Now Reading

[tec]

 

 

Started Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. So far, not too bad.

I can see where Guillermo Del Toro got the idea for The Strain from.

 

I did not like this at all, but good luck. 

 

About a 1/3 through and it's holding up for me. But, if it just becomes a pissing match between Oberst & some other mind vampires to join their stupid club then I could see it unraveling quickly. If you ever encounter a mind vampire in real life, kill them. They're complete pricks.

 

 

Just wait until they get to the hood. 

[Bechuga]

Darkmans by Nicola Barker is a strange fantastic compulsive book, feels way shorter than its 838 pages. A mix of hilarious, horrifying, embarrassing, disgusting and more besides, definitely give this a go if you're fond of the David Foster Wallace school of headfuckery that confounds but makes sense with a little rereading (although her prose is not as astonishing as his is).

Definitely will read everything she has done, and looking forward to doing so (In The Approaches next).

 

But first, The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante which I've been meaning to do for a while. Also have A Wizard of Earthsea on my kindle, for work toilet reading. Nice to have a short book to read for once.

 

Oh, and Obligatory Pynchon Mention: on page 930 or so of Against the Day.

This might sound crazy, but it feels a bit short, as if huge chunks of been edited out to make what was possibly a much longer book publishable and holdable.

It's good, but here and there you can see where the razorblade was applied to get the book down to this length, which is pretty fucking long even edited.

Still fantastic to read though, will be sad when it's done. After this, I only have V. and Bleeding Edge to read before I'm all Pynchon'ed out.

[ignatius]

Darkmans  - Nicaola Barker - is on my list. has been for a while. i'll have to move up in the order. sound slike something i'd dig :)

[Bechuga]

Yeah, if you enjoyed Infinite Jest, Darkmans is a similar beast.

[caze]

Zero Zero Zero by Roberto Saviano, a book about the global cocaine trade. First bunch of chapters are mostly about the history of the Mexican cartels, had a vague idea about all of that, but reading the full details of it really blew my mind, fucking mental stuff really.

[beerwolf]

 

 

 

Started Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. So far, not too bad.

I can see where Guillermo Del Toro got the idea for The Strain from.

 

I did not like this at all, but good luck. 

 

About a 1/3 through and it's holding up for me. But, if it just becomes a pissing match between Oberst & some other mind vampires to join their stupid club then I could see it unraveling quickly. If you ever encounter a mind vampire in real life, kill them. They're complete pricks.

 

 

Just wait until they get to the hood. 

 

 

Interesting to hear about Carrion Comfort, since the beginning of this year (a serious new years resolution) was finally to get the fuck back into reading like I did up into my mid twenties. So far I've read a multitude of books River of Time, Catcher in the Rye, Touching the Void, Fahrenheit 451, was really pleased with my progress. Then I got Carrion Comfort, finally a few weeks ago I admitted defeat and threw the damn thing into the bin. I hated this book because it was slowing my progress of getting back into the habit of reading again and it was a relief to be set free. I just picked up Stephen Kings 11.22.63 just because I knew a King book would be on my wavelength and get me back into the swing of things. So far so good. I haven't read King since The Dark Half of which I had read everything he had done up unto that point. I was a fanatic of his as a teenager. Next up I'm gonna get the Dark Tower series and punctuate that with Weaveworld by Clive Barker. Fuck Carrion Comfort lol. But each to their own.

Edited August 19, 2016 by beerwolf

[olo]

 

Interesting to hear about Carrion Comfort, since the beginning of this year (a serious new years resolution) was finally to get the fuck back into reading like I did up into my mid twenties. So far I've read a multitude of books River of Time, Catcher in the Rye, Touching the Void, Fahrenheit 451, was really pleased with my progress. Then I got Carrion Comfort, finally a few weeks ago I admitted defeat and threw the damn thing into the bin. I hated this book because it was slowing my progress of getting back into the habit of reading again and it was a relief to be set free. I just picked up Stephen Kings 11.22.63 just because I knew a King book would be on my wavelength and get me back into the swing of things. So far so good. I haven't read King since The Dark Half of which I had read everything he had done up unto that point. I was a fanatic of his as a teenager. Next up I'm gonna get the Dark Tower series and punctuate that with Weaveworld by Clive Barker. Fuck Carrion Comfort lol. But each to their own.

