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Guest Sylvan Grenier

Book recommendations

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Guest Vitamin X
Reading Sometimes A Great Notion again. Never gets old.

 

I saw a stage rendition of that the other night here in Portland at the Gerding Armory Theatre! I wasn't even aware of it, since I never read it, but heard it was good. The play was certainly good, and was pretty well-received, considering all the Oregon in-jokes. There was also some brief nudity, which was mixed (although I certainly enjoyed it).

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Having recently re-read it for a class, I've come to the conclusion that Lolita is pretty much the best novel ever written in the English language.

you goddamn right! You perverse deviant.

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I just started reading the bit about Day of the Dead in Kim Paffenroth's Gospel of the Living Dead. It's just one big analysis of Romero's original Dead trilogy (Night, Dawn, and Day), and most of it says nothing new to fans of the series, although his analysis is quite spot on. He also takes the time to talk about post-Romero zombie films, specifically Dawn '04 and Shaun of the Dead, though those are only side-notes inserted mid-sentence to further emphasize his points regarding the original Romero works.

 

Definetly going to check that one out. I'm sure you've read it or own it, but I'm currently digging The Zombie Survival Guide.

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"Knockemstiff" by Donald Ray Pollock is a great collection of short stories, that is if you consider huffing Bactine great. Most of the characters are fuck-ups in one form or another, which is always fun. Plus, since Knockemstiff is a tiny holler in southern Ohio, there's plenty of racist hillbillies.

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Lately, it's been Richard Laymon's "The Beast House" and Brian Keene's "Dark Hollow." I'm liking them both so far.

 

I need to get back to reading Lansdale's short story collection "Bumper Crop."

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I've been downloading some audio books off of limewire (great for commute, as I can't drive anymore, and for bedtime).

 

From Edgar Allen Poe: The Raven read by Christopher Walken and The Black Cat read by Diamanda Galas. Good shit!

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Guest Tzar Lysergic

Cod

 

by Mark Kurlansky.

 

I love this kind of nonfiction shit about an ancient industry or mundane product with an incredibly interesting backstory.

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Gangster, by Lorenzo Carcaterra.

 

You can see everything coming a mile away, but still. It's a fun read.

 

 

That, and The Rum Diary. Hunter Thompson at his best, in my opinion.

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Lately, it's been Richard Laymon's "The Beast House" and Brian Keene's "Dark Hollow." I'm liking them both so far.

 

I need to get back to reading Lansdale's short story collection "Bumper Crop."

 

Did you read The Cellar before the Beast House? It's a 3 book series.

 

Just finished the Cellar and liked it very much.

 

Now on Stephen King's Dark Tower VI...it's a slow read

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Lately, it's been Richard Laymon's "The Beast House" and Brian Keene's "Dark Hollow." I'm liking them both so far.

 

I need to get back to reading Lansdale's short story collection "Bumper Crop."

 

Did you read The Cellar before the Beast House? It's a 3 book series.

 

Just finished the Cellar and liked it very much.

 

Yes I did, and I agree it's great. I still think Laymon's best book is "The Traveling Vampire Show" however.

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Lately, it's been Richard Laymon's "The Beast House" and Brian Keene's "Dark Hollow." I'm liking them both so far.

 

I need to get back to reading Lansdale's short story collection "Bumper Crop."

 

Did you read The Cellar before the Beast House? It's a 3 book series.

 

Just finished the Cellar and liked it very much.

 

Yes I did, and I agree it's great. I still think Laymon's best book is "The Traveling Vampire Show" however.

 

I got halfway through and simply stopped. Seemed to be WAY too much backstory for how little happened.

 

For Laymon I like

 

"One Rainy Night"

"Night in Lonesome October"

"Bodyrides"

 

to name a few.

 

Although I hated "Come Out Tonight." I honestly could not make a bit of sense out of

this chick not wanting to go to the police to go after Toby...after he raped her, killed her boyfriend, AND killed the old man who was trying to help her. NOT TO MENTION THAT HER FAMILY WAS IN DANGER! Her reason was she was humiliated by what happened and didn't want to explain it to the cops?

