books to read

[behavioralguide]

biggie covered those anyways

[Mark Renton]

Just finished The street kids by Pasolini. It was really interesting as it describes the lives of street kids in Rome after WWII.



I bought these two books as an attempt to vary a bit the topics of my readings

The big thirst by Fisherman, suggested by my former water resources management professor



Flow by Csikszentmihalyi, as a self help book for anxiety/depression

[Skate_lurker_Rob]

Isaac Asimov Foundation Trilogy

[offkilter]

If you're into music, the Miles Davis autobiography is a great read. He uses the word "motherfucker" over 10,000 times in the first chapter.

[shark tits]

my buddy loaned me 'skateboarding, space and the city' and so far it's pretty awful. maybe i'm being harsh but it's not informative [to someone immersed in the language of skate] and it is pretty dry text. but im agnostic.
he loaned me another called 'death of nature' that's prolly better but of course i started the skating one first.

[Alan]

Borden's book is an academic monograph, it wasn't aimed at the general public. It draws heavily on Lefebvre, so chances are if you're not familiar with (Marxist) spatial sociology you're shit out of luck.

[Skate_lurker_Rob]

my buddy loaned me 'skateboarding, space and the city' and so far it's pretty awful. maybe i'm being harsh but it's not informative [to someone immersed in the language of skate] and it is pretty dry text. but im agnostic.
he loaned me another called 'death of nature' that's prolly better but of course i started the skating one first.

So I was in 5th grade around the time I picked up this gem of a book, Skateboard Tough. Although cringe worthy now this was my favorite book when I was a kid. Use to cut up CCS catalogs and carve Popsicle sticks to fit the boards I cut out.   Here's the pdf if interested http://www.kenton.k12.ky.us/userfiles/896/file/Skateboard%20Tough.pdf

[Art_Vanderlay]

If you're interested in art, queer culture, the AIDS epidemic or New York In the 70's and 80's you should check out the biography Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz. It's a really inspiring read about an underrated and under appreciated artist who died of AIDS in the 90s.

[sexualhelon]

I've got a few:

- Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?

- The Ascent of Money

- Guns, Germs, and Steel

- Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World

I feel like I've recommended these books to quite a few people lately. I'm vegan and I recommended them mostly to other vegans. My argument is always that if you're going to tell people to not eat chicken - or to eat chicken - then you should be able to discuss the history of the Chicken with me.

[active_shooter]

David Foster Wallace- Infinite Jest. Started this a while back and recently picked it back up. DFW is like literary weighted push ups/pull ups. It's a challenge, so say the very least.
David Eggars- You Shall Know Our Velocity! This was pretty interesting.
Seneca- something about letters to his nephew. This was loaned to me by a co-worker from a Situationist reading list.. Really good stuff.
James Loewen- Lies My Teacher Told Me
I can't recall the author, but "The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Prison." I have a couple versions of this, I believe it gets updated every so often, or when a new scandal comes out.

[SFblah]

For the past two weeks I’ve been reading The Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector. It’s 600+ pages of all her short stories. I’ve only read Hour of the Star before this but I’m really enjoying this more.

[oyolar]

I cannot agree more.  She's a WAY better short story writer than novelist and I'm usually much more of a novel person.  Her novels just collapse under their own weight in my opinion.

[SFblah]

I cannot agree more.  She's a WAY better short story writer than novelist and I'm usually much more of a novel person.  Her novels just collapse under their own weight in my opinion.

I agree on that and I’ve seen others feel that way about her novels too.

There is a local bookstore/bar owned by two Spanish guys and when I was buying a Bolano book they told me he also is a much better short story writer.

[RIDEFLANNELV2]

Just finished up:

Norwegian Wood - Murakami
North - Scott Jurek
The End of the World Running Club -  Adrian J. Walker
Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer

Reading:

Eiger Dreams - Jon Krakauer

Next up:

Hear the Wind Sing/Pinball - Murakami
Into thin air - Jon Krakauer
The Road - Cormac McCarthy

[oyolar]

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I cannot agree more.  She's a WAY better short story writer than novelist and I'm usually much more of a novel person.  Her novels just collapse under their own weight in my opinion.

[close]

I agree on that and I’ve seen others feel that way about her novels too.

There is a local bookstore/bar owned by two Spanish guys and when I was buying a Bolano book they told me he also is a much better short story writer.

