The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Arts & Entertainment => Topic started by: side_show on July 12, 2005, 09:51:44 pm
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Summer is the time for reading.
And most of us are literate.
I propose we start a book club.
I would happily be the organizing force behind the book club, and suggest that we post proposed books here, and then, say at the end of July, I'll throw all suggestions into a hat and draw out the first book for our reading pleasure.
Suggestions, thoughts, curmudgeonry?
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I'm in.
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I'll say I'm in. I don't know what time I can dedicate to such a thing, mainly in terms of not ploughing through books I'm not into. But those I am, I will join in for, and be involved.
What with not being able to sleep due to insane temperatures, it is indeed a time for reading.
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I can read. I'll give it a try.
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I like to rant about books. I suppose that counts for something.
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I'm definitely in.
Are we going to have any big rules re: selection? F'rinstance, can we read a book that one or more of the book club members have already read, or will we just read books that are new for all of us?
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Yes.
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i am illerate but would like to feel apart of your group.
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i'm sorry,
should have been "you're".
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ARKABEE:
(http://www.corporategiftshowcase.com/images/PMPyourawinnercake.gif)
Also : I will join this Book Club.
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I will join if I can have input into the book we choose to read. For instance, the contemporary novel is DEAD to me, so if you're just going to all read "Snow Falling on Cedars" or the fuck*ng "DaVinci Code" then you can just cram this book club straight up thine arse.
Oh yeah, I'm IN.
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While I'll most likely read the threads I'm a pretty slow reader and tend to shy away from book clubby books. My SO has been in one at Teaism for well over a year now and the only book they've read that sounded even vaguely interesting to me was Tipping Point.
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Cool,
I propose a few rules, which are totally up for discussion:
1) Fiction and any genres within this catagory only (ie, no plays, biographies, comics, children's books, penthouse forum, etc. - while other formats are often very cool, in my experience they are not as readily and equally available across the board as your standard novel might be). If we exhaust fiction we can open the flood gates.
2) No mass market fiction. Danielle Steel, John Grisham, and anything else you could buy at an airport is out.
3) Once a book is selected we have a month in which to read it, but a response such as "I couldn't finish it because: I hated it/just gave birth/started a new job, etc" must be taken at face value.
Does this sound sane?
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Sounds sane to me. And yes, I'm also in.
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I will join if I can have input into the book we choose to read. For instance, the contemporary novel is DEAD to me, so if you're just going to all read "Snow Falling on Cedars" or the fuck*ng "DaVinci Code" then you can just cram this book club straight up thine arse.
Oh yeah, I'm IN.
So are contemporary novels totally out for you or are you talking about the mass market/best seller list-type stuff only? I never, ever want to read the DaVinci code, but I'd like to see a mix of classics and contemporary stuff. I have a pretty strong penchant for the non-conventional be it printed 100 years ago or two weeks ago.
I think this raises and important point that it's fair that each of us should have the option to opt out when a book is chosen if we need to. While I'm pretty well open to reading anything, and will take a go at any author once, I know I'd have a hard time reading Hemingway (for example).
Since everyone is a little shy to list off titles/authors, I'll go first. Some of these are sort of embarassing, but if you see anything that might float your boat, please seconde it.
I will now turn my head to the right, and list off books on my bookshelf which I have yet to read, but want to read, as a means of making suggestions:
Albert Camus/The Plague
William Burroughs/Naked Lunch
Leonard Cohen/Beautiful Losers
Tompson Highway/Kiss of the Fur Queen
F. Scott Fitzgerald/The Great Gatsby (actually I read this in Gr. 9, but it's been a long long time)
Henry Miller/Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn
Mordecai Richler/Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Salman Rushdie/Satanic Verses
John Steinbach/Grapes of Wrath
JD Salinger/Franny and Zooey
Hunter S. Thompson/Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
I will again turn my head to the right and list off books which I have read, which I would happily read again:
Margaret Atwood/Handmaiden's Tale
Joseph Conrad/Heart of Darkness
Douglas Coupland/Microserfs or Generation X
Michael Cunningham/The Hours
Katherine Dunn/Geek Love
Bret Easton Ellis/American Psycho
Timothy Findlay/The Wars
Alasdair Gray/Something Leather
John Lancaster The Debt of Pleasure
William Golding/Lord of the Flies
Mark Haddon/the curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Aldous Huxley/Brave New World
Anne Marie MacDonald/The Way the Crow Flies
Sylvia Plath/The Bell Jar
Alice Sebold/The Lovely Bones
Miriam Toews/a complicated kindness
Authors I would like to read more/anything by:
Chuck Palahniuk - haven't read anything by him, but want to.