 

 

Funny, I can't stand Stephen King. 

[beerwolf]

Yeah I know a lot of people hate him. Maybe because I'm British I find him more interesting, whereas an American might think him trite.

[doublename]

Yeah I find him unreadable. I think his dialogue might not be so grating to a British reader, but it drives me nuts.

Edited August 19, 2016 by doublename

[olo]

Yeah I know a lot of people hate him. Maybe because I'm British I find him more interesting, whereas an American might think him trite.

 

Hate would be a stretch. To piggy back on what double name said, the dialogue is bothersome & I just used to find many of his characters unrealistic I guess. It's been ages since I've read anything by him and might feel differently now. Who knows. I did like the Dark Half though. Strangely, it might be my favorite novel of his.

 

I also started reading this past year after 20+ years of extreme layoff. I've started working through horror novels that seem to get a lot of praise atm.

Edited August 19, 2016 by olo

[beerwolf]

Yeah cool. I didn't want to come on to Reading forum and start wading in, sorry if I came across like that.

[doublename]

Nah man, this thread is just the same ~5 people over and over again. Don't leave us.

[beerwolf]

Hah alright lol. The pressure is now on to keep turning those pages!

[Bechuga]

How DARE you talk about books in the reading thread!

 

*reported to Joyrex*

 

But yeah, I only recently began reading after many years avoiding books. Hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

[KovalainenFanBoy]

But yeah, I only recently began reading after many years avoiding books.

 

really? when I think 'Bech' I think 'books'. Can't really picture you not reading at this point

 

 

btw I'm still reading fucking Infinite Jest at a 3 pages per day basis smh at myself

 

Reading that book feels like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ignatius]

 

But yeah, I only recently began reading after many years avoiding books.

 

really? when I think 'Bech' I think 'books'. Can't really picture you not reading at this point

 

 

btw I'm still reading fucking Infinite Jest at a 3 pages per day basis smh at myself

 

Reading that book feels like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

because of the footnotes?  first time i read it i read it pretty slowly.  was given to me from a GF as a gift when it came out. it took me a long time and at the end i wasn't even sure what i'd read except that i enjoyed a lot of it.. then i read it again years later after reading all his other books and then he died and i read again and read all his other books again.. so it all is really a comfortable place now.. i guess.. if comfortable is a word.  

 

all i can say is, for me, it was worth the work. the pay off was great and i'm going to read it again this winter and if i'm not too sad about it or if it doesn't feel too heavy then i'll read all his other books again too.  some of his short stories are fucken mind games.. complex beautiful mind twisters that i really enjoy.  they're some kind of "how to write about a razor while holding it to your eye" type of things at times.. at least that's what a few of his stories felt like when i read them after he hung himself. 

 

Consider the Lobster blew my mind completely. not the title story so much but lot's of other stuff in there. the piece that is a review of english grammar and usage i though i'd absolutely hate.. how boring.. it's fucking amazing to me. genius bit of writing. "oblivion" is a sharp tool and embraces so much. 

 

yada yada yada.. sorry.. ramble

[Bechuga]

 

But yeah, I only recently began reading after many years avoiding books.

 

really? when I think 'Bech' I think 'books'. Can't really picture you not reading at this point

 

 

btw I'm still reading fucking Infinite Jest at a 3 pages per day basis smh at myself

 

Reading that book feels like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, pretty much exclusively comics (if I even read many of those) for many a year before happening upon Vonnegut and Yasutaka Tsutsui (who I highly recommend) and tumbling back into books. After which I promptly began reading books that, unknown to me when I started them, were considered the most difficult to finish... not exactly making it easy for myself.

 

And lol at IJ. There is an event horizon of interest when it goes from tedium to astonishment, which I suspect you're already at. Why does that book feel so slow to read, we wonder? Some mysterious gravitational property in the prose slows progress down to a crawl...

