*What book are you reading ?
- Thread starter ck
- Start date
- Status
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Steven Erikson's the Bonehunters. It's well good.
chooch said:
Fingersnapping rightness is a brilliant way of putting it. He's fantastically on the ball in that book, you're just THERE.
Vintage Paw
dead stare and computer glare
Dubversion said:
I finished it and loved it. Amazing book. It just flows before your eyes so perfectly. At one point it crossed my mind that 'hang on, I've only got 50 pages to go and the 4 sisters don't seem anywhere near like killing themselves' and worried it might get all anti-climatic - but it didn't at all. I think it's a book about the boys almost as much as it's a book about the girls. Damn, someone make the man write more!
Now reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain. So far so good - very funny. Not far in yet though - just about to switch off the net of doom and get stuck in with a nice mug of hot choc
So much to read, so little time
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
Vintage Paw said:
It's brilliant. I think Twain wrote two of the greatest books ever written -- that one and Huck Finn. He was a stonecold genius.
Vintage Paw said:So much to read, so little time
I'm going to die trying to read everything
Paris Garters
Apparently back.
Just finished Gone with the wind, and thought it was fucking incredible. The racism was at first, but i found the story so compelling that it just bypassed it for me. Or maybe it's because it's so blatant and overblown that you just end up ignoring it, or maybe because it's part of the whole context, I dunno. It must have been pretty damaging at the time, but it's so not what the book's about...I'd be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on it.
Now reading Daughter of Fortune, Isabel allende. Read a couple of her books before (Eva Luna and House of the Spirits), and it has a lot of recurrent themes that turn up in those books... still good though. I love her. Strong individualistic female characters, trashing religious hypocrisy, a bit of magical realism...and just waiting for the hot revolutionary guerilla action to kick in. Aah, lovely.
at first, but i found the story so compelling that it just bypassed it for me. Or maybe it's because it's so blatant and overblown that you just end up ignoring it, or maybe because it's part of the whole context, I dunno. It must have been pretty damaging at the time, but it's so not what the book's about...I'd be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on it.Now reading Daughter of Fortune, Isabel allende. Read a couple of her books before (Eva Luna and House of the Spirits), and it has a lot of recurrent themes that turn up in those books... still good though. I love her. Strong individualistic female characters, trashing religious hypocrisy, a bit of magical realism...and just waiting for the hot revolutionary guerilla action to kick in. Aah, lovely.
Lea
Well-Known Member
Just started The Ghost Writer by John Harwood.
http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Writer-John-Harwood/dp/B000I5YUJE/sr=8-1/qid=1163777352/ref=sr_1_1/102-4835220-9789767?ie=UTF8&s=books
http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Writer-John-Harwood/dp/B000I5YUJE/sr=8-1/qid=1163777352/ref=sr_1_1/102-4835220-9789767?ie=UTF8&s=books
Reg in slippers
Well-Known Member
lunar park, easily ellis' best work to date
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
Finished The Patriot Game by George V Higgins. I like his books a lot. This one kind of fades, but Higgins is one of those writers you spend a couple of hundred pages in the presence of. Killer dialogue, acutely observed characters, a great performance, as always. Read him if you haven't, but his books are quite difficult to get hold of these days, inexplicably. Except The Friends of Eddie Coyle, which is just brilliant and a good place to start.
Now, dunno. Drop City or the latest George Saunders.
Now, dunno. Drop City or the latest George Saunders.
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
Enjoying Drop City, but only 70 pages or so in
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
chooch said:
Better than most writers' half-hours.
Vintage Paw
dead stare and computer glare
Reg in slippers said:
Brilliant book - beautifully self-referential in the most teen-sniggering way, I love it
story
Changing the facts
I'm reading The Mind In The Cave by David Lewis Williams.
Fascinating stuff, to be sure, but a little heavy going in places if you're not interested in the philosophy or history of archeological study.
Fascinating stuff, to be sure, but a little heavy going in places if you're not interested in the philosophy or history of archeological study.
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
chooch said:
Great book, ending a bit damp and Catholic though.
tangerinedream
Density of Sound
just read the play 'penetrator' by Anthony Neilson. Enjoyed it. Short and not very sweet. Having said that, wasn't exactly life changing but there we go.
zenie
>^^<
foamy said:it is well rubbish isnt it?
it starts off: " i'd just taken the second pill when i got a call from dad to say that mum died" and you go "ooooooooooh this could get, wait, no, dull as fuck!!!"
Yep it's shocking!! Glad I didnt buy it now
Just started off reading
The Blue Place - Nicola Griffith
It was in the gay/lesbian section so I am hoping for a bit of lesbo smut somewhere
Jim Colyer
Jim Colyer
INTO THE WILD
by Jon Krakauer
This is the story of Chris McCandless, a young man from an affuent family who graduated with honors from Emory University in Atlanta. In April, 1992, Chris set off into the Alaska wilderness with a rifle and meager supplies to "live off the land." He headed north of Denali National Park. He was idealistic and strongly influenced by the writings of Thoreau and Tolstoy. Four months later, he was found dead by a party of moose hunters in an abandoned Fairbanks city bus. He had starved to death.
Jon Krakauer traces Chris' odyssey across the west. Chris' parents had assumed their son would go to law school with majors in history and anthropology. Instead, he secretly donated his college fund to charity and left with no word. He changed his name to Alex Supertramp. He abandoned his car and took to hitchhiking. He lived off rice. He traipsed through Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington. He was liked by the people he met. He spent time in South Dakota and worked for a man named Wayne Westerberg. He befriended an 80-year-old veteran whom he tried to convert to the nomadic life.
