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Scorntyrant
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:55 am
Posts: 1516
PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:03 am 
 

Re Voltaire - if you ever read De Sade (which I recommend you do), read it in the light of Voltaire and as a satire of Rosseau. Until you get to the point where he went nuts in prison and wrote 120 days, De Sade is actually really fucking funny as a send up of 18th century french philosophical novels.
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failsafeman
Digital Dictator

Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:45 am
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Location: In the Arena
PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:15 pm 
 

Empyreal wrote:
Reading Slaughterhouse-Five right now - one of the best things I've ever read honestly. The way it shows war is punishing and cruel and a long trudge, but then it expands the world and shows you how small a blip war is in the grand scheme, and it has all this weird shit about time and how every moment is always happening. Stunning scope and a message that is sad and poignant, delivered with writing laced with levity and humor. Just so good.

Not to tell you how to interpret the book, but just be aware S5's message is often the opposite of what it seems to be saying.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:19 pm 
 

That's fair... I am still not done with it yet. There's a lot to take in for sure.
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Necroticism174
Kite String Popper

Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:46 pm
Posts: 5352
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:37 pm 
 

Vonnegut is one of the greatest writers of all time imo. You really should get to Sirens of Titan and Breakfast of Champions when you have the chance. Though Slaughterhouse-Five is a masterpiece, I think those two are even better.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:58 pm
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Location: Where the dead rule the night
PostPosted: Sat Apr 29, 2017 12:11 pm 
 

Necroticism174 wrote:
Vonnegut is one of the greatest writers of all time imo. You really should get to Sirens of Titan and Breakfast of Champions when you have the chance. Though Slaughterhouse-Five is a masterpiece, I think those two are even better.


I've read Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions and a lot of his short stories. But honestly all of it is due for a re-read - it has been ages.
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Erdrickgr
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:44 pm
Posts: 401
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon May 01, 2017 8:32 am 
 

Speaking of Vonnegut, I just finished Breakfast of Champions this morning, but I seem to have liked it less than others here. I thought it was good, but felt like there was a lot of setting the stage early on, and it didn't pick up steam until the final third. Though I also get the feeling that I'll be drawn to reading it again at some point. I had previously read Slaughterhouse Five and a collection of short stories which I enjoyed more than BoC. (I also read a collection of his short stories that were kinda meh, but even Vonnegut half admitted to that in his introduction.)

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~Guest 21181
The Great Fearmonger

Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:44 am
Posts: 3987
PostPosted: Sat May 06, 2017 12:15 pm 
 

Reading Gravity's Rainbow now. A character is remembering a time he dove head-first into a toilet to avoid being ass-raped by some Negros and now he's swimming through the plumbing identifying past nights of heavy drinking based on the color of his friends' shit.





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Nahsil
Clerical Sturmgeschütz

Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 2:06 pm
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat May 06, 2017 3:36 pm 
 

Finished Handmaid's Tale. What the hell was that ending?!?!?! Good book though.
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volutetheswarth
Our Lady of Perpetual Butthurt

Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:37 pm
Posts: 3489
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sat May 06, 2017 10:48 pm 
 

Earthcubed wrote:
Reading Gravity's Rainbow now. A character is remembering a time he dove head-first into a toilet to avoid being ass-raped by some Negros and now he's swimming through the plumbing identifying past nights of heavy drinking based on the color of his friends' shit.
Somehow makes more sense than Scientology.

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PhantomGreen
Metalhead

Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 7:27 pm
Posts: 1226
PostPosted: Sun May 07, 2017 3:40 pm 
 

I got three quarters of the way through Good Omens and completely lost interest. It just became a Slog when it got to the part about Adam and the Them. I can see how it can be an enjoyable read, and pretty funny/clever at times; But I absolutely cannot for the life of me understand the almost cult like legendary status its achieved on every literature discussion i frequent nowadays.

I've moved on to start on The Demon Princes. I've always really enjoyed Vance's work and I'm really kicking myself for not having read this sooner.
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Scorntyrant
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:55 am
Posts: 1516
PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 6:41 am 
 

I've been travelling for work a lot recently (2 nights at home in the last 2 weeks), so I've been a bit conscious about the difference between what I'd read at home where I can concentrate properly and what I would read in an airport or hotel room.

