December 2010 and I am Reading...
Invisible by Paul Auster
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson.
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy
I tried to start The Gunslinger because of all the hype. But my mind kept wandering. I got to a point where I realized I had no idea what was going on.
I've tried to read The Gunslinger twice now. I love the first sentence. It's great. A fantastic first sentence. Unfortunately, what follows is an ambush of King's typically purple prose. All flowery and unnecessary. It's like the guy's never heard of "Omit needless words". I can't stand King. I can't read him. He can plot a good story, sure. But as a writer, and reader, I can't get into his style, at all.
I've never gotten further than the first page of The Gunslinger. And I want to like it so bad because the idea, the premise, that first sentence, is badass, and begging for me to love it. But I doubt I'll ever read it, or bother picking it up again.
So I officially started reading it this weekend. It is going to take me a while to read this one. Anyway as I was reading it I was trying to figure out why there seems to be so many needless words. As I continued on it started to read like someone writing from personal experience trying to capture every detail down. Not just any experience though but his dream/nightmare. Anyway I think it's been said before that when people write from personal experience something gets lost when trying to write it out. It automatically creates this barrier between the write and the reader.
I also kept coming across typos that were really bothersome well trying to trudge forward through the story. I think I barely read to page 20 in the past two days. I'm basically just going to read it as if someone is describing some epic dream to me and hopefully I'll get through it. I'll also keep in mind it's a series. I usually don't read series for the very reason that the first couple of books tend to drag and the author's definitely have way too much fun describing every detail. Oh well. I need reading material and until my books at the library are available I'll be making as much of a dent in The Gunslinger as I possibly can.
The Girl Who Kick the Hornet's Nest Stieg Larsson.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
so, are all his books The Girl ______ ? Like that one guy's with the nursery rhymes and the other gal's with the alphabet?
Yeah, except that's just their English titles. the first one was originally called Men Who Hate Women or something like that which I thought made more sense story wise.
I'm reading Stella by Andrew Vachss and absolutely loving it. It's dirty and dark and right up my alley.
Indeed.
1 - Men Who Hate Women
2 - The Girl Who Played With Fire
3 - The Air Castle That Blew Up
Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson
The Killing Place by Tess Gerritsen. I'm looking forward to getting home tonight andcurling up with this.
you're turning into a woman. You know that, right?
a man without a country == vonnegut
www.triplebeard.com
http://darkroomreview.blogspot.com
“...There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one's head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people's pain. You ought to have some apprehension that the man you see before you was once even younger than you are now and arrived at his present wretchedness by imperceptible degrees.”
-James Baldwin
I wonder how many times that book has been bought and people started reading it going "Where's the guy with the haircut and air-hammer?"
You just know it's happened out there somewhere.
The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth
I started the book Sarah sent me, The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox. I like it so far. It could have gone so easily into tacky (an 1800s New Zealand man developing feelings for an angel) but it hasn't so far. It's actually quite engrossing. I like the author's prose for the most part, though sometimes she slips (like when she ended a sentence with "trying to figure out what's up").
True Confessions (John Gregory Dunne)
Finally reading Wuthering Heights.
I'm into it.
I gotta say, I always get a little thrill when I know you're reading another Roth.
thanks for sharing.blackhawk tactical pants.
— Spambot
"I could have done worse!" exultantly cried the murderer Lebret, sentenced at Rouen to hard labor for life. — Félix Fénéon
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.
Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murikhami.
Stripper Lessons by John O'Brien
I gotta say, I always get a little thrill when I know you're reading another Roth.
I think that's the seventh Roth I've read and I've just ordered five more. I can't get enough.
Everything's been put back on the shelf so I can get to my annual tradition of reading Moby-Dick through Christmas.
I'm figuring on spending today reading and re-reading through Father Mapple's sermon, you know, since it is Christmas and all.
I've just finished this. Have you?
