books to read

[Alexactly]

Recent reads:


Anyhow, I was able to break through in September, and here’s what I’ve read lately.

A Door Behind a Door - Yelena Moskovich

A very weird book about a Russian immigrant to the US who gets roped into a… scheme or something, by her old neighbor from Moscow who just got out of prison for killing another of their neighbors. It’s kind of a prose-poem novel, where every paragraph is preceded by a kind of headline. Lots of references to Pushkin and Lermentov, ultimately it feels most influenced by Lynch - there is a very Mulholland Drive-esque confusion of identities. I’d give it a B.

Yesterday - Juan Emar

Truly incredible, a hidden Chilean modernist gem from the 1930s that deserves to be famous. It’s just one dude’s recounting of the events of a day wandering around a city with his wife, either witnessing outlandish events or getting caught up in his mind about paradoxes regarding mundane and trivial things. A lot like Flann O’Brien or Borges in full comedic mode. Cannot recommend it highly enough. A+

When we Cease to Understand the World - Benjamin Labatut

This is good stuff. it got a lot of hype, but it’s well deserved. Bafflingly showed up on Obama’s reading list, but w/e. A kind of non-fiction novel or collection of fictitious essays about various 20th Century scientists and how their discoveries alienated them from the world or disturbed the idea that science can shed light on the reality of the universe. It’s written (or at least translated) in elegant, crisp prose and conjures an incredible, slightly gothic atmosphere of Pre-, inter-war, and post-war Europe. It occasionally lapses into TeenGoth-style darkness, but overall it’s extremely compelling. I give in an A.

Crossroads - Jonathan Franzen

I fucking loved this book. I’m a lil bitch for some Franzen, but this may be his best novel. Whenever I wasn’t reading it, all I wanted to do was get back to it. If you don’t like him, this probably won’t change your mind, but he avoids the pitfalls of topicality that bogged down Freedom and Purity by setting this one all in the past - which is great, since I always found the best parts of his novels to the be the analepses set in oldtimes. As always, the great strength is the characters - Marion, the mother of the family, is incredible, and I’ve found myself thinking about her sections of the book a lot since I finished it last month. There is an awkward unevenness to how much each time we spend with each character, which I chalk up to the fact that this is meant to be the first in a trilogy and we’ll see more of them later. A+/A.

[oyolar]

Moskovich is odd. I read that as well as her first novel The Natashas which I enjoyed. I liked The Natashas better but it had a much clearer and more direct narrative to it. I just thought A Door Behind a Door was too loose for me. I know that was the point but her style is so atmospheric and Lynchian that there needs a little bit of something to ground it even if that something is abstract. I have her 2019 novel Virtuoso somewhere in my stack of books to read. I like her when reading her but don’t feel the need to hunt it down. Maybe I’ll lead it now that you reminded me.

Finally finished this very dense book of Bataillean analysis that I just kept dragging out so I’m excited to dive into Knausgaard’s The Morningstar. I read the first chapter and it’s very smooth reading if that makes sense. But it’s weird to read something from him that is fully fictional and not autofiction. It’s the same style but I have to keep reminding myself the narrator is a character and not Karl Ove.

[Alexactly]

I really like Knausgaard and Ben Lerner, but I'm not sure I can stomach another book length auto-fiction again in my life. All fiction is already a kind of meta-fiction; all narrative germinates from some firsthand perceptions of an actual experience; all art is inherently masturbatory. This is known! Joyce and Proust already blasted this kind of things out of the stratosphere over a century ago! Accept that there's nothing new and just make something good for fuck's sake...


Anyways.
 

[Peter Zagreus]

Been re-reading Vonnegut's Deadeye Dick. I think it's his best novel and highly underrated. The characters, plot, dialogue - all of it is so bleak but Vonnegut's humor still shines through. It's a really nice balance.

Man, I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about Deadeye Dick, but it was one of my favorites back in my Vonnegut phase (probably 21 or 22 years old). I skipped work one day, picked up a little paperback copy and read it in one day. I don't remember the particulars, but I liked it, and I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it too.

I just finished my PhD qualifying exams and I'm going to do some free-reading when I get tired of video games. I've never been much for fantasy, but this one seems promising:

Description from Amazon (I didn't buy it - checked it out from the library):
Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house―a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

[modern life is war]

I finished dune, it was amazing. Now i'm reading Dune: the messiah and i can't put it down but i don't know if i am actually enjoying it.

