books to read

[manysnakes]

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.

I finished "High-Rise" the other week and immediately downloaded "Concrete Island". Then I thought about how "High-Rise" made me feel and decided I could put off reading more Ballard for a little bit.

[manysnakes]

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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The biggest literary tattoo I’ve ever seen was someone got the gravestone from the end of Slaughterhouse Five giant on their forearm

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I love slaughterhouse five as much as the next guy but Jesus that person sounds insufferable

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Do not remember the gender (but probably a guy).  I believe it was their first tattoo as well and it was one of my co-workers at the coffee shop in Borders Books and Music because we don’t really have independent book stores in South Orange County, but we can have that energy

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Holy shit I haven’t been in a borders in forever. Also that somehow checks out perfectly.

That's because they've been out of business for a decade. Barnes & Noble is still going, though, and apparently they're expanding this year.

[brycickle]

I bought the Monster Kody book 2 weeks ago, and am going to start on it this weekend while I"m out of town.  I didn't think anyone would know what I'm talking about, but I've had a handful of people tell me they've read it and that it's good.

I read that book a long time ago, but I definitely remember it being gnarly. Just hearing stories of the Crips back during their formation. There's also some good books about the Mexican Mafia and Nuestra Familia that are pretty good. too.

[IUTSM]

Was between balzac’s droll stories and miles davis autobiography but had to put em both down. 1/4 into miles and i can only take so many stories about slapping a bitch, heroin, cocaine, and all the bad motherfuckers playing bebop. Cool book but not relaxing.

vietnamese typewriter

8 bucks haul yesterday. The Annie proulx book is good halfway thru. Dude on the cover kinda makes me think of BA all wasted or something. See what i can get thru in the next few weeks. Especially looking forward to Berry and Maté

The regular version of an indigenous peoples history is top shelf reading and the youth version is for a kid i work with.

Never read any Coates outside a few essays, so im curious to get into it.

Havent read hocus pocus but its dedicated to eugene debs, so it had to come home

[TableClearer]

Death and the Penguin - Andrey Kurkov

Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk

Gaudy Bauble - Isabel Waidner

[yghartsyrt]

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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.

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i love Neal Stephenson, and thank you for reminding me his stuff is fun...any time I read about him it's critics complaining he doesn't know how to finish his stories, and I'm like oh holy shit that's true...but god dammit I enjoy everything he's written. that quicksilver trilogy was fun when I was reading it, but I can't remember a single plot point...I think I'm a N.Stephenson completist because of his style and subjects, not so much for the plots? I really loved the MMPORG-themed one and the one with the space math monks, those were great action movies...

finally tried China Mieville and that dude is completely my shit. Ian McDonald too. Throw some majick in my hopeful near-future sci-fi and slide some steampunk in there too. Need more!

and yes, I'm aware this is fully on the nose for a Neal Stephenson message board post. ego death bro let it all go...I get hyped listening to metallica too

I love china mieville. I must say i have only read “the city & the city” and “embassytown”. But embassytown was one of the best sci-fi books I read in the last years. As someone who studied linguistics, this books has some incredible interesting takes on language and how language and the perception of the world are intertwined. So good

[Atiba Applebum]

Death and the Penguin - Andrey Kurkov

Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk

Gaudy Bauble - Isabel Waidner

Bones was fine.   Not sure why I went and bought her 1000 pager afte that, but a Nobel Prize will do that to you

[Dental Dan]

Agreed. After I got mine, I did some weird things.

Anyone here a Charles Willeford fan?
Just read Miami Blues and it really bummed me out. I want to read another one.

[oyolar]

I read The Burnt Orange Heresy last year off the recommendation of a buddy and it was fun. It's not usually my style of literature and I didn’t feel compelled to keep reading him but I liked it.

Going back to the Gravity’s Rainbow discourse, I read that in college and have a bunch of older posts in this thread about my experience reading it. I’d like to revisit it but it’s a commitment and I have a massive TBR pile as it is. It was my first experience with Pynchon so it was mind-blowing but I definitely see why it might turn people off. I definitely recommend his shorter stuff if you want to ease into him or give him another shot.

