So I've abandoned finishing Gogol's Dead Souls for now - It's just not doing anything for me.
I just started reading White Noise by Don Delillo - it's my first Delillo novel, and I fucking love it. I might move on immediately to Underworld.
h5
i also went pynchon, gogol, delillo in the last several months
I will finish Dead Souls eventually, it's just I'm finding the middle few hundred pages to drag a tad.
What Delillo have you read? I'm also thinking of reading Libra.
Gah, there's just so much to read!
i haven't read dead souls yet. i barely got through a volume of the collected gogol (minus dead souls) before i blanched. i don't know why i even picked him up
as for delillo, i've read ratner's star, white noise, and underworld, with an eye on cosmopolis and libra next. favourite's probably white noise, but underworld gains points for the incredibly slick opening
you should give the latin-americans a shot next, paz and marquez and bolaño, if only to be even more like me
So I've abandoned finishing Gogol's Dead Souls for now - It's just not doing anything for me.
I just started reading White Noise by Don Delillo - it's my first Delillo novel, and I fucking love it. I might move on immediately to Underworld.
h5
i also went pynchon, gogol, delillo in the last several months
I will finish Dead Souls eventually, it's just I'm finding the middle few hundred pages to drag a tad.
What Delillo have you read? I'm also thinking of reading Libra.
Gah, there's just so much to read!
i haven't read dead souls yet. i barely got through a volume of the collected gogol (minus dead souls) before i blanched. i don't know why i even picked him up
as for delillo, i've read ratner's star, white noise, and underworld, with an eye on cosmopolis and libra next. favourite's probably white noise, but underworld gains points for the incredibly slick opening
you should give the latin-americans a shot next, paz and marquez and bolaño, if only to be even more like me
I will be reading some Marquez soon enough - it's been a long time coming - it's just a matter of getting around to him.
I've recently ordered some more Borges (The Aleph - can't fucking wait) and a while ago I read some short stories by Cortazar. I really do have to read more of the Sud Americans.
Also, I haven't read any Gaddis - I haven't even heard of Gaddis. What would you recommend?
Carpenter's Gothic is to William Gaddis what Crying of Lot 49 is to Pynchon and White Noise is to Delillo. (And then A Frolic of His Own is the Gaddis equivalent of V.)
All his stuff is good, even amazing. But it is dense dense dense. JR is an incredible sprawling tale with the central thread of an elementary school student who barters a bulk shipment of military surplus cutlery he finds for free into a sprawling corporate empire. He uses a somewhat hapless and increasingly unwilling piano composer/teacher as his front man. That summary doesn't really do it justice, though. Kind of like saying GR is about a WWII soldier named Slothrop who travels and trysts through war-torn London while recounting previous adventures in pre-War America.
Also, I haven't read any Gaddis - I haven't even heard of Gaddis. What would you recommend?
Carpenter's Gothic is to William Gaddis what Crying of Lot 49 is to Pynchon and White Noise is to Delillo. (And then A Frolic of His Own is the Gaddis equivalent of V.)
All his stuff is good, even amazing. But it is dense dense dense. JR is an incredible sprawling tale with the central thread of an elementary school student who barters a bulk shipment of military surplus cutlery he finds for free into a sprawling corporate empire. He uses a somewhat hapless and increasingly unwilling piano composer/teacher as his front man. That summary doesn't really do it justice, though. Kind of like saying GR is about a WWII soldier named Slothrop who travels and trysts through war-torn London while recounting previous adventures in pre-War America.
Okay, rad, I'll add it to the list.
Speaking of Latin-Americans, read this short story, House Taken over - Julio Cortazar. Tell me that doesn't send a shiver down your spine.
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Quoththe RavenMiami, FL FOR REALRegistered Userregular
also to address a prior conversation, i absolutely hated Old Man's War
Im curious, why did you hate old mans war?
for a lot of reasons that you will probably disagree with, and that is cool, if you like it then keep on with that
ok, so
it felt like a book that started as ideas... books like that tend to be heavy on the info dumps, as this one was, which was annoying to me and made for a really disjointed read
none of the characters ever interested me, especially not the Gary Stu that was the main character, "i'm so perfect even the drill sergeant who hates everyone is in love with me, woohoo, time to go beat some alien asses like a boss and be the only guy hanging with the cool mystery kids" :?
basically no character ever felt like a real person... they were all really one-dimensional and none had a unique voice, all interchangeable, so even when some died it was like "who was that again?" instead of having any kind of emotional impact
all the frying pan to the head philosophical rants and situations didn't help either, also contributed to the disjointedness of the book, like every chapter was a whole new planet with new stuff and new people that existed only to make a particular point in that chapter
tldr: disjointed, crappy characters, info dumps and boring philosophy
but in other news, i love scalzi's website so there's that at least
I picked up Oryx and Crake and Infinite Jest at the library yesterday. Started O&C first. I didn't realize it has boobs on the cover until I was walking out. Whoops, probably would have self checked out if I saw that.
