Now Reading

[tec]

 

 

Started Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. So far, not too bad.

I can see where Guillermo Del Toro got the idea for The Strain from.

 

I did not like this at all, but good luck. 

 

 

You were right tec. I was fine with the first 3rd, but this one fell apart quickly. Basically a pissing match over a chess game. Fuck off.

 

2 old geezers stroking each other in the shower / 10

 

 

Aw, sadly unlike watching a shit film a shit book has taken far more time. The main thing I learned from this is that whilst Stephen King's stories are great his recommendations can be a load of old toss.

[keanu reeves]

he's a pretty bad writer tbh

[olo]

 

 

 

Started Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. So far, not too bad.

I can see where Guillermo Del Toro got the idea for The Strain from.

 

I did not like this at all, but good luck. 

 

 

You were right tec. I was fine with the first 3rd, but this one fell apart quickly. Basically a pissing match over a chess game. Fuck off.

 

2 old geezers stroking each other in the shower / 10

 

 

Aw, sadly unlike watching a shit film a shit book has taken far more time. The main thing I learned from this is that whilst Stephen King's stories are great his recommendations can be a load of old toss.

 

 

I powered through just to finish the goddamn thing. I truly respect people who can just drop a book/movie without finishing or knowing the outcome. I, alas, have to see it through to the end. I should bill Dan Simmons for my time. I think I've read as much as I can by him at this point. Although I hear Hyperion may be some of his best. Not sure if I got it in me.

 

Any under the radar horror novels you suggest tec?

[tec]

I've read a lot of horror but aside from the classics most novels tend to run out of steam quite quickly so I mainly read short story collections now. If that's your thing Robert Aickman is very good, similar to M.R James, and Thomas Ligotti is fantastic. A couple of graphic novels worth a look are Wytches by Scott Snyder and Through The Woods by Emily Carroll. Not particularly under the radar I'm afraid but hopefully you've not heard of at least one of them. 

[olo]

I've read a lot of horror but aside from the classics most novels tend to run out of steam quite quickly so I mainly read short story collections now. If that's your thing Robert Aickman is very good, similar to M.R James, and Thomas Ligotti is fantastic. A couple of graphic novels worth a look are Wytches by Scott Snyder and Through The Woods by Emily Carroll. Not particularly under the radar I'm afraid but hopefully you've not heard of at least one of them. 

 

Not heard of either. Thanks for the suggestions. Just started getting back into this reading thing. I'm poorly out of touch.

[cwmbrancity]

gone the full Jung:

 

The Red Book

 

Alchemical Studies

 

Secrets of the Golden Flower

 

Memories, Dreams & Reflections

 

& Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principal

 

so far, so mind fucked, The Red Book in particular is staggering in its scope

[Bechuga]

Finished The Story of A New Name by Ferrante (good!), now to begin In The Approaches by Barker, who is a treat to read. After that, V. perhaps? More fucking Pynchon?

 

Also reading The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing and finding it difficult because the main character is so annoyingly unaware (authoral intention) of how contradictory and bad her decisions are, not to mention her devotion to a person who despises her and treats her less pleasantly than garbage. If this character comes to a bad end, she brought it all on herself.

 

It's funny too, in a sardonic way, which is how Lessing rolled.

 

[youtubehd]vuBODHFBZ8k[/youtubehd]

Edited August 31, 2016 by Bechuga

[doublename]

Ugh I've got to get back to The Good Terrorist at some point.

[prdctvsm]

iNeed 2 read that aslo. her interview above is great !

 

just finished alan watts 1973 autobigraphy, " in my own way". plenty o' joie de vivre & insight, an eg.

“…if a flower had a God it would not be a transcendental flower but a field - moreover a field as discussed in physics, an integrated field of energy, a field which would not only be flowering, but also earthing, raining, shining, birding, worming & beeing. A sensitive flower would through its roots & membranes, feel out the entire pattern & so discover itself as a particular exultation of the whole field.” p. 211  

 

[Bechuga]

Nicola Barker is great: characters that sneeze lines of dialogue, chapters from the viewpoint of a parrot called Baldo and an overarching storyline that is building to something very dark, along with one character developing blisters so bad his buttocks fuse together. Marvellous, everything I wanted in a book!

