Hey, Guise! It's May, and I'm Reading!

What about the book means it needs to be read in print, Brandon? Is it like House of Leaves, with bizarre formatting, that is engineered for the tangible product?

The pages change shades throughout the book, the formatting is all weird sometimes, and some pages are just visuals. I don't know, man...just seems like the kind of book you should get in print if you can.

On the third Youth In Revolt book. Still on: Kiss Me Judas, I am Legend, Into The Wild.

Nothing except for YIR is really grabbing me, sometimes in a book it feels like a chore or competition to finish.

Yeah, right. I think I'll pick this and Scorch Atlas up next time I have the cash to do an Amazon order.

I think Rubicon Beach was his second novel. You can read it without reading Days Between Stations first, but I think you'll miss out a little because there are many connections between the books. But you won't need to read Days Between Stations to understand Rubicon Beach. If you read the books out of order and get really into them, there's a good chance that you'll want to go back and reread them in order to get more out of them. But as I think I mentioned, Our Ecstatic Days is the only genuine sequel (to The Came Out at Midnight) of the books.

While Zeroville feels like it's completely separate from all of the novels that came before it. Definitely his most accessible book, although the ending is very Erickson-esque.

I really disagree with it not seeming difficult to write. There are so many imaginative details and I think few writers would be capable of coming up with details in that vein. Just holding the book makes me feel kind of exhilarated.

Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry.

Manifesto of Surrealism - Andre Breton

Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting (Robert McKee), recommended here. Very interesting, even though I don't agree with everything.

McKee is pretty strict. It's his way or no way. But he makes a lot of great points. And the things I like the most are how he uses tons of movies as examples. And then breaks those movies down so you totally understand the point he's trying to make.

Though some of his theories aren't for everybody - it's just a great book about writing. In my opinion.

I agree 100% with your statements here, that book is a crazy mindfuck, as is his novella EVER. Have Scorch Atlas on the bookshelf waiting to be devoured too...

Speaking of "art" in a novel format, have you read any of Steve Tomasula's work?

You're so right. That ending was perfect (had the arm hairs standing on end when I closed the book), and the entire third act, just great.

I'm now starting his The Sea Came in at Midnight.

I'm definitely noticing this even though I'm only about 30 pages in. He's got his opinion, and he lets you know, that's for sure.

I'm also working slowly through "Save the Cat!" by Blake Snyder which is more of the how to sell a screenplay side of things. I think a combination of the two will give me an interesting look at things.

Piercing by Ryu Murakami

Re: There is No Year

I think it can be read on Kindle without losing much. The typographical hijinks isn't really important to the book like House of Leaves, there's not a massive amount of it, and I rarely understood the reason for using it. Although it makes the interior of the book look pretty cool, so you might want to read the print version. And there's some really interesting blurry images.

Anyway, it doesn't bother me when inexplicable things happen and they're not explained. Sometimes when an explanation is provided in this instance, it's a huge let down. I do think that for more plot-driven novels, the author needs to establish rules for all the unreal things that occur. There need to be consistencies and restrictions, but this book worked fine without that sort of thing. (And speaking of Steve Erickson's novels, he often doesn't provide explanations for the weirdness, although there often seem to be "rules.)

Also, I think the house and its objects rarely displayed human-like attributes (this is something I do a lot in my own writing), but there was an awful lot of transformations. I think there's one point that the house is briefly written about as if it's a person, but that's pretty much it (although I still have about 25 pages to read before I finish). Maybe the house does display a human-like attribute by exhibiting symptoms of disease (which it may or may not have caught from the son)?

120 Days of Sodom - Marquis de Sade

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

Decided to give Volt a try after reading Richard's review. I feel pretty lukewarm about this one. Full review here: http://wearevespertine.com/reviews/volt/

Now reading: The Man Behind the Nose by Larry "Bozo the Clown" Harmon. It's interesting. Not particularly well written, but these anecdotes of an icon will definitely hold your attention.

Finished The Man Behind the Nose.

Goodreads review:

I went into this with little to no expectation. Surprisingly, it was a pretty good book on Larry "Bozo" Harmon and his adventures as the iconic clown.

Like anyone, I'm familiar with Bozo, but there were a lot of "Hm, I didn't know THAT" moments throughout the course of reading it, such as: training with NASA in zero gravity, running for President (with assassination attempts), and meeting cannibals. A lot of the time, the stories come off too sensational to be true, but these are usually followed with some kind of photographic proof to dispel any doubts, which was a good move on the publisher's part.

The story is told chronologically, the fist half starting with Larry Harman before he became Bozo, going from child to teen to young adult. It's basically a series of events in which the lesson of hard work paying off seems to be the central thesis. The second half is laid out in a series of anecdotes: "Let me tell you about the time I did (fill in the blank with some kind of adventure)." It reads quick, simply, and the design of the book compliments the text wonderfully.

