books to read

[Nosferatu]

Listened to this on a couple of long car rides. Great immersive fiction. All the 80s references were fun. Started watching the movie last night and wow did they bastardize it.

[smellsdead]

during a chat with a homie about all things horror, the new iteration/prequel of the thing was brought up. he said it was based on a book, and i mentioned a lovecraft story of the same nature- alien creatures in antarctica

then a little search yielded this:

In 1938, several years after Lovecraft wrote At the Mountains of Madness, John W. Campbell published Who Goes There – a novella that became the basis for two famous movies, The Thing from Another World, and The Thing, released in the 1950s and 1980s, respectively. And a century earlier, in 1838, Edgar Allen Poe published The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. In this book, a ship penetrates deeper into the southern ocean than ever before: The ice eventually gives way to warm seas and subtropical islands, populated by hostile natives reminiscent of those described by early European explorers in the Pacific.

https://www.wired.com/2012/12/antarctic-gothic-horror/

i just read the poe story. i need to track down who goes there

similarly in the wintery horror realm, im re-reading the shining.


yall keep your dust jackets or ditch em?

[Peter Zagreus]

yall keep your dust jackets or ditch em?

Can't stand em, but if it's an academic book or something I'm pretty sure I'm gonna sell back, I'll tuck the dust jacket away to retain the resale value.

It's been a while since I've exhausted any single author's body of work, but I'm about to read my last John Williams novel.

I'm not usually one for pre-modern period pieces, but it looks promising.

Also copped this one, and it's been a joy to read so far.

[AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice]

Just finished the German translation of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. The twist at the end came unexpected, while you should've seen it coming at the same time. I liked the novel's major theme (relationship between humans and animals), too.

Just picked up The Underground Railroad, because I've heard so many good things about Colson Whitehead. I'm really excited!

I'm about to read The Hate U Give with my upper high-school (or whatever the American equivalent is...) English students. I made them pick between that one and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, an autobiographical graphic novel about a girl's emigration after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. I was surprised they picked a real novel over a graphic novel, because foreign-language novels are really hard to read for them.

Lastly, y'all should pick up a copy of my friend Becky Mandelbaum's debut novel The Bright Side Sanctuary for Animals. Animals, Kansas, antisemitism, supporters of a certain giant orange cheese puff... doesn't sound great, I know... but trust me, it is! Plus, Becky's fun and weird and has her heart in the right place and needs that money to buy more mini dolls, which she's obsessed with.

[Jamali]

Congratulations!
By the way, next time you can do it more easily.
When I was young I also tried to translate a book, but there were no internet,information,services with tips,websites like that (https://translationreport.com/) where you can look for any tool/instrument you need for translation, regret that I didn`t born later  update. I started a new book translation with the help of mentioned website 
Hope you will go further also!

[AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice]

Congratulations!
By the way, next time you can do it more easily.
When I was young I also tried to translate a book, but there were not internet,information,articles with tips,websites like that (https://translationreport.com/) where you can look for any tool/instrument you need for translation, regret that I didn`t born later 
Hope you will go further!

Wait... You translated a whole novel for the hell of it? That's incredible. Just to be clear, I read somebody else's translation of an Olga Tokarczuk novel.

[smellsdead]

dont know if anyones mentioned this, but this book is fucking incredible. and its true. read it. i started reading it a second time as soon as i finished.

[AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice]

dont know if anyones mentioned this, but this book is fucking incredible. and its true. read it. i started reading it a second time as soon as i finished.

Agreed. One of the best non-fictional books I've ever put my hands on. Tragic, eye-opening, gnarly.

[Freelancevagrant]

dont know if anyones mentioned this, but this book is fucking incredible. and its true. read it. i started reading it a second time as soon as i finished.

I’m wrapping up god emperor of dune and I think I’m going to read this next. Thank you for the heads up.

[Peter Zagreus]

Damn, that looks good. Putting that on my to read list.

[childhood]

I've been going through a big Charles Portis phase lately, some of his books kinda have a similar flavor as some of McCarthy's.


Also definitely gonna read Say Nothing too, sounds really interesting.

[Ilya Oblomov]

I remember "Escape from Freedom" by Erich Fromme and "Destructive Generation" by Peter Collier and David Horowitz being transformative for me in the late 90s.

Anything by Immanuel Velikovsky is interesting. I got yelled at by my astronomy professor and praised by my geology professor when I asked each of them about Velikovsky.

"My Uncle Oswold" by Roald Dahl is great satire. I did not know what I was getting into with this one. He's a children's author ("James and the Giant Peach") so I was a bit surprised by how raunchy this book is.

[ogvados]

Bibliography by Victor Pelevin. One of the greatest authors who are alive now. Currently reading his "Empire V"

[Atiba Applebum]

Expand Quote

Just finished a bit of a Cormac McCarthy bender and have been looking for something to fill the void. Did Legends of the Fall & A River Runs Through It (all 3 short stories. Revenge was great.) I’m almost done with Travels With Charley by Steinbeck for my second time. Any McCarthyesque suggestions?

[close]

Bruce Machart wrote a few books that, while perhaps not as grim, might be McCarthyesque in tone and grit. Men in the Making is a solid short story collection and his novel In the Wake of Forgiveness is worth reading.

@Coldpizza
I recommend the Lonesome Dove Quartet.  Some say just read Lonesome Dove, and it is the best one, but I really enjoyed reading it chronologically and I found some of the first and second book deeply scary if you find the futility of being hunted by Comanches on a flat plain as terrifying as I do. 

