|
Sunglasses After Dark That was the most fun I've had with a horror novel in ages - yes it had all the horror and gore you could want, I was definitely horrified at times (thanks for the rape scene, author!), but it ultimately emerged from the blood as an extremely gothic punk white wolf-esque vampire story that ended with psychic battles and wraiths eating a corpse and at least fifteen suicides in the surrounding area as the heroine emerged from the burning building wearing mirror-shades and a leather jacket with bullet-holes in it. I'm buying the next one in the series for xmas, I deserve fun like this!
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2018 23:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 05:19 |
|
|
The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies. I recently recommend What's Bred in the Bone and realized I hadn't yet read this trilogy myself. I loved the Deptford Trilogy and Fifth Business is one of my favourite novels. This book is set in the University of Toronto (itself based on old British Universities, to give you some idea of the setting) and places a female graduate student in the humanities (studying Rabelais) in the middle of an arrogant effete, a very SERIOUS ACADEMIC, an Anglican parson/prof, and a defrocked monk. A death leads to loads of highly collectibles needing to be distributed, including one item coveted by SERIOUS ACADEMIC. This story is very funny and includes gypsies, crude songs sung in undergrad pubs, murder, and a scientist studying...poo poo. Davies can really write characters, and they are all larger than life. I know this particular university personally, and recognized the character types introduced although they are more archetypes than anything. Its a damned funny novel too, with all sorts of memorable phrases like "what good is it to tell someone to be true to themselves when they are an utter bastard?" About the only negative is the dated nature of portrayal of women (but this might not be quite as dated as I would like to think). The woman at the center of the book is sometimes too good to be believed, but really struggles with her place between her roots and her position in the academic world. A really fun read.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2018 07:44
|
|
|
Lies Sleeping, the most recent in the Rivers of London/Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch. I'm... not entirely sure if I was satisfied by this book or not just yet. The series is at its best when it's "police procedural meets early series Supernatural" with tons of London history and some winking asides to pop culture thrown in. And while this book has that it's also more blatant with the "man doesn't this remind you of Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings/whatever?" thrown in. On top of that there's parts in the book where the author skips his usual habit of "Peter Grant is too busy trying to stay alive/deal with poo poo to actually pay much attention to what's going on when there's big magic poo poo going on" and instead goes in to detail of it. In one of the earlier books Nightingale gets in to a knock out drag out fight with someone else and all you see while Peter's trying to handcuff someone is that suddenly a drat building's roof collapses. Only for the roof to rise and drop again as it turns out that the much more powerful magic user is literally beating his opponent down with it to send a message. In a series where just making a magic ball of light is taxing "Dude uses a house as a blunt force weapon" gets the point home that some serious poo poo is going down. Here the climatic bits towards the end are just a little too over the top to actually scratch the itch that I'm looking for. Just not sure if it's the sort of bloat you get in urban fantasy or what. There's also more references to some of the novellas that I hadn't read yet which might also be impacting how some of the beats fell. It's perfectly serviceable as far as books go (and it's still a fun series) but previous ones like Moon Over Soho or Broken Homes had me tear through them in almost one sitting while this one had me working harder to stay focused. Not sure what's next on my reading list but I might try to find something more grounded in history along the lines of The Butchering Art to give this a rest. Open to suggestions, mind.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2018 22:44
|
|
|
The adventures of Tom Sawyer Entertaining enough. Easy enough to turn the pages. It reminded me of The treasure island that way. I'll finally be able to get that Simpsons episode. Wikipedia says it's a satire of something, guess I should either reread it or grow as an american to try and get it. Next Huckleberry Finn, a bit longer but if it's as fun shouldn't be an issue. Connecticut Yankee could be tons of fun.