Oh damn - that's saying a lot because I loved The Savage Detectives but disliked Antwerp. Granted, I know Antwerp wasn't short stories but little vignettes loosely tied together, but I'd think it would be similar.

[Peter Zagreus]

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I cannot agree more.  She's a WAY better short story writer than novelist and I'm usually much more of a novel person.  Her novels just collapse under their own weight in my opinion.

[close]

I agree on that and I’ve seen others feel that way about her novels too.

There is a local bookstore/bar owned by two Spanish guys and when I was buying a Bolano book they told me he also is a much better short story writer.

[close]

Oh damn - that's saying a lot because I loved The Savage Detectives but disliked Antwerp. Granted, I know Antwerp wasn't short stories but little vignettes loosely tied together, but I'd think it would be similar.

Savage Detectives was inspired at times, but also sort of a drag at others, IMO. As a North Americano, I feel like Bolano's "literary" details are beyond my grasp. I read Distant Star, and that was pretty good, though short as far as novels go. Maybe it's working in the liminal novella space.

SFblah: Does that Spanish-guy-owned bookstore/bar happen to be named after Bolano's book? Sounds familiar.

[botefdunn]

Savage Detectives was inspired at times, but also sort of a drag at others, IMO. As a North Americano, I feel like Bolano's "literary" details are beyond my grasp. I read Distant Star, and that was pretty good, though short as far as novels go. Maybe it's working in the liminal novella space.

SFblah: Does that Spanish-guy-owned bookstore/bar happen to be named after Bolano's book? Sounds familiar.

It occurred to me at some point that this is probably how non-skaters feel listening to me talk about jerry fischer vs. Matt reason vs. Fred gall as their trick selection, hair, and halfcabs relate to mid 90s philly skating, or something along those lines.

I just read "woes of the secret policeman" bolanos posthumously published novel, it's enjoyable, reads like notes for "2666"

On the topic of short story vs novel, its interesting that he considered himself foremost a poet. Good writer all around.

[NeppuNeppu]

Stuff I recently finished:

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol - I thought it was boring and repetitious for the most part. Near the end of the first part the plot really starts to pick up and you can see the consequences from the previous chapters begin to form, but then it just stops. The second part doesn't really do anything different.

Babyfucker by Urs Allemann - Surprisingly good despite very obviously being extremely edgy. It's a short, enjoyable read. Also features the wonderful sentence "I fuck babies therefore I am."

The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector - Really great novella. Other posters have already given praise to her and I think I initially picked it up due to this thread.

All the King's Horses by Michele Bernstein - Bernstein has explicitly stated this book is a joke and others claim it was a method to gain funds so the SI could publish their journal. It's a pretty goofy novel about an poly-amorous couple and definitely appeals to some kind of young, wild, and free idea. On its own the book kind of sucks, but in context of knowing who Bernstein is and her contributions to the SI it turns out rad.

The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord - Despite referencing "the spectacle" for years within Internationale Situationniste, Debord finally put out a book definitively stating what the spectacle is, how it functions, and all that stuff. There's also critiques of Marx and Bakunin, communism and anarchy. It's good. You could probably get a strong sense of everything in the book from a lot of other SI texts, but this is probably the most clear and definitive work on the spectacle.

Sixty Stories and Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme - Thanks to the slap pal who recommended him to me. There are some incredible short stories in these collections. Easily one of the best authors I've read.

Masks by Fumiko Enchi - A fun novel about two dudes trying to hook up with a widowed woman despite her (ex)mother-in-law's influence. The ending is a bit soft, but it was an enjoyable read.

AM/PM by Amelia Gray - A bunch of paragraph length vignettes. I liked them.

Not Bored! Anthology by Bill Brown AKA Bill Not Bored AKA Little Billy Not DeBored - A collection of writings and detourned images from a situationist inspired zine. It isn't good. It's pretty much 700 pages of a guy acting like he truly understands situationist texts and corrects everyone who makes a simple misquote or simplifies the SI in any manner and acts as if that is a "scandal" or reification or whatever. He's like a Debord historian if anything. At one point he wrote an "Intro to the SI" for MRR and pointlessly ridiculed The Feederz and for whatever reason published their response within the anthology and I think it captures what he says about so many others throughout the book - "You proved you knew all the catchwords but understand SHIT."

I also just started The Revolution of Everyday Life by Raoul Vaneigem. So far it's like an expanded version of his Basic Banalities from Internationale Situationniste which I really liked.