Timothy Findlay - I've read all of his stuff but would read it again
Margaret Atwood - I've read most of her stuff, but am open to re-reads
Katherine Dunn - I've just re-read Geek Love, and want to read other stuff by her.
Miriam Toews - I've only read a complicated kindness but have always wanted to read her other stuff.
Any of this sound good? Please for the love of god, all of you post your lists too so we can figure out what sort of things actually exicite us!
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From your list the one book that jumps out at me that seems given to reading group discussion is The Plague. I read it about 20 years ago and enjoyed it. It seems like the sort of book that is accesible enough to get through without having to pull a Costanza, yet meaty enough to give us something to discuss.
Of course, I cannot comment on the large portion of your list that I have not read.
Finally, I have to push two books from your non-read list. Today (July 13, 2005) you should read both Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Franny and Zooey. You could easily read both in a day and the investment of that time would pay off most handsomely.
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IN
Let's do Franny and Zooey first - I've never read it either, and would like to.
Crap though - this means the Stephenson I'm working on will have to take the back burner for a bit. Oh, well!
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Okay, from that list I can see that I will not be the one lone voice of dissent suggesting we do not read any Grisham or something.
I'd be up for heck, just about any of those, even though I've already read most of the list of things you haven't.
I mean, I could read Naked Lunch or Tropic of Cancer any day of the week.
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Albert Camus/The Plague
See previous post
William Burroughs/Naked Lunch
This is great, but it's almost poetry rather than prose. I think it would be hard to discuss.
Leonard Cohen/Beautiful Losers
Tompson Highway/Kiss of the Fur Queen
Don't know 'em
F. Scott Fitzgerald/The Great Gatsby (actually I read this in Gr. 9, but it's been a long long time)
I've always been kind of meh about Fitzgerald. Gimme Faulkner or Steinbeck instead.
Henry Miller/Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn
Mordecai Richler/Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Salman Rushdie/Satanic Verses
Haven't read any of these, willing to...
John Steinbach/Grapes of Wrath
JD Salinger/Franny and Zooey
Hunter S. Thompson/Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
See above.
Joseph Conrad/Heart of Darkness
This is great, but not a novel...
Margaret Atwood/Handmaiden's Tale
Douglas Coupland/Microserfs or Generation X
Michael Cunningham/The Hours
Katherine Dunn/Geek Love
Bret Easton Ellis/American Psycho
Timothy Findlay/The Wars
Alasdair Gray/Something Leather
Mark Haddon/the curious incident of the dog in the night-time
John Lancaster The Debt of Pleasure
Anne Marie MacDonald/The Way the Crow Flies
Miriam Toews/a complicated kindness
Sylvia Plath/The Bell Jar
Have not read, but am willing to read.
William Golding/Lord of the Flies
Aldous Huxley/Brave New World
Good books, but kind of 9th grade.
Alice Sebold/The Lovely Bones
This was very good, but a little self-consciously literary for me
Chuck Palahniuk - haven't read anything by him, but want to.
Read a couple, would read more.
Timothy Findlay - I've read all of his stuff but would read it again
Margaret Atwood - I've read most of her stuff, but am open to re-reads
Katherine Dunn - I've just re-read Geek Love, and want to read other stuff by her.
Miriam Toews - I've only read a complicated kindness but have always wanted to read her other stuff.
Don't know these folks, so I'm game.
As far as my suggestions:
I love Umberto Eco, but his works probably wouldn't lend themselves to this sort of discussion. Tom Robbins is always fun. I'm a big fan of John LeCarre, you can't go wrong with his writing. If we wanted to go a little bit lighter, Donald Westlake and Lawrence Sanders are great. Classic wise, what about Flannery O'Conner or some of the lesser trod works of Mark Twain?
