Now Reading

[Waxlimbs]

 

Been digging into Murakami's 1Q84 lately- a bit slow to start but it's weirdly infectious after a while... I'd recommend for a slow burn.

 

Mild spoilers. Murakami is hit or miss for me. I had trouble finishing the book, I felt the character development was handled very poorly. If a story has no development it can be frustrating, but his handling of Aomame was just strange. The strong person in the first two books just sort of vanishes and it becomes all about Tengo. I wouldn't put it past myself to have missed something, though.

 

Interesting, I'll have to relay what I thought once I finish it!

I came into this one after reading Norwegian Wood, which I loved so I didn't/don't really know what to expect.

[QQQ]

i finished Blood Meridian today. it fully deserves the praise it gets - incredible. i could read about The Kid and Judge Holden forever.

[Bechuga]

Charles Dickins' Tale of Two Cities. It's long-winded in descriptions as these old novels are but my god could the man plot a plot!

 

Also just about to finish Being Dead by Jim Crace and it's good. Shout-out to Spiral for the rec.

Edited July 18, 2017 by Bechuga

[tec]

I read Harvest by Jim Crace and couldn't get into it at all, is his other stuff better? Maybe it's just not to my tastes.

[hello spiral]

I picked up most of his books (including Harvest) from charity shops but so far only read Being Dead and Quarantine. Enjoyed both of those.

Will read that one next and let you know.

[Dpek]

 

 

Been digging into Murakami's 1Q84 lately- a bit slow to start but it's weirdly infectious after a while... I'd recommend for a slow burn.

 

Mild spoilers. Murakami is hit or miss for me. I had trouble finishing the book, I felt the character development was handled very poorly. If a story has no development it can be frustrating, but his handling of Aomame was just strange. The strong person in the first two books just sort of vanishes and it becomes all about Tengo. I wouldn't put it past myself to have missed something, though.

 

Interesting, I'll have to relay what I thought once I finish it!

I came into this one after reading Norwegian Wood, which I loved so I didn't/don't really know what to expect.

 

 

In Slovenia it was released in two volumes - book 1 & 2 in the first volume and book 3 in the second. As I understand, Murakami wrote the first two books as a finished whole, but then came back to the story because he felt he needed a happy ending. If you ask me, he should've stopped after the second book. As I read the first volume I thought this is the best shizzle ever, it really drew me in. I got the second volume as fast as I could. Big mistake - Murakami really blew it. It was just really boring. A large part of the third book was an uninteresting character finding out stuff that already happend in the first volume. I couldn't even read it all, I skipped over parts. A shame really :(

[kaen]

Currently reading the wise mans fear by patrick rothfuss

 

name of the wind and this book are quite fun reads, although high levels of neckbeard mlady tip tip from the main character kvothe, also denna is a shit friend and should quit the "manic pixie dream girl lol xD so random" thing she has going on, its cliche as fuck.

 

fela best girl

Edited July 21, 2017 by kaen

[Lada Laika]

Currently reading the wise mans fear by patrick rothfuss

 

name of the wind and this book are quite fun reads, although high levels of neckbeard mlady tip tip from the main character kvothe, also denna is a shit friend and should quit the "manic pixie dream girl lol xD so random" thing she has going on, its cliche as fuck.

 

fela best girl

yeah really fun breezy reads but the neckbeardy "nice guy" thing just gets worse and worse, esp in wmf

 

i think at one point he literally says not all men to a girl who was raped constantly for days, lol

[hello spiral]

jfc

[Bechuga]

Finished Being Dead, the ending was quite touching. Will definitely try more Crace.

 

 

 

 

Been digging into Murakami's 1Q84 lately- a bit slow to start but it's weirdly infectious after a while... I'd recommend for a slow burn.

 

Mild spoilers. Murakami is hit or miss for me. I had trouble finishing the book, I felt the character development was handled very poorly. If a story has no development it can be frustrating, but his handling of Aomame was just strange. The strong person in the first two books just sort of vanishes and it becomes all about Tengo. I wouldn't put it past myself to have missed something, though.

