The Book Club's Very Unofficial Pointless Announcements Thread

you should have sent those thirty to me. i would readthe shit out of them. tisk tisk!

A lot of were health books, and mass market paperbacks, don't worry, nothing too good.

But, I DID set aside a couple of books for you while I was going through and reorganizing my shelves. 'The Gargoyle', and 'A Prayer for the Dying'. (I have more than one copy of each of those because I found dollar copies at a thrift store!)

I didn't enjoy the process of reading it. The prose is thick, and like I said, there are some extremely long paragraphs. Basically, reading it was work. But the events, ideas, and historical information made it worth it. It was a great story with great characters. I consider it required reading for anyone who's interested in literature.

The closest thing I could compare it to would be Frankenstein (other than other works by Conrad). But it's much more dark (har har, expect to see that word repeated 100x) because, unlike Frankenstein, it's believable and mostly based on actual events.

interesting. i do like me some darkness. I haven't read Frankenstein, though it is on my classics-to-be-read pile.

Frankenstein is the best novel I've read written by a female. It's one of my favorites.

Yeh it's a good en. That party must've been awesome.

Reading Everyman right now and it's kind of lame. This old guy, he, like, died...but before he died he was all like, "Golly, I hope I don't die" and then he reminds you how you're going to be outlived by a fucking rock. Depressing.

Just got my paperback copy of Transubstantiate in the mail, and, although I have a lot of writing to do, I couldn't help but start it immediately. Chapter one and two, which I've already read online, have been consumes by my eyes and mind. I think I might even finish it tonight.

Great inscription too:

Matthew, keep doing God's work, here at the edge of the world, Richard Thomas

Can I start a pre-official discussion discussion for Transubstantiate?

NO!

I would prefer to keep the discussion for the Book Club. I really want to see this thing be successful! It's been so long since I've had a Book Club pick. The future of the Book Club might just be riding on this (in my mind at least).

(But then again, I'm not going to be a book club nazi. Do what you will.)

I'm about half way through it now. I'm just really excited about it and you know I love talking about things when I'm excited, Pete. Maybe I'll just take some notes down and then rapid-fire discussion points when the thread pops up.

I'm super excited about book club making a comeback, mate. I hope it goes brilliantly. I know I'll be in there trying to get discussions happening. I rarely care if I sound stupid or whatever so I always ask questions.

Okay. Just finished Transubstantiate. Flew through it. Each chapter revealed a little more but then made you want to know something more. Plenty of things I want to discuss, so I can't wait for the official book club thread.

So, Has anyone else read it yet? Sooooo many cult, velvet, write club shout-outs in the narrative. It's Pretty awesome.

After some discussion in the July thread, we came up with a list of books for the next six months for the Book Club (accept January). Here's what we came up with. I'm pretty stoked about it. It seems to be a pretty good Mix.

September - Transubstantiate
October - Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
November - Candy by Luke Davies
December - Blank Gaze (or The Implacable Order of Things) by Jose Luis Peixoto
January - [taking request!]
February - Out of Touch by BT
And we'll see if Mirka will suggest the January book. haha

And yes Mirka - I'M CALLING YOU OUT!!

We also still need a leader for the October book.

seeing as though Mirka is the first to buy the october book i think she should be the leader!

Pete, you should make placeholder threads for october, november etc, like you did with Transubstantiate. get on it.

I was just going to make one thread for now to announce Six Months of Book Discussions or something like that.

well, go on then, hot shot book club man!

done

this is awesome and so exciting! i'm glad this is finally happening, Pete. i seriously can't wait to talk about Transubstatiate.

I want Transubstantiate to be on the Kindle. That's the only way I'll be able to read it this summer, with all the impermanence of my stays in places right now.

Phil there is a kindle version available. Richard posted the link in one of his threads in trades and barters (if I remember right).

Oh really? I have a Kindle app on my iPad and I looked for the book but it didn't find it... Hmm, let me look around.

Here you go Phil

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/19762

also, you should be able to get the kindle edition on amazon soon. apparently.

i'm there now. becuse i've been too keen to discuss this, but i can't now. way too drunk and reckless. won't be good.

I almost posted that Caleb. So no worries.

Feel free to steal ideas from that discussion and bring them to The Cult! haha

Caleb, i can't wait for the discussion here, it's going to be wild. some of the points you brought up are exactly what i want to talk about.

Oh speaking of him...I forgot to report in here how neat Indignation was, but you guys probably knew that anyway.

