What are you reading?...Part 2 [Archive] - Page 5

KnoxHarrington

07-29-2011, 08:04 PM

Here's what I'm reading now:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/Amtabl.jpg

This book is just fucking badass. It's the first volume in Ellroy's "USA Underground" trilogy, and it follows three main characters: Bobby Bondurant, an ex-cop who is now working as a hired goon for Howard Hughes and Jimmy Hoffa; Kemper Boyd, an FBI agent who is also working with the McClelland Commission, a Senate committee on the Mafia whose members include an ambitious young Senator named John Kennedy and whose main lawyer is his even more ambitious brother Robert, as J. Edgar Hoover's spy; and Ward Littell, another FBI agent, an old friend of Boyd's, who's defying Hoover's insistence that there is no such thing as the Mafia and engaging in his own rogue investigation of it.

It's all against the backdrop of the late 50's/early 60's. Castro has just overthrown Batista in Cuba, enraging the Mafia, who have just lost their valuable casinos...and the CIA, who starts to recruit Bondurant, Boyd, and Littell to help train Cuban exiles for a possible invasion of Cuba. Loyalties are blurred: Boyd is supposed to be on the McClelland Committee to help Hoover dig up dirt on the Kennedys, particularly Bobby, but he finds himself drawn to them. And other forces start to come into play. Even as Littel works against the Mob, Boyd and Bondurant start doing more and more work for them.

The whole thing seems to be moving towards a November day in Dallas.

Ellroy's writing style, of course, is hard as nails; short, blunt sentences, vivid descriptions, smart dialogue. And if you need a little more convincing to read this book, and you need a little more proof of how bad ass it is, there's this: in one early scene, Jimmy Hoffa kills a snitch with a fucking machete! Now that's fucking badass!

Just read this book, fuckers!

TeeBone

07-29-2011, 08:06 PM

Here's what I'm reading now:

Now that's fucking badass!

Just read this book, fuckers!

Love Ellroy....Thanks, Knox

keithy_19

07-29-2011, 09:08 PM

That seems pretty good, Knox. I might have to check it out. I'm in need of a good story to get lost in.

disneyspy

08-04-2011, 07:44 AM

Love Ellroy....Thanks, Knox

what he said

realmenhatelife

08-04-2011, 07:50 AM

I just finished reading The Silver Linings Playbook which actually kindof blew. You might get a kick out of it if you live around Philly and know Eagles fans.

I just started The Alienist, recommended by this board, about a serial killer investigation by an journalist and early pathologist in 1880s NYC.

Misteriosa

08-04-2011, 08:02 AM

you are gonna LOVE john schyler mooore, rmhl. i feel like if he was real, he would be a person i would like to hang out with.

i am currently reading "the taking of pelham 123" i found it squeezed behind some books on my bookcase. it literally started to crumble when it touched the open air :lol: that paperback is older that i am :o i figure if it was good enough to be made into a movie twice, maybe i should give it a read.

it looks exactly like this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YgnexLQZL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

realmenhatelife

08-04-2011, 08:08 AM

Misteriosa

08-04-2011, 08:09 AM

Is he in a whole series of book?

who?

realmenhatelife

08-04-2011, 08:11 AM

who?

John Moore

Misteriosa

08-04-2011, 08:13 AM

i think he is in the next one "the angel of darkness", but obviously, i didnt like it as much as i liked this one. "the alienist" REALLY needs to be made into a movie. it would be se7en gruesome and just as well written.

cougarjake13

08-04-2011, 03:30 PM

cougarjake13

08-04-2011, 03:36 PM

JohnGacysCrawlSpace

08-04-2011, 04:24 PM

In the middle of reading
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/c/c5/20080730151454!I_Am_America_(And_So_Can_You!).jpg

just finished
http://www.history.com/images/show/article/ice-road-truckers/king-of-the-road-book-cover.jpg

and before that
http://i3.bibtopia.com/o/358/396/9780345396358.RH.jpg

Chigworthy

08-05-2011, 10:33 AM

I had a gift card from Border's, so I went in an cashed it in before the implosion. I was there for 2 hours trying to spend 70 bucks. I picked this up on a whim:

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQBbdFdHKdFwGfHLHOjx71e5x6ZnZqSv qxybZILP640lM26AHLo

Autumn by David Moody

I didn't even realize how gay I looked buying a book that looks like it's part of the twilight series until I got home. Luckily, it has nothing to do with Twilight, or any other asexual fantasy series. I don't read that many horror novels these days, and even then, I rarely get zombie/vampire (they're really the same creature) books. I read I Am Legend years ago, and realized that it would be tough to beat. I ended up reading this in a day. Rather than clone one of the popular zombie movies and focus on gore/sex/resource gathering, this one definitely takes the advice of Richard Matheson and focuses on the characters. I looked into the author a little bit and found out that he originally gave this novel away for free on the internet before he had a publishing deal. He has since been pretty prolific and written several novels in each of a couple of survival horror series.

This novel is the first in the Autumn series and focuses at first on a group of 20 or so urban survivors of a deadly virus that decimates the population of England, and presumably the earth. Quickly a trio of survivors find the need to split from the group and find a safer rural stronghold as the dead begin to rise. A nice mechanic was the slow "evolution" of the living dead. Rather than one day having everyone die, then the next day the dead rise and eat the living, the dead remain dead for some time, then gradually become animated and after several significant behavioral changes, start threatening the living. In the course of this book, you get the feeling that the dead aren't done changing and improving, something that is probably further explored in the later novels. The author does a good job of developing the realistic mental states of the survivors. There aren't any ex-military commandos wielding shotguns or completely despicable Paul Reiser in Aliens clones. They are just people, facing depression and emotional trauma, and fighting to find a reason to survive. I will be reading more from this author.

I also picked up the Audobon Fish guide:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRNhdTi6WRsrh9G86sm4cfkgZmO45dfL TTxArMeY5Z0XbWFj7Xdcg

I was given an audobon guide to animals as a kid, and I have always enjoyed these books.

I got Ancestor by Scott Sigler, another author I had never read.
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQxKJlkZBlvYciJcnkIROVFKNDi20qb1 IYdfKRrn4l1CfyjvzwXoA
I always have a soft spot for a decently written thriller, and this one was decent enough. Bio experiment gone wrong in a remote environment usually works for me. Interestingly, I looked into this author a little after I read it, and he too gave this one away for free on the internet before he had a deal. Not bad for a first book. Apparently he reworked the original novel for the published version, but there is still a slight amateurish vibe to it. It was still a fun read.

I picked up this as well:
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSgVZHpSV_pBG7KHRj7GNQU3Ppz16AA-saZOJwKEbmSp1eUrWi0
No Angel by Jay Dobyns
I've heard about this guy's story for a while now, and always wanted to read it. I haven't gotten to it yet, but he was a DEA agent who went deep undercover in the Hell's Angels for several years, at one point staging a murder to prove himself. I guess there is equal drama after he leaves the angels and deals with a lack of protection for him and his family as well as feeling that the work he did was not used effectively by prosecutors in getting criminal convictions.

I got another Wallander novel by Mankell, One Step Behind:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTt61RnzUCUCKzjcClVNfReJOBGJPVTd zAmUngY_AUb5BJJxQhaFg

I've read 5-6 of Mankell's novels, but only one other Wallander mystery. I've started this one and am enjoying it just as much as his other novels I've read. Despite Stan Upshaw's attempts to rain on my parade, I am still impressed at the translation from Swedish in Mankell's books. So far, Wallander had been diagnosed diabetic, begun investigating the possible disappearance of three young adults, and found one of his fellow investigators suspiciously murdered. I doubt that rural Sweden is this rife with sensational crime, but Mankell certainly writes a good crime mystery.

Farewell, Border's Books. Maybe you shouldn't have had an employee to customer ratio of 1:1.

CountryBob

08-17-2011, 09:47 AM

Forgot about the Ailenist - but picked up Game of Thrones. Shocking how much the series this year is just like this first book.

keithy_19

08-17-2011, 10:20 PM

I bought a copy of Beowulf on Amazon for a penny. I really enjoyed it in high school and figured why the hell not see if I enjoy it now.

spoon

08-17-2011, 10:20 PM

I bought a copy of Beowulf on Amazon for a penny. I really enjoyed it in high school and figured why the hell not see if I enjoy it now.

you paid too much

keithy_19

08-17-2011, 10:24 PM

you paid too much

Shipping was 3.99. Assholes.

PapaBear

08-17-2011, 10:28 PM

You could have gotten an e-book version for free. And even that's paying too much.

keithy_19

08-17-2011, 10:37 PM

You could have gotten an e-book version for free. And even that's paying too much.

I can't see myself ever getting an e-reader. I'm too much of a fan of holding an actual book. Fuck whatever that blonde bitch says.

Chigworthy

08-18-2011, 06:17 AM

I picked up this as well:
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSgVZHpSV_pBG7KHRj7GNQU3Ppz16AA-saZOJwKEbmSp1eUrWi0
No Angel by Jay Dobyns
I've heard about this guy's story for a while now, and always wanted to read it. I haven't gotten to it yet, but he was a DEA agent who went deep undercover in the Hell's Angels for several years, at one point staging a murder to prove himself. I guess there is equal drama after he leaves the angels and deals with a lack of protection for him and his family as well as feeling that the work he did was not used effectively by prosecutors in getting criminal convictions.

I got another Wallander novel by Mankell, One Step Behind:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTt61RnzUCUCKzjcClVNfReJOBGJPVTd zAmUngY_AUb5BJJxQhaFg

I've read 5-6 of Mankell's novels, but only one other Wallander mystery. I've started this one and am enjoying it just as much as his other novels I've read. Despite Stan Upshaw's attempts to rain on my parade, I am still impressed at the translation from Swedish in Mankell's books. So far, Wallander had been diagnosed diabetic, begun investigating the possible disappearance of three young adults, and found one of his fellow investigators suspiciously murdered. I doubt that rural Sweden is this rife with sensational crime, but Mankell certainly writes a good crime mystery.

Farewell, Border's Books. Maybe you shouldn't have had an employee to customer ratio of 1:1.

Finished up these two. Jay Dobyns's story was a great read. I was a little worried at the beginning because the writing felt very amateur, but it finds it's stride pretty quick. Either that, or the real-life drama overshadows any minor compositional quibbles. I watched Sons Of Anarchy recently and really enjoyed it, but this book makes it look like the soap opera that it is. It's interesting to read what these Outlaw types are really like, and one of the more interesting points that Dobyns makes in the book is the paradox of the outlaw biker: They cultivate an image of fierce independence and "fuck the man/world" attitude, yet they must wear a uniform and abide by countless unwritten laws regulating their dress, musical taste, hobbies, social etiquette, brand loyalty, and language, and their criminality ends up severely limiting their freedoms. These are misfits that never grow up and live a compromised life.

The Mankell book was good as always.

realmenhatelife

08-18-2011, 06:36 AM

I can't see myself ever getting an e-reader. I'm too much of a fan of holding an actual book. Fuck whatever that blonde bitch says.

