I know you're reading something this March. But what is it?

Fly Fishing by JR Hartley

I finished 'Torture the Artist' last night. I've had it for about a year and just never picked it up. It was storming here Monday and I had nothing to read and finally picked it up since I didn't want to leave the house.

I'm so impressed. It was bleak and witty and heartwarming. The story and style remind me of Max Barry a bit. If you like Barry, you will like this guy's style. Some parts are slow and some a little unbelievable, but all in all, it captivated me and made me want to reach out and hug people.

[QUOTE=Riddlegimp]March. Books. Forum for readers.

So whatcha reading?

I'm just starting Peter Biskind's [B]Down and Dirty Pictures[/B]. It's a kind of anecdote and gossip-rich history of the Miramax, Sundance and Independent film years of the 90s.

If it's anything like his last book, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls it should be absolutely brilliant. Tittle-tattle raised to the level of art and social history through sheer research, scoops and honesty. I love it![/QUOTE]

Hard or sofcover? I'd trade you for it. Borrow trade it.

I finished King's DESPERATION. Boy, good premise, lousy excecution. I mean, every other paragraph he's saying what a sign on a doorpost is saying IN ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME. Or what Cash was singing and bloody fangs and such. I mean I loved the Twilight Zone nature of it all and I love a good yarn but sometimes he can beat you over the head with alot of the same stuff.

I'm in dire need of a Paul Auster or a Richard Price. I need something contemporary raw and heartfelt and please, no weary lead characters that think everybody suck please no. Anyone got any suggestions?

edit: don't suggest, my bookstores have limited english sections and you can't know what's gonna pop up in the favorite used section. That's always a guess. I'm gonna be in Amsterdam Saturday so I'll scope out the American Bookstore there.

Erm, maybe y'all could shoot some suggestions anyway?

[QUOTE=Earthbound]Fly Fishing by JR Hartley[/QUOTE]

Look, it's Verbal Bound.

Good Omens - The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
by Geil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

so far, so good.

[QUOTE=Mr. Brown]Hard or sofcover? I'd trade you for it. Borrow trade it.[/QUOTE]

Which one? And for what? They're both softcover. How many? How smelly? Which language? I need new shoes.

i am reading [I]Peyton Place[/I] by Grace Metalious. First published in 1956, this book was at once a best selling novel and dismissed as trash...like all good books should. It's the story of a small New England town during the 30's and addresses all kinds of social issues like gender, race, socio-economic status, incest (oo la la! the people weren't blood related, though), sex, abortion, gossip, skeletons in the closet...etc. It was made into a film and a tv series, and is still part of American pop-culture. I plan on following with the biography of the author, who was quite the controversial figure herself.

[URL=http://www.cas.buffalo.edu/classes/eng/willbern/BestSellers/Peyton/peyton1.jpg]Grace Metalious in a famous photograph titled "Pandora In Bue Jeans"[/URL]

I read that as "Like all good books should, it's the story of a small New England town durining the 30s"

I was thinking - wow, that's pretty specific tastes.

Anyway - sounds interesting!

haha... could you imagine reading ONLY books set in small NE towns in the 30's? booorrrriiiinnnnggg

[QUOTE=Riddlegimp]Which one? And for what? They're both softcover. How many? How smelly? Which language? I need new shoes.[/QUOTE]

I meant Down and Dirty Pictures. I loved EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS. But maybe I should check for it at the AB store. I haven't had any sleep, I just say what pops up in my head man!

speaking of smelly....read that book I sent you!

Phillip K. Dick. I should get around to it, but dude.... the smell... the smell.

*choppers pass*

Started [I]House of Leaves [/I] but my concentration to read more than a page at a time lately has been lacking.

What is it? Philip K. Dick is great.

Edit: Should have quoted Brown

I couldn't sleep last night and read 300 pages of King.

[QUOTE=mirka]What is it? Philip K. Dick is great.[/QUOTE]

The pocketbook reeks of something. I love smelling books, but when I open that one I nearly pass out. I'm serious.

