What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (11 Viewers)

[David Kronenbourg]

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus. A teenage diver mourning his abusive father gets swallowed by a Sperm Whale and has to survive inside its stomachs. Amazing

 

[egg_]

I've been reading Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer. Unsure if I'll finish it - loads of world building that's a mixture of woke utopianism and celeb culture, loads of weird convoluted literary flourishes, and very little actual story

 

[snakybus]

More shite from me.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
I posted about this earlier. Mind blowing.

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
This was pretty much as different from Cormac McCarthy as you can get; Japanese feminist modernism all about boobs and assisted reproduction. It was pretty brilliant and I enjoyed it a lot. Sure who doesn’t like boobs? One thing in common with Blood Meridian was that the men in it (and there weren’t many) mostly were bastards.

The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
Other than some of his short stories I’d not read a lot of Richard Ford, though I did go to see him talk earlier in the year. He was pretty funny so I figured I should read a few of his books. This, the first of the series about his most well-known character Frank Bascombe, started off slowly – or maybe it just took me a while to get used to the moseying, florid style. But as it moved along I realised that that was just what the story needed and it unfolded into a really interesting, true book full of pathos and humour. His observations and just the way he delivers them are unique and beautiful. Ford gets some criticism for writing books about men in middle age and midlife crisis, but I don’t care if the story is well told. Or maybe I’m just its perfect audience. In any case, this was a very special book that will stay with me for a long time. It says a lot that after the life-changing experience of Blood Meridian... I think I actually liked this book even more.

The Gathering by Anne Enright
This was quite a jump from Richard Ford, going from dense, thoughtful descriptions of everything to a more shoot-from-the-hip, not taking itself too seriously, easy-read style typical of Anne Enright. This is one of her more famous books, I guess, and it has all her hallmarks which I’d have to say are right in my wheelhouse – dysfunctional Irish families, alcoholism, humour, generational sadness and dark, dark subject matter. She doesn’t like men much, that’s clear, though being a middle-aged Irish woman, who could blame her? She writes them well, even if they are a bit sad and shitty. She sure likes talking about their willies too, or her characters do at least. All in, this was really very good.

The Trees by Percival Everett
This got fantastic reviews as a work of BLM-adjacent murder satire by someone who is considered one of the greats of modern American literature. I thought it was okay, maybe a bit Vonnegut-esque but not as good. The central conceit is that the ancestors of white supremacists in Mississippi are being lopped off, and each time the same black man’s body is found beside their bodies holding the dead man’s testicles. And what starts as a cartoonish whodunit soon develops into a sort of persons-of-colour zombie apocalypse, mixing silliness with the serious racial question. All fine and readable but just not as funny as I think it was trying to be.

God's Executioner: Oliver Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland by Micheál Ó Siochrú
Historical nonfiction about Cromwell. The vain part of me thought I might get engrossed in this but as I read I just thought, while the subject matter was interesting, there’s a reason why I don’t read history books for fun, because they’re not fun and not meant to be and I'm more a dreamer than I thought I was and attempting to be a person of gravitas when you're not is for pricks.

Canada by Richard Ford
This one quickly grew close to my heart as a story that is for the first half based in Great Falls Montana, where my family are actually from, set in a time not too distant from when they lived there, and about a family of a similar age and character. The parents in this case rob a bank and get thrown in jail (that’s where the similarities diverge) and the narrator – the son – ends up being transported to Canada. That’s the first half of the book and it’s brilliant. The second half of the book is about the kid’s experiences in Canada, where he is accommodated by and works for a Gatsby-ish sort of character called Arhtur Remlinger with a history of violence who fled the US. It’s written very well but Dell, the boy, is nothing more than an observer to all of this and has no agency at all. So the second half for me is disappointingly half-baked, considering how brilliant the first half is.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
This book, which was very influential in the ‘60s, was more a parable than a novel. All about a guy who seeks enlightenment and along the way goes down the path of excess. Similar themes to Narziss and Goldmund by the same author, which I read years ago and thought much better. This was grand, though mostly because it’s so short. Sid the farter by yer man Hiss.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K Dick
After reading a bunch of non-Dick stuff and returning to Dick, I was immediately struck - again - by what a damn weirdo he was. Or at least, his ideas. In this, people living a horrible existence in hovels on Mars (Earth has become too hot), to counter the monotony, take marketed drugs to put themselves into the minds of Barbie and Ken-type dolls, which I suppose in modern times would be the equivalent of entering a virtual world. Palmer Eldritch, a sort of drug pirate, creates a competitor drug that does something similar, but which places you in his controlled world. Very odd – and during a misplacement and refinding of the book (something that happens to me a lot) I lost interest, not just in the story but in Dick himself. I think I’ve had enough and am happy to spend the rest of my life Dickless.