I also dont plan on buying one as long as possible, for various reasons, including that I do enjoy holding a book while I'm reading it and I think seeing the stack of pages go from unread to read is an important and maybe unexplored part of how we experience stories. An E reader is just going to help us get more ADD as a society, it doesn't shackle your attention the same way.

Also, buying an E Reader basically says "Hey, fuck you, libraries." which in turn basically says "Hey, fuck you, poor people."

And, the codex is one of the most important technological advancements in history. Before everything was on scrolls and it was hard to look back on previous thoughts and check references, scrolls dont have an index you just have to search through it. Once you can stick your finger in between two pages and flip back really easily knowledge began building on iteself in this whole new way, it was revolutionary, lets have a little respect.

It also says "Yes sir please further justify that all media I consume is actually lisenced to me rather than outright purchased, lisences that can be revoked and renegotiated and since I'm plugged into a fucking cloud every second of my life I will have no recourse when Amazon or iTunes decides it's time to take all my shit back."

Chigworthy

08-18-2011, 06:47 AM

I also dont plan on buying one as long as possible, for various reasons, including that I do enjoy holding a book while I'm reading it and I think seeing the stack of pages go from unread to read is an important and maybe unexplored part of how we experience stories. An E reader is just going to help us get more ADD as a society, it doesn't shackle your attention the same way.

Also, buying an E Reader basically says "Hey, fuck you, libraries." which in turn basically says "Hey, fuck you, poor people."

And, the codex is one of the most important technological advancements in history. Before everything was on scrolls and it was hard to look back on previous thoughts and check references, scrolls dont have an index you just have to search through it. Once you can stick your finger in between two pages and flip back really easily knowledge began building on iteself in this whole new way, it was revolutionary, lets have a little respect.

It also says "Yes sir please further justify that all media I consume is actually lisenced to me rather than outright purchased, lisences that can be revoked and renegotiated and since I'm plugged into a fucking cloud every second of my life I will have no recourse when Amazon or iTunes decides it's time to take all my shit back."

While I agree and feel the same way about paper books, you guys do realize that this is the grandpa stance on the issue?

Misteriosa

08-18-2011, 06:51 AM

i just got a kindle for my birthday. im currently reading the picture of dorian gray which i got for free (go project gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/)!)

it is def harder to read on an e-reader than an actual book. while i feel like im looking at a page, and its easier to use in tight situations like on a crowded subway (i dont have to move around to turn the page), i still dont feel that accomplishment of plowing through pages and pages and seeing my progress. the kindle has a percentage bar on it, but its not the same.

however on the plus side, the books i *do* own arent getting the shit beat out of them with my constant abuse.

and rmhl's thought about sudden license revoking is why i still buy music on cds and not itunes, etc.

realmenhatelife

08-18-2011, 06:56 AM

While I agree and feel the same way about paper books, you guys do realize that this is the grandpa stance on the issue?

I get that there is a nostalgia factor in it, I'm willing to admit that. I just dont think most of the 'problems' this product 'solves' are hugely legitimate issues. I think they developed a product that anticipated a market condition rather than a legitimate consumer need, and people are consuming it without thinking about it tremendously.

The library issue is far and away the biggest reason why I dont like e-readers and dont want them to become the norm. Otherwise it would just be a product I'm not interesting in owning.

razorboy

08-18-2011, 06:58 AM

http://media.oregonlive.com/books_impact/photo/9777568-large.jpg

Chigworthy

08-18-2011, 07:33 AM

I get that there is a nostalgia factor in it, I'm willing to admit that. I just dont think most of the 'problems' this product 'solves' are hugely legitimate issues. I think they developed a product that anticipated a market condition rather than a legitimate consumer need, and people are consuming it without thinking about it tremendously.

The library issue is far and away the biggest reason why I dont like e-readers and dont want them to become the norm. Otherwise it would just be a product I'm not interesting in owning.

While I can't imagine using a reader, and I love paper books, I really do think it's a curmudgeoney stance. Digital music didn't really solve hugely legitimate issues, other than consumer delivery, physical space and ease of access, which e-books also do. And your library concern is similar to the issue of record shops. Just own your curmudgeonly ways.

realmenhatelife

08-18-2011, 07:49 AM

While I can't imagine using a reader, and I love paper books, I really do think it's a curmudgeoney stance. Digital music didn't really solve hugely legitimate issues, other than consumer delivery, physical space and ease of access, which e-books also do. And your library concern is similar to the issue of record shops. Just own your curmudgeonly ways.

Yeah, and how did it work out for them?

And people listen to more than one thing at a time, they mix up music and do active things while listening to music, I read one book at a time and I dont do it while riding a bike.

Chigworthy

08-18-2011, 10:31 AM

Yeah, and how did it work out for them?

And people listen to more than one thing at a time, they mix up music and do active things while listening to music, I read one book at a time and I dont do it while riding a bike.

What I'm saying about the record shops is that it didn't work out for them. And it won't work out for the libraries either. As far as the consumption of books, people buy multiple books at once, and often have books that they haven't read or don't finish. I'm not sure what difference that makes. But I do feel that ebooks are not going to go away, and the market will get bigger for them as the paper market diminishes.

Kublakhan61

08-18-2011, 10:39 AM

You guys realize that feeling a books weight, thumbing its pages, smelling it's papery scent, and proudly filing it away on the shelf are all secondary to the function of the book, right?

Book are a delivery system for storytelling - that's it. All the rest is a modern sickness, another avenue for someone to be 'nerd' - a book-nerd (and not necessarily a person who READS all the books they buy).

I say this because I think the modern book culture is too caught up in championing the elements of the physical book - Weight, smell, feel, we buy new editions for a cooler cover, and we're afraid e-readers will deprive us of the experience - losing sight entirely of the fact that the reason books exist is because some of us have to tell stories. Whether the story is transferred to the public via oral tradition, audio-book, paper copy, or e-reader the story is simply meant to be consumed and digested. Let's not be luddites, here. CDs are still produced, paper books will continue on as well. Shit - we're still pressing vinyl, guys.

EDIT: Oh and I'm reading Chabon's "Yiddish Policeman's Union" in paperback with an Auster e-book on deck.

Chigworthy

08-18-2011, 10:50 AM

Kublakhan61

08-18-2011, 11:17 AM

I also dont plan on buying one as long as possible, for various reasons, including that I do enjoy holding a book while I'm reading it and I think seeing the stack of pages go from unread to read is an important and maybe unexplored part of how we experience stories. An E reader is just going to help us get more ADD as a society, it doesn't shackle your attention the same way.

And, the codex is one of the most important technological advancements in history. Before everything was on scrolls and it was hard to look back on previous thoughts and check references, scrolls dont have an index you just have to search through it. Once you can stick your finger in between two pages and flip back really easily knowledge began building on iteself in this whole new way, it was revolutionary, lets have a little respect.

i still dont feel that accomplishment of plowing through pages and pages and seeing my progress. the kindle has a percentage bar on it, but its not the same.

While I can't imagine using a reader, and I love paper books, I really do think it's a curmudgeoney stance.

And people listen to more than one thing at a time, they mix up music and do active things while listening to music, I read one book at a time and I dont do it while riding a bike.

What I'm saying about the record shops is that it didn't work out for them. And it won't work out for the libraries either.

Ironic that you seemingly haven't read our posts.

Why take the stance you did? Where does that get us? I'm within the bounds of the thread.

Chigworthy

08-18-2011, 11:26 AM

Why take the stance you did? Where does that get us? I'm within the bounds of the thread.

Because, ironically, I misread your post. I thought you were stating the opposite of what you did.

realmenhatelife

08-18-2011, 06:00 PM

EDIT: Oh and I'm reading Chabon's "Yiddish Policeman's Union" in paperback with an Auster e-book on deck.

I like Chabon and he lets me down. Every novel has to have some Jewish thing and some gay thing in it. I think he's more creative than that but he kindof gets hung up on his own obsessions. Chabon will be a better author when he finally stops pretending he's straight and only experimented a little in college, then he can write something on par with Kavalier and Klay again.

And as for e-readers and people buying multiple books. My dad and my brother are both pretty serious readers and both have ereaders. Everyone else I know who has one isn't what I'd call a serious reader. A pet peeve of mine is people who are always buying books and never reading them, I dont get those people at all, and all the ones I know have bought Kindles.

hanso

08-23-2011, 10:17 PM

http://i.imgur.com/f88Rj.jpg

Chigworthy

08-24-2011, 05:16 AM

I like Chabon and he lets me down. Every novel has to have some Jewish thing and some gay thing in it. I think he's more creative than that but he kindof gets hung up on his own obsessions. Chabon will be a better author when he finally stops pretending he's straight and only experimented a little in college, then he can write something on par with Kavalier and Klay again.

And as for e-readers and people buying multiple books. My dad and my brother are both pretty serious readers and both have ereaders. Everyone else I know who has one isn't what I'd call a serious reader. A pet peeve of mine is people who are always buying books and never reading them, I dont get those people at all, and all the ones I know have bought Kindles.

I still think Kavalier & Clay was an amazing saga, despite the gay jewish content. And I don't even read comic books (I'm an adult). I seem to remember some forced gay jewish ass to mouth scene underneath a dinner table, which the novel certainly didn't need, but aside from that,. it was great. But I have not really been able to get into anything else by him. I have an unread copy of Wonder Boys somewhere, because I liked the movie.

Another author like this for me is Jonathan Lethem. I loved Gun, With Occasional Music. But that was it.

realmenhatelife

08-24-2011, 05:39 AM

I still think Kavalier & Clay was an amazing saga, despite the gay jewish content. And I don't even read comic books (I'm an adult). I seem to remember some forced gay jewish ass to mouth scene underneath a dinner table, which the novel certainly didn't need, but aside from that,. it was great. But I have not really been able to get into anything else by him. I have an unread copy of Wonder Boys somewhere, because I liked the movie.

Another author like this for me is Jonathan Lethem. I loved Gun, With Occasional Music. But that was it.

It works the most in Kavalier and Clay because it gets spread out and it feels the least shoe horned. Wonder Boys is pretty funny, to me the funniest parts of the book were cut out of the movie, which I wasn't super into. Mysteries of Pittsburgh is a good first novel and if I remember it suffers the worst from the straight protagonist who is blatantly Chabon that is impossible to believe is straight. I'll reread Yiddish Policeman's Union at some point, and I never read his holocaust parrot book.

I dont think you really need to read comics to get Kavalier and Clay, it's about such a specific time and experience of comics, I understand it historically and maybe someone would be interested in it historically, but thats a pretty specific experience you'd have to be much older to get. I dont think Chabon had that experience either, I think he was just interested in it.

sailor

08-24-2011, 06:33 AM

I love Neuromancer, but it's a little rough when you start reading it. I still highly recommend it. If you want more of an action oriented story in the same genre, one of my favorite books is Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson.

Did you read the whole trilogy? I enjoyed them, but they were hard to read/follow at times.

