Author Topic: Fave Books / Currently Reading  (Read 946043 times)

Susannah

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #465 on: September 01, 2008, 03:13:22 PM »
susannah gets it...why not the dopes I know who want to talk about this book?!

Eh, I think a lot of people get it.  It's a fun read, he poses some interesting ideas that are humorously phrased, etc. etc.  What always strikes me about him (and this was even more true in Chuck Klosterman IV, which I legitimately disliked) is that he always manages to choose the exact WRONG example (in my opinion) to illustrate his points.  Case in point: his essay in defense of Vanilla Sky.  I hated that movie when it came out in 1999 or 2000, and nearly a decade later, I still hate it and think I probably haven't seen a worse movie.  Too many terrible lines of dialogue ruled out any deeper philosophical meaning for me:

"The bathroom's over there, next to that girl who looks like Bjork."

"In the next life, I want to come back as the mole on your breasts."
"In the next life, we shall all come back as cats."

Sorry.  Indefensibly bad, Klosterman.

That said, though, there's an eerie, lucid quality to his essay about encounters with serial killers, and a poignancy to his essay about the Guns N' Roses cover band, Paradise City. 

Joe Rogaine

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #466 on: September 01, 2008, 06:27:29 PM »
i didnt jump on the chuck klosterman boat originally, but i just finished SEX, DRUGS, AND COCOA PUFFS.  im only halfway impressed.

i would recommend it to friends, but i dont talk it up.  i'd rather let me them figure it out on their own.  it was worth the second-hand $7.


Ill probably check out his new novel Owl when it comes out.

Joe Rogaine

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #467 on: September 01, 2008, 06:41:20 PM »
I finally finished No Country for Old Men and enjoyed it. Tied up some loose ends from the film. It was a pretty good read.

Then, inspired by the snippet I heard on fmu, I read A Good Man is Hard to Find and I was sort of surprised by the plot - never read it before & only caught about the middle on air. It was funny at parts.

And now I'm reading This is Your Brain on Music, and so far, so good. I skimmed it in the store & then sort of impulsively purchased it & I'm glad to have my own copy - it's oddly inspiring me to think about art projects.. so I'm happy with it & would go so far as to recommend it, even though I only just started it yesterday.

Anyone else read it/have an opinion?

You should check out the short stories of Flannery O'Connor.

Joe Rogaine

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #468 on: September 01, 2008, 06:45:51 PM »
Ive recently bought Etgar Kerets The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God, and the graphic novel Funeral Of The Heart by Leah Hayes.

Steve of Bloomington

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #469 on: September 01, 2008, 07:34:25 PM »
What pushed me over the edge w/ Vanilla Sky was the way they over-explained what was going on toward the end.  I think in Abre Los Ojos they explained it in a couple sentences.  It didn't help that I had seen 'Tech Support' a few days earlier player the young lazy artist Hitler in 'Max'.

susannah gets it...why not the dopes I know who want to talk about this book?!

Eh, I think a lot of people get it.  It's a fun read, he poses some interesting ideas that are humorously phrased, etc. etc.  What always strikes me about him (and this was even more true in Chuck Klosterman IV, which I legitimately disliked) is that he always manages to choose the exact WRONG example (in my opinion) to illustrate his points.  Case in point: his essay in defense of Vanilla Sky.  I hated that movie when it came out in 1999 or 2000, and nearly a decade later, I still hate it and think I probably haven't seen a worse movie.  Too many terrible lines of dialogue ruled out any deeper philosophical meaning for me:

"The bathroom's over there, next to that girl who looks like Bjork."

"In the next life, I want to come back as the mole on your breasts."
"In the next life, we shall all come back as cats."

Sorry.  Indefensibly bad, Klosterman.

That said, though, there's an eerie, lucid quality to his essay about encounters with serial killers, and a poignancy to his essay about the Guns N' Roses cover band, Paradise City. 

Steve of Bloomington

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #470 on: September 01, 2008, 07:36:13 PM »
Oh and I'm reading the 'Maggie the Mechanic' comix comp, 'The Golden Compass', and a book by 2 guys from New Zealand about Data Mining.

