Author Topic: books to read  (Read 431371 times)

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slappies

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2730 on: August 22, 2017, 02:56:43 PM »
i just snapped into one called 'my damage' by mr keith morris [goldstein].
was a big fan of circle jerks as a kid and black flag w/ him as singer more than any other. idk what the hell he's up to today, diabetes and a band named 'deep woods off' or some shit. i'll know more when i finish but i'm digging the 80s stories.

Hahah, Off! is actually sick, check 'em out if you haven't yet Sharktits.
I've been keeping an eye out for that book myself too, haven't come across it yet. I did pick up Harley Flannagan's book "Hard-Core" though which is insane. The life this guy has lead, before he was even 16 is incredible. I'm not finished yet, but I definitely recommend it to fans of Cro-Mags and Hardcore in general, or anyone who just wants to read crazy shit.
CRACK RAIDER RAZOR

shark tits

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2731 on: August 22, 2017, 03:33:08 PM »
Expand Quote
i just snapped into one called 'my damage' by mr keith morris [goldstein].
was a big fan of circle jerks as a kid and black flag w/ him as singer more than any other. idk what the hell he's up to today, diabetes and a band named 'deep woods off' or some shit. i'll know more when i finish but i'm digging the 80s stories.
[close]

Hahah, Off! is actually sick, check 'em out if you haven't yet Sharktits.
I've been keeping an eye out for that book myself too, haven't come across it yet. I did pick up Harley Flannagan's book "Hard-Core" though which is insane. The life this guy has lead, before he was even 16 is incredible. I'm not finished yet, but I definitely recommend it to fans of Cro-Mags and Hardcore in general, or anyone who just wants to read crazy shit.
kick it down when you're done, i'll mail you a jar of honey.

20matar

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2732 on: August 23, 2017, 07:36:07 AM »
So who was the Lispector guy again? I'm gearing up mentally to read her Agua Viva, which a classmate told me to check out. Although I've been told that, in typical Clarice fashion, it's really difficult to read even though it clocks under a hundred pages. Let's see what's up with it.

brycickle

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2733 on: August 23, 2017, 09:26:21 AM »
Instead of reading "It", I'm being lazy and listening to it on Audible before the movie comes out. The scene where he describes Patrick Hockstetter murdering his baby brother is fucking horrifying. I think it's the first time I've gotten a genuine chill out of "reading" a book.

 You and the D00D have turned this thread into a horrible head-on-collision between a short bus full of regular kids and a van full of paraplegics.



oyolar

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2734 on: August 23, 2017, 09:57:56 AM »
So who was the Lispector guy again? I'm gearing up mentally to read her Agua Viva, which a classmate told me to check out. Although I've been told that, in typical Clarice fashion, it's really difficult to read even though it clocks under a hundred pages. Let's see what's up with it.

I read Agua Viva, The Passion According to G.H., and Near to the Wild Heart and all of them were brief lengths but tough and much longer to get through than I expected. Honestly, I just don't think she's a good writer of anything with significant length. I've set aside her collected short stories for a while to spend time with her novels and also read other people (and I'm not a huge short story reader), but based on my experience reading those, that format fits her much better and makes for much more compelling material than her novels.

So if you don't like AV, I'd suggest giving her short stories a chance. And if you haven't read anything by her before, I recommend NOT starting with AV as it's her novelistic style ramped up to like 1000 which makes it very difficult to get through or get much of anything significant out of. I distinctly remember finishing it and being like "This was a mistake. I did not get anything from this that was worth the effort." It's generally considered her masterpiece or perfect distillation of her style and I'm usually not a person that recommends easing up to an author's best work, but Lispector and Joyce are the only people that I think you should not dive headfirst into their most talked-about work.