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2018 06:16
|
|
|
The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King. This is sort of a meditation on Native-non Native relations, with some history thrown in and more you can hunt up now that you know about it. There are no firm answers at the end but at least by reading this you know what is involved to achieve real reconciliation with our first nations. And its really funny, written in a conversational tone. An important book.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2019 19:01
|
|
|
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman. Another literally bought in an airport (but from the excellent one in Denver), a coming of age story of three siblings set in the 1960s New York and Massachusetts who happen to be bloodline witches cursed should they fall in love. Also a story of coming to terms with who you are. How each negotiate the curse is splendid, and the last few chapters are really emotional--I rarely cry when reading books but this was really well done. Its a prequel for Practical Magic but I have not read that--its not necessary, this stands well on its own.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2019 04:37
|
|
|
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Put simply, it's Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day meets Quantum Leap. Aiden Bishop is stuck in a time loop, without any memories of who he was or why he's at Blackheath Manor. A mysterious figure has given Aiden the task: Solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle and he will be allowed to leave. He has only eight days to come to an answer. Each day, he will wake up in a new guest at the manor and must use their body to investigate. But he isn't alone. Two other people are also trapped in the loop, only one person will be allowed to leave, and someone is intent on stopping Aiden by terrorizing and killing his hosts one by one. It's a remarkable debut novel, it's very interesting, with a lot of surprising twists and turns. It uses the body-jumping gimmick to great effect, as each host body retains some of its character, influencing what the body does and making it harder for Aiden to control. While the premise sounds bizarre, the actual mystery plays completely fair. It provides clues to the solution that a reader can put together, but the number of twists and turns means the mystery isn't too easy to solve.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2019 00:06
|
|
|
Wildfire at Midnight by Mary Stewart. Mary Stewart wrote a lot of romantic suspense novels, usually involving a young ingénue, a far-away place, and a murder or two. This one is set in Skye and is a pretty gripping read.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2019 21:48
|
|
|
Outsystem by M. D. Cooper - the first book in The Intrepid Saga, which itself is part of a much larger work of fiction called Aeon 14 that has multiple authors writing in it. It's very much a postcyberpunk military scifi/space opera with all that that entails, including nano-technology being a part of every-day life, 'nets aplenty, sentient AIs (who exist as shades of gray instead of all being evil), space battles, big odds, and various scrapes and bruises for most people involved. It's set in the 42nd century, but so far it appears that there's no actual faster-than-light traveling, so to shortcut that the author mentions date and location every single chapter, although it does annoy me a little bit when the date and location is mentioned when going from one chapter to another and only a few days have passed in the books chronology and the location hasn't changed. Overall I like the start of this series quite a bit, and will continue reading it. I'm especially interested to see how it works out with other authors contributing to the series.
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2019 14:04
|
|
|
I've just finished The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. It was good, though one thing I often find with these hardboiled guys is that their books are always slow starters for me; they often take me a little while to get into but then they build and build and build and become more and more engaging as they unfold. For whatever reason I've never had quite the same difficulty with their English contemporaries who were writing Golden Age mysteries (of which I've admittedly read less). Rex Stout remains my favourite. Perhaps it is because he's right on the dividing line between them. Anyway, for my next book, options I am considering are The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler, Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard (leaning away from this because I have seen the movie) or this novel called Scoundrels which is described as being comparable to Flashman or the Mortdecai novels.
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2019 16:02
|
|
|
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck Repetitive, with some moments of beauty and insight peppered throughout. Really excels in its realism and the amount of research Steinbeck did to get things right. I'm a bigger fan of Cannery Row and Of Mice and Men.
|
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2019 19:24
|
|
|
A (Brief) History of Vice by Robert Evans I enjoyed his time at Cracked as well as his current Behind the Bastards podcast so I figured I'd give this one a read while spending New Years with my soon to be in-laws. It was pretty breezy but also surprisingly informative about some things (the Venus of Willendorf possibly being less Stone Age porn and more "this is what you'll look like while pregnant" during the chapter on porn was a theory I hadn't heard before).
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2019 20:51
|
|
|
Aquarium - David Vann I kinda hated this book. Uneven characters make unbelievable decisions to baffling results, leading to a rushed ending tying up loose ends in bewildering, unsatisfying ways.