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
I sped through this in a few days. If you’ve seen the film, it follows the book pretty closely so no surprises there, but it’s still worth a read (and the film is great anyway). I loved it, and I loved that McCarthy created a novel that just bounces off the page, unlike the earlier ones. It has a really good balance between the average-guy-does-a-dumb-thing thriller (the Josh Brolin character), the evil-incarnate psycho killer with a code/philosophy (Anton Chighurr, the Javier Bardem character), and the contemplations of the decent-old-guy Sherrif Bell (the Tommy Lee Jones character), which were good but dragged a little for me – but that’s a small complaint - as well as lots of really great side characters. Clearly, Chighurr is the star of the show, another incarnation of Judge Holden from Blood Meridian and, yeah. I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s an Diabhal, basically. Evil has a conscience. What a ride.

Home Sickness by Colin Barrett
A collection of short stories by a writer out of Mayo who has sprung to some international success and I can see why. The prose is excellent, the dialogue fun and engaging and the stories more than decent, though in places I admittedly struggled with where the centre was at; a bit of a bugbear of mine when it comes to the Irish short story and I don’t like feeling a dope who doesn’t get it; being from Mayo I already feel like that by default. Overall, a really impressive collection.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

The Mote in Gods Eye. 70s sci-fi about first contact with aliens in the distant future. I'm enjoying it.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

More shite from me.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
I posted about this earlier. Mind blowing.

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
This was pretty much as different from Cormac McCarthy as you can get; Japanese feminist modernism all about boobs and assisted reproduction. It was pretty brilliant and I enjoyed it a lot. Sure who doesn’t like boobs? One thing in common with Blood Meridian was that the men in it (and there weren’t many) mostly were bastards.

The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
Other than some of his short stories I’d not read a lot of Richard Ford, though I did go to see him talk earlier in the year. He was pretty funny so I figured I should read a few of his books. This, the first of the series about his most well-known character Frank Bascombe, started off slowly – or maybe it just took me a while to get used to the moseying, florid style. But as it moved along I realised that that was just what the story needed and it unfolded into a really interesting, true book full of pathos and humour. His observations and just the way he delivers them are unique and beautiful. Ford gets some criticism for writing books about men in middle age and midlife crisis, but I don’t care if the story is well told. Or maybe I’m just its perfect audience. In any case, this was a very special book that will stay with me for a long time. It says a lot that after the life-changing experience of Blood Meridian... I think I actually liked this book even more.

The Gathering by Anne Enright
This was quite a jump from Richard Ford, going from dense, thoughtful descriptions of everything to a more shoot-from-the-hip, not taking itself too seriously, easy-read style typical of Anne Enright. This is one of her more famous books, I guess, and it has all her hallmarks which I’d have to say are right in my wheelhouse – dysfunctional Irish families, alcoholism, humour, generational sadness and dark, dark subject matter. She doesn’t like men much, that’s clear, though being a middle-aged Irish woman, who could blame her? She writes them well, even if they are a bit sad and shitty. She sure likes talking about their willies too, or her characters do at least. All in, this was really very good.

The Trees by Percival Everett
This got fantastic reviews as a work of BLM-adjacent murder satire by someone who is considered one of the greats of modern American literature. I thought it was okay, maybe a bit Vonnegut-esque but not as good. The central conceit is that the ancestors of white supremacists in Mississippi are being lopped off, and each time the same black man’s body is found beside their bodies holding the dead man’s testicles. And what starts as a cartoonish whodunit soon develops into a sort of persons-of-colour zombie apocalypse, mixing silliness with the serious racial question. All fine and readable but just not as funny as I think it was trying to be.

