What You're Reading

[QUOTE=Mr. Pink][B]J[/B]ust finished - Anthem by Anne Rand (read that last night)
[B]A[/B]lmost done with - Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowen (damn good book, but it's so graphic, horrible)
[B]S[/B]upposed to be reading for school - Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (sucks ass)
[B]N[/B]ext on my list - The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty or The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving[/QUOTE]
The thing that sucks about high school is you're forced to read stuff when you're too young to understand or appreciate it. The worst is [I]The Old Man and The Sea[/I] which is really an awesome book, but you won't have a fucking clue what it's about until you pass 30 yrs old at least and have had some of the idealism kicked out of you. Same goes for [I]Grapes of Wrath[/I].

I unfortunately haven't taken the opportunity to read [i]Grapes[/i]. Plan to. Of course. Loved [i]East of Eden[/i]. And yes, Methinker, loved [i]Old Man[/i] too

Reading Kiss Me, Judas. Half way through, sometimes I really like it, other times, eh, not so much

I'm kinda halfway through on KMJ too, right now I'm on chapter twenty three.

I'm reading Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland. I bought it while working in Cambridge, UK, as its not available in the US. Pretty good, should be done with it real soon.

I recently finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - and it was fan-freakin-tastic.

I also finally got around to reading Steven King's On Writing, which wasn't bad as far as those books go. Regretfully, life and work have held me back from writing (and regretfully from taking part in giving feedback on this site). But it should all be better soon.

I have to get Kiss Me Judas, as it seems to be all the rage here on the Cult at the moment.
Is it published in England, anyone know?

It's offered on the uk version of amazon.com for 7+ pounds

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon

I started Cat's Cradle a few hours ago while I was waiting for my parents to pick me up at school (damn it's cold out there). Before that, though, I finished American Psycho, and it was one of the most eye-opening books I've ever read. I like how Bateman described everyone in terms of their clothes, as if a person's wardrobe is more important than their actual character and their past, and how every beautiful woman was labelled as a hardbody and described in terms of ass, tits, hair color, legs and other things which in the long run are not overly important. I wasn't overly disgusted with the violence as I was expecting it to be more extreme, though I do think the thing with the starved rat and that woman was a very sick, twisted touch of genius, because being the coward that I am, I'm afraid of rats.

I personally think that all of the people - not just Bateman - in the story are to a certain degree delusional and are dreaming things up. Although we don't find out what McDermott and Van Patten and Price and all the others do when no one's around, they are all identical to Bateman in terms of lifestyle (they all work on Wall Street, they all go to bars and restaurants at night, they all screw women, etc., and when Evelyn and Patrick chat about her having an affair with Price, she says "Everybody's rich" and "Everybody's good looking"). And the people in the book always keep getting Bateman's name wrong, first calling him by a different name, then getting it right, then going back to a wrong name, which seems a bit odd as well (probably the coke and/or alcohol). To the characters it really doesn't make much of a difference if anyone dies because there is no way of distinguishing them - like with the one guy who mistakes Bateman for Marcus Halberstam, and he doesn't realize he's wrong - and so to someone like Carnes, someone's death has more or less the same effect as them going off to London like Paul Owen (they're simply separated).

I'll shut up now, but to wrap it up, I was profoundly impressed with this book, and the next time I'm at the bookstore I am most definitely getting Less than Zero. (and probably something else as well - any recommendations?)

[QUOTE=Nith Sahor]any recommendations?[/QUOTE]

[IMG]http://www.salon.com/books/review/2004/08/25/jenna/story.jpg[/IMG]

Fucking Iliad.

i just finished last exit to brooklyn which was a huge dissapointment (2 chapters were really cool the traulala girl or what ever her name was and what happens to harry near the end of his saga)

but the entire book is a bunch of unrelated storys, not unrelated enough or full enough to be short storys. but thier is nothing connecting the storys together other than the worst parts of the story all take place in brooklyn.

i bought hells half acre and the anomolies today and i havent decided which one to read first.

I noticed that too about Last Exit to Brooklyn, but I didn't not like it because of it. I just saw it as a few little glimpses into different lives - kinda like if you were watching TV and switching channels. It's like their individual stories, how they ended, didn't matter, but their suffering and how they suffered along with everyone else is what mattered. I dunno - I just think it would've been like every other book if each character had a complete story.

I ordered hell's half acre from barnes and noble (of course they didn't have it in) but that was a few days ago...and they still haven't called. Usually things will come in like 2 days, I wouldn't think a brand new release would be hard to find. I could understand something that was just about out of print or whatever, but anyway. Hopefully they'll get it soon. I would've ordered from Amazon or something, but then you have to pay shipping and I have a giftcard from my birthday for B&N

[url]http://www.bookerprize.co.uk/pressoffice/releases/21092004.html[/url]

The Booker Prize nominee's were just published. I haven't read any of them, thought y'all would like to know.

Chuck once said something about getting out of your white-boy-genetic-rut by choosing to focus on writers who don't look like the crap in your mirror. I paraphrase. That being said, you can do worse favours for yourself than:

Colson Whitehead: "The Colossus of New York" and "The Institutionist"

and

Cintra Wilson: "Colours Insulting to Nature" and "Massive Swelling"

[QUOTE=meatthinker]The thing that sucks about high school is you're forced to read stuff when you're too young to understand or appreciate it. The worst is [I]The Old Man and The Sea[/I] which is really an awesome book, but you won't have a fucking clue what it's about until you pass 30 yrs old at least and have had some of the idealism kicked out of you. Same goes for [I]Grapes of Wrath[/I].[/QUOTE]

Yeah you're right I couldn't stand [I]The Old Man and The Sea[/I] but as with [I]Grapes of Wrath[/I] I was told it was an exclent book. I guess time and tide will only help. But I'll take your information to heart and give them a try again when I'm older, now it may just be because I haven't given it enough time, only on like page 80, so I really haven't given it justice. Thanks for the insight.

