The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => History => Topic started by: Flenker on August 01, 2003, 04:30:28 pm
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who else out there has been reading literature over these summer months? I know I have. Here's what I've read so far:
Catcher in the Rye
Franny and Zooey
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters
Nine Stories
all by J.D. Salinger, all re-reads
Breakfast of Champions
Galapagos
by Kurt Vonnegut
The Art of War by Sun Tsu
and a couple others that escape me right now... so post your books!!
and I know with my first two posts I've had some sort of list (see sights forum), but I promise I will actually have stuff to say at times
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I've read and enjoyed all of those. In fact, those two authors are particular favorites of mine. Must say I like Breakfast of Champions better than Galapagos.
Hmmm, what have I been reading.
A Thousand Acres by Jane :) was most excellent.
I'm in the middle of The Dogs of Babel and it's pretty terrific too.
Janet Evanovich's To the Nines was pretty funny. Better than Hard Eight.
My current long-term serious reading project is Father Fred Coppleston's History of Philosophy. It's good, and easier going than I had anticipated.
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Summer 2K1 I read some of the books I was supposed to in HS. So I read Catch-22, Brave New World, and F 451 among other. I also discovered the awesome new translations of the Iliad & Odyssey.
This year I'm working newer stuff, going through Da Vinci Code, Angel's & Demons, and Grift Sense. And next month, Dune.
Also, Cat's Cradle is my favorite book ever.
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Salinger and Vonnegut are probably two of my favorite authors, along with Nick Hornby and a couple others. And I agree, I enjoyed Breakfast of Champions more than Galapagos. I've also read Slaughterhouse Five and Hocus Pocus, but have yet to read Cat's Cradle, I keep hearing good things about it. The library in my town does not have it, but I will be moving in a week and am sure the new library will have it.
How is The DaVinci Code? That's another I've been meaning to read but haven't gotten to yet
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I tried to start a thread about Da Vinci before:
FYI, no spoilers in this post.
So I was originally re-reading Welcome to the Monkey House but decided I wasn't in much of a short story mood so on a whim I picked up The Da Vinci Code the other day.
Damn. I read like 250 pages last night right before bed and considered calling in sick to work today so I could stay up and finish it. The author looks like a total conspiracy theory nut-job but the story is just really interesting.
I must say it has perhaps the world's crappiest web game to go along with it but I can ignore that.
I'm a fan of short chapters in general and his seem to imply that everything is totally linear with no "meanwhiles" or "later that day" jumps going on. I think there's one point on like page 200 where you realize it's only been a couple of hours since page 1 so that gives it a very "Sunday Through Thursday" kind of feel to thing (btw, points to anybody who gets that reference).
Somebody else has to have read it. Anybody?
Sometimes the writing isn't great, like I'm convinced the main reason the woman is in the book is so the main character, Langdon, has somebody to spout exposition to but the plot is awesome.
Same with Angels & Demons, which Da Vinci is a sequel to. The structure of the two is nearly identical but the plot itself is so engaging that it's easy to forgive. Also, the last chapter is totally Hollywood. So it's no surprise that they've already started working on Da Vinci Code: The Movie
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Have to recommend a couple of the greats I have read recently.
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville - regarded as the most original thing since Gormenghast; beautiful writing and imagery in a vast and original fantasy/steam-punk world.
Pashazade and the other Arabesks by Jon Courtenay Grimwood - a kind of whodunnit/cyberpunk set in an Alexandria where Germany won WWI.
Ghostwritten and Number9dream by David Mitchell - just plain wonderful!
Anything by Haruki Murukami - again, just the finest fiction ever written! Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World being probably the best, though Wind Up Bird Chronicles is a close second. Well worth checking out, though the Japanese style of writing is quite unique and can put people off. I guess you either love it or hate it.
And hell, if you haven't read Snowcrash or The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson then I will personally come and beat you round the head with Dimaond Age which is fairly hefty, and will cause haemorrhage!
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Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
If you haven't already, slink, go pick up The Scar, which is about 1000x better, if you can believe it.
Also, if you like that "steampunk" action and you read comics, you also owe it to yourself to get The Nevermen vols I and II by Phil Amara and Guy Davis.
