Now Reading

[Bechuga]

Added a couple of Nicola Barker books to the read pile, I hear she's insane.

[hello spiral]

Wow never heard of her, her book synposes look awesome.

 

I'm on the last three chapters of Shardik. Pretty deep/intense book, took me forever to read.

I just got a copy of Pynchon's V. so I might read that next. But also have Kingsley Amis' One Fat Englishman in my bag as a backup for when I finish a book when I'm out so maybe that.

[Bechuga]

Wow never heard of her, her book synposes look awesome.

 

When I read the synopses I thought 'bet Spiral has read all of these'. Guess not! I think we're in for a treat.

 

edit: I have Burley Cross Postbox Theft and In The Approaches, which has a lovely cover:

 

Edited April 21, 2016 by Bechuga

[cwmbrancity]

Haunted Weather by David Toop - so far so engrossing & immersive

 

Electric Eden/Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young - same author who nailed the history of Warp Records works similar magic from folkier realms, bought for reading more on The Incredible String Band's back story. Still 1 of the best bands to emerge from these islands.

[tec]

Electric Eden/Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young - same author who nailed the history of Warp Records works similar magic from folkier realms, bought for reading more on The Incredible String Band's back story. Still 1 of the best bands to emerge from these islands.

 

Sweet, some author mentioned this on her reading list at the AV Club recently and sung its praises too, do you need to know much about folk? I have a fairly decent knowledge but fear this may be too niche.

 

link http://www.avclub.com/article/elizabeth-hand-her-5-favorite-books-about-music-234658

Edited April 23, 2016 by tec

[Bechuga]

Reading Moby Dick on my kindle. First 10% of the book: sharing a bed with another man, waking up to find that man hugging you. And then he gives you a shrunken head as a present. No ships or whales so far.

 

Quality literature.

[hello spiral]

Ugh, given up on Moby Dick twice so far the only book I've done that with.

[tec]

Hearing that it's a good book if you wish to learn about how to tie a knot is quite off-putting but then Leviathan by Mastodon is great so I don't know who to believe, one day I'll get round to it.

[Bechuga]

That's an interesting topic for the thread:

 

What Books Have You Given Up On?

 

I gave up on a Japanese light novel called Zaregoto: The Beheading Cycle by Nisio Isin that was absolutely bereft of anything I like in books i.e. subtext, deeper meaning.

In fact, most of those light novels are kinda shit and empty. Apart from Welcome to the NHK, which is the Japanese nerd version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

 

And also, perhaps controversially, Lord of the Rings. Compared to The Hobbit, which is a fun adventure and I surprisingly loved, it's a bit serious, a not needed sequel imo. Got twenty pages and thought 'eh'.

[caze]

Lol. Twenty pages. It does take a while to get going.

[KovalainenFanBoy]

there's books I've given up on but not because I didn't like them but because it wasn't the right time to read them (ie: books where it's hard to lose track of characters/events in times where I dont have much time to read). I did properly give up on the Foundation prequels, can't remember which one of the 2. Shitty adventure indiana jones kinda novel. blergh

[doublename]

I gave up on Neuromancer, Lord of the Rings, 1Q84, Game of Thrones.

 

Moby Dick is awesome, f u

[Bechuga]

Finished Freedom. Excellent book! Not as perfect an ending as the Corrections but still a magnificent book.

 

Now to read this slim le Carré novel before I move onto Burley Cross Postbox Theft. So many good books to read.

[ignatius]

does On The Road get good? i'm around 50 pages in and it's kind of a snoozefest.

 

i was big kerouac fan for a while in my 20s and read a lot of his stuff. On The Road to me was more interesting later in the book but when i read it a 2nd time many years later i was pretty bored.. but it's one of those books that's more about what i thought about after reading it than what i thought about while reading it.

 

fwiw i liked Darma Bums way more. something about the meditative nature of it appealed to me at the time. i haven't re-read that one though.. it's been a long time.

 

Vanity Of Duluoz is very autobiographical and more or less a personal history of kerouac's life or at least a chunk of it. the language is fun and it's an interesting era of american history. if you want to get the vibe of the beat generation read the Neal Cassady biography The First Third about his first 30 years and you'll see where all that energy comes from (other than speed) cassady was the muse.

 

btw.. the movie of On the Road with Kristen Stewart as Mary Lou is actually pretty decent. I thought it would totally suck and be just awful and who the fuck is this guy playing kerouac he sounds nothing like him etc etc.. but it ends up delivering the futile sadness of the friendships and the wanderlust vibe pretty well and kristen stewart to her credit goes for it pretty good as mary lou and it's a time when kerouac was younder and more optimistic than sullen alcoholic so is less dark.

 

blah blah blah..

 

currently reading The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolano. great at times. i read 2666 last summer and liked it but was blown away my the whole middle section which is 300 or so pages of retellings of police reports about women being murdered in mexico. wtf.

 

read neal stephenson's SevenevS a while back. really loved it as is usual for me w/his books.

Edited April 23, 2016 by ignatius

[hello spiral]

I was reminded of Moby Dick when I was reading Shardik.

In Shardik he has this archaic way with metaphors and he uses 2 or 3 of them in a row to prove a point, and it can be tedious.

 

Moby Dick is the same. It's like that Buzz Killington character from Family Guy: "now, you may not believe me when I say there are creatures in the ocean as big as I say. So let me tell you several 50 page anecdotes in order to convince you....."

[cwmbrancity]

 

Electric Eden/Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young - same author who nailed the history of Warp Records works similar magic from folkier realms, bought for reading more on The Incredible String Band's back story. Still 1 of the best bands to emerge from these islands.