[QUOTE=Mr. Pink]Yeah you're right I couldn't stand [I]The Old Man and The Sea[/I] but as with [I]Grapes of Wrath[/I] I was told it was an exclent book. I guess time and tide will only help. But I'll take your information to heart and give them a try again when I'm older, now it may just be because I haven't given it enough time, only on like page 80, so I really haven't given it justice. Thanks for the insight.[/QUOTE]
We called it [I]The Old Fart and The Sea[/I] and then we laughed and at least that made us feel a bit better. One thing that helped me enjoy those kind of books more was to try to look at it as a [I]writer[/I]. Hemingway's writing is very [I]sparse[/I] there are very few adjectives, and yet I find it to be so vivid--I can picture the scene so clearly in my mind. How the hell does he do that? (I think I have a pretty good idea, the point is for you to think about it). You could contrast Hemingway to Stephen Crane whose writing is positively oozing with figurative language, but is also very vivid in its own right, it just functions in a different way. [I]The Monster[/I] is one of my favorite Crane stories and also has some excellent examples of figurative language.

I read [I]Of Mice and Men[/I] and saw the movie with John Malkovich, but that was a long time ago, so I don't have a strong impression anymore of what Steinbeck's special talents are. I think I remember [I]Of Mice and Men[/I] as having a strong theatrical feeling to it, that it feels like a play, that it could be easily divided into acts and scenes. Given that, I would guess that dialog would be one of Steinbeck's strong suits, and it might be interesting to compare that to the plays of Pinter or Arthur Miller, both very strong in dialog. But then maybe owenwarland will point out that I'm just talking out of my ass and that Steinbeck sucked at dialog, I just don't remember, the point here is to try to give you some ideas about process and how to approach it to make it more interesting and meaningful to you.

[QUOTE=phlegmatics]i just finished last exit to brooklyn which was a huge dissapointment (2 chapters were really cool the traulala girl or what ever her name was and what happens to harry near the end of his saga)

but the entire book is a bunch of unrelated storys, not unrelated enough or full enough to be short storys. but thier is nothing connecting the storys together other than the worst parts of the story all take place in brooklyn.

i bought hells half acre and the anomolies today and i havent decided which one to read first.[/QUOTE]

I'm struggling through Demon by the same author, Hubert Selby Jr. It is so boring and repetitive. I've heard it's good so I'm going to press on.

Reading Fellowship Of The Ring.. just finished The Hobbit.. after seeing these movies I finally decided to tackle the books....
I'm caught in the inevitable debate.. see the movie first then read the book.. or vice versa... I guess I'll see what I think when I finish all three...
Anyone else read em?

[QUOTE=BFHCS]I'm struggling through Demon by the same author, Hubert Selby Jr. It is so boring and repetitive. I've heard it's good so I'm going to press on. :([/QUOTE]

requiem for a dream was phenominal

so i keep telling my self anyone who wrote something that incredibly good has to be a good writer,

but im dissapointed so far.

which again proves current druggies arent allwayse the best authors unless its on the subject of drugs.

[QUOTE=phlegmatics]requiem for a dream was phenominal

so i keep telling my self anyone who wrote something that incredibly good has to be a good writer,

but im dissapointed so far.

which again proves current druggies arent allwayse the best authors unless its on the subject of drugs.[/QUOTE]

Requiem isn't current at all, it was first published 26 years ago! Or our you saying that the author is in fact curently a druggie?

[QUOTE=BFHCS]Or our you saying that the author is in fact curently a druggie? ;)[/QUOTE]

Selby passed away in April people.

Just finished : Junky
Started last night: The coma
Next: The locklear letters

I few days ago I finished A Wild Sheep Chase and hated it. I think it is because I read On Writing before that, I don't know though.

I started The Contortionist's Handbook yesturday and I am loving it so far. It is one of the best books I've read in a while (not counting Chuck).

[QUOTE=H.D.Thoreau]Memory Babe, a critical biography of Jack Kerouac.

I didn't realize Burroughs had any connection with Jack. Shows ya how much I know.

Also, I didn't know about anything allegedly homosexual about Ti Jean.[/QUOTE]

I think Jack gave William the name "Naked Lunch". If you get a chance, check out (I think it's called) The Source. It's a newer bio (DVD) on the beats. Johnny Dep and a few other actors are part of it.

I can't imagine how amazing it must have been to hang out with Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs. Or, maybe it just seems like it would be amazing.

A friend of mine from work used to date a guy who lived next to Edie Parker (one of Jack's ex-wives). I guess she used to talk a blue streak about old Jack. Had I only met that girl a few years earlier, I could have met Edie too.

Shella. Withholding comment until I finish, taking notes, then I'm off to Hell's Half Acre.

It's been almost a year since I answered this thread, so pardon the lack of continuity. Presently reading 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,' just finished 'All the Pretty Horses' by Cormac McCarthy and 'The Shipping News' by Annie Proulx.

Recent reads have included 'A Map of the World,' 'We Need to Talk About Kevin,' and 'The End of Alice.'

There's a monthly thread for this now, dude.