I picked up Oryx and Crake and Infinite Jest at the library yesterday. Started O&C first. I didn't realize it has boobs on the cover until I was walking out. Whoops, probably would have self checked out if I saw that.
Infinite Jest has to be read twice before it starts to really be cool. A big commitment.
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thread killer - didn't mean to, btw
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AntimatterDevo Was RightGates of SteelRegistered Userregular
That was a good read? Have you gotten to the part where the Ferris wheel first debuts and people start boarding? There are some really amusing bits there.
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AntimatterDevo Was RightGates of SteelRegistered Userregular
I will be reading some Marquez soon enough - it's been a long time coming - it's just a matter of getting around to him.
I've recently ordered some more Borges (The Aleph - can't fucking wait) and a while ago I read some short stories by Cortazar. I really do have to read more of the Sud Americans.
Word to the wise: the English edition of The Aleph on Penguin is an inferior translation by Andrew Hurley. The translation by Borges himself in collaboration with Norman Thomas di Giovanni is fantastic, and trumps any other as far as authoritativeness is concerned. It isn't in print, and used copies are hard to find, but most university libraries should have it. Definitely read it in whatever form you can. The story "The Aleph" is like nothing else. It's maybe my favourite piece of short fiction.
Another Latin-American writer everyone should read is Álvaro Mutis. He writes wonderful stories about a drifter named Maqroll.
I've spent the last two nights reading crime novels by Richard Stark. I read The Hunter last night (the inspiration for the John Boorman film Point Blank) and The Jugger tonight (the inspiration for Godard's Made in U.S.A.). They're extremely elegant novels, very logical, and at times shockingly violent and amoral. I'm looking forward to getting more.
I've spent the last two nights reading crime novels by Richard Stark. I read The Hunter last night (the inspiration for the John Boorman film Point Blank) and The Jugger tonight (the inspiration for Godard's Made in U.S.A.). They're extremely elegant novels, very logical, and at times shockingly violent and amoral. I'm looking forward to getting more.
There are some awesome graphic novel adaptations of Richard Stark's Parker stuff-- the Hunter and the Outfit are out now, and are both amazing.
This is one of those books that makes me think man, if this could get published then I know I can someday.
From the back:
"Vriginity and sexuality are two issues that many young girls grapple with today...NIARA is a novel which can introduce teenage girls to the arena of making choices without risking anything, but their imaginations and several hours of reading.
I ordered some books (Dan abnett's the lost and nekropolis and rice boy) and they were not what I expected.
The lost was a collection of books, two of which I already own (In anyone in europe wants traitor general and his last command for the price of shipping, PM me) Nekropolis was in German (Might still be able to read it) and rice boy was not in any way connected to the webcomic.
FFFFFFFUUUUUUCK, never order books in a hurry.
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ArtreusI'm a wizardAnd that looks fucked upRegistered Userregular
edited December 2010
That rice boy mistake seems like it wouldn't be that easy to make. How
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I just started reading White Noise by Don Delillo - it's my first Delillo novel, and I fucking love it. I might move on immediately to Underworld.
oh dang I just bought this because someone said it was a lot like forever war
I just finished John le Carre's A Most Wanted Man, and as I expected, the ending is pretty friggin' depressing.
h5
i also went pynchon, gogol, delillo in the last several months
What Delillo have you read? I'm also thinking of reading Libra.
Gah, there's just so much to read!
You got into Dartmouth, Duke and Columbia but you didn't get into Penn?
*kills self*
What spring does with the cherry trees.
PROCRASTI-FUCKING-NATION
What spring does with the cherry trees.
Excellent.
Also, I told you so.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
hi5!
Also, I haven't read any Gaddis - I haven't even heard of Gaddis. What would you recommend?
Im curious, why did you hate old mans war?
