makingmatter

David Mitchell was recently featured in the NY Times "By the Book", and it's hinted that Cavendish might reappear in some form or another in his next book. Don't know exactly how though; his answer is rather cryptic. He also provides some excellent Japanese literature recommendations.

Never read any of his works through, because what I did read of The Road really intimidated me. Not in a reading sense (I actually enjoy how he doesn't use quotation marks) but because I knew it wasn't bound to end well, and I really wasn't in the mood for it. If I do dive back in, what would you say is the best place to start?

Also: video games!

So, cut through this book in a couple of days; I enjoyed it, for the most part, as it made me reflect on things I have done or said in the past, and how it was perceived by others and myself at that time, and how it is now perceived (looking back) by me at this moment. As I'm at an age in my life where I lack some subjective components to bring the table to really connect with this book on a fully introspective level, I don't know how exactly I feel about it just yet. But that's the thing: I think with time and further re-reads, this book will yield higher fruits of significance for me and make me think more about how I act on decisions in the future. Overall, a great pick for the first official discussion.

Yes. Totally. Especially how they used Ha. Yeah. When that happened to me, I was like: what the fuck? Where's Duck?! The technical glitches were noticeable- at one point, I had to quit the game because of a weird non-collision glitch that happened on the rails - but asides from that, the game's direction, voice acting and narrative delivery was superb. Really sets it up for darker events to come... um... "Around The Corner".

God damnit guys, you're going to make me finally make the jump and build a PC! I just can't stand hearing so many things about this mod and not being able to play it.

I wouldn't say exactly that; the brief moments of happiness and warmth are made all the more mandatory because of the shadow that unpleasant experiences sometimes transposes over top of our lives. I do agree though that happiness exists as an individual and unique part of a set of occurrences that lies amongst an entire tableau of feelings; I don't believe we are inherently made of happiness, but we inherently all have the opportunity to be happy. I've never actually read Mr. McEwan, but I've heard a lot about him. I just saw his latest book (Sweet Tooth, I think) is out in shelves here in Canada, to a lot of buzz, so I might just pick him up. What you described sounds intriguing. Anything you recommend starting with?

Do you think I should continue with it, or abandon it for something else?

Also: I really want to read this. And this.

Been watching the first season of Luther. It's a solid British crime series, if a little pockmarked with plot holes; let's be honest, the only real reason I'm watching this is to see Idris Elba acting like the brooding badass he is. God, gotta love me some Idris Elba.

Excellent, excellent book.

Does anyone know what sort of boundaries are in place for the books that are eligible for discussion? I know this is exclusively intended for contemporary literature, but at what point can the book in question blur between mainstream literature and genre? For example, I would love to submit Ben Okri's The Famished Road or Nick Harkaway's The Gone-Away World/ Angelmaker for possible discussion, but would magical realism or gonzo post-apocalyptic scenarios veer too much away from the focus of the book club? They're marketed as lit with a capital L, but they clearly straddle genre conventions.

Love the new site; it's clean and manageable to browse through, but it's hip and interesting, and carries a true visual identity that carries over well with previous Idle Thumbs web-pages. Also: the "Extras" page uses the word 'otiose'. I approve of under-appreciated terms.

Big Questions (by Anders Nilsen) and Daytripper (by twins Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, of Casanova fame) are two graphic novels that I read last year that still linger in my mind as powerful postulators on the meaning of one's own life and purpose. They both explore it in completely different ways, and while I think the latter is a slightly more worthwhile read, both haven't lost their essence at being profound for me. So, for both of them.

So is this series completed? That's incredibly cheap, for five books in an omnibus format.

Hello, Thumbs; I'm new on this board, so please play nice. After introducing myself, I thought I'd drop in and say what I've been reading. Recently finished The Gone Away World (by Nick Harkaway) and working my way through the author's second novel, Angelmaker. Though it does have some flaws, the sheer earnestness of his writing voice is funny, oddball, and full of tangential information that connects together brilliantly at the end, and that is why these two books have my highest recommendation. Oh, and he's also the prodigal son of John le Carre. So there's that. Now working on Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Greetings, thumbs, from Eastern Canada. Been listening to the show for a while now, but never bothered to make an account around these parts. As you can probably tell, I've succumbed. BTW, I also like to write. Check my work at danieljeffreygoodman.wordpress.com, and let me know what you think!