what are you reading today?

[red]

^^ are they any good?

I'm reading Breakfast for Champions right now.. I'm lookin for other books to read from Kurt Vonnegut. I've read a man without a country and slaughterhouse five.. Anyone read any other goodies from him?

cats cradle was pretty good.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

for some reason, jailbird always stands out when i think back on the glut of vonnegut books i've read over the years

for vonnegut obsessives try theodore sturgeon's books; kilgore trout is based on this sci-fi author; impenetrable, laborious, bizarre, but worth a shot; i confess i've never gotten through a sturgeon book. reading 50 pages is equivalent to reading 500, i reckon

[sybaritical]

I just finished William Gibson's Spook Country and I'm feeling a bit short-changed somehow. My expectations were high after pattern recognition and it just didn't deliver enough.

Just Started George Perec's " Species of space and other pieces " and it's great ... Surreal, dynamic, humourous and observational all at once. I never heard of the guy before, came across him by complete accident and I love it when I find something new and fresh in a style I never even thought existed.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

I just finished William Gibson's Spook Country and I'm feeling a bit short-changed somehow. My expectations were high after pattern recognition and it just didn't deliver enough.

i agree. anticlimactic and overly long, cute, tidy denouement. i like all the little elements, and the several build-ups were nice, but it is a lot of chugging, huffing and puffing that goes nowhere. and the most interesting bit, the locative art, was underutilized, and ultimately, irrelevant. gimmicky book. worth a look. just kinda half-assed.

[jschenkkan]

Epileptic by David Blaine and Set This House In Order by Matt Ruff... Both so good it's almost impossible to multi task them, but too good to set one down for real.

[pluthjam]

v/./v.vv<v./.v.\.v>vv.v\.\v

[insomaniac]

sheer laughter.

dirty found mag vol 3.

[red]

You could try If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. Entirely different than Catch-22 but even more absurd and (imo) much funnier than anything Heller did. I don't even know how to describe it. A lot of it is written in second person and its sort of about you trying to finish the book while youre reading it because you're copy is a misprint/entirely different book/recipe for sheperd's pie... you should totally read it, thats all.

thanks alot. sounds interesting.

[BodiesOfLight]

Picked up Sunset with a Beard and Satan Burger by Carlton Mellick III. Heard some crazy shit 'bout his work so I'm checking it out!

[viv1984viv]

So I finished "in the miso soup" by Ryu murakami, im a bit divided about it, I kinda thought it was existentially toned but perhaps this is because of the translation, anyone read it in the japanese? Id be interesting to hear you thoughts.

In fact I thought the actions within the book were existential, how kenji mentioned how the terrible event just faded into being a fact rather than an image. How he can only watch things going on and was froze with terror but couldnt do anything and then afterwards it just washes over him, these aspects and how he descrbes the detached people of the sex industry felt very existential - How frank knew how bad he was, and just got on with it.

Anyone read this guy??

[superBobo]

I just finished Sputnik Sweethearts by Haruki Murakami... really good little book, in pretty much the same vein as the others ive read by him, but somewhat less storydriven (and not as amazing as kafka on the shore and dancedancedance). The main point of how we all are lonely and just orbit each other in a distance was well put. The book started out simple and down to earth, but ending left me a little confused though.. Maybe I need to reread it.

[Decoy]

Cat's Cradle for Philosophy Class

[red]

lust for life.

[thomparetta]

currently reading dostoyevsky's the idiot which is marvelous! its depiction of morality is so complex and the character meditations are wonderfully gritty. the prince is such a wonderful contrast with the rest of the cast.

i'm also reading van gogh's bad cafe by frederic tuten. he's a contemporary author but the text is extremely ambitious. check out his literary clout: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Tuten

can anyone offer any insight / tips / suggestions on Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon, or Gaddis?

[stickliy]

just finished reading The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov a few days ago . Great book

[M.O.A]

A thousand splendid suns

[whizkit]

metamorphosis and other stories, franz kafka

[jeepster]

the aenid of virgil - rolfe humpbries (for a class)

on the road - jack kerouac

macbeth - shakespeare

12th night - shakespeare (next week)

both shakespeares are for class as well. different one than the aenid. aenid is for comparitive mythology & literature which is my one impressive extracirricular class in 4 years of high school, but still its sorta a phone-it-in course. theres really no work, just discussions once a week and a paper once a month

[sistersuzie]

the aenid of virgil - rolfe humpbries (for a class)

on the road - jack kerouac

macbeth - shakespeare

12th night - shakespeare (next week)

I had to read the Merchant of Venice from Shakespeare in one of my class, last year.

Macbeth is really interesting as well.

I was reading Faust by Goethe, but I don't like it as much as I liked Die Leiden des jungen Werthers.

So I'm switching to a book about Native american mythology

[RobbertJan]

course started!

read pride&prejudice (horrible)

reading: romeo&julliet

jesus son- denis johnson

slouching towards bethlehem- joan didion

great expectations-dickens

white teeth-zadie smith

and for myself reading: allen ginsberg: howl and selected poems

[Eccles]

Jonathan Lethem - You Don't Love Me Yet

[Eccles]

Jonathan Lethem - You Don't Love Me Yet

[JesseJB]

Luc Sante - "Low Life"

all the grimy, putrid and forgotten stories of old manhattan. im hooked on it.

[JesseJB]

Luc Sante - "Low Life"

all the grimy, putrid and forgotten stories of old manhattan. im hooked on it.

[viv1984viv]

Some good books being mentioned here. I have yet to start on Dideon OR Pynchon despite owning some books.... also Frederic Tuten look fascinating!

As for McCarthy - I really enjoyed "the road" it didnt blow me away or anything but certainly kept me gripped. Quite a page turner. I want to read his Border Trilogy.

Just finishing "Spook Country", ( NO SPOILERS PLEASE ).... going to back track and read Part 2 of the sprawl Trilogy next..... but im also going to read Pat Barkers "Regeneration" for a group read.

[viv1984viv]

Some good books being mentioned here. I have yet to start on Dideon OR Pynchon despite owning some books.... also Frederic Tuten look fascinating!

As for McCarthy - I really enjoyed "the road" it didnt blow me away or anything but certainly kept me gripped. Quite a page turner. I want to read his Border Trilogy.

Just finishing "Spook Country", ( NO SPOILERS PLEASE ).... going to back track and read Part 2 of the sprawl Trilogy next..... but im also going to read Pat Barkers "Regeneration" for a group read.

[Yardsale]

I recently finishe Junot Diaz's new book, now I'm back to some Haruki Murakami

[Yardsale]

I recently finishe Junot Diaz's new book, now I'm back to some Haruki Murakami

[OriginaFakeFan]

Just Finished Atlas Shrugged.

[OriginaFakeFan]

Just Finished Atlas Shrugged.