Book recommendations

[Youth N Asia]

The Collection has some good short stories in it. But if you want Bentley Little's best works you need (in order)

 

The Ignored

University

The Store

 

favorite author

[Edwin MacPhisto]

I recently bought Samuel Delaney's Dhalgren, which I picked up because it is usually mentioned in discussions of sci-fi books for more "literary" types who aren't into sci-fi. This is a subject I shall be treading cautiously in, so, if anyone can help me out here, feel free. I already have Gene Wolfe and Octavia Butler on my to-do list. I suppose I should add William Gibson while I'm at it.

I read Delany's half autobiography/half philosophical tract, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. Never ventured into any of his sci-fi, but I did learn about how he would blow guys in movie theaters for comfort!

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Do you think he still does that?

[Edwin MacPhisto]

Hell of a moustache ride.

[snuffbox]

I'm surprised that Vanity of Duluoz has been fun to read thus far. Having been written by Kerouac from the depths of his alcoholism (and less than 2 years before his death) I was expecting lame gibberish. Amazing how some writers, even at their worst points, can maintain their voice & talent (though, of course, some has been frayed by time & consumption).

[snuffbox]

Reading Brautigan's last book, An Unfortunate Woman, right now. The alcoholism really dragged his writing down by the end. There are quick glimpses of what was once there but it mostly seems like an empty struggle for him.

[vivalaultra]

So, in my English class, I dropped doing the Neil Gaiman graphic novel and inserted the erstwhile The Catcher in the Rye. Today, I found out that I have my first parent complaint. Apparently, the notion that said book is pornographic and obscene is still alive and well despite nothing very pornographic nor obscene actually occuring in the book; the ONE time a prostitute shows up, all Holden wants to do is talk. One thing I really don't understand is that the first book we did, Of Mice and Men went completely unchallenged despite it having, at least I think, more material that could be considered vulgar or in bad taste than CITR-the men frequently reference going in to town to get whores, the 'n' word is used many, many times among other vulgar language, Curley has a glove full of vaseline that he's using to keep his hand soft 'for his wife', there's implied/presumed rape and assault, and a mentally handicapped man gets shot in the back of his head. The whole situation just irks me.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Perhaps the parent would like to explain what, exactly, in TCITR was intended for nothing other than sexual titillation.

 

The finalists for this year's National Book Awards have been announced: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2007.html

 

Tree of Smoke is the only one of any of those I've read.

 

 

[snuffbox]

Haven't read one of them.

[Nighthawk]

I read a couple of the nonfiction ones.

 

Regarding TCITR, they were reading that once on Full House. It was when Jesse was trying to get his GED (I suppose) and Steve had to read it for class, so they decided to each read half of it. In the end, they ended up enjoying the half they read enough to go ahead and each read the whole thing. That's pretty bad when you're challenging something Full House endorses.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins]

I plan on starting "Wolf of Wall Street", "Bank: A Novel", and "Ace on the River (Barry Greenstein poker book)" next week. Anybody read "Wolf" or "Bank"?

[snuffbox]

I'm presntly getting sucked into the weirdness of Daniel Pinchbeck's 2012: The Return of Quetzacoatal.

 

Also reading:

Bob Novak - The Agony of the GOP/1964

Douglas Wilson - Lincoln's Sword

Brother Antoninus - the Hazards of Holiness

and a book of essays on the 50th anniversary of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl"

[Corey_Lazarus]

Finished up Lords of Chaos about a week ago. The first half is the good part: the part explaining why Satanism, heathenism, fascism, and other anti-establishment/anti-Christian sentiments are so much a part of black metal (and to a lesser extent death metal), especially in Europe, and detailing the events that gave the Norwegian scene its infamy. The second half reads more like a "So, you want to be a Satanist" how-to manual, or a beginner's course for various anti-Christian spiritual beliefs. Outside of the parts in the second half where Anton LaVey is interviewed, or other members of various Satanist groups, it's pretty bland.

 

Currently wrapping up Jericho's autobiography, which is fucking hilarious.

[Guest benoitwasmurdered]

I've been looking for Lords Of Chaos but haven't been able to find it. I might need to go into Vancouver and look for it.

[snuffbox]

Edie Parker's memoir has a really good account of the Dave Kammerer murder that involved Jack Kerouac & William S. Burroughs.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

I recently ordered, from Amazon, the following:

 

 

$35.30 w/ free shipping. I decided I needed to get serious about the Russian masters.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH!]

Anna Karenina is probably the best book ever.

[Jingus]

Why ordered from Amazon? Any library or used book store would have 'em for either cheap or free.

 

I gotta recommend Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's newest Pendergast novel, The Wheel of Death. Specifically, to recommend that even fans of the series (such as myself) stay the fuck away from it. Basically, imagine if an Agatha Christie novel ended with you finding out that a ghost killed them all. Preston and Child write books in which stuff that seems like supernatural happenings turns out to be perfectly ordinary, explained away by some pseudo-science. This time they just said "aw, the hell with it" and wrote a bunch of bullshit about magical Tibetan paintings which can possess your mind and give you the ability to summon incorporeal demonic entities. Plus the main plot is a ripoff of Speed 2.

 

Read Chris Jericho's autobiography. It's about a 0.8 on the Foley scale. Wish it covered his WWF/E run too.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Why ordered from Amazon? Any library or used book store would have 'em for either cheap or free.

That W&P is a brand new translation in a nice-looking hardcover. It lists for $37, so I'm already getting a deal on it.

 

Also, for personal preference, getting it in hardcover was important, too. Books that size don't physically hold together as well in paperback.

[snuffbox]

Currently reading Philip Roth's the Plot Against America.

[justsoyouknow]

Long and wordy and not worth it.

[snuffbox]

Hey, I don't think it's that bad.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Jon, you know we're bros, but I don't look to you for book recs.

[justsoyouknow]

It's okay.

 

Snuffy, it's not bad, it's just not good, either.

[snuffbox]

Halfway through and it's fine by me.

[Edwin MacPhisto]

I read The Road in three days. Great book. Color me a McCarthy fan.

[snuffbox]

I'm planning to finally get to that next.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

I recently ordered, from Amazon, the following:

 

 

$35.30 w/ free shipping. I decided I needed to get serious about the Russian masters.

So, tracking my delivery last night, I realized that I had put down the wrong home address—I had entered a conflation of my current and previous address (don't know where my mind was when I did that)—and that my order was being returned to the seller. Not wanting to deal with the hassle of straightening out the address/getting back the package, I called up Amazon's support and cancelled the order. This morning, the order arrived at my door, anyway. I'd already been refunded the $35, so I got these books for free.

 

This ever happen to anyone?

[Jingus]

Yeah, sort of. One time I ordered a movie from them, and a month later it had never arrived. I contacted them, told 'em what happened, and within the next two weeks I got two different copies shipped to me.

[Edwin MacPhisto]

One of my friends ordered Dracula 3000 but got Dracula 2000 instead. After he let Amazon know, they sent the right one and let him keep both. Made for a fine "Night of 5000 Draculas" event.