what are you reading today?

[areyounoob]

Starting on Metatropolis.

[jyoni]

I can feel the wood pulp churning. This is outlandish shit, and it's good.

[tinyelephant]

started this one with my book club

but also reading this one on the side

[Guest dubU]

I couldn't read a book if I tried. I listen to audio books, it's a new revolution.

My eyes are in constant hibernation so by the time I'm 215 I'll have perfect vision unlike the rest of you losers.

[goodfella]

bought my girlfriend kafka on the shore for christmas. should i steal it and read that shit

[flyhigh]

Just about to start

[HAMEZ]

bought my girlfriend kafka on the shore for christmas. should i steal it and read that shit

You absolutely should. That book is very, very good.

[Baeyer-Drewson]

started this one with my book club

Vomit.

Get a better book club. I would never partake in group discussion of books written by Stieg Larsson, Dan Brown, or Stephanie Meyer.

bought my girlfriend kafka on the shore for christmas. should i steal it and read that shit

You just ruined the longest page streak this thread has had without a mention of Murakami.

But, yes, read it. It won't change your life, and it's not Murakami's best, but it is still a pretty decent, easy read.

[areyounoob]

Anybody else think that listening to audiobook kind of kills the characters? As a reader I think voice plays a huge ass role on reading cause it's linked to images and the words they read further animate the voices. We associate voices with physical figures. Like a big guy gets a big voice while a small and timid guy gets a smaller more soft speaking voice. With audiobooks (I feel) we're forced to think like that rather than letting our mind run free and actually imagine. I don't know, maybe it's just the audiobook I'm listening to, but it kinda feels like listening to an audiobook kind of kills the inner "voice".

[SoleSketKC]

Get a better book club. I would never partake in group discussion of books written by Stieg Larsson, Dan Brown, or Stephanie Meyer.

Grouping Larsson with Dan Brown might be one of the worst comparisons I've seen. I would by all means read the Dragon Tattoo series. Scandinavia has always produced some of the most fascinating reads and this is certainly no exception. I would think about reading the novels before making such an uneducated comparison.

Nice book club imo dude. I'm taking a Swedish crime novels course next semester when I study abroad in Stockholm....and Larsson is the focus of the class.

[NESK]

I think larsson gets lumped into dan browns readership because you can get it at the drugstore, or at your mom's nightstand. Is he actually a decent writer? I just assumed hecwas poop because aunt mable liked him.

[american_hearts]

Grouping Larsson with Dan Brown might be one of the worst comparisons I've seen.

Jesus Christ. What the fuck is the difference? Seriously. Tell me.

Tell me.

[american_hearts]

Technology, distrust of governments, revenge being the main themes, what he fuck could there possibly be to discuss? You'll get some mileage out of "does he like women or hate them?", but only because it's the sort of nonsense you can put your two cents in about without really needing to know anything, not because the author actually has anything meaningful to say or any clever way of saying it.

[NESK]

I regrettably paid $16 for that DFW commencement speech in hardcover. Didn't open it before buying it so I didn't realize it was only gonna last me for as long as it takes to finish a double espresso. Should have read it in the aisle and bought something else.

[bfan]

^it's also all over the internet. still pretty good but kind of depressing at the same time

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Grouping Larsson with Dan Brown might be one of the worst comparisons I've seen. I would by all means read the Dragon Tattoo series...I would think about reading the novels before making such an uneducated comparison.

I have read large sections of the first book. It reads like shit. And don't give me any bullshit about having to read the whole thing for the "plot" because I've heard from reputable book sluts that it is cliche-ridden drivel by the standards of the detective thriller genre.

I'm taking a Swedish crime novels course next semester when I study abroad in Stockholm....and Larsson is the focus of the class.

I should neg you for this.

I think larsson gets lumped into dan browns readership because you can get it at the drugstore, or at your mom's nightstand. Is he actually a decent writer? I just assumed hecwas poop because aunt mable liked him.

As a writer he is average as fuck (at best), bordering on terrible. Just pick up an Apple catalogue, that is half of the book right there, inane descriptions of the specifications of Apple products.

Jesus Christ. What the fuck is the difference? Seriously. Tell me.

Tell me.

You should watch your language American_Hearts, SoleSketKC is about to take a Swedish crime novels course next year, with a focus on Stieg Larsson... He will be your go-to academic expert for the indelible literary genius that is STIEG LARSSON.

[american_hearts]

The latest New Yorker devotes a few pages to the question of 'why do people read this shit' and never arrives at an answer. Who knows? Who cares?

This is the difference between reading Dan Brown and reading Larsson.

Say there's a kid down the street who spends hours a day poking dog turds with a stick. You also spend hours a day poking turds with a stick, but you get incredibly incensed whenever anyone groups you two together as 'those nasty kids who are always out on the sidewalk with a stick, poking turds.'

Ugh. How could anyone be so stupid? It should be as plain as the noses on their big fat faces that the turds you spend your time poking don't come from a dog, they come from some dog-like animal from Scandinavia; and it's not even called a dog, it's got some totally different funny name in Scandinavian.

