Book thread: Distractions welcome

Quirk

I started reading slapstick, or lonesome no more by Kurt Vonnegut last night. What a weird and excellent book; I couldn't put it down and ended up reading most of it and hardly sleeping

mensch-o-matic

Throwing in my hat for East of Eden, anjin

The Pearl is also quite good if you're looking for a shorter read!

Orikaeshigitae

there are some really good images in house of leaves, like the image of the dude with measuring tapes nailed to every surface to make sure the room isn't moving has stuck with me for years

but i remember those moments rather than 'oh, that story was good'

risumon

Orikaeshigitae wrote: »

house of leaves has more merit as an interesting experiment in telling a story than the actual story itself

This was my opinion too. It had some good moments, but was overall just average.

Solid Bones

I have an old book called Ariosto.

According to the stamp on the side, someone stole it from my local library in 1980.

A Dabble Of Thelonius

Yeah. House of Leaves is defined by a few scenes, and there aren't nearly enough of them to support that much book.


In other news, I'm on a Dick Francis kick.

Pharezon

I finished up Cry, The Beloved Country for my class today. I liked it very much.

Kusuguttai

VanityPants wrote: »

Yeah, it definitely had me creeped out. By the middle of the book, I'd say. It just kind of slowly descends into madness and takes you with it. It's especially creepy if you're reading it at 4AM because you can't sleep.

i like threw the book across the room in a giant OH SHIT when i found the passage that

Spoiler:

reveals that the entire thing with johnny(?) is just a figment of perafina's imagination, and her child died during birth

i was like OH MY GOD THAT IS SO CRAZY

YaYa

so, finished Witches of Eastwick

Updike knows his way around a sentence, that's for sure

Raw Shark tomorrow

Grey Ghost

Oh hey

They're gonna make a Carter Beats the Devil movie

QuestionMarkMan

Grey Ghost wrote: »

Oh hey

They're gonna make a Carter Beats the Devil movie

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

BusterK

Grey Ghost wrote: »

Oh hey

They're gonna make a Carter Beats the Devil movie

Ooooh
It's been optioned
Studios buy loads of books so it could be years before this even gets off the ground
Sorry to be a buzzkill

DrIanMalcolm

It was optioned a year or two ago by Tom Cruise's company, so this could mean that they really are doing something with it

bowtiedseal

do any of you guys use goodreads.com? I only have one friend who does and it makes me feel lonely!

HellaJeff

I keep trying to read House of Leaves but I can't finish it. I thought the lists were neat, but eventually I just get so pissed off I just want it to stop and to tell me a damn story.

Sars_Boy

Kusuguttai wrote: »

VanityPants wrote: »

Yeah, it definitely had me creeped out. By the middle of the book, I'd say. It just kind of slowly descends into madness and takes you with it. It's especially creepy if you're reading it at 4AM because you can't sleep.

i like threw the book across the room in a giant OH SHIT when i found the passage that

Spoiler:

reveals that the entire thing with johnny(?) is just a figment of perafina's imagination, and her child died during birth

i was like OH MY GOD THAT IS SO CRAZY

i dont remember this part.

suntanandnapalm

bowtiedseal wrote: »

I only have one friend and it makes me feel lonely!

Stealing is bad.

Lost Salient

bowtiedseal wrote: »

do any of you guys use goodreads.com? I only have one friend who does and it makes me feel lonely!

I have goodreads, but I have been a giant crap about keeping it updated!

lostwords

I tried using librarything months back and just stopped updating due to lazyness. Does goodreads have any cool features that would prevent lazyness?

celandine

I just read Zoe's Tale and I was disappointed.

Here's my beef. You've got a war story where all the violence is "offstage," so to speak. A seventeen-year-old girl is trained for combat, but we never see how. An epic battle between aliens saves the day, and the narrator witnesses it, but we never get a description. None of the characters whose point of view we see actually likes fighting -- it's always reluctant and out of duty.

Okay, I get it, he doesn't want to glamorize violence. But it makes for a pretty dull book. And it also sacrifices emotional realism. The Things They Carried doesn't glamorize violence, either, but it does deal with the fact that in a war, some people are going to like fighting. Not everybody in the world is an Atticus Finch type.

Anybody else have that reaction?

Butler

I was just reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' wiki. He didn't start writing until he was 36 but by the time he died aged 75 he had written 70 books! I guess now I don't feel so bad about being 24 and still struggling to finish a first draft.

Dublo7

Kusuguttai wrote: »

VanityPants wrote: »

Yeah, it definitely had me creeped out. By the middle of the book, I'd say. It just kind of slowly descends into madness and takes you with it. It's especially creepy if you're reading it at 4AM because you can't sleep.

i like threw the book across the room in a giant OH SHIT when i found the passage that

Spoiler:

reveals that the entire thing with johnny(?) is just a figment of perafina's imagination, and her child died during birth

i was like OH MY GOD THAT IS SO CRAZY

House of Leaves scared the shit out of me on multiple occasions.

Spoiler:

I thought Johnny's mum's letters were so damn creepy.

I shouldn't have read them at 3 in the morning.

