February 2011 and I am reading...

Whores for Gloria by William T Vollman, recommended by Matt.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

What did you think of this? I bought this book a few months ago but haven't got around to reading it yet. Have you read any of Atwood's other work? If so, how does it compare?

It's my first Atwood, and it's fucked up. Really fucked up, but in a way I like it and that makes me go on with it. I'll definitely read other works of hers.

Well this makes me even more excited to read it! I've read Oryx and Crake and Year of the Flood, loved Oryx but wasn't a fan of Flood. Neither of those were really that fucked up and I have a penchant for fucked up, so I'm pumped, because I love Atwood's imagination and style.

I had no idea what it was about, I'm still trying to understand the setting and everything, but it's really interesting and weird.

I've read a lot of Margaret Atwood, and The Handmaid's Tale is by far my favorite. It's pretty different from her other novels, I think. It's a GREAT story, especially if you're into dystopian fiction, which is my favorite genre (next to horror and sci-fi).

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. this is my billionth reading of it, so it won't take long. i really should give it away, considering how many other books i could have read by now if i didn't have this thing. oh well. i love it waaay to much.

The Guardians by Andrew Pyper. Read the first chapter and I'm hooked.

So far this month, I have read:

Hell's Half Acre - Will Christopher Baer
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
A Feast of Snakes - Harry Crews
The Cosmic Puppets $ The Man Who Japed - Philip K. Dick
The Raw Shark Texts - Stephen Hall
The End of Alice - A.M. Homes
City of Truth - David Morrow
Citizen Vince - Jess Walter
Breath - Tim Winton
Cold Spring Harbor - Richard Yates

I noticed two things:

A. You read as much as me and
B. You have great taste in books.

If you are a chick then I love you. If you're a dude No Homo.

Pete hates Raw Shark Texts. Anytime I call him, he doesn't even say hello anymore...just picks up saying, "I hate Raw Shark Texts. Who's this?"

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

I hear it's deeply disturbing. That's why it's on my must read shelf but I've yet to read it.

Also - Girl Nextdoor is awesome. But you better have an iron stomach. It's pretty graphic.

p.s. - I am just joking about hating Out of Touch.

p.p.s. - Mirka didn't like Raw Shark Text.

I read The Girl Next door, and it was just...disturbing.

I also saw that movie that was somewhat similar, and also somewhat based on real life events. I forgot the name of it but it had Kathleen Kenear (sp?) as the crazy main character.

Is it Infinite Jest?

Just finished it. You should definitely read it! It's just perfect and disturbing and everything that makes a book a 5-star on my scale.

I don't know if that's what you're thinking.

I thought you were just joking with that post.

No, it's some tome you didn't like/couldn't finish, and I always get it wrong.

Speaking of Cult related books my copy of Stay Gid by Nik Korpon arrived today and I'm tempted to start it tonight. It looks great and I don't think there is a Cult book I haven't read yet so it's my duty.

You should start it tonight, dude. It's good.

There were two movies; seen em both. One was the novel adaptation of the same title. They really focused on the physical stuff in that one. And the older sister from Sixteen Candles played the instigating lady.

The other is called An American Crime, and was based on the same events, but not the book. It's less subjective, less focus on the depravity, and a slightly-better film overall. Were it not actually true, it would be laughably-bad storytelling. That's the one with Catherine Keener, and a snark-free Ellen Page plays "the girl" (and narrates ... I don't need to explain why this is a problem).

There are two, the one with Catherine Keener is An American Crime. The other one is The Girl Next Door and was released a year earlier.

I finished House of Leaves a few days ago.

The Room by Selby Jr.

80 pages in and this is a rather weird book. Haven't read Selby before but have been meaning to for a while.

What'd you think of this one? I really dig Tim Winton. I told Mirka to read his short collection The Turning a while back, and I think she did. Or, at least, a few of the stories. He's a great Australian author, and this book, for me, was pretty damn fine.

Out of this month's batch it's one of two that I'm keeping, The Wasp Factory being the other. I'll keep The Turning in mind. I'm on a short novel jag at the moment.

Breath falls into that rare category, a literary novel that tricks you into thinking that it isn't. The plot and characters are so engaging that it's not until you've finished that you start to ponder the deeper ideas. I'll definitely be reading more Winton, but I'm not sure where to start.

I've garnered an affinity for the bits of Australian culture that have come my way over the past few years. Obviously my tastes tend towards the strange, but what other books do you recommend that can be purchased out of country?

I'm just about finished with 3001: The Final Odyssey, the last book in the Space Odyssey series.

Watched Lynch's version of this the other day, so now I'm giving the actual book a try.

Gawd, good luck. Took me forever...and like 4 tries. zzzzzzzz

Those are two amazing series of books by two of my favorite authors. Epic stories. Dune in particular is a fucking incredible series. Just stop when you get to the ones written by Brian.

Clarke wrote better than Odyssey IMO but the series was still very good.

It seems like there is a fuck-ton Dune books. I only have the first one, but every time I go to the used book store's sci-fi section, I see more and more Dune books that I haven't seen before.

Also, in one of the final chapters of 3001, there is a reference to Dr. Susan Calvin having been a female role model in the field of computer science. Like she was a real person. Arthur Clarke doing a little shout out to his recently deceased colleague. Awesome.

Luke Davies, all the way. His novel Candy was one of our book club selections a few months back and was somewhat of a hit. A few people loved it. It's one of my favourite novels, not just by an Aussie. His two other novels are incredible too: God of Speed and Isabelle the Navigator. Great stuff. And I'm sure you can get both of them in the U.S

Sam de Brito's The Lost Boys was a good book too.

There's quite a few more, but I'm not sure they've had international releases.

Try get a hold of Best Australian Stories (any edition, really. But the last few years' editions have been particular).

Those are two amazing series of books by two of my favorite authors. Epic stories. Dune in particular is a fucking incredible series. Just stop when you get to the ones written by Brian.

Clarke wrote better than Odyssey IMO but the series was still very good.

The beginning is a little slow but I think that's mainly because I have no idea what some of the characters are talking about lol But I'm starting to catch on the more I read. I have a couple friends who are totally nuts about the books and the series Sci-Fi did. I didn't know there were separate writers? Also if you don't mind answering; what's the deal about the ones who have the blue eyes? A little confused about why they have that...

It's the drug junk, but you have to keep reading.

lol ooook