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Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
If you haven't already, slink, go pick up The Scar, which is about 1000x better, if you can believe it.
Also, if you like that "steampunk" action and you read comics, you also owe it to yourself to get The Nevermen vols I and II by Phil Amara and Guy Davis.
Hehe, Yep, I'm currently about halfway through The Scarm, and you're right, it is a lot better, though I did love the feel of New Crobuzon so much that PSS is still somewhat a fave of mine.
I do read comics, though more in the Graphic Novel vain, so collections as opposed to buying comics, mainly just cos I can't afford to start any kinda collection. If I bought a couple I'd end up like my mate who has boxes and boxes!
It also tends to be the Manga stuff that I go for, though steampunk makes me tempted! There's some of the darker US stuff that I do go for, and the Neil Gaiman ones are very good too.
I'll look out for Nevermen!
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The two Nevermen runs have been collected in trade paperback/"graphic novel" form (in fact, the second one just came out, like, this week or something). Go get 'em!
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Nevermen are fantastic, and if you like them you might want to check out The Marquis. My college friend Bluto, a rich kid with a penchant for comics, had the best collection which I miss very dearly. He got me turned me on to Blade of the Immortal and got me hooked on Hundred Bullets.
HB is like a crack milkshake.
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The Marquis is on my list of Things to Buy. 100 Bullets is on my list of Things to Avoid Until I Get Enough Cash to Buy All the Trades at Once, specifically on the advice of my local comic shop proprietor/superstar. "Don't get that first 100 Bullets unless you're planning on stopping by tomorrow to get the rest of them, 'cause that's what's going to happen."
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Anything by Haruki Murukami - again, just the finest fiction ever written! Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World being probably the best, though Wind Up Bird Chronicles is a close second. Well worth checking out, though the Japanese style of writing is quite unique and can put people off. I guess you either love it or hate it.
I double this recommendation ...Norwegian Wood is my absolute favourite out of all of them though - probably cause I somehow related in a way; it reminded me of someone. After the Quake (the short stories collection) was pretty good, too.
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As of now I'm reading Why Girls Are Weird by Pamela Ribon (she writes Squishy (http://www.pamie.com) and the novel is somewhat based on that). I'd recommend this to anyone who relates to the internet really though it's about journalling specifically. I'm only to page 118, but I can tell I will enjoy it to the very end.
A few other authors I read are Margaret Atwood, Eggers, Nick Hornby, Tom Robbins, Amy Tan, and Sue Townsend (it's all about Adrian Mole!).
I have 12 books in queue to read after the current, too (not counting all the manga I've collected that I have yet to get to yet). Harry Potter I've had for a year and still haven't read the first book; I did have a dream recently that I started it and Harry was my new best friend; um yeah. I may have to read those next just so my brain stops giving me strange subconscious ideas.
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Oh yea, for those comic freaks - you absolutely must, if you haven't already, check out Lenore! It's just sublimely fantastic!
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My favorite Lenore comic is the one with the pigeons waging warfare on man through the "process of elimination."
"Carl! Do you still have the runs?!"
"....yes."
"HOORAY!!"
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The two Nevermen runs have been collected in trade paperback/"graphic novel" form (in fact, the second one just came out, like, this week or something). Go get 'em!
Is Nevermen the older book they were talking about on the History Channel that was pretty graphic? Like lots of innocent death and sort of "twist" kind of endings?
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Is Nevermen the older book they were talking about on the History Channel that was pretty graphic? Like lots of innocent death and sort of "twist" kind of endings?
I highly doubt it. It's pretty new. ::checks:: The first trade was published in January 2001.
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Is Nevermen the older book they were talking about on the History Channel that was pretty graphic? Like lots of innocent death and sort of "twist" kind of endings?
I highly doubt it. It's pretty new. ::checks:: The first trade was published in January 2001.
Crap, now it's going to bug me until I figure out what I was thinking of.
It's a hard life I lead. ::goes back to reading Tick Omnibi::
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Janet Evanovich's To the Nines was pretty funny. Better than Hard Eight.
I was disappointed in this one. But perhaps the fact that I spent the summer reading all eight previous ones in order was not fair to the author. There's not much funny stuff that could stand up to that sort of treatment (aside from the Achewood archive, just to make a random connection here....)