It really truly made me say whoa, the way he compared the Korean War to those frat boys raiding the panty drawers. I like that guy.

i'm a little scared for our book club, don't make me cry, okay guys? overall we're getting pretty good reviews, just got a new one up at oxyfication (warning: mild spoilers) but the bittenbybooks was really good too, so i'm just going to pretend like there is nothing to worry about

Oxyfication: http://www.oxyfication.net/headline/transubstantiate-richard-thomas/
BBB: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=26303

ahh, you see though, Richard, we're not reviewing it, we're picking at it--like literary vultures.

ah, i know, but how about picking at it like literary vultures who at heart are really very kind, fuzzy kittens? i'm a wimp

hahaha. i have been the main one saying that i'm going to slay it whether you're here or not, but to be honest, mate, it was a great read. i mostly want to talk about some of the narrative decisions. that's what's really burning me up. but yeah, i loved it, rich, i thought it was a great read. i'll be kind...ish.

i even planned to buy a few copies when i have some extra cash so i can give them to some people down here. should i palm one off to the local borders manager, get him keen to stock them? or even the nice little indie bookstore near my place? anything i can to help.

lol...thanks matthew, narrative decisions, sure that's good, i guess my biggest fear is that people will just say "i don't get ________" but i'm up for whatever questions people have

as for down under, well...i assume that OWP would be happy to fulfill any orders for a bookstore, wherever it is, so whatever you think would help, i'm new to all of this, not sure how everything works yet, but i appreciate whatever help you have to offer

i have a i don't get_______ question. but that's good, man. good literature makes you think. it makes you question the authors decisions and the story. it leaves a story with you for longer than the amount of time you spent reading it. and i'm still thinking about Transubstantiate, a good week or two after reading it. it's all good, my friend. don't stress. have faith in your art.

i'll just buy up some books when i've got the cash and give them out to people at uni and stuff. ahaha.

cool...first book you know, i get the jitters sometimes...thanks for the kind words, and very cool of you to spread the word, can't thank you enough

not a problem, Rich.

anyone read Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me and keen to see the remake of the remake based on the book? it'll be nice to see Kate Hudson doing something a bit different. i haven't read the book myself, but i do have his novel Pop. 1280 still waiting to be read. it's sitting quite high on my pile, but uni books are at the top at the moment. unfortunately. i'm trying to drag myself through Foer's Everything is Illuminated and it truly is a fucking drag.

not a book but I wasn't sure where else to put this. I figured some of you writers and readers might get something out of it. Interesting and well written essay about language and articulacy by the late Tony Judt.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/jul/15/words/

I just came upon some interesting / sad information.

I'm reading Leaving Las Vegas. And when I read a book by an author I've never read - I always read the bio and sometimes look them up on wikipedia. When I saw in the books bio that John O'Brien died at the age of 34 I went to wikipedia. He committed suicide two weeks after Leaving Las Vegas was optioned to be made into a film. His father said that Leaving Las Vegas was his suicide note. That gives the book a whole new meaning to me.

I really want to read that book Pete.

i already wanted to read that book pretty badly, but--fuck, that makes me want to read it even more.

Yeah, John O'Brien's tale is a sad one. Stripper Lessons is good, too. You can find some interviews with his sister online, and she's had to finish up some of his work. That had to be tough.

And Richard, ya gotta nut up, brother. I feel unqualified giving you promotional advice, but if you really want people talking about your work, you should encourage them to say whatever they want to say, and just be glad it's up for discussion. Even if people hate it (doubtful), having a strong reaction to it one way or another is more likely to create advocates than a large audience with an unmoved mediocre response. Look at Inception: no one knows what the hell it means, but we go see it so we can be part of the dialogue. That said, sometimes an author not reading (or participating in) such criticism is a perfectly healthy thing to do, too. hahaha A thoughtful, well-reasoned analysis is so much more rewarding than someone just giving a friendly five-star handjob. At least you know they made the effort. Some of my blushingest moments have come from the mouths (er, hands?) of three star-ers.

True dat. SIGH. Okay, consider me nutted up. Bring it on, bitches.

BRING IT ON!!!

haha - there's your invitation Matt.

Cult Book Club - where nobody can hear you crying

Now we're talkin. I'm proud of you.

Pete! you've got a new tagline.

you're all going to disappointed when we get to the discussion because everyone is expecting that i'm gonna come out and go for the throat, but it's not like that at all. i really fucking liked Transubstantiate. there's some certain things i want to discuss though. some things i have no idea why Richard did it, but i'm sure those things were very deliberate. it'll just be nice to discuss, honestly, how we felt about the book. that's all.

Oh we can hear him crying. We just don't put up with that shit and refuse to acknowledge his whimpering!