What You Reading yo? March '05

[QUOTE=JustinHolt]This book is actually making me hate his other books as well, even though at the time I read them, I liked them...[/QUOTE]
Just stop! Less Than Zero, American Psycho, do you want to lose that loving feeling? Course you don't.

[QUOTE=Vendetta]Just stop! Less Than Zero, American Psycho, do you want to lose that loving feeling? Sourse you don't.[/QUOTE]

Haha...well, Less Than Zero I wasn't a rabid fan of. But I think I liked it more for the fact that he published it when he was like 19, than I actually did the story itself.

And I can't give up on Glam. I told myself I was going to stay the course of books that I hate, so I'll suffer these final two hundred or so pages through it.

But to treat myself, the next book is going to be a short, easy one...

I am currently re-reading [i]Snow Crash[/i] by Neal Stephenson. In this book you can really see the influences of William Gibson and Rudy Rucker upon Stephenson but the difference is uses a heavy dose of satire. This book will blow your mind like a virus.

Just got "All The Beatiful Sinners" by Sgj. can't wait to start reading it.

Reading [U]1984[/U] for school. Technically, I'm re-reading it.

I finished The Sea Came Out at Midnight by Steve Erickson today. His books are really - to me - complex, with a bunch of characters that are all somewhat connected. They leave you to put all the pieces together and see the big picture. This was only the second book by him that I read - the other being Rubicon Beach. I don't think I could read two of his books in a row, but I do really enjoy reading them.

Today I start reading The Dubliners by James Joyce for the Book Club.

[QUOTE=JustinHolt]
But to treat myself, the next book is going to be a short, easy one...[/QUOTE]Pick, maybe, Susanna Moore's In the Cut. Great little read. Novel in [about] forty thousand words.

Fight Club is just under fifty thou, and that is a short novel.

Anyway, In the Cut is a short read with a fucking well written surprise between two covers.

Or:

Slightly more words:

David Benioff's 25th Hour

Both are fantastic reads that arent at all rough to dredge through.
just some thoughts
kabol

Hey, what would you guys recommend me to read for my first Stephen King novel?

[QUOTE=Penuckle]Hey, what would you guys recommend me to read for my first Stephen King novel?[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't recommend King.

Sorry, I don't recommend Stephen King or Daniel Steel.

[QUOTE=Penuckle]Hey, what would you guys recommend me to read for my first Stephen King novel?[/QUOTE]

[URL=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684853523/qid=1110391551/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-0199969-4669704?v=glance&s=books&n=507846]On Writing[/URL]

His fiction's pretty bleh, but I enjoyed this. It's sort of a memoir of his writing career.

I totally put this in the wrong thread. Sorry about that.

[QUOTE=JKabol]Slightly more words:

David Benioff's 25th Hour[/QUOTE]

Great book. Too bad Benioff is too dreged up in doing stuff like TROY now. Will he ever go back to novels again?

[QUOTE=Undertow]I wouldn't recommend King.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't. The only time I've been able to read a novel of his cover to cover is when I've been on holiday and run out of other books.

Point Horror>Stephen King

So I am reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. She has such good character development. It's great. I love the way she points out how silly people can be in their opinions and such wihtout ever saying it. She just makes it obvious. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books so I hope this one lives up to that standard.

Right now I'm reading whatever my professors tell me to. This includes:

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod.

The first two are (obviously) for Shakespeare, the third and fourth are for a Canadian Literature class. As For Me and My House is a book about the Canadian Prairies during the Depression, written back in the Forties I believe. It seems a little dry... apparently MacLeod's novel is better. We start that in a couple weeks.

I finished [I]Choke[/I] by the 3rd of this month, and then finished (really begn, I'd only read one chapter back in Feb) [I]Lullabye[/I] the next week. No comment on my thoughts of either of these books.
Now I'm reading [I]A Scientific Romance[/I] by Ronald Wright. Good story taking off from H.G. Wells' [I]Time Machine[/I]. Well worth my time.

