Ali wrote: "Ok I'm feeling a little let down by Haunted. I'm sure it'll get better. But I feel like chuck acted like an eager 16 year-old, blowing his wad too early with the story Guts and now I'm just flippin..."

the book has its ups and downs, i am just about finished, and it seems like every 3rd story really hits the mark. i agree with you about opening with Guts, there is no real coming back from a start like that. hey, they can't all be magic

My Chuck experience so far (in order of favorite down):

1. Fight Club
2. Survivor
3. Rant
4. Haunted

So far Chuck Palahniuk seems to me like the Nas of authors, bursting onto the scene with a brilliant release, then putting out subsequent material which is good, but can't quite match that first work of greatness.

My Chuck experience so far (in order of favorite down):

1. Fight Club
2. Survivor
3. Rant
4. Haunted

So far Chuck Palahniuk seems to me like the Nas of authors, bursting onto the scene with a brilliant release, then putting out subsequent material which is good, but can't quite match that first work of greatness.

Good glad to here it its about 3rd on my tbr list i think but i have been reading quite fast lately. I loved invisable monsters and the characters i loved the twists in it too :)

Jo wrote: "Yeah i think his writing is great. I have lulluby to read next is it a good one?"

Lullaby is GREAT! Second only to Survivor and Choke for sheer greatness and twisted plot lines. My favorite Chuck characters still live in Invisible Monsters though!


And the book with the best character NAMES? Rant. Shot Dunyun? Tina Something? Echo Lawrence? Brilliant.

Yeah i think his writing is great. I have lulluby to read next is it a good one?

Jo, that's great to hear.. Chuck's definitely got a way with words.. Exposing the human elements even when they are buried deep in the psyche, and real nasty..

I just finished reading Invisable monsters which was my first chuck book and i loved it. I love the way he starts from near the end and explains it all in fragments. I totally wasnt expecting the ending to be like that but i love that it wasnt predictable. I am goin to buy more of his books cos i think hes great

i wasn't really sure where to leave this post...has anyone read the latest interview with chuck in playboy? i thought his responses were great (of course) but the questions seemed a bit lacking. the interviewer beat fight club like the dead horse that it is. sorry, i love the book but would have liked to hear something other than "does it bother you people get hurt in real life fight clubs?" (not a direct quote, but close. among other uncreative questions) further in the interview chuck opens up about his father's murder. i had no idea his father watched his father murder his mother from under a bed then kill himself!!! then the poor guy gets murdered too! crazy. anyhoo...the interview is definitely worth a read, and of course the nakey ladies among the pages don't hurt either.

My first Chuck read was Choke, and thus began a love affair. I had seen Fight Club, and read it second. Fantastic. Lullaby was a good follow up, then Survivor and Invisible Monsters. I wasn't as impressed with Invisible Monsters as I was with Choke and Lullaby. But then Diary and Haunted, both left me wanting also. Maybe it's as simple as me not identifying with the characters in those books. Rant wasn't bad. I thought the format was pretty interesting. The twist was a little too drawn out for my tastes, but I guess Fight Club was pretty drawn out too.

ahhh I hated Diary. it was such a drag to get through.



I love Haunted a lot though. probably my favorite. I've read all of his books besides Lullaby and I'm right now on Stranger Than Fiction - kind of not the best... but it's nonfiction. what can you expect!?



I can't wait for PYGMY. Mhhhhmmmmmmm. :D

and sometrhing I wanna comment about - a lot of people LOVELOVELOVE Invisible Monsters. Why? it was good... just not worth all the fuss.

Cassie wrote: "I've read them all and Choke is my favorite. I am re-reading Lullaby right now and then probably on to Invisible Monsters again.
"

Ah, see, Lullaby is next on my list.

I've read them all and Choke is my favorite. I am re-reading Lullaby right now and then probably on to Invisible Monsters again.

I think that the two books that are in the running for first place are Rant and Invisible Monsters, with Survivor coming in second place.

My favorite was by far Choke. I also really liked Diary, but I think part of it was how interesting it was to see Palahniuk's wry voice coming from a female character. A close second to Choke is Fight Club, which is definitely where it all started for me.

I'm very interested in seeing the movie, even though i haven't read the book yet.
To my taste, i thought Rant was a weak offering. And the patented Palahniuk twist fell totally flat here. I did not care about time travel, and i was unmoved overall.
I have higher hopes for SNUFF. We shall see!

Oh yeah, and Survivor.. by far my favorite Chuck book!!!!

I loved Snuff, it's a lot to take in; I listened to the audio book and I felt dirty out in public listening to it... lol. They gym, work, etc.

