Author Topic: Fave Books / Currently Reading  (Read 947311 times)

Rainer

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #60 on: April 22, 2007, 11:03:52 PM »
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Ooh I really really liked that too!

That makes three. I'm going to have to call in sick tomorrow and read this beast.

Emerson

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #61 on: April 23, 2007, 02:39:24 PM »
I can't decide whether Foer is a "Give me an f-ing break" thing for me or an "I don't get it" thing, but I'm am not a fan. It just seems like a lot of cute kids and Eggersian self-indulgence.

The Man Without Qualities, on the other hand, I love. The social commentary hasn't aged particularly well, but the style and the characters sucked me right in.

~EmD


Let's keep this thread floating, floating, flloating out to sea ... we'll catch up to our selves on the other side.

Anybody read Robert Musil's unfinished "The Man Without Qualities"?  Your opinion?

John E. Woods' translations of Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain kind of give me that same special something that Musil provides --- the translations are worlds away from the text-book versions most libraries keep on the shelves.  The downside of visual Musil is that he is almost a dead-ringer for Weiner Cheney.

Musil is a paella of psychological / historical / spiritual / philosophical / political prose. If that makes your mouth water, check out his stuff.



"You said it. I didn't."

Susannah

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #62 on: April 23, 2007, 10:46:55 PM »
I haven't read "The Man Without Qualities," but it's sitting on my shelf next to Svevo's "Zeno's Conscience" and a few other books...

Just started reading "The Recognitions" by William Gaddis; I've never read anything by him before.  Is anyone familiar with him, and is it good?

Rainer

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #63 on: April 23, 2007, 11:09:03 PM »
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I haven't read "The Man Without Qualities," but it's sitting on my shelf next to Svevo's "Zeno's Conscience" and a few other books...

Zeno's Conscience!  Forgot about that one.  A very funny book indeed.  I read the Everyman's Library translation and couldn't put it down. 

Someone else will have to chime in on Gaddis.  Know the name, but haven't read him.

Emerson

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #64 on: April 24, 2007, 09:44:02 AM »
Gaddis = "difficult." His books are about language as much as they're "about" anything else. Recommend if you like Joyce.

~EmD
"You said it. I didn't."

Laurie

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #65 on: May 07, 2007, 10:39:58 AM »
I just realized that my favorite books are all science fiction. Here's a list:

We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin. I linked the Mirra Ginsburg translation because I favor it over the Clarence Brown interpretation. I think Ginsburg did a better job of retaining Zamyatin's voice. I understand that there is a new translation, but I haven't read it yet. I'll give it a try.

Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon. I took a class in science fiction literature with Patrick McCarthy, who edited this edition. I consider it to be an agnostic space adventure, and I love it. The ending actually made me cry.

Valis, The Divine Invasion, and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, all by Philip K. Dick. I love this trilogy. Love it, love it, love it.

Fido

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #66 on: May 08, 2007, 03:50:00 PM »
Has anyone seen this book? 

http://www.amazon.com/Me-Write-Book-Bigfoot-Memoir/dp/0452286859

It's called "Me Write Book:  It Bigfoot Memoir".   I just looked at it in a store for a few minutes this past weekend.  I was going to buy it, but did not since there was a nightmarish line and only one surly clerk etc. etc. 

Anyway, the book looked really funny and had me laughing in no time.  I ordered one for myself from Amazon. 

I am giving serious consideration to getting my hands on another copy of this book and its companion volume and contributing them to a silent auction that my non-profit organization is having next week.  I probably should contribute something more conventional and less off-the-wall.


Rainer

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Gregory

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #68 on: May 27, 2007, 12:09:47 AM »
a few of my favorites, with descriptions, courtesy of amazon.com

You Can't Win - Jack Black (not that one)

The favorite book of William Burroughs. A journey into the hobo underworld, freight hopping around the still Wild West, becoming a highwayman and member of the yegg (criminal) brotherhood, getting hooked on opium, doing stints in jail or escaping, often with the assistance of crooked cops or judges. Our lost history revived.


Ask the Dust - John Fante

Ask the Dust is a virtuoso performance by an influential master of the twentieth-century American novel. It is the story of Arturo Bandini, a young writer in 1930s Los Angeles who falls hard for the elusive, mocking, unstable Camilla Lopez, a Mexican waitress. Struggling to survive, he perseveres until, at last, his first novel is published. But the bright light of success is extinguished when Camilla has a nervous breakdown and disappears . . . and Bandini forever rejects the writer's life he fought so hard to attain.



How To Write Short Stories: With Samples - Ring Lardner

Ring Lardner (1885-1933) was a well-known humorist and sports writer living in Chicago. In 1924, F. Scott Fitzgerald arranged for How to Write Short Stories to be published and more attention was then paid to Lardner’s work.

Josh

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #69 on: May 29, 2007, 09:11:59 AM »
I'm obsessed with the website www.goodreads.com.  It's a library/book-cataloguing site that also has a social networking function.  My user name is susannahlaura, if anyone is interested in creating a library. I'm in the process of editing mine, it's surprisingly fun!

I'm in, although, in a Jen Kirkman-esque move, I will not be listing my self-help books.
"Alright, well, for the sake of this conversation, let's say the book does not exist."

Emily

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #70 on: May 30, 2007, 01:50:34 PM »
http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/App/homepage.cfm?moduleid=42&appname=288

is anyone else going to Book Expo?

just wondering.

Josh

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #71 on: June 01, 2007, 09:35:50 AM »
Here's a transcript of a talk given by designer David Pelham on working at Penguin in the late sixties, excerpted from the new book Penguin by Designers. (from Design Observer)

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It was at this meeting that I suggested that the time may have come to break free completely from existing constricting grids and perceive each front cover as a blank canvas upon which carefully chosen artists might express themselves within the negotiable bounds of a particular title or author identity. The Penguin brand identity would then rely wholly upon retaining orange, blue or green spines, and by placing Tschichold’s magnificent symbol in the top right corner of the front and back covers, unless there was a good design reason for placing it elsewhere. These suggestions were well received and for the following six months Sir Allen would sit alongside me at my desk in Harmondsworth for an hour or so almost daily, keeping a sharp eye on how the new look was developing. Here are three covers utilising existing images.
"Alright, well, for the sake of this conversation, let's say the book does not exist."

Dorvid Barnas

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #72 on: June 06, 2007, 06:48:21 PM »
I forgot to answer Omar's Tim O'Brien question from another thread. 
My favorite O'Brien books are The Things They Carried, Going after Cacciato, and July,July.

While I'm here, I recently re-read Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Fascinating. Have you read it yet, Emily? (You mentioned you had it on deck.)

bruce

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #73 on: June 06, 2007, 09:13:25 PM »

While I'm here, I recently re-read Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Fascinating.


Great book well worth rereading

erika

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Re: Fave Books / Currently Reading
« Reply #74 on: June 06, 2007, 11:50:43 PM »
I'm reading Children of Men, which is pretty good.

A really good summer read (it's fun!) is the Zombie Survival Guide. It's amazing. And trust me when I say this isn't the type of book I usually go for.
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/zombiesurvivalguide/

Another fun one I picked up for a few bucks is "I Keee You!" which is a collection of black and white cartoons depicting things people have overheard in and around Baltimore. It's not really Baltimore-specific... just very funny. Fun coffee table book.

Favorites: Lolita, The Jungle, Brave New World, Blindness, Virgin Suicides, The Lovely Bones

I like books!
from the land of pleasant living