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

[CinnamonBoy]

I Read that Women and Ham On Rye within a month of each other they just got better and better. Unfortunately that's all of his work that's available on Kindle so I'll have to either read the rest in a regular book (not going to happen) or download a pirate copy. I feel a bit bad about it but fuck it we would have probably hated each other if we'd met so fuck him let him hate me in death.

Nah, I'd say you'd have gotten along.

Why don't you buy a book? I'm buying mine for €6 from Chapters.

What did you make of Factotum, the film? If you've not reviewed it, do so, please.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Loving this. First Ballard I've read since I attempted The Crystal World about 10 years ago and didn't like it very much.

 

[Bladez]

I Read that Women and Ham On Rye within a month of each other they just got better and better. Unfortunately that's all of his work that's available on Kindle so I'll have to either read the rest in a regular book (not going to happen) or download a pirate copy. I feel a bit bad about it but fuck it we would have probably hated each other if we'd met so fuck him let him hate me in death.

Ham On Rye is my favorite. It feels his most honest. You understand where his feeling of being an outsider comes from.
Pulp is also available on Kindle. It's Bukowski living as a private detective and is also a good read. It put me onto Celine and Journey to the End of the Night which is still one of the most incredible books I've ever read. You can see where Bukowski got his style from. His friend, John Fante's books are also worth a read. The writing is a little softer than Bukowski's but it's got that same brutal honesty and directness.

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Journey to the End of the Night

Added to the list.

 

[washingcattle]

Nah, I'd say you'd have gotten along.

Why don't you buy a book? I'm buying mine for €6 from Chapters.

What did you make of Factotum, the film? If you've not reviewed it, do so, please.

I'll have to re-watch it. It's years since I saw it at the time I thought the performances made more of what was a fairly thin script but in hindsight the main character (Chisanski) comes with such a wait and presence once you've read the novels that perhaps that gravitas is more present once you know him. No denying that Matt Dillon is too good looking to play Chisanski though. From what I remember he did a fine job playing the down trodden malaised aspects of him but Chisanski as a character describes himself as ugly to the point of being scary, he frightens people as much as he fascinates with the sheer bulk of his head. That never really came across in the film from what i remember and thusly I felt it lacked a little weight in comparison to Post Office or Ham On Rye or Women which i think is his most brutal book.

I'll probably read Factotum before I re-watch it though.

Ham On Rye is my favorite. It feels his most honest. You understand where his feeling of being an outsider comes from.
Pulp is also available on Kindle. It's Bukowski living as a private detective and is also a good read. It put me onto Celine and Journey to the End of the Night which is still one of the most incredible books I've ever read. You can see where Bukowski got his style from. His friend, John Fante's books are also worth a read. The writing is a little softer than Bukowski's but it's got that same brutal honesty and directness.

I'm dyslexic to a degree, the kindle allows you to double line space everything and make the font big with space between the words and have very few lines per "page" Which really helps me. In fact if anyone out there is dyslexic or knows someone who struggles with it I recommend buying a kindle.

That's not saying I can't read "books" I can but it's frustrating as hell when I'm tired or traveling, which is when I read most these days. also all three Bukowski's I've read cost me less than a tenner.

I'll check out Fante alright.

 

[Bladez]

I completely understand. I'm the same. I can read the Kindle for much longer because of the larger font and less words per page. It's much less tiring. In fact I only read on a Kindle anymore. The way it's so easy to buy books is dangerous though. I've got a virtual stack of 10s of books waiting to be read.

 

[Lili Marlene]

Jesus but this doesn't half go on, 600 pages about his life and death followed 200 more pages of notes. Like his life, this book is far too much about court cases and family infighting and not nearly enough about his music; you know, the only reason we care. There was a good chapter about the 6 months he stayed in Ireland though, he seemed to have a nice time here.

If you're interested in him there was a really beautiful review of this book in the New Yorker a year or two back, it's considerably better than the book itself, (link here, but you have to be a subscriber)

 

[David Kronenbourg]

just started this. main character is a bit of a douche. i hope he gets his comeuppance

 

[jonah]

Several centuries behind everyone else, finally read The Goldfinch! Good fodder, but still have a special place in my heart for The Secret History.

 

[Lili Marlene]

I'm about a third of the way through... dystopian... that's all I've got so far. Yes, that is very lazy of me.

Read this over the past week or so, wasn't mad on it at all. Characterization was verging on non-existent and I felt it was trying very hard to be all things (dystopian sci-fi; commentary on language itself; addressing big 'what does it mean to be human' questions; ) to all people and trying to do it all in under 300 pages. As an attempt at writing an incredibly concise GREAT NOVEL it's probably a success, I just felt that he forgot that the reason most people like great novels is because they get engrossed with the characters and story, not because they're so impressed with the breadth and depth of philosophical ground being covered.

