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03-08-2003, 12:39 AM
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#1 | ||
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: ...down the gravity well
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Books, books, and books
I have something of my own personal library be it books or CDs.
I have read the threads concerning book clubs but I have never really followed through myself, I tend to be an avid loner when it comes to books, and I love listening to music via headphones, the big ones with soft cloth to hug the ears...I love hearing the nuances and the crooks and crannies of a song, that you won't hear at full blast in your room or car... That being said, back to books...I should say I have about 300 tops (nothing like my 700 CDs, man did I have no life before girlfriends). I just finished a book that I found to be both challenging and engaging a read...of Pynchonlike proportions (though I have yet to read Gravity's Rainbow). The book is called "Dhalgren" by Samual Delany, and I enjoyed it very much for the simple reason that its about many things, and nothing...in the end there is no end, and most of the riddles are solved but you miss most of the solutions. I bought the book simply on its volume, 801 pages, and the little blurb stating about a man-boy who comes to a city on the verge of chaos and boredom. Its not for the faint of heart, as it is violent, sexual, and obscenity-laced (if you like Pulp Fiction and weren't offended by that you won't be by this). But it is for the most part the most realistic depiction of an apocalyptic time...more interesting is that it is science fiction without being science fiction. I recommend it simply for the struggle of reading through it, and the joy of trying to figure it all out, the foreward is by William Gibson of Neuromancer (and the birth of Cyberpunk) fame, who in his foreward states he never fully understood Dhalgren, so I guess I'm not alone...but a great read nonetheless. Next up on a completely different plane is the book "The Secret History"by Donna Tartt. I grabbed it at a borders when I was sent up north to Maine for job training, and I wanted something interesting to engage me on the dull moments of day when training was over and there was nothing to do (this was near Kennebunkport and while a nice town, not exactly Vegas or NYC material). Tartt's prose was so engaging that I consumed the book like a meal (like a lobster meal, gotta love business expenses). Her characters were real, they were interesting, and the story was one of which I wanted to read and figure out, something of a mystery without being one, and nothing like reading about sex, lies, and murder at a college setting filled with rich jaded kids...the protagonist is a poor kid trying to fit in, and what he finds out...it's a change of pace book, probably not for many here on this board but a nice read. The post about the guy who tried to pick up girls triggered a memory of another book called "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk, whose protagonist chokes on food to garner sympathy by others who save his life (they look after him, give him money, make him feel needed). I recommend anything by Chuck (save maybe Invisible Monsters) but of his works, Fight Club and Survivors are two nice books that are brisk but chock full of interesting prose for the brain to chew on (I have all his books). His new one Lullaby is pretty cool too. My final recommendation for now is by Japanese author Haruki Murakami "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" which is a nice nonsensical story set in a futurastic time. Murakami has a way about him when it comes to writing, his works are so hard to believe but he makes them seem so real. This one is about a guy trying to get his mind back from a mad scientist all the while trying to hide from corporations who want the information that's been transplanted into his brain...now and then when he dreams he goes to a different world, and it seems he's getting stuck there more and more than in the real world...Murakami is a good writer, if you want to try to page through something try Windup Bird Chronicle which is a nice engaging read as well... Since we have war discussions, I'm not a peacenik nor am I a hawk, but I've read about war and I wanted to pass along two very sobering works on the topic of war... My War Gone By, I Miss It So by Anthony Loyd. Loyd is a war journalist with a death wish, he has an addiction for war. A vet of the Gulf War and Northern Ireland operations, Loyd decides to embark on a career that would take him to Chechnya, Afghanistan (during Russian occupation? I can't quite remember), Sierra Leone and Kosovo. Did I mention that he's also a heroin addict?, he stayed clean only when he was out on assignments. It's a sobering look at warfare, and its a startling life this guy leads. Some of the passages are just harrowing... If Loyd writes about the more recent conflicts, then Ryszard Kapuscinski writes about the ones that dominated the globe between 1958 to the eighties...In Soccer War, Ryszard is documenting the various coups and wars in Africa, the Middle East, and South America (the title is about a war between two South American nations (Honduras and El Salvador) that was caused by a soccer match). Again it is a sobering perspective on wars and the people that are involved in them... Just my blurb to add something a little more constructive than a "hey brad" or "asshat". |
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03-09-2003, 07:57 PM
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#2 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: East Anglia
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I've read Gravity's Rainbow. Parts of it had me laughing till I hurt. However, in the end I'd summarize by saying this book is a good example of what Syd Barrett would have written, had he been a writer with enough of an attention span to finish such a work, on the Nazi missile program.
Have you ready any Iain Banks? You may like him. He's a sci-fi/gothic writer who offers nice twists.
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Molon labe |
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03-09-2003, 08:01 PM
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#3 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: ...down the gravity well
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I just grabbed William Gibson's Neuromancer, but I have to finish two other books in front of it.
Thanks for replying though I'll have to look into it...I was hoping more guys would post on it...
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"General Woundwort's body was never found. It could be that he still lives his fierce life somewhere else, but from that day on, mother rabbits would tell their kittens that if they did not do as they were told, the General would get them. Such was Woundwort's monument, and perhaps it would not have displeased him." Watership Down, Richard Adams |
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03-09-2003, 08:32 PM
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#4 |
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Retired
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Fantasyland
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I'm a huge fan of Pat Conroy. Great books for those who have already come of age. I recommend Beach Music or Prince of Tides.
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03-09-2003, 08:43 PM
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#5 | |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: ...down the gravity well
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Quote:
Is Prince of Tides anything like the movie? I guess I'm curious to what genre most of us read: mystery, horror, sci-fi, fiction, etc? I have only started to read sci-fi, mostly a horror, standard fiction and mystery reader... |
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03-09-2003, 08:51 PM
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#6 |
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Retired
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Fantasyland
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Quikshot, I never saw the movie. I wouldn't with Barbara Streisand in it. Plus, the book is much too complicated to be done in a two hour movie. It got decent reviews tho, and the book is awesome.
My personal favorite is Beach Music, which about the best thing I ever read. |
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03-09-2003, 10:01 PM
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#7 |
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n00b
Join Date: Mar 2003
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Murakami's great - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles is very like Hard Boiled Wonderland. Dhalgren looks great, as doe the Soccer War and the war correspondent thing. Thanks.
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