Non-fiction is good too, you know.
On edit: Franny and Zooey is wonderful. I love it and everybody should read it. I'm not sure how well it lends itself to message board type discussions, but I'm game if that's what we want to go with. If we do, I would suggest that we combine it with some other of Salinger's short works, perhaps Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters.
And if we're going to consider a recently historical writer like Salinger, what about Vonnegut? Why not read Cat's Cradle or Schlachthaus Funf?
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Ah, let's stop all this fuck*ng around and just get right to Finnegans Wake.
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Ah, let's stop all this fuck*ng around and just get right to Finnegans Wake.
I'm game, but I don't think I can finish it in a month.
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Andalucia and I have actually been talking about Finnegans Wake a lot lately. As it turns out, she is smart enough to read it and I am Not. I just bought a copy, and I keep battering myself against it like an idiot puppy but I can't break through to the narrative yet. I've been having so much trouble I've actually written a short story about a man who can't read Finnegans Wake.
However, if I had all of your support, and if I could ask Andalucia for help in a way so that it wasn't obvious to her that I'm actually an idiot and in fact totally bullshit all of the conversations where she says smart things and I say smart things back, I'm totally down.
I am down with Franny and Zoey, I am down with Leonard Cohen a lot, I am down with Camus, I have read Rushdie but would love to read it again. I would also love to read, again, "And The Ass Saw the Angel," by Nick Cave, which I think would be awesome because it would instantly divide the group into those who love it and those who want to kill it. I would love to read "The Master and Margarita" again, I would like to read more Faulkner, I would like to read more Nick Tosches, probably "In The Hand of Dante," but I am all about that dang old Plague for right now.
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Books that have been seconded thus far:
J D Salinger/Franny and Zooey
Albert Camus/the Plague
Tropic of Cancer/ Henry Miller
Beautiful Losers/Leonard Cohen
Satanic Verses/ Saliman Rushdie
and author Chuck Palahniuk
(August, can you suggest which book to start with? I was stood frozen at the book store the last time I looked at his books and couldn't decide between Choke and Diary, and ended up leaving empty handed)
And um, Finnegans Wake - are we serious about this one? I have to agree that it's pretty dense reading. (Bozack, I know you're being ernest, but Jough, do I sense some sarcasm?
Everyone, if you see a book that someone's posting that looks like a good read, make a post to second it, as you have with some of mine. If we've got two or more posts in favour, then I'm adding the book to the sort list, if we have any votes against a book it cancels out a "for" vote. Hence why Naked lunch isn't on the above list.
I would like to second August's suggestion of Vonnegut, but my vote would be for Breakfast of Champions, because I love that book so damn much, but then I haven't read Cat's Cradle, so I could swing that way.
I would also like to second August's suggestion of Tom Robbins, but since I haven't actually read him, need someone to suggest a title.
I'm opposed to all things Faulkner due to the fact that the Oprah Book Club is currently reading three Faulkner books, and also because of some forced reading of his stuff during university which didn't sit well with me.
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Also seconding Bozack's mention of "And The Ass Saw the Angel," by Nick Cave - haven't read it, but am interested in it.
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edited my double posting
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While I'll most likely read the threads I'm a pretty slow reader and tend to shy away from book clubby books. My SO has been in one at Teaism for well over a year now and the only book they've read that sounded even vaguely interesting to me was Tipping Point.
Looking at the lists above, I realize that I'm actually probably not in y'alls league. I'll probably chuckle at the posts but I doubt I can keep up with you and spend my absolute minimum necessary time on or in the water (10 hours/week). Plus ditto the comment on 'book clubby' books.
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I think you should take all of the books that have gotten seconds and make a poll and let us choose which book to read.
Also, i'm in.
~Paul
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1) Cat's Cradle is my favorite book ever
2) Breakfast of Champions, while great, assumes you've read other Vonnegut (and know who Kilgore Trout is). If not it will be much less satisfying.
3) Cat's Cradle is being made into a movie and Leonardo DiCaprio is already on board. So if you want to be seen reading this and not have people assume it's because of the movie I suggest you start sooner rather than later. Assuming the project doesn't fall through and/or suck out loud like the other Vonnegut movies.
