Author Topic: books to read  (Read 431265 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 934
  • Rep: -8
Re: books to read
« Reply #1770 on: July 21, 2013, 04:53:22 AM »
I just picked up Nausea by Sarte, anyone else read it?

Yes. In my eyes it is completely overrated.

I've never been a huge fan of Sartre. Or Simone de Beauvoir for that matter. Camus is by far the most (read: the only) exciting writer of the "French Existentialists".

However, in all fairness, people have tried to imitate Sartre for so long that his style seems really bland, played out, unoriginal, and boring nowadays. He's like the modern hipster of the 1950/1960s.

Harem

  • Guest
Re: books to read
« Reply #1771 on: July 21, 2013, 05:44:10 AM »
I've been kind of slow on reading this year. Needed a  few quick reads to get me going again

Knocked these off in a couple of hours -




& now on his new one, which I'm about 40 pages into



Really enjoying the sparsity of his writing. Tao will also be appearing at a writers festival here in August, stoked on that.



Also can someone who has read The Savage Detectives tell me if it's worth persisting with? I'm up to the 2nd section of the book now, and can't say I'm a huge fan polyphonic narrative.

Greg Ostertag

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 245
  • Rep: 47
  • Trabajo sucio
Re: books to read
« Reply #1772 on: July 21, 2013, 09:20:18 PM »
Expand Quote
I just picked up Nausea by Sarte, anyone else read it?
[close]

Yes. In my eyes it is completely overrated.

I've never been a huge fan of Sartre. Or Simone de Beauvoir for that matter. Camus is by far the most (read: the only) exciting writer of the "French Existentialists".

However, in all fairness, people have tried to imitate Sartre for so long that his style seems really bland, played out, unoriginal, and boring nowadays. He's like the modern hipster of the 1950/1960s.

Started and failed to finish Nausea twice.
Cold Ghengis

HyperBeam

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 1035
  • Rep: -58
Re: books to read
« Reply #1773 on: July 22, 2013, 12:43:02 AM »
Expand Quote
It's definitely hard to keep attention, I agree. The sentences are long as hell and contain so many relative and subordinate clauses that it's hard to even remember what it's about once you reach the main verb. On top of that, the novel isn't really about much aside from fashionable society. It's not really very thrilling, if you know what I mean.
[close]

Yes, exactly what I'm talking about!
I'm almost through with the third installment and I feel like I've just become adequately familiar with the style to a point where I can thoroughly appreciate the ramblings. You almost have to build a tolerance to it, it seems. It is very rewarding reading Proust (or Moncrieff, to a certain extent, for those who don't speak French). Dude is brilliant.

steve

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 809
  • Rep: 45
Re: books to read
« Reply #1774 on: July 24, 2013, 09:14:12 AM »
"Christian Nation" is a new novel that begins when the McCain/Palin ticket takes the 08 US election. From there the Christian right begins a steady ascent to national/political dominance and war breaks loose to turn the US into a land fit for rapture. It's a great book to get people thinking about the prevalence of and danger posed by fundamentalist leaders. Imagine the US as a theocracy, ruled by biblical law?

Kinch

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 185
  • Rep: 10
Re: books to read
« Reply #1775 on: July 24, 2013, 10:33:15 AM »
Expand Quote
Expand Quote
I just picked up Nausea by Sarte, anyone else read it?
[close]

Yes. In my eyes it is completely overrated.

I've never been a huge fan of Sartre. Or Simone de Beauvoir for that matter. Camus is by far the most (read: the only) exciting writer of the "French Existentialists".

However, in all fairness, people have tried to imitate Sartre for so long that his style seems really bland, played out, unoriginal, and boring nowadays. He's like the modern hipster of the 1950/1960s.
[close]

Started and failed to finish Nausea twice.

Ah, I'm roughly half way through Nausea and am finding it pretty dull as well to be honest. I doubt I'll finish it as I'm also reading The Brothers Karamazov which I'm a lot more interested in. Has anyone read his Roads to Freedom trilogy (Age of Reason, The Reprieve, Iron in the Soul) at all? I found these made a lot more compelling reading than Nausea has been so far.