handsclapanin

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2735 on: August 25, 2017, 08:52:18 AM »
I'm stoked to be back on some good books.
I work M - F. My guaranteed reading time is Saturday and Sunday mornings, for the first hour or so after I wake up. While I'm having a smoothie and then coffee. If I'm reading something that I'm not so hyped on; this will be my only reading time for the week. But, when I have a book I like, I will bring it to work, read on my lunch break. Read some when I get home from work before dinner.
The last 4 or 5 months. Been a while since I've posted in this thread.
First was A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. First thing I've read by him. Seen it mentioned in this thread. And recommended by Jason Dill & Jeff Grosso. For whatever that is worth. This one was weekend reading only for me. I had to re check it out from the library like 3 times to get through it.
Next up I got Portrait of An Artist as An Old Man by Joseph Heller. Last book by the famous auther of Catch 22. Which I read maybe 20 years ago. Another weekend only, boring read. Sometimes I'll have a book in mind, go online and put in a request at the library. For this one, I was just bored and walked in and pretty randomly grabbed this. So, what can you expect?
Since then, I've been on a good book run. Wind / Pinball by Haruki Murakami. 2 short novels, 1 book. I really dig this guy. Maybe 12 - 15 years ago, some one recommended Wind Up Bird Chronicles to me. I tried to get it at the library here (San Diego, not exactly a small town); but they did not have any english language versions. The closet I could get was a book on tape. CD actually. So I got that. Flash forward to 2017 and there were like 10 Murakami books at my local library branch on the shelf.
Next was Sputnik Sweetheart. Again a Murakami book. Great. Recommend.
Then I read Tortilla Flat by Steinbeck. Another good one. I'm almost through all he wrote, I think.
And currently on another Murakami. This time a book of short stories. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. Another one that I am enjoying and reading every day. Brought it to work with me today.


GAY

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2736 on: August 25, 2017, 12:15:16 PM »
If anybody is in the mood for a really terrifying short read, check out Bird Box by Josh Malerman. It's high concept and mostly succeeds. Really thrilling stuff.

S.

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2737 on: August 25, 2017, 12:46:28 PM »
I really liked Paul Beatty's "Slumberland". It was a really intelligent and funny read. I liked the american perspective on Berlin and its weird humor -and that so much of the novel is about musik.

« Last Edit: August 25, 2017, 05:37:14 PM by S. »

Alan

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2738 on: August 30, 2017, 04:46:22 PM »
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Anyone here read Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar? I am intrigued by its form:

"Written in an episodic, snapshot manner, the novel has 155 chapters, the last 99 designated as "expendable." Some of these "expendable" chapters fill in gaps that occur in the main storyline, while others add information about the characters or record the aesthetic or literary speculations of a writer named Morelli who makes a brief appearance in the narrative. Some of the "expendable" chapters at first seem like random musings, but upon closer inspection solve questions that arise during the reading of the first two parts of the book.

An author's note suggests that the book would best be read in one of two possible ways, either progressively from chapters 1 to 56 or by "hopscotching" through the entire set of 155 chapters according to a "Table of Instructions" designated by the author. Cort?zar also leaves the reader the option of choosing a unique path through the narrative."
[close]

Have you read Hopscotch by now?

I'm in the middle of it right now. It's one hell of a book I must say - just as crazy as your post made it seem. Even though it's a bit more linear than I thought at first: As recommended by the author, you read the first 56 chapters in the same order as you would read any other book. But between most chapters, you jump between one or more expendable chapters, which - more or less - enlighten your reading process. With each chapter, especially with the expendable ones, you never know what you're going to get: sometimes lyrics from a jazz song, sometimes a chapter from Morelli (a fictional philosopher), sometimes an extract from The Guardian, sometimes a director's cut-style additional chapter from the original plotline, sometimes a dialogue, sometimes an interior dialogue where every line belongs to a different sentence. The "main story" (in lack of a better world) centers around Horacio Oliveira, an Argentinian boheme living in 1950s Paris, and how he met, loved and lost "La Maga". Hopscotch is not a conventional love story, even though the relationship between Horacio and la Maga is gripping and at times heartbreaking. The book is not exactly a page turner either, but it's a redeeming read when you take your time. I like the book's crazy experiments with form, some more than others though. But that's ok, I guess Cortazar didn't want to write a novel like thousands before him and that's what makes it interesting.



