Rollem
two kinds of wonderful
i foudn my bookywooky a bit annoying in the end
*What book are you reading? (part 2)
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I'm just reading 'The Prospector' by J-M. G. Le Clezio, a really well written adventure which happens in the Indian Ocean at the beginning of the 20th : a treasure, sunny days, love, slow rhythm, but right now the hero has to leave for WW1 fightings...
Wow, he got the litterature Nobel prize, that's great, I like his writing, his nomadism too
Wow, he got the litterature Nobel prize, that's great, I like his writing, his nomadism too
i_hate_beckham
Him From A Village
I'm reading that now, its long book!!I'm reading Grapes of Wrath. Well I was before I got a Wire boxset through the door.
Fictionist
Serving Eargasms....
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
I have not recieved them yet, but I will soon be reading
The Naked and the Dead By Norman Mailer - I have never read any Norman Mailer before, but I recently read a collection his letters in The New Yorker,which is here if anybody is interested:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/06/081006fa_fact_mailer
Its a bit long, but print it out and read it. It is fantastic.
I will also be reading Eeee Eee Eeeee by Tao Lin. It is not something I would normally read, and I had to talk myself into buying it. Some descriptions sound almost twee, which I would hate. But I want to try reading something different, instead of really heavy postmodern stuff. And it sounds quite poetic. Plus the cover looks beautiful. Eeee Eee Eeee is the sound a dolphin makes, by the way.
Review here
http://www.bookslut.com/fiction/2007_05_011091.php
I will also be reading Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I have been meaning to read this for a while, and it was references to Kabalah, Gnostics and mysticism generally whilst reading Gravity's Rainbow that made me buy it.
The Naked and the Dead By Norman Mailer - I have never read any Norman Mailer before, but I recently read a collection his letters in The New Yorker,which is here if anybody is interested:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/06/081006fa_fact_mailer
Its a bit long, but print it out and read it. It is fantastic.
I will also be reading Eeee Eee Eeeee by Tao Lin. It is not something I would normally read, and I had to talk myself into buying it. Some descriptions sound almost twee, which I would hate. But I want to try reading something different, instead of really heavy postmodern stuff. And it sounds quite poetic. Plus the cover looks beautiful. Eeee Eee Eeee is the sound a dolphin makes, by the way.
Review here
http://www.bookslut.com/fiction/2007_05_011091.php
I will also be reading Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I have been meaning to read this for a while, and it was references to Kabalah, Gnostics and mysticism generally whilst reading Gravity's Rainbow that made me buy it.
Fictionist
Serving Eargasms....
I will also be reading Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I have been meaning to read this for a while, and it was references to Kabalah, Gnostics and mysticism generally whilst reading Gravity's Rainbow that made me buy it.
A great book - probably the last decent novel he wrote
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
A great book - probably the last decent novel he wrote
I am going to buy the pair of books, On Beauty and On Ugliness by Eco, fairly soon. They look pretty good! But expensive at £20 each.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
Fictionist
Serving Eargasms....
IIRC there might be a boxed set which contains both of these titles (and perhaps one other) - it might even offer a cheaper way of obtaining these?
(Edited to add: I was wrong - a quick look on Amazon shows a boxed set available for pre-order (Hardback) for £45)
Sorry Dillinger4.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
IIRC there might be a boxed set which contains both of these titles (and perhaps one other) - it might even offer a cheaper way of obtaining these?
I have only seen them seperately, on Amazon. But I will look into this. You can knock a few pounds off if you get them second hand, I will probably do that.
'A Long Way Down' was tolerable, I just don't like abandoning books halfway through
Btw Dill, you were right about 'The Satanic Verses' months ago, I reached some sort of gridlock halfway through and couldn't be bothered with it any more, and I'm really annoyed with myself about it
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
Have you tried the Executioner's Sing by Mailer, about Gary Gilmore? i think it's very very good.I have not recieved them yet, but I will soon be reading
The Naked and the Dead By Norman Mailer - I have never read any Norman Mailer before, but I recently read a collection his letters in The New Yorker,which is here if anybody is interested:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/06/081006fa_fact_mailer
Its a bit long, but print it out and read it. It is fantastic.