I didn't care for Rant for the same reason a lot of people might not like Snuff. It made me uncomfortable, all the bodily function talk, but I think that was just me. I'm not a huge porn person either, but it doesn't bother me, I know enough about it that I still found the book interesting.

Diary gets bad billing too, and I loved that one! Check that one out too.

They are both goodreads!

Choke and Survivor are AMAZING!

I have read Fight Club and Rant as well. I need to know what would be a good one to start next. I want to pick up Snuf but I haven't really heard too many good things.

I agree with Richard, I have been having a really hard time with Rant, I've tried getting through it a couple times now and getting bored and moving on to something else. Not enough focus.

I just picked up the documentary about CP from his website. I am very excited to watch it this weekend!

I read Diary though and loved it I know it got some bad feedback early in the discussion. I have a lot of artists for friends and maybe that's why I received more personal enjoyment from Diary than some of the other readers.

The early Chuck books "IM, FC, C, S" all have the big "A HA" moment to them that I love. Not so much Survivor, but it seems so much like Fight Club to me. The subsequent books, from my view, seem to be an attempt to not be so gimmick based, but more mainstream literature. Consequently, they seem less focused to me. Particularly, "Haunted" was a victim of this. I am in the process of reading "Rant" so we'll see if he can draw it back to something that is not so one-trick-pony and not so all-over-the-place. I will be starting another thread, "Top five Chuck Books."

My favorite so far is tough to choose. It's either "Survivor" or "Choke". I haven't read "Diary" or "Rant" yet and am currently working on "Stranger than Fiction". Least Favorite was definitely "Invisible Monsters". It was amusing and all, but compared with his other work, was a bit of a let down for me.

My Favorite is Invisible Monsters, I also like Fugitives and Refugees:a walk in portland but I live in portland so I had to read it. Though Diary is not the best, in my opinion Lullaby was the least engaging.

Although it might not be the popular choice, my favorite is Diary. Admittedly, I haven't read all of his books yet.

Invisible Monsters was way twisted, especially at the end.

My favorite book is Choke, which I picked up as a whim on audio. I've been hooked ever since.

Invisible Monsters. Didn't like Diary either, but I think he should get kudos anyway for being a male author trying (with general success) to write from the viewpoint of a tortured middle-aged woman. It still got my attention without the usual (let's face it) sex and grime thrown in.

I just picked up Diary from the library last night, so I will get back to you... I hate to do it, but if I had to pick a least favorite I would say Choke. I still liked it, but not as much as Survivor which I have added to my top ten, (and I read A LOT of books :^)

you don't stand alone: i loved diary. it had a good story behind it and it was really well written. i'm not exactly sure why people like that one the least out of all of his books... personal preferences?

awww - do I stand alone in really LIKING Diary? Cause I really really did - I thought he put a lot of care into tying together all of the strings in that one.
I haven't read several of the more recent offerings (i just started law school last year and my fun reading is limited), but lullabye was fantastic, i adored invisible monsters, and how can you go wrong with Fight Club?

Just got done reading survivor, my first chuck book. i was blown away. it was a great find. i guess i'll go for choke next, unless somebody else has a different recommendation.

Ok I'm feeling a little let down by Haunted. I'm sure it'll get better. But I feel like chuck acted like an eager 16 year-old, blowing his wad too early with the story Guts and now I'm just flipping pages waiting for him to get it up again. Please tell me I'm going to get off by this book, I can't imagine that Chuck will let me down! ;)

I loved Survivor, it was my favorite so far! I just picked up Rant from audible to listen to today at work.

I just finished Survivor. Now I am onto Haunted. i read the authors note at the end of the book before starting the story named Guts and can fully imagine why so many people fainted at the point of reading "corn and peanuts". Thoroughly disgusting! But such a good story.

I was at a Chuck reading/signing in Toronto last night and it was a ton of fun. Had to wait 2.5 hours to get my copy of "Rant" signed, but when you're waiting with a few friends it doesn't feel so long.

Cool, I'm on it like chicken on a bus!
That was the one that I had in mind.

Choke, mos def.

Okay, I read "Haunted" (liked it) and then I read "Lullaby" (really really liked it). So which one should I read next?

fake puke...that's great. i really liked invisible monsters.

I'm the self-professed 2nd biggest Chuck fan ever. My friend Dave wrote him a letter, left it in a Portland bookstore and was sent a package containing fake vomit and other goodness from the man. I guess he gets the #1 spot.

My favorite Chuck novel is Survivor, but I love them all except Diary A Novel.

How about you?