i've been reading this albert einstein biography and i just realized it's by the same guy who wrote the big steve jobs bio with all the crazy quotes
― n/a, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:06 (twelve years ago) link
nytimes, what a stoopit list. but swamplandia is p. neat. I think it's a dark, funny, beautifully written book that is also... forceably odd? not always very good? but super entertaining, too.
― remy bean in exile, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:07 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.readersread.com/pics/swamplandia_cover.jpg
^^^ may be an HBO miniseries?
― remy bean in exile, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:08 (twelve years ago) link
of the ones i read, swamplandia! was pretty great, art of fielding was pretty terrible, and 11/22/63 was solid but doesn't deserve to be in a best of 2011 list
― n/a, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:08 (twelve years ago) link
if you're going to read a large, numerically-titled sci fi-tinged novel about alternate worlds by an acclaimed novelist who's past his prime, i'd definitely go with 11/22/63 over 1Q84.
― n/a, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:09 (twelve years ago) link
feel to logey/dim to really organize my thoughts but swamplandia! was just too precious/considered/crafts-y for me
it is a p funny list non-fiction wise but im looking fwd to the new stephen king
― є(٥_ ٥)э, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:09 (twelve years ago) link
'art of fielding' was just actual garbage tho
― є(٥_ ٥)э, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:10 (twelve years ago) link
1Q84 gets worse and worse in my mind as more time passes since i read it, it's approaching "freedom" levels of disgust now
― n/a, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:10 (twelve years ago) link
swamplandia! had some "modern literary fiction" problems but at least had an interesting setting and unusual characters and an unpredictable plot, unlike art of fielding, with its precocious students and troubled headmaster at a small new england college
― n/a, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:12 (twelve years ago) link
http://literarytransgressions.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/fitzparadise.jpg
― wil smif, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:13 (twelve years ago) link
^^ i think thats my fave of his
the idea that ppl dont read 'the art of fielding' filled with disgust for everyone involved makes me so angry
― є(٥_ ٥)э, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:21 (twelve years ago) link
Anybody read Ten Thousand Saints? That sounded amazing...
― iagree (henrietta lacks), Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:24 (twelve years ago) link
xxxxps
Parts of Where I Was From put the water management systems described in that White Album essay into a broader historical context.
Warning, it is a depressing book. Didion summarizes the history of the state in the words of Virginia Reed, survivor of the Donner party: "Never take no cut-offs and hurry along as fast as you can."
― Brad C., Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
lamp you remind me of f scott fitzgerald
― wil smif, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
ummmm????
yeah, i posted abt it on real ilx i think, i liked it a fair bit (xxp)
― є(٥_ ٥)э, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:26 (twelve years ago) link
its true you have a very similar writing style! & content even
― wil smif, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:27 (twelve years ago) link
yeah ten thousand saints did sound good, would read
― Never translate German (schlump), Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
I finished Blue Nights before Thanksgiving -- not as affecting as its predecessor, almost thin in places. When she does her trick of repeating images like motifs it's quite moving: serving fried chicken on nice china, Quintana's rather eerie childhood self-possession, ordering room service when on assignment.
― Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:43 (twelve years ago) link
yes, this is exactly how i felt. but i was never ... bored? strangely, i seem to have read the same three (art of fielding, 11/22/63, and swamplandia!) as the rest of you. i wanted to read the tea ohbret book, but it was NPRed to death and I lost interest. maybe over the holidays. best nf book i read this year was 'warmth of other suns' but i guess that came out in 2010
― remy bean in exile, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:47 (twelve years ago) link
swamplandia! also had a story. i like stories.
― n/a, Thursday, 1 December 2011 22:48 (twelve years ago) link
Lamp idk if ur interested at all in that kind thing but I'd love to read a list of yr top books of the year
― iagree (henrietta lacks), Friday, 2 December 2011 00:19 (twelve years ago) link
me too
― your voice of treason, Friday, 2 December 2011 00:25 (twelve years ago) link
Are we including history and biographies too? I'd be down for ILXers doing it.
― Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 2 December 2011 01:56 (twelve years ago) link
Yah, I'm in for a best books of 2011 balloting. (Mine might be YA heavy, but then's the breaks).
― remy bean in exile, Friday, 2 December 2011 02:12 (twelve years ago) link
a number of us seem to have the same reading list...and I did see that nytimes 10 best list as well.
I enjoyed art of fielding, but couldn't get through more than 20 pages of swamplandia. I have ten thousand saints on reserve at the library (it's actually 'e-reserve' -- apparently they only have 7 e-copies of it -- which seems absurd in the e-era).
― calstars, Friday, 2 December 2011 02:36 (twelve years ago) link
copyright
― flexidisc, Friday, 2 December 2011 02:37 (twelve years ago) link
bro
A new biography of acclaimed American author Kurt Vonnegut, beloved by fans worldwide for his work's warm humour and homespun Midwestern wisdom, has shocked many with a portrayal of a bitter, angry man prone to depression and fits of temper.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/03/kurt-vonnegut-biography?cat=books&type=article
Have these many who have been shocked ever read any Vonnegut.
― Fizzles, Sunday, 4 December 2011 09:20 (twelve years ago) link
started Stephenson's Reamde and enjoying it more than I expected to. If you are a gamer or every have been, you will be amused.
― calstars, Sunday, 4 December 2011 11:41 (twelve years ago) link
just finished Reamde - totally will make a great Hollywood movie, which was annoying in the final pages (to an NS fan) but afterwards I realize is an excellent development.
haven't read yet stack:http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6452963715_597be5981a.jpg
― Zoroastrian Mingle, Sunday, 4 December 2011 15:54 (twelve years ago) link
haha reamde is in the pile of stuff i want to get to eventually... it just seemed so daunting atm
id have to think abt but i love making lists of things
― є(٥_ ٥)э, Monday, 5 December 2011 18:22 (twelve years ago) link
started pictures @ a revolution yesterday which i think i recall lord soto & maybe others recommending -- it is really great@!
― j crunchwrap supreme, Monday, 5 December 2011 19:00 (twelve years ago) link
This History of Histories by John Burrow really is excellent. His summing-up of the main features of classical history, at the end of having dealt with the main classical historians in turn, is superb.
He really starts enjoying himself with the dark ages/early medieval chroniclers, becomes quite relaxed in fact, too relaxed even? But no, it's discursive, but not too discursive, and fun to read. Sometimes it feels more descriptive of what's in the histories than the introduction led me to think, but I don't particular mind this - as well as being historiography, it's a very handy prism with which to view specific case studies in history as well.
― Fizzles, Monday, 5 December 2011 21:15 (twelve years ago) link
just finished A Visit From the Goon Squad (loved) and started on Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave. before that Murakami's Kafka on the Shore (didn't like it much)
― sandbox dmr, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:54 (twelve years ago) link
**
― uhh (ok), Wednesday, 7 December 2011 15:39 (twelve years ago) link
that was an accident.
**1Q84 SPOILER ALERT**i found the scene where aomame meets The Leader in the hotel room to be supremely crepey. when he said "You could stick a needle in me and I wouldn't even feel it", i got freaked out and my heart started beating faster. probably one of the more visceral reactions i've had to literature**1Q84 SPOILER ALERT**
― uhh (ok), Wednesday, 7 December 2011 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
since there's no rolling new yorker magazine thread i'll post here that i just read Cesar Aira's fiction in last weeks issue and really liked it. if anyone who's familiar with him could recommend some of his stuff i'd appreciate it.
