March St Davids Day 2010 Book thread and I am reading...
Kabujo. What.
i'm reading 'blame!' by tsutomu nihei, which is really interesting. and also 'homicide: a year on the killing streets' by david simon, which is also really interesting.
I started reading Hospital by Toby Litt again!
I'm almost finished with Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. I find it a bit boring but I still want to finish it for some reason, probably because the character is pretty interesting in a way. Still don't see what's so great about it though. Sure, the language is beautiful but the story is just not very good at all.
"Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested."
"Jemand musste Josef K. verleumdet haben, denn ohne dass er etwas Böses getan hätte, wurde er eines Morgens verhaftet"
halfway through Miss Wyoming by Coupland and it's meh.
Just finished Beat the Reaper... I don't even know what to say about it. This book was awesome! I'm still processing everything. I will be rereading this one at some point.
Mirka - How the hell do you keep finding these awesome books? What are your sources? Is it just luck in numbers?
I mean - I'm the Book Club Mod and you fucking show me up every time... lol
I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I have a lot of books that are supposed to be coming in. So I don't know if I should start my new McInerney, or Bonk, or wait for one of the new books.
Beat the Reaper [SPOILERS??]
Oh! I meant to ask:
On the very last page of the book Pietro asks Prof. Marmoset, "How did you find out it was them?" and the Prof. says, "It... Seemed Kind of obvious."
Why the "..."? I feel like there's more in that line and I'm missing something.
I tried to post this with no spoilers. So if the answer - or whatever - is a spoiler just PM me.
Bah, that book is drudgery and hardly worth the bother to read. I read it two years ago because i do quite like Lawrence and there's all this hullabaloo about Lady Chatterly, but i'm now convinced it's purely because of the censorship ban it had. That book is full of nothing but a commoner saying cunt.
Agreed. I ditched this books after 100 or so pages. Life is too short for Lady Chatterley's Lover. I was on a real D.H. Lawrence run a couple of years ago, loving it! And this book stopped it short. A chore.
I think I've been put off reading that forever since seeing the recent french film adaptation, which was so slow and dull. Plus the actress playing Lady Chatterly was the most wooden actress ever and the gardener was disgusting!
Wooden? Look at those nostrils. She's well up for it.
i'm working my way through "Craig Clevenger's Top Ten Favourite Books". this list is in the back of my Harper Perennial paperback editions of the Handbook and Derma along with some other cool extras; and interview; essays by Craig and Baer. it's neat.
in no particular order (the quotes are what Craig said about the book):
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
"If I were ever to teach writing, this would be my textbook."If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino
"This completely changed my understandng of reading and writing, for the better."The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
"I picked this up twenty years ago, and still have that same paperback. Like Calvino, this was one of my first forays out of my narrow field of reading as a kid."White Jazz by James Ellroy
"Ellroy's finest work, as hard-boiled as they come, yet with beautiful, fluid prose."Homeboy by Seth Morgan
"Seth Morgan was a master storyteller, and a writer clearly in love with each of his characters. His language is never less than acrobatic."Leaving Las Vegas by John O'Brien
"Dark and beautiful. This is a powerful, powerful love story."Tours of the Black Clock by Steve Erickson
"Steve Erickson is the Invisible Giant of American leters."House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
"This was the last book i read before i quit my job to write my first novel."Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson
"The High Priest of Noir, Jim Thompson is an underapprieciated treasure."The Zoo Where You're Fed to God by Michael Ventura
"A beautiful, graceful dance of a book."
incredible list. looking forward to so many of these. already have HOL but i haven't even attempted it yet. i think it's gonna be a tough read.
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
"If I were ever to teach writing, this would be my textbook."
hahaha and it was 
__________________________________
play hard, like it's work to be done.
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
"If I were ever to teach writing, this would be my textbook."
hahaha and it was :)
ha! really? a man of his word.
I hear its great. Mirka swears by it. Give me two days and I will have finished the first part.
I do love those. Let me know what you think, Derek. I'm on pins and needles waiting for the next installment.
I fell asleep lastnight with 30 pages to go in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, woke at 4am, put on the kettle, finished it and went back to sleep.
After work I went and got Part 2 but I will leave it a while before reading it. It was great, I just dont want to big it up too much for future readers but I Highly recomend it!
I met John Connolly at a book signing 6 years ago and we struck up a friendship. He is one of the Nicest people you will ever meet!!!!!!!
As per reading the update from Clevenger, I'm re-reading The Contortionist's Handbook.
douche
I met John Connolly at a book signing 6 years ago and we struck up a friendship. He is one of the Nicest people you will ever meet!!!!!!!
i really like this book, i'm a sap for the alternative children's story things he has in there.
i'm gonna try to get my hands on his other books later on.