 

 

 

because of the footnotes?  first time i read it i read it pretty slowly.  was given to me from a GF as a gift when it came out. it took me a long time and at the end i wasn't even sure what i'd read except that i enjoyed a lot of it.. then i read it again years later after reading all his other books and then he died and i read again and read all his other books again.. so it all is really a comfortable place now.. i guess.. if comfortable is a word.  

all i can say is, for me, it was worth the work. the pay off was great and i'm going to read it again this winter and if i'm not too sad about it or if it doesn't feel too heavy then i'll read all his other books again too.  some of his short stories are fucken mind games.. complex beautiful mind twisters that i really enjoy.  they're some kind of "how to write about a razor while holding it to your eye" type of things at times.. at least that's what a few of his stories felt like when i read them after he hung himself. 

 

Consider the Lobster blew my mind completely. not the title story so much but lot's of other stuff in there. the piece that is a review of english grammar and usage i though i'd absolutely hate.. how boring.. it's fucking amazing to me. genius bit of writing. "oblivion" is a sharp tool and embraces so much. 

 

yada yada yada.. sorry.. ramble

 

 

IJ is one of the few books I would like to reread, will keep an eye out for a copy to just open and read from a random point, see what I missed first time.

[KovalainenFanBoy]

the thing with IJ is that when I had absolutely no idea what was going on, and there was nothing resembling a proper plot, it was pretty exciting to see what the next vignette was gonna be about, and what the hell is wrong with these characters, etc. etc.; but now 550 pages in, having caught up to Wallace's tricks and prose, and there being something resembling a proper story to follow what with the samizdat and whatnot, it's becoming a bit more of a crawl. Still a very enjoyable book, dont get me wrong, still love it. But having read nothing but IJ in months and with the initial sense of wonder gone, it's a bit more of a struggle.

[Bechuga]

the thing with IJ is that when I had absolutely no idea what was going on, and there was nothing resembling a proper plot, it was pretty exciting to see what the next vignette was gonna be about, and what the hell is wrong with these characters, etc. etc.; but now 550 pages in, having caught up to Wallace's tricks and prose, and there being something resembling a proper story to follow what with the samizdat and whatnot, it's becoming a bit more of a crawl. Still a very enjoyable book, dont get me wrong, still love it. But having read nothing but IJ in months and with the initial sense of wonder gone, it's a bit more of a struggle.

 

You're halfway! Keep going! *dabs at face with wet sponge*

[misc]

I'd really like to do a re-read of IJ too but i just keep telling myself to wait longer cause for some reason i've got it into my head that it'll be better the longer i wait. Maybe my brain's way of subconsciously begging me not to put it through that again?

 

Really though i don't think i've ever been as wrapped up with characters as i was with IJ. Of course due to DFW's writing but also just the sheer amount of time you spent with them because of the book's length. I found it fully addictive, like it's got such a weird kind of pull to it (love that gravitational description above bechuga), and when i was finished i just couldn't get it out of my head for weeks. Kinda ironic considering one of the main driving forces of the plot being the Entertainment. 

[KovalainenFanBoy]

btw I stumbled upon this vid for reasons unrelated to IJ oddly enough

 

 

sorry about the spam you can keep talking about Pynchon now

Edited August 20, 2016 by ThatSpanishGuy

[prdctvsm]

log lady introductions from twin peaks

[Bechuga]

btw I stumbled upon this vid for reasons unrelated to IJ oddly enough

 

 

sorry about the spam you can keep talking about Pynchon now

 

Honestly surprised they haven't turned IJ into a mega-dense US TV show by now. An entire episode about Eschaton would be nifty.

[Bechuga]

Finished Against the Day! My arms are now thicker than a tree trunk!

 

Now to read something less than a hundred pages long, with only a few sentences per page.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Bechuga

[olo]

 

Started Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. So far, not too bad.

I can see where Guillermo Del Toro got the idea for The Strain from.

 

I did not like this at all, but good luck. 

 

 

You were right tec. I was fine with the first 3rd, but this one fell apart quickly. Basically a pissing match over a chess game. Fuck off.

 

2 old geezers stroking each other in the shower / 10