[QUOTE=Mr. Brown]The pocketbook reeks of something. I love smelling books, but when I open that one I nearly pass out. I'm serious.[/QUOTE]

I'm very sorry to hear that. What is the TITLE?

[QUOTE=mirka]I'm very sorry to hear that. What is the TITLE?

:)[/QUOTE]

DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC STINKY SHEEP? The one with a BLADE RUNNER movie cover. (not putting you down Rex, just passing details) Bush keeps me company though, he's stacked on top of my books, looking down on me.

[QUOTE=Mr. Brown]DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC STINKY SHEEP?[/QUOTE]

THATS A GOOD ONE.

[QUOTE=mirka]THATS A GOOD ONE.[/QUOTE]

I haven't read that one either.

dare i ask what it smells like?

It's not like urine or something it's just really rank you know, like when you take a whiff you actually snap your head back like 'whoah'!

I am trying to read Vernon God Little but I have no time. Once the quarter ends in a couple weeks, I will have lots of time to read.

atomised - michel houellebecq

anybody like his books ?

I read that! It was so so.

i think it would be interesting to only read books this month with the word "March" in the title

[QUOTE=Mr. Brown]It's not like urine or something it's just really rank you know, like when you take a whiff you actually snap your head back like 'whoah'![/QUOTE]

Whatever happened to mailing it back? I knew the post office would laugh at you when you tried handing it off and they didn't accept it when they caught a wind of it. You just didn't have the strength to say it was you that smelly'd up the place and not the book.

I have know clue what it smelly like. But I am damn curious

I be hitting up One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I'm also trying to get through the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, cuz I'm sick of the fundies trying to push creationism, why don't we all just go back to the 1600s and hunt us some witches!!!

Almost done with "Vineland" -Thomas Pynchon. This one's more like Vonnegut than Gravity's Rainbow was. It's all wacky, with women ninja training camps, hippies, and large scale fascist plots but with somber messages running underneath and words like "idiolalia" that I have to look up sprinkled around. Think I'll read "V" next, I love this shit.

PS: Idiolalia: Use of a language invented by the person himself.

[QUOTE=moe.ron]i am reading [I]Peyton Place[/I] by Grace Metalious. First published in 1956, this book was at once a best selling novel and dismissed as trash...like all good books should. It's the story of a small New England town during the 30's and addresses all kinds of social issues like gender, race, socio-economic status, incest (oo la la! the people weren't blood related, though), sex, abortion, gossip, skeletons in the closet...etc. It was made into a film and a tv series, and is still part of American pop-culture. I plan on following with the biography of the author, who was quite the controversial figure herself.

[URL=http://www.cas.buffalo.edu/classes/eng/willbern/BestSellers/Peyton/peyton1.jpg]Grace Metalious in a famous photograph titled "Pandora In Bue Jeans"[/URL][/QUOTE]

It's extremely good. For some reason, when I picked it up, I thought it was going to be a horror novel, but it reminded me much more of someone like Carson McCullers or Harper Lee. Very intimate portrayal of small-town life.

i'm currently tired of dostoievsky's books and i am now reading "on the road" by Kerouac.

I'm splitting my attention towards two books

Thomas Carlyle - The French Revolution
John Kennedy Toole - The Confederacy of Dunces

Reading a lot of stories recently for a creative writing course of mine. Just read "In the Cemetary Where Al Jolson is Buried" by Hempel. Loved it! Especially the last bit about the chimp learning the language of grief. Also been reading quite a bit of Raymond Carver lately. Just picked up "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". I've read about half the stories and have enjoyed them all thus far.

[QUOTE=bassplr19]I be hitting up One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I'm also trying to get through the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, cuz I'm sick of the fundies trying to push creationism, why don't we all just go back to the 1600s and hunt us some witches!!![/QUOTE]
lets all dress up as amish, step back in time in the crapulence of the renainssance and burn some cackling hideous witches,
get it done.

ive just finished "climbing mount improbable", hows "the selfish gene" so far ?