God's Executioner: Oliver Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland by Micheál Ó Siochrú
Historical nonfiction about Cromwell. The vain part of me thought I might get engrossed in this but as I read I just thought, while the subject matter was interesting, there’s a reason why I don’t read history books for fun, because they’re not fun and not meant to be and I'm more a dreamer than I thought I was and attempting to be a person of gravitas when you're not is for pricks.

Canada by Richard Ford
This one quickly grew close to my heart as a story that is for the first half based in Great Falls Montana, where my family are actually from, set in a time not too distant from when they lived there, and about a family of a similar age and character. The parents in this case rob a bank and get thrown in jail (that’s where the similarities diverge) and the narrator – the son – ends up being transported to Canada. That’s the first half of the book and it’s brilliant. The second half of the book is about the kid’s experiences in Canada, where he is accommodated by and works for a Gatsby-ish sort of character called Arhtur Remlinger with a history of violence who fled the US. It’s written very well but Dell, the boy, is nothing more than an observer to all of this and has no agency at all. So the second half for me is disappointingly half-baked, considering how brilliant the first half is.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
This book, which was very influential in the ‘60s, was more a parable than a novel. All about a guy who seeks enlightenment and along the way goes down the path of excess. Similar themes to Narziss and Goldmund by the same author, which I read years ago and thought much better. This was grand, though mostly because it’s so short. Sid the farter by yer man Hiss.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K Dick
After reading a bunch of non-Dick stuff and returning to Dick, I was immediately struck - again - by what a damn weirdo he was. Or at least, his ideas. In this, people living a horrible existence in hovels on Mars (Earth has become too hot), to counter the monotony, take marketed drugs to put themselves into the minds of Barbie and Ken-type dolls, which I suppose in modern times would be the equivalent of entering a virtual world. Palmer Eldritch, a sort of drug pirate, creates a competitor drug that does something similar, but which places you in his controlled world. Very odd – and during a misplacement and refinding of the book (something that happens to me a lot) I lost interest, not just in the story but in Dick himself. I think I’ve had enough and am happy to spend the rest of my life Dickless.

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
I sped through this in a few days. If you’ve seen the film, it follows the book pretty closely so no surprises there, but it’s still worth a read (and the film is great anyway). I loved it, and I loved that McCarthy created a novel that just bounces off the page, unlike the earlier ones. It has a really good balance between the average-guy-does-a-dumb-thing thriller (the Josh Brolin character), the evil-incarnate psycho killer with a code/philosophy (Anton Chighurr, the Javier Bardem character), and the contemplations of the decent-old-guy Sherrif Bell (the Tommy Lee Jones character), which were good but dragged a little for me – but that’s a small complaint - as well as lots of really great side characters. Clearly, Chighurr is the star of the show, another incarnation of Judge Holden from Blood Meridian and, yeah. I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s an Diabhal, basically. Evil has a conscience. What a ride.

Home Sickness by Colin Barrett
A collection of short stories by a writer out of Mayo who has sprung to some international success and I can see why. The prose is excellent, the dialogue fun and engaging and the stories more than decent, though in places I admittedly struggled with where the centre was at; a bit of a bugbear of mine when it comes to the Irish short story and I don’t like feeling a dope who doesn’t get it; being from Mayo I already feel like that by default. Overall, a really impressive collection.

If you're on a McCarthy kick I'd recommend Suttree. Very little in the way of apocalyptic violence but it's a beautifully written tale of a misfit who drops out of society to become a river bum in Mississippi. Still full of freakish characters but the most humane and moving of his novels I thought. I think it's partly autobiographical.

 

[snakybus]

If you're on a McCarthy kick I'd recommend Suttree. Very little in the way of apocalyptic violence but it's a beautifully written tale of a misfit who drops out of society to become a river bum in Mississippi. Still full of freakish characters but the most humane and moving of his novels I thought. I think it's partly autobiographical.

Definitely on my list!