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2019 07:38
|
|
|
aquarium was 2017 dude everyones talking about blackwater and the snow child now
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2019 07:47
|
|
|
Just finished Embassytown by China Miéville. It's nice to read good, solid speculative fiction that's as rich in metaphor and strong grasp of language as it is in cool sci-fi ideas. The Immer was a great take on FTL (of course every sci-fi franchise has to have its own unique spin on the subject) but it was only an added spice to what was a rich narrative with a deep emotional and philosophical core. If you're a fan of Ursula K. LeGuin, you will probably enjoy Miéville. I'm not saying he's on LeGuin's level, but he's definitely in her tradition.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2019 13:06
|
|
|
Applewhite posted:Just finished Embassytown by China Miéville. It's nice to read good, solid speculative fiction that's as rich in metaphor and strong grasp of language as it is in cool sci-fi ideas. The Immer was a great take on FTL (of course every sci-fi franchise has to have its own unique spin on the subject) but it was only an added spice to what was a rich narrative with a deep emotional and philosophical core. If you're a fan of Ursula K. LeGuin, you will probably enjoy Miéville. Yeah, I don't want to oversell it, but Embassytown took me by surprise in so many ways. It uses linguistics and semantics to convey some really interesting ideas about consciousness (and politics, because it's Mieville) in a way I've never seen before.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2019 17:41
|
|
|
Finished Until I Find You by John Irving. And with that, I am done with him. There's still quite a few of his novels I haven''t read, but I've had enough. Miserable people living miserable lives in miserable places and dying miserable deaths. Garp was the first "adult" book I ever read (I was 16 when it came out) and I enjoyed Owen Meany, but I don't think I can take any more.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2019 02:31
|
|
|
Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut. A Vietnam vet becomes a professor in an upstate New York college for uneducable children of the ruling class. A prison across the lake has a break out and takes over the college town. Lots of references to the late 90s obsession about foreign ownership in the US. Funny, sad, disjointed, but nothing is left unresolved. Vonnegut writes this almost like music, always restating particular themes when they come up to be sure you don't miss the significance (or lack thereof). Not the best of his oeuvre but still a fun and worthwhile read.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2019 05:32
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut. What do you consider to be the best of his oeuvre? Slaughterhouse-Five?
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2019 12:41
|
|
|
StrixNebulosa posted:What do you consider to be the best of his oeuvre? Slaughterhouse-Five? For me Cat's Cradle, but Slaughterhouse Five is up there as well with Breakfast of Champions, Galapagos, Mother Night, and God Bless You Mr Rosewater. Hocus Pocus would fall around the last there for me. Its beautifully written but lacks a bit of the moral punch his best books have.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2019 15:46
|
|
|
Mother Night is pretty relevant as well.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2019 16:06
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:Mother Night is pretty relevant as well. I should reread it in this post escalator era
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2019 05:46
|
|
|
I like the more meandering Vonnegut books a lot, so Hocus Pocus is actually one of my favorites, along with Deadeye Dick and Bluebeard.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2019 07:57
|
|
|
Just finished Philip K. Dick's UBIK and UBIK: THE SCREENPLAY, which I read simultaneously, switching every chapter or so. Pretty interesting and occasionally tedious way to take in a pretty interesting and occasionally tedious story. I was pretty sure it was going to totally lose me in the Des Moines section, but it pulled itself together at the end (especially in the screenplay!) to deliver on the promise of some of the more haunting ideas PKD set up.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2019 06:37
|
|
|
I'm in awe of Octavia Butler. Marathoned Kindred as an audiobook with my wife and it was excellent. Now I'm reading Wild Seed and it's almost as good but equally gripping. I find myself almost studying it because there's something different from typical SF writers about the way the story unfolds and stuff but I can't put my finger on it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2019 13:44
|
|
|
I just finished reading Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon. Fairly gripping for the whole ride, and that's as someone who usually can't stand anything close to nonfiction. Not really sure what I'm gonna read next.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2019 02:14
|
|
|
zooper26 posted:I just finished reading Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon. Fairly gripping for the whole ride, and that's as someone who usually can't stand anything close to nonfiction. Not really sure what I'm gonna read next. The bit about how to tell if a suspect is lying (posted in the interview room) has always stuck with me. 1. Gets his story straight. 2. Fucks his story up.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2019 05:30
|
|
|
Old Man's War by John Scalzi. This was a gift from my Secret Santa two years ago (thanks!) and I really enjoyed it despite the books flaws. I loved the central conceit--you have to be 75 as an American to move off world, but only after serving in the colonial forces--and seeing how a bunch of old farts respond to the enabling technology that permits this was really a lot of fun. Then it turned into battle stories, but with interesting world building sprinkled in--I look forward to the next two books to see a fuller picture than what would be apparent to a line grunt (like, diplomacy, or is shooting an alien the natural way of saying hello?). The main character is far too perfect. Hell, this is even commented on at the end of the book. I don't want to say the accursed "Mary Sue" but holy hell Scalzi. At least its very well written, and went down easily, despite the unreflected upon destructive colonial expansionist ethic at the books heart. Wow that's a lot of words for a pulpy scifi romp. Was fun. Will read the next in the series. THANKS SANTA!