 

Seriously? He writes lead characters who lack any common sense. He's done it more than a few times.

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Here's what I'll be reading this summer:

 

Summer Reading List 2008

 

 

Betts, Richard K. Enemies of Intelligence: Knowledge and Power in American

 

National Security. Columbia. 2007

 

......

 

Collier, Paul. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing

 

and What Can Be Done about It. Oxford, 2007

 

......

 

Jones, Jeremy. Negotiating Change: The New Politics of the Middle East.

 

Tauris, 2006.

 

......

 

Keylor, William R. A World of Nations: The International Order since 1945.

 

Oxford, 2nd Edition. June 2008

 

......

 

Luce, Edward. In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India.

 

New York: Doubleday, 2007.

 

......

 

Moss, Todd J. African Development: Making Sense of Issues and Actors.

 

Lynne Rienner, 2007

 

......

 

Smith, Rupert. The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World.

 

Knopf, 2007

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McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by Misha Glenny was a very good book. I was slightly disappointed that none of the American criminal entities were mentioned, but I figure that the Crips don't compare with a multi-billion dollar cigarette smuggling operation in the Balkans, and also that Sicilian and American mafias have been documented enough and it's good to read about Nigerians scamming people via fax and e-mail. Also, I discovered that it's a bad idea to be a gangster in Mumbai since individual cops boast about killing four to five gangsters a week in 'encounters'.

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The Delivery Man by Joe McGinniss , Jr. Enjoyable, if you like Bret Easton Ellis, considering that McGinnis employs a lot of the same literary devices. Plowed through it in a day. It's a quick, easy read, but it didn't really have a lasting impression after the fact and some of the declining action makes little to no sense.

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Right now, it's Matt Taibbi's The Great Derangement (it's better than i thought it would be. I'm starting to like this guy) and Stephen Thrower's Nightmare USA (It's expensive, but if you love 70's/80's low budget horror, then this is so for you. Thing's become like The Bible to me.)

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Taibbi is by far my favorite political writer. I'm in the middle of Smell's Like Dead Elephant's right now. Can't wait for The Great Derangement comes out in paperback. He's pretty much the only thing I read in Rolling Stone right now.

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"Strange" is a little bit of an understatement.

 

War & Peace is really, really (really) good but holy shit it just does not end. Like, I love every single page of it but I'd really like to be able to move on and read something else at some point.

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I've never come across much that was any good. Even the stuff with August Derlith finishing up Lovecraft's old unwritten notes and fragments came off like someone else trying to ape HP's style. Neil Gaiman had a cute short story where he mixed Cthulhu stuff with Sherlock Holmes, but that's all that comes to mind.

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Anyone want to recommend me Cthulhu Mythos fiction by people other than Lovecraft?

 

The anthology "Children of Cthulhu" might be up your alley. If no that, try John Pelan's novella "The Colour Out of Time." Ramsey Campbell (who I highly reccomend) has done some Lovecraft inspired work.

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Is this that short story?

 

I Cthulhu

No, it wasn't that, but thanks anyway, cute story. It was "A Study in Emerald", the first story in his book Fragile Things. I went back and re-read it, and it really wasn't so much a Cthulhu Mythos story as it was a League Of Extraordinay Gentlemen type melting pot of throwing in a bunch of fictional influences from that general time period, of which the Old Ones were just one part.

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I'll recommend my own book. It's in the link in my sig. If you have sigs turned off...

 

click here

 

 

$19.98, which is higher than I wanted to set the sale price, but because of the length (380 pages or so) it ran the POD cost up. Still, it's done and published, and should be up on Amazon/B&N by mid August, I hope.

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Woah, I heard you guys talk about it before, but you actually wrote a book about him? Here's to hoping it becomes a best seller and Milky can give "The real Kramer" type tours.

 

I think I'll download a copy.

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