 

Interesting, I'll have to relay what I thought once I finish it!
I came into this one after reading Norwegian Wood, which I loved so I didn't/don't really know what to expect.

 

 

In Slovenia it was released in two volumes - book 1 & 2 in the first volume and book 3 in the second. As I understand, Murakami wrote the first two books as a finished whole, but then came back to the story because he felt he needed a happy ending. If you ask me, he should've stopped after the second book. As I read the first volume I thought this is the best shizzle ever, it really drew me in. I got the second volume as fast as I could. Big mistake - Murakami really blew it. It was just really boring. A large part of the third book was an uninteresting character finding out stuff that already happend in the first volume. I couldn't even read it all, I skipped over parts. A shame really :(

 

1q84 was my first Murakami, and I liked it but man it's the worst one to start on lol

 

 

I think the point of all those boring sections where they're exercising and making salads and editing a novel manuscript is brought into focus when they finally meet and the narrator says something along the lines of 'It was then they realised just how alone they've been'. All the boring stuff is to make you realise the lives they are leading and had led are empty, but only become aware of it when they meet each other and find the happiness they last experienced when they held hands briefly at school. IMO, anyway. I experienced the previous three volumes rush through my mind in a blur when that line was said, and made it worth the slog (because it was a bit boring in places lol).

 

That said, when I got to to volume 2's end, I was incensed. Like 'that's it?' Definitely glad he continued. The most boring parts was all the cult stuff, didn't really add much to the story imo.

 

[caze]

I loved every minute of 1q84, was the first thing I read of him too.

 

re: boring stuff, Red or Dead by David Peace takes that to ridiculous lengths. would try your patience even as a Liverpool fan, but similarly there's a payoff to it as well.

Edited July 23, 2017 by caze

[QQQ]

i just finished Brave New World which was pretty boring to be honest. it reads like a lame PKD novel.

 

shrug.jpg

[Bechuga]

At work, I finished Cosmopolis by Delillo. Was entertaining, but not overly fond of books where the main character is a prize dong. Some good lines in there made it worth it though (and it's short).

 

Moving onto: H(a)ppy by Nicola Barker. It looks a little something like this:

 

 

At home: reading Phone by Will Self. Just as good as the previous two in this trilogy, Umbrella and Shark. Gonna be sad when it's finished.

[KovalainenFanBoy]

looks like the Colundi book

[TubularCorporation]

Just found out about Elmo Keep's site, and man is she a goldmine of smart critique of the tech sector's unfortunate tendency toward magical thinking,  ideological  extremism and pseudoscience, from transhumanism, to Mars One to everything Peter Thiel ever said.  Wonderful stuff.

[doorjamb]

I've only had time to get a few chapters in to The Box Man but so far it's devastatingly good. Best fiction I've read in years, new or old.

Kobo Abe is that dude for real

 

I grabbed The Box Man at the library yesterday on the strength of this recommendation. For some reason I was expecting something more… I dunno, like, Ishmael Reed’s Hocus Pocus-esque, or something—maybe just because of seeing the interspersed news articles & images when I flipped through it. Still, I’m intrigued enough to push on with it, unlike Franzen’s Purity, which I sat and read about a third of before putting it back on the shelf. Boooring.

 

Recently read:

• Rendezvous With Rama (Clarke) — SF classic. Groovy cover art, too.
• Riddley Walker (Hoban) — One of my favorite SF books of all time. I actually read this twice in a row this time, cover to cover.
• The Weirdstone of Brisingamen & The Moon of Gomrath (Garner) — YA fantasy. Absolutely crammed with wizards, dwarves, goblins, all that good stuff, plus they’ve got some truly frantic, frightening sequences for children’s books. TBH though I only reread these because I’ve misplaced my Taran Wanderer series books (Alexander), which I adored as a kid.
• The Invention of Morel (Casares) — Really good read, though it’s kind of hard to know  whether to attribute its awkwardness to deliberate stylistic choices or naive/outsider artistic status on the author’s part. Weird & cool, & for whatever reason reminded me that I’d like to watch The Lobster again.