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i haven't read dead souls yet. i barely got through a volume of the collected gogol (minus dead souls) before i blanched. i don't know why i even picked him up
as for delillo, i've read ratner's star, white noise, and underworld, with an eye on cosmopolis and libra next. favourite's probably white noise, but underworld gains points for the incredibly slick opening
you should give the latin-americans a shot next, paz and marquez and bolaño, if only to be even more like me
I love urban fiction:
PS4:MrZoompants
I will be reading some Marquez soon enough - it's been a long time coming - it's just a matter of getting around to him.
I've recently ordered some more Borges (The Aleph - can't fucking wait) and a while ago I read some short stories by Cortazar. I really do have to read more of the Sud Americans.
Carpenter's Gothic is to William Gaddis what Crying of Lot 49 is to Pynchon and White Noise is to Delillo. (And then A Frolic of His Own is the Gaddis equivalent of V.)
All his stuff is good, even amazing. But it is dense dense dense. JR is an incredible sprawling tale with the central thread of an elementary school student who barters a bulk shipment of military surplus cutlery he finds for free into a sprawling corporate empire. He uses a somewhat hapless and increasingly unwilling piano composer/teacher as his front man. That summary doesn't really do it justice, though. Kind of like saying GR is about a WWII soldier named Slothrop who travels and trysts through war-torn London while recounting previous adventures in pre-War America.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Speaking of Latin-Americans, read this short story, House Taken over - Julio Cortazar. Tell me that doesn't send a shiver down your spine.
for a lot of reasons that you will probably disagree with, and that is cool, if you like it then keep on with that
it felt like a book that started as ideas... books like that tend to be heavy on the info dumps, as this one was, which was annoying to me and made for a really disjointed read
none of the characters ever interested me, especially not the Gary Stu that was the main character, "i'm so perfect even the drill sergeant who hates everyone is in love with me, woohoo, time to go beat some alien asses like a boss and be the only guy hanging with the cool mystery kids" :?
basically no character ever felt like a real person... they were all really one-dimensional and none had a unique voice, all interchangeable, so even when some died it was like "who was that again?" instead of having any kind of emotional impact
all the frying pan to the head philosophical rants and situations didn't help either, also contributed to the disjointedness of the book, like every chapter was a whole new planet with new stuff and new people that existed only to make a particular point in that chapter
tldr: disjointed, crappy characters, info dumps and boring philosophy
but in other news, i love scalzi's website so there's that at least
Infinite Jest has to be read twice before it starts to really be cool. A big commitment.
thread killer - didn't mean to, btw
jesus
I know, right?
Also picked up Oxygen Transport in the Critically Ill, but that's more for work/studying.
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That was a good read? Have you gotten to the part where the Ferris wheel first debuts and people start boarding? There are some really amusing bits there.
Word to the wise: the English edition of The Aleph on Penguin is an inferior translation by Andrew Hurley. The translation by Borges himself in collaboration with Norman Thomas di Giovanni is fantastic, and trumps any other as far as authoritativeness is concerned. It isn't in print, and used copies are hard to find, but most university libraries should have it. Definitely read it in whatever form you can. The story "The Aleph" is like nothing else. It's maybe my favourite piece of short fiction.
Another Latin-American writer everyone should read is Álvaro Mutis. He writes wonderful stories about a drifter named Maqroll.
I've spent the last two nights reading crime novels by Richard Stark. I read The Hunter last night (the inspiration for the John Boorman film Point Blank) and The Jugger tonight (the inspiration for Godard's Made in U.S.A.). They're extremely elegant novels, very logical, and at times shockingly violent and amoral. I'm looking forward to getting more.
I actually found the parts about the fair just as interesting as the Holmes bits, if not more so.
agreed, thus far
I still really want to get Twain's autobiography but it's all sold out everywhere
saving it for the last thing to read, want to be able to relax and go through it slowly
:C
smooooooooch
There are some awesome graphic novel adaptations of Richard Stark's Parker stuff-- the Hunter and the Outfit are out now, and are both amazing.
From the back:
"Vriginity and sexuality are two issues that many young girls grapple with today...NIARA is a novel which can introduce teenage girls to the arena of making choices without risking anything, but their imaginations and several hours of reading.
I ordered some books (Dan abnett's the lost and nekropolis and rice boy) and they were not what I expected.
The lost was a collection of books, two of which I already own (In anyone in europe wants traitor general and his last command for the price of shipping, PM me) Nekropolis was in German (Might still be able to read it) and rice boy was not in any way connected to the webcomic.
FFFFFFFUUUUUUCK, never order books in a hurry.