Currently reading machine man by max barry. Really enjoying it so far (halfway thru).

Suspect Chin

08-24-2011, 02:24 PM

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/angelas-ashes-3-2.jpg

Pretty good book. I imagine ESD every time the Irish dad in the story spends the welfare money getting hammered.

cougarjake13

08-24-2011, 04:08 PM

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/angelas-ashes-3-2.jpg

Pretty good book. I imagine ESD every time the Irish dad in the story spends the welfare money getting hammered.

the dodgers owner wrote a book ??

WampusCrandle

09-05-2011, 05:37 PM

I just finished "Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live"

It's a fantastic book filled with great stories and interviews. I highly suggest this book. Though it's over 500 pages, it is a fast read.

keithy_19

09-05-2011, 06:03 PM

v. by Thomas Pynchon.

It was apparently the main inspiration behind Thrice's album Vheissu. I love that record and figured what the fuck.

keithy_19

09-15-2011, 10:08 PM

Has anyone read Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis? I loved American Psycho.

realmenhatelife

10-05-2011, 04:47 AM

I just finished The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

Just on a technical level it's poorly written, the structure is a mess, it has a really poor sense of character, almost no setting. Parts of it read like a first draft, words are repeated way too close to eachother, concepts are muddy and then explained away instead of being crisp and defined when you encounter them. It's imbued with that particular kind of xenophobia found in writers born in New York. Thematically it's a hipster allegory for intellectual elitism, incredibly judgmental, both consciously and unconciously, of those in the circle and those out of the circle. It hates the magical, it hates the banal, it hates the fantasy conventions it's paying tribute to, it hates the idea of power beyond the egotistical characters and yet it's a virtual tome of self loathing. There are patronizing touches for how much simpler and happier and more real it must be not to be cursed with such privelage and decadence, at the same time there isn't a single real character outside of the magical elite, even though they will suffer most at the hands of the poorly governed magical world. It's so self indulgent the third person narrator parrots what would be the main character's inner monologue, the effect being that first person isn't needed because the world absolutely fucking bows to the whims of the petulant, unlikable protagonist. The characters maddingly act against every conclusion they make about their lives and their world, conclusions the book itself is trying to draw about its' real world parralel, and are always in turn rewarded. It would be poetic if the book was trying to make some greater, meta point about how the elites best trick is keeping itself elite but the fact is the book just isn't that smart. There is no growth, redemption, motivation, tension or ultimately any conflict in the book. The struggle to attain and grief of loss are both effortlessly glanced over in favor of overlong descriptions of dinner parties and drinking binges. The book is a mirthless, hateful grittying up of much loved fantasy standards from childhood, wagging its' finger to ultimately say "you cant stay a child forever now can you" while completely without irony (and seriously who knew hipsters could be devoid of irony) wallowing in adolescent, bed wetting horse shit.

In short, I didn't like it.

Favorite what the fuck spoiler? So the main character, Quentin has a girlfriend named Alice. Their first sexual encounter is when they're both foxes and he fox rapes her in front of the entire class but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, Quentin in a blackout drunk at a party has sex with a guy (implied) and a girl that openly despises Alice, while Alice is at the foot of the very same bed and then tries to act like nothing happened the next morning. The next week Alice has loud revenge sex with Quentin's intellectual rival. Quentin then sulks and broods even in the midst of mortal peril until he finally admits to himself that he still loves Alice and SHE MAKES A GESTURE OF APOLOGY for, you know, getting mad when he got shit faced and had a bisexual, ecstacy fueled three way with a girl that had previously made open gossip of the tragic and needless death of Alice's brother.

Fuck. Moving on to We Need To Talk About Kevin for something a little more cheery.

Misteriosa

10-05-2011, 05:36 AM

just finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

i liked it, but i was surprised at how many of the stories i 1) was familiar with and 2) could guess the endings/solve the mysteries ahead of time. maybe its just a testament to the amount of material thats been borrows from the sherlock stories over the decades.

i am going to start Cold Vengeance later today. i bought it off the kindle store this morning

http://img3.classistatic.com/cps/po/110904/603r6/2030nif_27.jpeg

Chigworthy

10-05-2011, 05:59 AM

Misteriosa

10-05-2011, 06:01 AM

Is that a Pendergrast story, or a new series? I haven't even heard of that.

yes its a pendergast book. it deals with pengergast, his wife helen, and the events surrounding her death. this is book 2 of the helen trilogy. book 1 is fever dream

thepaulo

10-05-2011, 07:06 AM

Mark Twain Autobiography pt 1....(contractually not to be published a hundred years after his death).

Chigworthy

10-05-2011, 07:49 AM

yes its a pendergast book. it deals with pengergast, his wife helen, and the events surrounding her death. this is book 2 of the helen trilogy. book 1 is fever dream

Is this the one where he's hunting in scotland with the evil doctor?

Misteriosa

10-05-2011, 07:51 AM

Is this the one where he's hunting in scotland with the evil doctor?

iirc, i think thats how it ends. its been a while since i read fever dream tho

realmenhatelife

10-25-2011, 09:46 AM

We Need To Talk About Kevin- About a mother writing letters to her estranged husband detailing the birth and life of their first child, who perpetrated a Columbine style school massacre. Really good book, very complex character, very interesting questions about motherhood, ambivilance, nature v nurture and love. Some parts of it are hard to read but it's never pushed into a place where it's gratuitous. The book goes into some very surprising places, I truly didn't see her pulling some of it off and when she does I dont feel like she cheated. Just incredibly well written and compelling. My one criticism would be the encyclopedic recounting of certain real life events, but I get why they're there. Worth checking out if you dont mind darker subject matter.

fezident

10-25-2011, 11:23 PM

We Need To Talk About Kevin- About a mother writing letters to her estranged husband detailing the birth and life of their first child, who perpetrated a Columbine style school massacre. r.

This sounds similar to a movie that, as far as I know, was never released. I saw a review for it. I believe Maria Bello was the star. It looked like quite a gut-wrencher.

I think I just might read the book... after reading your review.

realmenhatelife

10-26-2011, 03:41 AM

This sounds similar to a movie that, as far as I know, was never released. I saw a review for it. I believe Maria Bello was the star. It looked like quite a gut-wrencher.

I think I just might read the book... after reading your review.

IMDB says you're thinking of Beautiful Boy, which is pretty darn similar in the premise. This is going to be a movie coming out this winter with Tilda Swinton and John C Reilly as the parents.

realmenhatelife

11-08-2011, 04:27 AM

I just read Morvern Callar. Well first I saw the movie which is good but it's also in really thick scottish accents and there is no subtitle track on the DVD, so then I got the book. It's about a young, working class woman in a Scottish port town in the 90s. At the beginning of the book she discovers her boyfriend has committed suicide in their kitchen, and she has kindof an emotional breakdown around it that manifests in some very strange, immoral ways.

It's written in a vernacular, impressionist, first person style. The point of view is really well established, it never really felt like here's a book written by a guy from the POV of a girl. He really worked out the characters voice. It's very ambiguous and at times I didn't understand all the slang right off, but in the end it was a good, quick read.

I always think its funny how people get excited to see little parts of their own subculture as the setting for something. A lot of this book takes place around the 90s Euro rave scene, and mentions a lot of music, so when you read about it online there's always someone saying "oh man, the best soundtrack EVER!"

CountryBob

11-08-2011, 04:49 AM

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/2662/52235309.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/249/52235309.jpg/)

3rd book in the series - Im so glad that HBO made this into a series or I wouldnt have even had it on the radar.

Great character development - knights, dragons, sex and even a character named Hot Pie.

God, I feel like a nerd now.... :unsure:

Furtherman

11-08-2011, 11:18 AM

http://www.geekmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Ready-Player-One-475x475.jpg

A great, fun and fast read. Stuffed with 80's and 90's references of movies, books, games and pop culture, but set in the future. Probably impossible to make into a movie with all the rights they would have to require. Based in the world of multi-player gaming, I'm not even a gamer and I loved it. I think many of you on this board would enjoy it.

http://luxuryreading.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Penn_Jillette_God_No_Book.jpg

I can't recommend this book enough. Should be required reading. Brilliant and laugh out loud hysterical. Don't let the title fool you, there is more to it than the obvious. Riotous stories and thoughtful insights.

keithy_19

11-09-2011, 10:56 PM

I've had this book for awhile and never got around to reading it. Considering the messy situation I've been in healthwise I feel a good spiritual uplifting is in order.

Leo Tolstoy-The Kingdom of God Is Within You.

keithy_19

11-27-2011, 10:18 PM

http://whitepowerjustkidding.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/juliet-naked-by-nick-hornby-author-high-fidelity-atlanta-reading-ballroom-book-bash-with-nick-hornby-at-the-highland-inn-ballroom-lounge-cost-time-buy-tickets-kyda-kill-your-darlings-atl.jpg?w=438&h=683

Just picked this up today. High Fidelity is one of my favorite books and I enjoy Hornby's writing style.

realmenhatelife

11-28-2011, 03:58 AM

When I read High Fidelity I just wanted to kick the shit out of the main character. It didn't help that it was loaned to me by a guy who thought he was high fidelity.

I just read Busy Monsters which was a quick read and not particularly satisfying. It's different though if you're looking for something light. Basically the speaker is a John Hodgeman/Paul F Thompkins clone who writes a seriel memoir for a magazine. The chapters are all these articles he's writing surrounding his girlfriend leaving him to go on a giant squid hunting expedition, and the journey he takes to get her back, which involves looking for big foot, UFOs, spending some time in jail and interacting with various zany characters. It's written in the very affected, anachronistic Hodgeman style which he's actually good at keeping fresh. He calls a lot of attention to how artificial it is, and my favorite thing in the book is these "real life" characters protesting how fictional all of his memoirs are and how artificially they're being portrayed. Unfortunately the author has the most trouble finding real growth for the character, so when the big heavy chapter happens and then the author reapplies himself to his goal with the help of all those he's met along the way I get what that's supposed to represent but it just doesn't deliver. His outline kindof ran out so he ended the book, instead of actually chipping out a real climax and resolution.

And I'm a little ways into Devil All The Time, which I like so far. About a fictional Ohio town in the 50s and 60s, kindof Southern Gothic without being particularly southern. Violent, gritty and grotesque. A note on the book jacket says he's like Flannery O'connor without God. They also got Katherine Dunne to write one of the blurbs, so thats a bonus.

keithy_19

11-28-2011, 07:45 PM

[IMG]http://luxuryreading.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Penn_Jillette_God_No_Book.jpg

I can't recommend this book enough. Should be required reading. Brilliant and laugh out loud hysterical. Don't let the title fool you, there is more to it than the obvious. Riotous stories and thoughtful insights.

I've heard great things about this. It's on my christmas list (which is kind of ironic).

realmenhatelife

12-05-2011, 11:56 AM

Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock turned out to be one of the best things I've read in a few years. Like I said it's Southern Gothic, also kindof a road story for both where the plot partly takes place but also the way it meanders through time and character. Lots of interesting figures, really nice texture and mood. The end is a little underwritten but the rest of teh story was satisfying enough that it wasn't a major disappointment.

