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The Idle Book Log: unofficial recommendations for forthcoming Idle Thumbs Book Clubs.

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For the next "older book" selection, something by Virginia Woolf would be really nice. I've been meaning to re-read Mrs. Dalloway or To the Lighthouse.

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I am a little into The Flamethrowers and I want to echo everyone's love for it. It's one of those books that hooks you with the premise, and then keeps you gripped with its excellent storytelling and characters.

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I am a little into The Flamethrowers and I want to echo everyone's love for it. It's one of those books that hooks you with the premise, and then keeps you gripped with its excellent storytelling and characters.

 

It makes me so happy that other people are enjoying this book. Easily the best book from 2013 that I've read so far.

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Yeah, I'm about 65% through it. It's fantastic. She can really weave a sentence, and the general flow of the story, projecting forward and backwards at the same time. It's a cool twist on contemporary "kow-it-all" storytelling, but without getting too wrapped up in tangents. 

 

Also, hit's all my notes. NYC late 70s, Italy, 70s film, weird art movements. One of those things that really hits me about how totally whitewashed NYC has become is that chapter on the Motherfuckers actions. NYPD is so militarized nothing like that could ever happen. 

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Just picked up The Flamethrowers from the library. Excited to read it from all the praise I've been hearing.

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Flamethrowers discussion is making me want to reread it myself. It is one of the few books that is able to present female-male sexual relationships in a realistic way, which is made even more amazing by the fact that it's all from the perspective of the woman. When I started reading and realized that the central relationship would be between a 20-something woman and an older man, I was afraid that the story would devolve into a clichéd romance, but Kushner's brutal honesty made the relationship seem more than just trite. Despite the obviousness of it, there's something understandable about a young woman falling for an older man that offers to 'teach her something' and large parts of that relationship resonated with me in a strong way. But I'm coming at this book from the perspective of also being a young woman in her 20s. I'd be interested what the male readers thought of the novel's relationships.

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I finished The Flamethrowers this weekend.

 

As a late 30s dude, I've Sandro'd a relationship or two in my younger, foolish days, though not with a cousin. The penultimate chapter from Sandro's perspective really captures the experience of somebody who's aggressively there, cutting through any good sense, and the kind of entitlement society instills.

 

I found Ronnie and Sandro both kind of repellant, but I can't deny they aren't people who exist, or maybe it's an unwillingness to acknowledge I have shared any traits with either?

 

The perspective of the book is remarkable. Elements of it that I found initially underwhelming, the ending of Reno just waiting for something, or the general sense that not much happened with her as far as actual narrative goes, gave way to a realization how deliberate that probably is. What was supposed to happen? All these rich guys stop talking at or around this young woman and recognize her artistic genius?

 

Talking to my girlfriend about it, she said she was struck by the feeling of waiting for life, or the feeling of being caught in everyone else’s wake.


I’m looking at some reviews, and there are a lot of dudes praising Ronnie’s stories, while they criticize the book, and Reno’s lack of agency.

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I’m looking at some reviews, and there are a lot of dudes praising Ronnie’s stories, while they criticize the book, and Reno’s lack of agency.

 

Oh jeeze, the reviews for this book were so frustrating and laced with weird gender issues. And Reno has more realistic agency in this book than most female characters in modern fiction.

 

Edit: here's the best review I've read for this book http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/07/30/2366081/the-flamethrowers-is-the-most-feminist-novel-youll-read-all-year-and-one-of-2013/

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That is a good review, thanks for sharing that.

 

I'm curious what people thought about why the final thing that happens, chronologically is her running into Burdmoore during the blackout? It's never too late to live the life you want? 

 

Sort of unrelated, but I kept thinking about the movie The Conformist during the Italian sections, the intersections of class and post fascist Italy, and gorgeous villas. 

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I think the thumbs would get a huge kick out of Stoner. It's commonly described as a perfect novel, and I'm inclined to agree.

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If you're looking for an odd but surprisingly magnetic read, My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard would be a great choice. It's in six volumes with only the first two translated into English so far, and I can attest that the first one works great as a standalone read.

Most of all, the book just feels refreshingly honest—Knausgaard directly confronting his childhood, adulthood, and feelings throughout. The first volume has two sections, the first on his childhood and the second on the death of his father. Outwardly the books are an accumulation of details, including the daily motions of life that are so often elided from other fiction. But the magic of the book is how, through those inconsequential details, Knausgaard slowly accumulates a sense of the moment that's stronger than any other book I've read. This is a book that feels like life, which feels like trite and overused praise because people have wasted it on books other than this one.

FSG just reprinted the first volume with a garish cover, so it should be more widely-available than it was even a few months ago.

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If we're considering fascinating autobiographical stuff why not head straight to Proust? (joke)

That's who they all compare him to, but I haven't tackled that giant yet. Wanna pick up the newish Lydia Davis translation of Swann's. :[

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I'm generally pretty averse to audible, just because I don't have the mental capacity to listen to a book vs. actually reading it, but I think The Flamethrowers is one of the few books I could imagine listening to. The prose is fairly basic, very clean and nothing too fancy, so it would be pretty easy to follow along with. Plus, it's just a great story and I want everyone to read it. So, yes.

 

Edit: If enough people read this, maybe we can start a separate thread for it. It was one of the more interesting books that has come out in 2013 so far, and there's been a lot of insightful commentary around Kushner and women's writing in general.

 

I'm listening to the audio book version (disc based from my library).  It's a perfectly fine listen.  Not too dense so I can listen to it at work.

 

I'm about halfway through.  Really liking it so far.  There are a couple moments where the book becomes a bit of a slog but for the most part it is really engrossing.

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Some fantastic recommendations in here - never heard of Stoner, but I'll be locating it at soon as possible. I'm just going to a list a couple of recommendations with no preamble:

Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner.

Karoo, by Steve Teisch.

Tokyo Year Zero, by David Peace

Headgames, a collection of Nick Earls' short fiction.

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Over the past few weeks I haven't had much free time for reading, but I'm slowly making my way through Stoner. It's surprisingly beautiful, in a way that I wouldn't expect a book set in Missouri to be. I'm reminded a lot of Mary McCarthy's The Group when I read it, but obviously with a different gender as the main focus.

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And now I've finished reading Stoner. I take back my earlier The Group comparison. This book is more akin to Evidence of Things Unseen, especially its ending (but with a much tighter and contained focus).

 

I'd been really hesitant to read this book -- despite Greg's praise -- because it's description seemed so generic. How can a book about a 1920s Missouri college professor hold any meaning? But Williams uses that simple story idea to give the reader a brutally honest exploration of one man's life. This is absolutely one of the more beautiful and meaningful books that I've ever read.

 

I'm not sure if this would be a good Idle Book pick, but I am sure that I want everyone to read this book.

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Hurrah. I knew you'd like it. Now I just have to read The Known World and everyone can dance happily about the maypole.

 

(Regarding the discussion of the book earlier: I'm sorry I haven't joined in. I'll try and input my two cents. I just have not had any time for myself.)

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The Stoner, added to the ever-growing list.

 

Also, wherefore art thou Idle Book Club Podcast? You got me to get off my duff and finally read an Ernest Hemingway novel like I should have already and now I feel tricked. If you're gonna trick me into reading like I'm seven, the least you can do is throw some sweet Pizza Hut coupons my way

 

Also, still throwing hard for the Thumbs to cover Ragtime. Because that book exploded my brain.

 

Also, also, also, also.

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