
Carthag Tuek fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Apr 12, 2024 |
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Apr 12, 2024 18:43
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i see an english version of that from 96 but is out of print afaict. but On the Calculation of Volume, which looks cool, is coming out in english in november.
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Apr 12, 2024 18:50
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derp posted:i see an english version of that from 96 but is out of print afaict. but On the Calculation of Volume, which looks cool, is coming out in english in november. Yeah been meaning to read the Volumes since ulvir recced them. No ebooks at the library tho and I am both lazy and can't afford to buy more books right now
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Apr 12, 2024 19:09
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that Balle book sounds great which incidentally Montevideo was too. I can’t believe this got out in Norwegian before English my next read is gonna be Plague nights by Pamuk
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Apr 12, 2024 19:41
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kva æ Montevideo, sjør ikje den på tråda (sorry, ve godt du ikk er nynorsk men alliuwel får jeg alti lyst te & snak sån her (hvilket skulle foregive at være nydansk))
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Apr 12, 2024 20:53
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apparently I managed to post that I started it in another thread somehow, I'm getting too old it's the latest from enrique vila-matas
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Apr 12, 2024 22:25
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about halfway through The Corrections and this poo poo is hard to put down. i love and despise this family lmao
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Apr 12, 2024 22:31
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I'll be deep in the cold cold ground before I recognize Franzen
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Apr 12, 2024 22:34
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yea based on this thread i assumed i'd toss it early but naaaahhhh it's extremely good and very uncomfortable in a way that is also extremely good. prose feels precise but not immune to digressions which is my favorite poo poo lately (heavily enjoyed in V). the characters are vibrant and alive and filled with complexities that don't really drat anyone in particular. i cant speak for Franzen's other work nor the stupid mouth he loves to run, but The Corrections is drat fine
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Apr 12, 2024 22:57
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ulvir posted:apparently I managed to post that I started it in another thread somehow, I'm getting too old hah! no worries, and same, and thanks
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Apr 12, 2024 23:02
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I will read serious works made by evil men, and I will read evil works made by stupid men. I've even read stupid novels by serious men. But I will be damned if I will read a serious novel from a stupid man.
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Apr 12, 2024 23:03
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cumpantry posted:yea based on this thread i assumed i'd toss it early but naaaahhhh it's extremely good and very uncomfortable in a way that is also extremely good. prose feels precise but not immune to digressions which is my favorite poo poo lately (heavily enjoyed in V). the characters are vibrant and alive and filled with complexities that don't really drat anyone in particular. i cant speak for Franzen's other work nor the stupid mouth he loves to run, but The Corrections is drat fine  imo their complexities do drat them (possibly except as previously mentioned itt, the under-developed Denise, which i might misremember, but everyone else sucks a lot). when it came out, i hadnt read anything with such a wealth of unlikeable characters. i like the book for thatas for Franzen otherwise, i tried reading Freedom after, but it was very boring to me and i only got halfway or so i think. e: idk anything about him as a person but i imagine that Chip is an unironic ironic aspirational self-portrait Carthag Tuek fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Apr 12, 2024 |
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Apr 12, 2024 23:12
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It's not so much about avoiding David Foster Wallace's best friend Jonathan Franzen, it's that there's such a wealth of non Franzen work that I don't understand why I would ever bother reading a man who gets so big mad at a book he writes the world's dumbest essay.