Chris kept a journal in which he wrote about himself in the third person. He saw himself as a modern Thoreau. He camped in the Grand Canyon. He worked in a restaurant in Las Vegas. He revelled in his own spirit.
Meanwhile, Chris' parents were worried sick. Krakauer documents their grief.
Krakauer is sympathetic toward Chris and sees him as different from other wierdos who wander off in the wilderness. Chris' story and Krakauer's merge. Krakaeur grew up in Oregon and was taught mountain climbing by his father. He spent time in Alaska as a young man and climbed a peak known as Devils Thumb. He writes about it in detail, relating his mistakes and the unforgiving nature of mountains, ice and freezing temperatures. He questions why he survived his Alaska adventure while Chris perished in his.
It got out of hand with Chris. At least, it would seem so. His disregard for his parents and contempt for the rules of society are hard to defend. His asceticism and high-mindedness are extreme. He became an aimless drifter, a selfish nonconformist.
We are shown the source of Chris' resentment toward his father. His father had a second family by a first marriage. Apparently, it was a factor in this prodigal son's celibacy.
Krakauer admits the gap between himself and his own father, finding it impossible to live the life his father had in mind.
As his wanderlust grew, Chris thought more and more of Alaska. He hitched a ride from Dawson Creek in Canada up the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks. He bought a rifle and hitched again on the George Parks Highway toward the wilderness. He wanted to escape all signs of civilization. He saw Mt. Kinley in the distance. He found the bus and made it his home. For awhile, he was able to live off birds, squirrels and other small game. Krakauer's theory that Chris was poisoned by eating wild potato seeds may or may not be true. Krakauer did not want to believe Chris was suicidal or had a death wish as critics have proposed. Still, Chris was not that far into the bush and might have saved himself had he the will to do so. A year later, Krakauer escorted his parents to the bus.
Krakauer went on to climb Mt. Everest, an expedition during which several of his party perished. He turned the disaster into another bestseller, "Into Thin Air."
"Into the Wild" is being made into a movie starring Emile Hirsch and Vince Vaughn. Sean Penn will direct. It is due in 2007. Jon Krakauer's original story first appeared in Outside magazine.
by Jon Krakauer
This is the story of Chris McCandless, a young man from an affuent family who graduated with honors from Emory University in Atlanta. In April, 1992, Chris set off into the Alaska wilderness with a rifle and meager supplies to "live off the land." He headed north of Denali National Park. He was idealistic and strongly influenced by the writings of Thoreau and Tolstoy. Four months later, he was found dead by a party of moose hunters in an abandoned Fairbanks city bus. He had starved to death.
Jon Krakauer traces Chris' odyssey across the west. Chris' parents had assumed their son would go to law school with majors in history and anthropology. Instead, he secretly donated his college fund to charity and left with no word. He changed his name to Alex Supertramp. He abandoned his car and took to hitchhiking. He lived off rice. He traipsed through Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington. He was liked by the people he met. He spent time in South Dakota and worked for a man named Wayne Westerberg. He befriended an 80-year-old veteran whom he tried to convert to the nomadic life.
Chris kept a journal in which he wrote about himself in the third person. He saw himself as a modern Thoreau. He camped in the Grand Canyon. He worked in a restaurant in Las Vegas. He revelled in his own spirit.
Meanwhile, Chris' parents were worried sick. Krakauer documents their grief.
Krakauer is sympathetic toward Chris and sees him as different from other wierdos who wander off in the wilderness. Chris' story and Krakauer's merge. Krakaeur grew up in Oregon and was taught mountain climbing by his father. He spent time in Alaska as a young man and climbed a peak known as Devils Thumb. He writes about it in detail, relating his mistakes and the unforgiving nature of mountains, ice and freezing temperatures. He questions why he survived his Alaska adventure while Chris perished in his.
It got out of hand with Chris. At least, it would seem so. His disregard for his parents and contempt for the rules of society are hard to defend. His asceticism and high-mindedness are extreme. He became an aimless drifter, a selfish nonconformist.
We are shown the source of Chris' resentment toward his father. His father had a second family by a first marriage. Apparently, it was a factor in this prodigal son's celibacy.
Krakauer admits the gap between himself and his own father, finding it impossible to live the life his father had in mind.
As his wanderlust grew, Chris thought more and more of Alaska. He hitched a ride from Dawson Creek in Canada up the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks. He bought a rifle and hitched again on the George Parks Highway toward the wilderness. He wanted to escape all signs of civilization. He saw Mt. Kinley in the distance. He found the bus and made it his home. For awhile, he was able to live off birds, squirrels and other small game. Krakauer's theory that Chris was poisoned by eating wild potato seeds may or may not be true. Krakauer did not want to believe Chris was suicidal or had a death wish as critics have proposed. Still, Chris was not that far into the bush and might have saved himself had he the will to do so. A year later, Krakauer escorted his parents to the bus.
Krakauer went on to climb Mt. Everest, an expedition during which several of his party perished. He turned the disaster into another bestseller, "Into Thin Air."
"Into the Wild" is being made into a movie starring Emile Hirsch and Vince Vaughn. Sean Penn will direct. It is due in 2007. Jon Krakauer's original story first appeared in Outside magazine.
- Status
Similar threads
- Poll
