ThunderPeel2001

Books, books, books...

Recommended Posts

After Brave New World (which I really liked), I am about to start Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea because I am trying to read less books by white dudes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just want to go and say that I didn't care for Brave New World as much as I initially thought. I chewed it over and there are too many holes in the book's message to really endorse it wholeheartedly.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've started correcting a blind spot of my own by reading Asimov's Foundation. Terrific so far.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

David Simon (yes, that one) praises the late Elmore Leonard. The opening paragraph espouses about genre categorizations which I think many, including some on this board, should give a read.

 

It isn’t that he merely took a blowtorch to all the affectations and pretenses of genre fiction.  No, he made the lines between genre and literary fiction ridiculous and arbitrary for all time.  Fuck your categorizations:  This guy did some of the best writing in the last half of the Twentieth Century.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just want to go and say that I didn't care for Brave New World as much as I initially thought. I chewed it over and there are too many holes in the book's message to really endorse it wholeheartedly.

 

I had the same reaction. The more I thought about it the more I felt it was old white guy ranting about society is going to hell, kinda like Ray Bradbury with Farheniet sans shitting on tv for taking attention away from books.

 

I've started correcting a blind spot of my own by reading Asimov's Foundation. Terrific so far.

 

Like Brave New World the more I thought about those books the more problems I had with them. I feel they are a really good example of an idea book with dubious characters and plotting. I do like how Asimov acknowledges the fact that accurately predicting the future is impossible which is why safeguards were put in place to keep it on the "correct course". 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My problem is that Huxley had an interesting premise, that of reflexivity through adversity, and buried it with an audience surrogate who made no sociological or anthropological sense. I understand that Bernard fully rejecting the only thing he knows is too much to ask, but the savage came from strange circumstances and yet is extremely well adjusted and very intelligent. He doesn't experience any real culture shock, just a fundamental, cerebral disagreement with the city's institutions.

Also, characters were flat and chemistry between them was non existent.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I really enjoyed A Brave New World, but I read it when I was younger and I can barely remember exactly why I liked it. I think I was way into dystopian stuff at the time and that book pushed all the right buttons. I'm not sure I'd like it after reading a fair bit more sci-fi and being disappointed with the "everyone was an artist before TV came along" attitude that gets pushed in some of the stuff I've read. 

 

I read the first book of the Foundation series and was pretty bored by it to be honest. The concept is interesting I guess, but Asimov does nothing interesting with it and it just kind of felt limp and lifeless. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Unless it's some other "Brave New World", you guys just missed an eBook bundle that had, I got it just in time.

 

Speaking of which, have I talked about eBook bundles before? So far, the only ones are StoryBundle and Bundle of Holding, which tends to be by people who work in the RPG industry and sometimes are just table top game manuals.

 

I think I just discovered that I love "fact" books, I've always loved and I can't put them down, I even got one called the "Loo Companion", which is about well... toilets, a chunk of the book was painful toilet humor, but the facts? I loved them! Even though some sections were cringe worthy for horrifying reasons, like "Monarchy Deaths on the Loo". 

 

I don't how many of you know of "The Nostalgia Chick", but she started the endeavor of making "50 Shades of Green", a book that's like you know which, but made "terribad" on purpose, it's now called "Awoken" and it's about... sexy Cthulhu? And they even made up a fake writer behind it, with a fake webpage and everything... I haven't read it yet, but last I heard, it had reached #2 in Amazon's YA in the "paranormal" section.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My problem is that Huxley had an interesting premise, that of reflexivity through adversity, and buried it with an audience surrogate who made no sociological or anthropological sense. I understand that Bernard fully rejecting the only thing he knows is too much to ask, but the savage came from strange circumstances and yet is extremely well adjusted and very intelligent. He doesn't experience any real culture shock, just a fundamental, cerebral disagreement with the city's institutions.

Also, characters were flat and chemistry between them was non existent.

 

The flatness of the characters is partly the point, but yeah, it doesn't make for great reading. Like I said earlier, Brave New World is a pretty bad novel, but it's an incredible thought experiment and well worth reading.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've contemplated the majesty of Cthulhu, the Great one... my Great One, from page one to the end.. I want his tentacleness to embrace me!

 

But seriously, for a "joke" book, it's "done well" in the sense that if you weren't into the joke, you wouldn't know it wasn't one, I mean, it's laughable and ridiculous, but you couldn't tell that it was made this way on purpose, it doesn't go too far and keeps it's "disguise" even at the end, even the reviewers aren't letting you into the joke yet.

 

I can't help to notice that one of the "Team Nostalgia Chicks" is a fan of the Phantom of the Opera, making the Phantom of the Opera analogies in it, more hilariously fan-ficy.

 

Also, Uncle Neil (Nyarlathotep?) is awesome!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am reading Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and it is an interesting read. There are a lot of descriptions of meals and shaken up by surreal events. So far, I am digging the use of surrealism as a comment on human relationships, which is in stark contrast to early surrealism which used this lens to alienate and create anxiety. The narrator's voice veers from profound to clumsy, and I am not sure if its a character affectation or clumsy writing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am reading Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,  and it is an interesting read. There are a lot of descriptions of meals and shaken up by surreal events. So far, I am digging the use of surrealism as a comment on human relationships, which is in stark to early surrealism which used this lens to alienate and create anxiety. The narrator's voice veers from profound to clumsy, and I am not sure if its a character affectation or clumsy writing.