Does anyone have any sci-fi recs? Dune was the first book of the genre that i've ever read and i was surprised at how much i loved the way that the world was created. I picked up 'stranger in a strange land' by Robert A. Heinlein from the second hand bookstore so i'll read that soon too. I feel like i could really get into sci-fi as a genre which is unexpected because i was at one point in my life a hugely arrogant literary snob.

[MichaelJacksonsGhost]

Read John Fante’s Arturo Bandini series. The humor is almost manic, and the stories so clearly inspired Bukowski that they make me reconsider my understanding of creative writing. By no means do I want to be a Bukowski clone , but it’s refreshing to read some of the stuff that inspired him and see how he really didn’t deviate from his source material all of that much.

It’s  awesome to get into things I really want to respond to in my own work.

Seriously, if you like any American minimalism (Carver, Sherwood Anderson, Hemingway), I’d recommend John Fante. Or, if you just want to laugh at someone’s delusions of grandeur, read it. (Is it delusional when his books circle around the aspiration to be a writer? Do the published books not sort of confirm his sense of self and this theme of writing and genius? Is his understanding of himself actually delusional, or just sort of pompous?). He also really paints a “cool” picture of the struggling writer, which I’m just sort of a sucker for.

I will say though, he’s definitely objectifies women, and he’s got some ideas about Nazism which I don’t jive with at all, even though I think they’re included as a sort of satire on American life ca. 1930. With a little historical distance the novels are still a fun time.

TLDR: if you like Bukowski, read John Fante.


PS: has anyone had time to read the news Cormac McCarthy novels? Hoping to get them for Christmas, at which point I’ll probably roll through them. One of my buds got an advance readers’ copy of both books, and all he’d say is that McCarthy deals with a trans character in a really empathetic and honest way. Something I definitely wouldn’t have thought McCarthy would deal with, but which I’m really interested in seeing how he works.

[Alexactly]

Apologies for spamming another thread, but I’m recently out of a job and I’m selling off a few hundred books, as well as some clothes and shoes. If you’re interested, I’m happy to bundle multiple books together for a discount - you can PM me list and can sell em to you outside of eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/ollihandroh

Just added a ton of really juicy New Directions stuff, if you’re into literature in translation and whatnot.

[swellbowed]

Dreams From Bunker Hill by John Fante
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/dreams-from-bunker-hill_john-fante/426551/?resultid=bd64cb8c-60eb-44e4-9439-11734c844ba9#edition=14614719&idiq=46524308

[thanksgiving]

currently reading gary snyders the practice of the wild. absolutely fantastic. cant recommend it enough. i got about 10 pages in and already knew it was the best book ive ever read.

[Kumiko]

I'm presently reading Missed. Better Still. by Peter Sotos. It's a collection of most of his writings over the years, all of which are out-of-print and expensive in physical form. Scans exist, but I'm not fond of reading books on screens so I was glad to get a nice sampler of Sotos.

It kinda sucks. Sotos only has appeal for edgelords, but even as one I find his writing unremarkable. There just isn't much more to it than it being moderately shocking or upsetting that he's talking about real cases of murder, cp, or various forms of sex abuse. And whatever attempts there are at illustrating a deeper message  (perhaps about popular media/news making tragedies a kind of pornography?) is so poorly articulated, I don't think Sotos himself knows what he's really trying to say beyond edgy bullshit. It really feels like any other true crime shit - just with generous use of some offensive words and slurs in a boring, fragmented first-person narrative.

I also read The Lathe of Heaven bu Ursula K. Le Guin recently and loved every page of it. Super rad sci-fi about a person whose dreams are able to alter reality and explores concepts of fantasy, reality, identity, desire, power, liberalism, etc. Definitely worth reading!

[Jagr]

Read John Fante’s Arturo Bandini series. The humor is almost manic, and the stories so clearly inspired Bukowski that they make me reconsider my understanding of creative writing. By no means do I want to be a Bukowski clone , but it’s refreshing to read some of the stuff that inspired him and see how he really didn’t deviate from his source material all of that much.

It’s  awesome to get into things I really want to respond to in my own work.

Seriously, if you like any American minimalism (Carver, Sherwood Anderson, Hemingway), I’d recommend John Fante. Or, if you just want to laugh at someone’s delusions of grandeur, read it. (Is it delusional when his books circle around the aspiration to be a writer? Do the published books not sort of confirm his sense of self and this theme of writing and genius? Is his understanding of himself actually delusional, or just sort of pompous?). He also really paints a “cool” picture of the struggling writer, which I’m just sort of a sucker for.

I will say though, he’s definitely objectifies women, and he’s got some ideas about Nazism which I don’t jive with at all, even though I think they’re included as a sort of satire on American life ca. 1930. With a little historical distance the novels are still a fun time.