[QUOTE=JKabol]Sorry, I don't recommend Stephen King or Daniel Steel.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't recommend them either, especially Steel. My friend and I always joke about how they should create a "Trash Lit' course requirement in college. I mean after all, how can you know great lit if you haven't studied the trash first?

Finished: [u]The Haunting of Hill House[/u], Shirley Jackson.

Reading: [u]Ghosts and Grisly Things[/u], Ramsey Campbell.
[u]The Most Beautiful Woman in Town[/u], Charles Bukowski.

For King novels, [u]The Shining[/u] isn't that bad. [u]Pet Sematary[/u] was the first one I read (at 14), which was okay for a "guy tampers with Things Man Was Not Meant To Know; gets eaten" plot.

[QUOTE=Penuckle]Hey, what would you guys recommend me to read for my first Stephen King novel?[/QUOTE]

[I]The Shining[/I] is a great book.

[I]Different Seasons[/I] is a great collection of four novellas, which include The Body (Stand By Me), Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil (really bad movie translation). Breathing Method, the fourth of those novellas is a great story also.

Those two are definetely worth the read...

[QUOTE=Spike]For King novels, [u]The Shining[/u] isn't that bad. [u]Pet Sematary[/u] was the first one I read (at 14), which was okay for a "guy tampers with Things Man Was Not Meant To Know; gets eaten" plot.[/QUOTE]
Way to blow the ending TOSSER!!

Finally finished dealing with books for school. Am now reading [U]Fortress of Solitude[/U] by Jonathan Lethem.

[QUOTE=bboymute]I finished up to chapter two of [I]Stiff[/I] and it's very boring so far and, I'm afraid it's going to continue being very boring.[/QUOTE]
How fun did you think corpses could be?

Wait...

Don't answer that.

[QUOTE=Ballerina]Finally finished dealing with books for school. Am now reading [U]Fortress of Solitude[/U] by Jonathan Lethem.[/QUOTE]
I have been meaning to read that. I liked his other books.

[QUOTE=Parkaboy]I have been meaning to read that. I liked his other books.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I read two of his other ones and picked this one up while I was in New York and it's been sitting on my shelf since, waiting to be read. I'm excited about starting a new book that isn't for school.

just finished 'Vernon God Little' about 10 minutes ago, probably my favorite read in the last year
also at work i have Kafka's Metamorphisis and Other Stories and Martin Amis 'Heavy Water' i'm bouncing back and forth in
i'm either going to start 'Killing Monsters' by Gerard Jones or Gibson's 'Pattern Recognition' next

I started reading Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion yesterday. So far, I really like it.

half way through
"rabbit, run"
"fiskadaro"
"kiss me, judas"
"america: the book"
just ordered "master and commander" and recently finished "Down and out in paris and london" by george orwell

[QUOTE=karbunkle]just finished 'Vernon God Little' about 10 minutes ago, probably my favourite read in the last year[/quote]

Just started ot today. Liking it so far.

Finished Elmore Leonard's GOLD COAST, was damn yummy.

Started Richard Price's THE BREAKS. Always fond of his work.

Trying to get through What I Know So Far by by Gordon Lish. The first story was good. The second story was so boring I put the book down for a few weeks. But the third and forth were pretty good. Hopefully that dreaded second story is the only one like it in the book.

anyone familiar with "cosmic banditos" by a.c. weisbecker?

[I]The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana[/I] by Umberto Eco translated by Geoffrey Brock.

Currently reading [I]The Little Friend[/I] by Donna Tartt.

After that I will probably move on to one of the books I recently ordered from amazon- [I]Reasons to Live, Razor Wire Pubic Hair[/I] or [I]The Ice at the Bottom of the World[/I]

just finished chabon's "the final solution". i found it very unremarkable and unsatisfying on the whole. i've never been the biggest fan of his writing style but those who are will probably get a kick out of this book.

started tobias wolff's "old school" and am quite enjoying it so far.