...or a byproduct of translation, or some combination of the three.

I enjoyed The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as the first thing I read by Murakami, but then I tried to read 1Q84 and found it just infuriating. I really have no idea if the character of the prose that put me off is intentional, or due to translation, or what, but reading hundreds and hundreds of pages in that stilted, affected style was too much for me and I stopped halfway through.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Translation could definitely be part of it, but this is a book that very purposefully meanders, and I think the prose is meant to reflect that. There are a lot of descriptions of meals and beverages.

That said, I do like the portrayal of unemployment, which is depicted as this very meditative lifestyle In which society and the environment can be contemplated peacefully. Unlike, say, Hemingway's view of idleness, which suggests spare time is empty and dissatisfing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

...or a byproduct of translation, or some combination of the three.

I enjoyed The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as the first thing I read by Murakami, but then I tried to read 1Q84 and found it just infuriating. I really have no idea if the character of the prose that put me off is intentional, or due to translation, or what, but reading hundreds and hundreds of pages in that stilted, affected style was too much for me and I stopped halfway through.

 

I registered to this forum just to tell you that it's not a translation issue. I've read all of Murakami's novels and a lot of his short stories in Japanese, and 1Q84 is just one of his worst books. His English translators are really skillful and know what they're doing, but in this case the source material is just not that great. If it reads poorly, that's probably actually a mark of their restraint and as translators and fidelity to the original text. It was probably very tempting for them to act as editors, and it sounds like they didn't.

 

If I were to recommend another Murakami book to someone who liked Wind-Up Bird, it would probably be Sputnik Sweetheart. It's very tightly constructed and provides the best parts of the Murakami experience without the bloat.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow, thanks for the insight. Translated texts are so weird to read because you aren't sure what liberties the translator had to make and how that overall changes your interpretation of the text. I'll pick up Sputnik Sweetheart next.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I registered to this forum just to tell you that it's not a translation issue. I've read all of Murakami's novels and a lot of his short stories in Japanese, and 1Q84 is just one of his worst books. His English translators are really skillful and know what they're doing, but in this case the source material is just not that great. If it reads poorly, that's probably actually a mark of their restraint and as translators and fidelity to the original text. It was probably very tempting for them to act as editors, and it sounds like they didn't.

 

If I were to recommend another Murakami book to someone who liked Wind-Up Bird, it would probably be Sputnik Sweetheart. It's very tightly constructed and provides the best parts of the Murakami experience without the bloat.

 

Interesting, thanks very much for the insight.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just took four months to read one book, Cryptonomicon, 12 weeks or so of which was spent having put it down and not really wanting to pick it back up. It was alright I guess although the ending was really rushed considering how long it took to get there. 

 

I didn't realise until I'd finished and went back to the home screen but it turns out that during this period I was still buying cheap Kindle books as I saw them and apparently I own Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies so I've started the first one now, weird they get mentioned on the cast this week. Two hours in and I think I'm enjoying it although I'm not sure I'll be able to read it half-asleep on the train which is where the bulk of my reading time is, it's pretty demanding.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The new Pynchon book has the words "Prince Vegeta", "Goku" and "Gohan" in it. What a time to be alive.

 

I love love love the idea that Pynchon took four years to write this book this time, not because he was concentrating on perfecting the prose, but because he was watching Dragonball Z.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm really digging his new book. In anticipation for its release, I read Inherent Vice. Modern Pynchon is so far afield from what early Pynchon feels like; seeing the transition in an author who has been writing for decades is incredible.

 

Also, wow, is Bleeding Edge funny.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It is very much in the Vineland, Crying of Lot 49 area of "oh this is madness but I am following" and less Gravity's Rainbow and (although I haven't read it myself) Against the Day of "this is madness what is happening where am I and who is talking". 

 

Every line is packed with wit. It is tremendous task. This book could be reread dozens of times with increasing appreciation. 

 

It was also very respectful of Pynchon to give Vegeta his proper title.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There are moments this past week where I've been looking at twitter and wondering "is Pynchon among us?"

I'm still slogging through the last few pages of The Sun Also Rises. I find it is a really terrible book to read in my usual fashion: 5 or 10 minute increments between tasks at work. The way the story meanders requires extending reading even though the prose is easy to understand. The reason I find for this is that if I don't read it at a stretch I treat it as just a very simple, plodding, story rather than searching for the subtext. It's incredibly easy to overlook what Hemingway is trying to do in the novel.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am still reading The Brother Karamazov book. Actually it was a classic novel written by Fyodor Dostroevsky. I got interest in the character of their Father Fyodor Pavlovitch because he was so irresponsible in his first born Mitya or better known as Dimitri and with two other son in his second wife. As of now, I'm still in chapter 1 of that novel.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bring up the Bodies - done. Excellent. My ignorance of English history is finally working to my advantage as I had no idea how it was all going to pan out so far, or in the third volume for that matter, but I expect the final answer will be none too well for Mr Cremuel.

 

Now finishing off a Chandler compilation I bought years ago with The Little Sister. The first couple of chapters have immediately reminded me why I like him so much, that Ray's a dry, funny guy.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now