QQQ Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 funny you say that because i think Murakami is the most inconsistent writer i've read. i've just finished All The Pretty Horses (Cormac McCarthy). it was pretty slow going in parts, though others were great. it took me a while to get through. i've picked up the 2nd in the trilogy (The Crossing) but i think i'll leave that for another time. decided on something short (Animal Farm) to go next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxien Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 The Crossing is amazing. ATPH was decent, and the third is interesting, but The Crossing hits hard...imo obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweepstakes Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 funny you say that because i think Murakami is the most inconsistent writer i've read. What of his have you read? This is my 3rd after Wind-Up Bird Chronicles and Kafka on the Shore, so you probably have a broader perspective than me on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QQQ Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 funny you say that because i think Murakami is the most inconsistent writer i've read.What of his have you read? This is my 3rd after Wind-Up Bird Chronicles and Kafka on the Shore, so you probably have a broader perspective than me on this.Wind-Up Bird Chronicles is definitely the best i've read so far. i haven't read Kafka so i might pick that one up next. i've read: 1Q84 (up to book 3) Wind-Up Bird Sputnik Sweetheart Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki South of the Border, West of the Sun What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (non fiction) oh and I've seen the film Tony Takitani. i don't think it's that well known but i really liked it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echolalia Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 There is a documentary called Dreaming Murakami out soon about translating his writing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignatius Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 where does a total noob begin with Murakami? Wind Up Bird or Norwegian Wood I M O Wind up bird or Kafka on the shore.. norwegian wood is a solid start too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignatius Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 (edited) currently reading: Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation it's awesome. really digging it. short book about transition to a monied economy and capitalism and popular heresy and war on women.. burning witches etc. it's like a 'secret history' or "here's some stuff they don't tell you in school" look at a really important time period. the church has always been full of seriously corrupt fucking douchebag assholes. it's amazing how they manipulated people along w/the elites.. what a scam. anyway.. it's a fascinating book.. great look at power structures https://www.amazon.com/Caliban-Witch-Women-Primitive-Accumulation/dp/1570270597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511636625&sr=8-1&keywords=caliban+and+the+witch+women%2C+the+body+and+primitive+accumulation Edited November 25, 2017 by ignatius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweepstakes Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 Finished Hard-Boiled Wonderland on Wednesday and was kind of disappointed at the ending. I vaguely remember this same kind of feeling with how his other novels wound down their conflicts. I really enjoyed the pacing and imagery, though, as usual. Anyone recommend something with a similar kind of vibe but a little less tidy, maybe a little more complex plot-wise? Honestly I am a novel pleb - I like Murakami, PKD, and DFW for differing reasons and they have just been my go-tos for like a decade now. I tried Life: A User's Manual in the summer and didn't get too far into it - it was too arty and conceptual and I wanted something I could sink my teeth into and feel a bit more. I also tried Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, really wanted to like it, and I was really disappointed at how much his writing and general vibe gets on my nerves. It seemed like it could have been really good but maybe he drank too much dandelion wine while he was writing it or something because yuck. For now I might work on the book of Chekhov short stories I got around the same time. I want to read Diary of a Part-Time Indian - I was going to read it around the same time as well but ended up losing it. I was thinking about re-reading Dune or Foundation (only have books 1 & 2 and want to pick up 3 sometime) but the whole sci-fi universe building shtick with all the made-up words feels really tedious to me and I have a hard time slogging through it. Oh yeah as long as I'm thinking about it, I did read Confederacy of Dunces earlier this year. It was fun and funny but I felt like it also lost steam toward the end, cleaned things up a little too tidily. Overall I enjoyed it, though. Other than that I have a huge non-fiction backlog. I want to read Being and Time so I can feel cool and smart like Mark Fell but I'm kinda skeert of that one too. I think I checked it out from the library a while back and it was definitely no easier to read than Herbert or Asimov. Otherwise... I'm in more of a Murakami or DFW mood than a PKD mood. Sooo I might just get more Murakami... or try Infinite Jest for the 4th time? Heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignatius Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 Oh yeah as long as I'm thinking about it, I did read Confederacy of Dunces earlier this year. It was fun and funny but I felt like it also lost steam toward the end, cleaned things up a little too tidily. Overall I enjoyed it, though. yes it does. it was pieced together after his death as you probably know. i read a biography about him that's pretty interesting. had strange life. that book had a strange life as well.. from when it was written to finally published. there's some great stuff in there but it has a weird flow. i forget the details about how it came together in its final form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxien Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 Definitely not stressing about this, but maybe Murakami deserves his own thread? His stuff comes up ITT constantly and usually it's the same-ish conversations when it does... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweepstakes Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 it was pieced together after his death as you probably know. i read a biography about him that's pretty interesting. had strange life. that book had a strange life as well.. from when it was written to finally published. there's some great stuff in there but it has a weird flow. i forget the details about how it came together in its final form. Yep, I think my copy even mentions that. It makes sense for sure and it's not fair for me to be too critical of it. I will say that I think it was the same situation with DFW's Pale King and I actually liked that one quite a bit more - it sounds like there was less meddling and trying to make it flow, too. Also, it was more a kind of cubist collection of vignettes, so tragedy aside, it worked out better for the format. Definitely not stressing about this, but maybe Murakami deserves his own thread? His stuff comes up ITT constantly and usually it's the same-ish conversations when it does... Done - https://forum.watmm.com/topic/94318-haruki-murakami/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bechuga Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 Don Quixote is a total jerk! Honestly, he's basically a yob: attacking people at random for their belongings. And some of the detours the book takes is ridiculous: there's a section a hundred or so pages long where people in an inn read a novel they found. Kinda boring, and adds nothing to the story. No wonder the copy I have is 950 pages long. Also depressed to read that, even four hundred years ago, people dismayed of simple-minded works being so popular and more intellectual fare being ignored. Shit never changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebraska Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QQQ Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 been on a bit of an Orwell kick recently recently read: Animal Farm - good Down and Out in Paris and London - great Success (Martin Amis) - not great now reading: Burmese Days read a little of The Waves (Virginia Woolf) as well but the soliloquy style she uses in it isn't something i really enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caze Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 Saw a documentary about her, nuts story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caze Posted December 16, 2017 Share Posted December 16, 2017 recently read The Dispossessed by Ursula le Guinn, which I really liked, so am now reading The Left Hand of Darkness, also really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankbooth Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 Artemis by Andy Weir - disappointing, but didn’t have real expectations to begin with. Feels like a Hollywood cash grab after the deserved, but fluke success of The Martian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricone RC Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 recently read The Dispossessed by Ursula le Guinn, which I really liked, so am now reading The Left Hand of Darkness, also really good.my two fav UKL's, altho I'll never forgive her for the mother of all Deus ex Machinas at the end of Dispossessed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricone RC Posted December 17, 2017 Share Posted December 17, 2017 (edited) Two books: And the Birds Rained Down - Jocelyne Saucier On the Black Hill - Bruce Chatwin Both related somewhat since they both involve two elderly fellas living secluded lives in remote spots. Both are set in places that are rarely covered in fiction but also just happen to be areas I know very well, so I enjoy that aspect. Plots are almost inverse of eachother, one only starting in melancholy while the other descends into crushing bleakness. Not telling you which tho innit Edited December 17, 2017 by Tricone RC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echolalia Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 been on a bit of an Orwell kick recently recently read: Animal Farm - good Down and Out in Paris and London - great Success (Martin Amis) - not great now reading: Burmese Days read a little of The Waves (Virginia Woolf) as well but the soliloquy style she uses in it isn't something i really enjoy Keep the Aspidistra Flying bey. One more one more. Its the American teenage angst graphic novel of the 1930s even with the acceptance of being a grown up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 liber null & psychonaut - enjoyable when i'm in the mood for it, but like, idunnno...too often with this sort of literature i get the impression that it's 10% actual neat methods for expanding your personal reality & breaking free of limitations, 60% basic philosophy//meditation techniques//self-help stuff dressed up in a dracula cape, 30% the author treating their personal sense of morality for some kind of universal code. not too far into this one yet so maybe it will be different?? the prince - probably having this on my bedstand next to the black magic ritual guides didn't help when it came to trying to convince my roommates i wasn't a creepy manipulative weirdo with aspirations to become a cult leader, in the days leading up to my needing to leave the apartment beyond the golden star - haven't started yet, no idea what it is, don't usually read fantasy, don't usually buy books on a whim but here we are! saving it for the rideshare to the maritimes later this week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebraska Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 (edited) gabriel garcia marquez online archive Edited December 19, 2017 by Nebraska Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bechuga Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Editorial notes for Milo Yiannopoulos' Dangerous have been put forward as evidence in Yiannopoulos' breach of contract lawsuit and they're pretty funny (if also depressing and horrifying). He sounds like a teenager ranting while he plays CSGO. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/28/unclear-unfunny-delete-editors-notes-on-milo-yiannopoulos-book-revealed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doorjamb Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 (edited) read a little of The Waves (Virginia Woolf) as well but the soliloquy style she uses in it isn't something i really enjoy Bummer. Maybe try Monday or Tuesday (or Haunted House), collections of shorter pieces where the style really does embody & reflect the content & themes of each. Unless she's just not for you, of course; that's fair enough. I was given a totally rad decipher of the Carollian Alice for Xmas, but I reckon I'll check out this L. Ron Hubbard paperback I found at a bus stop yesterday first as it looks like top notch stuff. Edited December 29, 2017 by doorjamb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doorjamb Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 (edited) URGENT UPDATE --- BE ADVISED: The Hubbard sucks & has consequently been returned to the world, secreted beneath the eaves of an opportune bus shelter. The Alice book is most toothsome. Oh, & happy 2018, literate watmm-kin! Edited January 2, 2018 by doorjamb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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