4) Sirens of Titan is every bit as good as Slaughterhouse Five in my opinion and less likely to make you look like you're in 10th grade.
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Oh, I voted for I'm in, but forgot to comment.
Alrighty.
Out of the secondeds, I've read Franny and Zooey several times, but I'd be game for reading it again, since I'm sure I'd enjoy discussing it with you guys (even though I think it is somewhat silly)
I guess I'd be down for rereading the Plague as well, even though I'd probably make myself read it in French again, because when read The Stranger, I started in English, and it was terrible bad news, since there's really no translating some parts of it, and I'm suspicious of translations in general. But I need to work on my French anyways.
I'm not in if we do a Henry Miller. I've tried to read him many times and I just can't. I hate him very very much.
I would be very down with the Cohen or the Rushdie, since both of those are on my list as well. I have my doubts about Rushdie, but Leonard Cohen and I are Friends, in that he grew up near where I live and went to the school I go to and wrote for the paper I write for. We have like a special bond, you dig?
Also I feel obliged to reply to a few things here:
Andalucia and I have actually been talking about Finnegans Wake a lot lately. As it turns out, she is smart enough to read it and I am Not.
Patently untrue. I got to 80 pages from the end. I guess I may as well finish it some day, since it'd only take a couple more months. Would I be smarter then than I am now?
I just bought a copy, and I keep battering myself against it like an idiot puppy but I can't break through to the narrative yet. I've been having so much trouble I've actually written a short story about a man who can't read Finnegans Wake.
However, if I had all of your support, and if I could ask Andalucia for help in a way so that it wasn't obvious to her that I'm actually an idiot and in fact totally bullshit all of the conversations where she says smart things and I say smart things back, I'm totally down.
Your story is a fine story, and also I would like you for your tales of Magic P.a.n.t.s even if you did turn out to be secretly dumb.
Books I have been remiss in avoiding and would like to read:
Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Any Gertrude Stein. I've tried, but I need motivation such as a community of judgemental peers.
Pynchon, especially Gravity's Rainbow, cause that was what I told myself I'd read after Finnegans Wake so haven't gotten to it yet.
Baldwin, Go Tell it on the Mountain. I read this or part of it a couple years ago, but now that I've read more of his books I think I'd get more out of it.
But you can ignore me, because none of those are really light summer reading.
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Assuming the project doesn't fall through and/or suck out loud like the other Vonnegut movies.
Hey! Both Slaughterhouse Five and Mother Night were pretty darn good movies.
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the way i've always understood book club thingees:
some asshole chooses a book, and you READ it dammit, and then you meet at someone's house and you DISCUSS it whether you like it or not.
or you quite the book club.
in the interim, you get to bitch and whine and moan and complain about
(not limited to and in no specific order)
what book got picked
what book didn't get picked
how the devilled eggs sucked at so and so's house
how big a bitch the person who chose the book last week was and who elected her king anywas?
how big an asshole the guy was when he said he didn't like the book you picked out when it was your turn
what is with your neighbors? you think their son may get your papered pomerian pregnant one of these days by god and you'll do something about it.
and you KEEP complaining about it until you stop wanting to read books that OTHERWISE YOU PROBABLY WOULD NOT HAVE READ ANYWAYS.
i'm not voting, i'm not suggesting books, and i'm sure as hell not going to say "oooooh, i don't know if i'd be in your book club if you choose _that_ book" because if so and so picks a CRAPPY BOOK and makes BAD DEVILLED EGGS, then either i can READ THE BOOK or NOT.
if i DO read it, then i SHARE A COMMONALITY with everyone else who had to read a crappy book and get the nasty devilled egg gas ever.
there is a very good chance that i have never read a single book that any of you have ever read. and there's a better chance that if i have, that i don't remember it.
my recommendation: forget democracy and pick a book. make this thread or other threads open to anyone who wants to join the club, and start the topic with: here is your friggin book you worthless maggots, now read it or shut up.
then, i dunno maybe there can be a vote on this part, SOMEONE else can choose a vote next time.
but by god if i don't get to complain about devilled eggs then i don't want to be part of your club anyways.
