Books, books, books...

[Argobot]

Wow, I don't remember that! Do you have a page number by any chance?

 

(Ignoring all rational thought, I'm now just going to pretend that Pynchon is a fellow Idle Thumbs reader.)

[Nappi]

"Shawn, I'm sorry. But aren't you supposed to be above this?"

"Whoa, overattached me. Think about it—all it takes is, like, a idle thumb on a space bar to turn 'Islam' into 'I slam.'"

"Thought-provoking, Shawn."

 

Towards the beginning of chapter 4. Page 31 in my edition. 

 

There were other Thumbs-influenced details as well, but I can't recall any of them right now.

[feelthedarkness]

I'm almost finished with the audiobook of Inherent Vice, and I'm really enjoying it. I think he does a good job capturing the rightward drift of the country post 60s.

 

Maybe not the same heft 49 or GR, but still a heck of a lot of fun. Maybe the single best audio book rendition I've ever heard. He sings the songs. All of his books have a great, deep understanding of their popular cultures. I just didn't know about much of it in GR. 

[juv3nal]

"Shawn, I'm sorry. But aren't you supposed to be above this?"

"Whoa, overattached me. Think about it—all it takes is, like, a idle thumb on a space bar to turn 'Islam' into 'I slam.'"

"Thought-provoking, Shawn."

Towards the beginning of chapter 4. Page 31 in my edition.

There were other Thumbs-influenced details as well, but I can't recall any of them right now.

oh man it's so obvious now that "dunking on Obama" is cipher for Islam. (Hi NSA!)

[Max Ernst]

"Shawn, I'm sorry. But aren't you supposed to be above this?"

"Whoa, overattached me. Think about it—all it takes is, like, a idle thumb on a space bar to turn 'Islam' into 'I slam.'"

"Thought-provoking, Shawn."

 

Towards the beginning of chapter 4. Page 31 in my edition. 

 

There were other Thumbs-influenced details as well, but I can't recall any of them right now.

Some sort paranoid feedback loop that will drown itself in Deus Ex and Keanu Reeves references.

[Max Ernst]

Double post, but cool Franzen interview here. Neat quote:

 

MM: Define “serious novel.”

JF: Read the first five pages. Count clichés. If you find one, the buzzer goes off: it’s not a serious novel. A serious novelist notices clichés and eliminates them. The serious novelist doesn’t write “quiet as a mouse” or paint the world in clichéd moral terms. You could almost just substitute the adjective “cliché-free” for “serious.”

[Tanukitsune]

I just finished a story about a teenage detective called Shirley Link... She's about as bad as Poirot and I hate her.

 

Can I call out how stupid it is to know where someone has been and what they have done by simple stain or cut? It's one thing to gather clues and cross reference them to get a solution, but whenever a detective does the whole "I know where you were by the mud in your boots" thing I want to scream, specially since all they do is look at it.

 

They don't even smell or touch it... just one look at they can pinpoint the exact point where this mud if from, because we all know that mud, greases stains and other cliche evidence are like fingerprints and are unique, there is no way that two places could have the same type of mud, right? 

 

I'm sorry, but smug detectives really push my buttons, specially when they try too hard to sound smart.

 

Edit: Oooh, I also finished Yahtzee's Jam, it's was pretty great, I didn't think a book about killer jam could be this good! 

[Tanukitsune]

I just finished Castle Roogna, the third novel from Piers Anthony and well, it was as sexist as the previous two, but it wasn't as good in other aspects. There was barely any wordplay and the story wasn't that great.

 

It was rather disturbing that a twelve year old trapped in an adults body almost had sex with a harpy, and frankly it kinda annoys me how a kid that just hit puberty is not acting like a teenager at all. Is it ironic that in every Xanth book I've encountered the male protagonist wanted to bone every female creature he met, and the most hormonal one is the most chaste one?

 

So yeah, it didn't piss me off, but it also seemed more tame and less interesting... I don't know if I'll ever get the next Xanth novels or not.

[Tanukitsune]

So, I'm looking for books to add to my Xmas list...

 

Does anybody know of whimsical nonsense Victorian book authors like Lewis Carroll or Edward Lear? 

