What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (1 Viewer)

[dirtyvicar]

Currently I am reading the True Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg - crazy Scottish Presbyterian gothic. Deadly stuff.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Currently I am reading the True Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg - crazy Scottish Presbyterian gothic. Deadly stuff.

i think i have that at home somewhere, must dig it out

 

[Mormon Nailer]

OK. Fairly enjoyable.
Not great - I fould Chesil Beach a far better book.

The constant attention to Beard's physical decline is a bit Phillip Roth and the inevitability (and comedy) of his downfall is a bit Martin Amis, although Beard is selfish he is not self adsorbed in the way Zuckerman is - so he's not as much of a chore to be around for the reader.

 

[jonah]

I'm reading 'The Secret Lives of People in Love' by Simon Van Booy, and I have very mixed feelings about it. On one hand the writing is nicely considered, the stories poignant and sad, the images poetic if a little bit gothy (majorly gothy - poetry is like a little bird!) and on the other hand its the kind of... maudlin stuff that makes me feel like I'm being manipulated into glorifying through severe tuggage on the emotional strings. All of the stories feature the old withold and reveal to an almost pained degree. It reminds me of watching a film that was made to win oscars, more than likely starring Sean Penn, and one which everyone will rave about and then forget forever, until its shown on TV3 and we all realise it was never really that good in the first place. In fact it was sanctamonious and unnatural. I'M LOOKING AT YOU 'I AM SAM'. I just hate feeling like I'm being manipulated despite the fact that that is essentially the point.

Still there was a lovely short story about a Russian guy living in Brooklyn that I really liked.

And Jesus, Simon Van Booy:

 

[Wobbler]

Halfway through

 

[magicbastarder]

just finished the immortal life of henrietta lacks by rebecca skloot, which was superb, and am now on the surgeon of crowthorne by simon winchester, which is my second time reading it. also superb.

 

[Jim Daniels]

Like the look of that - nice review Jonah. I'm a sucker for "severe tuggage on the emotional strings", especially in the written form. Books can indeed be awfully manipulative, but thats ok! It's easier for movies, as they have music and visuals to help them out.

I'm reading 'The Secret Lives of People in Love' by Simon Van Booy, and I have very mixed feelings about it. On one hand the writing is nicely considered, the stories poignant and sad, the images poetic if a little bit gothy (majorly gothy - poetry is like a little bird!) and on the other hand its the kind of... maudlin stuff that makes me feel like I'm being manipulated into glorifying through severe tuggage on the emotional strings. All of the stories feature the old withold and reveal to an almost pained degree. It reminds me of watching a film that was made to win oscars, more than likely starring Sean Penn, and one which everyone will rave about and then forget forever, until its shown on TV3 and we all realise it was never really that good in the first place. In fact it was sanctamonious and unnatural. I'M LOOKING AT YOU 'I AM SAM'. I just hate feeling like I'm being manipulated despite the fact that that is essentially the point.

Still there was a lovely short story about a Russian guy living in Brooklyn that I really liked.

And Jesus, Simon Van Booy:

 

[David Kronenbourg]

love t.c. boyle's stuff.

 

[dirtyvicar]

just finished the immortal life of henrietta lacks by rebecca skloot, which was superb, and am now on the surgeon of crowthorne by simon winchester, which is my second time reading it. also superb.

has anyone done a science fiction thing in which HeLa culture starts eating the world?

 

[dirtyvicar]

re. Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

i think i have that at home somewhere, must dig it out

It is amazing, though I wonder if it would have been a better book without the supernatural elements - elements I cannot reveal at this time.

 

[jonah]

Like the look of that - nice review Jonah. I'm a sucker for "severe tuggage on the emotional strings", especially in the written form. Books can indeed be awfully manipulative, but thats ok! It's easier for movies, as they have music and visuals to help them out.