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Apr 12, 2024 23:15
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mdemone posted:a serious novel from a stupid man. one of the books protagonists steals pounds of fish through his jacket that slide down and melt into his dick while he gets relentlessly chatted by the husband of his boss who's children draw crayons on lovely hollywood scripts of nothin but tits n rear end Carthag Tuek posted:
i'll have to get back to you on this once i've finished but so far the book's perspectives that really do drat a particular character are written from another character's view with reason for disdain. of course, i'm not trying to say i'm sitting here reading about the way these people are screwed up and thinking theyre still a nice family or anything. theyre all uniquely terrible in pretty identifiable, grounded ways that remind me of my own upbringing hahaha. i enjoy seeing them all peeled back, though i'll be upset if denise's layer isn't satisfying like you suggest
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Apr 12, 2024 23:19
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cumpantry it is good that you are reading him and enjoying the experience. I am just a miserable old man yelling at the clouds of Jonathan Franzen
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Apr 12, 2024 23:22
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i get that the changing pov colors the portrayals, and i liked that you see scenes from different povs, im just talking about their actions. thats what make them terrible. but as i said i dont think its a bad book, i just hate them and i didnt like his followup. keep on reading!  e: dont worry denise kinda sucks too Carthag Tuek fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Apr 12, 2024 |
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Apr 12, 2024 23:22
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their actions are terrible--it's kinda fun in a sadistic way to see how al's parenting specifically turned out his three trouble kids. i found it especially poignant how much gary worried his mom hated his life the most: he, the one he realizes most mirrors hers
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Apr 12, 2024 23:25
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cumpantry posted:one of the books protagonists steals pounds of fish through his jacket that slide down and melt into his dick while he gets relentlessly chatted by the husband of his boss who's children draw crayons on lovely hollywood scripts of nothin but tits n rear end And this made you feel what about the protagonist? Did it relate distantly to your alienation as a part of the same capitalist boss/worker system?
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Apr 12, 2024 23:27
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i mean u laugh but that same character's whole deal is built around sucking off anti-capitalist theory, blowing his comfy gig up over nothing, mooching money off others, basically just life long gently caress-you-dadism. he's great
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Apr 12, 2024 23:41
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mdemone posted:And this made you feel what about the protagonist? Did it relate distantly to your alienation as a part of the same capitalist boss/worker system? tbf i remember feeling for gary when his ~bitch wife~ was nagging at him when he was clearly depressed until i read the other pov & was like yah gary sucks. dont hold it in. its not your fault but its your responsibility. actually, it must be a pretty good book because i remember a goddamn lot about it even though its been 20 years. real lovely books i dont remember like that. e: but never any empathy for chip Carthag Tuek fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Apr 12, 2024 |
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Apr 12, 2024 23:45
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Guys, please stop me from doing this. I don't want to do it, and I'm tired. But they're making positive noises about Franzen
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Apr 13, 2024 00:58
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mdemone posted:Guys, please stop me from doing this. I don't want to do it, and I'm tired. But they're making positive noises about Franzen i make no excuses for my 23 year old dumbass self, so* * get it?** ** its a lil joke for those who read The Corrections by Johnathon Franzen*** *** [sic]
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Apr 13, 2024 01:15
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Apr 13, 2024 01:27
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ok here's the explanation for my bad joke which contains huge spoilers for the corrections: its cause of the mom, she ends sentences with "so" a lot cause theyre from the upper midwest somewhere i think an audio book where they all do the exaggarated fargo accent would probably sell like hot cakes to a very narrow audience
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Apr 13, 2024 01:47
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Jorge Luis Borges: A Writer on the Edge by Beatriz Sarlo is I think the first whole book of literary criticism I've read. Unlike the majority of writing that focuses on his philosophical ideas and reflections on "general" western cultural themes, Sarlo reads Borges as a specifically Argentine writer, concerned both with his country's internal cultural contradictions and its place in relation to the world. Worthy content, though she mostly analyzes his early work and not his stories after The Aleph, which are where these themes shine out more.
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Apr 13, 2024 09:49
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I did generally like The Corrections when I read it and thought it was good, however I was unfortunately duped into reading other Franzen books which are just complete dogshit
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Apr 13, 2024 20:59
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I'm reading Die Dreigroschenoper because I couldn't find a good motion picture of it in a language I understand. I like how I can sing along to some of the songs.
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Apr 13, 2024 22:29
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