[SFblah]

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I cannot agree more.  She's a WAY better short story writer than novelist and I'm usually much more of a novel person.  Her novels just collapse under their own weight in my opinion.

[close]

I agree on that and I’ve seen others feel that way about her novels too.

There is a local bookstore/bar owned by two Spanish guys and when I was buying a Bolano book they told me he also is a much better short story writer.

[close]

Oh damn - that's saying a lot because I loved The Savage Detectives but disliked Antwerp. Granted, I know Antwerp wasn't short stories but little vignettes loosely tied together, but I'd think it would be similar.

[close]

Savage Detectives was inspired at times, but also sort of a drag at others, IMO. As a North Americano, I feel like Bolano's "literary" details are beyond my grasp. I read Distant Star, and that was pretty good, though short as far as novels go. Maybe it's working in the liminal novella space.

SFblah: Does that Spanish-guy-owned bookstore/bar happen to be named after Bolano's book? Sounds familiar.

Yea, Wild Detectives here in Oak Cliff. You live here or been there?

[SFblah]

Sixty Stories and Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme - Thanks to the slap pal who recommended him to me. There are some incredible short stories in these collections. Easily one of the best authors I've read.

I think that was me so glad you liked it. His style was weird to get used to the first time I read him.

[oyolar]

As I have mentioned before, I'm a huge Nabokov fan and will die on the hill of him being probably the greatest author in the English language (maybe after Joyce), so after reading this article, I picked up Adrienne Celt's Invitation to a Bonfire and have enjoyed it so far.  I haven't gotten too far into it but that's because I've been busy at work and not felt like reading, not at all an indictment of her writing so if anyone is somewhat interested in Nabokov, it might be worth picking up.

https://electricliterature.com/vladimir-nabokov-taught-me-how-to-be-a-feminist-229f3dbade6f


I've also been really trying to read more POC/non-European or North American/male authors lately and am so glad I've made that choice.  It's how I picked up Lispector and Bolano and has led to a lot of female written audiobooks as well as people like Alexandra Kleeman (who I cannot recommend enough to anyone and everyone - I love her writing so much), Yelena Moskovich, Paul Beatty.  Anyone else been trying to expand their oeuvre?

[behavioralguide]

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I cannot agree more.  She's a WAY better short story writer than novelist and I'm usually much more of a novel person.  Her novels just collapse under their own weight in my opinion.

[close]

I agree on that and I’ve seen others feel that way about her novels too.

There is a local bookstore/bar owned by two Spanish guys and when I was buying a Bolano book they told me he also is a much better short story writer.

[close]

Oh damn - that's saying a lot because I loved The Savage Detectives but disliked Antwerp. Granted, I know Antwerp wasn't short stories but little vignettes loosely tied together, but I'd think it would be similar.

[close]

Savage Detectives was inspired at times, but also sort of a drag at others, IMO. As a North Americano, I feel like Bolano's "literary" details are beyond my grasp. I read Distant Star, and that was pretty good, though short as far as novels go. Maybe it's working in the liminal novella space.

SFblah: Does that Spanish-guy-owned bookstore/bar happen to be named after Bolano's book? Sounds familiar.

[close]

Yea, Wild Detectives here in Oak Cliff. You live here or been there?

He chose Die Verwandlung, not Der Prozess, Bartleby, not Moby Dick, he chose Un coeur simple and not Bouvard et Pecuchet and he chose A Christmas Carol, not A Tale of Two Cities or The Pickwick Club. A sad paradox, Amalfitano thought. Even the educated apothecary[BOOKSTORE OWNERS] do not brave the immense, imperfect ,impetious works that struggle their way into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters.

[shark tits]

As I have mentioned before, I'm a huge Nabokov fan and will die on the hill of him being probably the greatest author in the English language (maybe after Joyce), so after reading this article, I picked up Adrienne Celt's Invitation to a Bonfire and have enjoyed it so far.  I haven't gotten too far into it but that's because I've been busy at work and not felt like reading, not at all an indictment of her writing so if anyone is somewhat interested in Nabokov, it might be worth picking up.

https://electricliterature.com/vladimir-nabokov-taught-me-how-to-be-a-feminist-229f3dbade6f