Miles to Go by Miley Cyrus
+ quote Nikki + quote Eddy
Really? Oh I loved it. I just read it a month or two ago. But then most of what I loved about it had to do with relating to Lady Chatterly, so if you have a penis, that might be problematic.
"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 just finished David Copperfieldand started The Reader I can't believe how many words they were able to cram onto the pages of DC. Going from that to The Reader it seems like there is only a paragraph on each page.
"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'm reading Piercing by Ryu Murakami.
in no particular order (the quotes are what Craig said about the book):
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
"If I were ever to teach writing, this would be my textbook."If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino
"This completely changed my understandng of reading and writing, for the better."The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
"I picked this up twenty years ago, and still have that same paperback. Like Calvino, this was one of my first forays out of my narrow field of reading as a kid."White Jazz by James Ellroy
"Ellroy's finest work, as hard-boiled as they come, yet with beautiful, fluid prose."Homeboy by Seth Morgan
"Seth Morgan was a master storyteller, and a writer clearly in love with each of his characters. His language is never less than acrobatic."Leaving Las Vegas by John O'Brien
"Dark and beautiful. This is a powerful, powerful love story."Tours of the Black Clock by Steve Erickson
"Steve Erickson is the Invisible Giant of American leters."House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
"This was the last book i read before i quit my job to write my first novel."Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson
"The High Priest of Noir, Jim Thompson is an underapprieciated treasure."The Zoo Where You're Fed to God by Michael Ventura
"A beautiful, graceful dance of a book."
incredible list. looking forward to so many of these. already have HOL but i haven't even attempted it yet. i think it's gonna be a tough read.
I LOVE Leaving Las Vegas. Im going to work my way through this list next month aswell. Cheers Mathew.
Very interesting list. Pop.1280 and White Jazz are also on mine (the latter being my fave novel ever, even though I'd recommend reading the first 3 novels of the L.A. Quartet first and keep WJ for last).
I should re-read The Postman ..., I don't remember it was so impressive, but perhaps it wasn't so well translated.
Mirka - How the hell do you keep finding these awesome books? What are your sources? Is it just luck in numbers?
I mean - I'm the Book Club Mod and you fucking show me up every time... lol
I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I have a lot of books that are supposed to be coming in. So I don't know if I should start my new McInerney, or Bonk, or wait for one of the new books.
I get a lot of recs from people here! Reaper came from Berto and Rob Hart. Rob and I were emailing about KOCKROACH right before Xmas and I thought it was the best book I'd read all year. He teased that I hadn't read Reaper yet, so I bought it a few minutes later off Amazon. AWAIT YOUR REPLY was completely random.. I liked the cover, read the first three pages and was a goner.
I'm rereading 'Don't Cry' by Gaitskill again while I wait for my copy of 'Livability: Stories' by Jon Raymond to arrive. That was recommended to me by our Bug.
Oh! I meant to ask:
On the very last page of the book Pietro asks Prof. Marmoset, "How did you find out it was them?" and the Prof. says, "It... Seemed Kind of obvious."
Why the "..."? I feel like there's more in that line and I'm missing something.
I tried to post this with no spoilers. So if the answer - or whatever - is a spoiler just PM me.
I think it's implying that Pietro should have known since it was "obvious", but obviously Pietro had a lot going on. That's what I think, but I'll find out for sure! 
I hear its great. Mirka swears by it. Give me two days and I will have finished the first part.
I do love those. Let me know what you think, Derek. I'm on pins and needles waiting for the next installment.
I fell asleep lastnight with 30 pages to go in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, woke at 4am, put on the kettle, finished it and went back to sleep.
After work I went and got Part 2 but I will leave it a while before reading it. It was great, I just dont want to big it up too much for future readers but I Highly recomend it!
I had trouble putting it down until I was finished too. I put off starting Fire until I had a solid two days to do nothing but read and make and eat sandwiches. I love their sandwiches!
Im readig Shutter Island. So far its a great Novel
Finished Story of my Life by Jay McInerney. I didn't think it was gonna be amazing. So I wasn't disappointed when it was pretty good.
Started reading Await Your Reply.
Started reading Await Your Reply.
I have Await Your Reply and Kockroach ordered from my favourite store in the city. I'm off on holiday next Friday so if either book arrives I will make a dash to the city for them.
I read a few stories from Salmonella Men on Planet Porno by some Japanese dude and its great, Im going to save it for the trip.
I just got "Beat the Reaper" in the mail from Berto and I'm about 110 pages in.
There is hope, but not for us.
And you just got it? Like, today?
Yeah! Dude, I didn't even set the envelope on the floor. I was about 80 pages in before I even noticed Berto stuck sticky notes on the front and wrote me a short letter.