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2019 16:12
|
|
|
The Darkest Time of Night by Jeremy Finley. Was on my local library's new book shelf, so took a chance. All told, a run of the mill UFO conspiracy story, lent a bit of originality by the protagonist being a grandmother and the story working with that unconventional choice of protagonist. That's about the only originality to the book, though, as the plot stays in comfortable, well-trod territory for this kind of story. It's a well executed example of the breed, so a definite thumbs-up for being this guy's first novel, but if you've read a UFO conspiracy book before where a person's [grand-] child is abducted and their relentless search for truth brings them into the crossfire of ?kooky? UFO researchers, a secret military organization covering up the aliens, mysterious men in black, grey aliens, and people being abducted for nefarious purposes, this brings nothing new to the table.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2019 03:29
|
|
|
I just finished Jennifer Fallon's "The Second Sons Trilogy": Lion of Senet, Eye of the Labyrinth, Lord of the Shadows. I guess I would classify these as science fiction, even though the technology level is medieval, because everything is grounded, no magic or fantasy races to be found. It's set on the world of Randaron, which has two suns in its sky. About thirty years before the events of the story, the brighter, yellow sun disappeared, leaving only the dimmer red sun. The disappearance threw the world into a panic until after three years of relative darkness, young priestess Belagren delivered a prophecy that the second son would return if a child of royal blood - the newborn third son of Antanov Latanya, the ruler of Senet was sacrificed at a specific time. It "worked". The story revolves around Dirk Provin, second son of the Duke of Elcast, one of the islands of the former kingdom of Dheyven. He's a kind soul, and extremely intelligent, able to do difficult math in his head (like determining the square root of 5482 to the 10th decimal place in little more than a minute). A tidal wave washes ashore the remains of a boat. The only survivor is Johan Thorn, the former king of Dhevyn (and Dirk's actual father, unknown to him) . That draws the attention of Antanov Latanya, and Belagren. Both Antanov and Belagren seek to control Dirk for their own ends. Antanov so he can corrupt Dirk into his protege, as a way of torturing Johan and showing that he has truly lost everything. Belagren wants to control Dirk because she believes he has the intelligence to find out when the next disappearance of the sun would be. She fears that if another one happens without her being forewarned, Antanov would realize she has no connection to the Goddess, and he sacrificed his son for nothing. The first book is largely setup and world-building, establishing Dirk's intelligence and ability to think on his feet, as well as the military dominance of Senet over all other powers, and the spiritual dominance of the Shadowdancer cult, which is trying to spread its ritual involving human sacrifices and drug-fuelled orgies to the islands of Dheyven. The second book skips ahead two years later, and Dirk decides that there's only one way to kill an idea, and he will pursue it, even though it will be a costly path. The third book sees Dirk's ultimate plan come to fruition, but it also continues onward, showing the consequences of the plan. I quite liked these books. Dirk is incredibly smart person, but he's not perfect, he can't plan for everything, and he often has to adjust on the fly to unexpected events. Ironically, one of the biggest thorns in his side is someone who acts on impulse without considering the consequences. There is tragedy, heartbreak, and loss, but there's also humor and romance, these books are not "grimdark", wallowing in misery or torture porn like some other series. One interesting thing that these books do is that the love interests for certain characters change over time. Just because a character likes person A at one point doesn't mean that they'll end up with person A, in fact it's more likely that they'll fall out of love with A and fall in love with B. This can be tricky to do, but it's handled very well without character assassination, so it feels like a natural progression, not a surprise. (sorry for all the  , but it was three books.)ulmont posted:The bit about how to tell if a suspect is lying (posted in the interview room) has always stuck with me. I've heard that one way to tell if it's the truth or a lie is to ask them to tell their story BACKWARDS - start with the incident, then what happened before, then what happened before that... If it actually happened, the person should have little trouble, but if it's a fabrication, it's harder to recount properly in reverse order.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2019 05:08