 

Also, even Alan Moore is somewhat obsessed with David Wallace: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/books/review/alan-moore-by-the-book.html?_r=0

 

Also, he seems to have read Infinite Jest in under a month. While finishing Jerusalem, which I hope to start when my copy FINALLY arrives...

Edited September 15, 2016 by Bechuga

[KovalainenFanBoy]

Just what Moore needed, falling in love with the most overwritten novel of the past century (no disrespect to DFW) (all disrespect to Moore))

[keanu reeves]

dfw shines when he's limited by length and format. infinite jest is probably the worst entry point into his work. and moore is probably already worse off because there's no real thematic reason for his books to be so overwritten and heavy on description. at least with infinite jest it's part of the overall point. moore is just self indulgent.

Edited September 15, 2016 by keanu reeves

[hello spiral]

After Bech and someone else here said good things about Vineland I decided I might as well continue in chronological order and reread it after the GR reread, seeing as I started this Pynchon jag with V.

Seems the 2nd time is the charm for me when it comes to Pynchon. 200 pages in and enjoying it a lot. Much moreso than the I remember from the first time.

 

My gf picked me up the new Stephen King short stories collection too, now it's out in paperback. Reading one of them before bed the last few days. Enjoying it but I am a massively biased King fan from pre-adolescence.

 

Also picked up a bunch of Sacks and Rushdie's Satanic Verses on a whim after reading up on all the Fatwah Fun while bored at work.

Edited September 15, 2016 by hello spiral

[gnarlybog]

 

This was an incredible read, and was based on the recommendation of Henry Miller (my favourite author). 
Originally published in 1890, it reads like it could have come out 100 years later. It basically follows a psychologically troubled young writer as he starves on the streets of Olso. You're not even sure why! My only gripe is that it ends abruptly.

[doublename]

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

[keanu reeves]

 

This was an incredible read, and was based on the recommendation of Henry Miller (my favourite author). 

Originally published in 1890, it reads like it could have come out 100 years later. It basically follows a psychologically troubled young writer as he starves on the streets of Olso. You're not even sure why! My only gripe is that it ends abruptly.

 

his books pan and mysteries are both strong. i think the former is probably his best. i couldn't finish the book he actually won the nobel prize for, growth of the soil. too bad he was a nazi sympathizer, but whatevs, those two books plus hunger are very good.

Edited September 16, 2016 by keanu reeves

[Alcofribas]

 

 

This was an incredible read, and was based on the recommendation of Henry Miller (my favourite author).

Originally published in 1890, it reads like it could have come out 100 years later. It basically follows a psychologically troubled young writer as he starves on the streets of Olso. You're not even sure why! My only gripe is that it ends abruptly.

his books pan and mysteries are both strong. i think the former is probably his best. i couldn't finish the book he actually won the nobel prize for, growth of the soil. too bad he was a nazi sympathizer, but whatevs, those two books plus hunger are very good.

in addition to pan and mysteries his other major work of the 1890s is Victoria, also "quite good." after this his books begin to take a turn away from the bizarre and charismatic individual characters and focus more on larger casts of characters in small Norwegian villages. the link between these two styles are two books collected under the title "the wanderer." his last novel "the ring is closed" is an unexpected return to the style of his 90s period, you might want to check that one out.

 

one of the masters of Norwegian literature, nothing quite like him (in any language really). definite shame about the nazi thing though lol.

 

oh btw: the translations by Sverre Lyngstad are the ones to get.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Alcofribas

[hello spiral]

oh shiiit. I bought that book from a 2nd hand bookshop when I was around 13 or 14 because the cover haunted me. Was like half remembering a dream or nostalgia for a past life or something. Remember how bewildering it was to read at that age too.

