Now Reading

[zaphod]

reading the third reich by bolano. not his best.

[auxien]

"good read" does not imply convention, it just has to be enjoyable in any sense. I'm not finding that with this. the Truant story is so lame with its hackneyed portrayal of the "seedy underbelly" of city life and the pointless/ridiculous sexual interludes, and it interrupts the Navidson story (which is the only bit I find engaging) constantly.

 

I will finish it but I think it won't be worth it.

Yeah, i like the interludes/interruptions/cheesy shit in Truant's part, it all makes sense in the context of it, it worked that way for me at least. It does get a bit tedious on occasion, but I felt that was purposeful, you're not supposed to like Truant or even like when he's the focus, basically. Him and his part of the story is supposed to annoy and distract and then you just feel sorry for him and that perspective in regards to Navidson and all the rest, it worked for me. Navidson's part of the story becomes more the focus eventually though.

 

It may not be worth it for you....if you get half or 2/3 of the way through though and still don't like it, feel free to give up then I'd say.

[zaphod]

i liked all the navidson stuff but house of leaves is one of those books you have to read when you're fifteen and then never touch again.

[tec]

I thought the letters from his mother were the best part but as that's at the end you may not wish to go that far.

[usagi]

^ they're referenced in the first 100 pages so I've been reading them. not all the way through them yet.

[Leon Sumbitches]

i liked all the navidson stuff but house of leaves is one of those books you have to read when you're fifteen and then never touch again.

 

I actually kind of agree with this, partly because this is exactly what I did. I like the idea of House of Leaves more than I actually ended up liking House of Leaves itself.

[zaphod]

I loved house of leaves when I read it but I can’t imagine reading it again. I feel this way about dfw as well. tedious stuff to work through when you’re an adult who has read a lot but when you’re young it seems exciting.

Edited October 4, 2017 by zaphod

[Bechuga]

Have you guys heard about Danielewski's new 27-part novel called The Familiar? Each book will be 800 pages, and is made to resembled a TV series in structure (each book has an intro, advert breaks, credit sequence, etc). I like the idea of it, but bugger if I'm reading all that.

 

Sometimes, the idea is more interesting than executing it.

 

Alan Moore's Jerusalem. 100 pages in, this will not take me long to read at all. Come and step into Northampton with a guided tour by the man with a magic stick.

 

Have fun! I spent two months last year reading it, and loved it (even the Lydia Joyce chapter). Book 2 is my favourite, and I was sad when it ended.

 

edit: also lol:

 

 

Since the release of The Familiar, Volume 1, Danielewski has been doing small tours for the release of each volume^[16] and releasing merchandise related to House of Leaves and The Familiar on his website.^[18] He has also not been seen publicly without donning a cat shirt since at least 2010

 

Edited October 4, 2017 by Bechuga

[zaphod]

Yeah the familiar sounds incredibly tedious. Make a tv show then. The strengths of a novel are different.

[tec]

 

Have you guys heard about Danielewski's new 27-part novel called The Familiar? Each book will be 800 pages, and is made to resembled a TV series in structure (each book has an intro, advert breaks, credit sequence, etc). I like the idea of it, but bugger if I'm reading all that.

 

Sometimes, the idea is more interesting than executing it.

 

Alan Moore's Jerusalem. 100 pages in, this will not take me long to read at all. Come and step into Northampton with a guided tour by the man with a magic stick.

 

Have fun! I spent two months last year reading it, and loved it (even the Lydia Joyce chapter). Book 2 is my favourite, and I was sad when it ended.

 

edit: also lol:

 

 

Since the release of The Familiar, Volume 1, Danielewski has been doing small tours for the release of each volume^[16] and releasing merchandise related to House of Leaves and The Familiar on his website.^[18] He has also not been seen publicly without donning a cat shirt since at least 2010

 

 

I found the first volume in a charity shop for cheap, I'm fairly sure that like Only Revolutions it will sit on my shelf gathering dust. 

[doublename]

Re-reading Mason & Dixon, and a bunch of Richard Wright stuff for work.

Edited October 4, 2017 by doublename

[hello spiral]

i liked all the navidson stuff but house of leaves is one of those books you have to read when you're fifteen and then never touch again.

 

Exactly this. You need to be 15-18, wearing a Mogwai shirt, listening to F#A#∞ and the first ASMZ album and it needs to be 2002 

[Leon Sumbitches]

 

i liked all the navidson stuff but house of leaves is one of those books you have to read when you're fifteen and then never touch again.

