hello spiral Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 'nother Stephen King: Firestarter. Doublename's post reminds me that me missus bought me Cryptonomicon a few months back and it's still in my to read pile. So that next eye reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Dylan Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Ol' Pynchon's new one, Bleeding Edge, is coming out next week, apparently. Like Inherent Vice, only different? I really like how he turns the year 2001 into some sort of weird "historical" era. Man it feels like only 10 years ago, but everybody is saying his writing makes it look like it,s from a far distant past, which is probably true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcock Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 (edited) Currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Started off well, be interesting to see where it goes. That's nice, I've starting this as well as one of my summer read. Good page turner. Since I only read 2 book at the same time (one at home, one on the subway), I've decided to read "Ready player one" as another summer easy read. I don't like it, I'm at page 200 but I'll go until the end. It's a great idea, but the guy can't write. mad syncronicity here, i picked this up as a random buy from a second hand shop, the first time ive been in this thread for months, and this is the first post i read. it was a decent book, nothing amazing, nothing shite, just a solid read. still insane that of all the books in all the worlds, i pick it up as a literal random 4th book to get the 10 pound deal, and the first post i read in here mentions it. i cant even imagine the possibility of that in true maths. Edited September 14, 2013 by messiaen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Children of Dunealso someone's mailing me Be Here Now. Not sure how much of it is gonna be insightful & how much will be drugged out hippy talk but it's written by a guy who changed his name to Ram Dass so iunno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taciturn Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Earlier this week I was reading Art & Physic: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Art. Now it is The Beat of a Different Drum: The life and science of Richard Feynman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Atom Dowry Firth Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 This series is completely ridiculous and extremely good fun, as long as you're OK with a spot of casual genocide here and there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcofribas Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 Ol' Pynchon's new one, Bleeding Edge, is coming out next week, apparently. Like Inherent Vice, only different? I really like how he turns the year 2001 into some sort of weird "historical" era. Man it feels like only 10 years ago, but everybody is saying his writing makes it look like it,s from a far distant past, which is probably true. I'm hoping this is more Inherent Vice than Against the Day. The latter made me think maybe he'd lost his touch but the former was a wonderful stripped down Pynchon classic. tom pls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprillian Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, and The Memoirs of a Survivor by Dorris Lessing. I enjoyed The Golden Notebook and The Fifth Child by Lessing. In fact, although I tend to be sceptical about so-called "life changing" books, The Golden Notebook stayed with me a while. And I've been meaning to read the Herge for ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doorjamb Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 I inhaled Tintin as a kid (en français, bien sur). I would love to get a poster print of the black gold cover Finished Infinite Jest awhile back. I thought it was lots of fun, & despite being somewhat inconsistent in terms of narrative/linguistic quality it's got tons of nuggets of beauty strewn throughout. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but it was an enjoyable experience & is on my long list of books worth an eventual second pass. Now I'm debating whether to crack William Gaddis' The Recognitions with only 2 weeks before fall term... It's been eyeing me from the bookshelf for ages Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baph Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 If you have to debate whether to crack open The Recognitions before an important life event, you will never crack open the Recognitions. Trust me, I know from experience (my experience is that I've never cracked open The Recognitions). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Dylan Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 The entire Tintin collection is a must for anybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doorjamb Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 If you have to debate whether to crack open The Recognitions before an important life event, you will never crack open the Recognitions. Trust me, I know from experience (my experience is that I've never cracked open The Recognitions). I'll do it if you do... *rdj grin* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zaphod Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 i'm gonna try and read gravity's rainbow for the tenth time. i've never gotten more than fifty pages in. i'm pretty sure pynchon doesn't even know what parts of the book mean. but i own it, like the rest of his work, because i feel like it has some inherent potential to be great. currently reading his new one. it's a mixed bag. when vineland came out david foster wallace said "pynchon seems to have spent the last twenty years smoking pot and watching tv". i can't see much to change that