I did find some passages enjoyable in Nausea. The passage on the nature of adventure and how we perceive it is pretty much the only memorable one coming to mind though.

shitsandwich

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 914
  • Rep: -53
Re: books to read
« Reply #1776 on: July 24, 2013, 01:42:35 PM »
Yeah I read The Stranger and thought it was super sick so I figured I'd try Nausea out but its pretty dull so far

LesbianPUNCH

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 580
  • Rep: 25
Re: books to read
« Reply #1777 on: July 24, 2013, 03:17:19 PM »
Was never really into reading but I dunno if I can handle the heat this summer, so I'll be reading a lot more.

halfway through this:


Picked these two up:


I read post office a looooong time ago and loved it, but never found the time to read bukowski's other stuff.  

edit:  I enjoy books with humor in it, but overall melancholy (sorta like post office).  Any good recommendations?



I just finished 1Q84 a few months back.  Murakami's writing style is excellent, though I'm not sure how close the translation into English is from the original Japanese.  His characters are wonderfully realized, their thoughts are almost your own.  My only critique is in the narrative of the stories themselves.  This book doesn't end with the final page.  You sort of sit there and wonder about everything for weeks after reading, feeling almost cheated, but in a good way.  Hard to explain.  I'm actually reading another of his works, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, which thus far is much darker but equally tense in sexual strangeness.  Good stuff.

shitsandwich

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 914
  • Rep: -53
Re: books to read
« Reply #1778 on: July 24, 2013, 04:32:20 PM »
Expand Quote
Was never really into reading but I dunno if I can handle the heat this summer, so I'll be reading a lot more.

halfway through this:


Picked these two up:


I read post office a looooong time ago and loved it, but never found the time to read bukowski's other stuff.  

edit:  I enjoy books with humor in it, but overall melancholy (sorta like post office).  Any good recommendations?
[close]

You should read Ham on Rye if you liked Post Office I thought it was a fun read

sametelt

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 607
  • Rep: 17
  • SLAP OG SLAP OG : Been around since SLAP was a mag.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1779 on: July 25, 2013, 01:19:03 AM »


Currently reading this. It's alright, but I'm already kind of bored with it. Figured it was worth checking if the hype was warranted. About to move on to



stab

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 227
  • Rep: -1
  • Jumping Beans is a cop
Re: books to read
« Reply #1780 on: July 25, 2013, 05:22:24 AM »
Expand Quote
Was never really into reading but I dunno if I can handle the heat this summer, so I'll be reading a lot more.

halfway through this:


Picked these two up:


I read post office a looooong time ago and loved it, but never found the time to read bukowski's other stuff.  

edit:  I enjoy books with humor in it, but overall melancholy (sorta like post office).  Any good recommendations?
[close]



I just finished 1Q84 a few months back.  Murakami's writing style is excellent, though I'm not sure how close the translation into English is from the original Japanese.  His characters are wonderfully realized, their thoughts are almost your own.  My only critique is in the narrative of the stories themselves.  This book doesn't end with the final page.  You sort of sit there and wonder about everything for weeks after reading, feeling almost cheated, but in a good way.  Hard to explain.  I'm actually reading another of his works, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, which thus far is much darker but equally tense in sexual strangeness.  Good stuff.

Reading Murakami leaves me feeling so melancholy and confused.  His books are obviously artfully crafted but I feel like it has to be something lost in translation that leaves me so confused.

I didn't come here to dream or teach the world things;
define paradigms or curate no living days

oyolar

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 11060
  • Rep: 379
  • SLAP OG SLAP OG : Been around since SLAP was a mag.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1781 on: July 25, 2013, 06:21:29 AM »


Currently reading this. It's alright, but I'm already kind of bored with it. Figured it was worth checking if the hype was warranted. About to move on to




Are you currently reading Pale Fire?  It gets really interesting once you start reading the footnotes and really going through it.  The index fucks you up too.  The first time I read it, I though it was good and clever, but still pretty straightforward.  It's not until the second or third reading and a little bit of digging/research that you start realizing how difficult and messed up it is.  It's kind of like that old iceberg adage.

mattofallmatts

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 2247
  • Rep: -110
  • "I will not skateboard in the halls"
Re: books to read
« Reply #1782 on: July 25, 2013, 01:19:31 PM »
Expand Quote
Expand Quote
Was never really into reading but I dunno if I can handle the heat this summer, so I'll be reading a lot more.

halfway through this:


Picked these two up:


I read post office a looooong time ago and loved it, but never found the time to read bukowski's other stuff. ? 

edit:?  I enjoy books with humor in it, but overall melancholy (sorta like post office).?  Any good recommendations?
[close]