one serious request: no religious explanatory or training documents. please? because EVERYTIME i try to "get into" a religion something very bad happens to me. for instance, this weekend (since it's a book thread, sort of) i started reading "Hardcore Zen". great book, by the way. 30 years, i've heard "desire is suffering", tried to understand it, tried to research it (on occassion), totally never got it. got 1/4 of the way through to book, and i "get it". maybe.
so then my 2+ years lady says it'd be best to have a break with 99.9999% odds of being permanent.
so can there be no Religious Documentation? because i want to read some books that there is no way in hell i would read otherwise, but i don't want to have a brain aneurysm while being struck by lightning during an audit by the IRS.
ps- i'm not trying to be bitchy, i'm trying to be helpful and _trying_ to be funny doing it.
yesterday, i backed into a parked trailer. the trailer is parked in the exact same spot the pickup i backed into was parked. the damage to my car is pretty near, and in somes exactly, the damage that was recently fixed from my backing into a pickup. i'm having a _hard_time_ with being funny.
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Sorry about the bad time you're having, Ark. Hang in there.
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Oh, wow. Ark, I am heartily sorry. Take care of yourself, and don't mind our bad books and bad devilled eggs.
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Palahniuk: Survivor
Tom Robbins: Still Life with Woodpecker
Faulkner: As I Lay Dying ( so what if Oprah's pimping it - don't get all Franzen on us, yo )
T.C. Boyle: Drop City
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Faulkner: As I Lay Dying ( so what if Oprah's pimping it - don't get all Franzen on us, yo )
Sorry -- as much as I agree with what Ark said above about not harping on book choices, if it's this one, I'm not reading it. Read it in tenth grade, hated it, don't wanna go back. Not that you can't do it anyway, but that's my two cents.
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Faulkner: As I Lay Dying ( so what if Oprah's pimping it - don't get all Franzen on us, yo )
Sorry -- as much as I agree with what Ark said above about not harping on book choices, if it's this one, I'm not reading it. Read it in tenth grade, hated it, don't wanna go back. Not that you can't do it anyway, but that's my two cents.
I previously stated my dislike of Faulkner, but this is the specific book that broke me.
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is having a horrible life right now.
Yes, I agree to no religious/spiritual stuff, as people can just get plain pissy about this shit.
Yes, arkabee, I brought the deviled eggs. Yes I forgot the paprika. Yes they suck, but I can't help but notice that you're eating them anyway.
As for the whole democracy and it's failings thing, I feel like we're working towards a fairly serviceable list o' books which must all have two openly vocal voices of support, and like I noted earlier, once we have a short list I'll draw books to read out of a hat, so everyone can either blame me or the hat, and either way, I don't care.
Also, Aloha and anyone else that's intimidated by the list, I think this is a fairly apropriate concern - are we being overly scholarly here? Can you propose something a little lighter? I usually read old-school trash novels like Valley of the Dolls in the summer, and leave the "real" reading to the winter, so this will be a departure for me as well. Also, please remember the sunscreen.
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Oh my god, I am so sorry. I saw "Oprah", I saw "Book Club" and then immediately proceeded to click on "No". I am so, so sorry. I am an Idiot. :shock:
I'm tentatively In.
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Oh my god, I am so sorry. I saw "Oprah", I saw "Book Club" and then immediately proceeded to click on "No". I am so, so sorry. I am an Idiot. :shock:
I'm tentatively In.
You see, I think this is what happened to Phillipe, he was probably so used to seeing his inbox filled with only junk mail that his "delete all" was a reflex reaction, just like how your brain saw Oprah and book club and choose "no."
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I confess I would prefer things that aren't super-dense. I am, those of you who have clicked on my profile have noticed by now, a desperately overmajored college student, so I probably won't be up for anything hugetastic and/or seriously difficult. Moderately serious literature is fine, but let's keep it reasonable.
Also, I wouldn't mind seeing some suggestions of books I've never even heard of. A lot of this stuff on the list is canonized in the Books I Really Ought To Read list, which is all fine and good, but why not branch out? I'd love to see the board's reaction to, say, Geek Love (not obscure per se, but more likely to be new to people than most of what's been mentioned).
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I'd love to see the board's reaction to, say, Geek Love (not obscure per se, but more likely to be new to people than most of what's been mentioned).