VanityPants

Dublo7 wrote: »

Kusuguttai wrote: »

VanityPants wrote: »

Yeah, it definitely had me creeped out. By the middle of the book, I'd say. It just kind of slowly descends into madness and takes you with it. It's especially creepy if you're reading it at 4AM because you can't sleep.

i like threw the book across the room in a giant OH SHIT when i found the passage that

Spoiler:

reveals that the entire thing with johnny(?) is just a figment of perafina's imagination, and her child died during birth

i was like OH MY GOD THAT IS SO CRAZY

House of Leaves scared the shit out of me on multiple occasions.

Spoiler:

I thought Johnny's mum's letters were so damn creepy.

I shouldn't have read them at 3 in the morning.

Yeah, I think this is where House of Leaves truly succeeds. It's a lot to ask to stick through the whole book, but if you do, you really are treated to some cleverly crafted and truly creepy things.

Spoiler:

The Whaletoe letters are especially creepy. Sitting there in the late night hours trying to piece together hidden codes in an insane person's letters. Man. I know a lot of people say the formatting is gimmicky in House of Leaves, but those people are wrong. It's almost always there for a specific purpose.

I particularly liked the scenes when they're going deeper into the house and the walls are slowly closing in around them. All the while, the text on the page is getting smaller and smaller until it's just a tiny box.

captaink

Just finished Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. I figured I'd read something else of his since his Wheel of Time takeover was decent. It was definitely a first novel. Had a pretty bad case of 'Tell, not show' and some fairly Mary Sue main characters. And everyone seemed clever until his plot required them to be dumb. The premise was pretty good though, and it wasn't a bad book overall.

Sars_Boy

can anyone speak well of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or any of the other books in the series?

they look kind of neat

Dead Legend

yes supposedly they're very good

Orikaeshigitae

i hear a lot of good things

VanityPants

Sars_Boy wrote: »

can anyone speak well of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or any of the other books in the series?

they look kind of neat

I've only read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but The Girl who Played with Fire is next on my list.

It was an excellent book! I'll warn you, though, the first 60 or 70 pages are really slow. The whole beginning of the book amounts to "Company X was setting up Company Y to do Thing Z so that this person could steal money using the shelter of Company B." -- Get through this, because if you do, you're treated to something really awesome.

Once the girl (Salander) comes into play, you know things are getting good. The book just gets progressively better. It was a wonderful read.

Canada_jezus

I started sputnik sweetheart yesterday, pretty good, think i'll be done with it bye the end of the week. I also started an introduction to spinoza and so far its making me want to claw my eyes out.

Dead Legend

i've finally got around to reading charlie wilson's war...as i have to read three chapters of biology

DrIanMalcolm

Charlie Wilson's War is great

Any part with Gust Avrakotos or Mike Vickers is delightful to read

Dead Legend

Any part with just about anybody involved is fucking delightful.

bowtiedseal

Lost Salient wrote: »

bowtiedseal wrote: »

do any of you guys use goodreads.com? I only have one friend who does and it makes me feel lonely!

I have goodreads, but I have been a giant crap about keeping it updated!

I am usually pretty bad but I've been on an updating spree

lostwords wrote: »

I tried using librarything months back and just stopped updating due to lazyness. Does goodreads have any cool features that would prevent lazyness?

I don't think it has laziness prevention measures and I am mostly just using it to try and keep track of what I read, but it probably has cool features that I haven't figured out!

Antimatter

struggling with the Dune series, on book four of six
I mean, there's good stuff here, but good god is it lengthy with some silly goose ideas

Ol' Sparky

oh haha posted in anjin's thread thinking it was the book thread! silly me

reading inherent vice by thomas pynchon and it's swell! like a marlowe novel but with the dude as protagonist

pretty enjoyable!

Peen

bowtiedseal wrote: »

do any of you guys use goodreads.com? I only have one friend who does and it makes me feel lonely!

Ooo, ooo, I'm on goodreads and it's great. I like being able to see a book and think huh, I want to read that, and just stick it on the list for later. Also when I think man, did I read that? Better check the list.

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is excellent, The Girl Who Played With Fire is as well but in a different way. Dragon Tattoo is a really slow starter but it gradually builds until it gets amazing. GWPWF is much more action-ey and fast paced but it's very good as well. I'm very much looking forward to the sequel.

captaink

Antimatter wrote: »

struggling with the Dune series, on book four of six
I mean, there's good stuff here, but good god is it lengthy with some silly goose ideas

The dune sequels just devolve into philosophical wankery as you go on.

Antimatter

captaink wrote: »

Antimatter wrote: »

struggling with the Dune series, on book four of six
I mean, there's good stuff here, but good god is it lengthy with some silly goose ideas

The dune sequels just devolve into philosophical wankery as you go on.

so I heard
I know one thing, not going to read the books by his son and Anderson

Umaro

Chapterhouse: Dune is... a bit of a challenge.

captaink

Antimatter wrote: »

captaink wrote: »

Antimatter wrote: »

struggling with the Dune series, on book four of six
I mean, there's good stuff here, but good god is it lengthy with some silly goose ideas

The dune sequels just devolve into philosophical wankery as you go on.

so I heard
I know one thing, not going to read the books by his son and Anderson

I was sick of it by the end of the original 6, so I didn't read any further. I certainly haven't heard much good about the continuing novels in any case.