And, also, this other important difference between you and that other kid who pokes turds is that you're planning to go abroad to take a class on it.

[pieiskewl]

reading this right now (for school), pretty good, but i find the sentence structure to be a bit choppy at points, not a fluid read. it's almost like purposefully choppy (i mean i am sure it is purposeful) but it gets tiresome, would rather not have the flow of my reading constantly interrupted by 1-3 word sentences

edit:

seems a lil corny that the protagonist his a widower with 2 girls has a love interest that is also a widower but with 1 son, and both have kids with "mental problems". it's like a lifetime movie plot, anyone who has read the book get this?

[NESK]

The latest New Yorker devotes a few pages to the question of 'why do people read this shit' and never arrives at an answer. Who knows? Who cares?

This is the difference between reading Dan Brown and reading Larsson.

Say there's a kid down the street who spends hours a day poking dog turds with a stick. You also spend hours a day poking turds with a stick, but you get incredibly incensed whenever anyone groups you two together as 'those nasty kids who are always out on the sidewalk with a stick, poking turds.'

Ugh. How could anyone be so stupid? It should be as plain as the noses on their big fat faces that the turds you spend your time poking don't come from a dog, they come from some dog-like animal from Scandinavia; and it's not even called a dog, it's got some totally different funny name in Scandinavian.

And, also, this other important difference between you and that other kid who pokes turds is that you're planning to go abroad to take a class on it.

i have a doctorate in turd-poking(achieved abroad) and i can attest to the subtle and invaluable nuances of scandinavian turds.

[SoleSketKC]

For the attack on Larsson, I suppose you are entitled to your opinions. Saying the novels read terribly is entirely subjective, I tend to think they read quite interestingly. Content wise, numerous discussions regarding character dynamics and whatnot can be drawn out for ages. As we all know, in academia it is about what the reader can take out of the novel, not what the writer wants you to take out of it. Discussion points are endless.

As for the attack on studying abroad and education, that is completely unnecessary. It sounds as though jealousy is the driving force behind that. However, I will inform Swarthmore College that you think their English department is poor, and also inform them on the negatives of studying abroad.

Saying that Larsson is bordering on terrible is another subjective comment. So "negging" someone who in fact likes his work or calling them out is perhaps the most pretentious act I could imagine. If you don't have any beneficial comments to contribute then please remove your hands from your keyboard.

Whether or not you agree with this, well me and my liberal arts education don't really care.

[SoleSketKC]

Also, just started Inherent Vice by Pynchon. Accessible and excellent so far. Recently finished Power/Knowledge by Foucault.

Quite an interesting read. Provides a great overview for all of his theories instead of just focusing on one.

[jo3 b]

and after

[Baeyer-Drewson]

The latest New Yorker devotes a few pages to the question of 'why do people read this shit' and never arrives at an answer. Who knows? Who cares?

Why was Transformers 2 a blockbuster commercial success? You're whole analogy is pretty apt american_hearts, and I must rep.

SoleSket, you obviously read some good shit as well as actual shit, so maybe I will just have to agree to disagree with your blatant Larsson fanboyism so we can move on and talk about some real books. Not jealous of your lib arts education or study abroad, I've travelled plenty with my studies, and I don't want to shit up a good thread.

I just think Larsson is incredibly overhyped, overrated, and undertalented. Pure mediocrity. Or should I say, pure mediocrity, with those italics for dramatic effect.

I'm slowly realising that arguing about the quality of different books is completely pointless, not to mention hypocritical when I'm such a bookslut. In many ways, book arguments are more embittered and pointless than arguments about religion. Just don't ever try to tell me that Twilight is a "good book", as an otherwise intelligent girlfriend of mine did, I will bring dat neg train.

[mr.invincible]

can anyone comment on jim harrison or suggest any books by him?

[gramps]

His poetry's brutal but the Raw and the Cooked is a fun book.

[gramps]

But be aware that you're roving pretty far into DudeLit territory.

[american_hearts]

However, I will inform Swarthmore College that you think their English department is poor, and also inform them on the negatives of studying abroad.

Please do, you poncy fuck.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

I regrettably paid $16 for that DFW commencement speech in hardcover. Didn't open it before buying it so I didn't realize it was only gonna last me for as long as it takes to finish a double espresso. Should have read it in the aisle and bought something else.

^it's also all over the internet. still pretty good but kind of depressing at the same time

plus it is bowdlerized in the hardcover version

speaking of which, Huck Finn got fucked with for the public good: all "nigger"'s were replaced with "slave"s

now children everywhere can enjoy this banned work without turning into bigots (?) but positive, productive slave-owning plantation owners

GROUP HUG

and yeah

now i'm reading this:

[poopslushie]

can't decide what I want to read next:

(continue) Don Quixote

Magister Ludi/Glass Bead Game

The Iron Heel

[doctor_doom]