|
I just finished A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by DFW That man's use of language never ceases to amaze me, even when he is describing something mundane. I really enjoyed the David Lynch essay, one of my favorite artists writing about another of my favorite artists. Help a goon out! Lots of books - horror, nonfiction, classics and more for sale.
|
#
¿
May 19, 2011 18:36
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 9, 2024 17:47 |
|
|
I finished The Pale King by David Foster Wallace. It was amazing, and supposedly only 1/3 finished when he killed himself. A meditation on boredom and depression and neuroses, through the eyes of several IRS employees. A lot of seemingly random passages that don't go anywhere. "False-starts and dead-ends" is how someone put it. Some of the longer parts, like the character sketches of Fogle and Rand, were my favorite parts. It definitely left me wanting a lot more. Thankfully, I've yet to read Infinite Jest. escape artist fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Jun 7, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2012 16:54
|
|
|
Elmore Leonard's City Primeval, just a short little crime novel. Wanted to take a break from the heavier stuff, and I found it to be pretty gripping right from the beginning, and there was a great crescendo of tension by the end. My first book of his, but I'll probably be reading some more. It's nice to balance the heavy with the light from time to time.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2012 04:07
|
|
|
Just finished Junky and then Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs. Going to be making a thread for him in a few days. This was my second reading of Naked Lunch, and it was a lot more enjoyable than the first one. Junky acts as a prequel to it, and since the first read, I saw a documentary about him. Not to mention, knowing what to expect (as well as knowing some of the slang in the book) made it much less confusing the second time.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 4, 2012 01:29
|
|
|
Mr. Squishy posted:He hadn't discovered (if that's the word) cut-up by Naked Lunch. Check the Ticket That Exploded, Nova Express and Soft Machine for that. It's where he writes something, then cuts the paper down the middle and re-arranges this. What's going on in N.L. is a man being so high on weed that he can't write more than a chapter at a time, then some friends descending and lashing those chapters into shape. He at least wrote some of N.L. in heroin detox. There's an extra hundred pages or more in the Restored Text that talks some about how he came to write it. And yeah, Kerouac and Ginsberg helped in the editing process. But it wasn't arranged exactly how he intended, the publisher called him and was like "we need this in two weeks", so it was rushed. Speaking of the movie, I'm going to check it out soon. I decided to read the book before watching the movie. Also, am I to infer that his later post-N.L. novels are even more discombobulated than N.L. itself? Ugh, don't know if I can handle that. I'm reading Queer next, so I know it won't be a problem there.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 4, 2012 20:45
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:Whoa, we're on the same page. I just read "You Can't Win" by Jack Black, which inspired Junky, then read Junky, now I'm reading Naked Lunch. Honestly I liked Junky more; the trippiness of Naked Lunch is over the top and a lot of the profanity just seems dated ("Ok, you're talking about skullfucking. I've seen The Aristocrats and read Somethingawful for years; this isn't shocking me") I couldn't finish Naked Lunch when we had it for book of the month, despite being the one who nominated it. But once I read Junky, and saw the documentary W.S. Burroughs: The Man Within, I gave it another shot. It's good, I'm glad I read it, but I prefer the style of Junky more, too. I expect Queer will be good. Also, Naked Lunch (the Cronenberg film) is not an adaptation of the book. It is a mix of biography and some elements of the book. For example, Lee is addicted to heroin, not bug juice, in the book, and Burroughs really did kill his wife while playing an intoxicated game of William Tell. Him accidentally killing his wife is what apparently inspired him to become a writer, or something... I didn't quite get the connection when watching the documentary. But anyway, we'll have a whole thread dedicated to him soon, once I stop being lazy. I promise by the end of the week. I have a few other things I want to watch to incorporate them into the OP (A Junky's Christmas, Destroy All Rational Thought, Commissioner of Sewers) edit: Oh poo poo, I just realized Peter Weller plays Burroughs/Lee in the film 
escape artist fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Sep 4, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Sep 4, 2012 20:55
|
|
|
Mr. Squishy posted:escape artist post the thread, I had like 2 paragraphs here about Burroughs that I deleted for being off-topic. well, un-delete them and post them here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3505231
|
|
#
¿
Sep 5, 2012 03:15
|
|
|
Read Point Omega by DeLillo, in a day. Wanted to get a taste of him before I plunged into his larger novels. Was not disappointed. It's a shame this guy is going to die before he gets the recognition and acclaim he deserves. Did I detect some Pynchon influence?