 

[snakybus]

The Mote in Gods Eye. 70s sci-fi about first contact with aliens in the distant future. I'm enjoying it.

Deadly book.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

I found Suttree to be a complete slog. I can’t take to his earlier books at all, Blood Meridian is where he suddenly finds his power. I love The Border Trilogy and I’m planning a re-read of that soon. Need to read Stella Maris first though.

 

[GO]

Anthony Bourdain ..Kitchen Confidential..Great
Richard Feynman .....Surely you're joking Mr.Feynman! Excellent

 

[Cormcolash]

Ursula LeGuin collection of her early novels, Worlds of Exile And Illusion - great stuff. She was some writer.

 

[chris d]

I got Four Thousand Weeks from the library after @egg_ 's glowing review. And ironically I haven't had time to read it. I read egg's post and the back cover at least, so I reckon I've got the jist.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Weaveworld by Clive Barker. Daft and silly, but imaginative and fun.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Sacked off Weaveworld. Overwritten and boring.

Now reading Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Excellent

 

[Reets]

Ursula LeGuin collection of her early novels, Worlds of Exile And Illusion - great stuff. She was some writer.

A wizard of Earthsea has been on my bookcase for 20 years years. Someday….

 

[rettucs]

I started reading 'Fairy Tale' by Stephen King while on my holliers last week.

the opening 160 pages are great. King at his best.

I sense its going to start getting weird now. And not necessarily in a good way.

Will see.

This book was a chore in the end. I got through the first 400 pages in the same time that it took me to get through the last 150. He is a master of using a thousand words to say something that can be said in 10.

Currently reading Amulet by Roberto Bolano. Picked it up for 1 euro in a bookshop here in Kilkenny. Very easy going read, the usual from Bolano. The same characters that tend to pop up in many of his books. I imagine it as a kind of Father Ted situation where you have these scenes playing out, but instead of them being priests, its poets. Its really nice though. I want to read some of his work in Spanish, but whoever did the translation did a top class job.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Recent reads

Fairytale, Stephen King - see above from Scuts

Raft & Timelike Infinity by Stephen Baxter - first two books in this sci fi series about humanity's war with an inscrutable alien civilisation. Some good hard sci fi ideas.

Dracula, Bram Stoker - first time reading. Surprised by how horny it is. Pretty good.

Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Thomas Ligotti - spooky reads. Eerie, get under your skin, cosmic horror. I am reminded of Blood Meridian in Ligotti's writing.

Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson - good stuff. Epic, utopian sci fi.

 

[magicbastarder]

read 'what if 2' while on holidays. grand light holiday read, great for dipping into.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Dracula, Bram Stoker - first time reading. Surprised by how horny it is. Pretty good.

Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Thomas Ligotti - spooky reads. Eerie, get under your skin, cosmic horror. I am reminded of Blood Meridian in Ligotti's writing.

10/10 for both of these.

I’ve just started Moby Dick.

 

[snakybus]

Since I last posted here six weeks ago I've read just one book - The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It took be that long because it's, well, a proper doorstop, but also dense. I wanted to give it a proper read - you have to read it slowly. There are large tracts that are hard to get through, whether it's the philosophies of a dead monk or the lengthy ecclesiastical theories of one of the main characters, which were, frankly, pretty impenetrable. Nonetheless I found it worth sticking with and the story and wide cast of characters absorbed me. It's as expansive, passionate and significant/rewarding as I've come to expect from a classic Russian novel - the ones I've read so far, anyway. One that I think will stay with me.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Recently

This Plague of Souls by Mike McCormack: Existential Irish crime drama. Man returns home after doing time for a mysterious crime and is plagued by creepy phone calls. Very good

The Fisherman by John Langan: Bereaved man goes in search of a river which supposedly brings the dead back to life and encounters the biblical Leviathan. Has a good lovecraftian vibe but I found the story within the story slightly confusing.

The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgård: Bunch of Norwegians lives impacted by a new, huge, bright star in the sky which ushers in some supernatural shenanigans. Very long but really came together in the end for me.

Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon: A man's consciousness escapes his body, travels the universe observing intelligent life on other planets over billions of years and eventually meets God. Pretty mind blowing.