Books From Your Teens (1 Viewer)

[hugh]

i read a couple of clive barker books in my teens too, again i thought were amazing, but can't remember what they were about, now. 'imajica' and 'the great and secret show', iirc

Weaveworld surely ....

 

[Cormcolash]

I read a lot of Christopher Pike

 

[Cormcolash]

when i was 17 (sounds like a song)

 

[Cormcolash]

Just thinking back and a lot of my teen reading revolved around The Alchemist’s Head. Got to meet Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams there!

It was amazing when Terry Pratchett was an adjunct professor at Trinity and sometimes you'd walk past him around the arts block

 

[Cormcolash]

Also just remembered talking to Stephen Donaldson at a signing in easons - “How old are you? I don’t think you should be reading my books.”

He's probably right, Thomas Covenent is pretty hardcore haha. Another series where the last 'trilogy' wasn't great compared to the earlier ones

 

[Cormcolash]

Also I read Illusions by Richard Bach - about a lad who meets a kind of Jesus figure in the rural US.

He's no Richard Bachman

 

[Cormcolash]

I must have been the only teenager who read books in Ireland who wasn't reading Stephen King.

I don't think I've ever actually read a King book, the films and shit are often great though

 

[therealjohnny]

I was into Guns N'Roses and thought they looked cool, so when my uncle asked if I had any interest in his cowboy boots I jumped at the chance. Turns out he said "cowboy books" and I had to feign enthusiasm as I took a box of them off his hands. Anyway I read a load of Louis Lamour and Terry Harknett that summer.

 

[Cormcolash]

I was into Guns N'Roses and thought they looked cool, so when my uncle asked if I had any interest in his cowboy boots I jumped at the chance. Turns out he said "cowboy books" and I had to feign enthusiasm as I took a box of them off his hands. Anyway I read a load of Louis Lamour and Terry Harknett that summer.

We did Shane in school at one point, it's good

 

[Bernie Lomax]

I don't think I've ever actually read a King book, the films and shit are often great though

I tried reading the stand at the start of lockdown. He can do really good ideas then pad out 800 pages with descriptions of road signs and motobikes and people's jeans. It was an audiobook and I could notice the narrator getting audibly weary as it went on and on.

 

[egg_]

We did Shane in school at one point, it's good

It is! I read it to one of the kids a few years ago, she loved it

 

[egg_]

The only King book I ever read was The Stand ... oh and running man, but I think that was just a short story. I've never watched a horror film either. Scary stuff, yuck!

 

[pete]

He's probably right, Thomas Covenent is pretty hardcore haha. Another series where the last 'trilogy' wasn't great compared to the earlier ones

I remember being astounded that absolutely nothing of interest happened for the first 80 or 90 pages of the first book. Fuckin prose, wha?

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

It was amazing when Terry Pratchett was an adjunct professor at Trinity and sometimes you'd walk past him around the arts block

When was that?

 

[Bernie Lomax]

The only King book I ever read was The Stand ... oh and running man, but I think that was just a short story. I've never watched a horror film either. Scary stuff, yuck!

Never watched a single horror film???

 

[egg_]

Depends on how strict you are with your definition - I've seen sci-fi monster movies like Alien and Cloverfield, and sexy vampire stuff like Interview With A Vampire, but never ever anything that I'd consider proper horror

 

[Cormcolash]

When was that?

Couple of years around 2011/12 ish

 

[Cormcolash]

I remember being astounded that absolutely nothing of interest happened for the first 80 or 90 pages of the first book. Fuckin prose, wha?

And then it's like "Oh SHIT"

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Couple of years around 2011/12 ish

That explains it, those were during my Maynooth years.

 

[nuke terrorist]

This is a very good post but I still don't know if there are any novels you like or what exactly it is that you want from fiction. Also, have you never read or listened or watched a thing that you didn't like but it was still worthwhile? Without getting too poncey about it all, at its most basic art is supposed to change you, liking or disliking it is almost besides the point. Obviously it's easier to get through it if if you like it.

It makes me tremendously sad that some people think "fiction is not for me" but I recognize that maybe I just have to accept that it might be the truth. Reality feels like its taking the piss as far as i'm concerned so i'm willing to go along with anything considered implausible. As Ursula LeGuin said many a time in many different ways, the biggest genre in town is so-called "realism."

As for the syllabus stuff, my gut instinct is that being forced to read one or two novels over 5/6 years is probably worse than reading none at all and we'd probably be better off if they were optional.

my previous post was a typical rambling digression I like writing for fun.

when you said 'never ... listened... (to) a thing' I assume you didn't mean music.

If I know the spoilers of something I'm much more likely to stick with it if I'm
losing interest - so non fiction has a big advantage.

I wouldn't go to a performance of Ionesco's Rhinoceros because I like the
thing so much. I'm not having some theatre bollocks it up for me.

Ursula K. LeGuin is somebody I should have checked out years ago.

I suppose I get less of a buzz off reading than most folks and I find fiction very
hard going.

Important point:
I also cannot get excited about many other things like romantic relationships,
travelling, learning to drive, having a job and other mundane things so
it has to be viewed as a wider trait of my personality.

compared to to the vast amount of music that has changed my life I feel
things like TV drama and Hollywood movies are insipid overwhelmingly worthless.
It staggers me how tame these things are when I try watch them.
why do people with decent taste in music lap up corporate Hollywood crap ?

this is the antithesis of DIY culture.

why do the media think actors are more interesting than musicians ?
LOL.

that my favourite North American comedy show (Trailer Park Boys) was made
by a bunch of friends in a backwater part of Canada says it all.
I don't think Hollywood creative class could come up with this kind of show.

Some films I really like roughly in chronological order:

M, Loneliness Of A Long Distance Runner, Village Of The Damned, Carnival Of Souls,
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, Coffy, Foxy Brown, Godfather part 2,
The Super Inframan (and other Shaw Bothers productions) Taxi Driver, Carrie,
Susperia (and other Argento films), Hausu (Japan). Sorcerer, Abel Ferrera films -
Driller Killer, Angel of Vengence/Ms 45, King of New York;
Repo Man, Man Bites Dog.

I NEVER saw a great film until I was in my 20's so this may colour my dislike of
corporate culture.
for years I used to read film reviews in Irish Times. eventually I gave up because
nothing they were reviewing sounded interesting.
this may explain why I was stuck trying to come up with any movies from my own generation.

also I don't like the cinematography or whatever you call the style that most modern
cinema is shot in. CGI is an anathema to me.

you can live a perfectly full life without any of this.
most music I love was and is created by people who never make a cent from their creativity.