|
|
#
¿
Sep 15, 2012 17:44
|
|
|
barkingclam posted:If you're looking to move on with him, White Noise, Libra and The Names all rule (and I think are better than Point Omega or anything he's done since Underworld). I've got Cosmopolis, Underworld and White Noise right now. I'll check out everything. He's pretty amazing.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 16, 2012 01:30
|
|
|
I hate baseball, but that won't deter me, because I hate tennis, and I love DFW.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 16, 2012 07:09
|
|
|
I wanted something light and easy to read, so I picked up an old copy of Pet Sematary I got when someone was just giving away a whole bunch of old books... It had no business being as good as it was. Philosophical and psychological musings were prevalent throughout the book, and it really gripped you with some well-fleshed out characters. It wasn't at all what I expected-- it's a prime example of "don't judge a book by its cover", because re-animated animals haven't a great deal to do with the actual story and themes. Great atmosphere, too. I used to only read King's non-fiction and short stories, but I think I might delve into his longer works now, because they offer (as longer books are wont to do) a much richer experience. No lie, it was a 560 page book and I finished the drat thing in less than two days-- that's how gripping it was.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 25, 2013 20:52
|
|
|
I just finished Pet Sematary by Stephen King... surprisingly philosophical. I went into it with low expectations, but finished the drat thing in less than 2 days. His short stories are really hit and miss (mostly miss)... Besides this, I really only loved On Writing which I have read many times as a burgeoning writer. Also finished Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut... also philosophical and riveting, but not surprisingly. What a beautiful, fantastic book. I drank caffeine to stay up and finish this book! So drat good. Quickly became one of my favorite books of all time. Loved the metafictional construct, the be careful what you pretend to be, because you could very well become it, even in your own mind. What a fantastic book. A must-read, I think. escape artist fucked around with this message at 04:18 on Mar 8, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Mar 8, 2013 04:14
|
|
|
I just finished A Song of Ice and Fire, in about two months. It consumed me. I've never even liked the fantasy genre until now. But that was... riveting. A 5,000+ page rollercoaster. Wow. What the gently caress do I read next?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 25, 2013 08:08
|
|
|
I finished Moby Dick I am proud. It was grueling
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2023 00:04
|
|
|
No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy The Coen brothers adaptation is very straightforward, often word for word with dialogue. However I enjoyed the book more because of Cormac's prose and I understood it more. I was definitely pissed off in the film version when Llewellyn and Anton never have a face off but it made a hell of a lot more sense in the book.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 15, 2023 00:45
|
|
|
Life's Work by David Milch. I have been fascinated with him since like 2007. I even watched and rewatched John From Cincinatti and loved it. He is best known for Deadwood and NYPD Blue. What you might not know is he a Yale educated writer who was there around the time of Bush and Kerry, also he's a bipolar addict who suffered CSA in his youth. He's been living in an assisted living facility with Alzheimers for 4 years. It's probably the best memoir I've ever read, written by one of the writers who gave me a passion for writing when I was younger. I would love to talk about this with anyone and I am thinking of making a Milch thread in TVIV so we can rewatch some of his works. OR just continuing the Deadwood thread.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2023 01:45
|
|
|
Should we make a companion thread, "What did you just DNF?" so I can write about all the books I gave up on
|
|
#
¿
Aug 6, 2023 23:13
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:we used to have a thread like that IIRC but it was a while ago. I'm fine with warning folks off terrible books but other folks might like those books or authors and I'd hate for folks to become upset seeing someone trash a fav and lead to conflict that might require my having to learn what these buttons I now have do. OTOH, if folks can put in terms of why they personally could not finish it that would work. I've DNFed quite a few modern horror books and rather than keep making GBS threads up the horror thread with my negativity, I figured I could put it elsewhere 
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2023 03:55
|
|
|
Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth, a sort of Western set in 19th century Australia. Definitely Cormac McCarthy influenced. Personally I loved it and found it gripping throughout. Very pleasantly surprised with this one.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 22, 2023 04:07
|
|
|
American Prison by Shane Bauer. A journalist gets a job as a prison guard, works there for a few months, writes a book about it. Very good, short read. Nonfiction
|
|
#
¿
Aug 26, 2023 19:55
|
|
|
abigserve posted:The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy Stella Maris I enjoyed more than The Passenger, so curious to hear your thoughts on that once you read it. It's a lot shorter and helps illuminate a lot of what was going on in The Passenger.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2023 16:16
|
|
|
Just finished up Things We Lost In The Fire, a short story collection by Mariana Enriquez. There were a couple of great stories in there, most of them were pretty solid. I might check out Our Share of Night next
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2023 23:02
|
|
|
Gleisdreieck posted:The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami I was so bored by the main story but those Manchuria flashbacks were so good.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2023 23:00
|
|
|
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson Holy hell, what an amazing short story collection. I love his writing, his prose. Definitely has some Beat influence. The title is a reference to Heroin, the Velvet Underground classic. It's so short. I read the first story, and had to go back and read it again after I was done, before moving onto the second story... And it maintained it's quality all the way through (133 pages). Currently reading another of his collections now. Check this out!!
|
|
#
¿
Feb 3, 2024 01:30
|
|
|
what do you think of Foucault's Pendulum?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 6, 2024 02:23
|
|
|
tetrapyloctomy posted:"I, uhhh, might have read that once or twice and liked it," says forums poster named tetrapyloctomy for 21 years. I tried to start it as my first Eco and while I was impressed by the scope of it, I was also not up to the challenge. So it's been sitting on my book shelf next to House of Leaves, another book where I did the same thing. Read a fraction of it and never got the courage to work up to it. vvv I read Cannery Row last year and was blown away by it. Immediately had to read East of Eden afterward, to scratch that Steinbeck itch. Cannery Row was compared to Suttree, which is what piqued my interest initially. vvv escape artist fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Mar 6, 2024 |
|
#
¿
Mar 6, 2024 16:13
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:Mort, by Terry Pratchett. My first Discworld novel in a long time, and the first of the Death series. The premise is simple: Death (the entity) wants to take a vacation, so he hires an apprentice and shenanigans ensue. Honestly, not one of the better Pratchett books I've read, I feel like the titular character goes from hapless nobody to 'oh crap this is why Death is supposed to be a remote and inhuman being' at the drop of a hat without any particular growth to get there or calming down at the end. It's still Pratchett so it's still decently fun, I'm just calling it mediocre for one of his books. Someone on here suggested this as my first Discworld book, but after your review I am wondering if that is the best place to start...
|
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2024 14:59
|
|
|
The Devil All The Time by Donald Ray Pollock was so good. I guess there's a Netflix movie of it with Bill Skarsgård. I might check it out. It's a Southern Gothic thriller following some characters who, well, are in desperate situations. Including a serial killing couple, among other interesting characters.
escape artist fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Mar 21, 2024 |
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2024 02:25
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 9, 2024 17:47 |
|
|
Tarnop posted:You messed up your spoiler tag btw Whoops, my bad. Fixed it. Thank you.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2024 03:57
|
|