― Crowell, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 21:02 (twelve years ago) link
My Life as a Nun is super
― flexidisc, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 21:03 (twelve years ago) link
**1Q84 SPOILER ALERT**i found the scene where aomame meets The Leader in the hotel room to be supremely crepey. when he said "You could stick a needle in me and I wouldn't even feel it", i got freaked out and my heart started beating faster. probably one of the more visceral reactions i've had to literature
i thought a lot of the stuff w/ the little people was suspensful and kinda scary, like when they appear out of the girl's mouth for the first time. **1Q84 SPOILER ALERT**
― blah blah blah (є(٥_ ٥)э), Wednesday, 7 December 2011 21:37 (twelve years ago) link
Raoul Vaneigem "The Revolution Of Everyday Life" - fascinating Situationist call to action (or not).
― Jay To The Vee Ee Eee, Wednesday, 7 December 2011 21:57 (twelve years ago) link
reread PKD's androids/dream - excellently well written in comparison to that steaming pile of excrement that was the last murakami (& dick was pretty hacky) - it's all about mercer & isodore, couldn't give a monkey's about the robots, albeit that mercer's star turn is a ghost of Xmas past / obi wan cheesefest. also "martian time slip" which came over as a marital infidelity drama set in 1950's Australia.currently halfway through stanley crawford's "log of the s.s the mrs unguentine" which is flipin marvelous.
― farah ferrigno, Wednesday, 28 December 2011 13:48 (twelve years ago) link
enjoying ten thousand saints but it feels very familiar so far. waiting for the story to go somewhere new. seems very concerned with trying to evoke the east village through landmarks and music references, zzz
― calstars, Wednesday, 28 December 2011 14:13 (twelve years ago) link
that was one of my big problems with The Fortress of Solitude :/
― Heck Yep (henrietta lacks), Wednesday, 28 December 2011 18:43 (twelve years ago) link
seems very concerned with trying to evoke the east village through landmarks and music references, zzz
tending to the graveyard of unloved books (those I'm not optimistic enough about concentrating on to justify moving out) at my folks' place, I dipped into KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS by Luc Sante, which came out a few years ago. enjoying his period New Yorkisms.
I'd like to read Ten Thousand Saints, I read Hate: a Romance when it came out maybe looking for that kinda thing.
― Never translate German (schlump), Wednesday, 28 December 2011 19:06 (twelve years ago) link
maybe I'm wrong; maybe that's not what I hated about it, maybe I just hated the popcultural cataloguing though that was def a big part of my adolescence as well...?
― Heck Yep (henrietta lacks), Wednesday, 28 December 2011 19:44 (twelve years ago) link
Halfway through Saints and it's getting better. Going some unexpected places and keeps me turning the pages. It's a relief of sorts to kind of stop looking for some grand statement in the book, realizing it's not that kind of novel, and just enjoying the story.
― calstars, Thursday, 29 December 2011 14:42 (twelve years ago) link
brain went over christmas, read a couple of extended article type books.
in search of the perfect pub, a christmas gift. It was ok. Was dreading a jokey travelogue or nostalgic localism but it's more thoughtful than that. Too bitty, though, lacks focus.
Also and then there's this: how stories live and die in viral culture by Bill Wasik, which was fine-to-good, pleasantly anecdotal & smart first-hand amble through that stuff.
Sort of read The Compleat Angler. Fabulous prose, but skimmed when it got too fishy.
Headlong Hall. I think I've finally acknowledged to myself that I don't like Peacock.
― woof, Thursday, 29 December 2011 16:02 (twelve years ago) link
i quite liked peacock, or at least i tried to make myself. i don't know. only read nightmare abbey.
finished the marriage plot. ending rather insipid.
been trying to make myself go back to bleak house, instead soothing a chest cold and sleep-deprivation fatigue by reading 'the complete masks of nyarlathotep: the classic call of cthulhu adventure, complete for the first time, with the lost australian chapter and four new episodes'
― thompp, Thursday, 29 December 2011 16:40 (twelve years ago) link
Fuck, now you mention it, it was nightmare abbey not headlong hall
I've had a longstanding notion that I should like him - he's spot-on for me in theory - but I always glaze over when reading him. (see also Firbank).
― woof, Thursday, 29 December 2011 16:51 (twelve years ago) link