Got a couple of promos through work:

Revenger - Anthony Reynolds.
I've seen some very mixed reviews on this one. It's the first of his books I've read so I cant really comment, but apparently it's out of keeping with his other Hard SF books and possibly aimed at the YA market. I really enjoyed it though, and if he continues to write pieces set in this universe I'll chase them up. It's really a pirates-in-space piece, which is entertaining enough, but it has a lot of interesting materiel hinted at in terms of the setting - the parts about running salvage expeditions on abandoned/derelict artificial worlds is really interesting.

Viking Fire - Justin Hill. Historical fiction along the lines of Bernard Cornwell etc. Actually a decent novel about the life of Harald Hardrada, and I enjoyed it a lot given the circumstances. But the title and god-awful cover design is off putting - nobody wore helmets with horns, and given that Hardrada was Christian, why is there a Thor's hammer on the cover? Sad that the marketing department seems to have forced this on the author to cash in on the popularity of the Vikings TV series.

And in keeping with my habit of starting difficult novels while travelling and struggling with being be to concentrate enough (I once carried the complete Gormenghast around Europe for a month but couldn't get into it), I picked up "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace on the last leg home. Enjoying reading it at home much more than trying to focus on planes. Still too early in to give an opinion.

Now that I remember, just before I left I finished "The last Nazis:SS-werewolf guerrilla resistance in Europe 1944-1947" which was interesting. And Theodore Dalyrimple's "The new Vichy syndrome: how european intellectuals surrendered to barbarism" which despite it's contrarian "old man yells at cloud" elements is a worthwhile read. I'll see if my local library has any of his others.
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Azmodes
Ultranaut

Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:44 am
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Location: Ob der Enns, Austria
PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 7:02 am 
 

Scorntyrant wrote:
Revenger - Anthony Reynolds.
I've seen some very mixed reviews on this one. It's the first of his books I've read so I cant really comment, but apparently it's out of keeping with his other Hard SF books and possibly aimed at the YA market. I really enjoyed it though, and if he continues to write pieces set in this universe I'll chase them up. It's really a pirates-in-space piece, which is entertaining enough, but it has a lot of interesting materiel hinted at in terms of the setting - the parts about running salvage expeditions on abandoned/derelict artificial worlds is really interesting.

Agreed, I found the world building and referenced historical tidbits more intriguing than the story itself. Definitely a lot of potential as a setting.
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~Guest 171512
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PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 2:59 pm 
 

I'm reading The King in Yellow, a collection of related short stories by Robert W. Chambers. I've read two of them so far, 'The Repairer of Reputations' and 'The Mask'. They were both really good, and kind of a mind-trip, especially the former. That's a great example of the use of an unreliable narrator. So far, every author I've read that Lovecraft knew or admired has been worthwhile. \m/

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failsafeman
Digital Dictator

Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:45 am
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PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 4:39 pm 
 

Unfortunately The King in Yellow is about half good and half bad. The Repairer of Reputations is probably the best, with In the Court of the Dragon and The Yellow Sign being up there too. Some of them are just awful romantic garbage though; there was a big fad for it back then, and for some reason it ended up getting seriously mixed up with pre-Lovecraft cosmic horror - William Hope Hodgson's masterpiece The Night Land for example is bound up in this terrible stupid romance plot, which you have to willfully ignore in order to enjoy the fantastic setting and crazy ideas. Even Algernon Blackwood dipped into that saccharine morass that was early 20th century romance.

I'm not really a fan of romance in general, but the way it was typically handled in those days makes it particularly awful - it's full of characters describing their feelings in completely unrealistic, unrelatable ways, characters falling head-over-heels in love at first sight, based on zero criteria other than "this person is hot", and generally not building any kind of real connection or relationship between the characters over time other than "we love each other a whooooooole lot."
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Acidgobblin
Literally a puppy

Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2009 7:56 pm
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PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 4:48 am 
 

Currently reading Nocturnal by Scott Sigler. Shit, this guy can write. Picked the book up at a cheap and awesome bookshop in Melbourne having purchased a few of his YA novels for Miss Acidgobblin and she really enjoyed them. You cannot really go wrong when you spend $6 on a book but I am truly pleasantly surprised. Not entirely sure what the novel is about as yet- vampires? zombies? some sort of plague?- but its gruesome and quite funny, some great dialogue between the main characters.