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:The Darkest Time of Night by Jeremy Finley. Was on my local library's new book shelf, so took a chance. All told, a run of the mill UFO conspiracy story, lent a bit of originality by the protagonist being a grandmother and the story working with that unconventional choice of protagonist. That's about the only originality to the book, though, as the plot stays in comfortable, well-trod territory for this kind of story. It's a well executed example of the breed, so a definite thumbs-up for being this guy's first novel, but if you've read a UFO conspiracy book before where a person's [grand-] child is abducted and their relentless search for truth brings them into the crossfire of ?kooky? UFO researchers, a secret military organization covering up the aliens, mysterious men in black, grey aliens, and people being abducted for nefarious purposes, this brings nothing new to the table. I just finished Jonathan Livingston Seagull for the first time in ten years. It was good, super silly. Super New Thought. But actually a really tightly told little allegory tale. I would recommend reading it on the beach.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2019 05:29
|
|
|
Roger Zelazny's The Last Defender of Camelot. I didn't get it at all. Whatever allegory or innovative narrative technique's Zelazny was using here passed me by completely.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2019 10:23
|
|
|
Bad Blood about Theranos. Creepy how well Carreyrou describes the industry.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 05:34
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman. Another literally bought in an airport (but from the excellent one in Denver), a coming of age story of three siblings set in the 1960s New York and Massachusetts who happen to be bloodline witches cursed should they fall in love. Also a story of coming to terms with who you are. How each negotiate the curse is splendid, and the last few chapters are really emotional--I rarely cry when reading books but this was really well done. Its a prequel for Practical Magic but I have not read that--its not necessary, this stands well on its own. Sounds cool! I might check that one out. I just finished Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link. Kelly Link is one of my favourite authors and definitely my favourite short story author. I admire the way she makes everything feel dream-like without weighing down her prose. There are several stories in this anthology especially that felt like they were beamed out of a nightmare factory, but not in an overboard horror way. Her stories remind me of the kind of nightmares I sometimes have, that aren't necessarily scary, but just creepy and upsetting and sad.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 16:40
|
|
|
Just finished Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuval. Apparently it's the second book of a still being written book series. Giant robots ala Pacific Rim + a bizzaro The Day The Earth Stood Still is how I'd describe the plot of Waking Gods. None of the characters really stood out, chalking that up to the framing device of the book being 80% after-action reports/transcriptions of interviews. Not actively looking out for the 1st book of the series, or any sequels, but also would not warn people away from Waking Gods either. e:Library book, blind-read it, no research done after reading/ before posting Thanks TommyGun85 for getting me to add this. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Jan 30, 2019 |
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2019 04:38
|
|
|
I forgot to talk about Viriconium by M. John Harrison when I first read it. It's an omnibus of three novellas and seven short stories set in a decaying fantasy world with a science fiction past. What I knew going in turned out to be unimportant, subsumed by an overwhelming sense of doom and melancholy befitting a world long past its prime and expiration date, which I think by now is my favorite tone and an easy way to get me hooked on a fantasy setting by now. Apart from that, I appreciate the shifts in focus from story to story. Take the novellas, for instance: "The Painted City" is a sword and sorcery yarn about a warrior going out on one last quest, "A Storm of Wings" is similar, except with an adventuring party going on a death march instead of mostly focusing on just one legend, and "In Viriconium" is a story of a young artist's life spiraling out of control because nobody around him understood the byzantine rules of their reality until it was too late. In particular, there's a stark divide between stories that take place outside the city, which remind me of things like Dark Souls, the Dying Earth and David Gemmell's Druss books, and inside, where the vibe is more like Twin Peaks, Coen Brothers and In the Mouth of Madness? Unfortunately my memory of most of the short stories has faded by now, and I do remember thinking the collection had spent its best material by the time I got to the last two. I do recommend this book anyway, though maybe don't force yourself to read it all at once like I did.NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Just finished Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuval. Apparently it's the second book of a still being written book series. Giant robots ala Pacific Rim + a bizzaro The Day The Earth Stood Still is how I'd describe the plot of Waking Gods. None of the characters really stood out, chalking that up to the framing device of the book being 80% after-action reports/transcriptions of interviews. Not actively looking out for the 1st book of the series, or any sequels, but also would not warn people away from Waking Gods either. I think it's a trilogy that finished last year, actually.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2019 06:13