Misteriosa

12-05-2011, 11:59 AM

Currently Reading:

http://covers.openlibrary.org/w/id/313169-L.jpg

I got the free version from project gutenberg. it has scanned copies of the illustrations from the 1889 release :happy:

JohnGacysCrawlSpace

12-05-2011, 08:01 PM

keithy_19

12-05-2011, 09:19 PM

I recently finished The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. It was the most difficult thing I've ever read. The translation was by Longfellow and it was brutal. Had to process it word by word and line by line in most cases. I read it on and off for probably about 2-1/2 years. A page or a few at a time.

I just started the next book of The Divine Comedy - Purgatory. Much easier language in this version.

I was working at a laundromat senior year of high school and it was a pretty slow business so I did a lot of reading to pass the time. I figured why not read some of the classics (some Poe, Kafka, and Dante). I forget what version I read but it has become probably my favorite book.

Jujubees2

12-06-2011, 05:12 AM

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515ousigk7L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

It was written by a friend of mine who was raised in NYC orphanages.

KnoxHarrington

12-10-2011, 10:10 AM

Here's what I'm reading:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JRZfuentL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Max Hastings is one of the best WWII historians out there, and this is a one-volume history of World War II. I'm about 20% in right now.

Hastings states up front that he is not going to even attempt to write a comprehensive account of everything that happened in the war -- trying to capture all that happened in one book would be ridiculous. He concentrates, instead, on trying to tell the human story of the war -- what happened to people during it, who were fighting it or just caught in its way. Along the way, he punctures a lot of myths about the war, and sheds light on some parts of the war that don't get the attention paid to them that they should, like the war in China and India, or the German invasion of Norway, which turned out to be quite pivotal.

One thing that this book makes abundantly clear is how relatively easy America and even England had it. I mean, Americans were bitching about fuel ration cards while Russians were, quite literally, resorting to cannibalism. Even British people occasionally having to rush down to The Tube to wait out a German bombing run had it far easier. Which is not to say that America and Britain didn't experience horrors of their own, or that their sacrifices and losses should be discounted. It's just good to put everything in perspective.

keithy_19

12-26-2011, 04:43 PM

http://luxuryreading.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Penn_Jillette_God_No_Book.jpg

I can't recommend this book enough. Should be required reading. Brilliant and laugh out loud hysterical. Don't let the title fool you, there is more to it than the obvious. Riotous stories and thoughtful insights.

Got it for Christmas (sort of ironic). Can't seem to put it down.

razorboy

12-26-2011, 05:40 PM

http://www.stopsmilingstore.com/images/products/detail/vocodersm.jpg

keithy_19

12-26-2011, 05:47 PM

Got it for Christmas (sort of ironic). Can't seem to put it down.

I made the same piss poor ironic joke that I made when I said I asked for the book for Christmas. I suck.

keithy_19

03-18-2012, 07:04 PM

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt2dduHjKP1qknogyo1_500.jpg

Picked this up today.

keithy_19

03-19-2012, 07:42 PM

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt2dduHjKP1qknogyo1_500.jpg

This is very, very, very good. Hard to put down.

TjM

03-20-2012, 04:29 AM

http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/179028-L.jpg

realmenhatelife

03-20-2012, 04:51 AM

I just read A Canticle for Leibowitz which is a post apocalyptic novel in three parts, each part taking place several centuries apart, in time periods analagous to the dark ages, the Renaissance and the technological age. It's told from the POV of an order of monks whose job it is to perserve and then repurpose information salvaged from the pre nuclear war world. For a sci fi book from the 60s it's very readable and the hints of the larger world are compelling. It could have been a whole universe but the guy who wrote it had a lot of issues, like PTSD, that kept him from being really prolific.

I read a book called Serena by Ron Rash which is basically Macbeth in a logging camp in the 20s, it was ok.

I'm nearly done The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. I'm a little disappointed in it. He's writing about Ivy League college students who come from rich families having post graduate crisis, it's kindof hard to give two shits about. He's mimicking victorian novels by having this female main character and her two potential suitors who are very different but tweaking it a bit to be a little more naturalistic. The problem is none of them are too sympathetic, the girl comes off as spoiled, suitor #1 is insufferable, suitor #2 reads a little gay and self righteous, and her attraction to both has not been sufficentally justified. There are a lot of errant intrusions too, comments about academia and trends in learning, femenism, 80s pop culture, the old guard beginning to pass into irrelevance. It just gets very muddy and distracted. He's still a great writer, but not nearly as transportive as he's been in the past, and his voice is kindof blurry on the edges like an echo. We'll see, the ending could save it.

sailor

03-20-2012, 05:23 AM

Currently reading Lord Jim and next up is Hyperion.

Misteriosa

03-20-2012, 05:43 AM

when i find it somewhere in my stack of books, i'm going to read the ultimate hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

sailor

03-20-2012, 06:05 AM

when i find it somewhere in my stack of books, i'm going to read the ultimate hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

Yay!

CountryBob

03-20-2012, 06:09 AM

when i find it somewhere in my stack of books, i'm going to read the ultimate hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

never read the book but that movie really turned me off of that story :thumbdown:

realmenhatelife

03-20-2012, 06:21 AM

never read the book but that movie really turned me off of that story :thumbdown:

The movie was mostly bad. If you're inclined to like nerdy british sci fi humor the book is much better.

sailor

03-20-2012, 06:43 AM

The movie was mostly bad. If you're inclined to like nerdy british sci fi humor the book is much better.

Who isn't?! I also recommend dirk gently's holistic detective agency and long dark teatime of the soul. Also try some Neil gaiman.

StanUpshaw

03-20-2012, 07:42 AM

when i find it somewhere in my stack of books, i'm going to read the ultimate hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

Listen to the audiobook read by Adams himself.

Crispy123

03-20-2012, 08:29 AM

Listen to the audiobook read by Adams himself.

This isn't "what are you listening to" pal. :thumbdown:

StanUpshaw

03-20-2012, 08:36 AM

I honestly don't understand why people think that's a meaningful distinction.

sailor

03-20-2012, 08:38 AM

I honestly don't understand why people think that's a meaningful distinction.

Different senses. You wouldn't add eating a book to this thread either.

StanUpshaw

03-20-2012, 08:43 AM

Different senses. You wouldn't add eating a book to this thread either.

If you could comprehend the contents of the book by eating it, then I certainly would argue that book eating is the same as book reading.

Crispy123

03-20-2012, 08:43 AM

I honestly don't understand why people think that's a meaningful distinction.

Now that you point it out, I have to agree. It IS pretty meaningless. Like the distinction between internet memes and webcomics.

StanUpshaw

03-20-2012, 08:49 AM

Now that you point it out, I have to agree. It IS pretty meaningless. Like the distinction between internet memes and webcomics.

If we had a concurrent Audio Book thread, then you might have a point.

Crispy123

03-20-2012, 08:56 AM

If we had a concurrent Audio Book thread, then you might have a point.

I still have a point.

sailor

03-20-2012, 08:58 AM

If you could comprehend the contents of the book by eating it, then I certainly would argue that book eating is the same as book reading.

You're right. We should add movies as well. Or plays. It's an interpretation of the original text.

jennysmurf

03-20-2012, 09:00 AM

I just picked up What's Not to Love by Jonathan Ames from the library. I put it on hold so long ago, that I can't remember what it's even about. I like his other stuff, so I'm sure it will be good too.

https://debp9ogtyvj11.cloudfront.net/0-609-60514-3/180/0-609-60514-3.jpg

jennysmurf

03-20-2012, 09:03 AM

I honestly don't understand why people think that's a meaningful distinction.

Me neither. I listen to books on CD all the time in the car. I feel that I've "read" the book. Especially when it's being read by the author--they can add proper inflection and emphasis.

StanUpshaw

03-20-2012, 09:15 AM

You're right. We should add movies as well. Or plays. It's an interpretation of the original text.

By your logic, blind people are illiterate.

sailor

03-20-2012, 09:21 AM

By your logic, blind people are illiterate.

Obviously.

keithy_19

03-20-2012, 09:44 AM

What if you're reading a scratch n' sniff book on licorice that provides you with the scent of licorice and you're eating Twizzlers?

jennysmurf

03-20-2012, 10:04 AM

What if you're reading a scratch n' sniff book on licorice that provides you with the scent of licorice and you're eating Twizzlers?

Go do your homework, the grown ups are talking.

CountryBob

03-20-2012, 10:23 AM

Go do your homework, the grown ups are talking.

Oh Snap! :ohmy:

keithy_19

03-20-2012, 01:43 PM

Go do your homework, the grown ups are talking.

So that's the roleplay we're going with today?

Sure thing, madam:wink:

jennysmurf

03-20-2012, 02:00 PM

So that's the roleplay we're going with today?

Sure thing, madam:wink:

Oh you!:nono:

:wub:

Chigworthy

03-20-2012, 05:24 PM

As Readers, we bolster our ego by differentiating ourselves from those illiterate cunts that only watch tv. So to accept audiobooks, which any illiterate cunt can consume, as an equal to reading a book is an assault on our ego.

Or two other things:

1) Most audiobooks are abridged, hence not the same as reading a book

2) It is impossible for the content to be processed by your brain the same way as when you read when you are hearing some smarmy 2-bit actor or the self-important douche of an author read the story, coloring it with there own inflection.

StanUpshaw

03-20-2012, 05:26 PM

1) Most audiobooks are abridged, hence not the same as reading a book

That's nowhere close to true.

jennysmurf

03-20-2012, 05:30 PM

That's nowhere close to true.

I agree. I never listen to an abridged version of a book.

StanUpshaw

03-20-2012, 05:38 PM

http://i.imgur.com/CBW5y.png

See? If you weren't wasting so many hours hunched over your dusty papyrus codices, you'd be able to dedicate more time to pwning fools on the internet.

realmenhatelife

03-20-2012, 05:39 PM

Audio books zone me out, I cant do them.

jennysmurf

03-20-2012, 05:43 PM

Audio books zone me out, I cant do them.

Women do that to you to?:wink:

Chigworthy

03-20-2012, 05:46 PM

Well any audiobook I have ever been interested has usually been abridged. Sit on that and spin you unliterate fools.

Keep in my mind the last time I had any desire to consume an audiobook was 1989.

realmenhatelife

03-21-2012, 05:10 AM

Women do that to you to?:wink:

Women find me very interesting, Jenny.

sailor

03-21-2012, 05:14 AM

2) It is impossible for the content to be processed by your brain the same way as when you read when you are hearing some smarmy 2-bit actor or the self-important douche of an author read the story, coloring it with there own inflection.

yeah, like I said, it's an auditory interpretation of the author's written words.

zildjian361

03-21-2012, 03:46 PM

Rolling Stone BRUCE on the cover, check ot Diplo and the Bank of America article.

keithy_19

03-26-2012, 08:14 PM

I went to B&N and considered buying Moby Dick just because it's a classic. Has anyone read it?