I will also be reading Eeee Eee Eeeee by Tao Lin. It is not something I would normally read, and I had to talk myself into buying it. Some descriptions sound almost twee, which I would hate. But I want to try reading something different, instead of really heavy postmodern stuff. And it sounds quite poetic. Plus the cover looks beautiful. Eeee Eee Eeee is the sound a dolphin makes, by the way.
Review here
http://www.bookslut.com/fiction/2007_05_011091.php
I will also be reading Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I have been meaning to read this for a while, and it was references to Kabalah, Gnostics and mysticism generally whilst reading Gravity's Rainbow that made me buy it.
Foucalt's Pendulum was a bit over-rated imo, i read it all and found it a bit lacking in something, not sure what really. RAW's Illumati books were more of a laugh and just as twisted conspiracy-wise.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
'A Long Way Down' was tolerable, I just don't like abandoning books halfway through
Btw Dill, you were right about 'The Satanic Verses' months ago, I reached some sort of gridlock halfway through and couldn't be bothered with it any more, and I'm really annoyed with myself about it
yess!!!
I have been right about something.
You shouldn't keep reading books that drag. I find almost all books drag at some point, and I just put them down, and continue reading them at a later date, maybe.
For example, I have been picking my way through Gravity's Rainbow for about two years now, reading a few pages every so often. I am up to part three now.
Another is 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I just thought it was rubbish, and it really dragged to carry on reading it. However, I know that it is a classic, and it is just not the right time in my life to read it. Maybe there will never be a right time. But I am never going to read something that feels like a chore.
My advice is to put it down. You might come back to it. You might not.
To quote Doris Lessing (I have already used this quote on this thread, I think)
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
No! I feel a little bit ashamed to say it, but this will be my very first Norman Mailer book. The Executioners Song is one of the others on my list.
I am quite interested to read Norman Mailer, because I feel I have never really read enough of the 'man of letters' kind of books - sort of like Ernest Hemingway, writing about Spain and Spanish Civil war and that kind of thing.
I think one of the other reasons I chose Foucaults Pendulum was because I recently read If Not Now, When by Primo Levi, and I wanted to read more Italian fiction. There are a few others that I want to get, like Garden of the Finzi Continis, and some others that I cant remember off the top of my head.
I know what you mean, I know that 'The Satanic Verses' is something I want to read, and I really enjoyed the first section, but feeling as though I had to keep reading made the harder sections even less enjoyable.
I read Of 'Love & Other Demons' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and liked it- is '100 Years of Solitude' quite difficult then? I'd like to read some more of his stuff.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
Its not that its difficult. Or even bad. It is very good, in its own way.
I found I had to make myself carry on reading it though, so I put it down. I have picked it up a few times, and tried to read more, but it is always the same. I have never had much time for magical realism, and maybe it is just his style that doesn't gel with me, or something. I still think I will get round to reading it, one day though. You should give it a go, though.
I always like Mario Vargos Llosa more, anyway.
Try Antonio Tabbuchi: just great! start with 'Sostiene Pereira' which takes place in Lisboa, it's about freedom of thought, then 'Notturno indiano' for exemple which is a kind of quest, etc.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
Try and have a look at City by Alessandro Baricco which i mentioned a while back. The tale of a boyhood genius called Gould, his esrtwhile female role model Shatzy Shell, his friends Diesel and Poomerang and Dr Taltomar, some football and boxing related tales and a metaphysical Spaghetti Western novel to boot, recommended.
obanite
Kroketten
I felt exactly the same as you. I was kind of enjoying the zaniness of it all, but at the same time it did drag, and just didn't really seem to have any particular direction to it, and was just a bit too off the wall. I ended up giving up about 3 chapters from the end
I've got Isabel Allende's Daughter of Fortune on my pile too. Now I'm scared of Latin American fiction though
Haha.the button
out on the kocker
I've just finished In search of excellence by Tom Peters. Peters was a McKinsey management consultant who did a load of "research" on the characteristics of "excellent" companies in the 80s.
The book itself is an unutterable pile of shite, but I would heartily recommend it to anyone whose employer has had the consultants in, just so you know where they're coming from, and attempt to salvage your job accordingly. Plus you can get copies of it for 54 pence off Abebooks. It's where I got mine.
The book itself is an unutterable pile of shite, but I would heartily recommend it to anyone whose employer has had the consultants in, just so you know where they're coming from, and attempt to salvage your job accordingly. Plus you can get copies of it for 54 pence off Abebooks. It's where I got mine.
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