There is hope, but not for us.
lmao Nice Jane!
It does have a format that makes it hard to say, "OK here's a good place for a break..." And it is so damn good too.
OMG OMG OMG!
i can't wait for my copy to come in the mail!
ps. i have written this in shout and PA, but damn, i'm so excited, and right now seems like as good a place as any to drop it: my question got excepted for Sorry You Asked. so, it will be in a future episode. not sure how far into the future. i still have to make video of me asking the question, too. but, yay!
Plainclothes Naked by Jerry Stahl
I just ordered Beat the Reaper and Kockroach today (for the low, low price of $2.50) and I pre-ordered the paperback version of Await Your Reply. I am excited about these!
"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
Where do you do your shopping, Des?
I have also jumped on the reaper/kockroach/reply bandwagon. Ordered a few SGJ's too; ledfeather, demon theory and sinners. I'm a virgin to his work but if it's anything like the other two velveteers, in regards to quality, than I'm sure I'll gobble that shit up: nom nom nom!
I have also jumped on the reaper/kockroach/reply bandwagon. Ordered a few SGJ's too; ledfeather, demon theory and sinners. I'm a virgin to his work but if it's anything like the other two velveteers, in regards to quality, than I'm sure I'll gobble that shit up: nom nom nom!
Stephan Graham Jones, i think, is the best of the Velvet trio. Super awesome guy, too.
He seems like a super dude from posts i've read over at the velvet. I've been Wanting to read him for a while now but its been one of those things that gets put off and put off. Did I make good choices?
I think easily one of the best things about joining the cult was finding out about the velvet trio.
Yes. Ledfeather's much shorter, but I'd start with All the Beautiful Sinners. A good "gateway" book, I think. His stuff is very dense (but rewarding), so I've found that it helps to read without putting them down for too long, to help keep track of characters and whatnot, but it doesn't sound like that's a problem for you.
i'm savoring await your reply at the moment. it's divine.
you have excellent priorities, but your lack of observational skills fill me with laughter. im glad you're enjoying it!
Friday at the Nobody Inn by Mark Hayhurst. This was recomended to me on Amazon and its not bad.
i'm reading a solid chunk of a text book for university. renassiance Lit. mostly just introductory stuff at the moment. contextualising society and religious views etc of the time, obviously so we can understand where the artists where coming from.
i didn't think i would enjoy it as much as i am. never had a huge passion for history, but, there's something rumbling inside me.
I have also jumped on the reaper/kockroach/reply bandwagon. Ordered a few SGJ's too; ledfeather, demon theory and sinners. I'm a virgin to his work but if it's anything like the other two velveteers, in regards to quality, than I'm sure I'll gobble that shit up: nom nom nom!
Half.com and Paperbackswap.com
I generally buy a lot of books at one time, so I find a seller on half that has several of them. The books are usually $.75, and $3 for shipping the first book and $1.89 for every additional book, $2.50 for hardcovers.
"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
A Prayer for Owen Meany
by John Irving
"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 have also jumped on the reaper/kockroach/reply bandwagon. Ordered a few SGJ's too; ledfeather, demon theory and sinners. I'm a virgin to his work but if it's anything like the other two velveteers, in regards to quality, than I'm sure I'll gobble that shit up: nom nom nom!
Half.com and Paperbackswap.com
I generally buy a lot of books at one time, so I find a seller on half that has several of them. The books are usually $.75, and $3 for shipping the first book and $1.89 for every additional book, $2.50 for hardcovers.
safe to say that isn't international shipping aswell. count me out. i'll stick with Abe for now. still get some great deals there.
i can't wait for my copy to come in the mail!
ps. i have written this in shout and PA, but damn, i'm so excited, and right now seems like as good a place as any to drop it: my question got excepted for Sorry You Asked. so, it will be in a future episode. not sure how far into the future. i still have to make video of me asking the question, too. but, yay!
Ha, nice! I can't wait to see your mug on video. Keep your clothes on!
i can't wait for my copy to come in the mail!
ps. i have written this in shout and PA, but damn, i'm so excited, and right now seems like as good a place as any to drop it: my question got excepted for Sorry You Asked. so, it will be in a future episode. not sure how far into the future. i still have to make video of me asking the question, too. but, yay!
Ha, nice! I can't wait to see your mug on video. Keep your clothes on!
it's a big ask, but i wil try, i assure you. i loves me some naked time!
pah-leeze, negro
(we're remodeling again, clearly)
and i'll find the book, no worries. it's not like it left my house on its own :)
This makes me soooo happy!
My Mum was making dinner and I told her to put it on hold until she saw this picture!