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Books Thread of Reading and Boobs and Gay Science
Machismo
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Well, there have been book threads before this, but it seems time for a new one with the bracket convention.
So books you like and shit like that.
Try and give a little info on the books.
So I am working through "Quicksilver" by Neal Stephenson. This book was advised by a previous book thread. I also read "Perdido Street Station" and "House of Leaves" from the advice of the forum. Fantastic books, entirely.
Quicksilver takes place in the late 1600s to the 1700s and is composed of three books. One is a Natural Philosopher (a scientist, loosely stated) who is a friend of Issac Newton as well as other notable scientists of the day. Another is about a syphilis ridden vagabond adventuring through Europe.
Perdido Street Station is a steam-punk world full of fantasy-esque creatures in a massive post-Industrial Revolution city. The main character is a scientist, studying the nature of flight for a mysterious, but wealthy employer. It also deals with his girlfriend, an insectoid artist who recently was contacted for a very lucrative commission.
House of Leaves, a post-modern novel. It is frightening, visual, and incredible. I wish I could forget having read the book to read it again.
Basically, a young man in LA finds a manuscript in a dead guy's apartment. The manuscript deals with a supposedly fictitious man who moves his family into a new house. Unfortunately for the family and for the discoverer of the manuscript who is now its editor, something is not right with the House.
So books you like and shit like that.
Try and give a little info on the books.
So I am working through "Quicksilver" by Neal Stephenson. This book was advised by a previous book thread. I also read "Perdido Street Station" and "House of Leaves" from the advice of the forum. Fantastic books, entirely.
Quicksilver takes place in the late 1600s to the 1700s and is composed of three books. One is a Natural Philosopher (a scientist, loosely stated) who is a friend of Issac Newton as well as other notable scientists of the day. Another is about a syphilis ridden vagabond adventuring through Europe.
Perdido Street Station is a steam-punk world full of fantasy-esque creatures in a massive post-Industrial Revolution city. The main character is a scientist, studying the nature of flight for a mysterious, but wealthy employer. It also deals with his girlfriend, an insectoid artist who recently was contacted for a very lucrative commission.
House of Leaves, a post-modern novel. It is frightening, visual, and incredible. I wish I could forget having read the book to read it again.
Basically, a young man in LA finds a manuscript in a dead guy's apartment. The manuscript deals with a supposedly fictitious man who moves his family into a new house. Unfortunately for the family and for the discoverer of the manuscript who is now its editor, something is not right with the House.
Machismo on
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you did the blue thing
you faggot
also I just finished
and just started
Neverwhere was pretty awesome, but it was short. Felt like it was over too fast.
Gateway is pretty good so far (bout halfway through), its Sci-Fi for those who care.
Jordan of Elienor, Human Shaman
I am now reading Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union
Steam
Check out Baltimore.
i also tore through hell's angels again recently
the flash of lightning behind the mountain by charles bukowski is my current poopin' book (being the book that resides on the back of the crapper)
harlan ellison's slippage is getting read in chunks here and there at work
finished crooked little vein not so long ago
thinking about picking up some of raymond chandler's marlowe books
crooked little vein put me in a harboiled detectivey sort of mood
oh and the usual diet of lovecraft short stories
The last few chapters are a quick read, especially the excerpt from Ginsburg. Its basically less crazy shenanigans and more a social commentary and analysis by Thompson, which is still some relevant and amazing stuff. And the ending is pretty fitting. Just plow through it dude.
Check out The Road by Cormack McCarthy and also his book Blood Meridian. They are both decently horror in a mature, nonconventional sense. They are incredibly dark.
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Same here on the detective stuff, Knob, I might have to make a trip to the bookstore sometime soon and start browsing.
Picked up Soon... on a whim, and Sheri's currently borrowing CLV.
What's delightful is a couple days ago Ellis discovered an FTP with
t lost: will do.
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Steam
Dashell Hammett (Maltese Falcon, etc)
Raymond Chandler (Philip Marlowe books)
Lawrence Block (Matthew Scudder books)
Michael Dibdin (Aurelio Zen books)
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McCarthy is just freaking awesome.
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read that
do it
Before that, read that russian Night Watch trilogy. They're far, far better than the first film was.
I'm gonna hump the homo out of you.
Chandler is great, as is Hammett. I'm rereading all my Chandler books in my spare time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler#Novels
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erisian poop
I'd rather you pound the homo back in. It's been getting out more and more lately.
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God I love Dick!
Man in the High Castle was the second book of his I ever read, and remains one of my favorites. I have read 80% or more of his novels and 50% or more of his short stories. Phil K Dick was like unto a god to me.
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like news articles and shit
one of the things was a chapter from a book
after reading it i could have kept reading things relevant to the test or gone home but it was pretty good and had me looking for the book in the library and sitting down to read more of it
it was this thing
http://www.amazon.com/Japan-Unbound-Volatile-Nations-Purpose/dp/0618138943
some excerpt here
but thats all incomplete and stuff
maybe just skip down to page 27 where he talks a bit about the highschool killings and stuff
japan is pretty fucked up by the sounds of it
Currently reading 1984, then moving on to the fountainhead.
Anyone who likes mystery books should check out Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen books. It's about a detective in Rome (named Aurelio Zen, duh). What makes these interesting and unusual is that the character, a detective on the police force, is seldom concerned with solving the crime. Unlike the traditional hard-boiled detective, Zen's primary motivation is surviving the ever-shifting politics and power-shifts in Italy and thereby keeping his career intact. That usually (but not always) ends up meaning that he needs to solve the crime. They're a wild read and definitely a split-off from what you're used to.
Also, read them in order. The books follow some twisted paths through his life, and reading them out of order will severely diminish their impact.
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Greetings fellow Dick-head.
I maintain that Dick was the greatest writer of his generation. Noone can match his wild ideas or his mastery of casual prose.
Also, Man in the High Castle is like my second or third favorite work of his, behind The Transmigration of Timothy Archer and VALIS.
You almost got it right. Ayn Rand is shit. Her philosophies are juvenile, self-serving, work well to justify anyone's self-aggrandizing perspectives, and are chock-full of "blame the victim" mentality. But to cap it off, she's a terrible writer. That's the most egregious problem with her books. They're fucking boring. If you're a douchebag who hates other people and need an attaboy from a stranger, then these books might help you out. But you had better have patience enough to plow through the awful prose.
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I have a hardbound volume that has Valis, Transmigration, and the Divine Invasion. Well, Tracie has it now as I gave it to her. I can't totally find the link between the books, but I love them all.
Dyna - Flow My Tears is fucking awesome. I haven't read Galactic Pothealer. I am sure Tracie has it, and I think I'll dig it out. Thanks!
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