They were written out of order, so the story doesn’t line up perfectly from Book 2 to 3 which was written first, but it’s easy to get past.

[mi cousin juan]

As bad as it sounds, "mein kampf" is an interesting read because you get understand little bits and pieces of A.H. thoughts, which in the end influenced a whole lot on this flat earth.

[Lifer]

As bad as it sounds, "mein kampf" is an interesting read because you get understand little bits and pieces of A.H. thoughts, which in the end influenced a whole lot on this flat earth.

VERY odd first post to make on a skateboarding forum

[Alan]

Especially since MK is convoluted gibberish. Probably a troll. But let's see how this plays out.

[childhood]

Gonna make a new account on Slap just to post about how Lolita is actually incredibly well written


On the topic of Hitler, recently I finally read the book about how the Nazis in general, and Hitler specifically, were on super high grade medicinal amphetamines and opiates for most of WWII. Super interesting.
https://b-ok.cc/book/2774645/5f5141

[Acky Jacky]

I’m almost done with Clockers with Richard Price, it’s a great read, different from the movie.



If you like Mark Kozelek or Kevin Corrigan their year long email exchange turned into two books is insightful. The Panther and the Honey Badger, and Zhao Tao.

[dallou]

I am currently reading Dostoïevski's The Gambler. Very easy to read and pretty fun.

[Grind King Rims]

Reading this self-help book for gay men to try and get over early life trauma/ shame, but a lot of it is written in such a self-congratulatory way that I'm really struggling to make any progress in it. A lot of it is very relatable but the author writes it as if every gay man is a workaholic fashionista who goes from dinner party to dinner party. Bro I'm broke and out of shape, I just don't wanna hate myself.

[Atiba Applebum]

Reading this self-help book for gay men to try and get over early life trauma/ shame, but a lot of it is written in such a self-congratulatory way that I'm really struggling to make any progress in it. A lot of it is very relatable but the author writes it as if every gay man is a workaholic fashionista who goes from dinner party to dinner party. Bro I'm broke and out of shape, I just don't wanna hate myself.

Was it written in the mid-00s?  That’s like peak-that stereotype with Queer Eye, SaTC, and women being like “I need a gay BFF to pick out my outfits”.   I feel like Kimmy Schmitt is one of the rare shows to feature gay people (mostly Mikey) who aren’t Bravo caricatures

[igrindtwinkies]

As bad as it sounds, "mein kampf" is an interesting read because you get understand little bits and pieces of A.H. thoughts, which in the end influenced a whole lot on this flat earth.

I read about 100 pages of it about 10 years ago.  I'd say maybe my reading comprehension was bad then, but I'll go with the book being utter trash.  His writing style was terrible and it felt like he just kept repeating himself.  2/10, I don't fuck with it, not even to get a glimpse into his twisted mind.

[Grind King Rims]

Expand Quote

Reading this self-help book for gay men to try and get over early life trauma/ shame, but a lot of it is written in such a self-congratulatory way that I'm really struggling to make any progress in it. A lot of it is very relatable but the author writes it as if every gay man is a workaholic fashionista who goes from dinner party to dinner party. Bro I'm broke and out of shape, I just don't wanna hate myself.

[close]

Was it written in the mid-00s?  That’s like peak-that stereotype with Queer Eye, SaTC, and women being like “I need a gay BFF to pick out my outfits”.   I feel like Kimmy Schmitt is one of the rare shows to feature gay people (mostly Mikey) who aren’t Bravo caricatures

Originally published 2005. You called it.

[botefdunn]

Never read Mein Guy Kampfen, but I did just read Don Delillo White Noise and its main character is the head of a department of Hitler studies. Pretty good book and very prescient in its meditations on tabloid culture.

[funeral_tuxedo]

Never read Mein Guy Kampfen, but I did just read Don Delillo White Noise and its main character is the head of a department of Hitler studies. Pretty good book and very prescient in its meditations on tabloid culture.

I always felt so bad for Heinrich and Orest.

[childhood]

I love White Noise. The "airborne toxic event" section feels weirdly relevant too, with Covid going on right now.

I think I'm finally gonna read DeLillo's book Libra, his historical-fiction novel about Lee Harvey Oswald, since the anniversary of the JFK assassination is coming up next week.

[Peter Zagreus]

I love White Noise. The "airborne toxic event" section feels weirdly relevant too, with Covid going on right now.

I think I'm finally gonna read DeLillo's book Libra, his historical-fiction novel about Lee Harvey Oswald, since the anniversary of the JFK assassination is coming up next week.

You won't regret it! V good.
I'm still about a month out from doing any free-reading, but I plan to revisit some classic American shit when I finish the semester's work:

[botefdunn]

for any french pals or pals who parlee-vu, I'm working on this and its great. I guess it's what you'd call historical fiction, lots of neat old words and worlds, and an acerbic wit (Voltaire is an easy comparison).

[childhood]

Books to read on the anniversary of the JFK assassination:

Don DeLillo - Libra
https://b-ok.cc/book/1064174/bed905
Only like a quarter of the way through this, really enjoying it so far though.

Lamar Waldron & Thom Hartmann - Legacy of Secrecy
https://b-ok.cc/book/769384/83d83f
Haven't read this yet, but based off reviews it sounds like one of the best non-fiction books on the JFK assassination/conspiracy.

Stephen King - 11.22.63
https://b-ok.cc/book/1180605/a674f6
Probably a couple hundred pages longer than it needed to be, and gets repetitive in parts, but is still one of the best recent Stephen King books. The miniseries on Hulu with James Franco is pretty solid too.