What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (6 Viewers)

[St. Fechin]

Where are you getting these Anna Kavan books Shaney? They sound tasty.

Very little in the way of narrative, character, location or any kind of sense.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Where are you getting these Anna Kavan books Shaney? They sound tasty.

I got five of them online somewhere recently. I've only read one so far, it confounded me slightly.

 

[St. Fechin]

This lot?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00454ZKS4/?tag=thumpedcom04-21

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Yeah. Ice also looks interesting.

 

[St. Fechin]

Currently reading Language, Truth & Logic by A.J. Ayer, I'll hopefully finish it today. His basic point is that metaphysics is nonsense which seems fairly spot on to me. I have a biography of Ayer near the top of my to-read list too.

I saw that the other day. All I know about A.J. Ayer are the two anecdotes. This:

At a party that same year held by fashion designer Fernando Sanchez, Ayer, then 77, confronted Mike Tyson who was forcing himself upon the (then little-known) model Naomi Campbell. When Ayer demanded that Tyson stop, the boxer said: "Do you know who the fuck I am? I'm the heavyweight champion of the world," to which Ayer replied: "And I am the former Wykeham Professor of Logic. We are both pre-eminent in our field. I suggest that we talk about this like rational men". Ayer and Tyson then began to talk, while Naomi Campbell slipped out

and this (explaining why he said grace at his college):

I won't utter falsehoods, but I've no objection to uttering meaningless statements.

bit of a character

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

haha. I know nothing at all about him. This bio might be entertaining enough so.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

3 for 2 in Waterstones. I got:

 

[IFF]

3 for 2 in Waterstones. I got:

currently reading this

 

[Kermit McDermott]

I started Nick Kent's Apathy for the Devil.

 

[St. Fechin]

I bought this today:

The author:

Ride writes book about Nabokov. You couldn't make it up!
:heart::heart::heart:

 

[David Kronenbourg]

currently reading this

how is it? it got some very good reviews. your one from waterstones said it was good too. i liked Weathercock by the same author

 

[Jim Daniels]

Re-reading a lot these days.

Full of perfect sentences... as the blurb says

 

[IFF]

how is it? it got some very good reviews. your one from waterstones said it was good too. i liked Weathercock by the same author

i'm enjoying it so far.
i do like glen duncan's books. Hope is also very good.

 

[Lili Marlene]

I haven't read it but what Sartre have you read before? CDR is one of his later works and seems a bit of a mad one to start with. I just did a thesis involving him so I've read a lot of his stuff recently, but I was more concerned with his 30's and 40's works.

Edit: actually, do read it and tell me what he says in it so I don't have to. The man has too much written work.

Fine, be that way Anarcho Munk; I didn't want to hear your opinion anyway.

 

[pete]

Still reading 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism on the bus. It's a good read, but equal parts depressing / infuriating.

Read The Walking Dead book 5 the other day. Mazin.

Reading the last Stephen Hawking book on the jacks. So far it's a bit too pop and too little sci.

 

[Wireless Folk]

Moby Dick. A bit heavy but a great book

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I saw that the other day. All I know about A.J. Ayer are the two anecdotes. This:



and this (explaining why he said grace at his college):



bit of a character

a biography of Ayer near the top of my to-read list too.

This was an excellent read. The encounter with Tyson was in there near the end. These kind of books make me worried about my old age, I hope I wont be poor and lonely. He was fond of the ladies, was Freddie and seemed to have a whale of a time generally, particularly during WW2. Dancing, riding, drinking and philosophy seem to have been his main interests in life.

I started flicking through Why Marx Was Right by Terry Eagleton in the library yesterday but I'm sorry I started it now as its a bit boring and all over the place. Its short so I can't justify not finishing it.

 

[Anarcho Munk]

Fine, be that way @Anarcho Munk ; I didn't want to hear your opinion anyway.

Ah Lily I had a big response made out and all but it all got deleted. I despaired. Then, after a confusing and pointless uncovering I realised you are in fact the thumped poster previously known as I Is John, rather than being the latest hot thumped chick on the block. I despaired again.

As regards CDR though, i'm really taken in by it's general premise. A reformulation and radical tinkering of marxist dialectics with a specifically sociological oriented viewpoint is what it seems to be, and from reading around the edges of it so far there seems to be quite a lot of interesting concepts employed.

But Rick Roderick had this to say and Rick is nearly always right: "Sartre gave his life for that project and in the course of it produced these powerful works… and for anyone who wants to pursue it even further let me mention “Critique of Dialectical Reason“, I only want to mention it – Critique of Dialectical Reason – because I don’t want you to read it [crowd laughter]… and here is why. For long and complicated reasons that I won’t engage here, I think it’s wrong, but that’s not why. It’s too damn long and life is too short. It’s too long and life is too short. We are here having a lecture about The Self Under Siege. We are in a culture where people spend time… huge amounts of time running hither and thither to buy, you know, shorts for the kids for school to go up and down stairmasters and so on, we haven’t got time for these four or five thousand pages. So, I mean, one function that people who at least used to be intellectuals, like me, can perform is to say about certain books “Don’t worry about it! You don’t have time for it!”

It is quite a large book and there are other things I want to read so i'm going to leave it go for now. Imma pick up 'Search For a Method" though which is supposed to be a handy precursor, and concise summation of most of the ideas in CDR.

What was your thesis on btw?

 

[Lili Marlene]

Ah Lily I had a big response made out and all but it all got deleted. I despaired. Then, after a confusing and pointless uncovering I realised you are in fact the thumped poster previously known as I Is John, rather than being the latest hot thumped chick on the block. I despaired again.

As regards CDR though, i'm really taken in by it's general premise. A reformulation and radical tinkering of marxist dialectics with a specifically sociological oriented viewpoint is what it seems to be, and from reading around the edges of it so far there seems to be quite a lot of interesting concepts employed.

But Rick Roderick had this to say and Rick is nearly always right: "Sartre gave his life for that project and in the course of it produced these powerful works… and for anyone who wants to pursue it even further let me mention “Critique of Dialectical Reason“, I only want to mention it – Critique of Dialectical Reason – because I don’t want you to read it [crowd laughter]… and here is why. For long and complicated reasons that I won’t engage here, I think it’s wrong, but that’s not why. It’s too damn long and life is too short. It’s too long and life is too short. We are here having a lecture about The Self Under Siege. We are in a culture where people spend time… huge amounts of time running hither and thither to buy, you know, shorts for the kids for school to go up and down stairmasters and so on, we haven’t got time for these four or five thousand pages. So, I mean, one function that people who at least used to be intellectuals, like me, can perform is to say about certain books “Don’t worry about it! You don’t have time for it!”

It is quite a large book and there are other things I want to read so i'm going to leave it go for now. Imma pick up 'Search For a Method" though which is supposed to be a handy precursor, and concise summation of most of the ideas in CDR.

What was your thesis on btw?

My thesis got the hilarious title of....

"I didn't ask to be born" - Towards an Existentialist Children's Literature

I was dealing with Being and Nothingness, which is famous for being owned more than it's read (Ulysses style) and a few other books of his around that time. His later stuff is known for being obsessed with finding a workable marxism which, to be honest, is a very mid 20th century conversation that i'm not that interested in.

I haven't actually got my results yet so I dont know if it was any good. I think I was hoping to overwhelm the examiners with ambition rather than impress them with anything decent.

 

[rettucs]

I gave up on Tolstoy for now (and probably forever). I needed a change of pace so am reading this;

obviously more to find out his back story than for any literary fulfillment. Its interesting.