Now reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
Ransom by Jay McInerney
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. It was a Christmas gift given to me by a friend, who is an artictect and industrial designer. A beautiful inscription reads:
To Matt,
Good design is making other designers feel like idiots for not thinking of it first. Frank Chimero said that. And while you are not a "designer" per se, good literature is very much a key component of all inspiration, so in a way, you are shaping generations of designers. Get it? Whatever, I'm right. Cunt. Love Trav.
I nearly cried. Tears were welling. I was very drunk by this stage. But the sentiment is beautiful, and I'm thankful to have someone so thoughtful in my life.
It's also a pretty great book!
I haven't read. I've just heard all the badass shit surrounding it. The bannings. The fatwa. I'm looking forward to it. I've only read the first few pages, and it seems pretty cool. Not really my usual reading. Seems a bit slow. But yeah, very much looking forward to getting into it.
Porno by Irvine Welsh
Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
I thought this book was really awesome. I read it years ago. What did you think Derek?
Right now I'm reading The Ax by Donald Westlake. Pretty entertaining so far.
like
Sun Tzu.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Gesundheit!
harharharhar!
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald.
Rereading Fight Club.
One of my professors knows I go on the Cult — don't ask why — and he said Fight Club would be a good book to include in my analysis of identification with leader-figures in fiction.
Cool.
thanks for sharing.blackhawk tactical pants.
— Spambot
"I could have done worse!" exultantly cried the murderer Lebret, sentenced at Rouen to hard labor for life. — Félix Fénéon
I thought this book was really awesome. I read it years ago. What did you think Derek?
I love it. Ryu Murikhami is easily in my top ten writers but I've only read 100 pages. I will go back to it New Years eve when I'm off work again.
One of my professors knows I go on the Cult — don't ask why — and he said Fight Club would be a good book to include in my analysis of identification with leader-figures in fiction.
Cool.
WHY DOES HE KNOW??
I'm into it.
yay!
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
I've just finished this. Have you?
Now reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
I finished it after a few days. Pretty Good.
now reading Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore. According to my Kindle I am 62% of the way through it.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
I thought this book was really awesome. I read it years ago. What did you think Derek?
I love it. Ryu Murikhami is easily in my top ten writers but I've only read 100 pages. I will go back to it New Years eve when I'm off work again.
Should that be 'Murakami'? Also, which of his would you most recommend?
I thought this book was really awesome. I read it years ago. What did you think Derek?
I love it. Ryu Murikhami is easily in my top ten writers but I've only read 100 pages. I will go back to it New Years eve when I'm off work again.
Should that be 'Murakami'? Also, which of his would you most recommend?
My personal favourite is In The Miso Soup but so far I havent been let down by any of his.
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami.
First book I bought for my new Kindle was It Came From Del Rio by Stephen Graham Jones. I'm 60% through in 2 days. Really liking it so far and man does it start getting into crazy-town about half way through.
Out of Touch by Brandon Tietz.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
-Faithful Place by Tana French. Really fucking boring!
-Perfect Life by Jane Smiley..Boring.
Best Short Stories 2010, a total waste of time.
I'm really annoyed and frustrated by the amount of crappy books I've read recently. Even the latest Auster was a complete disappointment.
I'm enjoying the hell out of Out of Touch, though, and I'm not just saying that. I'm really impressed with it. (The only reason I haven't finished it is because I left it at a friend's house on December 16 and I left on a trip the following day.)
I'm enjoying the hell out of Out of Touch, though, and I'm not just saying that. I'm really impressed with it. (The only reason I haven't finished it is because I left it at a friend's house on December 16 and I left on a trip the following day.)
LIKE!
I'm into it.
yay!
Hehe, thanks for the recommendation. 
I'd been planning to read it some day, but you gave me the little push I needed to do it. I'm glad I did! Ooooh that Heathcliff, what a scoundrel!
I've just started The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Departure Lounge by Chad Thomas.