PapaBear

03-26-2012, 08:15 PM

I went to B&N and considered buying Moby Dick just because it's a classic. Has anyone read it?
I've never read it, but you reminded me of something. If you have an e-reader, a lot of the classics are free.

keithy_19

03-26-2012, 08:32 PM

I've never read it, but you reminded me of something. If you have an e-reader, a lot of the classics are free.

I can't get myself to get one. I know it's cheaper and easier to lug around, but there's something about actually owning a book that I enjoy.

PapaBear

03-26-2012, 08:34 PM

I can't get myself to get one. I know it's cheaper and easier to lug around, but there's something about actually owning a book that I enjoy.
That's how I felt. Until I got an e-reader.

keithy_19

03-26-2012, 08:38 PM

That's how I felt. Until I got an e-reader.

We should be in a commercial.

http://www.beyond-black-friday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Girl-and-Boy-from-new-Kindle-bookstore-commercial.png

PapaBear

03-26-2012, 08:42 PM

I'm not fancy enough for a Kindle commercial. I got a cheap one. But I love it. It was only $85, is in color, plays all the e-reader formants (including Kindle), and can surf the web and shit.

keithy_19

03-26-2012, 08:46 PM

I'm not fancy enough for a Kindle commercial. I got a cheap one. But I love it. It was only $85, is in color, plays all the e-reader formants (including Kindle), and can surf the web and shit.

My dad got one for Christmas (not a Kindle or Nook) and he loves it. When society starts burning books again you guys will be alright I guess.

And please PB, you're beautiful!:wink:

realmenhatelife

04-13-2012, 04:08 AM

I went to B&N and considered buying Moby Dick just because it's a classic. Has anyone read it?

It's great and not what you expect, the tone is so much more convivial when you've been told it's heavy all your life. But you have to be open to it, like anything. But get a library card and then you dont have to debate, you can just read 20 pages and take it back if you dont like it.

I just read In The Cut and Cosmopolis which were both meh. Cosmopolis is well written and full of ideas and very Delliloish but not all that enthralling. In The Cut is a smutty murder mystery about misogynist cops and masochistic women. It's not well written but I wouldn't rule out ever reading anything this girl wrote again, it had promise atleast.

Another reason I realize I hate ereaders is you've eliminated the ability to give a book as a gift. Any time you've ever seen that in a movie or whatever, an older person giving a special book to that young, bright eyed innocent to open their world to new ideas? Well now I guess they're just going to bump kindles like they're trying to make two robot barbies fuck. Sounds magical.

I realize this because there are two books coming out that my dad would like for his birthday, but he has a nook. So I can get him a gift card which is the epitome of I didn't think about you for 10 seconds happy birthday, or I assume I can buy the books on his behalf and have them emailed to him or some stupid shit like that. Opening an email, just as good as opening a present I always say.

Kiss my ass soulless robot book you've ruined fucking christmas.

IamFogHat

04-13-2012, 04:19 AM

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328416621l/10572.jpg

tileslinger

04-14-2012, 02:03 PM

I went to B&N and considered buying Moby Dick just because it's a classic. Has anyone read it?

I couldn't "read" it but I did listen to it. More then you'd ever want to know about big whales and extracting oil from them.
http://archive.org/details/Moby_Dick it's public domain so it's free.
This book is perfect argument for abridged versions.

tileslinger

04-14-2012, 02:12 PM

The Book Thief Markus Zusak http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_Thief

Half the Sky Nicolas Kristof http://www.amazon.com/Half-Sky-Oppression-Opportunity-Worldwide/dp/0307387097/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334441409&sr=8-1

Ninety-Three Victor Hugo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-Three

One problem with the Nook is I can't just focus on one book.

danner1515

04-15-2012, 10:36 AM

DonInNC

04-15-2012, 12:24 PM

The main thing that's kept me from buying a Kindle is the fact that I don't really need another expensive gadget to keep up with while I'm out of the house. I'm already nervous enough about losing or breaking my iPhone. I do find it funny whenever I hear anti-Kindle people argue about how E-readers are killing book stores. Did these same people worry about the death of CD stores when they bought their iPods?

I'm currently reading John Robbins' The Food Revolution. I've been flirting around with a mostly vegetarian diet for the last six months or so, and I think this book has pretty much given me the final nudge to go all the way.

I use the kindle iphone app.

Oh, and I'm reading The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner.

keithy_19

04-15-2012, 12:46 PM

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fa2PaNPSOFc/S_XaRHyf1II/AAAAAAAADeE/m8PVSguP4q0/s1600/perks.jpg

I kind of feel like a chick.

realmenhatelife

04-15-2012, 01:13 PM

The main thing that's kept me from buying a Kindle is the fact that I don't really need another expensive gadget to keep up with while I'm out of the house. I'm already nervous enough about losing or breaking my iPhone. I do find it funny whenever I hear anti-Kindle people argue about how E-readers are killing book stores. Did these same people worry about the death of CD stores when they bought their iPods?

I'm currently reading John Robbins' The Food Revolution. I've been flirting around with a mostly vegetarian diet for the last six months or so, and I think this book has pretty much given me the final nudge to go all the way.

They're aren't analogous because when you buy a CD you go home and rip it and put it on your ipod, when you buy a book you cant scan it into your kindle.

Just wait until they're dropping ads right into the middle of your book. And if you're about to say "they could never put commercials into a book, you're paying to access it" think about movie theaters.

danner1515

04-15-2012, 02:59 PM

They're aren't analogous because when you buy a CD you go home and rip it and put it on your ipod, when you buy a book you cant scan it into your kindle.

This is true, but honestly, how many people do you think are still buying new CDs just to turn around and burn them to their iTunes library? Don't you think the iTunes store has replaced the brick and mortar CD store for most people? They might not be completely analogous, but they basically have the same effect: technology making local stores obsolete.

realmenhatelife

04-15-2012, 06:07 PM

This is true, but honestly, how many people do you think are still buying new CDs just to turn around and burn them to their iTunes library? Don't you think the iTunes store has replaced the brick and mortar CD store for most people? They might not be completely analogous, but they basically have the same effect: technology making local stores obsolete.

Well, me for one. But I know the majority of people dont do what I do. Effect, they have similar effects to the retail establishment which is still bad for the consumer and the artist. I see ebooks as having further effects though which I wont rehash, but I see them as far more damaging. I dont really care that the stores arent there any more in either case, although from a leisure aspect they were both nice to go to, but those outlets had unique benefits which go away with the store.

BigRigRichard

05-08-2012, 05:36 PM

I am reading my book A Collection of Fictitious Malarkey which has almost 500 downloads. It inspires m to write my next book, a sci fi fantasy adventure I call The Bullet

:thumbup:

StanUpshaw

05-08-2012, 05:44 PM

I am reading my book A Collection of Fictitious Malarkey which has almost 500 downloads.
:thumbup:

That's a better title than your original choice (http://www.lulu.com/shop/richard-mcnail-jr/something-to-believe-in/ebook/product-18955158.html).

JohnGacysCrawlSpace

05-08-2012, 08:02 PM

I recently read

The Quantum Universe: And why everything that can happen, does by Dr. Brian Cox

and

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

and I Just started reading

Death by Black Hole by Neil DeGrassi Tyson

WampusCrandle

05-08-2012, 09:17 PM

im in the middle of the third book in The Song of Fire and Ice - can't wait for HBO to make season three of Game of Thrones

jennysmurf

05-27-2012, 04:02 PM

I'm listening to this on cd right now. So far, weirdly wonderful...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j3aMTMy4Ygs/TzrPcNnhEII/AAAAAAAAAqQ/E56YFUjDoZg/s1600/Oscar%2BWao.jpg

realmenhatelife

05-27-2012, 06:42 PM

I'm listening to this on cd right now. So far, weirdly wonderful...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j3aMTMy4Ygs/TzrPcNnhEII/AAAAAAAAAqQ/E56YFUjDoZg/s1600/Oscar%2BWao.jpg

That's pretty high up on my prospective books, after I finish Cool Hand Luke and Lost Everything.

jennysmurf

05-27-2012, 06:46 PM

That's pretty high up on my prospective books, after I finish Cool Hand Luke and Lost Everything.

I'm only 3 CDs in, but it's really involved. I've been digging into Dominican Republic history because of it. I love when a book is so good, that it makes me want to do research.

Crispy123

05-27-2012, 07:08 PM

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eRubTDaZ7vI/T2Kz_orn_4I/AAAAAAAAAeA/LxzhjONNxQs/s1600/Girl+with+the+Dragon+Tattoo.jpg

Crispy123

06-10-2012, 07:35 PM

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eRubTDaZ7vI/T2Kz_orn_4I/AAAAAAAAAeA/LxzhjONNxQs/s1600/Girl+with+the+Dragon+Tattoo.jpg

finished the series.

Now Im reading the new Stephen King Dark Tower book, The Wind Through The Keyhole.

StanUpshaw

06-10-2012, 07:46 PM

finished the series.

Now Im reading the new Stephen King Dark Tower book, The Wind Through The Keyhole.

Hmmm....didn't hear about this one.

Crispy123

06-10-2012, 07:49 PM

Hmmm....didn't hear about this one.

Yep came out in April I think. Just got it from the library today and havent cracked it open yet.

realmenhatelife

06-11-2012, 05:20 PM

I liked Lost Everything a lot more than The Road, pretty similar books.

And Cool Hand Luke was one of the odd books that's worse than the movie. The lives and characters in the work camp are richer, but the story isn't as well told.

IamFogHat

06-11-2012, 05:31 PM

So in my A Song of Ice and Fire journey, I'm about halfway through
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t5kTz22zzsQ/T55I--Uk_xI/AAAAAAAAAxE/1RGnCcSYb9M/s1600/a_feast_for_crows.jpg
Or as I like to call it, A Feast of Exposition. OMG you guys it is soooo boring. They introduce like a million new people as POVs and shit to set up what I imagine is awesomeness to come, so I'm just powering through it with A Dance with Dragons as my light at the end of the tunnel.

jennysmurf

06-15-2012, 09:53 AM

Just picked this up from the liberry. I think I put it on hold based on a review somewhere, can't remember...

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSuKg--iEQN5cI7kNanAUfrwXtJJXL2cD4dD8ejpzYsbeJhMJr2

keithy_19

06-15-2012, 12:51 PM

http://images.betterworldbooks.com/111/Race-and-Ethnic-Relations-Marger-Martin-N-9781111186388.jpg

College is for suckers.

jennysmurf

06-15-2012, 03:36 PM

hanso

06-15-2012, 10:04 PM

No portable meth labs and bangigng of soccer moms?

jennysmurf

06-15-2012, 10:08 PM

No portable meth labs and bangigng of soccer moms?