TLDR: if you like Bukowski, read John Fante.

Ask the Dust is a great book and Bandini is a great character. Have never read anything else by Fante - but this is a good reminder to do so.

[Candied cigarettes]

I bought this book called Interstate this weekend and love it so far. I met the author Jose Vadi this weekend and he’s a super nice guy and a great writer. Can’t recommend enough

[Andmoreagain]

Recent books:

Psychopoltics by Byung Chul-Han -- kind of disappointing. I agreed with a lot of his assertations but felt it lacked depth and the author's understanding of big data and its implications sometimes felt misguided and outdated.

Everything I want to do is Illegal by Joel Saladin is a gem.

Libra by Delillo was great.

Next up is a collection of Mark Fishers blog posts and unpublished work which i expect to be hit or miss.

[Ricky Vaughn]

We
by Yevgeny Zamyatin

It Can't Happen Here
by Sinclair Lewis

[RoaryMcTwang]

The collected stories of John Cheever. Most every one  brings me at least close to tears, incredible.

[Weeb_poser]

Underground by Haruki Murakami.

Haven't been able to put it down.

[manysnakes]

“High-Rise” by JG Ballard. Deeply disturbing but fascinating and great. I’ve never read Ballard before but now I get it.

[oyolar]

I've only read Crash but it definitely makes me want to read more of him.

[manysnakes]

I've only read Crash but it definitely makes me want to read more of him.

Man yeah, I saw "Crash" when I was 16 and it's up there with "Gummo" or "Come and See" in the category of "movies which scarred me permanently". To be honest I forgot that it was based on a Ballard novel - High-Rise explores very similar themes.

[whaaaaat]

Cut out media consumption for the most part and have been on a reading frenzy the past 5 months or so. Haven’t read so much and such varied perspectives since i was a teen.

Id always most appreciated Marquez’s 100 years of solitude, reckoning it was his best. I recently reread Love in the Time of Cholera and very much enjoyed it. While not as overtly magical, its a book with greater depth of feeling.

Matthiessen’s the Snow Leopard is another recent re-read and it was nothing short of excellent in the depiction of his Himalayan trek. Trek of the heart, mind, and across the glaciers. Fantastic. This lead me to his Shadow Country, or novel about a deep south, Florida outlaw in the 50 or so years following the US civil war. It was a long read and the liberal, conversational use of the N word, while appropriate to the time/place/character, left me a little ragged. Extremely violent novel of historical fiction and an open display of frontier capitalism. Some knowledgeable of reconstruction and post-reconstruction south might bring some sort of “sense” to the reader. I do however feel that perhaps to a reader from a place that is not the US and with limited or no historical context, the novel could be a morass of depictions drawn in the memory of Conrad and his Heart of Darkness.

Strap in for Fowles The Magus. Delightfully unpredictable mystery

Jamil Ahmad wrote the Wandering Falcon in his early 70s. He was a Pakistani civil servant. This is a collection of shorts leading to one greater story. Feel is that of hearing tales in. Bedouin camp. Read it. Easy enough and vastly rewarding 

Gonna get back in here soon

Matthiesson is amazing, Snow Leopard is one of my all-time favs.

Another all-time fav to share here is Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson. Not sure if it's this thread or not, but it's a book I imagine skateboarders would enjoy. It's a world a lot of us do/did operate in.

I also just read George Saunders newest short story collection, Liberation Day. He truly is the master of that form. Also recommend his last novel, Lincoln in the Bardo - very unique composition.

And last call out is Neal Stephenson. Have been making my way through his Quicksilver trilogy. He's just a genius on so many levels. His books are very impressive, yet extremly fun to read.

[Atiba Applebum]

Expand Quote

Cut out media consumption for the most part and have been on a reading frenzy the past 5 months or so. Haven’t read so much and such varied perspectives since i was a teen.

Id always most appreciated Marquez’s 100 years of solitude, reckoning it was his best. I recently reread Love in the Time of Cholera and very much enjoyed it. While not as overtly magical, its a book with greater depth of feeling.

Matthiessen’s the Snow Leopard is another recent re-read and it was nothing short of excellent in the depiction of his Himalayan trek. Trek of the heart, mind, and across the glaciers. Fantastic. This lead me to his Shadow Country, or novel about a deep south, Florida outlaw in the 50 or so years following the US civil war. It was a long read and the liberal, conversational use of the N word, while appropriate to the time/place/character, left me a little ragged. Extremely violent novel of historical fiction and an open display of frontier capitalism. Some knowledgeable of reconstruction and post-reconstruction south might bring some sort of “sense” to the reader. I do however feel that perhaps to a reader from a place that is not the US and with limited or no historical context, the novel could be a morass of depictions drawn in the memory of Conrad and his Heart of Darkness.

