what are you reading today?

[i like turtles.]

just finished

starting

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Bedtime reading. At $6 second-hand, this is probably the best value book I have purchased!

[NESK]

man i was in here about amonth ago saying chapters had that at 7.99. i ran through it in a couple weeks.

[poopslushie]

don quixote... probably the funniest book I've ever read

[gramps]

I feel like an idiot for having never used the Amazon marketplace until a few months ago. Books are so cheap you feel wary that you're being ripped off.

[hooks]

the least enjoyable read of all time

[ericdw]

Anyone read any William T. Vollmann? Stumbled across an article in the Sunday Book Review and some of his stuff sounds interesting.

[gramps]

He has his fanatics and his detractors. I haven't read his early stuff but I did slog through Europe Central and some bits of Rising Up and Rising Down, and then handfuls of his other stuff when I had a chance. It's tough to suggest either of those two as a starting place (for what its worth, I liked Europe Central, but it was just too big and dense, there's no economy to it) and everything else seems pretty arbitrary. Maybe You Bright and Risen Angels? Other than that, I would just suggest staying away from his non-fiction. He can make most anything sound good, but his cultural theory is rickety and overwrought, and in the end is either unconvincing or straight off-putting.

[Baeyer-Drewson]

man i was in here about amonth ago saying chapters had that at 7.99. i ran through it in a couple weeks.

You were my motivation NESK (<3). Seriously though, I did buy it based on your suggestion in this thread (no 'omo). It's fucking great! It combines my love of short stories with a veritable who's who of the greatest American authors of the 20th century!

I feel like an idiot for having never used the Amazon marketplace until a few months ago. Books are so cheap you feel wary that you're being ripped off.

And this is TRUTH. Amazon marketplace is tha bomb. Even with shipping to Aus, it is cheaper than purchasing books retail here. Especially academic texts/hardcover/out of print.

[Subculture]

Palahniuk's new book "Tell - All" dropped yesterday. Anyone planning on reading it. Im gonna pick it up tiday despite every single review Ive read is saying how terrible it is. Yikes. Uts under 200 pages so i figure I knock it out in a day, which will make it better if its a piece of crap.

[Baeyer-Drewson]

^I can't lie, for all his shortcomings as a writer, I did enjoy Fight Club and Invisible Monsters. I have read almost every Palahniuk book since, and I am always disappointed. I honestly don't know why I keep going back. I guess a part of me hopes he will miraculously pull something worthwhile and original out of his ass-hat.

Pygmy was horrible. It had almost no redeeming qualities. Let me know how this one goes...

[NESK]

i wasnt able to enjoy invisible monsters because it WAS fight club (which was great) but with womens names.

dude is crazy one dimensional. if youre going to be a die hard nihilist, you need to find new ways of backing up why the world is doomed. great stylist, shitty storyteller.

[Vampyrvargfesten]

besides this, boring books about corporate finance yuck

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Exactly my point. His protagonists are all identical. When I read any of his books I feel like I'm getting swindled. Like the same character is trying to convince me he is a "new" protagonit, sometimes coming back in drag, sometimes in completely unconvincing disguises, or, in the case of pygmy, doing a racist impersonation of an asian accent.

[kicks79]

I get obsessed with authors and buy everything i can find that they wrote and then move on. Just finished Murakami and now im reading Cormac McCarthy. The road, Blood Meridian and now No Country for Old Men.

[Baeyer-Drewson]

McCarthy > Murakami > Palahniuk. My $0.02.

edit: nice McCarthy quote in your sig. I really liked that line when I read it.

[gramps]

I get obsessed with authors and buy everything i can find that they wrote and then move on. Just finished Murakami and now im reading Cormac McCarthy. The road, Blood Meridian and now No Country for Old Men.

Not sure what you thought of The Road and No country, but check out Child of God if they left you still hungry.

[weinfeld]

Been on a philosophy kick recently.

Now reading:

[Baeyer-Drewson]

[i like turtles.]

recommended by my U.S. history teacher

[mpcec]

Just started this, been vaguely on my radar for a while and my friend recently pushed me to buy it. Never looked into what it was about but for whatever reason it's nothing at all like I expected. I'm enjoying it so far though, really easy reading.

[3d-min]

One of my all time favourite books from one of my all time favourite american author

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[salaryman]

[Baeyer-Drewson]

^Fuck yes! Outta rep salaryman. This was so much fun. There is another book by the same author about big-time weed smugglers called Smokescreen. Both based on non-fictional characters, I think.

[Quiver]

was at a mates place over the weekend and saw and subsequently borrowed chuckie p's pygmy after reading a bit about him and his work in this very thread. i don't think it's racist against asians at all. americans easily get the sharper end of the stick. admitedlly, the style of writing in this is annoying, but it's also original (yeh, original doesn't equate to good, but still). plot's pretty bad but somewhat funny and mild to moderately entertaining for the bulk of the book. in the end though, it was dissapointing and felt like an adulterated teen love story with alot of bullshit disjointed elements (stupid sounding kung fu moves, sodomy, paedophelia, ideology, lots of communist and facisit quotes, ridiculous sex toys etc.)

Kafka's Metamorphosis on the other hand was time much better spent. I'll probably start The Trial next.

[salaryman]

^Fuck yes!

yeah, really liking this so far. will check out smokescreen.

I heard he also wrote an account of his real life experience from a plane crash in cape cod which a friend said was interesting.

[dfaus]

[viv1984viv]

One of my all time favourite books from one of my all time favourite american author

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Book is amazing. On some biblical, miltonesque tip..... Brutal.

Its my favourite McCarthy.

Im currently reading Rick Perlsteins Nixonland.

Looking forward to BBE's Imperial Bedrooms - pre-amble here

http://notesfromthevomitorium.blogspot.com/2010/05/bret-easton-ellis-imperial-bedrooms.html

Going to be great, cant wait.

[Guest fryafish]

aside from the numerous poli sci books, journals, and case briefs--finally managed to get my hands on this:

long overdue read.

[jackg]