If I had any complaint, it would be that certain aspects of Bozo's life weren't examined in-depth enough. Sure, we got the highlight reel of all his biggest accomplishments, but never anything about the man without the make-up or his personal life, and the title of the book would indicate we'd get at least some of that. The best example is towards the end and you're suddenly being told that Bozo is married, and I must admit, it does come off somewhat abrupt considering his spouse is never mentioned or even hinted at until they've already been wed for some years.

This is a good book about Bozo and is quite informative, but don't expect scandal or drama or anything other than a puff piece that showcases this man in nothing but a positive light. Unlike an "E! True Hollywood Story," this book is all ups and no downs, and some readers may set this one down wanting a little more Larry and a little less Bozo.

Reading Rant until I get Slut Lullabies or Chronology of Water in the mail.

Probably gonna start reading WE ARE OBLIVION again, so it's fresh for the book club. After that, I'll be hitting Tobacco-stained Mountain Goat, I'd say.

RANT was actually a pretty good book for a post-diary chuck book

I made a start on Steig Larsson's The Girl who Played with Fire. I read the first in the Millenium series a while ago.

I'm reading Jennifer Government by Max Barry.

Just finished Rant. Moving on to Hero by Perry Moore.

That was the book that introduced me to Chuck. My favorite of his.

I just started reading Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk. I've owned a copy for ages and I thought I'd give it a try despite how unpopular it is. We'll see how I go with it.

The Dilbert Principle (Scott Adams)

The definitive book about office politics.
Adams explains his principle this way :
"I wrote The Dilbert Principle around the concept that in many cases the least competent, least smart people are promoted, simply because they’re the ones you don’t want doing actual work. You want them ordering the doughnuts and yelling at people for not doing their assignments—you know, the easy work. Your heart surgeons and your computer programmers—your smart people—aren’t in management. That principle was literally happening everywhere."

Finished Our Ecstatic Days by Steve Erickson. It was good, though I preferred The Sea Came in at Midnight (which I read just before). That one had more tangible story elements, and even though it jumped all over the place, I was able to pretty much keep track of which characters were which in a semi-logical sort of way. In Days, you've got the same few characters inhabiting a bunch of different bodies in the multiverse or whatever you want to call it, and the dreamlike qualities that I love in his writing were emphasized a little too much for me and were harder to follow (for those who try to make sense of such things). A very maternal vibe, as the whole thing seems to be a meditation on the loss of a child.

Just started Jeremy Robert Johnson's Angel Dust Apocalypse and enjoying its eccentricities so far. I think Chuck fans would like it. There's a fair amount of research/detail that comes with the viscera to lend it more authority. Plus the stories and short and punchy and funny.

I love that book -read it twice.

Yeah Angeldust was good fun.

Also Rant is probably my favorite Chuck book.

I've finally started We Are Oblivion. Should have time to read it over the next couple of days.

Oh man, so true.

Sounds like a funny read.

Yeah, Rant was pretty darn good.

Finished Hero and it was pretty fuck awful.

Starting Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine by Ben Tanzer.

Hey! That title is a Bob Dylan song, one of my favourites, in fact. I want to read that book for that reason alone.

Crazy fucking book -I'm almost finished. But some of the shit in there, I can't believe. Gross stuff, but refreshing to read.

ahahaha -will be skipping That one, I guess.

Actually -wanted to comment on this too. Almost finished with You Can Make Him Like You -but you know it was cool reading Stranger Will and You Can Make Him Like You around the same time -there's a lot in common there with those two books. Granted, one's much, much darker, but a man having to face parental responsibility, or responsibilities far greater than himself -lot of shared themes. Was just cool to be going between those two.

Imperial Bedrooms by BEE

finished Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy...starting Columbine Dave Cullen and Stories of Anton Chekhov

What did you think of that?

Read The Never Enders yesterday. And now chugging through Based on the Movie by Billy Taylor, which I found in my brothers pile of books and is actually really funny.

Finished We Are Oblivion. Cracked the eSpine on the pdf of Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat. Can already tell I'll be sending a few bucks.

I thought the writing style was great...minimal dialogue and punctuation, sparse content, archaic vocabulary, dense with details...

Minimal plot, which you may not be a fan of...essentially, The Kid joins up with the Glanton Gang, a band of Scalp Hunters, who commit brutal massacres across the south west.

But I Was a fan -for exactly what you're saying. It's my favorite McCarthy novel. Once that book got going, it's just Watch Out -We're killing anything in our way! And then it comes down to just one man vs. another man. Loved it.

im currently suffering through two stories from OBLIVION, by that pretentious fuck-tard wallace. and i do very much mean suffering.

Why then? For school?

Rico Slade Will Fucking Kill You.

at least this is the last one.

Christ your negativity is a annoying sometimes, Chuck. Everything's fucked or boring or annoying or whatever. Is anything in your life good and makes you happy or do you just burden the crappy shit on us?

Ouch. Was that serious?