I'm probably just being harsh because I'm not normally a fan of Short Stories, but it is very sweet. And that's definitely true with regards to movies, its just always mildly painful when you can see the way things were stitched together.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I read Death at Intervals by Jose Saramango. For a bit of attention death decides not to take anyones life from midnight on the first day of the year. nobody can die and almost dead people start piling up all over the shop. then after 7 months she realises the error of her ways and reinstates death as normal except that everyone will now receive a pretty purple envelope from death a week before they are due to die giving them a chance to sort out their affairs, say good bye and make friends with enemies. more mayhem. then one of the letters is returned to death unopened which throws her into confusion. entertaining story but written in an annoying too-clever style. still, not bad. middling.

 

[Lili Marlene]

I read Death at Intervals by Jose Saramango. For a bit of attention death decides not to take anyones life from midnight on the first day of the year. nobody can die and almost dead people start piling up all over the shop. then after 7 months she realises the error of her ways and reinstates death as normal except that everyone will now receive a pretty purple envelope from death a week before they are due to die giving them a chance to sort out their affairs, say good bye and make friends with enemies. more mayhem. then one of the letters is returned to death unopened which throws her into confusion. entertaining story but written in an annoying too-clever style. still, not bad. middling.

Death goes on holiday? Didn't that happen in Discworld?

at least twice?

Nobel Schmobel

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Death goes on holiday? Didn't that happen in Discworld?

at least twice?

Nobel Schmobel

im not familiar with Discworld - what a shite name for something though!

its not so much that she went on holidays, more that she went into a little snit. i suspect the translation might have been part of the problem, hard to know though.

 

[vlsheridan]

I'm reading 'The Secret Lives of People in Love' by Simon Van Booy, and I have very mixed feelings about it. On one hand the writing is nicely considered, the stories poignant and sad, the images poetic if a little bit gothy (majorly gothy - poetry is like a little bird!) and on the other hand its the kind of... maudlin stuff that makes me feel like I'm being manipulated into glorifying through severe tuggage on the emotional strings. All of the stories feature the old withold and reveal to an almost pained degree. It reminds me of watching a film that was made to win oscars, more than likely starring Sean Penn, and one which everyone will rave about and then forget forever, until its shown on TV3 and we all realise it was never really that good in the first place. In fact it was sanctamonious and unnatural. I'M LOOKING AT YOU 'I AM SAM'. I just hate feeling like I'm being manipulated despite the fact that that is essentially the point.

Still there was a lovely short story about a Russian guy living in Brooklyn that I really liked.

And Jesus, Simon Van Booy:

I remember reading this book and thinking, "You're kidding, right?" I had read a non fiction piece written by the same author and being blown away by it. His fiction reminds me of making love to a man who refuses to take his pajamas off.

 

[washingcattle]

Bet he's a never nude alright.

I just finished Geek Love

It's completely bonkers.

Bet Katherine Dunn was not a never nude.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Bet he's a never nude alright.

I just finished Geek Love

It's completely bonkers.

Bet Katherine Dunn was not a never nude.

i'm reading that at the moment. i'm about a quarter of the way in. it's pretty mental alright

 

[washingcattle]

Let me know when you're finished we can compile a top ten most mental list.

this will take some beating though

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Let me know when you're finished we can compile a top ten most mental list.

this will take some beating though

yeah, naked lunch is fucking loopy. i watched the cronenberg adaptation last week. it's an interesting film. not really an adaptation as such, but i guess that would be near impossible. it's mixture of bits and pieces of the book and real life incidents in burroughs life. there's a lot more cronenberg in there than burroughs.

 

[Mormon Nailer]

An interesting guy. Fantastically clever but deeply deeply indifferent/unaware of how others see him.
Anyone who wants to be thoroughly repulsed should search youtube for his lecture where in stream he takes off his sock pulls something from his foot and eats it, the whole time talking as if it was the most normal thing ever...!bog
It's funny how little you hear of Eric Raymond theses days - there was a time when The Cathedral and The Bazzar was the ur text of this hacker/free-software/open source community. I wonder has it something to do with the fact that this whole area has been subsumed into the broader debate over copyright and filesharing?

Fascinating.

Covers much of the same ground as Shane Ross' book. To be honest even though you couldn't make the shit up that's in here it's also a bit wearying - I'm a but fucking sick of hearing about the Fitzpatricks and Quinns and all that shower.