[U][B]question for all[/B][/U]

what are peoples feelings toward the "beat era" authors. ive read that they were influenced mostly by drug culture. are there any highlights or any authors to avoid from that period. cheers.

Finished up:

Perfume - Suskind
The Beach - Garland

Gonna Read

High Fidelity
House of Leaves
A Confedracy of Dunces

[QUOTE=fattyowls]atomised - michel houellebecq

anybody like his books ?[/QUOTE]
loved it. do a seach in this forum for "houellebecq" for more discussion

I'm reading a book jane sent me, five mile house by our own karen novak, i like it.

[QUOTE=fattyowls]lets all dress up as amish, step back in time in the crapulence of the renainssance and burn some cackling hideous witches,
get it done.

ive just finished "climbing mount improbable", hows "the selfish gene" so far ?

[U][B]question for all[/B][/U]

what are peoples feelings toward the "beat era" authors. ive read that they were influenced mostly by drug culture. are there any highlights or any authors to avoid from that period. cheers.[/QUOTE]

Selfish Gene is kinda boring so far ~page 60, it seemed to be driling the math of game theory into your head and then drilling it some more and then drilling it some more, that was the whole 3rd or 4th chapter. I putting it down for a bit, that's where One Flew Over... comes in. I'll let you know more when I'm finished with SG.

found a copy of Jim Goad's "Shit Magnet" at half price books yesterday
felt like i won the lottery or something finding it
look forward to starting in on it at work tomorrow

[QUOTE=bassplr19]Selfish Gene is kinda boring so far ~page 60, it seemed to be driling the math of game theory into your head and then drilling it some more and then drilling it some more, that was the whole 3rd or 4th chapter. I putting it down for a bit, that's where One Flew Over... comes in. I'll let you know more when I'm finished with SG.[/QUOTE]

yeah "climbing mount improbable" gets a bit tedious when richard starts incorperating computer programs to predict further evolution. for me, computers and natural evolution just dont quite mix. but as always there are really excellent chapters.

yeah hes really keen on probabilitys and math. i just find this approach a little difficult to always believe when nature has such ambiguous occurances.

have you read any "carl sagan" ?

creationism is dubious.
i love you jesus, dont hurt me for saying this.

thanks moe.ron

Just finished Stuffed by Brian M. Wiprud. It has taxidermy, carnies, freaks, Korean no-good-nicks and pygmies. Good mental masturbation book.

Just started 'The Town That Forgot How to Breathe' by Kenneth J. Harvey. It is supposed to have formerly mythical beasties washing up from the sea, an illness that causes people to forget to breathe and ghosties.

Everything is Illuminated. It's a really dirty book. But it's pretty good, so far.

Currently reading ......."Junky" by William S. Burroughs
"Naked Lunch" William S. Burroughs

I'm reading "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke... where, oh where, has this book been?!

[QUOTE=Underscore]I'm reading "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke... where, oh where, has this book been?! ;)[/QUOTE] I'm so glad you're enjoying it.

[QUOTE=morey]I'm reading a book jane sent me, five mile house by our own karen novak, i like it.[/QUOTE]I enjoyed the hell out of it. So did my woman, for that matter

I'm finishing Turgenev's Rudin - have maybe fourty pages left; my Jen has absolutely no interest in it, though.

I'm reading that Perfume book by whatshisface.

patrick süßkind. one of my favourites.

i finished trainspotting and im almost done with the second book of the hitchikers guide to the galaxy.its nice to go from something somewhat hard to read to something straitforward and structurally/grammatically easy on the mind. After this i think im going to try to read house of leaves, I heard it was a decent book, great expirementation in writing and interesting concept.

[QUOTE=Unhygenix]i finished trainspotting and im almost done with the second book of the hitchikers guide to the galaxy.its nice to go from something somewhat hard to read to something straitforward and structurally/grammatically easy on the mind. After this i think im going to try to read house of leaves, I heard it was a decent book, great expirementation in writing and interesting concept.[/QUOTE]

ive just finished "the beach" and thought it kicked ass over "the tesseract"

ill have to send you some soap

can you cook ?