what are you reading today?

[Layne]

I went to 4 bookstores today to find The Friends of Eddie Coyle by Higgins and no one had shit. I'm still kinda bitter.

[roeyroeyy]

the society of others by william nicholson

[bfan]

I felt very cheated when I finished atlas shrugged. ayn rand is something I hope people use as a jumping off point for bigger and better things.

picked this up at the bookstore today for cheap:

[Dead_Wizard]

Hit up Borders again.

Picked up two quick novellas and a full length

Point Omega was a fairly fascinating sketch of a story, so sparse that it left you wanting more though.

The Humbling was standard Roth, non-essential by any standards, but a good story none the less.

Will be starting on the Thousand Autumns after I finish Lucky Jim.

[scientifick]

It's quite peculiar, in that I don't mind the amount of time it's taking to finish, because I enjoy the interesting albeit slow progression of each character.

i agree completely. i've always loved the contrast between her drawn-out character development and (generally) sharp, brisk dialogue.

[thomas_collins]

This is one of my father's favorite books. Wanted to read it before watching the movie (that comes out next week) with him.

[Paul T]

I wish I had read White Noise first. Finished it yesterday and was seriously impressed. For a 326 page novel, it is incredibly rich in ideas with so much to take away from it and dwell on. Loved the characters and the dialogue throughout.

Now starting on Underworld given the recommendation by DDML (Delillo Destroyed My Life?). Quite clearly a book I need to commit to - it's added about 2kg in weight to my work bag!

SSS - my first Delillo was Falling Man, his post-9/11 novel. Sometimes with books it can really be a case of "it's not you, it's me" so I try to never write an author off completely but that novel just did not work for me and I was left wondering what the fuss about Delillo was. Will return to it at some point. I lent it to my dad and he thought it was excellent.

I'm lucky to be old enough to have read WHite Noise and Libra soon after they came out and they pretty much blew my mind; there's something about the tone/intensity of his writing that fucks with my head. Then to read Underworld, maybe a decade later, and find it in some ways even finer was a rare pleasure. I'd trade his lesser works, like Cosmopolis, for many so-called major ones by his rivals like Roth.

Anyway, while staying near Great Jones street a month ago, I read that novel too, written in 1973, based on a rock star who drops out, it's well worth investigating - once you know his style you can appreciate it in its raw form.

This is one of my father's favorite books. Wanted to read it before watching the movie (that comes out next week) with him.

And I re-read this last fall, alternating with Cospmopolis, it's a great book, but even better as a trilogy. Everything you need to know about Britain's decline. The BBC series is pretty damn good too.

[skiniks]

[Paul T]

Check out his own slightly imaginative biog too, Slightly Out Of Focus, it's even better than the Kershaw book.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

almost finished this one

detective working on an unsolved murder of a drunk

first in raymond's factory trilogy

will likely read the next two installments

[IsaakM]

starting these:

[fasttimes]

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Only about 150 pages in but this is blowing my mind. Is the whole thing like one big joke? Somebody educate me.

[footfeet]

I've just borrowed catcher in the rye off a friend. Don't know anything about it, as I never took the time to go through it until I was pretty much begged to read it. Hopefully I like it.

[jackg]

Catcher in the Rye is easily one of my favourite books! i am sure you will love it!

[doctor_doom]

been awhile since i've read anything and I found this at a friends house so I decided to take a chance

[Bislane]

Only about 150 pages in but this is blowing my mind. Is the whole thing like one big joke? Somebody educate me.

Yeah it's going to keep going like that until you start to make more regular circuits through its little universe and start to extrapolate what's been going on and where you really actually are at any point in a chapter. If you haven't read the longass exposition (or posthumous 1st-person I think probably) going back to the 70's/80's tennis culture then get to that and you'll be hooked on the sidebars replete with their endnotes. In general though the endnotes bog things down so I wouldn't sweat them even though they do give you laughs a lot of the time and at points point out things you'd never guess otherwise.

[american_hearts]

Don't get too in your head about it, and just get to know the characters.

[mr fluffernutter]

Starting this:

finishing this and hopefully finding a copy of count zero for cheap

[Baeyer-Drewson]

In general though the endnotes bog things down so I wouldn't sweat them even though they do give you laughs a lot of the time and at points point out things you'd never guess otherwise.

The endnote containing the comprehensive filmography of the late Incandenza sr ("Himself" hahaha) was some of the funniest stuff I've read in a while.

[ifeelasleep]

how i take advantage of lazy sunny afternoons

[denimdestroyedmylife]

The endnote containing the comprehensive filmography of the late Incandenza sr ("Himself" hahaha) was some of the funniest stuff I've read in a while.

the bit in there about the lesbian tennis coach who wrote a paper called "The Toothless Predator: Breastfeeding as Sexual Assault" always make me laugh out of nowhere, like, when i'm just wandering around and it just pops into my head apropos of nothing - someone write that paper please!

[broneck]

The endnote containing the comprehensive filmography of the late Incandenza sr ("Himself " hahaha) was some of the funniest stuff I've read in a while.

I've heard it suggested that "The Joke" (which is explored in greater detail later in the novel) is an allegory for the book itself, one that people stick with for longer and longer until they realize they're just being fucked with, the jokes on them!, and then they just give up. anyone who finishes didn't get it!

(this is awesome in a way that is so meta I can barely begin to wrap my brain around how many levels of mind-fuck are actually at play here)

[sawyer]

RE: Infinite Jest

i'm currently about 800 pages into that book and i agree that it is one of the more hilarious (and sad) books i've read recently. i think this book in particular has been receiving some new attention lately because a lot of the ideas he was working with back in the 90s have finally percolated into american public consciousness. there's really no advice i could give about that book other than just read it, its an incredible book and every character receives moments of vivid action and experience.

there's an interview with wallace up on youtube, its about an hour long or so and watching that helped clarify/highlight some of the themes in the book, if they weren't already obvious.

[yachtrock89]

Really enjoying it so far. Lamest thing about it is the cover; my copy looks like an ed hardy shirt

[Dead_Wizard]

ordered

and

getting my east coast crime drama on.

Curious if anyone in this thread is in a creative writing MFA program or something similar?

[IsaakM]

starting this:

Out of curiosity, is there any general consensus as to the running order of Bolano's books?

[gramps]

Other than people's personal experience, no. I think approaching an author's work like that will (with exceptions) only get you headaches. Start there if you feel most interested in it.

I picked up a stack of books in San Fran last week, I'm starting with this:

And for on the john:

[Baeyer-Drewson]

I've heard it suggested that "The Joke" (which is explored in greater detail later in the novel) is an allegory for the book itself, one that people stick with for longer and longer until they realize they're just being fucked with, the jokes on them!, and then they just give up. anyone who finishes didn't get it!

(this is awesome in a way that is so meta I can barely begin to wrap my brain around how many levels of mind-fuck are actually at play here)

This was my exact thought after a hundred pages or so. Why else would you make it so long? It doesn't need to be as long as it is, but it's so entertaining that I just keep reading anyway. And over a hundred pages of notes? Really? The filmography list of Himself contained quite a few "films" that never reached production. Fictional conceptualisations of fictional films that were never actualised by a (deceased) fictional character.

As I was reading that particular endnote I kept thinking, why am I bothering to read this? But the other film info given was just too funny to risk not reading all of them. Definitely a work of genius on some level...

[Baeyer-Drewson]

starting this:

Out of curiosity, is there any general consensus as to the running order of Bolano's books?

Of the 4 or so I have read, this one is the most rich.