I just finished 1Q84 a few months back.?  Murakami's writing style is excellent, though I'm not sure how close the translation into English is from the original Japanese.?  His characters are wonderfully realized, their thoughts are almost your own.?  My only critique is in the narrative of the stories themselves.?  This book doesn't end with the final page.?  You sort of sit there and wonder about everything for weeks after reading, feeling almost cheated, but in a good way.?  Hard to explain.?  I'm actually reading another of his works, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, which thus far is much darker but equally tense in sexual strangeness.?  Good stuff.
[close]

Reading Murakami leaves me feeling so melancholy and confused.  His books are obviously artfully crafted but I feel like it has to be something lost in translation that leaves me so confused.

Exactly, still really fun to read though. So much is based deep in Japanese culture/history/mythology/psychology.
I read this and gave it to my girlfriend.

She was bummed haahahahaha. The stories are all pretty depressing.


Just finished this,


So dang good.

chockfullofthat

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 4595
  • Rep: 176
Re: books to read
« Reply #1783 on: July 25, 2013, 02:52:51 PM »
I had Ulysses in my hand the other day ready to buy it but I chickened out.  I have a pile of books I already bought that I haven't started yet.  One day....

oyolar

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 11060
  • Rep: 379
  • SLAP OG SLAP OG : Been around since SLAP was a mag.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1784 on: July 25, 2013, 03:12:18 PM »
You're in Chicago, right?  If you get Ulysses, we can totally meet up for coffee dates an I can bring my notebooks and study guides on it and talk for hours about it.

Kinch

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 185
  • Rep: 10
Re: books to read
« Reply #1785 on: July 25, 2013, 04:17:34 PM »
I had Ulysses in my hand the other day ready to buy it but I chickened out.  I have a pile of books I already bought that I haven't started yet.  One day....

It's well worth the investment. If you do decide to go for it I strongly recommend getting a good annotated edition, especially if you're not familiar with the historical context. I started out with a copy of just the text of the novel and found it very difficult to get going with, having the annotations makes reading/understanding it a lot easier.

Also whilst it is a difficult book at first it does get easier and a lot more enjoyable as you persevere with it and your understanding of it grows. My copy now lives in my bathroom and is picked up at a random spot whenever I'm in there for any length of time; I never thought that would be possible while I was reading it for the first time. I was in a class of 15 people for the course I read Ulysses for. Of those 15 easily less than half actually got past the first chapter and just read whichever parts they had to do assignments on. On the flip side pretty much everyone that persevered with it at least up until Bloom enters seemed to absolutely love it.   

It's easily the most rewarding reading project I have ever undertaken simply because there is so much to it. Reading around the circumstances the novel came to be written and published in was also really interesting. James Joyce by Richard Ellmann was pretty informative on many aspects of Joyce's life and their relevance to the novel.

Sorry for ranting on this but it's a fascinating book and would probably be my favourite if I had to pick just one (hence my username). In short be prepared to give it a lot of time and it will be very rewarding. Also enjoy your coffee/study dates with Oyolar  :)

oyolar

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 11060
  • Rep: 379
  • SLAP OG SLAP OG : Been around since SLAP was a mag.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1786 on: July 25, 2013, 08:12:52 PM »
 ;)

sametelt

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 607
  • Rep: 17
  • SLAP OG SLAP OG : Been around since SLAP was a mag.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1787 on: July 25, 2013, 11:44:31 PM »
Are you currently reading Pale Fire?  It gets really interesting once you start reading the footnotes and really going through it.  The index fucks you up too.  The first time I read it, I though it was good and clever, but still pretty straightforward.  It's not until the second or third reading and a little bit of digging/research that you start realizing how difficult and messed up it is.  It's kind of like that old iceberg adage.

No, I'll start reading it when I finish A.M Homes. Really looking forward to it.

mattofallmatts

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 2247
  • Rep: -110
  • "I will not skateboard in the halls"
Re: books to read
« Reply #1788 on: July 26, 2013, 01:20:54 AM »
Expand Quote
I had Ulysses in my hand the other day ready to buy it but I chickened out.  I have a pile of books I already bought that I haven't started yet.  One day....
[close]

It's well worth the investment. If you do decide to go for it I strongly recommend getting a good annotated edition, especially if you're not familiar with the historical context. I started out with a copy of just the text of the novel and found it very difficult to get going with, having the annotations makes reading/understanding it a lot easier.

