what are you reading today?

[TheNorthern]

rereading this one..

[spudeey]

Can't rep you enough spudeey. You bringing some classic, interesting, non-Murakami shit to this thread on the reg. When I finish my current Bolano fetish I shall post again.

Edit: Shit, sorry, this thread and the film thread.

I've been snowed in my house for about a week so a lot of free time.

I have Norwegian Wood on my shelf right now, I guess I won't post this one

[NESK]

...murakami...

[Biff15]

Posting here b/c I'm not reading Murakami... but I have read Norwegian Wood...

[Eccles]

rereading

lookin at pictures

never read murakami

i have dance dance dance

on the cover it says

'If Raymond Chandler had lived long enough to see Blade Runner, he might have written something like Dance...'

yeah?

[broneck]

i have not read any murakami (i'm not even sure i spelled it right)

can i still post here?

(thread title change noted, moving right along) - i started reading Mr. Squishy by David Foster Wallace (story one in Oblivion) today.

I always hate hyping things up in case it leads to someone not enjoying said somethings as much as they were lead to believe they should, but every story in this book should be read by pretty much everyone.

[Guest]

I'm just posting because Clopek posted ...

Steinbeck - Cannery Row not Murakami .. I have a few friends who love Steinbeck more than anyone, but while I see him as pretty witty and perseptive I really don't understand the mass appeal, I read grapes of wrath and of mice and men but they just didn't resonate as much as I expected them too, maybe I'm missing something?

[shufon]

Hah, just started this today Clopek.

[okonomi]

I woulda thought Richard Price is just as deserving of an 'other than...' as Murakami...

(no hate to Price tho!)

[chantheman]

taking it back to 97 and sophomore year summer reading

[Sund]

I love it.

[ktothe]

I woulda thought Richard Price is just as deserving of an 'other than...' as Murakami...

(no hate to Price tho!)

You shut your whore mouth.

[okonomi]

:eek: Not dissing, my point was that Lush Life seems to be posted in here as often as any Murakami.

[ktothe]

:eek: Not dissing, my point was that Lush Life seems to be posted in here as often as any Murakami.

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Not nearly as often. Clockers or Lush Life every few pages... maybe... Usually several fucking Murakami books a page. No hate to Price (I love his work), no hate to Murakami (I love his work, less than Price's).

On a Murakami note, I'm reading my third Bolano novel now and I can't help but be reminded of Murakami. What is the connection? I'm having trouble verbalising it. Bolano is, in some places, kind of like Murakami, but better.

[broneck]

Hah, just started this today Clopek.

I haven't picked this up yet...it's a collection of his essays rather than short stories, yes?

[denimdestroyedmylife]

^ yup. it is a romp.

the essay he wrote about David Lynch is a riot. and insightful.

and dated (kind of interesting, actually, that things "date" so much more quickly now).

[denimdestroyedmylife]

I'm just posting because Clopek posted ...

Steinbeck - Cannery Row not Murakami .. I have a few friends who love Steinbeck more than anyone, but while I see him as pretty witty and perseptive I really don't understand the mass appeal, I read grapes of wrath and of mice and men but they just didn't resonate as much as I expected them too, maybe I'm missing something?

if you don't get it, don't force yourself. it helps to be american, i guess. grapes of wrath is a history of the land, and how mechanical agriculture changed our relationship with the land - eh, it is an insight into how my great grandparents lived, and i find that interesting.

[broneck]

I'm a pretty big DFW slobberer too, but I feel like I've come by it honestly. Oblivion is great because it's like reading little bite size snippets of mathematical philosophy that is often found in passages of Jest, but in manageable subway friendly format.

Also, just read Old Man and the Sea. Beautiful book, some shitty Irish folk music came on in the coffee shop I was reading it in but it really set a pretty profound tune and made the whole experience pretty amazing. I usually read in silence.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

The Pearl by Steinbeck is equivalent to The Old Man & the Sea by Hemingway

both allegorical and both aberrations in their oeuvre

[NESK]

if oblivion was as thick as IJ id porbly like it more than IJ. totally agree.

who renamed the thread? i owe them a hug and handjob.

[Dead_Wizard]

I haven't picked this up yet...it's a collection of his essays rather than short stories, yes?

Absolutely awesome set of essays. The one about the State Fair is so incredibly hateful at times I can't help but laugh. The entire "K-Mart people" section just so perfectly describes a vast swath of the American public.

Just finished up

which was a great little story.

Kind of flagging on what to read next, got a suggestion from a writer friend to check out

but it sounds monumentally depressing. Maybe I'll read some MURAKAMI or LUSH LIFE instead.

Hope 2011 is a year I can actually get back to writing.

[ordo]

who renamed the thread? i owe them a hug and handjob.

A simple "thanks" will suffice.

[NESK]

no, im saving a handjob for you til the next time im in van. ill also buy you a japadog.

[ordo]

Well I won't say no to a Japadog.

[mr.invincible]

i'll take the hand job then

[ordo]

Japadog > handjob

[destructodisk]

Just finished:

Reading now:

[robbie]

I am trying to start reading 'The corrections' by Jonathan Franzen. I've enjoyed it so far, but am a little intimidated by the size of it.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

that's not a tough read.

from what i've read of franzen (i haven't read his latest)

that's his thing

like, not alienating your reader

a lot of the corrections is set where i used to live and where i work (the NW parts of Philly) and he gets it just right

i don't love that book but maybe my expectations were too high

i like his essays all right

people close to me liked Freedom but i think i will wait a few years before picking it up