― akm (akmonday), Tuesday, 28 November 2006 20:39 (seventeen years ago) link
dude has/had a serious problem with Eggers and talked a lot about how much harder he was than him, and how real his shit was.
― akm (akmonday), Tuesday, 28 November 2006 20:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― grady (grady), Tuesday, 28 November 2006 20:55 (seventeen years ago) link
I can give you the exact point where I objectively concluded that Eggers is a colossal self-important yobbo full of stale old shit. The chapter in AHWOSG where he loses his wallet, blames some Hispanic kids, and then discovers that he left his wallet at home.
Fuck him and his McSweeney mafia. Let them anonymously self-review their spooge on Amazon.
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 28 November 2006 21:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Tuesday, 28 November 2006 21:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Tuesday, 28 November 2006 21:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― lf (lfam), Tuesday, 28 November 2006 22:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― nuneb (nuneb), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 00:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― literalisp, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 00:22 (seventeen years ago) link
I thought it was quite good of him to be honest enough to say "look how much of a kneejerk dickhead I was here."
Also, even if it makes him a cock it doesn't alter the book from being good. Which it is, and in fact I took great pleasure in liking it precisely because of a few people on ILX who'd sneered about the whole McSweenys mafia.
― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 00:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 00:47 (seventeen years ago) link
YSKOV has my favorite moment where a book with a mysterious title reveals itself in the text ever.
― grady (grady), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 01:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 02:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― grady (grady), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 02:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 02:24 (seventeen years ago) link
otm. And yet, Eggers does have a self-importance about him that turns a lot of people (even and especially people who know him personally) right th' fuck off.
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 02:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 02:38 (seventeen years ago) link
I don't think I made it to this wallet incident in the first book. I think I gave up within a couple of chapters of him taking his brother in. Ugh.
― milo (milo), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 02:51 (seventeen years ago) link
Yeah, that's what I meant. People who know him report even worse.
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 02:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:00 (seventeen years ago) link
The poor man, rich in faith, whotoils for the love of God and is generous of the little fruit of hislabors, is much nearer to heaven than the rich man who spends a fortune ingood works from no higher motive than his natural inclination tobenevolence.-from "The Groundwork of the Christian Virtues"by Archbishop Ullathorne1945
-from "The Groundwork of the Christian Virtues"by Archbishop Ullathorne1945
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:09 (seventeen years ago) link
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1932416609.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V41400631_.jpg
which is the best novel I've read in years
― akm (akmonday), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:10 (seventeen years ago) link
(xp)
― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 03:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 04:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 04:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― akm (akmonday), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 04:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 04:50 (seventeen years ago) link
No, no. I think people read his books because they think he's a good writer. I personally think they're wrong. But hey, who am I? (If that's what we're really arguing.)
Meanwhile, his press and self-made publicity has turned him into something he is by many accounts not -- a nice guy, a great philanthropist, a kind of person to attach your undying fandom to.
You think I don't read the books because I don't like him as a person?
No, dude, I'm on your side. I think you don't read the books because he's just not that good.
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 05:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― whoop de doodle (kenan), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 05:32 (seventeen years ago) link
Which is fine as long he sticks to doing so within his own sphere of endeavour: writing. When he joins forces with Bono, then I will have a major problem with him.
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 08:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― akm (akmonday), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 09:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― Modal Fugue (Modal Fugue), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 09:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― r.dot, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 12:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― r.dot, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 12:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― r.cummings, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 12:51 (seventeen years ago) link
http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,1546275,00.html
His prose style is pretty awkward and amateurish when you strip away the schtick:
He first pushes the coffee table closer to the entertainment center, reducing the space between the three objects: me, the table, and the shelving. Now he drags a chair from the kitchen. He places this near my head. From the couch he brings one of the three large cushions that sit upright. He stands the cushion up against the seat of the chair. Bringing another chair from the kitchen, he places it, with a couch cushion soon resting against it, at my feet. He has effectively eliminated me from his view. My view is now limited to the ceiling above me, and the little I can see between the windows of the coffee table. I lie, finding myself impressed with his architectural vision, until he surprises me with the blanket. The bedspread from my room is carefully spread over the couch cushions until it forms a tent over me, and this is too much. Michael, I have little patience left for you. I am finished with you, and wish you could have seen what I saw. Be grateful, TV Boy. Have respect. Have you seen the beginning of a war? Picture your neighborhood, and now see the women screaming, the babies tossed into wells. Watch your brothers explode. I want you there with me.
Ugh.
― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 14:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 17:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― cws, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 21:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 21:09 (seventeen years ago) link
Through the doorway I saw a kind of airplane, coming low over the village. It was a fascinating kind of plane, black everywhere and dull, unreflective. The planes I had seen before resembled birds in a rudimentary way, with noses and wings and chests, but this machine looked like nothing so much as a cricket. I watched it as it flew over the village. The sound was rich and black, louder than anything I had ever known, the vibrations shaking my ribs, pulling me apart.
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 21:17 (seventeen years ago) link
He has the capacity to write well but he always seems in need of a better editor.
― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 21:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 21:21 (seventeen years ago) link
Yeah. This is my biggest problem with him. He like, re-released YSKOV with a new title and 50 extra pages or something and called it Sacrament? Dude, get thee to a fuckin editor.
jaymc, you should submit that to McSweeneys' Convergences Contest.
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 21:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 21:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― sterlclover, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr.Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― Allyzay "Doris Lessing" Eisenschefter, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― grady (grady), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:14 (seventeen years ago) link
It took me two times, too. The first time was when it first came out, I gave up after 25 pages. Then I tried it like 5 years later when I had very little else to do and it kicked my ass. I've been thinking about big books a lot lately, you have to put up with a LOT of bullshit (boring sections that would go on for a page at the most in a normal size book stretch on for 10 pages in big books) but in the end it is soooooo worth it. But if you don't want to put up with the footnotes and stuff I can see where it's offputting and annoying.
Seriously it's a really really awesome, hilarious (very very very funny) book.
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:14 (seventeen years ago) link
Okay, I missed the nickname at first there. (Am I the only one to have read all the books in the Canopus in Argos series?)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:17 (seventeen years ago) link
xposts
― grbchv! (gbx), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― molly (molly d), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Allyzay is a town of people, people who DIED, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:21 (seventeen years ago) link
The first 100 pages are rough(the Canadian spies bored me senseless). But now I can't stop reading it, to be honest.
― molly (molly d), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett is doing a little practice firing at the clouds (Ned), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:24 (seventeen years ago) link
waht
― grbchv! (gbx), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:25 (seventeen years ago) link
xpost- As for footnotes, the Filmography of James O. Incandenza is the best thing ever.
― molly (molly d), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link
yeah jaymc, I hear you. Poor Nicholson Baker.
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link
I was going to say. (The desk is right behind me to the left.)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:34 (seventeen years ago) link
I read somewhere that John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) is trying to put out a film version of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.
― molly (molly d), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― molly (molly d), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 November 2006 22:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― jed_, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 23:28 (seventeen years ago) link
In everyday conversation,I could say "She walked confidently down the street", "Confidently, she walked down the street", or "She walked down the street confidently". I'm sure one of those is more gramatically proper than another, but in the end, they all get the meaning across, they each have different rhythms that might sound more attractive at the moment of writing or saying it, so who cares?
It's like listening to music for notes that are out of the key instead of just letting yourself feel the emotion of it.
― Zachary Scott, Wednesday, 29 November 2006 23:35 (seventeen years ago) link
Reeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaallly? How deliciously perverse! (Sort of an essential part of the turn-off, personally.)
― literalisp, Thursday, 30 November 2006 01:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 30 November 2006 01:45 (seventeen years ago) link
they all suck with the word 'confidently' in there
― jergins (jergins), Thursday, 30 November 2006 02:02 (seventeen years ago) link
Yeah, but out of key notes jump out at you, and so does bad writing. That's the whole point.
― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 30 November 2006 02:30 (seventeen years ago) link
ij, the thing is, always felt as sprawly and adolescent as its main character, and i guess read as a book being about that its pretty good, but when ppl. try to read more into it is when i go batty and get more turned off dfw qua dfw than i should.
always liked that "westward path of the empire" short story tho, as well as some of the other material in "girl with the curious hair."
now onto the thing about eggers putting adverbs at the end of sentences, repeatedly, delimited by a comma. doing so adds finality, firmly. it's as though the thought is complete and then as a coda, there's the afterthought, dangling. doing so interrupts the flow in the middle of paragraphs, jarringly, pointlessly. also, it implies that the closing adverb isn't central to the thought which isn't the case in the screaming sentence, irritatingly.
― sterlclover, Thursday, 30 November 2006 03:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 30 November 2006 03:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― sterlclover, Thursday, 30 November 2006 03:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― akm (akmonday), Thursday, 30 November 2006 03:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Thursday, 30 November 2006 04:29 (seventeen years ago) link
maria has. like ten times. but she's a freak. she tried to get me to read them and i looked at her like she was made out of the funny papers.
― scott seward (121212), Thursday, 30 November 2006 04:36 (seventeen years ago) link
Ten times, I'm impressed. There are passages I still remember from when I read them as a teen.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 November 2006 04:37 (seventeen years ago) link