 

Exactly this. You need to be 15-18, wearing a Mogwai shirt, listening to F#A#∞ and the first ASMZ album and it needs to be 2002 

 

 

Flol, hit the nail on the head

[usagi]

lol, does seem to be the case.

[frankbooth]

Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark. Essential AI brainstorm. Exhilarating and scary all at once. Book was over my head in the last third, or I was distracted. But what was absorbed is so mind expanding.

 

Reality is Broken. Video games are good. Got it.

 

Will finish The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye tonight. Easy reading and I’m a sucker for this series.

[doorjamb]

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. Includes my two favorite Conan stories, “Tower of the Elephant” & “Queen of the Black Coast.” Some really great Lovecraftian bits in these, too:

 

“Conan felt his soul shrivel and begin to be drawn out of his body, to drown in the yellow wells of cosmic horror which glimmered spectrally in the formless chaos that was growing about him and engulfing all life and sanity. Those eyes grew and became gigantic, and in them the Cimmerian glimpsed the reality of all the abysmal and blasphemous horrors that lurk in the outer darkness of formless voids and nighted gulfs. He opened his bloody lips to shriek his hate and loathing, but only a dry rattle burst from his throat.” Fucking metal.

 

 

Next up for me is a long overdue revisit of the Gormenghast trilogy, which is bloody magnificent.

[Leon Sumbitches]

Gormenghast is wicked but I didn't like the third book (have only read the trilogy once though, maybe need to give it more time)

[Bechuga]

Finished Underworld by Delillo. Spent most of the book thinking he'd forgotten to edit but the ending section brought it all into focus nicely enough. Still too long though. No wonder every book after that is 120 pages.

 

For the first time in a few years, I don't really have anything to read, nor do I feel like it. Started The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell but the first thirty pages are so cliché ridden I have lost all interest in it (even though I suspect the clichés might be intentional...or I'm giving him too much credit).

 

A copy of Don Quixote is staring at me though...

[caze]

Mitchell does try and very obviously inhabit the genres he takes on, each section of the book is very different though, it's not all like that coming of age story at the start. I recently read his following book, Slade House, short little thing set in the same world as Bone Clocks. A series of spooky tales set in a mysterious stately home. Enjoyable read, but nothing amazing.

Edited October 15, 2017 by caze

[Bechuga]

Yeah, I've read Cloud Atlas and know how well he copies the era / form of a period, and I think he did it perfectly fine in Atlas. But here, even if he's copying a certain style, it just reads so cliché, far too much to get across his point. Tempted to read the other sections and see if they cause a similar feeling. If they don't, maybe I'll read it. But even Cloud Atlas didn't really offer much other than six separate stories tangentially linked together (and not very well in some cases). Not feeling it.

[Jobe]

 

 

i liked all the navidson stuff but house of leaves is one of those books you have to read when you're fifteen and then never touch again.

 

Exactly this. You need to be 15-18, wearing a Mogwai shirt, listening to F#A#∞ and the first ASMZ album and it needs to be 2002 

 

 

Flol, hit the nail on the head

 

I tested this last year (I was 36 at the time) and found it held up surprisingly well. *shrug*

[zaphod]

only mitchell book i really liked was ghostwritten

[dr lopez]

I liked the Dutch japanese one well enough

[KovalainenFanBoy]

it's taking me a long long time getting through the last book on 2666. I just don't think Bolaño has anything interesting to say at this point. I need a new york post article or something to explain this book to me. A lot of the characters are just Bolaño blatanly projecting himself... Either keep it all on a single character or try to hide it a little better... meh

 

to ease the pain ive been reading Borges short stories. He didn't write a single one that was over 20 pages, and each one is jam packed with ideas. Top 3 writer for me

[Echolalia]

it's taking me a long long time getting through the last book on 2666. I just don't think Bolaño has anything interesting to say at this point. I need a new york post article or something to explain this book to me. A lot of the characters are just Bolaño blatanly projecting himself... Either keep it all on a single character or try to hide it a little better... meh

 

to ease the pain ive been reading Borges short stories. He didn't write a single one that was over 20 pages, and each one is jam packed with ideas. Top 3 writer for me

 

Archimboldi's leather jacket, can still smell it now. 

 

Read Szalay's All That Man Is and it was a jumbled mess of memory and imagination. Finished the book quickly though, as it was interesting to hike and hop through the lives of 9 males at different times of their lives. Reading The Handmaid's Tale and Lionel Shriver's So Much For That back to back alongside Jerusalem still.