I'd be really into that. I looked it up after you guys talked about it a while ago, and it seems like something I would dig, in a scarring sort of way.
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Yes, arkabee, I brought the deviled eggs. Yes I forgot the paprika. Yes they suck, but I can't help but notice that you're eating them anyway.
i like the devilled eggs, and as opposite as my intentions turned out to be, it was my poor attempt to say "hey, their her devilled eggs if you don't like them don't eat them" and thank you again for the devilled eggs,
and more importantly,
i thinkt he venue in which you are giving the devilled eggs away is excellent, ie i think the book club idea is an excellent idea, especially giventhe nature and "community" of this particular forum.
also, i am a lout, and apologize for putting my feet on your coffee table and will do my utmost to stfu and stop eating all the eggs and leave some for the other people and etc.
As for the whole democracy and it's failings thing,
i am, in hindsight, full of shit because the founder of the book club in question is proposing a democratic choice fo books; proposing the scenario from the book club founder's position of absolute authority as founder of said book club. the, um, duality?, dichotomy?, um, the SOMETHING of the situation should have jumped out and hit me in the face with the obviousness of it and such i went off on an ill-conceived and absolutely unnecessary and completely counter productive tangent to the argument in my hand which was:
the book club founder can do what ever they want.
which, my issue with book voting, had i taken the time to think, clearly shows that the book club founder is doing what they want for the book club.
i have proposed a judgement and cited example to uphold the judgement, and concluded the judgement as correct, all the while the example proves the exact opposite of what i had judged. i am an idiot and best reserved for a stand in for Goofus in an episode of "Goofus and Gallant".
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Assuming the project doesn't fall through and/or suck out loud like the other Vonnegut movies.
Hey! Both Slaughterhouse Five and Mother Night were pretty darn good movies.
But Breakfast of Champions is so bad that it cancels those out. And last time I check the Greatful Dead own the rights to Sirens of Titan. Which is just . . . weird.
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I am part of a Wake reading group now, filled mostly with grad students and college professors, and we get through about a page a week - sometimes not even that.
It's been two years and well, we're barely along. I've read the whole thing twice now, although don't ask me to explain it. So I wasn't be sarcastic, but seriously, after studying the Wake reading some stupid contempo novel just seems so... unsatisfying.
But a few of the above are good choices. I've actually never read Tropic of Capricorn, but I think you'll want to have Cancer under your belt before taking it on.
Also, I'd be up for any Palahniuk other than Fight Club.
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Assuming the project doesn't fall through and/or suck out loud like the other Vonnegut movies.
Hey! Both Slaughterhouse Five and Mother Night were pretty darn good movies.
But Breakfast of Champions is so bad that it cancels those out. And last time I check the Greatful Dead own the rights to Sirens of Titan. Which is just . . . weird.
Not so surprising if you know that their music publishing company is called "Ice Nine Publishing".
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Catching up with this thread, I remembered that I have a serious problem, which is that I can't read any fiction anymore except mysteries. I no longer understand the point of reading about fake people unless one of them is dead and we don't know why. The only thing mentioned in this whole thread that I could likely tolerate would be rereading John Le Carre. The only regular sort of fiction I have managed to read in the last few years was American Gods by Neil Gaiman. If any of the books are sort of like that one, could someone point that out? Otherwise I think I will have to just lurk.
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First, let me say: I vote "YES." I think you people might have some pretty interesting things to say on the subject of interesting literature, especially after cold demolishing a 15-page thread on the subject of your respective readings.
Anyway, I'd be down with:
Salinger - Franny and Zooey (suspicious that I've never read it, as it's only ~200 pages, and therefore well within a weekly reading period)
or, and I don't know how you people feel about this genre, (the McSweeney's folk):
Salvador Plascencia - The People of Paper
I've read an excerpt and a few reviews on McSweeney's lately, and it sounds excellent. Just a thought.
acoxcae
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American Gods by Neil Gaiman
I just bought that knowing nothing about it but based just on the author. So it's good then?
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American Gods by Neil Gaiman
I just bought that knowing nothing about it but based just on the author. So it's good then?
Well, yeah, if you like that sort of thing, it's definitely the sort of thing you'll like.