On a more serious note, reading a collection of essays by Stephen Jay Gould: Leonardo's Mountain of Clams. Great writer with very broad interests. The history of 'history's of' aquariums appears to be one topic. I really enjoyed the essay comparing some other theories of evolution contemporaneous to Darwin. Apparently life may have evolved aiming mainly towards the dominance of the head. Literally, the head. Anyway, a great and meandering writer who really warms you up into each essay- generally, the actual theme is only revealed a few pages from the end. ;)
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~Guest 21181
The Great Fearmonger

Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:44 am
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PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 8:02 pm 
 

volutetheswarth wrote:
Earthcubed wrote:
Reading Gravity's Rainbow now. A character is remembering a time he dove head-first into a toilet to avoid being ass-raped by some Negros and now he's swimming through the plumbing identifying past nights of heavy drinking based on the color of his friends' shit.
Somehow makes more sense than Scientology.


Does L Ron Hubbard touch on rocket physics, copraphagia, Pavlovian psychiatry, espionage, and pedophilia all in the same work? Perhaps that would explain why his cult is so weird.

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Resident_Hazard
Possessed by Starscream's Ghost

Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:33 pm
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed May 17, 2017 5:20 pm 
 

The last "regular book" I read (not a graphic novel or comics collection) was The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold.

I'm a sucker for really clever time travel stories. Predestination, for instance, is an incredible film, and so is Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. This book, from the 70's, is fantastic. I was aware of the basic synopsis, but it was still a great read. One of those stories were time travel isn't just used for goofy hi-jinks like Back to the Future, but where the story exists specifically because of time travel. Brilliant.
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Azmodes
Ultranaut

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PostPosted: Wed May 17, 2017 5:28 pm 
 

It's basically the time travel story to end all other time travel stories. Utterly brilliant book and one of the few I have read more than once.
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newp
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Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:07 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu May 18, 2017 3:13 pm 
 

Nahsil wrote:
Finished Handmaid's Tale. What the hell was that ending?!?!?! Good book though.

Do you mean the end of the narrative or the epilogue?
Spoiler: show
I liked the ambiguity of the end, not knowing whether Offred is being captured or take to safety. If you meant the epilogue, I found that part unexpected but I liked it. I recently read an interview with Atwood where she explained that she didn't want to leave the reader feeling bleak or hopeless, despite the nature of the story, so the epilogue was her way of adding a hopeful note without changing the end of the narrative itself.

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Daysbetween
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 2:10 pm
Posts: 385
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2017 6:46 am 
 

Been reading a lot of trashy crime / thriller novels recently instead of my usual sci-fi which I have read for most of my life mixed in with history books when I can make the effort. Currently reading The Hit by David Baldacci which I picked up in a charity shop in a 2 for £1 deal. Easy reading, good story telling but pretty average to poor writting and completely unbelievable of course. Still enjoyable enough and no need to engage the brain. Next up I have The Three-Body trilogy by Cixin Liu which came recommended by a colleague. Always look for suggestions of new hard sci-fi.

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Nahsil
Clerical Sturmgeschütz

Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 2:06 pm
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2017 5:20 pm 
 

CorpseFister wrote:
Nahsil wrote:
Finished Handmaid's Tale. What the hell was that ending?!?!?! Good book though.

Do you mean the end of the narrative or the epilogue?
Spoiler: show
I liked the ambiguity of the end, not knowing whether Offred is being captured or take to safety. If you meant the epilogue, I found that part unexpected but I liked it. I recently read an interview with Atwood where she explained that she didn't want to leave the reader feeling bleak or hopeless, despite the nature of the story, so the epilogue was her way of adding a hopeful note without changing the end of the narrative itself.


I meant the narrative ending, wasn't a huge fan of the ambiguity, probably just because I thought it was getting interesting and wanted more content. Epilogue was interesting, although I don't know exactly how to feel about it, mixed feelings.
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caspian
Old Man Yells at Car Park

Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:29 pm
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Location: Australia
PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 6:29 am 
 

Cheers to whomever talked up The Stars My Destination a few pages back. Smashed it in two days- a total cracker. Will definitely check out The Demolished Man, and I'll give that Neuromancer a looksee too.
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~Guest 21181
The Great Fearmonger

Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:44 am
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PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2017 8:21 am 
 

Latest dispatch from my reading of Gravity's Rainbow: a chapter (except there aren't really any chapters per se in this 800 page door-stopper) ostensibly told from the point of view of a psychic medium which halfway through it veers into a conversation between two skin pigments. Yes, between two scraps of melanin. Talking to each other inside a person who can change his skin color at will.

Thomas Pynchon is fighting me.