 

Sweet, some author mentioned this on her reading list at the AV Club recently and sung its praises too, do you need to know much about folk? I have a fairly decent knowledge but fear this may be too niche.

 

link http://www.avclub.com/article/elizabeth-hand-her-5-favorite-books-about-music-234658

 

 

 

plow into it, its immense as a provenance filter for all manner of themes, from myths & religions to sounds to the deeper melodies tucked away in lost songs

[Leon Sumbitches]

 

 

Electric Eden/Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young - same author who nailed the history of Warp Records works similar magic from folkier realms, bought for reading more on The Incredible String Band's back story. Still 1 of the best bands to emerge from these islands.

 

Sweet, some author mentioned this on her reading list at the AV Club recently and sung its praises too, do you need to know much about folk? I have a fairly decent knowledge but fear this may be too niche.

 

link http://www.avclub.com/article/elizabeth-hand-her-5-favorite-books-about-music-234658

 

 

 

plow into it, its immense as a provenance filter for all manner of themes, from myths & religions to sounds to the deeper melodies tucked away in lost songs

 

 

Aye, it's not just about folk, digs into English pastoralia in classical music before the folk stuff really took off and Julian Cope/Talk Talk-ish vibes after folk had its moment in the 60s/70s limelight. Fantastic book.

[KovalainenFanBoy]

A hundred or so pages into Infinite Jest

 

2 months later 200 pages in lol, oh boy. It's because of college though. This summer I'll read the whole thing.

[ignatius]

 

A hundred or so pages into Infinite Jest

 

2 months later 200 pages in lol, oh boy. It's because of college though. This summer I'll read the whole thing.

 

 

one of my fav books :) i'll probably read it for a 4th time this year. only gets better imo

[sweepstakes]

I need to take another swing at Infinite Jest sometime. For the people that finished it, did you read all the footnotes and stuff? That was starting to drive me bonkers. Since then I read The Pale King and I really enjoyed it.

 

Thanks for the mentions of Elizabeth Hand & Rob Young, that stuff sounds really fascinating.

[doublename]

I need to take another swing at Infinite Jest sometime. For the people that finished it, did you read all the footnotes and stuff? That was starting to drive me bonkers. Since then I read The Pale King and I really enjoyed it.

 

Thanks for the mentions of Elizabeth Hand & Rob Young, that stuff sounds really fascinating.

 

 

I read the footnotes, but you could probably skip a lot of them if you really wanted. If any book was meant to be read on an E-Reader, it's Infinite Jest.

[Bechuga]

I would recommend not skipping the footnotes. Lots of them contain interesting details relating to the main story and the book rewards patience.

 

Second the e-reader comment: reading footnotes through an url link is much quicker and neater than flipping pages in a huge book.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Bechuga

[weakmassive]

Oh man, I loved reading the endnotes - don't skip them. It's part of the experience. I used 2 bookmarks when I read it, to make it easier to flip back. (If you got through all the tax stuff in The Pale King you'll be fine.)

Edited April 26, 2016 by weakmassive

[ignatius]

Oh man, I loved reading the endnotes - don't skip them. It's part of the experience. I used 2 bookmarks when I read it, to make it easier to flip back. (If you got through all the tax stuff in The Pale King you'll be fine.)

 

me too. two bookmarks.

 

there's a lot of great stuff in the footnotes.. some of them are quite long detailed side stories that are really relevant. especially near the end.

 

i'd also recommend that when you get to the end of the book to go back and read the beginning again as it kind of closes the loop a little bit.

 

the Pale King had its moments and i'm glad i read it but it was also hard to read as it was so promising and painful. also, the entire section about the podiatrist's neon sign that points one way or another and the people living in the apartment across the street would see it out their window and check before leaving the apartment to determine if indeed they should go out or stay in etc etc.. well.. that's pretty much what Beck said in an interview he gave to a magazine in the 90s. exact same fucking story about beck's life in LA. he lived next to podiatrist neon sign he could see out his apartment window.

 

i even wrote DFW's editor to ask about it being in the book but got no response.

 

if you like DFW it's worth reading all his stuff. Supposedly fun thing i'll never do again, Consider the lobster (has some of the most amazing non-fiction in it.. i was just glued to it and amazed that one of my fav things in it is a review of a book on grammar and usage), Oblivion (though it's pretty damn dark at times and kind of fucking floored me as it gets weirdly meta feeling at times especially reading it after he hung himself and knowing about his depression and the failure of his medication to work again after he tried to switch to a new medication with less side effects), Girl With Curious hair (aces really.. some really great short stories in this)

 

yeah i'm kind of a DFW nut. his work really got me early on. "end of the tour" is actually pretty good movie as well. the book it's based on is good too.

 

blah!

[Bechuga]

the Pale King had its moments and i'm glad i read it but it was also hard to read as it was so promising and painful. also, the entire section about the podiatrist's neon sign that points one way or another and the people living in the apartment across the street would see it out their window and check before leaving the apartment to determine if indeed they should go out or stay in etc etc.. well.. that's pretty much what Beck said in an interview he gave to a magazine in the 90s. exact same fucking story about beck's life in LA. he lived next to podiatrist neon sign he could see out his apartment window.

 

 

Lol this doesn't surprise me. Heard a few of his stories were directly based on other events he declined to mention or outright fabrication, including a lot of his 'non-fiction'. Still enjoy the work though. Pale King too, is wonderful. I thought of Pale King as a 500 page introduction to a novel we'll never get, which makes me quite sad. That chapter where it's nothing but 'He turns the page. Desk ten turns the page...' was great but so sad.

 

Also yeah Although of Course... is worth reading if you're struggling with Infinite Jest. It's sort of a behind the scenes in the form of a road movie.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Bechuga