It seemed to be terrified of saying anything that might be seen to be even a little bit didactic to the point where I was crying out for the book to say something - anything - that showed a bit of commitment. I don't know if this was an experiment in form; it's a book about an overstimulated world where people have to not think about things for fear of growing ill so maybe it was written purposely blank throughout. If so, very clever but I still have to read it.

Having said all that it was clearly a labour of love, every word was probably painstakingly chosen and you can certainly read a million things into it. It just felt it was written purposely with this applicability in mind and it very much showed. To be blunt, it's a novel written by an academic rather than a novelist.

I'd probably read another by him though.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Read this over the past week or so, wasn't mad on it at all. Characterization was verging on non-existent and I felt it was trying very hard to be all things (dystopian sci-fi; commentary on language itself; addressing big 'what does it mean to be human' questions; ) to all people and trying to do it all in under 300 pages. As an attempt at writing an incredibly concise GREAT NOVEL it's probably a success, I just felt that he forgot that the reason most people like great novels is because they get engrossed with the characters and story, not because they're so impressed with the breadth and depth of philosophical ground being covered.

It seemed to be terrified of saying anything that might be seen to be even a little bit didactic to the point where I was crying out for the book to say something - anything - that showed a bit of commitment. I don't know if this was an experiment in form; it's a book about an overstimulated world where people have to not think about things for fear of growing ill so maybe it was written purposely blank throughout. If so, very clever but I still have to read it.

Having said all that it was clearly a labour of love, every word was probably painstakingly chosen and you can certainly read a million things into it. It just felt it was written purposely with this applicability in mind and it very much showed. To be blunt, it's a novel written by an academic rather than a novelist.

I'd probably read another by him though.

I'm going to read this very soon.

Try Notable American Women by him. I liked that a lot. He's also just published a new short story collection which got lots of praise.

 

[Lili Marlene]

I'm going to read this very soon.

Try Notable American Women by him. I liked that a lot. He's also just published a new short story collection which got lots of praise.

Yeah it was you talking about that book that piqued by interest in him in the first place. I really wanted to like this book, but it covered so much stuff in so little time it was just frustrating for me.

 

[Ottimo_Massimo]

Read this over the past week or so, wasn't mad on it at all. Characterization was verging on non-existent and I felt it was trying very hard to be all things (dystopian sci-fi; commentary on language itself; addressing big 'what does it mean to be human' questions; ) to all people and trying to do it all in under 300 pages. As an attempt at writing an incredibly concise GREAT NOVEL it's probably a success, I just felt that he forgot that the reason most people like great novels is because they get engrossed with the characters and story, not because they're so impressed with the breadth and depth of philosophical ground being covered.

It seemed to be terrified of saying anything that might be seen to be even a little bit didactic to the point where I was crying out for the book to say something - anything - that showed a bit of commitment. I don't know if this was an experiment in form; it's a book about an overstimulated world where people have to not think about things for fear of growing ill so maybe it was written purposely blank throughout. If so, very clever but I still have to read it.

Having said all that it was clearly a labour of love, every word was probably painstakingly chosen and you can certainly read a million things into it. It just felt it was written purposely with this applicability in mind and it very much showed. To be blunt, it's a novel written by an academic rather than a novelist.

I'd probably read another by him though.

Nicely put! I'd agree with you on the characterisations. A lot was sacrificed for language and message... and I really had no idea what that message was.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Recent and recentish reading:

 

[Lili Marlene]

Finally finished the Goldfinch.

Jaysus that was long.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Finally finished the Goldfinch.

Jaysus that was long.

what did you think?

 

[Lili Marlene]

what did you think?

Not sure yet, will take me a while to digest it; I read it on audiobook over the space of about 2 months so I've been kind of living with it. First reaction is that it was good but I didn't love it, I feel not enough was tied up and maybe a lot of the events just happened for the sake of plot. I'll have to mull it over though. It was definitely worth reading but not sure I'd recommend it to someone, you know?

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Not sure yet, will take me a while to digest it; I read it on audiobook over the space of about 2 months so I've been kind of living with it. First reaction is that it was good but I didn't love it, I feel not enough was tied up and maybe a lot of the events just happened for the sake of plot. I'll have to mull it over though. It was definitely worth reading but not sure I'd recommend it to someone, you know?

I’d recommend it to people who only read a few books a year but really make a meal of those books.

 

[Lili Marlene]

I’d recommend it to people who only read a few books a year but really make a meal of those books.

It's definitely hard to invest as much time in a book as long as the Goldfinch as you do and still come out going 'that was rubbish'. I can maybe see a certain perverse pleasure from doing it but really there's a limit to these things. Right??

 

[David Kronenbourg]

City of Saints and Madmen. A collection of stories set in Ambergris, a fictional city populated by humans after its original inhabitants—a race of mushroom-like humanoids known as "gray caps"—were violently driven underground. Jeff VanDeerMeer is the author of the awesome Southern Reach books, and one of the best writers of weird fiction around.