anybody reading anything good? (1 Viewer)

[nEiLo]

Iain M Banks - The Algebraist... meh...

 

[Denver Max]

THe Men Who Stare at Goats


fucking great

 

[Super Dexta]

pshaw, the history plays ROCK!

minka (who did an entire fourth year englsih course on them, because she is like that)

yeah? so, this richard ii.. what happens to him in the end? i missed the lecture.

 

[MDR]

yeah? so, this richard ii.. what happens to him in the end? i missed the lecture.

I presume he doesn't die because there's a Richard iii.

 

[minka]

yeah? so, this richard ii.. what happens to him in the end? i missed the lecture.

he is eaten by voles.

(and yes, i realize the supreme irony in the fact that i misspelled "english" in that last post. pbbbffhht.)

 

[minka]

THe Men Who Stare at Goats


fucking great

it's brilliant, isn't it? not to mention damn scary.

 

[paul-]

THe Men Who Stare at Goats


fucking great

i must pick that up soon,sounds nuts.

im reading Apocolypse Culture at the moment.

 

[Jimmy Magee]

I be readin a book by Douwe Draaisma called "Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older"

Sounded quite interestin, unfortunately it seems to have nothing remotely to do with its title...unless...its collection of anecdotal and scientific angles on memory and its many byways manages to somehow shed light on it towards the end...which is probably not unlikely really. Anyway, taken as what it is, tis very interestin.

 

[needtokill]

just finished "The Sluts" by Denis Cooper.Probably the most stomach churning thing I've read.I actually came close to vomiting at the end of it.Eugh.

Just about to start a book of two John Fante Stories, can't remember the name of it, but "ask The Dust" was ace, so this should be good..

 

[oh shit]

I be readin a book by Douwe Draaisma called "Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older"

i always thought it was cos each year becomes a smaller fraction of your life so far?
seems kinda obvious really.

 

[sarah]

THe Men Who Stare at Goats


fucking great

who wrote this? - I'd read it just for that title

 

[Wavioli]

who wrote this? - I'd read it just for that title

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0330375474/qid=1107431985/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-0763279-4763365

Read an article about this, seems pretty fucked up shit right there. Apparantly these techniques are the reason for those sick pictures of iraqi prisoners. Funny thing is that the original ideas were started by complete peace loving hippy types, who suggested armys should be trained in compassion, and armed with baby lambs

 

[Jimmy Magee]

i always thought it was cos each year becomes a smaller fraction of your life so far?
seems kinda obvious really.

That might explain why when you're thinking ahead or about your life and so on periods like a year or a month seem shorter than they used to...but even a short period like an hour seems to go way faster now than it used to when young, and it doesn't make sense to me that this would have anything to do with mentally comparing with one's previous life. Given how time seems to slow down during crises or on hallucinogens (when one's mind races), I think this might have more to do with how quickly your brain is operating...I dunno, as if the passage of time is subjectively measured in "thoughts" (even though to speak of distinct thoughts is probably misleading). Also when happy (and, I think, so inclined to think less) time goes faster...there probably are counterexamples tho...or maybe other factors and whatnot...

 

[david]

the recognitions by william gaddis.

stunning, so far.

 

[nokia]

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami
so good i didn't finish it!
apparentely it doesnt wrap up western style anyway
don't know if i will finish it, but certainly recommend it!

 

[Jimmy Magee]

I be readin a book by Douwe Draaisma called "Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older"

i always thought it was cos each year becomes a smaller fraction of your life so far?
seems kinda obvious really.

That might explain why when you're thinking ahead or about your life and so on periods like a year or a month seem shorter than they used to...but even a short period like an hour seems to go way faster now than it used to when young, and it doesn't make sense to me that this would have anything to do with mentally comparing with one's previous life. Given how time seems to slow down during crises or on hallucinogens (when one's mind races), I think this might have more to do with how quickly your brain is operating...I dunno, as if the passage of time is subjectively measured in "thoughts" (even though to speak of distinct thoughts is probably misleading). Also when happy (and, I think, so inclined to think less) time goes faster...there probably are counterexamples tho...or maybe other factors and whatnot...

In conclusion...turns out we're both right...and there be other contributing factors as well, except I can't bloody remember now what they were...tis still all a bit indefinite as to what exactly causes it, it seems.

Book is deadly tho, also has cool section about why (again, only proposed at this stage) people's lives flash before their eyes during certain crises...and lots of other cool memory-related stuff. V good.

Goin startin "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" now by Joe Orton, it better be entertaining...

 

[Cormcolash]

Ports of Call, great book.

 

[brianoak]

A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole.Really good, disturbing and funny. He hung himself after he wrote the book and his mother campaigned for years till she finally got it published.

 

[P. Littbarski]

A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole.Really good, disturbing and funny. He hung himself after he wrote the book and his mother campaigned for years till she finally got it published.

great book...the film is on hold apparently.

Just finished "If This is a Man" and "The Truce" by Primo Levi. An amazing writer and and an amazing man, these books are about his survival of Auschwitz and his subsequent repatriation to Italy via Russia and eastern europe.

http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/levi.html

 

[Jimmy Magee]

great book...the film is on hold apparently.

Just finished "If This is a Man" and "The Truce" by Primo Levi. An amazing writer and and an amazing man, these books are about his survival of Auschwitz and his subsequent repatriation to Italy via Russia and eastern europe.

http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/levi.html

Ono me favourite writers...not just the concentration camp stuff either, it's all good - although the camp stuff does take up a lot of his ouevre. He manages to make the most mundane things seem somehow beautiful. Having said that, If This.. was equally great at conveying the absolute horror of the place, making you realise that these were just normal people like yourself in this dreadful hell...um, see, that's why he's a great writer and I'm not. (As an aside, I thought the Pianist the flim also captured this excellently, by showing us some normal life before the descent of the madness). Also he comes across very measured and in no way hysterically full of hatred and so on...blah blah blah. Anyway, everyone should read these books (and they make a neat pair)

What about the state o the crazy Ruskies in The Truce though? Man those people couldn't but make you split your sides.