[ChronicBluntSlider]

Reading Biography of X by Catherine Lacey. Most hyped I’ve been on a novel in a while. Especially cool to find a young writer with a long career ahead of her. Just a great writer who writes these real efficient, powerful, highly concentrated sentences. Also enjoy some of the meta shit and genre bending she’s doing, with a novel that is ostensibly a biography. Also includes a slightly alternative version of American history, which is interesting.

[oyolar]

I feel like I've seen that around a lot so I'll add it to my list of to buy/reads.

Reading Led Zeppelin: The Biography by Bob Spitz right now. It's a little slow in the beginning where it just feels like a list of names and places at points, but once Jimmy Page gets in The Yardbirds and starts putting Zeppelin together, it really speeds up.

[TableClearer]

Bones was fine.   Not sure why I went and bought her 1000 pager afte that, but a Nobel Prize will do that to you

I feel you, Books of Jacob is probably the one I'd skip unless I find it for a few £££ at a charity shop!

Read Flights after Drive Your Plow, and it was no where near as enjoyable. 

[Atiba Applebum]

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Bones was fine.   Not sure why I went and bought her 1000 pager afte that, but a Nobel Prize will do that to you

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I feel you, Books of Jacob is probably the one I'd skip unless I find it for a few £££ at a charity shop!

Read Flights after Drive Your Plow, and it was no where near as enjoyable.

Sometimes I just feel the challenge thrown at me by a long book…but I can’t think of any super long non-genre book that really satisfied me off the top of my head other than the Goldfinch

[IUTSM]

Te-Nehisi Coates “We Were Eight Years in Power.”

Released after Trump’s election, it is a collection of his essays for the Atlantic during the Obama years. Each is prefaced with reflections on the piece, time, relationship to America, white supremacy, and blackness in America across American history. gave me a lot to feel and reflect upon. Good, good work

[shannamal]

i know i am coming in hella late on this thread, but any of yall got a goodreads?

[Kumiko]

Here's mine:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/94152773-damian

[IUTSM]

Anyone else read the illustrated classics series as a child? I loved those things. Robinson Crusoe, Count of Monte Cristo, Swiss Family Robinson. Those books were suck a cool gateway to reading as a little kid

[Atiba Applebum]

Anyone else read the illustrated classics series as a child? I loved those things. Robinson Crusoe, Count of Monte Cristo, Swiss Family Robinson. Those books were suck a cool gateway to reading as a little kid

I had like graphic novel ones from like the 60s or 70s.  Turn of the Screw and Great Expectations would scare the shit out of me

[slimvanilla]

just finished Killers of the Flower Moon. Gah damn what an enthralling deep dive into the layered and heartbreaking story of the Osage tribe. Can't wait to sit through 3 hours of Scorcese directing the shit out of this while Dicaprio makes sad, serious faces all over tha screen

any other non-fiction recommendations u pals have? preferably less than 300 pages bc i'm a busy boy with a shortened attention span, thanks

[Atiba Applebum]

just finished Killers of the Flower Moon. Gah damn what an enthralling deep dive into the layered and heartbreaking story of the Osage tribe. Can't wait to sit through 3 hours of Scorcese directing the shit out of this while Dicaprio makes sad, serious faces all over tha screen

any other non-fiction recommendations u pals have? preferably less than 300 pages bc i'm a busy boy with a shortened attention span, thanks

Apparently Leo had the writer change the focus of the story from the investigators to the husbands

Check out Granns new one The Wager.   Feel like I’ve been promoting that too much so don’t let that give you outsized expectations.   If you want to give yourself more of read Devil In the White City is prob a modern classic in NF

[Atiba Applebum]

Demon Copperhead - if anyone is looking for Appalachian/hillbilly David Copperfield, this book is pretty great so far and just won a Pulitzer

[IUTSM]