Not a bit. :sad:

IamFogHat

06-23-2012, 09:10 AM

Just finished
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/A_Dance_With_Dragons_US.jpg

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0wqzwtsd31qidxum.gif

jennysmurf

07-27-2012, 10:48 AM

Just put this one on hold at the liberry...

http://get.unshelved.com/books/9780385535656.jpg

JohnGacysCrawlSpace

07-29-2012, 09:10 AM

Currently reading Carl Sagan's "Cosmos".

keithy_19

10-23-2012, 08:07 PM

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NU0A4PzKjqw/TDC25HLyGkI/AAAAAAAAAYc/cmpglTNwmic/s400/9780618267460.jpg

I got this when I was on vacation over the summer and didn't pick it up until a few days ago. I like history and so far it's pretty good.

JohnGacysCrawlSpace

10-28-2012, 11:21 AM

I just finished reading Carl Sagan's "Cosmos", about to start on "Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution", by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith.

keithy_19

11-08-2012, 01:04 PM

I read Ayn Rand's "Anthem" on tuesday and started reading HG Wells "War of the Worlds." I'll probably finish it tonight or tomorrow.

realmenhatelife

12-21-2012, 05:11 AM

I just read The Art of Fielding, which I think was a bestseller from last year. Someone got it for me for my birthday because it's about baseball and moby dick, two things I like. Basically it's the interwoven story of 5 people at a small midwestern college and how they deal with transitions and the expectations therein. A pro level baseball prospect exceeding his expectations for himself, his teammate/mentor who finds resentment that his baseball career is ending, their gay friend who is a total non character, the schools dean who is beginning an unexpected affair, and his estranged daughter who returns to him after dropping out of high school in her senior year to marry a much older man. It was ok, pretty breezy and trite. The book is rife with convenience. And it has some serious 'first novel' problems. It's almost audible when the wheels fall off this thing at the end of the second act. I wouldn't recommend it but maybe check out the guys future novels.

Also just read The Melting Season. This book was written well and doesn't try to do too much with itself, like Fielding did. It's about a woman who lives in a small Nebraska town who splits with her husband and runs away with a suitcase full of his money to Las Vegas, where she meets a fellow damaged people and reveals the secrets that have led to her issues.

I cant say I had a 'problem' with it but man does this woman's husband get the shaft in this fucking thing. She cant feel anything sexually and at first they chalk it up to the husbands 3 inch dick. They make it clear they're very in love and she doesnt actually care that she cant feel anything from him because she likes everything else, but he's driven to have a mutually fulfilling sexual relationship with her so after inheriting money he gets a penile implant, after which she still cant feel anything. So they get into a big fight and he slaps her, then she leaves and moves into an apartment for several months before deciding to withdraw all of his inheritance from the bank and take off for vegas. So the big revelation is that her mother was abducted and raped when she made her first trip out of Nebraska, and she came back and thought she was protecting her children by giving them a complex about not feeling things. At the end of the novel the woman goes to return the money she took but changes her mind and keeps it to support herself and her sister as they move to LA to be with the friend she met in vegas. The husband has taken up with another nebraskan girl and his penile implant rejects and he has to have it removed, at which point she grants him a divorce. Now, sure, you shouldn't slap a woman, but thats about the only thing wrong this guy does. He just wants to make his wife happy and he's frustrated that he cant. When the wife finally understands herself what has been a barrier to her happiness she allows no kind of redemption of the husband, but kindof files him in the shit to get over file along with her mental trauma. Then the unneccissary deus ex machina of his dick rots out and he has to go back to having a nub just seems cruel.

realmenhatelife

02-22-2013, 05:45 AM

I read two books by Gillian Flynn, kindof by accident. Because I requested the more recent one from the library, and when I saw the wait time I requested an older one, and I just happened to get them back to back.

Sharp Objects - About a low level newspaper reporter sent back to her small missouri home town to investigate two grisly child murders. Returning to the place she fled years before has serious effects on the emotionally unstable reporter, and the book is as much about the investigation of the crimes as it is the investigation of her own batshit family history, including the doll-like lolita half sister she barely knows and her domineering jessica walter from hell mother.

A lurid, tabloidy little story that breezes from train wreck to train wreck. You think you may just be reading a book about the seedy underbelly of the white, polished, old monied midwest family but it goes from zero to fucking booonanas pretty quickly. It reminded me a lot of the first season of True Blood. For example, it's revealed in the liner notes I think, that the protagonist is a recovering cutter, and this becomes a device in the book. But the sheer volume of convenient words this girl has cut into herself is fucking nuts, bodering on comic, for the amount of times that device is used.

But its a fun read because it's short and dirty, really sloppy. It's predictable as hell, but you can turn your mind off and read it. It's a little overlong in the falling action especially if you've figured out where it was going in the first 50 pages and you probably will.

Gone Girl- more the biggee, best seller, long wait at the library, 2 week check out with no renewal jobber. Holy shit did I turn on this book. I was reading it and the instant I started thinking about the story I became enraged at how bad it was. About a hipster couple of unemployed magazine writers, the man from missouri and the woman from new york and quasi famous because she is the subject of a popular series of children's books her parents wrote about her, who move back to the small missouri home town of the husband when they find themselves broke, jobless, and needing to take care of the husband's ailing parents.

Fast forward to their 5th wedding anniversay, stranded in the town after their familial obligations are fulfilled but without the money or job prospects to move back to Brooklyn, trapped in an increasingly disfunctional marriage, the wife goes missing and the prime suspect is the husband whose social ineptness isn't helping his care at all, and ofcourse not everything is as it seems once we start delving into the twisted psyches of the characters.

So why is it bad, when I kindof liked the equally mindless Sharp Objects. For starters, it's over twice as long and just as predictable, the structure of the book does not bear the weight well and is a total mess . It also has an aggressive humor to it. There's some absurdity in Sharp Objects but there aren't any jokes, where Gone Girl is definately going for 'darkly comic.' The characters break the fourth wall, the first time they do it, no lie, is to tell you that the husband is not engaged in a sexual relationship with his sister so just get that out of your head right now, reader. If you were writing a novel and felt like you should instruct your reader that, maybe you should rewrite the character, huh?

Everyone in the book has the same voice. The narrative switches between male and female points of view and, if you're a guy, you will laugh and laugh and the shit she has this guy thinking. There's an extended passage where he considers how he seeks the approval of 20 year old women to revalidate himself because he feels inadequate to contend with his older, smarter wife. Because that's how guys vocalize a desire to cheat, duh.

The book really hinges the entire plot on really shaky legal ground, too. This is ultimately the most frustrating thing, because it neuters all of the threat to the protagonist, and I use the word protagonist as loosely as possible because this is a book of antagonists:

Ok, so the whole thing is they're going to bag the guy up for murder. That's what he's worried about. But there's no body, no murder weapon, and no actual proof that the woman is really dead. But everyone just acts like any day they're going to slap the cuffs on him and send him to a trial he'll surely lose. Even the characters seem really confused by it, because they frequently state that they think the husband killed his wife in teh same breath as wishing she'd 'come home.' So in part 2 of the book he becomes instantly convinced that his wife is framing him for her own murder, which she cooberates in her narrative. And they're still worried about it, even though he knows she's not dead and if she does turn up dead it will exonerate him because the time and method of dead wont match up with the timeline that makes him the prime suspect. Essentially the book is about one man in danger of being thought ill of, it's the only risk in the whole book.

It should be said that there's a really messed up theme across these books in which the victim is not blameless. It's a very strange idea to grab ahold of, especially from a woman author from the southern midwest where women are often disenfranchised when they're the victims of violent crime.

keithy_19

02-22-2013, 09:42 AM

I got this on Christmas and it was a great read. I finished it pretty quick yet for some reason I never mentioned it here.

http://resources03.deep.weblinc.com/resources/deepdiscount/images/products/processed/48/9780307986962.zoom.1.jpg

Now I'm reading this.

http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/fargorockcity.jpg

CountryBob

02-22-2013, 04:38 PM

I have evolved into only wanting to read books about dragons, zombies, ghosts, knights etc.

I hate myself :down:

razorboy

02-22-2013, 05:15 PM

http://18musicians.com/resources/wom.jpg

keithy_19

02-22-2013, 07:41 PM

I have evolved into only wanting to read books about dragons, zombies, ghosts, knights etc.

I hate myself :down:

I haven't read a book like that in some time, but fuck it. You like what you like. Own it man!

keithy_19

02-22-2013, 07:44 PM

http://18musicians.com/resources/wom.jpg

Would someone who isn't a muscian enjoy this?

razorboy

02-22-2013, 08:12 PM

Would someone who isn't a muscian enjoy this?

I'm not sure. There are probably plenty of musicians who wouldn't get as big a kick out of it as I have. It isn't a comprehensive piece on music in general, as much as it is a collection of 35 years of Reich's essays and interviews on his influences, process and experiences as a composer. For me, Reich is brilliant and his process is tremendously interesting but I can't rate it without bias. I will say that his writing is never pretentious or overly technical with regards to the music.

keithy_19

02-22-2013, 08:19 PM

I'm not sure. There are probably plenty of musicians who wouldn't get as big a kick out of it as I have. It isn't a comprehensive piece on music in general, as much as it is a collection of 35 years of Reich's essays and interviews on his influences, process and experiences as a composer. For me, Reich is brilliant and his process is tremendously interesting but I can't rate it without bias. I will say that his writing is never pretentious or overly technical with regards to the music.

I listened to some of his pieces and the drumming reminded me of being in an MRI machine.

razorboy

02-22-2013, 08:32 PM

I listened to some of his pieces and the drumming reminded me of being in an MRI machine.

:laugh:

Yeah, that's probably pretty accurate for some of it. You'd be surprised how incredibly influential his work has been in modern popular music, especially recording techniques over the last forty years or so.

realmenhatelife

03-14-2013, 09:07 AM

I just finished A Simple Plan, which was the novel the movie was based on. Both are very good if you haven't seen it, Billy Bob Thorton, Bill Paxton and Bridgette Fonda. About 3 men who happen to find 4 million dollars in a crashed single engine plane and devise a simple plan (eh, eh) to keep it for themselves rather than turning it in. Ofcourse things dont stay simple for long.

The really exciting part about this novel is it's about how normal people justify doing terrible things, and the dangers of moral relativism. The book winds up in a way wackier place than the movie, but the decisions still make sense. Worth checking out.

Misteriosa

03-14-2013, 09:09 AM

game of thrones :o

sailor

03-14-2013, 09:28 AM

game of thrones :o

Don't you go spoiling shit!

Misteriosa

03-14-2013, 09:30 AM

Don't you go spoiling shit!

yessir :down:

sailor

03-14-2013, 10:06 AM

yessir :down:

Oh hush, silly skirt.

realmenhatelife

03-14-2013, 10:34 AM

game of thrones :o

Don't you go spoiling shit!

Winter is coming

Enjoy the next 8 months, Misti.

keithy_19

03-14-2013, 02:11 PM

I just finished A Simple Plan

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qvpNa5O-0-8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

realmenhatelife

04-12-2013, 06:40 AM

I just finished The Paperboy by Pete Dexter. Last year Lee Daniels directed a bat shit crazy adaptation of this book starring Zack Effron and I wanted to see if the book was super crazy or just the movie.