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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
Posts: 6232
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2017 12:44 pm 
 

I liked Gravity's Rainbow's humour and weirdness, it had me chuckling out loud every few pages even if I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I'm sad to say that ultimately it didn't really have much of a lasting impact on me. Yes, it's an incredibly dense, intricate, rubix cube of a giant novel, but I just prefer postmodernists/writers in general who care more about their reader than I think Pynchon does. Granted, when I read Gravity's Rainbow I had read two other Pynchon books immediately before it so I remember being utterly exhausted by the end. It's clearly a novel that begs to be reread but I doubt I'll ever invest that much time again. I probably liked The Crying of Lot 49 a bit more since it's still very funny, dense, and intricate and didn't take me more than a month to read.

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~Guest 21181
The Great Fearmonger

Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:44 am
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PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2017 4:18 pm 
 

Razakel wrote:
I liked Gravity's Rainbow's humour and weirdness, it had me chuckling out loud every few pages even if I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I'm sad to say that ultimately it didn't really have much of a lasting impact on me. Yes, it's an incredibly dense, intricate, rubix cube of a giant novel, but I just prefer postmodernists/writers in general who care more about their reader than I think Pynchon does.


This hits two nails on the head for me. I have literally laughed out loud reading this book more than any other work of fiction I can remember, and find its surreality broadly appealing. Also, your last sentence reminds me of a thought I had recently: the book isn't pretentious. I was prepared to feel like it was pretentious after failsafeman talked about how much of a smartypants Pynchon comes across. After maybe 20 pages I started to get that feeling. But 50 pages later I realized: you need to actually care about the reader to be pretentious, and Pynchon doesn't actually care. He's not interested in trying to convince you he's smart or thinks he's smart, which is sort of a prerequisite for pretension. He might like to smell his own farts a bit, but he's not trying to impress you. Actually, I think he might hate the reader. It's oddly endearing.

All that being said, I'm pretty sure this qualifies as my first postmodern (pomo?) literature and I'm not sure how much more I care to explore the style. I'll finish this, maybe read it again in a few years (with a reader's guide, perhaps), maybe read Ulysses, but I don't see myself finding very much of this appealing.

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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2017 9:03 pm 
 

If you can make it to the end of Gravity's Rainbow you shouldn't have much of a problem with Ulysses, at least I found Ulysses much easier to follow and a million times more enjoyable. Ulysses's reputation as an impenetrable book is kind of unfortunate, since I know it intimidates readers to even try it out. I've read it twice and it's one of my favourite books. Granted, the first time I read it was for university, so it obviously helped to discuss it as I was going but I was instantly surprised when I first started it that it really wasn't as difficult as everyone led me to believe. Only 2 of the 18 chapters are really out there (Oxen of the Sun and Circe, well maybe also Sirens), but for the most part it's just brilliant and hilarious. I'd probably recommend reading some of Joyce's shorter stuff beforehand but I'd recommend Ulysses to practically anyone looking for a challenging and rewarding read.

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Nahsil
Clerical Sturmgeschütz

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PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2017 9:06 pm 
 

it's ironic because I study postmodern philosophy, but good lord I'm not interested in most postmodern fiction. I remember reading John Barth's metafiction and being super uninterested. Pynchon didn't interest me much either...or DeLillo...

I'd rather read Umberto Eco, Gene Wolfe, Jorge Borges than more explicitly postmodern stuff. I like a little bit of modernism in my fiction, probably, even though I appreciate experimentation and however else you could describe these guys.
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failsafeman
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PostPosted: Sat May 27, 2017 3:14 am 
 

Funny, I'm reading Giles Goat-Boy by John Barth right now. It's been up and down but I'm within 100 pages of finishing, it's just very "down" at the moment and a bit of a slog.
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Scorntyrant
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:55 am
Posts: 1516
PostPosted: Sat May 27, 2017 10:13 pm 
 

After taking a little break around the middle, I finished Riddley Walker the other day. What a strange book! Very touching when he comes to the realization they are living 2000-odd years after the war and still being eaten by dogs and grubbing around in the mud. I think it also captures something of what it would be like to live in an illiterate society - the huge importance of symbolism in the puppet shows etc.

Gotta say I'm struggling with Infinite Jest. Pages and pages of descriptions of Tennis games and I'm still not a quarter of the way through.
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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2017 6:02 pm 
 

Scorntyrant wrote:
Gotta say I'm struggling with Infinite Jest. Pages and pages of descriptions of Tennis games and I'm still not a quarter of the way through.


Have you read any of DFW's shorter stuff? I think a lot of people dive head-first into Infinite Jest (which I wouldn't necessarily dissuade someone from doing since it's one of my favourite books) and then feel overwhelmed within a few hundred pages. If that's the case, I'd recommend trying out some of his short stories and/or non-fiction pieces to decide if his style is something you want to commit to for more than a thousand dense pages.