Demon Copperhead - if anyone is looking for Appalachian/hillbilly David Copperfield, this book is pretty great so far and just won a Pulitzer

Its an exceptional book. Kingsolver has grown so much since the bean trees and pigs in heaven. Both of those are excellent in their own way, but copperhead burns a bit more. There’s less fantasy and DC is a book without an overt spiritual component as is common in her other works, but goddamn if it isnt scathing indictment of its topics (that I won’t spoil). Characters and families were comparable to those ive met and lived with/near in rural America. Her use of slang was pretty spot on as well. A couple moments of “eh, this wasnt researched properly,” but overall, and evocative, thoughtful novel well worth reading.

[Atiba Applebum]

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Demon Copperhead - if anyone is looking for Appalachian/hillbilly David Copperfield, this book is pretty great so far and just won a Pulitzer

[close]

Its an exceptional book. Kingsolver has grown so much since the bean trees and pigs in heaven. Both of those are excellent in their own way, but copperhead burns a bit more. There’s less fantasy and DC is a book without an overt spiritual component as is common in her other works, but goddamn if it isnt scathing indictment of its topics (that I won’t spoil). Characters and families were comparable to those ive met and lived with/near in rural America. Her use of slang was pretty spot on as well. A couple moments of “eh, this wasnt researched properly,” but overall, and evocative, thoughtful novel well worth reading.

Had you already heard of Melungeon people, like his father?   

[IUTSM]

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Demon Copperhead - if anyone is looking for Appalachian/hillbilly David Copperfield, this book is pretty great so far and just won a Pulitzer

[close]

Its an exceptional book. Kingsolver has grown so much since the bean trees and pigs in heaven. Both of those are excellent in their own way, but copperhead burns a bit more. There’s less fantasy and DC is a book without an overt spiritual component as is common in her other works, but goddamn if it isnt scathing indictment of its topics (that I won’t spoil). Characters and families were comparable to those ive met and lived with/near in rural America. Her use of slang was pretty spot on as well. A couple moments of “eh, this wasnt researched properly,” but overall, and evocative, thoughtful novel well worth reading.

[close]

Had you already heard of Melungeon people, like his father?

I met a Basque dude who was working Amtrak outside NOLA back in probably 2013/14, actually it was the week of Thanksgiving 2014 because i had to be in Arcata by December 1. Anyways, in talking about Basque history and origin stories, he was talking about stories of groups of people similar to the Melungeon, if not the Melungeon themselves. So when i read the novel, the first couple mentions rang a bell and i put it togther. Long story short, i had a pretty solid idea before readinf the novel.

[Atiba Applebum]

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Demon Copperhead - if anyone is looking for Appalachian/hillbilly David Copperfield, this book is pretty great so far and just won a Pulitzer

[close]

Its an exceptional book. Kingsolver has grown so much since the bean trees and pigs in heaven. Both of those are excellent in their own way, but copperhead burns a bit more. There’s less fantasy and DC is a book without an overt spiritual component as is common in her other works, but goddamn if it isnt scathing indictment of its topics (that I won’t spoil). Characters and families were comparable to those ive met and lived with/near in rural America. Her use of slang was pretty spot on as well. A couple moments of “eh, this wasnt researched properly,” but overall, and evocative, thoughtful novel well worth reading.

[close]

Had you already heard of Melungeon people, like his father?

[close]

I met a Basque dude who was working Amtrak outside NOLA back in probably 2013/14, actually it was the week of Thanksgiving 2014 because i had to be in Arcata by December 1. Anyways, in talking about Basque history and origin stories, he was talking about stories of groups of people similar to the Melungeon, if not the Melungeon themselves. So when i read the novel, the first couple mentions rang a bell and i put it togther. Long story short, i had a pretty solid idea before readinf the novel.

that's really cool.  i think i'm def going to do a dive into groups of people like that over the weekend.   The annoying thing about books is that movies, whether you love them or not, all take the same amount of time to watch, but you consume books you love so much faster than normal.   I'm a third of the way through and hoping i don't finish it too quickly.