It's mainly the movie, which takes some liberties to tell a story about race relations where the race relations in the book are more of a facet of character. The lone black character really only has a line or two where as in the movie there are two major black characters. It does deal with overtly racist and racial progressive whites, though.

It's a bildungsroman. The Paperboys in question are two brothers, one a columnist for the Miami Herald and the other a college drop out who drives a newspaper delivery truck for Their fathers small, rural florida newspaper, and the older brothers writing partner, an abrasive, lazy but talented writer with designs on wealth and fame. The book is pretty much split into two parts: The first concerning the paperboys enlistment by uber white trash Charlotte Bless to free her death row fiance, whom she met through her habit of writing death row inmates, that she believes is innocent and was railroaded in his convition of killing the racist/beloved/behated sherrif of the town the paperboys grew up in. It tracks their investigation and the tensions that arrise out of their conflicting goals.

The second part shows how Jack, the titular paperboy, loses his innocence as he realizes the secret lives and machinations of the other characters in the books and his realization that he is a part of their world, not an observer of it.

I really enjoyed the book, such a wild tone shift too. The beginning is a little nuts with the Florida swamp characters, but it stay believable, and then it becomes a pretty deftly written family drama. It ended a little abruptly, but I think I'll read some more of this guys books.

Fun fact, he used to write for the Philadelphia Inquirer and there is a semi autobiographical sequence in the book related to Dixon's investigation of drug crimes in Grey's Ferry, which is basically the 'projects' in philly if you've never heard of it.

Gutter

04-12-2013, 06:52 AM

World War Z. Had some really great parts, but I'm almost done with it and the last handful of pages have been kind of blah. Interesting spin on the zombie apocalypse though and really creative circumstances that I haven't considered before regarding the living dead.

Misteriosa

04-12-2013, 06:53 AM

game of thrones :o

as a follow up to this post, i am about halfway in to book three. i am basically at the same place in the book and the show. its kinda weird. :tongue:

CountryBob

04-14-2013, 01:11 PM

as a follow up to this post, i am about halfway in to book three. i am basically at the same place in the book and the show. its kinda weird. :tongue:

I raced through them and have been in withdrawal for a year now.

Martin is taking his sweet fucking time writing a new one and I'm worried he might drop dead (I think he identifies with Tarley) and I will never know what happens to Westeros - with winter coming and all....

BigRigRichard

04-24-2013, 07:00 PM

I have evolved into only wanting to read books about dragons, zombies, ghosts, knights etc.

I just uploaded my fifth publication on amazon.com and smashwords.com called The Blackberry Boys. Not going for the cheap plug, but it's about two brothers that get sucked into an alternate universe that is set in the medieval time period. If you do get it and don't like it, please go easy on me. Just trying my best

:help:

keithy_19

04-24-2013, 07:29 PM

I'm reading the Bible. I've never read the whole thing and I'm finding myself having a bit of a resurgence in my faith.

Pitdoc

04-24-2013, 09:20 PM

I've been reading The Newsflesh Trilogy , by Mira Grant, on my IPad. The first book is called Feed It's about life 30 years after the Zombie Apocalypse.. While World War Z treats the ZA like a series of stories (Like The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan) , The Newsflesh Trilogy gives you two major characters ; bloggers who go out & cover news & while they're at it, fight zombies . They have a good way of looking at why the zombies came to be, and explain the science of it pretty well ( A cure for the common cold merged with a cure for cancer , & voila!) and how everybody can become a zombie at any time, if they're badly exposed or die . But the two characters are well fleshed out, & they're trying to figure out who is messing with the zombies, and making things worse . Now the same author is doing novellas in the same universe,and the latest one goes back to when the zombie outbreak first occurred, and how it affects the 2014 Comic Con (it doesn't end well) .Shes got another novella in a couple of months, & can't wait

keithy_19

05-28-2013, 06:41 PM

I'm considering venturing into grief counseling. I was told this book is a wonderful.

http://grief.com/newsletters/new-book/Visions-Trips-and-Crowded-Rooms-Who-and-What-You-See-Before-You-Die.jpg

realmenhatelife

06-24-2013, 05:16 AM

The Morels. About an amateur film maker who, by chance, reconnects with an old chum from his music conservatory, one Art Morel. Art has become an author and released a novel that appears to be autobiographical, which contains a passage in which Art molests his son. The ensuing fallout effects all those involved to devastating circumstances, and the origins of Art and his aims are explored.

Boy howdy, did I come to hate the fuck out of this awful, shitty book. For starters, I hated it so bad I will no longer read books because they were well reviewed on The AV Club, because their book department has taste for shit. Also, I will no longer read any more first novels, because first novels always, ALWAYS, suck for the last 50 pages atleast. And I broke my own rule about trying to avoid books set in Manhatten.

So if you're writing a book about 'dangerous art' and the meaning of art in society and you name your main character Art Morel you should be bludgeoned. At one point in the book the author points out how Morel sounds just like moral, and the consequences there. Other character names include Will, Cyn, Doc, and a long suffering wife named Penelope.

So the real problem with this book is it isn't about people, it's about ideas. And you cant anthropomorphize an idea, you're supposed to personify it. That way you're writing about people, and we can connect to it and engage it, not just be bludgeoned by your idea. You also need to consider that the unnamed, tertiary masses in your book are also people. This is actually the more insulting infraction because it represents the reader. So when the totally not people flock to buy a book because the guy who wrote it probably raped a kid, or when they're too stupid to understand artistic nuance, or when they simply just dont exist that means the author thinks all those things about you. And he thinks those things because he has an MFA from Columbia and he really hasn't dealt with very many people in his life, he's dealt with trust fund kids that live in Manhatten and go to music conservatory schools.

I could go on and on and on, I wont. There just isn't any humanity in this book, which makes it worthless. It's a graduate thesis. I will tell you that the book is set in the late 90s and the author is completely inept at creating that environment. The only reason he sets it in the 90s is to drop in September 11th in a particularly callous way, in every other way the book takes place in present day with people just occasionally saying "after all, it was the late 90s..."

I would also point out that
So, ofcourse the guy didn't really molest his kid, it's part of this artistic scheme he has to stop his son from repeating this cycle of abuse that doesnt make a lot of sense. But because the kid is pissed at his dad he starts saying the book is true, and the dad gets arrrested and sent to jail where he's killed. The kid admits to the narrator that he's lying. At some point after the trial the kid must also tell the mother that he's lying because she starts visiting Art with her son in prison, and then attends his funeral after he's killed. But no one ever bothers to get the case reopened and Art denies all of his appeals because he sees dying in prison as an artistic neccessity.

keithy_19

06-24-2013, 10:25 AM

Boy howdy, did I come to hate the fuck out of this awful, shitty book. For starters, I hated it so bad I will no longer read books because they were well reviewed on The AV Club, because their book department has taste for shit. Also, I will no longer read any more first novels, because first novels always, ALWAYS, suck for the last 50 pages atleast. And I broke my own rule about trying to avoid books set in Manhatten.

Tinkers by Paul Harding would be upset with you.

And can you make an exception for my first novel? It's gonna be pretty pretentious and probably set in a suburb. So, that's not the city.

realmenhatelife

06-24-2013, 11:06 AM

Tinkers by Paul Harding would be upset with you.

And can you make an exception for my first novel? It's gonna be pretty pretentious and probably set in a suburb. So, that's not the city.

Tinkers by Paul Harding can tinker with my balls.

If you get your book into my county library system I'll read it, but I will pull no punches. Actually thats not true, I will pull many punches.

realmenhatelife

06-24-2013, 11:17 AM

As a first time novelist I'll say here's the two things you need to watch out for in your denoument. Are the last 50 pages about the book that I wrote? You started your book with an idea of what book you were writing, and if you wrote your characters as actual people and organically plotted your book it may not still be about where you started. You may be tempted to shoe horn in that original vision by redirecting the narrative or jumping into themes you have heretofore ignored. Dont do that. Write the end of the book you just wrote, not the book you wanted to write.

Are you just spinning your goddamn wheels in the mud waiting to find purchase in meaning, gain some traction, and tear off into the sunset on the back of a well placed phrase? I hope not, because we can fucking tell when you've run out of things to say and are just jerking off trying to orchestrate your sunset. You would be better off having a tree fall on the fucking head of your main character once the plot has resolved itself than have them navel gaze for 50 pages because you dont feel a sense of completion yet. Ask Flannery O'Connor, it was her whole deal and it worked. I would rather read the words The End on the last page of a book than read a sloppy, unfocused prose exercise.

realmenhatelife

08-16-2013, 05:13 AM

To switch gears I read The Hunger Games books. They're full of good ideas but sloppy execution, but I feel like you cant hold that too much against them because they're kids books so you are limited in how sophisticated you're writing can be before you start losing them. There is an unfortunate turn though as so much of the energy becomes dedicated to positioning the strong female protagonist between her two male love interests. There is also an ambivilance about the end of the whole thing I'm not sure was exactly designed. The first book is quick and fun, the next two can plod, but overall a good story. I'm interested to see where the movies go because the first movie does such a good job resolving the story problems the book has, but those problems get exponentially worse as you move on.

Then I read NW by Zadie Smith. I read her first book White Teeth in college and I didn't like it. She writes characters and evokes setting really well, but her plotting is erratic and hard to go along with. Then I read a guy who described it as "Hysterical Realism," a new facet of Post Modernism, which really described what I felt about it. He also said her new book, NW, was so much more grounded while still preserving the magical realism she is obviously going for.
He was right, she really hits the sweet spot of believable and conceivable magical realism by using relateable vehicles for it like drug use, memory and emotional stress. I really enjoyed reading this book.
Its about a number of people who grew up in North West London council estates and how they escaped or didnt, both physically and mentally. The sections of the book are point of view based starting with white girl Leah but it spends most of the time focused on her best friend, a Jamaican named Natalie. There's a great urgency in the book, it's one of those books that feels like it's accelerating as you read it.

realmenhatelife

10-28-2013, 04:07 AM

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy is really good. Up until The Road it was probably his most celebrated book, and I do hope he wins the Nobel Prize for Literature some day.

About teenage John Grady Cole in Post ww2 texas. Sets off with his best friend Lacey Rawlins to find the kind of ranch work in mexico that has died off in west texas. Along the way their lives are complicated by a younger, mysterious runaway and the society life of the mexican rachers. It's a coming of age through profound disillusionment.

McCarthy has a very lyrical style so you have to pay attention to it when you're reading. Dialouge and description are often without signifiers too so it's easy to lose track of who is doing what. But it's got a transportive effect. He's always sortof writing about America after ww2, atleast in all the books I've read. You might like this if you liked No Country for Old Men.

CountryBob

10-28-2013, 07:45 AM

I know I am a big kid but has anyone read the Dresden Files?

