books to read

[modern life is war]

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Been on a big Cormac McCarthy kick since I read Blood Meridian, as recommended by the book club thread.

After BM I read All The Pretty Horses which was absolutely beautiful - not as much depth here as BM but the prose is so breathtaking in parts and some great political takes on the Mexican revolution, all tied in with a tragic love story. Probably my favorite CM book so far.

Read The Crossing after that. Again, another beautiful book, but this one was very bleak and depressing. This won't spoil anything for anyone but the scene with the fucked up dog at the end almost brought me to tears. I did enjoy it though.

And the last book I read of his was The Road. Pretty different to the other books of his that I have read, ie not a western setting but still very engaging. I think I read it in like 3 days. It's a captivating and great book but I think it is my least favorite of the CM books I've read. I still rate it very highly though, obviously.

I have a list of other books from different authors that I've been planning to read but I just keep finding myself picking up another CM book every time I'm at the book store instead.

[close]

You need to read Cities on The Plain.   That completes the All The Pretty Horses, Crossing trilogy

That's my tentative plan, I just haven't been able to find that one in the used book stores near me.

[Atiba Applebum]

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Been on a big Cormac McCarthy kick since I read Blood Meridian, as recommended by the book club thread.

After BM I read All The Pretty Horses which was absolutely beautiful - not as much depth here as BM but the prose is so breathtaking in parts and some great political takes on the Mexican revolution, all tied in with a tragic love story. Probably my favorite CM book so far.

Read The Crossing after that. Again, another beautiful book, but this one was very bleak and depressing. This won't spoil anything for anyone but the scene with the fucked up dog at the end almost brought me to tears. I did enjoy it though.

And the last book I read of his was The Road. Pretty different to the other books of his that I have read, ie not a western setting but still very engaging. I think I read it in like 3 days. It's a captivating and great book but I think it is my least favorite of the CM books I've read. I still rate it very highly though, obviously.

I have a list of other books from different authors that I've been planning to read but I just keep finding myself picking up another CM book every time I'm at the book store instead.

[close]

You need to read Cities on The Plain.   That completes the All The Pretty Horses, Crossing trilogy

[close]

That's my tentative plan, I just haven't been able to find that one in the used book stores near me.

Try eBay.  A lot of libraries and used book stores put their inventories on there

[Kook Me Amadeus]

AbeBooks has worked well for me.  It aggregates from bookstores around the US.

[Atiba Applebum]

AbeBooks has worked well for me.  It aggregates from bookstores around the US.

I think they do 3 for 4 as well

[TableClearer]

Could anyone recommend anything by Kurt Vonnegut? Reading Cat's Cradle at the moment, and absolutely adore it!

[Atiba Applebum]

Could anyone recommend anything by Kurt Vonnegut? Reading Cat's Cradle at the moment, and absolutely adore it!

Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse 5 are his other most famous ones.   

I like Player Piano and I think Mother Night

[HarryScallywag]

Currently reading a book called episode thirteen by craig dilouie, seems good so far.

[swellbowed]

[oyolar]

[quote author=TableClearer link=topic=24496.msg4030126#msg4030126 date=1686465592]
Could anyone recommend anything by Kurt Vonnegut? Reading Cat's Cradle at the moment, and absolutely adore it!

Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse 5 are his other most famous ones.   

I like Player Piano and I think Mother Night
[/quote]

Those are all great. I really like Morher Night. Player Piano is very different style-wise from his other books.

The Sirens of Titan is really good. I liked Bluebeard a lot and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.

[Atiba Applebum]

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[quote author=TableClearer link=topic=24496.msg4030126#msg4030126 date=1686465592]
Could anyone recommend anything by Kurt Vonnegut? Reading Cat's Cradle at the moment, and absolutely adore it!

[close]

Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse 5 are his other most famous ones.   

I like Player Piano and I think Mother Night

Those are all great. I really like Morher Night. Player Piano is very different style-wise from his other books.

The Sirens of Titan is really good. I liked Bluebeard a lot and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.
[/quote]

PP was his very first, no?

[oyolar]

Yep! That’s why it reads so different. Then it was Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, and Cat’s Cradle. I’m my mind, Cat’s Cradle is where he really lands on the classic Vonnegut voice and style, but as you read those four, you see him moving in that direction.

[Atiba Applebum]

Yep! That’s why it reads so different. Then it was Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, and Cat’s Cradle. I’m my mind, Cat’s Cradle is where he really lands on the classic Vonnegut voice and style, but as you read those four, you see him moving in that direction.

Ooooh cool.   I thought Mother Night kinda read like it was from an author in his late career, but it’s been many many years.    Might have to dust these off when I get through my stack

[oyolar]

He was 40 when it came out, so maybe that's it?