Here's a site with tons of his essays and stories: http://www.openculture.com/2012/02/23_f ... e_web.html

His cruise ship essay, Shipping Out, was the first thing I ever read by him and really made me fall in love with his style. Still probably the funniest piece of non fiction I've ever read. Other great essays include his David Lynch one (helps if you like Lynch), Consider the Lobster, and F/X Porn about Terminator 2.

Off the top of my head some of his best short stories are Good Old Neon, The Depressed Person, Little Expressionless Animals, The Suffering Channel. Anything from his Oblivion collection is great. I'd elaborate more but I'm on my phone at the moment but I hope some of this helps!

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failsafeman
Digital Dictator

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Location: In the Arena
PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2017 7:40 pm 
 

I really can't stand David Foster Wallace. I can only take so much being clevered at before I start wishing a plot or a point would come along. But no, here's another footnote instead.
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Nahsil
Clerical Sturmgeschütz

Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 2:06 pm
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2017 8:26 pm 
 

I was watching some interviews with him recently, good LORD he was self-critical. If that's what it takes to write super clever postmodern fiction, I'll pass. Poor guy.
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Scorntyrant
Metalhead

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Posts: 1516
PostPosted: Mon May 29, 2017 2:03 am 
 

Nahsil wrote:
I was watching some interviews with him recently, good LORD he was self-critical. If that's what it takes to write super clever postmodern fiction, I'll pass. Poor guy.


That and the killing yourself bit.
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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Mon May 29, 2017 3:41 pm 
 

He was painfully uncomfortable with the media, but quite a lot of his interviews were lucid and really interesting. I'd at least recommend checking out some of his fiction/non-fiction, Nahsil, before making up your mind, but as failsafeman will attest, it isn't for everyone.

I actually just reread his David Lynch essay right before the new Twin Peaks season began (which holy fuck is so good so far). It's really great. He wrote it while visiting the set of Lost Highway for a few days and it's filled with funny Lynch anecdotes and turns into a pretty comprehensive study of Lynch's whole career up to that point. It's available online here: http://www.lynchnet.com/lh/lhpremiere.html

After not having read any comics since Alan Moore's Providence wrapped up, a friend of mine just lent me the three volumes of Clive Barker's Next Testament, and I spent a few hours the other day reading all of it. Its basic premise is God from the Old Testament returning to modern-day Earth to judge humanity as a whole, and well, it goes from there. It was pretty entertaining - apparently entertaining enough for me to read the whole thing in a sitting, but that's usually what I like to do with comics. I hadn't actually read any of Clive Barker's fiction before, but the script was well done. Not incredible (I haven't thought a lot about it since finishing it) but worth checking out if you have the chance to come across the volumes for cheap.

In the past couple days I've been going through a collection of all Kafka's short stories that were published in his lifetime. Man, I love Kafka. After I finish this I'll only have The Castle to get through. I might take a break before I get to that, though, since I read The Trial earlier this year and after all these stories I might need something at least slightly uplifting as a breather.

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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
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Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 12:51 am 
 

Tangentially literature related, and going back to the discussion on Cormac McCarthy from some pages back, this popped up in my Facebook feed today:

http://www.theonion.com/article/cormac-mccarthy-flaunts-sexy-new-beach-body-32449

The first comment was, "He is flaunting, flaunting. He says that he will never die." Fuckin' gold :lol:
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andersbang
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:28 am
Posts: 1069
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 4:18 am 
 

Re: McCarthy, I just blazed through All the Pretty Horses this weekend, I think for the third time, but it's been a while. Goddamn he can write. Last week I read American Gods because my friend is really into Neil Gaiman, and it was okay. Not really my cup of tea, but fairly funny, especially just the parts where Shadow and Wednesday kinda hangs out.

Razakel wrote:
He was painfully uncomfortable with the media, but quite a lot of his interviews were lucid and really interesting. I'd at least recommend checking out some of his fiction/non-fiction, Nahsil, before making up your mind, but as failsafeman will attest, it isn't for everyone.


I tried and quit Infinite Jest two times, but his nonfiction stuff is really great. That boat cruise essay and his carnival essay too are both gold.

Razakel wrote:
After not having read any comics since Alan Moore's Providence


How did you like it? I was pretty much floored. Really really good I thought.