[IUTSM]

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Demon Copperhead - if anyone is looking for Appalachian/hillbilly David Copperfield, this book is pretty great so far and just won a Pulitzer

[close]

Its an exceptional book. Kingsolver has grown so much since the bean trees and pigs in heaven. Both of those are excellent in their own way, but copperhead burns a bit more. There’s less fantasy and DC is a book without an overt spiritual component as is common in her other works, but goddamn if it isnt scathing indictment of its topics (that I won’t spoil). Characters and families were comparable to those ive met and lived with/near in rural America. Her use of slang was pretty spot on as well. A couple moments of “eh, this wasnt researched properly,” but overall, and evocative, thoughtful novel well worth reading.

[close]

Had you already heard of Melungeon people, like his father?

[close]

I met a Basque dude who was working Amtrak outside NOLA back in probably 2013/14, actually it was the week of Thanksgiving 2014 because i had to be in Arcata by December 1. Anyways, in talking about Basque history and origin stories, he was talking about stories of groups of people similar to the Melungeon, if not the Melungeon themselves. So when i read the novel, the first couple mentions rang a bell and i put it togther. Long story short, i had a pretty solid idea before readinf the novel.

[close]

that's really cool.  i think i'm def going to do a dive into groups of people like that over the weekend.   The annoying thing about books is that movies, whether you love them or not, all take the same amount of time to watch, but you consume books you love so much faster than normal.   I'm a third of the way through and hoping i don't finish it too quickly.

Very true and ive never considered that about movies. I cruised thru that one in 3 or 4 days. Im a fast reader anyways, but I didn’t want to put it down!!!

Annie Proulx’s Barkskins is an epic novel that you might appreciate. A family and cultural history of french and indigenous folks, the land, etc from first contact to modern times. Super cool book

[Atiba Applebum]

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Demon Copperhead - if anyone is looking for Appalachian/hillbilly David Copperfield, this book is pretty great so far and just won a Pulitzer

[close]

Its an exceptional book. Kingsolver has grown so much since the bean trees and pigs in heaven. Both of those are excellent in their own way, but copperhead burns a bit more. There’s less fantasy and DC is a book without an overt spiritual component as is common in her other works, but goddamn if it isnt scathing indictment of its topics (that I won’t spoil). Characters and families were comparable to those ive met and lived with/near in rural America. Her use of slang was pretty spot on as well. A couple moments of “eh, this wasnt researched properly,” but overall, and evocative, thoughtful novel well worth reading.

[close]

Had you already heard of Melungeon people, like his father?

[close]

I met a Basque dude who was working Amtrak outside NOLA back in probably 2013/14, actually it was the week of Thanksgiving 2014 because i had to be in Arcata by December 1. Anyways, in talking about Basque history and origin stories, he was talking about stories of groups of people similar to the Melungeon, if not the Melungeon themselves. So when i read the novel, the first couple mentions rang a bell and i put it togther. Long story short, i had a pretty solid idea before readinf the novel.

[close]

that's really cool.  i think i'm def going to do a dive into groups of people like that over the weekend.   The annoying thing about books is that movies, whether you love them or not, all take the same amount of time to watch, but you consume books you love so much faster than normal.   I'm a third of the way through and hoping i don't finish it too quickly.

[close]

Very true and ive never considered that about movies. I cruised thru that one in 3 or 4 days. Im a fast reader anyways, but I didn’t want to put it down!!!

Annie Proulx’s Barkskins is an epic novel that you might appreciate. A family and cultural history of french and indigenous folks, the land, etc from first contact to modern times. Super cool book

Oh I’ll definitely check it out.  I’ve never dig into Proulx before but I’ve meant to, seeing as she seemed to be a pretty good pal of my current fave Larry McMurtry

[Mr. Kamikazi]

Naked Lunch
Thus Spoke Zarathustra

[modern life is war]

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.

[Atiba Applebum]

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.

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