Next up: The Death of a Nobody (Romains), Locus Solus (Roussel), & Voice of the Fire (Moore), if I can get my hands on a copy.

[luke viia]

Friends suggested I read Jitterbug Perfume. Story's ok but there is way too much flowery blathering, and so much stupid talk about genitals. Seriously WTF. Can safely say I'm not much of a Tom Robbins fan.

[Nebraska]

thanks to Lewps for recommending powell's books in portland. was finally able to track down this oop book which i've been trying to get for years

 

[Tricone RC]

 

Recently read:

• Rendezvous With Rama (Clarke) — SF classic. Groovy cover art, too.

 

One of my fav classic scifis that

 

I'm working through a stack of U K LeGuin, so far read Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness. The first is pretty enjoyable save for the ending which is probably the laziest deus-ex-machina I've ever come across. Enjoyed Left Hand too, but didn't think the main theme was all that well-developed. The whole point of the book is famously to compare our society with one that would result if people were androgynous, and that theme is obviously mentioned throughout but nowhere does it really seem to control the plot or even really the underpinnings of the societies it explores (far less than their religions, anyway). Both were good but I was expecting more, I guess

[Leon Sumbitches]

thanks to Lewps for recommending powell's books in portland. was finally able to track down this oop book which i've been trying to get for years

 

 

Looks like the cover of a secret lost Bowie album from the Station To Station period that got shelved for containing too many occult themes

[prdctvsm]

A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson

Including An Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and Of Its Natural Productions

Tench, Watkin (1759-1833)

 

    /   10

 

[tec]

I picked up the first The Familiar from Mark Z Danielewski from a charity shop, has anyone dared try it?

[auxien]

I picked up the first The Familiar from Mark Z Danielewski from a charity shop, has anyone dared try it?

There was a podcast I listened to for a while and they started reviewing each volume of this as it came out, I think I heard two or three of the volumes discussed...sounded ridiculous and just overblown and meandering. I definitely had zero desire to read it hearing their descriptions. The only thing of his I've read is House of Leaves of course, and despite it being pretty great, it was a bit of a chore to get through. His style is probably just too much for me in general, though. Curious to see if anyone here has read The Familiar and hear their thoughts.

[Bechuga]

Many books read, few I have mentioned here. Let's go:

 

Finished John le Carré's The Looking-Glass War and A Small Town In Germany, completing the omnibus collection I had. Both excellent books, if slightly over detailed, especially A Small Town.... Will continue to read further le Carré books, yet to be betrayed by his work. Also booked a ticket to watch a live-screening of an interview with him, which will be my first literary event. Looking forward to it.

 

N W and Changing My Mind: Collected Essays by Zadie Smith. I had suspected N W to be a book trying too hard to be out there and weird as some reviews had described it as, but such suspicions were unfounded. Really enjoyable, with a few genuine funny moments.

 

H(a)ppy by Nicola Barker. Very strange, with another somewhat sudden and not so satisfying ending, although not the worst. Her books just stop, in a way that does not feel quite right. Only Darkmans had a satisfactory ending, considering the content that came before it. To me, the ending of a book is like the last bite of a meal: if you fuck that up, that's all you remember.

 

Just begun reading Villages of Britain: the Five Hundred Villages That Made The Countryside by Clive Aslet. Consists of short stories about (guess what) villages, and their inceptions. Pretty interesting, I could do with learning a little more about my own country than reading another American book.

 

Speaking of Americans, I started reading Underworld by Don Delillo at work. Disappointed it has nothing to do with English rave but I think I'll enjoy it.

[o00o]

Finished Biomega... Great series, though I didn't enjoy it as much as Blame!... I'm still going to have to get Abara and Knights of Sidonia soon...

 

 

He starts to introduce cute characters with bio mega which make it kind of hard to read while still his genius way of painting structures makes up for the characters