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Catching up with this thread, I remembered that I have a serious problem, which is that I can't read any fiction anymore except mysteries. I no longer understand the point of reading about fake people unless one of them is dead and we don't know why. The only thing mentioned in this whole thread that I could likely tolerate would be rereading John Le Carre. The only regular sort of fiction I have managed to read in the last few years was American Gods by Neil Gaiman. If any of the books are sort of like that one, could someone point that out? Otherwise I think I will have to just lurk.
I hate to just pimp my pet book again, but Geek Love is great if you need a reason to care about imaginary people, strictly because it has an immensely novel premise for the conditions of its imaginary people. Also it is sort of mystery-oid at points.
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which is that I can't read any fiction anymore except mysteries. I no longer understand the point of reading about fake people unless one of them is dead and we don't know why. .
if they have to be physically dead, then i can not help you. but what if we don't know why they are dead inside?
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To amend my previous post (given that I'm plowing through the last Harry Potter book in anticipation of the next one)
(And understanding that at least 14 1/2 snorts of derision were made upon reading the above)
I think I would be interested in reading and discussing Franny and Zooey.
And just as an aside, did anyone else here read Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things?
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It's OK Dawg - I too am crusing through the previous Harry Potter books. My SO works at a bookstore, so we're getting copies on release day, and she'll be working the "Midnight Madness party. I have a shameful desire just to go and snigger to myself, but I'm afraid that I'd get depressed, since I'm just a small tweak of inhibition and fanaticism away from them.
All chuckles about anyone's Potter-reading habits are welcome at this point.
acoxcae
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Hey, I pre-ordered ours months ago and I'll probably be the first to read it.
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Hey, I pre-ordered ours months ago and I'll probably be the first to read it.
You'd better hope that it's not like the last one where a bunch of people got the book at midnight, ran home to read it, and discovered several repeated signatures at around page 400.
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I hate to just pimp my pet book again, but Geek Love is great if you need a reason to care about imaginary people, strictly because it has an immensely novel premise for the conditions of its imaginary people. Also it is sort of mystery-oid at points.
Reading the description of this on Amazon, it sounds like my sort of thing, actually.
if they have to be physically dead, then i can not help you. but what if we don't know why they are dead inside?
NOOOOO. That would be a book about people's feelings. There is nothing I hate like a book about people's feelings.
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I hate to just pimp my pet book again, but Geek Love is great if you need a reason to care about imaginary people, strictly because it has an immensely novel premise for the conditions of its imaginary people. Also it is sort of mystery-oid at points.
Reading the description of this on Amazon, it sounds like my sort of thing, actually.
if they have to be physically dead, then i can not help you. but what if we don't know why they are dead inside?
NOOOOO. That would be a book about people's feelings. There is nothing I hate like a book about people's feelings.
So, then, no Smilla's Sense of Snow?
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You know what's a fun read? Archie Comics.
~Paul
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You know what's a fun read? Archie Comics.
Oh hell yeah - then we could analyze the visual and literary symbolism, and explore the psychological underpinnings of Archie and Veronica's relationship.
Or we could just laugh at their antics, but that seems so pedestrian. I'm sure Archie is just riddled with deep literary symbolism, and it's just seething mad at not being discovered yet.
I'm down.
acoxcae
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I would happily read any Palahniuk again, and the others I'd be up for. As for which to read first, I would recommend starting with Survivor. It's the first one I read.
I'll have a proper look through when it's not just before work and come up with some comments.
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So, then, no Smilla's Sense of Snow?
As a matter of fact, that's one of those wildly successful books that I read and was totally, utterly mystified about why it was supposed to be so great, although I can't remember the details. Wait - it's coming back to me - like it was a whole long book about people's feelings and sort of a mystery and then out of nowhere it had this science-fictiony ending?
Hey - comics - now there's a idea.
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And just as an aside, did anyone else here read Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things?
Did you enjoy it? I've tried to read The God of Small Things three times, I really want to read it, and in theory it's the type of book I like, but I always get distracted by other books I want to ready more. My SO's mom is borrowing it right now... Tell me more AD.
Also,
Thanks all for even more kick ass suggestions, keep up with the seconding of books you wanna read, and with throwing out other suggestions. I'm going on a hard core writing jag right now, so I'll return over the weekend and put together a more comprehensive list of what we've got here.
