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redshirt posted:Anyone read "Parable of the Sower" series? Yeah they're really good. I like Octavia Butler a lot. The Xenogenesis books are some of my favorite sci-fi and go into some very fascinating subjects. Her and LeGuin are a bit apart in years but imo they beat out tons of their contemporary SF authors - notably because they can actually write tolerable male AND female characters instead of the perpetual struggle that is for a lot of genre authors - but also, as I said in a previous post, they had a grasp on social and gender dynamics that their peers often sorely lacked. Also to me Philip K. Dick's writing is great, not just the ideas. You can't be a bad writer and manage to make books like Ubik feel as surreal and affecting as it does. The ruminations on life's borrowed strength that it relinquishes at death in Galactic Pot-Healer really hit me hard on a recent read. I think he has an incredible knack for going indepth on very existential ideas without getting mired in navel-gazing. It never feels like the characters are pontificating out of nowhere, their personal crises and angst always feels natural in their situation and at the time it happens. A lot of SF and fiction in general can't really grasp WHEN to start letting the word count fart up and let the internal monologue run free. Martian Time-Slip is a good example of that, would that book be nearly as disturbing and effective in carrying such an aura of entropy if Dick wasn't able to imbue it with that atmosphere through his skill with writing? I think what Dick excels at, especially in that book, is also personalizing the existential crises for each of his characters too. Many of them are going through similar things, but they internalize it differently. Butler and LeGuin are very sociological in their approach. Dick was someone who (correctly) understood that any relationship we have with future technology won't just have a strong behavioral effect on us, or introduce us to strange new circumstances, but that it would affect, and unlock, core parts of our psyche in an existential sense. His characters come in tangible contact with concepts we can only think of intangibly because of future technology, like the pseudo-afterlife in Ubik - and of course that would be something that would gently caress us up philosophically in all kinds of ways if we could experience it in reality.
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Apr 10, 2024 19:44
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AARD VARKMAN posted:what kind of cool super powers are in yours the super power of passion
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Apr 10, 2024 19:47
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kntfkr posted:Was it published? No sir. I tried. I spent a solid year trying everything I could think of. To meet with absolute failure, and I gave up entirely. I don't think I've read a word of those books since.
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Apr 11, 2024 03:09
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redshirt posted:No sir. I tried. I spent a solid year trying everything I could think of. To meet with absolute failure, and I gave up entirely. I don't think I've read a word of those books since. I’m sorry to hear that. Don’t lose the dream!
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Apr 11, 2024 04:04
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kntfkr posted:I’m sorry to hear that. Don’t lose the dream! Nah, those books suck.
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Apr 11, 2024 04:05
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They sound like they do, no offense. I mean the writing dream.
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Apr 11, 2024 04:11
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Does anyone like latin american authors? I'm slowly and sporadically reading Gabriel Garcia marquez's novels and I'm yet to be disappointed. Currently reading "chronical of a death foretold" (crónica de una muerte anunciada) which has proven to be more fun than some of the others. It's kind of a reverse detective story. A guy is brutally killed but you already know why and by whom-- the details are just being pieced together through the recollections of the town folk. It should be a quick read but my brain is ravaged by lack of sleep due to baby stuff I recently read my first novel by Isabel allende (the house of spirits / La casa de los espíritus) and it was pleasant being absorbed in that world. It's got a dose of the Marquez magical realism, but a bit more down to earth with the story telling. Thesaurus fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Apr 11, 2024 |
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Apr 11, 2024 04:16
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Lol none of the idiots in G🅱️S are students of anything but life at this point
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Apr 11, 2024 05:23
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Thesaurus posted:Does anyone like latin american authors? I'm slowly and sporadically reading Gabriel Garcia marquez's novels and I'm yet to be disappointed. Currently reading "chronical of a death foretold" (crónica de una muerte anunciada) which has proven to be more fun than some of the others. It's kind of a reverse detective story. A guy is brutally killed but you already know why and by whom-- the details are just being pieced together through the recollections of the town folk. It should be a quick read but my brain is ravaged by lack of sleep due to baby stuff Have you read any Carlos Fuentes? I'd recommend The Death of Artemio Cruz.