Its about a wizard detective in modern day Chicago - kinda hokie but I like it.

realmenhatelife

11-07-2013, 07:58 AM

The Sound of Things Falling

In Bogota a lawyer approaching 40 remembers his brief friendship with a mysterious man at the tail end of Pablo Escobar's reign over Columbian drug trafficking. It's about the memory and recovery from trauma.

Eh. I was hoping for more insight into the cultural experience and also more lurid details. It's well written and subtle but it comes back to the fact that I dont care for Latin literature. It's a strange mix because they meander but the society has a strict code of conduct, and then there is a bravado in the characters even when it's unintentional. It just doesn't sit with me. I found the protagonist to lack self awareness and was not challenged by the writing. There are these frames upon frames in the story telling that get lost.

It turns out to be a pretty simple story, almost categorical at times, with occasional poetic touches. It was a decent read especially if you like latin writers, but I was on the waiting list for like 6 weeks for it and I dont get the hype.

Kublakhan61

11-07-2013, 09:53 AM

Also, I will no longer read any more first novels, because first novels always, ALWAYS, suck for the last 50 pages atleast. And I broke my own rule about trying to avoid books set in Manhatten.

Benjamin Hale's first novel, “The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore," is well worth reading.

I'm reading McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Bleak and bloody.

realmenhatelife

11-07-2013, 10:41 AM

Benjamin Hale's first novel, “The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore," is well worth reading.

I'm reading McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Bleak and bloody.

I liked Blood Meridian. Even though it's not in the border trilogy it fits very well with All The Pretty Horses.

keithy_19

11-07-2013, 06:11 PM

I liked Blood Meridian. Even though it's not in the border trilogy it fits very well with All The Pretty Horses.

I read The Road and loved it. It's a "confusing" read only because of how he uses grammar (or maybe how he doesn't). But it was hard for me to put down.

There's another book if his I want to read about a guy who was falsely convicted of rape. It seems really confusing but why not give it a go. I need a new book to get lost in.

realmenhatelife

11-08-2013, 03:15 AM

I read The Road and loved it. It's a "confusing" read only because of how he uses grammar (or maybe how he doesn't). But it was hard for me to put down.

There's another book if his I want to read about a guy who was falsely convicted of rape. It seems really confusing but why not give it a go. I need a new book to get lost in.

In general his writing style demands a lot of attention to get through because he uses very few proper nouns and can be ambiguous in his pronouns, coupled with his really minimal punctuation and tendency to not translate spanish, run ons, and mixing really figurative language with very spare language. It's a really unique style.

The Road is less flowery and more pronoun dependent than his other books, so more confusing that way, but the action is also more simple. Blood Meridian can be really really confusing because there are a lot of characters with a lot going on, All The Pretty Horses is somewhere in the middle.

zildjian361

11-08-2013, 02:53 PM

Rolling Stone Magazine's Bruce Springsteen's 100 Greatest Songs.

jennysmurf

11-08-2013, 03:44 PM

Rolling Stone Magazine's Bruce Springsteen's 100 Greatest Songs.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IoACIIz33II" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Section 8

11-09-2013, 10:23 AM

Currently reading:

Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Bull's-Eyes and Misfires by Clint Johnson

Sacre Bleu is the usual Christopher Moore stuff: some humor, kinda dark in spots.

Bull's-Eyes is about 50 lesser known people that helped shape the Civil War. Interesting read if you like war books.

realmenhatelife

11-19-2013, 07:10 AM

I read The Road and loved it. It's a "confusing" read only because of how he uses grammar (or maybe how he doesn't). But it was hard for me to put down.

There's another book if his I want to read about a guy who was falsely convicted of rape. It seems really confusing but why not give it a go. I need a new book to get lost in.

Child of God, which I just read. It's good but ironically you wont be able to get lost in it. It's short and it's one of his earliest books so it doesn't have that same really dense prose. So if you want to dip a toe into McCarthy without jumping right in this could be the book.

Like any of his books though picking one plot point to say 'this is a book about...' is difficult. So yes, there is a false accusation of rape but that is just one episode that contributes to the whole book. It's about an outcast dwelling in the Tennessee wilderness and his slow degradation.

DarkHippie

11-19-2013, 11:38 AM

I know I am a big kid but has anyone read the Dresden Files?

Its about a wizard detective in modern day Chicago - kinda hokie but I like it.

I read the first three and don't know if I'll read more. They're ok, but I'd like to see more of Chicago worked into them. The stories can take place in any town as they're written now.
As for being a big kid, I'm finishing up something by R.A. Salvatore, so I'm right there with ya.

CountryBob

11-19-2013, 04:06 PM

I read the first three and don't know if I'll read more. They're ok, but I'd like to see more of Chicago worked into them. The stories can take place in any town as they're written now.
As for being a big kid, I'm finishing up something by R.A. Salvatore, so I'm right there with ya.

Would that be the Legend of Drizzit series? Damn good read right there.

keithy_19

11-19-2013, 07:02 PM

A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan.

keithy_19

11-19-2013, 07:03 PM

keithy_19

11-19-2013, 09:16 PM

In general his writing style demands a lot of attention to get through because he uses very few proper nouns and can be ambiguous in his pronouns, coupled with his really minimal punctuation and tendency to not translate spanish, run ons, and mixing really figurative language with very spare language. It's a really unique style.

The Road is less flowery and more pronoun dependent than his other books, so more confusing that way, but the action is also more simple. Blood Meridian can be really really confusing because there are a lot of characters with a lot going on, All The Pretty Horses is somewhere in the middle.

I really liked Child of God.

spoon

11-19-2013, 09:26 PM

Jesus?

sweet child o God?

DarkHippie

11-20-2013, 08:19 AM

Would that be the Legend of Drizzit series? Damn good read right there.

Yeah, I've been reading Drizzt since I was 14, some 22 years ago. I fell a little behind, but I just finished Book I of Transitions.

DarkHippie

11-20-2013, 08:20 AM

Maybe more overrated pizza?

:clap:

"It's a fucking casserole!!!!"

jennysmurf

11-20-2013, 08:50 PM

Yeah, I've been reading Drizzt since I was 14, some 22 years ago. I fell a little behind, but I just finished Book I of Transitions.

I heard this one was pretty swell....

http://casandersdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/songofsimon_200x300_dpi72-small.jpg

:innocent:

keithy_19

11-20-2013, 08:51 PM

I heard this one was pretty swell....

http://casandersdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/songofsimon_200x300_dpi72-small.jpg

:innocent:

Read the Bible instead. Songs of Solomon is pretty fucking hot.

jennysmurf

11-20-2013, 08:53 PM

Read the Bible instead. Songs of Solomon is pretty fucking hot.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep.

keithy_19

11-20-2013, 08:55 PM

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep.

Thank you?

She means the movie with Chris Farley. I've been chewing tobacco since I was a baby.

jennysmurf

11-20-2013, 08:57 PM

Thank you?

She means the movie with Chris Farley. I've been chewing tobacco since I was a baby.

Song of Solomon 6:6--Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is missing.

keithy_19

11-20-2013, 08:58 PM

Song of Solomon 6:6--Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is missing.

Kind of beautiful if you think of it.

jennysmurf

11-20-2013, 08:59 PM

Kind of beautiful if you think of it.

Seems a bit too woolly.

keithy_19

11-20-2013, 09:12 PM

Seems a bit too woolly.

:laugh:

realmenhatelife

11-21-2013, 03:09 AM

Women do get wooly because of all the stress. Stop turning this into the horny drunk thread, it's a classy thread about reading.

jennysmurf

11-21-2013, 07:34 AM

Women do get wooly because of all the stress. Stop turning this into the horny drunk thread, it's a classy thread about reading.

Horny>Classy

DarkHippie

11-21-2013, 07:39 AM

I heard this one was pretty swell....

http://casandersdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/songofsimon_200x300_dpi72-small.jpg

:innocent:

It's alright, but the author's a douchebag ;)

jennysmurf

11-21-2013, 07:47 AM

It's alright, but the author's a douchebag ;)

I read in the review that he's very snuggly and totes adorbs.

DarkHippie

11-21-2013, 09:49 AM

I read in the review that he's very snuggly and totes adorbs.

There is a snuggle factor to him, I'll admit, and his cock is gigantic. He might be a centaur.

jennysmurf

11-21-2013, 09:50 AM

There is a snuggle factor to him, I'll admit, and his cock is gigantic. He might be a centaur.

I hope not, because he has a bum knee. We all know what happens to horses with bum knees.

spoon

11-21-2013, 09:51 AM

Puke

jennysmurf

11-21-2013, 09:55 AM

Puke

They might puke, but usually they just shoot the horse.

DarkHippie

11-21-2013, 07:13 PM

They might puke, but usually they just shoot the horse.

There is a lot of thread/facebook crossover in this conversation

keithy_19

11-21-2013, 07:28 PM

There is a lot of thread/facebook crossover in this conversation

Facebook is for jackasses.

:bye:

jennysmurf

11-21-2013, 10:31 PM

There is a lot of thread/facebook crossover in this conversation

I like making jokes that only one other person will get.

spoon

11-21-2013, 10:35 PM

thank God only one person suffers with your "jokes" this time!

:devil2::innocent:

jennysmurf

11-21-2013, 10:36 PM

thank God only one person suffers with your "jokes" this time!

:devil2::innocent:

Well, since you're the only one currently here, you're the one doing the suffering.

spoon

11-21-2013, 10:42 PM

not true

jamming 8bit style!

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XQnc3NXeJbU?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

keithy_19

12-10-2013, 11:20 PM

I'm really enjoying that I've been reading more lately. I forgot how enjoyable it is.

Anyway, I'm finishing up Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and then will be starting the first book I've gotten from the library in what seems like forever.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZnkalgZSLAw/UGdBYZweQZI/AAAAAAAACu4/yut4DplLaFk/s1600/Norman+mailer.jpg

realmenhatelife

12-30-2013, 10:07 AM

I just read The Last Policeman by Ben somebody. Earth has learned that in 6 months is will suffer a collision with a planet killing asteroid. Society has begun to break down and suicides are at an all time high. Young New Haven CT police detective Henry Palace investigates a suicide he strongly believes was murder, an investigation hampered by both the decay of society and a seemingly growing conspiracy.

The world is well constructed and actually fairly realistic for the conditions. Some of the characters are intriguing but unfortunately the protagonist, palace, is this boy scout white bread version of a hard boiled detective. He's the kind of guy who asked for a stetson hat for his 10th birthday and Captain America is his favorite comic book character. In other words, boring.

For a good portion you're kindof with the story but it never unfolds into anything that justifies the build up. And the writing isn't good enough to just spend time in the book. It's a good effort, but ultimately unsatisfying. I slowed way down and reading the last 100 pages probably took me the same time as reading the first 200. It's conceived as a trilogy too, which murders the pace at the end. You get closure on this case but then he sets up everything else and I was tempted to just put the book down. And now I dont suspect I'll read the second volume which just came out.