Super sorry about the late response. I started reading it but sort of had to put it on pause because of work stuff. I was a few chapters deep and I did like it. Not sure when I'll get back to it. I've been reading some easier stuff in the meantime. Currently reading Paul Auster's New York Trilogy. So far I like it, sort of plays with the detective genre without losing the suspense angle.
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shark tits

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2739 on: August 30, 2017, 04:54:57 PM »
currently embroiled in 'american hookup: the new culture of sex on campus'.
it's dece. apparently women ruled courtship and were the more 'horny' of the sexes until very recently. thanks to marketing we now have the narrative that men are biological dogs and women are sposedta be chaste [until the free love 60s] but prior to that women picked the men.
usedta be that 'going steady' was considered subversive and teachers discouraged it, wanted kids to make out w/ several partners [but not settle/sleep w/ one].
interesting how mores change from decade to decade and for every gain we make, a loss is sure to follow.

brycickle

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2740 on: August 30, 2017, 09:52:50 PM »
Getting ready to start this page turner.

 You and the D00D have turned this thread into a horrible head-on-collision between a short bus full of regular kids and a van full of paraplegics.



Mark Renton

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2741 on: August 31, 2017, 05:03:13 AM »
Trying to get back into reading with this one.

video tape yourself saving monks. dont just do it. make sure its caught on film.

oyolar

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2742 on: August 31, 2017, 08:13:59 AM »
20matar: super interesting to see how people get different things from the same text. I'm glad you liked it though!  I have been reading super slowly lately but I'd like to try to pick up her short stories again. Maybe I'll try to weave that better into my daily routine.

Finally finished On Nietzsche by Bataille after a few months at it (which I knew was going to be the case).  I wanted to get into some fiction but instead am going to start reading this business book Sensemaking by Christian Madsbjerg. He runs this ethnographic and humanities-based strategy & consulting firm that I'm really interested in. I've applied to work there a few times with no luck but I really like that he appreciates and incorporates sociological/anthropolical theory into his work which is sorely needed. I've read his first book that's in a similar vein and it was a very quick read so I'm hoping this will be the same.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2017, 09:26:11 PM by oyolar »

French manicure

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2743 on: August 31, 2017, 02:13:12 PM »

Grampa

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2744 on: September 03, 2017, 08:41:12 PM »
I'm not a huge reader, so I feel like I'm always just breaking the surface of books I'm "supposed" to read, or whatever. Anyways, I read The Stranger by Albert Camus a couple of weeks ago and loved it. I finished it in a few hours because I had a free afternoon.

Then I started reading Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, but put it down a quarter of the way through. I realized I don't like reading about war or military shit any more than I like watching movies about it. Just bores me to death.

Since I had good luck with Camus, I picked up The Fall and am gonna get busy with that.



shark tits

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2745 on: September 18, 2017, 09:31:42 AM »
charlamagne the god's 'black privilege' is changing my life. i'm burning bridges w/ whoever don't enrich my life and i'm inspired to write a love story about a drone bee and a varroa mite if brix or someone will illustrate it.

Alan

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2746 on: September 18, 2017, 03:38:52 PM »
Currently reading this collection of oral histories from Port-au-Prince. It's heavy, but also inspirational.

Hosin' out the cab of his pickup truck
He's got his 8-track playin' really fuckin' loud

SFblah

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2747 on: September 18, 2017, 07:52:49 PM »

I have this on the shelf and hope to start it soon. Heard lots of good things. I read his Box Man which was fuckin' weird.

I'm not a huge reader, so I feel like I'm always just breaking the surface of books I'm "supposed" to read, or whatever. Anyways, I read The Stranger by Albert Camus a couple of weeks ago and loved it. I finished it in a few hours because I had a free afternoon.

Then I started reading Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, but put it down a quarter of the way through. I realized I don't like reading about war or military shit any more than I like watching movies about it. Just bores me to death.

Since I had good luck with Camus, I picked up The Fall and am gonna get busy with that.


The Fall is great. Some great lines in that one.

Thrillho

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2748 on: September 19, 2017, 12:55:23 PM »
I read about 40 pages of The Fall. This guy I work with traded me for The Story of The Eye.

I kept thinking I was reading some weird choose your own adventure/dating sim dialogue sitting at a bar having to endure this old guy telling me all this personal stuff about himself and walking me home.