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Apr 11, 2024 06:43
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Thesaurus posted:Does anyone like latin american authors? I'm slowly and sporadically reading Gabriel Garcia marquez's novels and I'm yet to be disappointed. Currently reading "chronical of a death foretold" (crónica de una muerte anunciada) which has proven to be more fun than some of the others. It's kind of a reverse detective story. A guy is brutally killed but you already know why and by whom-- the details are just being pieced together through the recollections of the town folk. It should be a quick read but my brain is ravaged by lack of sleep due to baby stuff I read all Marquez's works, and many other South American authors, but I am surprised to find myself here, now, with almost no memory of any of them, even Marquez. Its rather revealing.
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Apr 11, 2024 06:47
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Check out Fever Dream by Samanta Schweiblin. Shes Argentinian, I think. Its a weird, short book. I remember the introduction explicitly tells you that it was written to be read in one sitting.
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Apr 11, 2024 14:20
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I read Marquez' Memoirs of my Melancholy Whores as it was gifted to me by a south American friend and I thought it was pretty good. Interesting, if weird, premise and I found the writing to be pleasingly to the point.
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Apr 11, 2024 16:46
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Thesaurus posted:Does anyone like latin american authors? my favorite is Jorge Luis Borges. he mainly wrote short stories, and also essays. his short stories are fascinating, some of the best i've ever read, especially the ones from the collections "the Aleph" and "the Garden of Forking Paths" also recently read the Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez and quite enjoyed it and yes Marquez is great. Hundred Years of Solitude is brutal but incredible Earwicker fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Apr 11, 2024 |
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Apr 11, 2024 17:50
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Literally A Person posted:I read Marquez' Memoirs of my Melancholy Whores as it was gifted to me by a south American friend and I thought it was pretty good. Interesting, if weird, premise and I found the writing to be pleasingly to the point. Sounds filthy 
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Apr 11, 2024 18:01
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Earwicker posted:my favorite is Jorge Luis Borges. he mainly wrote short stories, and also essays. his short stories are fascinating, some of the best i've ever read, especially the ones from the collections "the Aleph" and "the Garden of Forking Paths" Top tier recs. Borges' short stories are incredible
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Apr 11, 2024 18:03
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To be clear about my earlier comments, its not about the quality of South American authors by any means; rather, it's my own inability to remember anything. The past is this vast blank slate....
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Apr 11, 2024 18:07
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I recently finished Altai-Himalaya by Nikolai Roerich because I got curious what does an 1920s russian spiritualist mystic/renowned artist/possible Soviet spy has to say. He led an expedition from India through Himalayas into China, than through China into USSR and through Mongolia into Tibet, which they barely escaped back to southern Himalayas. The book is not very good, mostly a strained attempt to shoehorn his experiences into a propaganda piece for his global project of a unified Panasian state and one world philosophy. Second half has more of a travel diaries format, and thus more interesting, if at least 50% of what he wrote is true 20s east China was an utter hell. It was Republican China back than but seemingly inherited a shitton of degeneracy from imperial times. Tibet is destribed as 10 times worse, near complete failed state. There are barely 4 paragraphs dedicated to their travels in USSR filled by nothing but sugary praise lol
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Apr 11, 2024 18:35
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Not quite South America- Dominican Republic, but check out Junot Diaz.