Also whilst it is a difficult book at first it does get easier and a lot more enjoyable as you persevere with it and your understanding of it grows. My copy now lives in my bathroom and is picked up at a random spot whenever I'm in there for any length of time; I never thought that would be possible while I was reading it for the first time. I was in a class of 15 people for the course I read Ulysses for. Of those 15 easily less than half actually got past the first chapter and just read whichever parts they had to do assignments on. On the flip side pretty much everyone that persevered with it at least up until Bloom enters seemed to absolutely love it.   

It's easily the most rewarding reading project I have ever undertaken simply because there is so much to it. Reading around the circumstances the novel came to be written and published in was also really interesting. James Joyce by Richard Ellmann was pretty informative on many aspects of Joyce's life and their relevance to the novel.

Sorry for ranting on this but it's a fascinating book and would probably be my favourite if I had to pick just one (hence my username). In short be prepared to give it a lot of time and it will be very rewarding. Also enjoy your coffee/study dates with Oyolar  :)

Yeah I tried to crack into it a few years back and put it down because shit was just zooming over my head. I kept telling myself I would take a lit class in college that went into it but I never did it. Might just need to find a good annotated version. Same thing happened to me when I decided to try and read Dante's Inferno when I was 16.

chockfullofthat

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 4595
  • Rep: 176
Re: books to read
« Reply #1789 on: July 26, 2013, 06:40:41 AM »
Sounds good oyolar.  Maybe when it starts to get cold out.

oyolar

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 11060
  • Rep: 379
  • SLAP OG SLAP OG : Been around since SLAP was a mag.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1790 on: July 26, 2013, 08:06:37 AM »
I've mentioned this before, but for annotations to Ulysses, DON'T buy an annotated edition.  I have yet to see one that does a good job because there are so many things to note.  This is my personal recommendation: http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Annotated-Notes-James-Joyces/dp/0520253973 .  It does exactly what annotations should do--explain historical, political, linguistic, social, etc. context with little to no summarizing or analysis.  If you want something more summary and slight analysis focused, use this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0415138582/ref=aw_1st_sims_2?pi=SL500_SY115.

To brag slightly, but also reassure you that I know what I'm talking about, I've read Ulysses three times in a span of four years.  Once was by myself and the other two were for two different classes.  The first time was a struggle, but I wanted to get out of it whatever I could with little to know help and personal research.  The second time was a wash.  The third time, I used those two guides and it seriously felt like I was reading a completely different book.  I cannot recommend them enough.

An one last note--don't buy the Gabler edition.  He added a lot of his own edits to the book.  I recommend the Vintage editions.  My go to test is to check the end of Episode 17.  If there's a big dot after the last question, it's usually a good edition.

EDIT: Actually fixed it this time.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2013, 05:04:40 PM by oyolar »

chockfullofthat

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 4595
  • Rep: 176
Re: books to read
« Reply #1791 on: July 26, 2013, 08:26:05 AM »
First link is broke.

Kinch

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 185
  • Rep: 10
Re: books to read
« Reply #1792 on: July 26, 2013, 09:11:03 AM »
I've mentioned this before, but for annotations to Ulysses, DON'T buy an annotated edition.  I have yet to see one that does a good job because there are so many things to note.  This is my personal recommendation: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0520253973. It does exactly what annotations should do--explain historical, political, linguistic, social, etc. context with little to no summarizing or analysis.  If you want something more summary and slight analysis focused, use this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0415138582/ref=aw_1st_sims_2?pi=SL500_SY115.

To brag slightly, but also reassure you that I know hat I'm talking about, I've read Ulysses three times in a span of four years.  Once was by myself and the other two were for two different classes.  The first time was a struggle, but I wanted to get out of it whatever I could with little to know help and personal research.  The second time was a wash.  The third time, I used those two guides and it seriously felt like I was reading a completely different book.  I cannot recommend them enough.

An one last note--don't buy the Gabler edition.  He added a lot of his own edits to the book.  I recommend the Vintage editions.  My go to test is to check the end of Episode 17.  If there's a big dot after the last question, it's usually a good edition.