Seriously need to reread it, still have that copy:

 

 

 

 

Anyone notice Benjamin Horne namedrop him on Twin Peaks?

[doublename]

.

Edited September 16, 2016 by doublename

[QQQ]

Hunger is great. i'll pick up Pan one of these days.

 

i'm STILL reading Norman Mailer - The Naked and the Dead. book is looooongggg. some parts are really good, i keep forgetting he wrote this so young. a few sections are a little boring but considering the page count so much of it holds up well.

[eugene]

i dunno how this thread works so i will just spoil-er everything:

 

i read "story of your life" by ted chiang because the talentless villeneuve will inevitably ruin it with the upcoming "arrival" (in fact i remember very well that he will, hah), and to me, establishing communication with aliens it is too fascinating of a premise to experience a shit version of it, so i turned to the original.

 

the depiction of the process of establishing communication and getting to know the alien language, though quite technical and requiring quite a few detours to dictionary and wiki, was fascinating. the intermittent passages of protagonist's memories of her child were beautiful, and about halfway through gain an even more poignant dimension as it becomes clear what that language is like and what it apparently did to the protagonist. in fact once that becomes clear the actual reading becomes even entrancing in way because the chiang manages to convey that newly attained perception of time by protagonist in first person really well. the notion of deriving emotional fulfillment from performing own predestined life as it was depicted is, again, simply beautiful.

 

i did have a bit of trouble making that leap of faith and accepting that the protagonist did attain the ability to see the future, it's one thing learning to think like aliens through language, but actually gaining the ability? that particular bit was not as well presented as was needed, i felt. in fact for most of the time i thought the protagonist was an unreliable narrator of sorts, having become accustomed to that mode of thinking but without having an ability to actually see the future, and thus stuck seeing only some kind of possible future. that would make a pretty cool twist..(and perhaps it's actually a possible interpretation?).

[keanu reeves]

oh cool, that's a good story. are you reading the entire collection? there are some great stories in there: understand is like a good version of limitless, tower of babylon is interesting as well. his story the merchant and alchemist's gate is great. ted chiang is one of sci fi's hidden gems. everyone should read exhalation, one of the best sf stories i've ever read. btw might want to work on that spoiler.

Edited September 16, 2016 by keanu reeves

[eugene]

so far i just got that one because that "arrival" trailer popped up and i got real excited about it till i noticed that villeneuve is the director. and now after reading the story it looks like the film really won't have that much to do with it besides the basic premise anyway, seems like they're ditching that touching, personal and diary like storytelling for something big and global.

i already bookmarked exhalation after searching the thread for other mentions of chiang and you were the only one, which is indeed quite peculiar for such a sci-fi-interested forum, from what i gathered chiang is a quite acclaimed sf writer. i guess it's something about the short story format? seems like a perfect format to me - you don't have to spend a too much time to determine whether what you're reading is a waste of time.

 

i'll probably jump on "understand" next though, i actually liked limitless (the film) quite a bit, lol.

[keanu reeves]

i don't know why more people aren't aware of him. he seems to be a "writer's writer" or something. wins a hugo every couple years and goes away. this forum has been disappointing with regards to genre writing. seems to revolve around pkd and the obvious older writers like asimov, clarke (which chiang is basically a modern version of), herbert etc. chiang has never written a novel and seems to write as a second career so his profile is relatively low. he's been around since the 90s though, so i'm surprised when genre fans haven't heard of him.

[caze]

I read a lot of SF when I was growing up (the classics: dick, asimov, clarke, aldis, bester, heinlein, van vogt, lem, etc), but in the last 15 years or so have mostly avoided new stuff (last 'current' stuff I read was probably Greg Bear, Neal Stephenson or Kim Stanley Robinson many years ago now), generally sticking to regular fiction and nonfiction these days though. Still read the odd SF thing, either old stuff I never got around to back then, re-reads, or very occasionally new books (read a good few Charlie Stross books in the last few years, good stuff). There's no doubt a raft of good authors I'm not aware of, I don't really follow the awards or whatever.