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Apr 11, 2024 18:50
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Earwicker posted:my favorite is Jorge Luis Borges. he mainly wrote short stories, and also essays. his short stories are fascinating, some of the best i've ever read, especially the ones from the collections "the Aleph" and "the Garden of Forking Paths" I've only read Love in the Time of Cholera some years back but I really enjoyed it, so this is a good reminder
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Apr 11, 2024 19:13
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Thesaurus posted:Does anyone like latin american authors? I'm slowly and sporadically reading Gabriel Garcia marquez's novels and I'm yet to be disappointed. Currently reading "chronical of a death foretold" (crónica de una muerte anunciada) which has proven to be more fun than some of the others. It's kind of a reverse detective story. A guy is brutally killed but you already know why and by whom-- the details are just being pieced together through the recollections of the town folk. It should be a quick read but my brain is ravaged by lack of sleep due to baby stuff Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch is great. You can read it straight through but he also provides an alternate chapter order
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Apr 11, 2024 19:31
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Gonna check out these recs, thanks everyone!Narzack posted:Not quite South America- Dominican Republic, but check out Junot Diaz. I read the brief and wondrous life of Oscar wao years ago, before I joined the peace corps and ended up living in on the Dominican Republic. It really enjoyed it and definitely need to re-read it. While I was in the country I read "the feast of the goat" (la fiesta del chivo) and really enjoyed it. It's probably time to revisit that one too, and maybe more by Vargas Llosa. This one is definitely worth checking out if anyone is curious. It's about the plot to assassinate the dictator Rafael Trujillo. The opening pages about how loving loud the country (and especially Santo Domingo) is all the time really resonated with me... Because it was always extremely loud everywhere! I've tried reading some Julia Alvarez and kept losing interest. Maybe I need to try another one of her books again? Earwicker posted:my favorite is Jorge Luis Borges. he mainly wrote short stories, and also essays. his short stories are fascinating, some of the best i've ever read, especially the ones from the collections "the Aleph" and "the Garden of Forking Paths" It's probably because I'm so sleep deprived, but I recently read a few of the short stories from Ficciones and it was a slog. Admittedly I only got through the first two ("Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" and "the approach to Al-Mu'tasim"). I should probably try some of the most famous ones. Even though (or perhaps because?) I did graduate studies in literature, I find I've gradually lost appetite over the years for "high" literature and intricate modernist stuff. I enjoy it conceptually, but when it's time to sit down and read I find myself reaching for something a bit more plot driven. It's often a question of whether I have the energy for it. Having children has probably just destroyed my brain. Ten years ago I'd probably be eating it up. Marquez seems to hit a nice balance of deep writing and engaging stories, which is probably why I've been coming back to him.
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Apr 11, 2024 22:04
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from the way i hear borges described the man is unparalleled. even nabokov couldnt talk poo poo. so im saving one of his stories for waaay later in this new hobby of mine before i go ahead and ruin the rest of literature early. then again i read Stoner
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Apr 11, 2024 22:12
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Borges is very good. At some point I devoured all of his fiction that I could find. As for Nabokov, I was surprised to find that his book Ada or Ardor is technically scy fi of sorts. Everything happens on another planet, they are aware of Earth (Terra) and are convinced for some reason that it's a much better place than their own cursed Daemonia.
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Apr 12, 2024 11:41
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A WALK ACROSS DIRTY WATER AND STRAIGHT INTO MURDERER'S ROW: A Memoir Book by Eugene S. Robinson I'm only a dozen pages in, but dude has had an entertaining life.
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Apr 12, 2024 12:56
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Non-fiction book, but 'The War of the Fists' by Robert C. Davis - which details the history of an old Venetian tradition of a bunch of men beating the poo poo out of each other in order to occupy a bridge. It's like if Fight Club was crossed with WWE and was in the Renaissance era, along with the analysis of how it was a bunch of machismo posturing that did very little but provide a public show.
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Apr 12, 2024 14:43
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im visiting my parents a grabbed a haul off my dad's bookshelf to take back. some are his and some were mine from a long time ago
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Apr 12, 2024 18:06
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nice, the early Pern books are always a fun read
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Apr 12, 2024 18:14
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imagine that but apart from bourne identity and hunt for red october every other book is clive cussler's entire bibliography and you have my dad's bookshelf. i did a book report on one because i wanted to do a 'grownup book' 
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Apr 12, 2024 19:03
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I wonder how Hunt For Red October fares these days. I read a ton of Tom Clancy when I was in college and just starting to expand my book consumption beyond the pretty restrictive limits I had growing up, but looking back on it, it feels like an embarrassing amount of   wankery. Red October feels like it might have been a bit apart from that, though, and I have overall good memories from the film, too.
