jeremymacgregor87 Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I need a breather from Underworld so I'm now filling my brain with this grim shit: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chim Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cichlisuite Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 JP Sartre - Nausea Depicting my very existence in the last few years. I wonder why I left it sit on my shelf for so long. I guess one must endure to understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dese manz hatin Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I love Nausea. Especially the scene in the park where the character kicks against the roots of a tree and it triggers the whole "existence" experience for him (hope I remembered that right). Even though Sartre's philosophy (generally Existentialism) is in no way my cup of tea, his novels absolutely belong to my favourite books. "Age of Reason" is another one of my all time favourites. I've read that one countless of times. Same with Camus (though I like Sartre's style better). Maybe Existentialism works better as literature than as philosophy. It does so for me at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I need a breather from Underworld so I'm now filling my brain with this grim shit: How is it? I want to read that one soon. Currently reading: As I was supposed to read it in class, but really, one can only take so much rampant globalization cheerleading. I mean, I like globalization, but it is not without its faults. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremymacgregor87 Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 I need a breather from Underworld so I'm now filling my brain with this grim shit: How is it? I want to read that one soon. Currently reading: As I was supposed to read it in class, but really, one can only take so much rampant globalization cheerleading. I mean, I like globalization, but it is not without its faults. Good so far. While it is a pretty depressing i havent found it be a big a leap from the american authors i've been reading (first japanese author for me). Really hurries along and it's pretty amazing considering he wrote it when he was 20-something - thought it was actually written in '94 but it turns out that's just the year it was translated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zaphod Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 oe is a fairly western writer. read a personal matter if you like that one, it's probably his best book. if you want a really japanese writer i suggest yasunari kawabata. of course they all suffer in translation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cichlisuite Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 I love Nausea. Especially the scene in the park where the character kicks against the roots of a tree and it triggers the whole "existence" experience for him (hope I remembered that right). Even though Sartre's philosophy (generally Existentialism) is in no way my cup of tea, his novels absolutely belong to my favourite books. "Age of Reason" is another one of my all time favourites. I've read that one countless of times. Same with Camus (though I like Sartre's style better). Maybe Existentialism works better as literature than as philosophy. It does so for me at least. He is not literary kicking the root, but you could describe his mind outburst in the same way. I remember there was anger involved so I wouldn't be surprised:) The scene in the park is the key scene, I feel especially close to that section and the following (where he meets Anny for the last time and then leaving Bouville to move to Paris). I love the way he describes losing his past drop by drop, there are so many nice written passages, and it struck me how simliar I felt some years ago (and still do time to time). I completely agree with you on existentialist literature. I've read some good stuff on this subject, like Hesse's Steppenwolf for example. If I compare the two, I'd say I like Steppenwolf more because of its deeper insight, but on the other hand, I found Sartre's attitude towards simliar subjects more likeable. He is more optimistic I suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremymacgregor87 Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 oe is a fairly western writer. read a personal matter if you like that one, it's probably his best book. if you want a really japanese writer i suggest yasunari kawabata. of course they all suffer in translation. thanks, I'll look out for his Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ron Manager Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Finished Blood Meridian - wow. Loved it. The first half I wasn't entirely sure where it was going, but I persevered, and the second half (roughly from the seizing of the ferry crossing) was just unbelievable. I was gripped. Can't wait to track down some more McCarthy (will probably follow Iain's advice and check out Suttree). I then read The Kite Runner because my gf wanted me to. I thought it was a good story and enjoyed it, although I wasn't particularly enthralled by the author's style. I really didn't like how he kept pointing out obvious symbols and explicitly referring back to earlier foreshadowing. Give us some credit, let us work this out for ourselves... Anyway, now reading 1984, as I haven't read it in about a decade and yeah, why ever justify reading this masterpiece? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello spiral Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Very entertaining and interesting. I was told the (true) story behind this by a friend when we went to The Hunterian Museum. Being by Mantel I imagine it's well researched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ron Manager Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Have you read Wolf Hall? If so, what did you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chenGOD Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 oe is a fairly western writer. read a personal matter if you like that one, it's probably his best book. if you want a really japanese writer i suggest yasunari kawabata. of course they all suffer in translation. How does Oe compare to say, Murakami Ryu? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello spiral Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Have you read Wolf Hall? If so, what did you think? I have not. I'm a total Mantel hipster. I bought a load of her books when I kept seeing them on charity shop trawls before Wolf Hall was published. I do want to check it out though. So far I've read the one in my last post, Fludd and Beyond Black. And maybe one more, I forget. She also wrote a good piece for the guardian about a hospital stay for a routine operation and the hallucinations she experienced. Went to post the link but it's been removed as 'our copyright has expired.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ron Manager Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Have you read Wolf Hall? If so, what did you think? I have not. I'm a total Mantel hipster. I bought a load of her books when I kept seeing them on charity shop trawls before Wolf Hall was published. I do want to check it out though. So far I've read the one in my last post, Fludd and Beyond Black. And maybe one more, I forget. She also wrote a good piece for the guardian about a hospital stay for a routine operation and the hallucinations she experienced. Went to post the link but it's been removed as 'our copyright has expired.' Ah OK. Wolf Hall is the only thing of hers I've read. Very mixed feelings about it on the whole, it was one of the most difficult books I've read in recent memory. And by that I mean it was literally difficult to work out who was saying what, if anything, and which Thomas did what thing... anyone else who's read it must know what I mean. At times it was incredibly frustrating. On the other hand, the historian in me very much approves of looking at past events from different perspectives, and on the whole I like how she has used the novel to basically rehabilitate Cromwell as an historical figure. Haven't read Bring Up The Bodies yet - I plan to, but I'll need to muster up the strength... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goffer Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Just finished 2001: A Space Odyssey now onto Blue Movie by Terry Southern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dese manz hatin Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I'm re-reading some Büchner stuff (Lenz, Woyzeck and others) and holy shit that man is amazing. Woyzeck is one of the best literary works of social criticism I've read I think, same goes for the Werner Herzog movie. And Lenz is simply awesome in every aspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zaphod Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 oe is a fairly western writer. read a personal matter if you like that one, it's probably his best book. if you want a really japanese writer i suggest yasunari kawabata. of course they all suffer in translation. How does Oe compare to say, Murakami Ryu? i might rephrase that to say that stylistically he is very western. his subject matter is heavily japanese, for the most part. a personal matter is about a father with a mentally disabled son, which is basically oe, since his son was born with brain damage and still lives with him at forty. that character, hikari, is in most of his novels. ryu murakami is maybe the most western of the japanese writers i've read. i don't really like his stuff though. the other murakami, haruki, is pretty western too, although wind up bird does deal with japan's past. so, maybe oe is the most socially responsible japanese writer but very western in terms of style. if you read mishima or kawabata, it's like reading prose poetry. kawabata kind of invented flash fiction with his palm of the hand stories, some of which are half a page and read like extended haiku. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Iain C Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 Got a copy of this in the post: Despite the keen red and black colour scheme - which my copy doesn't have - this isn't some sort of anarcho-syndicalist tract. Instead it's an examination of suicide, alcoholism and other self-destructive behaviour from a psychoanalytical perspective. It's quite old - from the 1930s - but I've heard it's very good. And I'm interested in getting to the root of my own self-destructive impulses and behaviours. I've also made a start on this, which has been sitting neglected on my shelf since October: I generally like Nabokov but this hasn't really grabbed me. But I feel the need to persevere with it because it was a present from my partner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlobkob Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 I just started to read Marcel proust's search for lost time. This will take a while, i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcofribas Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Iain C Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I'm re-reading some Büchner stuff (Lenz, Woyzeck and others) and holy shit that man is amazing. Woyzeck is one of the best literary works of social criticism I've read I think, same goes for the Werner Herzog movie. And Lenz is simply awesome in every aspect. I read Lenz last year. Incredible book, and far ahead of its time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zkom Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Finished Dubliners and Libra. Also read Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicles and Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia in the last couple of weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello spiral Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Don't really do sci-fi very often. on the third one so far and still enjoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIII Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 gravity's rainbow im debating on just reading everything at normal speed and letting the references and subtleties fly over my head. i have "a gravity's rainbow companion," which is helpful but time consuming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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