 

I already have too many books on video game history and I don't want anything that's part of a series, those I'd rather have as ebooks.

 

Any complete works/omnibuses that are essential? I already have Lovecraft, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Poe, every Douglas Adams book... Goodreads recommendations aren't looking that good to me. :|

[Nappi]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Sherlock-Leatherbound-Classics-Collection/dp/1435114949 ?

[Tanukitsune]

Hmm, yes! I do think that would be a nice addition, I like Sherlock Holmes, but I can't really stomach the few stories I've read of Poirot...

 

EDIT: Oooh! How about a Roald Dahl collection and some OZ?

[juv3nal]

Any complete works/omnibuses that are essential? I already have Lovecraft, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Poe, every Douglas Adams book... Goodreads recommendations aren't looking that good to me. :|

Get yourself a Borges collected short fiction if you haven't read the large majority of his stories already.

[feelthedarkness]

I've really meant to catch up some on some Borges. I was planning on picking up Labyrinths, partially because I read William Gibson's forward to it in his collection of non-fiction and essays. 

[juv3nal]

I've really meant to catch up some on some Borges. I was planning on picking up Labyrinths, partially because I read William Gibson's forward to it in his collection of non-fiction and essays. 

 

If portability is not a high priority, I recommend the collected which has everything afaik. The hardcover, at least, is kind of bulky, not sure if that holds for the paperback.

[feelthedarkness]

Oh, good looking out! basically the same price too.

[Tanukitsune]

People have been saying I'd enjoy Roald Dahl. And since I'm Spanish, I think I should look into Borges in it's original language. 

[osmosisch]

I adore Roald Dahl. Extremely creative and twisted. Some of the most enjoyable short stories I've read.

[I Saw Dasein]

If you like Roald Dahl you should definitely read Graham Greene who is a better writer and equally funny and way sadder and only slightly less fantastical. There is a complete collection of short works that is pretty easy to get and a sure bet for xmas bliss.

[Stuart]

 And since I'm Spanish, I think I should look into Borges in it's original language. 

 

Yes. You really should. God damn, is he a fucking genius or what?

[feelthedarkness]

Hey, quick question about Borges. Looking at the two collections on Amazon (Labyrinths and Collected Fictions) there are a bunch of vocal and seemingly well informed 1 star reviews about Hurley's translation in C.F. Any thoughts on that? 

[Stuart]

Hey, quick question about Borges. Looking at the two collections on Amazon (Labyrinths and Collected Fictions) there are a bunch of vocal and seemingly well informed 1 star reviews about Hurley's translation in C.F. Any thoughts on that? 

 

Learn Spanish and read them in their original language. 

 

Nah, in all seriousness, Hurley is a bit cold and literal in his translation. In works such as Borges, or any work of Spanish literature really, that's not a good thing to convey within a translation. I'd say get both either way, since I assume you do not know Spanish and won't have to suffer with the fact that the work in its original form is much better. Since I know Spanish fluently, the quality of writing between translations of his works and then the works in Spanish was greatly apparent, more apparent than most English translations of Hispanic/Latino literature, in my opinion.

[feelthedarkness]

How long could it take to get fluent in not just Spanish, but metaphysical philosophical sci-fi Spanish?

 

Thanks though! I know they've talked about it on the podcast, and the recent death of Umberto Eco's translator, but it's wild to imagine how much or how little I've really experienced stuff, based on translations. 

[TheLastBaron]

I started reading the first book of Brandon Sanderson's new series and I'm having a hard time getting past the bad dialogue and annoying characters. I don't know if I'll be able to handle 900 more pages of this let alone 9 more thousand page books.

[osmosisch]

If you like Roald Dahl you should definitely read Graham Greene who is a better writer and equally funny and way sadder and only slightly less fantastical. There is a complete collection of short works that is pretty easy to get and a sure bet for xmas bliss.

Got his collected short stories; not funny, yes sad, not very fantastical. Enjoyable but not as good as advertised.

[Trip Hazard]

I got my step-daughter some Roald Dahl for crimbo. She's a bit young to read 'em herself, but I'm having a blast reading to her. Very happy childhood memories of The Twits, Danny, George, etc. Will give Graham Greene a try if he's at all similar.