[I]The World According to Garp [/I] and [I]The Hotel New Hampshire[/I].

Auschwitz - The Nazis and Final Solution by Laurence Rees
Helter Skelter (all about the Manson murders)

[QUOTE=Earthbound][I]The World According to Garp [/I] and [I]The Hotel New Hampshire[/I].[/QUOTE]
I should re-read [U]The World According to Garp[/U]. I read it a few years ago and thought it was too salacious or something. Not sure. So I'm thinking, I've read some pretty weird books by now, maybe it's not as weird as I thought. That's the problem with some of John Irving's books, though. Some parts are overly descriptive and it totally comes out of nowhere, but I don't stop reading because the plot is usually really good.

So, I finnished Mansfield Park by Jane Austen but I definitely liked Pride and Predjudice better. I didn't like that Fanny Price girl for a while.

[QUOTE=jody]anyone familiar with "cosmic banditos" by a.c. weisbecker?[/QUOTE]
I read it years ago. Interesting and funny, even though it dangerously borders with just being a very long drunkard's joke.

[QUOTE=capitalistnihilist]Currently reading [I]The Little Friend[/I] by Donna Tartt.

After that I will probably move on to one of the books I recently ordered from amazon- [I]Reasons to Live, Razor Wire Pubic Hair[/I] or [I]The Ice at the Bottom of the World[/I][/QUOTE]
I start Razor wire pubic hair tomorrow. I just finished the Contortionist's Handbook, which was the biggest disappointment of a book ever. Ever. Here is my quote for this book:
"I swear to god this is the worst book I have read in easily five years. Easily. Maybe ten years."-K
That dude needs to get his own style coz he can't write chuck as good as chuck.

-K

[QUOTE=ketamineman]I start Razor wire pubic hair tomorrow. I just finished the Contortionist's Handbook, which was the biggest disappointment of a book ever. Ever. Here is my quote for this book:
"I swear to god this is the worst book I have read in easily five years. Easily. Maybe ten years."-K
That dude needs to get his own style coz he can't write chuck as good as chuck.

-K[/QUOTE]
That's a good blurb.

[QUOTE=karbunkle]just finished 'Vernon God Little' about 10 minutes ago, probably my favorite read in the last year
t[/QUOTE]

Oh, it's so damn good.

Normal times just ran howling out of town....

A couple days ago I read - The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be.

Today I finished reading What I Know So Far by Gordon Lish. This book was the biggest disappointment that I think I've read this year. There were two or three stories in there that I really liked, but I hated the rest of them. Especially the letter to Jerome. I wanted to shoot myself, but I always finish a book. Fuck my damn determination.

So, today I started reading South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami. I didn't like A Wild Sheep Chase, but I wanted to give him another shot. I also bought Sputnik Sweetheart by him. I think it was just the stupid sheep ghost part that I didn't like - if it was something else I probably would have liked that story. Hopefully I will like these two better.

I gave up on Salman Rushdie's THE FURY. He just went 'blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah' for chapters on end man.

[QUOTE=Mr. Brown]I gave up on Salman Rushdie's THE FURY. He just went 'blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah' for chapters on end man.[/QUOTE]

It's that or smells like dick Droids....

[QUOTE=Ballerina]I should re-read [U]The World According to Garp[/U]. I read it a few years ago and thought it was too salacious or something. Not sure. So I'm thinking, I've read some pretty weird books by now, maybe it's not as weird as I thought. That's the problem with some of John Irving's books, though. Some parts are overly descriptive and it totally comes out of nowhere, but I don't stop reading because the plot is usually really good.[/QUOTE]
i can see what you mean... but old irving is totally worth another shot

[I]The Madman's Tale[/I] by John Katzenbach. Excellent book. Every Cultist should read this. A top ten fav ever. It was [I]that[/I] damn good...

READ MARTIN EDEN: by Jack LONDON.