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What I'm reading (right now)
Neil Gaiman, American Gods
Ken Foster, The Kind I'm Likely to Get (stories)
Neal Stephenson, Zodiac
Hiroki Watanaki, The Elephant Vanishes (stories)
Neil Simon, The Odd Couple I and II (screenplays)
Jeez, didn't realize there were so many Ne(i|a)ls on the list. I'll have to do something about that.
Also great (for any time):
Chuck Pahlaniuk (sp?)
Terry Pratchett, the Discworld series
Stephen King (hush!), the Dark Tower books.
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Well Wombat in general, I think the series is starting to age. I mean, Evanovich has got great characters and a good formula, but the forumlaic nature of the series is becoming apparent.
Not that I mind, really, so long as the books stay funny. They aren't supposed to be great literature or anything
What I can't understand is why there hasn't been a Stephanie Plum movie yet. Seems perfect to me -- pretty girl, fighting crime, trucks exploding, funeral homes burning down. What could be bad?
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Hiroki Watanaki, The Elephant Vanishes (stories)
Also great (for any time):
Chuck Pahlaniuk (sp?)
Terry Pratchett, the Discworld series
Stephen King (hush!), the Dark Tower books.
Erm, Elephant Vanishes is Haruki Murakami. Unless some other guy has written a short stories book called that as well.
And yea, I been reading Palahniuk as well. Read all but the last two - Lullaby and erm, the newest one, Ghost Story or something, which I must get round to picking up.
His writing more recently has kind of reminded of Douglas Coupland, in a good way. Both Inivisible Monsters and Choke had moments that really made me think of him. Coupland's very good too, Microserfs is one of my all time fave books (the geek I am) and more recent ones like Miss Wyoming and All Families are Psychotic are great.
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Vonnegut is one of my faves too, altough Galapagos is one of his few books that I actually just couldnt get into for some reason... and I've even read some of his (pretty bad) newer books.
Yay American Gods! My sister recommended it to me, and I think it's just amazing.
Douglas Coupland is a weird, weird guy. Having read a few of his books, I went to see him talk when he came to a university near me.... and he froze up onstage and started crying. His books have made me a little uncomfortable since then.
My summer reading list is too long to transcribe... I work in a used book store in a quiet little town: all I do is read 8 hours a day... it's grotesque. Recent highlights are Orlando, Thomas Pynchon, and copious amounts of James Joyce, my all-time fave writer.
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Douglas Coupland is a weird, weird guy. Having read a few of his books, I went to see him talk when he came to a university near me.... and he froze up onstage and started crying. His books have made me a little uncomfortable since then.
Woah! Yea, Coupland's a real freak! Kinda probably why I like his novels :P
We've been trying to get him to come to the conference to do a reading, but 2000 he was already fully booked up. We were going to try again but now I'm thinking it might be a little too odd... Thanks for the warning!
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Vonnegut is one of my faves too, altough Galapagos is one of his few books that I actually just couldnt get into for some reason... and I've even read some of his (pretty bad) newer books.
Yeah, I'll never understand why all his books say "From the author of Hocus Pocus!" As if that's a huge selling point.
But I think the only one I really had to slog through was Player Piano.
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Not that I mind, really, so long as the books stay funny. They aren't supposed to be great literature or anything
What I can't understand is why there hasn't been a Stephanie Plum movie yet. Seems perfect to me -- pretty girl, fighting crime, trucks exploding, funeral homes burning down. What could be bad?
I wonder can they stay funny once Stephanie and Morelli get married and have babies, which seems imminent. Maybe she will have the grace to end the series.
I also wonder about the movie thing. If you look at her web site, she seems to make a more than adequate living off the books. Maybe she just doesn't want anyone messing around with them.
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Has anyone here read Life of Pi? And if so, what did you think of how it ended?
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Hiroki Watanaki, The Elephant Vanishes (stories)
Erm, Elephant Vanishes is Haruki Murakami. Unless some other guy has written a short stories book called that as well.
Hey, at least I got some consonants and the scanning right. I didn't have it right on hand to check if I was 100% sure, which is really just a shame. Oh, well. Sorry.