Guy Ferrari

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2749 on: September 21, 2017, 05:11:36 PM »


just started reading this. dig his style

Guy Ferrari

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2750 on: September 21, 2017, 05:14:00 PM »
if I'm not being serious and I'm playing into my "character" this one:


Gray Imp Sausage Metal

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2751 on: September 21, 2017, 07:50:52 PM »


just started reading this. dig his style
so it goes

Impish sausage is definitely gonna blow up as a euphemism this year

Mystical Leader

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2752 on: September 22, 2017, 06:55:09 AM »
I've been reading Blaise Pascal's de l'esprit g?om?trique, i don't whats it called in English. Really nice stuff about philosophy. Also read Satres Nausea, which was nice and helped me understand some thoughts I've had about my early twenties.

Also do you pals have any thoughts about David Foster Wallace? Google owned mediums have been recommending his stuff lately.

oyolar

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2753 on: September 22, 2017, 12:08:41 PM »
I've read all of his non-fiction collections and really enjoyed them but didn't find the stories in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men that memorable. I really disliked The Broom of the System too.  Just super young and pretentiously postmodern (as opposed to someone like Pynchon who feels like he's having fun with it).  However, I have heard from people in this thread and elsewhere that Infinite Jest is leaps and bounds better than his other work so keep that in mind.  I still intend on reading IJ at some point but haven't had the urge to tackle a 1,000+ page novel lately.

AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2754 on: September 24, 2017, 11:56:14 AM »
I'm not a huge reader, so I feel like I'm always just breaking the surface of books I'm "supposed" to read, or whatever. Anyways, I read The Stranger by Albert Camus a couple of weeks ago and loved it. I finished it in a few hours because I had a free afternoon.

Then I started reading Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, but put it down a quarter of the way through. I realized I don't like reading about war or military shit any more than I like watching movies about it. Just bores me to death.

Since I had good luck with Camus, I picked up The Fall and am gonna get busy with that.


Nice! Camus was one of the authors I started with, too. How was The Fall? If you dig Camus, I can recommend The Plague.

Just finished this gem by Erich Kaestner:



Der Gang vor die Hunde (translates as "Going down the drain") is the original version of Fabian: The Story of a Moralist, which was censored prior to its publication in 1931. It's all about sex, parties, and unemployment before shit hits the fan and World War II and the Nazis take over. Kaestner is also dealing with questions of morality vs. opportunism. Fabian, the protagonist, is a total badass who's giving his last pennies to the homeless but talks shit to the rich and powerful.

If you only know Kaestner as an author of children's books, you might want to reconsider.

shark tits

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2755 on: September 24, 2017, 12:02:31 PM »
i'm 2/3 through 'we were the future: a memoir of the kibbutz'. now i'm no fan of israel whatsoever but i can get into anyone's story. these kibbutzes were on arab land, kind of the settlers/squatters of today and they were run by secular and socialist jews of israel, hungarian and french lineage.
as a farmer aspects of this really are romantic to me and the kids are raised together away from the biological parents which i can get behind. now if they aren't religious then why do they feel owed the land? some justifications are that 'blood was spilled so it's like an investment' and i spose the crips and bloods feel the same way.
so i'm reading it through my filter of being against it while being intrigued by the lifestyle. [it's also dated so perhaps back then the fighting wasn't so one sided].

the snake

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2756 on: September 24, 2017, 12:21:49 PM »
I've readen "the stranger" from camus, twas a good read after haven't read any books for years, very immersing
now I've started 'the road" from cormac McCarthy, kinda slow at the moment(just a few pages in it, for days), couldn't find "blood meridian"at my local library

Coastal Fever

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2757 on: September 24, 2017, 01:31:08 PM »
Recently read The Secret, The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck, and a collection of short stories by Dave Eggers, How We Are Hungry.  Currently reading Into The Wild.

oyolar

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2758 on: September 24, 2017, 01:36:45 PM »
I've readen "the stranger" from camus, twas a good read after haven't read any books for years, very immersing
now I've started 'the road" from cormac McCarthy, kinda slow at the moment(just a few pages in it, for days), couldn't find "blood meridian"at my local library

I liked The Road a lot more than Blood Meridian but both have absolutely gorgeous endings.

Grampa

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Re: books to read
« Reply #2759 on: September 24, 2017, 06:29:24 PM »
Ended up giving up on The Fall. Just wasn't feeling it. My days are long, tedious and boring, so I need a book that really grabs my attention if I wanna spend my nights reading. I'll probably give it another shot next time I'm on vacation or something.

Im about to start reading The Big Sleep tonight which I'm pretty excited about.