[slimvanilla]

i wasn't a massive fan of Cat's Cradle. enjoyed S5 and Breakfast of Champs a lot more

[Youoverthere]

Just started Dune. Someone on here was talking about how sleep’s dopesmoker cover art looks like something from dune so I had to check it out.

[Atiba Applebum]

Cormac just died.   Damn.   

Def going to push the border trilogy and his new book to the front of the queue

[Dusty]

Cormac just died.   Damn.   

Def going to push the border trilogy and his new book to the front of the queue

Such a bummer but 89 is a good run. He was the best. I’m excited to start The Passenger.

[Atiba Applebum]

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Cormac just died.   Damn.   

Def going to push the border trilogy and his new book to the front of the queue

[close]

Such a bummer but 89 is a good run. He was the best. I’m excited to start The Passenger.

Yeah and I’m glad he got to finish his last book

[MichaelJacksonsGhost]

Read Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son. It was an insane look at North Korea. I think it might have been the best book I’ve read since I read The Corrections three or four years ago, in how it brings all these seemingly innocuous details that occur throughout the book together for a satisfying final 50 pages or so. Intensely violent at times, other times deeply emotional and sad, just all around good.

[Atiba Applebum]

Read Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son. It was an insane look at North Korea. I think it might have been the best book I’ve read since I read The Corrections three or four years ago, in how it brings all these seemingly innocuous details that occur throughout the book together for a satisfying final 50 pages or so. Intensely violent at times, other times deeply emotional and sad, just all around good.

I remember enjoyed that a lot too.   Pulitzer usually awards pretty worthy winners in my eyes.   I’m trying to go through them all

[slimvanilla]

picked up Man's Search for Meaning at my local library today. stoked to read this one!

[sle_epy]

The Neanderthal Enigma is any easy to digest non fiction account of the evolution of ppl. It's really good and kind of sucked me in unexpectedly because it was actually for an anthropology course in college.

It reads like a long form magazine article so it's not too technical but it's book length. I read it years ago and I still think about it occasionally.

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-neandertal-enigma--solving-the-mystery-of-modern-human-origins_james-shreeve/615117/#idiq=8686261&edition=2377406

[Kook Me Amadeus]

Just finished Jarett Kobek's books, "How to Find Zodiac" and "Motor Spirit".  The former is far more entertaining, an actual page-turner.  It delves into maybe the most compelling suspect I've seen before in Paul Doerr.  I like how Kobek frames things in a level headed fashion, he's not a sensationalist in any way.

I just looked back at the LA Mag article about the book from September 2022 which got a lot of publicity at the time.  Doerr's daughter Gloria shares some pretty incriminating stories about her pops.

https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/zodiac-killer-paul-alfred-doerr/

How to Find Zodiac is also a fascinating portrait of pre-internet zines and mail-based communities... reading through, a lot of the correspondence (and Doerr in particular) reminded me of some of the users on Slap.

I also watched the recent Peacock 2-part series, Myth of the Zodiac Killer, which suggests Zodiac was basically a letter writing campaign and these were all separate crimes and copycats.  That Zodiac never really killed.  That theory has some merit, but the Doerr evidence sort of blew that out of the water (although there's some reason to believe the July 4th, 1969 shooting might not have been Zodiac).

Really curious what else comes out evidence-wise about Doerr, since it's already been 10 months since the LA Mag piece.

[PatrickSkateman]

David Mitchell novels, especially Cloud Atlas.

[Sketch Hitchcock]

@Kevin!  Personally got stuck in the middle of Kobek’s Motor Spirit.  Some decent analysis but too much repeat info from other sources.

How to Find Zodiac is a great read though.  Agree that Paul Doerr is a convincing Zodiac.

[TableClearer]

Giving Kōbō Abe's Secret Rendezvous a spin atm, would highly recommend!

[wo_bauer]

I'm reading As I Lay Dying but due to the cultural distance, I think I might need a reading guide to go with. Some of the phrases go over my head. I've been wanting to get into southern gothic though and any other recommendations are welcome

[PatrickSkateman]

I'm reading As I Lay Dying but due to the cultural distance, I think I might need a reading guide to go with. Some of the phrases go over my head. I've been wanting to get into southern gothic though and any other recommendations are welcome

William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury

Flankers O’Connor’s Wise Blood

[oyolar]

Wise Blood is so good, as is The Violent Bear It Away.

I’m about to start Earthlings by Sayaka Murata. My girlfriend bought it because she liked the little stuffed animal on the cover but Murata’s other book Convenience Store Woman is supposed to be very good and weird and this one sounds a little out there so I’m hoping they would both be fun reads.

EDIT: Added photo of the cover.

[manysnakes]

Started reading "Lathe of Heaven" this week. So far, in my forties, I think I've read close to a dozen Ursula K. LeGuin books.