Shaggy 2 Grote

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #471 on: September 01, 2008, 09:27:33 PM »
Like the actual original scroll? where are you?

Is that in Indianapolis right now?  I actually did see the real one in Austin this summer, and took a few crappy camera phone pictures that I'll post if I ever get around to it.  But the unedited scroll, with real names, toilet talk, and Kerouac actually acknowledging the sexism of the Beats, was published in a handsome edition by I think Viking (too lazy to check).

Incidentally, Flannery O'Connor is incredibly awesome.
Oh, good heavens. I didn’t realize. I send my condolences out to the rest of the O’Connor family.

Susannah

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #472 on: September 01, 2008, 09:31:46 PM »
I just read my reading list for my new Science Fiction class.  I think next time I'll read the essays before I add them to the course packet.

I am feeling that right now, JG.  Cornel West's "Race Matters?"  I don't even like that guy.  "We Other Victorians" by Foucault?  I don't even want to deal with that nonsense, much less any seventeen-year-old.  Blergh.

Gilly

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #473 on: September 01, 2008, 09:36:56 PM »
Killing Yourself To Live was great as an audio book. The narrator got the snarky hipster attitude exactly right. I always thought it was Klosterman himself narrating until somebody told me different.

Shaggy 2 Grote

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #474 on: September 01, 2008, 09:45:47 PM »
I just read my reading list for my new Science Fiction class.  I think next time I'll read the essays before I add them to the course packet.

I am feeling that right now, JG.  Cornel West's "Race Matters?"  I don't even like that guy.  "We Other Victorians" by Foucault?  I don't even want to deal with that nonsense, much less any seventeen-year-old.  Blergh.

Although now I'm sort of excited by the fact that my readings are all over the place - it might actually be more interesting than if I sort of neatly lined everything up.  Except that one essay from the editor of Analog, that one's completely useless.  But it's short.

Yeah, West is a very, very nice man but not a great scholar.  Lawrence Summers was an incredible asshole, but he may not have been too far off in confronting West about his work.  I still have a special place in my heart for Foucault, though.
Oh, good heavens. I didn’t realize. I send my condolences out to the rest of the O’Connor family.

emma

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #475 on: September 01, 2008, 10:41:26 PM »
I am reading Demons In The Spring by Joe Meno and it's already in my top 10 books of all time. And I'm not even finished yet! Also, it has a ton of beautiful illustrations in it.

Ooh, I have to get that! I love Joe Meno.

Do it do it do it do it! Do it now.

Joe Meno has always been a favourite, and this book has just pushed me from "i will admire him quietly and normally" into "i am going to write him so many embarrassing gushing fan/love letters" territory.

Steve of Bloomington

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #476 on: September 01, 2008, 10:44:20 PM »
For some reason I'm thinking it's at the Lilly Library on the IU Campus, here in Bloomington.  Not 100% sure.

Like the actual original scroll? where are you?

Is that in Indianapolis right now?  I actually did see the real one in Austin this summer, and took a few crappy camera phone pictures that I'll post if I ever get around to it.  But the unedited scroll, with real names, toilet talk, and Kerouac actually acknowledging the sexism of the Beats, was published in a handsome edition by I think Viking (too lazy to check).

Incidentally, Flannery O'Connor is incredibly awesome.

masterofsparks

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #477 on: September 02, 2008, 06:21:25 AM »
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
I'll probably go into the wee hours.

Julie

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #478 on: September 02, 2008, 08:37:07 AM »
My Life Among Serial Killers by Dr. Helen Morrison and Harold Goldberg. It's pretty good in the way that ghost stories by Hans Holzer are good. I'm also reading Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer and The Beast Within by Emil Zola. I only just read Zola for the first time about a month ago and I really like him. Plus he's kind of tricky for me to read because I never read anything french except The Hunchback of Notredame. It's exciting to be old and to find something really good that I've never had anything to do with!
I have a long history of booing

cutout

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #479 on: September 02, 2008, 10:33:12 AM »
I Wouldn't Start From Here: A Misguided Tour of the Early 20th Century

Fantastic book so far -

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/48362/i-wouldnt-start-from-here-by-andrew-mueller/