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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
Posts: 6232
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 1:24 pm 
 

iamntbatman wrote:
Tangentially literature related, and going back to the discussion on Cormac McCarthy from some pages back, this popped up in my Facebook feed today:

http://www.theonion.com/article/cormac-mccarthy-flaunts-sexy-new-beach-body-32449

The first comment was, "He is flaunting, flaunting. He says that he will never die." Fuckin' gold :lol:


LOL! Speaking of McCarthy, did you guys notice this piece of non-fiction that was quietly published only a month ago? http://nautil.us/issue/47/consciousness ... ul-problem

It's basically about the nature of consciousness and our relationship to language. Interesting stuff, and exciting to read brand new Cormac McCarthy. Hopefully we'll finally get The Passenger next year!

andersbang wrote:
I tried and quit Infinite Jest two times, but his nonfiction stuff is really great. That boat cruise essay and his carnival essay too are both gold.


Hah, I'm glad you enjoyed! The cruise ship one is my favourite, but practically all of his non-fiction that I've read is great, no matter what subject it's on. Which carnival one do you mean? Consider the Lobster? It's worth picking up one of his three non-fiction collections, at least I really don't like reading lengthy pieces online, but it's good they're available for free. Try out some of his short stories if you want another crack at his fiction. Oblivion is his best story collection, for my money.

As for Providence, well, shit dude. Yeah. Probably Alan Moore's best series since Promethea, easily his most detailed and deeply researched since From Hell, and as a Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos story it's simply the best there is outside of Lovecraft himself. It was such a joy following the whole series even though it seemed every god damned issue was delayed for months. Seriously, I can't remember when it was I ran to my local comics shop to grab the first issue. Two and a half years ago? More? Whatever, it was worth it. I was never able to tell where the story was going after finishing an issue, but it was always satisfying. If you want to discuss the actual story with spoiler tags, I'm game. I'd probably have to sift through various issues to refresh myself, not to mention how it all fits into The Courtyard/Neonomicon makes my head spin.

If anyone interested in reading Providence isn't aware, it's actually a prequel series to Neonomicon, a Lovecraftian graphic novel Moore/Burrows put out in 2009, which is itself a sequel to a Mythos story Moore wrote ages ago called The Courtyard, which was adapted to comics before Neonomicon came out. A little bit confusing, but not actually. The Courtyard/Neonomicon have been collected together and The Courtyard basically serves as a prologue to the much longer Neonomicon, and Providence is much longer and more detailed than both of them, so in whole you have this century-spanning Lovecraftian epic. Courtyard/Neonomicon are set in the present day while Providence goes back to the early 20th century to look at what in the fuck was actually going on when Lovecraft wrote his stories. How Lovefract himself, as well as innumerable other real-life characters, are incorporated into the story is ingenious, but to elaborate would spoil. Also, even though Providence is a prequel, it's one of those instances where it's really important that you actually read it last since it illuminates a bunch of stuff you're meant to have already read in Courtyard/Neonomicon.

Oh and finally there's this invaluable resource put together by a bunch of maniacs who exhaustively annotate every issue to dissect every historical reference and every reference to Lovecraft's stories/life. It was great to follow along and get the most out of each issue: https://factsprovidence.wordpress.com/

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failsafeman
Digital Dictator

Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:45 am
Posts: 11852
Location: In the Arena
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 8:04 pm 
 

iamntbatman wrote:
Tangentially literature related, and going back to the discussion on Cormac McCarthy from some pages back, this popped up in my Facebook feed today:

http://www.theonion.com/article/cormac-mccarthy-flaunts-sexy-new-beach-body-32449

The first comment was, "He is flaunting, flaunting. He says that he will never die." Fuckin' gold :lol:

Perfect :lol:

Man, I'm still blown away by that book. Even though I didn't "get" a lot of it, I don't think the reader was really meant to. It's about the poetic images and mood and themes rather than sussing out exactly what this or that metaphor was supposed to mean.

I mean, I've been reading constantly basically since I was 4 years old, and at this point I'm pretty hard to really blow away, especially when it comes to hyped-up classics. But Blood Meridian took a big bleak dump in my mind.
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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
Posts: 11421
Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 11:30 pm 
 

Yeah, same. I absolutely love when books do that. I'll probably read back through it again next year maybe.
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Nahsil
Clerical Sturmgeschütz

Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 2:06 pm
Posts: 4578
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2017 4:02 am 
 

I had a jackass ex-cop lit prof in undergrad who loved All the Pretty Horses, I wonder if he put me off McCarthy lol. I tried reading The Road but didn't like the style much. Blood Meridian seems worth a gamble someday, though.
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