I say we shoot for declairing an August book by the end of next week so that we can all have a bit of time to pick up whichever book we go with (order from Amazon, talk to the local librarian, etc.), and have it read by August 31st.
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My official nomination is Geek Love, but I am more than willing to read Franny and Zooey, just for the record.
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How about Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow"?
I've been meaning to give that one another read, and it's pretty light reading.
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How about Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow"?
Please. I think we're all looking for some serious reading. I'll bet Pynchon doesn't even comprehend the literary force that is Archie comics. I need something with substance, something I can't just cruise through before bedtime some lazy evening.
acoxcae
(Sadly, my first thought when I read your suggestion was "Hmm...I could probably almost comprehend the Cliff's Notes in a month...")
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Please. I think we're all looking for some serious reading. I'll bet Pynchon doesn't even comprehend the literary force that is Archie comics. I need something with substance, something I can't just cruise through before bedtime some lazy evening.
Pynchon and comics are not incompatible - GR, just off the top of my head, has a Batman reference, a Plastic Man quasi-appearance, and a Fantastic Four parody. And Vineland was just fuck*ng rife with pop culture.
Gravity's Rainbow is my favorite book in the whole world. Just give me an excuse to re-read it. And hell, I would love to see what some of you made of it.
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Taken - and actually, I would love to read GR, but I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to have the sort of time to devote to it in order to be able to read it in a month or so - even if not for book club purposes, if I spend any more than about a month on a book, I start forgetting details from the beginning, and it's all a mess.
I'll add it to the list of great books I've never read, and if I foresee a month of light activity, it's tops on the list. Well, that and Zinn's "People's History," which I'm nearly halfway through now, but dropped in order to speed through the HP series before the release tomorrow.
I may not make it.
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Hey - comics - now there's a idea.
I did just get a copy of From Hell and Watchmen, bth of which will take some considerable time to get through. Along with a pile of other stuff - Thessaly included which looks like it could be rather good (published by Sandman comics).
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And just as an aside, did anyone else here read Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things?
Did you enjoy it? I've tried to read The God of Small Things three times, I really want to read it, and in theory it's the type of book I like, but I always get distracted by other books I want to ready more. My SO's mom is borrowing it right now... Tell me more AD.
Also,
Thanks all for even more kick ass suggestions, keep up with the seconding of books you wanna read, and with throwing out other suggestions. I'm going on a hard core writing jag right now, so I'll return over the weekend and put together a more comprehensive list of what we've got here.
I say we shoot for declairing an August book by the end of next week so that we can all have a bit of time to pick up whichever book we go with (order from Amazon, talk to the local librarian, etc.), and have it read by August 31st.
It was sometimes hard to read, both because of somewhat gritty content and because Roy has a Tarantino-like disregard for linear time. It sort of starts at the end, jumps around the middle, finds the beginning, back to the middle and the end again. I think - it's been a few years since I read it.
I did like it, though - interesting social/political themes, I love reading about places like India and especially in terms of society and politics, and particularly especially when set in "interesting times".
I think I wound up reading this book (like probably 90% of the truly worthy fiction I read) because of a review on NPR. I trust a strong liberal bias to give me good leads on The Arts.
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Hey - comics - now there's a idea.
I did just get a copy of From Hell and Watchmen, bth of which will take some considerable time to get through. Along with a pile of other stuff - Thessaly included which looks like it could be rather good (published by Sandman comics).
I read Watchmen last month (see the book threads) and there's definitely a lot to discuss there.
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Okay, rather than drawing from a hat, I've decided to make another lengthy poll (see "August TOUAMB Book o' the Month Poll"). We're far more likely to be successful if we're all reading a book we feel enthusiastic about.
As for all the nominations on this page that aren't on the list, it's because they either had as much opposition as they did support.
Finally, wombat and AuguestWest - you both mentioned John LeCarre, but no specific book by him. Can you nominate at book by LeCarre, and I'll put it on next month's list?
Thanks for all the awesome suggestions, y'all - I'm excited to see a list taking shape of books I want to read, books I've never heard of and books that'll be a test of my claim to be willing to read anything!