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Poll

Which book should we read for September?

Albert Camus/the Plague
- 0 (0%)
Nick Cave/And the Ass Saw the Angel
- 0 (0%)
Leonard Cohen/Beautiful Losers
- 2 (13.3%)
Katherine Dunn/Geek Love
- 5 (33.3%)
Neil Gaiman/American Gods
- 4 (26.7%)
David Mitchell /Ghostwritten
- 2 (13.3%)
Chuck Palahniuk/Survivor
- 0 (0%)
Thomas Pynchon/Gravity's Rainbow
- 1 (6.7%)
Tom Robbins/Still Life with Woodpecker
- 0 (0%)
Salman Rushdie/The Satanic Verses
- 1 (6.7%)

Total Members Voted: 14

Voting closed: August 29, 2005, 02:53:28 pm


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Author Topic: Vote for September's book o' the month  (Read 4112 times)

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side_show

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Vote for September's book o' the month
« Reply #15 on: September 27, 2005, 10:10:21 pm »
Wow, I thought that since I had disappeared that no one would be reading.  I am not the warm, pulsing, centre of the universe after all.

Yes, I agree, can we postpone our next selection til' the end of Novemeber?  After all Geek Love is awesome, yet long, and we really can't talk about a lot of it without "ruining it" for those who haven't finished.

Without ruining anything, Who'd have thunk a book narrated by an albino dwarf would be so wonderful?
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wombat

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« Reply #16 on: September 28, 2005, 12:31:40 am »
Yes please postpone.  I haven't even managed to get a copy yet.  This whole "job" thing.... what was I thinking?
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« Reply #17 on: September 28, 2005, 12:57:32 am »
Sounds good.  Let's skip the poll anyway and read American Gods in November.  I'm dying to read it again.
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AugustWest

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« Reply #18 on: September 28, 2005, 01:11:48 am »
I read it early in the month.  It was OK.  I didn't love it.  I thought it was very reminiscent of John Irving's style.
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V-Adore

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« Reply #19 on: September 28, 2005, 02:50:27 am »
Quote from: "AugustWest"
I read it early in the month.  It was OK.  I didn't love it.  I thought it was very reminiscent of John Irving's style.

Why do you say that? I'm curious, because I love Geek Love dearly and hate Irving a lot.

(pontification on why snipped pending further conversation)
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AugustWest

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« Reply #20 on: September 28, 2005, 05:33:38 am »
I'm not sure that I can exactly put my finger on it.  It's been quite a while since I read any Irving, so I could be mistaken.  It just that while I was reading it, that's what kept coming to mind.  I don't know, maybe I read a review to that effect and I'm subconsciously plagiarizing.  But I do see some similarities.

Irving wrote about disfunctional families whose members had odd characteristics.  This book takes odd to another level, at least as far as physical aspects go, but essentially the theme is the same.  Both use semi-comic plots to develop their themes.  Both write clearly using a straightforward narrative style.

I'm certainly not knocking the book.  I liked it -- it certainly deserves credit.  And I'm not saying that it's derivative of Irving, just influenced.

One of the main problems I had was I didn't feel like the characters motivations were sufficiently justified or explained.  I never had a strong grasp on why everyone had such a strong reaction to Arty.  You either worshipped him or wanted to kill him (or both at the same time).  It sort of rang false that he would elicit such strong feeling from the other characters because nothing in his portrayal elicited such a strong feeling from me.

I most certainly enjoyed the book and I'm glad I read it.  But it's one of those books that just slightly missed the bullseye for me.  I was always somehow slightly discomfited while I read it -- but by the writing, not by the freaks.
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« Reply #21 on: September 29, 2005, 01:19:32 am »
Quote from: "AugustWest"
One of the main problems I had was I didn't feel like the characters motivations were sufficiently justified or explained.  I never had a strong grasp on why everyone had such a strong reaction to Arty.  You either worshipped him or wanted to kill him (or both at the same time).  It sort of rang false that he would elicit such strong feeling from the other characters because nothing in his portrayal elicited such a strong feeling from me.

Hmm. This is actually an interesting question. I think part of it might be an indication of Olympia as an unreliable narrator; given that the entire book is told through the lens of someone who did worship Arty, as strongly as anyone in the book did, things might be colored towards fanatic opinions. I can't give you a chapter-and-verse argument for it, though.

Another reason, I think, is keyed into the general attitudes of most of the characters in the book. Most of the Binewskis, and most of the people around them, are remarkably and bizarrely sanguine about all of the weirdness that surrounds them; a crucial part of the plot, I think, is that most of the characters are so trapped by the weirdness or have no other paradigm and thus end up just drifting through with it. The Arturans are the phenomenon writ large -- people with so little in their lives that they become hypnotized by a carnival freak. About the only characters in the novel who are introspective and forceful about their lives are Arty, Olympia (later on), and Electra (also later, and to a lesser degree). Arty is the first one to really think and speak about the condition, and so he's a catalyst for obsession.

(The only character who really competes with Arty in this regard is Miss Lick, who in many ways is his opposite... but saying any more would be spoiling, I think.)
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miles

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Vote for September's book o' the month
« Reply #22 on: October 11, 2005, 03:44:18 pm »
OK, so I finished it.  I liked it.

I agree with AW's point that everybody's reaction to Arty is hard to grasp.  I understand, I think, the family's reaction to him, and how this might be exaggerated by Oly, but as the Arty worship becomes more fanatical and widespread, I was a bit lost.
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« Reply #23 on: October 11, 2005, 04:49:28 pm »
Argh.  I FORGOT to read it.

It's been a tough month.
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« Reply #24 on: October 11, 2005, 05:29:16 pm »
Where've you been, Wombie?

More to the point, HOW have you been?
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wombat

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« Reply #25 on: October 11, 2005, 05:57:48 pm »
I haven't been anywhere, honestly.  I check the boards a hundred times a day and whine to myself that youall aren't posting enough amusing messages - but I guess youall can't hear me. Hmm.  

And I guess it's wrong to do that when I'm not posting any amusing messages myself.  My lame excuse:  I quit half my job to take another part-time job that I hoped would be better and would turn into a full time job so I could quit the remaining half of the original job (are you lost yet?)   But it just gave me worse migraines and was a worse commute and to make a long story short, we came to a parting of the ways after just a few weeks.  I am now down to two days a week at the original, increasingly intolerable job and trying to figure out what to do next.  So I have plenty of time to post amusing messages, no excuse really except for being too distracted.

I will try harder.
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If you're going to change your life then you have to change it every day, not just the days the world isn't taking a shit on you. -Doc

V-Adore

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« Reply #26 on: October 11, 2005, 06:39:35 pm »
Quote from: "wombat"
I will try harder.

Man, seriously... try harder to be good to yourself, Wombat. Don't worry about us; we'll be here once RL settles down again.

Seriously.
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wombat

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« Reply #27 on: October 11, 2005, 06:54:09 pm »
No, no.... See, it's good to have a goal I can actually accomplish on my own.  That doesn't depend on the decisions of unknown strangers in an uncaring world...   I can post any time I want!  No matter what anyone else thinks of my resume!   Or my writing!  Whoo hoo!
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« Reply #28 on: October 11, 2005, 08:05:04 pm »
Yeah, speak for yourself, V.  I demand lots of posts (amusing or otherwise) from Wombat on a regular basis.
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« Reply #29 on: October 11, 2005, 09:05:18 pm »
Fair enough. I mean, I'm not gonna complain if you post.
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