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Apr 12, 2024 19:09
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Earwicker posted:im visiting my parents a grabbed a haul off my dad's bookshelf to take back. some are his and some were mine from a long time ago I can smell them. They smell soooooo good.
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Apr 12, 2024 19:11
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Earwicker posted:im visiting my parents a grabbed a haul off my dad's bookshelf to take back. some are his and some were mine from a long time ago I keep meaning to reread Doomsday Book, but it absolutely destroyed me when I read it years ago. My now-husband recommended it to me and then came home one evening shortly after I finished it to find me sobbing.
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Apr 12, 2024 19:44
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Enfys posted:I keep meaning to reread Doomsday Book, but it absolutely destroyed me when I read it years ago. thats one of the ones im less familiar with but it looked very intriguing i'd also never heard of Shibumi before seeing it on his shelf but i grabbed it because it looks both terrible and great "Nicolas Hel - Born in the ravages of World War 1 China to an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father, raised in the spiritual gardens of a Japanese Go master, he survives the destruction of Hiroshima to emerge as the world's most artful lover and its most accomplished - and highly paid - assassin. Genius, mystic, master of language and culture, Hel's secret is his determination to attain a rare kind of personal excellence, a state of effortless perfection... shibumi. Now living in an isolated mountain fortress with his magnificent Eurasian mistress, Hel faces his most sinister enemy - a supermonolith of espionage and monopoly. The battle is drawn, ruthless power and corruption on one side and on the other... shibumi."
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Apr 12, 2024 19:59
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lol that is a batshit concept, I love it
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Apr 12, 2024 20:59
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Thesaurus posted:Does anyone like latin american authors? I'm slowly and sporadically reading Gabriel Garcia marquez's novels and I'm yet to be disappointed. Currently reading "chronical of a death foretold" (crónica de una muerte anunciada) which has proven to be more fun than some of the others. It's kind of a reverse detective story. A guy is brutally killed but you already know why and by whom-- the details are just being pieced together through the recollections of the town folk. It should be a quick read but my brain is ravaged by lack of sleep due to baby stuff Bolaño is great, I can also recommend Clarice Lispector. her book passion according to G H was a good read
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Apr 13, 2024 08:07
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Enfys posted:Have you read any Carlos Fuentes? one day I’m going to read Terra Nostra
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Apr 13, 2024 08:08
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I just finished Episode 13 by Craig DiLouie. A ghost hunter TV show ends up at an actual haunted house. Story told through a mix of journal entries and transcripts of basically found footage Not terrible. The initial setup got me kinda spooked but ended up losing that once things sped up. Ending kinda meh
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Apr 22, 2024 19:36
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Just started The Name of the Rose, and loving it. This book probably spawned thousands of medievalists
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Apr 22, 2024 20:13
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i just started Life and Fate by Vassily Grossman. a huge tome filled with every evil WW2 wrought in Russia and Germany in the form of a fiction following one family (but based fairly closely on Grossman's own life, according to the intro). so far its very well written and harrowing also reading Dragonriders of Pern at the same time for some head space. its not exactly "light" but at least its got dragons and no nazis. Earwicker fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Apr 24, 2024 |
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Apr 24, 2024 16:19
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I’m reading a book called Septology whoch was nominated for a nobel prize or something, it said so on the cover. Went like twenty pages before the first period. It sucks.
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Apr 24, 2024 16:41
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I'm almost done with Blue Mars! It got kinda interesting here at the end, but my gosh, I read like two pages in bed and I am out like a light. It's great!
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Apr 24, 2024 16:43
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