I do love how the name Noboru Watanabe shows up all over his stories in that book (sometimes it's a cat).
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I do love how the name Noboru Watanabe shows up all over his stories in that book (sometimes it's a cat).
Woah, bizarre! I haven't got round to Elephant Vanishes yet. But Noboru Watanabe is essentially the bad guy in Wind Up Bird Chronicles, which is Murukami's hugest book. Mind you most of his protaganists are called Toru.
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Has anyone here read Life of Pi? And if so, what did you think of how it ended?
Brilliant.
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Has anyone here read Life of Pi? And if so, what did you think of how it ended?
Brilliant.
This is what my friend, who is a real writer, thought too. That is was brilliantly about, like, what is reality and what isn't, and all that deep stuff.
But I thought it was like a story you write when you are nine years old and it gets so fantastical you can't figure out how to end it, so you say "And it was all a dream." I felt so ripped off.
I thought the difference was that I am a geek and she is not. I would read science fiction and write those kinds of stories when I was nine, but she did not, and now she writes about real people, and is the least geeky person you can imagine. So what I thought was, she just didn't recognize the trick because of that. But if you, who say you are better at the internet than real life, agree with her, this analysis must be wrong.
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I loved Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and recommend it to all. Non fiction fans may want to check out Hofstader's Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.
If you like classics, I would humbly ask you to examine http://www.dougshaw.com/top100.html , which contains some mildly witty comments on Modern Library's top 100 list, with my recommendations.
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But if you, who say you are better at the internet than real life, agree with her, this analysis must be wrong.
Actually, I haven't read it. What I meant was brilliant was the way you phrased the question.
Because Pi never ends.
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Ah. Possibly that's another deep and subtle point I missed about that book...
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Has anyone here read Life of Pi? And if so, what did you think of how it ended?
Brilliant.
This is what my friend, who is a real writer, thought too. That is was brilliantly about, like, what is reality and what isn't, and all that deep stuff.
But I thought it was like a story you write when you are nine years old and it gets so fantastical you can't figure out how to end it, so you say "And it was all a dream."
SPOILER
Only if you assume the story Pi told the insurance agents is true, and not something he made up because he saw they would only accept a story that would fit their beliefs about the world and what is possible therein. What actually happened is ambiguous. It's the first "trick ending" I've read in awhile that didn't feel utterly contrieved and horrible.
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Yeah, I do see that, but somehow it still didn't work for me. I think I felt like we were supposed to believe the story he gave them. But, I am so much in the minority on this, obviously, that maybe I should just stick to reading comics and murder mysteries and surfing the web. I may no longer be able to appreciate Literature.
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No no, it's just that not every piece of literature works for everybody. I thought Everything is Illuminated was the worst piece of utter UTTER shite I have ever been forced to read, but many people loved it.
KEEP READING BOOKS. THEY ARE GOOD AND GOOD FOR YOU. Though there's nothing wrong with comics, etc.
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Life of Pi ending felt cheap.
Just finished "Salmon of Doubt" sort of by the late Douglas Adams,I hadn't picked it up until recently because it hurt too much.As it was ,i still cried.
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Life of Pi ending felt cheap.
Just finished "Salmon of Doubt" sort of by the late Douglas Adams,I hadn't picked it up until recently because it hurt too much.As it was ,i still cried.
Me too. In a manly way naturally. I just didn't want the Dirk Gently bit to end, let alone so soon.
I think Holisitic Detective Agency is my favourite of his novels, despite my having adored H2G2 my entire life.
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Holisitic Detective Agency is damned hard to find. I'd been wanting to read it for a while but when I got Salmon of Doubt last year I knew I had to find and read it first. So sad that we'll never find out what happened.
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Life of Pi ending felt cheap.
Just finished "Salmon of Doubt" sort of by the late Douglas Adams,I hadn't picked it up until recently because it hurt too much.As it was ,i still cried.
Salmon of Doubt depressed me, too. It seemed like it would have been a very interesting novel. My fave DNA book is Last Chance to See. I wonder if, had he lived, he would have written more non-fiction.
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It’s been a Fitzgerald summer for me. I’ve been reading The Beautiful and Damned and Tender is the Night over and over. I thought This Side of Paradise was weak though.