perspective. bleeding edge is a mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremymacgregor87 Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 i'm gonna try and read gravity's rainbow for the tenth time. i've never gotten more than fifty pages in. i'm pretty sure pynchon doesn't even know what parts of the book mean. but i own it, like the rest of his work, because i feel like it has some inherent potential to be great. currently reading his new one. it's a mixed bag. when vineland came out david foster wallace said "pynchon seems to have spent the last twenty years smoking pot and watching tv". i can't see much to change that perspective. bleeding edge is a mess. I too am 50 pages into Gravity's Rainbow : / Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hello spiral Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 *feels smug about getting all the through Gravity's Rainbow first time* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baph Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 (edited) currently reading his new one. it's a mixed bag. when vineland came out david foster wallace said "pynchon seems to have spent the last twenty years smoking pot and watching tv". i can't see much to change that perspective. bleeding edge is a mess. Well, smoking pot, watching TV, and writing Mason & Dixon, maybe. Which changes the perspective at least a little, right? I'm sure his recreational activities were given a fair amount of priority, though. Granted. Edited September 18, 2013 by baph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capsaicin Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Mr. Palomar by Italo Calvino Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 30equals Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zaphod Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 currently reading his new one. it's a mixed bag. when vineland came out david foster wallace said "pynchon seems to have spent the last twenty years smoking pot and watching tv". i can't see much to change that perspective. bleeding edge is a mess. Well, smoking pot, watching TV, and writing Mason & Dixon, maybe. Which changes the perspective at least a little, right? I'm sure his recreational activities were given a fair amount of priority, though. Granted. well, that quote is from 1990, so gives it some perspective too, no? i'm using that quote in reference to vineland and then inherent vice and bleeding edge, all three of which i've read. mason and dixon was a non starter for me. maybe it's a masterwork, i'll never know. oh and against the day is another one i can't be bothered with. these might both be amazing books. his shorter novels written during this time are enjoyable to a degree (puns, silly names, paranoia, inherent vice is basically the big lebowski), but they're essentially meaningless. it's totally possible all the weight and meaning is in those two behemoth novels he's written in the last two decades, but i have a feeling, for me, pynchon is a case of the emperor having no clothes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpyLoo Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 now reading: MPC4000 manual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke viia Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 fritjof capra - the web of life ("a new scientific understanding of living systems") pretty good history of systems theory, not nearly as boring as it sounds either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublename Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 About 1/3 of the way through Infinite Jest and something like 150th on the library waiting list for Bleeding Edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baph Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 currently reading his new one. it's a mixed bag. when vineland came out david foster wallace said "pynchon seems to have spent the last twenty years smoking pot and watching tv". i can't see much to change that perspective. bleeding edge is a mess. Well, smoking pot, watching TV, and writing Mason & Dixon, maybe. Which changes the perspective at least a little, right? I'm sure his recreational activities were given a fair amount of priority, though. Granted. well, that quote is from 1990, so gives it some perspective too, no? i'm using that quote in reference to vineland and then inherent vice and bleeding edge, all three of which i've read. mason and dixon was a non starter for me. maybe it's a masterwork, i'll never know. oh and against the day is another one i can't be bothered with. these might both be amazing books. his shorter novels written during this time are enjoyable to a degree (puns, silly names, paranoia, inherent vice is basically the big lebowski), but they're essentially meaningless. it's totally possible all the weight and meaning is in those two behemoth novels he's written in the last two decades, but i have a feeling, for me, pynchon is a case of the emperor having no clothes. Sure. Not trying to proselytize re: Mason & Dixon, but I'd probably rate it his best/most consistent. I'm looking forward to Bleeding Edge, but as with Inherent Vice, I'm not expecting much more than a laff innit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcofribas Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 I was just going to post that M&D is his strongest book, probably the most likely to be read 100 years from now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 30equals Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 About 1/3 of the way through Infinite Jest and something like 150th on the library waiting list for Bleeding Edge. thoughts so far ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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