I've also been really trying to read more POC/non-European or North American/male authors lately and am so glad I've made that choice.  It's how I picked up Lispector and Bolano and has led to a lot of female written audiobooks as well as people like Alexandra Kleeman (who I cannot recommend enough to anyone and everyone - I love her writing so much), Yelena Moskovich, Paul Beatty.  Anyone else been trying to expand their oeuvre?

doesn't that word usually refer to your own artwork not art you consume? like if louie barletta took up poetry or mega ramp, that would be expanding his ouevre, not if he listened to rap.
i've always read books by black guys, woman, the occasional asian [amy tan] or native indian [sherman alexie].
black authors?
manchild in the promised land
monster kody
'push' [precious]
soul on ice [about raping white women as an act of revolution/black power]
forget tthe name of it but i read a real good book about george jackson and the soledad brothers
americanuh [someone on here recommended it, about nigerian expats, dece]
jay-z's book decoded [kinda whatever]
city kid by nelson george
for women, amy hempel does dece short stories, caroline knapp [RIP] usedta write for the boston phoenix, i've read a few of her books behind that. SE Hinton changed my teen yrs.
for asian dudes, there's a book called 'the sailor who lost faith in the sea' [i think?] by a japanese dude who killed himself after publishing a trio of books and a failed coup.
sadam hussein's biography [dude got shot in a failed coup and swam across the tigris injured before his successful coup]
book about cuban revolution [castro and che failed their first time, regrouped in mexico, sailed back all janky style w/ like 90 dudes but they picked up more revolutionaries along the way. book inspired me to get in shape like taxi driver.
that's of the top of my head, who just reads white guys? that's just silly.
[honorable mention] simone de beavoir. i always wished i had a gf who would write about our adventures from her perspective. sartre was a lucky prick [or he made his own luck he'd tell you]

[Peter Zagreus]

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I cannot agree more.  She's a WAY better short story writer than novelist and I'm usually much more of a novel person.  Her novels just collapse under their own weight in my opinion.

[close]

I agree on that and I’ve seen others feel that way about her novels too.

There is a local bookstore/bar owned by two Spanish guys and when I was buying a Bolano book they told me he also is a much better short story writer.

[close]

Oh damn - that's saying a lot because I loved The Savage Detectives but disliked Antwerp. Granted, I know Antwerp wasn't short stories but little vignettes loosely tied together, but I'd think it would be similar.

[close]

Savage Detectives was inspired at times, but also sort of a drag at others, IMO. As a North Americano, I feel like Bolano's "literary" details are beyond my grasp. I read Distant Star, and that was pretty good, though short as far as novels go. Maybe it's working in the liminal novella space.

SFblah: Does that Spanish-guy-owned bookstore/bar happen to be named after Bolano's book? Sounds familiar.

[close]

Yea, Wild Detectives here in Oak Cliff. You live here or been there?

[close]

He chose Die Verwandlung, not Der Prozess, Bartleby, not Moby Dick, he chose Un coeur simple and not Bouvard et Pecuchet and he chose A Christmas Carol, not A Tale of Two Cities or The Pickwick Club. A sad paradox, Amalfitano thought. Even the educated apothecary[BOOKSTORE OWNERS] do not brave the immense, imperfect ,impetious works that struggle their way into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters.

Lol. Well done, bg.

SFblah - I live in East Dallas and have been to WD a bunch of times, though not lately (broke). They are probably the most tasteful curators of fiction in the area. I work at Half Price Books, which probably explains both my lack of money and whatever shopping habits I have. We get a nice discount and first dibs on all the various material that comes in.

I've been living/skating in Dallas and posting on Slap for something like a decade. We're bound to know a lot of the same people.

[AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice]

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I cannot agree more.  She's a WAY better short story writer than novelist and I'm usually much more of a novel person.  Her novels just collapse under their own weight in my opinion.

[close]

I agree on that and I’ve seen others feel that way about her novels too.

There is a local bookstore/bar owned by two Spanish guys and when I was buying a Bolano book they told me he also is a much better short story writer.

[close]

Oh damn - that's saying a lot because I loved The Savage Detectives but disliked Antwerp. Granted, I know Antwerp wasn't short stories but little vignettes loosely tied together, but I'd think it would be similar.

[close]

Savage Detectives was inspired at times, but also sort of a drag at others, IMO. As a North Americano, I feel like Bolano's "literary" details are beyond my grasp. I read Distant Star, and that was pretty good, though short as far as novels go. Maybe it's working in the liminal novella space.