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I've been reading Michael Moore - Stupid White Men, and Maomi Klein - No Logo, along with a collection of Chomsky this Summer.
Preparing for a Political Science Bachelors Degree!
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I'm reading Hunter Thompson's Kingdom of Fear, and was shocked to learn (as I read on the can this morning) that he dated a cousin of mine in high school.
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I'm reading Hunter Thompson's Kingdom of Fear, and was shocked to learn (as I read on the can this morning) that he dated a cousin of mine in high school.
Yea, I need to get round to getting more Hunter, and now I'll have to look out in KoF for your cousin!
I especially need to get round to picking up the Campaign Trail ones (ones?! I believe he did a Clinto era one as well as the Nixon one?).
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Oh, shit - I forgot reading is a summer thing!
Seriously, I go through about a book a week when I've got a busy schedule, and about three or four a week when I don't. If I were to list all the books I've read, even just the good ones, jough's database would be filled to "da max" and I would just end up ruining the internet for everyone.
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Seriously, I go through about a book a week when I've got a busy schedule, and about three or four a week when I don't.
Yea, I do tend to read at about that pace. Unfortunately I'm kind of busy at the moment and having had as much chance to read as I'd like. Hence it's been nice mainly going through non-fiction stuff.
Plus I've just been commissioned to do the music for a film (*dances and whoops*) so I'm going to be even more run off my feet.
But still, I'm probably going to find me a couple of days when I can do nothing but read, since I have a few books I really want to get through. Means avoiding re-reading anything for a while, but that can be accomplished later.
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I started reading Dan Brown's books - I read Deception Point, Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code. All are quite good. I really enjoy the premises of Angels and Demons and Da Vinci code, though. For some reason intrigue and the Church and all the Medieval History stuff gets me so much more than modern things, science and modern american politics and all that. It seems more...plausible, if that makes any sense. I guess it's the same reason why Horror movies about undead slashers make me laugh, but ones like THE OMEN get to me on a very, very basic level. 'Cause that shit could happen, you know.
I've also inspired to read some James Joyce due to another thread on this board...so we'll see.
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I started reading Dan Brown's books - I read Deception Point, Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code. All are quite good. I really enjoy the premises of Angels and Demons and Da Vinci code, though. For some reason intrigue and the Church and all the Medieval History stuff gets me so much more than modern things, science and modern american politics and all that. It seems more...plausible, if that makes any sense. I guess it's the same reason why Horror movies about undead slashers make me laugh, but ones like THE OMEN get to me on a very, very basic level. 'Cause that shit could happen, you know.
I've also inspired to read some James Joyce due to another thread on this board...so we'll see.
I ready Da Vinci and A&D but Deception Point didn't seem to interest me too much. Of course I know more than one person whose dad turned out to work at No Such Agency
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After plenty of Hunter, I think the only thing of his worth the time is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It’s a masterpiece.
As for Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions and Cat’s Cradle are by far my favorites. I agree with his world view 100%. I was lucky enough to hear him speak in Austin in 1989.
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As for Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions and Cat’s Cradle are by far my favorites. I agree with his world view 100%. I was lucky enough to hear him speak in Austin in 1989.
I've been meaning to re-read Breakfast of Champions for a while now. I'm going to have to get round to it at some point. Long time since I read it!
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I always re-read Vonnegut when I've run out of new material. He's like a holding pattern
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I'm in grad school, so my reading list consists of case studies on cold-war diplomacy. Which is scintillating to me, but I'm sure the rest of you would be bored to tears.
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Breakfast of Champions is one of my fave Kurt Vonnegut books. I think the illustrations put it right up there.
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I'm in grad school, so my reading list consists of case studies on cold-war diplomacy. Which is scintillating to me, but I'm sure the rest of you would be bored to tears.
I still have my Constitutional Interpretation textbook from my Poli Sci majorin' days....ya want scintillating? I got your scintillation.
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Breakfast of Champions is one of my fave Kurt Vonnegut books. I think the illustrations put it right up there.
I've never read it, but I really liked Slaughterhouse Five.
This summer I read Berryman's "77 Dream Songs" again. Good stuff. You can read them all on the main Plagiarist.com site, if you're feeling up to it.