|
|
|
NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Just finished Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuval. Apparently it's the second book of a still being written book series. Giant robots ala Pacific Rim + a bizzaro The Day The Earth Stood Still is how I'd describe the plot of Waking Gods. None of the characters really stood out, chalking that up to the framing device of the book being 80% after-action reports/transcriptions of interviews. Not actively looking out for the 1st book of the series, or any sequels, but also would not warn people away from Waking Gods either. so you started a trilogy in the middle, enjoyed it, but do not want to read the 1st and last book. That is a very peculiar way to read a series.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2019 16:35
|
|
|
TommyGun85 posted:so you started a trilogy in the middle, enjoyed it, but do not want to read the 1st and last book. That is a very peculiar way to read a series. I should have added: Library book, blind-read it, no research done after reading/ before posting to my initial post about it, doing so now thanks TommyGun85. The book cover didn't mention anything about it being a sequel when I grabbed it, and as I said the framing device of the book was 80% after-action reports/transcripts of interviews which added some things (fast pace) and took away others (none of the characters really stood out). Overall it wasn't terrible, so wouldn't not recommend it others, also wouldn't run to find the other books of the series.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2019 19:16
|
|
|
I worked my way through Roger Shattuck's Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography for the last month or so, sort of a companion piece to the previous book I read which was John Gardner's On Moral Fiction. Gardner's work is a rant of little value despite my agreement with some of his ideas (especially with regard to the useful societal role or function of critics [i.e., to condemn bad works and point out good ones]). Shattuck's is much more substantive, although uneven and I think harmed by the structural conceit: he takes pairs of works and examines them for how the authors deal with the idea of 'forbidden knowledge' or of 'harmful knowledge.' But some of these pairings are forced. I found his readings of L'Etranger and Billy Budd compelling, for instance; but don't really think they fit his theme well. By far the more interesting part of the book is the second part where he drops the strict literary analysis angle and deals with more practical problems with the idea of unbounded knowledge, which he sees as a virtue born of Enlightenment ideology and bolstered by Darwinian concepts of existence, which he sees as a distinct break with the earlier Judeo-Christian worldview held by the west. Here, Shattuck gets into the problem of the Marquis de Sade, examining with convincing argument the way that various notorious sexual predators have by their own admission admired and imitated his works, and questioning the degree to which the literary establishment ought to champion the works of de Sade and hold him up as for lack of a better term a 'canonical' author. Citing studies that suggest a causal link between the depiction or advocacy of sexualized violence and the enactment of sexualized violence (he notes other studies that establish no link between the depiction and acts of mere violence without a sexual element), he suggests that the literary establishment has done society a great wrong by elevating de Sade from the rubbish heap and saying to the public at large: "here is an important thinker, you should read him." He compares de Sade to healthier depictions of sexuality and romance to contrast them and to say that 'pornography' is not itself problematic, but rather de Sade's anti-social valorization of crime and of sexual violence. He advocates rather than either continuing to lionize de Sade or on the other hand burning all of de Sade's works, that material of this nature should be regulated in a way like cigarettes: not given to minors and with warning that consuming it might cause deleterious effects. Reading Gardner and Shattuck in closer succession was interesting since they both talk of the moral potential of fiction -- Gardner in the positive and Shattuck in the negative -- and on reflection I find myself much more willing to believe in fiction's ability to infect people with unhealthy ideas than to provide them with good models of behavior.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2019 21:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 05:19 |
|
|
NoNostalgia4Grover posted:I should have added: Library book, blind-read it, no research done after reading/ before posting to my initial post about it, doing so now thanks TommyGun85. This is a big pet peeve of mine. Why not advertise it's a sequel?
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2019 21:43
|
|