Strap in for Fowles The Magus. Delightfully unpredictable mystery

Jamil Ahmad wrote the Wandering Falcon in his early 70s. He was a Pakistani civil servant. This is a collection of shorts leading to one greater story. Feel is that of hearing tales in. Bedouin camp. Read it. Easy enough and vastly rewarding 

Gonna get back in here soon

[close]

Matthiesson is amazing, Snow Leopard is one of my all-time favs.

Another all-time fav to share here is Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson. Not sure if it's this thread or not, but it's a book I imagine skateboarders would enjoy. It's a world a lot of us do/did operate in.

I also just read George Saunders newest short story collection, Liberation Day. He truly is the master of that form. Also recommend his last novel, Lincoln in the Bardo - very unique composition.

And last call out is Neal Stephenson. Have been making my way through his Quicksilver trilogy. He's just a genius on so many levels. His books are very impressive, yet extremly fun to read.

If you like Saunders, DEFINITELY read his book about writing/Russian short stories.   Cover is purple, forget title.   

[newguy]

Expand Quote

I've only read Crash but it definitely makes me want to read more of him.

[close]

Man yeah, I saw "Crash" when I was 16 and it's up there with "Gummo" or "Come and See" in the category of "movies which scarred me permanently". To be honest I forgot that it was based on a Ballard novel - High-Rise explores very similar themes.

Gummo and eraserhead are one time watches, you spend the rest of your life trying to forget them.

Anyways finally finished Settlers and started reading Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink and Blue, also want to start How to Blow Up a Pipeline.

[Ricky Vaughn]

-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

-Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

-Animal Farm by George Orwell

[RoaryMcTwang]

inspired by the Ballard talk on here I've just finished Concrete Island. Wanted to read it ever since I first heard about the bizarre premise years ago. It was quite different from what I thought it would be.

[Atiba Applebum]

David Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon, Lost City of Z) just had a new one come out today called The Wager.    Based on his previous work, I’d recommend it

[turbo 2.0]

Just reread No Country For Old Men and have been reading a bunch of Stephen King anthologies as a guilty pleasure, some Raymond Chandler too. Currently I’m trying to get through Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. It’s not a slog it’s just a lot.

[Atiba Applebum]

I dunno - I’ve tried Gravity’s Rainbow and Against the Day and both felt punishing to try and follow.   Maybe his shorter works would work better for me. 

[turbo 2.0]

I dunno - I’ve tried Gravity’s Rainbow and Against the Day and both felt punishing to try and follow.   Maybe his shorter works would work better for me.

It’s simultaneously punishing and rewarding, but I one hundred percent can’t argue with anyone for wanting to choose something shorter because like I said, it is a lot.

[Atiba Applebum]

Expand Quote

I dunno - I’ve tried Gravity’s Rainbow and Against the Day and both felt punishing to try and follow.   Maybe his shorter works would work better for me.

[close]

It’s simultaneously punishing and rewarding, but I one hundred percent can’t argue with anyone for wanting to choose something shorter because like I said, it is a lot.

I love me a long book, but I’m guessing Lot 49 might reign in some of the stuff that makes it tough for me to focus.   I see that muted trumpet tattoo on a few people who I know can’t handle complicated books hah

Infinite Jest was a fine read, but I haaated having the endnotes because it just made it a miserable reading experience to flip back and forth so much.   I was investigating if the ebook versions made it easier with like clickable links or even if there was a website or PDF I could have open next to me.   

[turbo 2.0]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

I dunno - I’ve tried Gravity’s Rainbow and Against the Day and both felt punishing to try and follow.   Maybe his shorter works would work better for me.

[close]

It’s simultaneously punishing and rewarding, but I one hundred percent can’t argue with anyone for wanting to choose something shorter because like I said, it is a lot.

[close]

I love me a long book, but I’m guessing Lot 49 might reign in some of the stuff that makes it tough for me to focus.   I see that muted trumpet tattoo on a few people who I know can’t handle complicated books hah

Anything to seem cool. I know too many people in various scenes who I know have never watched a movie/read a book but still have a tattoo pertaining to it to seem in the know.

Also super fun fact I didn’t know for the longest, although it resembles a trumpet, it’s actually a post horn, a valveless instrument that - as the name suggests- used to be used to herald the arrival of the postman. Personally I think we should bring it back