I know what you mean, annotated editions can't cover everything and also do sometimes feature some very questionable analysis. I just think they can be a lot of help in starting to read Ulysses as they are generally pitched at someone coming to the novel completely fresh. My edition did have chapter summaries which I would agree should be ignored, they always just seem a bit too much like sparknotes or something else like that. However it did also have annotations specifically by line and page numbers which were mostly concise explanations of whatever Joyce happened to be alluding to in the line in question which were very useful.

Never come across those guides before, I may well have to check those out soon.

oyolar

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 11060
  • Rep: 379
  • SLAP OG SLAP OG : Been around since SLAP was a mag.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1793 on: July 26, 2013, 09:18:37 AM »
Yeah, don't get me wrong--they're definitely helpful and better than nothing, but I like a lot of information so that I can pull what I want out of it and ignore what I don't which is what that Gifford book gives you.  Once you open that up, you realize that there is way too much going on to settle for a small section in the back of the novel.  I mean, the annotations are thicker than some editions of Ulysses!  It's just my preference though, but it was so helpful to me that I can't help but mention it.

Kinch

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 185
  • Rep: 10
Re: books to read
« Reply #1794 on: July 26, 2013, 09:50:03 AM »
Yeah, don't get me wrong--they're definitely helpful and better than nothing, but I like a lot of information so that I can pull what I want out of it and ignore what I don't which is what that Gifford book gives you.  Once you open that up, you realize that there is way too much going on to settle for a small section in the back of the novel.  I mean, the annotations are thicker than some editions of Ulysses!  It's just my preference though, but it was so helpful to me that I can't help but mention it.

For sure. In my copy the annotations took up way over half of what the text took up and couldn't do it justice.

Mark Renton

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 1547
  • Rep: 288
  • Choose life.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1795 on: July 26, 2013, 04:09:23 PM »
Expand Quote
I just picked up Nausea by Sarte, anyone else read it?
[close]

Yes. In my eyes it is completely overrated.

I've never been a huge fan of Sartre. Or Simone de Beauvoir for that matter. Camus is by far the most (read: the only) exciting writer of the "French Existentialists".

However, in all fairness, people have tried to imitate Sartre for so long that his style seems really bland, played out, unoriginal, and boring nowadays. He's like the modern hipster of the 1950/1960s.

I'm going to pick up 'The stranger' tomorrow since I'll have a whole week at the beach doing nothing..I hope this is going to be exciting/inspiring
video tape yourself saving monks. dont just do it. make sure its caught on film.

oyolar

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 11060
  • Rep: 379
  • SLAP OG SLAP OG : Been around since SLAP was a mag.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1796 on: July 26, 2013, 05:07:05 PM »
Just finished Consider the Lobster by DFW and now I'm reading Defacement by Michael Taussig.  I try to intersperse some academia between novels, but I have no idea how I feel about this one yet.  It seems rather disjointed, but it might be too early to tell.

HyperBeam

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 1035
  • Rep: -58
Re: books to read
« Reply #1797 on: July 26, 2013, 05:42:58 PM »
could someone briefly explain why I ought to read ulysses? it seems overhyped.

BRIX SKWIKZ

  • Guest
Re: books to read
« Reply #1798 on: July 26, 2013, 06:49:48 PM »
Expand Quote
Expand Quote
I just picked up Nausea by Sarte, anyone else read it?
[close]

Yes. In my eyes it is completely overrated.

I've never been a huge fan of Sartre. Or Simone de Beauvoir for that matter. Camus is by far the most (read: the only) exciting writer of the "French Existentialists".

However, in all fairness, people have tried to imitate Sartre for so long that his style seems really bland, played out, unoriginal, and boring nowadays. He's like the modern hipster of the 1950/1960s.
[close]

I'm going to pick up 'The stranger' tomorrow since I'll have a whole week at the beach doing nothing..I hope this is going to be exciting/inspiring
HAHAHA HOW IRONIC :D

oyolar

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • SLAP Pal
  • ******
  • Posts: 11060
  • Rep: 379
  • SLAP OG SLAP OG : Been around since SLAP was a mag.
Re: books to read
« Reply #1799 on: July 26, 2013, 07:01:52 PM »
could someone briefly explain why I ought to read ulysses? it seems overhyped.

It is not.  It really pushes the boundaries of literature stylistically and linguistically while still being intelligible (for the most part).  It's a prescient novel that save for some references here and there deal with the totality of the human experience and is just timeless.  You learn more about it, about art in general, and about yourself and humanity with each reading (sounds corny, but it's true).