Van Basten II Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 (edited) Am very very slowly reading Infinite jest by David Foster Wallace. The content (more later on the packaging) is not easy to follow with the constant changes of narration (Need to remind you that english is not my first language) , the level of writing is high acrobatics although I guess you could make a case of being too witty for its own good. Although you gotta love his souci du détail with those detailed and quite often hilarious footnotes. In a way it reminds me a lot of some of Georges Perec's work. By the way this book begs to be read on those electronic devices as the thing is so heavy and not easy to manipulate that you have a hard time finding a confortable way to read it for a long period of time especially outdoors , if you add the fact after reading two or three pages my head is going in stop or it will explode mode, I wonder if i'll finish it before I actually retire from my workplace. On the positive side you don't need to read it in one stretch, you can go in and out without problems , each chapter being its own world so to speak and the writing has his ways of reminding you of occurences and comments taking place in previous "chapters" . For those who are more familiar with his work was it volontary that he mispelled fauteuils roulants , I think he wrote it roullents in his book ? Edited July 23, 2015 by Van Basten II Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 CROME YELLOW - (1921)- Aldous Huxley(Having a lot of trouble inserting image from URL, so this will have to do). Continuing to delve into Huxley's work. Re-reading "Crome" and it holds up marvelously. Huxley's first book, and a fine novel by any standard. Humorous, witty, thoughtful. Already traces of Brave New World poking forth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 The perfect jazz biography! Impeccably researched and high levels of intelligence and judgement applied to the findings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted July 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 Jill Lepore's book on Wonder Woman, an anthology of essays about Miles Davis and American culture, Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, and Oxford's Very Short Introductions to Buddhism and modernism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Yeah, that's pretty much it. As far as her work on it's own, I consider her to be a lousy writer with morally bankrupt ideas, but probably wouldn't have made the comment if that was all there was. About 200 pages in now, and I'm still not sure how it is offensive. I guess the knock on Rand is that the plot is contrived, the characters wooden, and the philosophy a paean to utter selfishness. OTOH, she has many acolytes, so I suppose you'll have to read through and decide for yourself.Still going, around 450 pages in now. I can only manage 10-20 pages at a time. I will finish, to claim the right to say I actually read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Yeah, that's pretty much it. As far as her work on it's own, I consider her to be a lousy writer with morally bankrupt ideas, but probably wouldn't have made the comment if that was all there was. About 200 pages in now, and I'm still not sure how it is offensive. I guess the knock on Rand is that the plot is contrived, the characters wooden, and the philosophy a paean to utter selfishness. OTOH, she has many acolytes, so I suppose you'll have to read through and decide for yourself. Still going, around 450 pages in now. I can only manage 10-20 pages at a time. I will finish, to claim the right to say I actually read it.I should have given the other side, and said that her beleivers view her as the philosopher of rugged individualism, free enterprise, capitalism and limited government. Anyway, what do you think of the book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 The second part of George Melly's autobiography. Always readable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) Yeah, that's pretty much it. As far as her work on it's own, I consider her to be a lousy writer with morally bankrupt ideas, but probably wouldn't have made the comment if that was all there was. About 200 pages in now, and I'm still not sure how it is offensive. I guess the knock on Rand is that the plot is contrived, the characters wooden, and the philosophy a paean to utter selfishness. OTOH, she has many acolytes, so I suppose you'll have to read through and decide for yourself. Still going, around 450 pages in now. I can only manage 10-20 pages at a time. I will finish, to claim the right to say I actually read it.I should have given the other side, and said that her beleivers view her as the philosopher of rugged individualism, free enterprise, capitalism and limited government. Anyway, what do you think of the book? I am trying not to let the politics of the author influence my feelings. The characters are very one-dimensional; the heroes and heroine are good-looking, intelligent and honest, while the moochers and looters are badly-dressed, with weak chins and shifty eyes, and whine a lot. The plot is a little far-fetched, though to be fair, no worse than most Dystopian future novels. All in all, I find it rather po-faced. Edited July 26, 2015 by rdavenport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 (edited) ANTIC HAY - Aldous Huxley (1923)Huxley's 2nd book and a very good one too. Post-WWI cynicism melded with sex, humor, ideas, social satire and the sort of fungible reality that Huxley seemed to specialize in. Edited July 27, 2015 by Leeway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Donoghue: Frog Music Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Howard Jacobson: The Finkler Question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 Man in Profile: Joseph Mitchell of the New Yorker.It sent me scurrying for some of his works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 What's your take on Man in Profile? From a couple of the reviews I've read, it seemed as if his writings were much more interesting than his life - though that's often the case with writers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 The Man Booker 2015 longlist:http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/man-booker-prize-announces-2015-longlistI'm going to try and read some of the ones that look interesting to me (Yanagihara, Obioma, James, Enright, perhaps one or two more) before the shortlist is announced in September. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 The Man Booker 2015 longlist:http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/man-booker-prize-announces-2015-longlistI'm going to try and read some of the ones that look interesting to me (Yanagihara, Obioma, James, Enright, perhaps one or two more) before the shortlist is announced in September.A few look good and then there also is the Guardian Not the Booker prize (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/27/the-magnificent-70-guardian-not-the-booker-prize-longlist-announced), but I know I won't get to any of these this year. I'll see which ones seem to have some staying power and add a small handful to my reading list next summer.Nearly done with Bruno Schulz. Both books are good, but I liked Street of Crocodiles aka Cinnamon Shops a bit better.I'm about to start Gabrielle Roy's Street of Riches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 The Guardian's list looks interesting, but 70 books is a lot to even glance at the titles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 31, 2015 Report Share Posted July 31, 2015 Another one first read at the age of 16! Landmark classic and wonderful writing, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted July 31, 2015 Report Share Posted July 31, 2015 Richard Stark, "The Rare Coin Score" (a Parker novel). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 Pete Townshend - Who Am I? Enjoyable if somewhat narcissistic auto-bio. Elizabeth George - With No one as Witness Probably my favourite of the detective writers. Wonderful characterisation, dense plots...after the first two or three in the series where she was still finding her feet, every book is an absolute forest of plots and sub-plots. Strong sense of place too - you would never guess the author was American, her depiction of contemporary Britain being so convincing. I even find myself drawn to the aristocratic leading characters, wonderfully contrasted with the pop-tart eating rogue sidekick. The covers make these books look like they are frothy - 'great art ('darling')' they may not be but if you enjoy thrillers and police procedural novels these are highly recommended. Start 3 or 4 in and then go back to the first few if you get hooked. Robert Goddard - The Ways of the World. Had to give up on this after 150 pages. I've read a fair few of his historical mysteries over the years - often good holiday yarns even though the characters are stereotyped and the plots full of improbable twists. I can't care at all for the characters in this one who are so cardboard. I knew Goddard in the 70s - we were on the same teacher training course. He never seemed a natural for state education and I'm glad he's found success as a writer - even then I remember him talking about historical fiction well before his first novel. Ha-Joon Chang - 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism - the one area of history I've always struggled with is economic history. Too many variables - I've got my head round one and another comes along and I lose the plot. This is easily the clearest book on economics I've ever read. Demonstrates with good humour and no anti-capitalist venom how the total free marketeers have controlled the narrative since the mid-70s...and the huge flaws in that narrative. Written in the last days of New Labour the assumptions are even more the driving force under the newly unshackled Cameron/Osborne government. I can't imagine they would have read this! Looking forward to reading his more general economics primer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 POINT COUNTER POINT (1928) - Aldous HuxleyHuxley's 3rd novel and his longest and most ambitious (longer than the first 2 novels together). Huxley plumbs the cynicism, despair and sexual mores of the age. A lot to admire here, but maybe too long, and the philosophical debates can become tedious at times. I also miss the humor of Crome Yellow and Antic Hay. Interestingly, the Intro to my edition is by Nicholas Mosley, novelist and son of British Fascist Oswald Mosley (whom Huxley satirizes in the book in the form of Everard Webley, leader of the "Britsh Freemen" Greenshirts). Nicholas asks in his remarks if a man has to be a "creep or a shit" to attract women! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 Deirdre Madden: Molly Fox's Birthday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted August 6, 2015 Report Share Posted August 6, 2015 Thought I'd read most of the Ballards, but came across this in a new edition in a library. Vivid, almost frightening landscapes reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted August 6, 2015 Report Share Posted August 6, 2015 (edited) Patrick O'Brian - The Fortune of WarStalled half way through this last year. Got back into it this week and finished it. I usually struggle with historical fiction before the 20thC but O'Brian gives a real sense of early 19thC patterns of thought. Set at the start of the War of 1812. Apparently Keith Richards is an O'Brian fan. Could imagine him as a gnarled deckhand. Edited August 6, 2015 by A Lark Ascending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HutchFan Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 I'm off to see an adaptation of Moby Dick in Chicago in a couple of weeks. It's been getting great reviews, and I've seen other great work by Lookingglass, so I'm pretty excited.Anyway, I have read the novel but it was a long time ago, so I've decided to try to tackle it again, though I suspect I will skim parts of it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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