SFblah: Does that Spanish-guy-owned bookstore/bar happen to be named after Bolano's book? Sounds familiar.

[close]

Yea, Wild Detectives here in Oak Cliff. You live here or been there?

[close]

He chose Die Verwandlung, not Der Prozess, Bartleby, not Moby Dick, he chose Un coeur simple and not Bouvard et Pecuchet and he chose A Christmas Carol, not A Tale of Two Cities or The Pickwick Club. A sad paradox, Amalfitano thought. Even the educated apothecary[BOOKSTORE OWNERS] do not brave the immense, imperfect ,impetious works that struggle their way into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters.

Well played, sir, well played!

I find the storeowners' assessment of Bolano interesting. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Personally, The Savage Detectives is my favourite, but that has more to do with the atmosphere, themes, and characters than it has with... let's say... plot density. I agree that parts of it were a drag. His novellas and short stories, especially By Night in Chile and Distant Star, are beautifully crafted. I also recall a short story written from the perspective of a mouse and another one that plays with a short story by Borges on Argentinian gauchos. 2666 on the other hand, is one for the fans.

Speaking of Bolano, I just started a new translation that just appeared (posthumously of course) in German. An English translation called The Spirit of Science Fiction will be published soon as well. It reminds me a lot of The Savage Detectives, but 70 pages in I'm not yet sure where it's going. Two friends move to Mexico City, one only stays inside and appears to write letters to Science Fiction authors, whereas the other gets invested in the DF literary scene. Similar to The Savage Detectives, the book has multiple time frames and perspectives that somehow seem to be connected one way or another.

I haven't been reading much lately. I just finished a critical biography of the prophet Muhamad by an Egyptian atheist (and son of an Imam), but other than that, I can't remember the last time I finished a book. It's not a lack of time - quite the opposite, school's finally out for summer! - but I feel more like watching TV shows, going out, visiting friends, and skating than reading books. These periods come and go though.

Does anyone know what the deal is with Book Six of Knausgaard's My Struggle? I decided to read the whole series in English rather than German, but the English translation seems to take forever (the German translation was published last year). I've always read the American version by Farrar, Straus & Giroux rather than the British Versions (with their stupid titles) and I want to keep doing that. Any news by American readers on when Book Six hits US stores?

[AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice]

As I have mentioned before, I'm a huge Nabokov fan and will die on the hill of him being probably the greatest author in the English language (maybe after Joyce), so after reading this article, I picked up Adrienne Celt's Invitation to a Bonfire and have enjoyed it so far.  I haven't gotten too far into it but that's because I've been busy at work and not felt like reading, not at all an indictment of her writing so if anyone is somewhat interested in Nabokov, it might be worth picking up.

https://electricliterature.com/vladimir-nabokov-taught-me-how-to-be-a-feminist-229f3dbade6f


I've also been really trying to read more POC/non-European or North American/male authors lately and am so glad I've made that choice.  It's how I picked up Lispector and Bolano and has led to a lot of female written audiobooks as well as people like Alexandra Kleeman (who I cannot recommend enough to anyone and everyone - I love her writing so much), Yelena Moskovich, Paul Beatty.  Anyone else been trying to expand their oeuvre?

Might be a good time to pick up Cortázar's Rayuela (if you haven't done so already). I feel like this one could be right up your alley.

[oyolar]

Oh right!  You mentioned that before and I've forgotten to grab it.  I'll add it to my list.

Book 6 of My Struggle is being released on Sept. 18 (at least the hardcover is).  No idea about the paperback.  Summer is being released Aug. 21. 

I believe the long delay in Book 6's release is because of the immense length and because Knausgaard's season quartet is being published in the interim.  So his US/English language agent probably staggered things out so they'd try to play off of the publicity without just burning people out on him.

[shark tits]

rusty's mom sent me a photo book called 'skate the world' by jonathan mehring.
not a book 'to read' per se but it's dope to look at.
distributed by national geographic, ya know what that means?
we're wildlife!

[tortfeasor]

rusty's mom sent me a photo book called 'skate the world' by jonathan mehring.
not a book 'to read' per se but it's dope to look at.
distributed by national geographic, ya know what that means?
we're wildlife!

i just going to assume national geographic stayed true to brand and published a photo of johnny layton with his dick out

[I sniff Jim Gagne's butthole all the time]

not done yet but 'adjustment day' by chuck palahniuk.
i won't spoil but it's rad so far.