Leile's profile

11 ratings | 11 reviews
avg rating: 4.27

Leile's bookshelves

read (10)

currently-reading (2)

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Leile is currently reading

	09/19 Leile is currently reading: The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan (Paperback) by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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	03/26 Leile gave to: Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (Paperback) by Marshall McLuhan, Lewis H. Lapham bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	Leile said: "I'm currently venturing back into some McLuhan essays while doing some other reading. I fucked with it in college back when I was a media studies major; it's pretty much mandatory for any introductory courses along those lines. These are really impor...more " add a comment

Leile's recent updates (rss)

September 19

Leile is currently reading:
The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan (Paperback)
by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

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New comment on Leile's review of Cities of the Red Night: A Novel

Leile wrote: "But don't you feel like he pulls it off way better in the next installment in the trilogy? To me &qu...more "

(see all 3 comments)

August 22

Leile gave

to:
Cosmic Trigger I : Final Secret of the Illuminati (Paperback)
by Robert Anton Wilson

my rating:

read in August, 2007

Leile said: "Holy shit...

This book found me at the right time. "

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May 02

Leile gave

to:
What Is the What (Hardcover)
by Dave Eggers

my rating:

read in April, 2007

Leile said: "Sad and terrifying. Somehow, strangely uplifting. Dave Eggers is the only celebrity in the world who has done something useful with his success. Never before have I felt so guilty to be a healthy American with food in the cupboard and a couple bucks ...more "

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New comment on Cara's review of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Other American Stories

Leile wrote: "Hunter S...now THERE's a journalist "

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New comment on Leile's review of The Dharma Bums

Leile wrote: "hee hee, duly noted. Good points, all of them. I think in the end I'm just jealous of Kerouac becaus...more "

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April 06

Leile gave

to:
The Dharma Bums (Paperback)
by Jack Kerouac

my rating:

read in March, 2007

Leile said: "This was really a pleasant surprise. After making my way through "On the Road" and a few other things by Kerouac, I had come to the conclusion that the dude is a hack, and that the other Beats were really on some way better shit. I just cou...more This was really a pleasant surprise. After making my way through "On the Road" and a few other things by Kerouac, I had come to the conclusion that the dude is a hack, and that the other Beats were really on some way better shit. I just couldn't feel that "rambling" ass style that he writes in, even though I acknowledge that it was a conscious decision of his to write that way.

I get it -- he writes the way he travels, making quick decisions and trying to be spontaneous and spiritual. But to me it's kind of just a garbage decision stylistically...personally, I like writers to show a little discipline and take heed to the laws of grammar and punctuation. Plus I think he was just drunk half the time. I write a lot of stuff when I'm drunk too -- it doesn't mean I would try and get it published unless I sat down and edited the fuck out of it, with a clear head one day. Drugs and booze can be good for the creative process, but at some point you've got to sit down and get serious, whittle down your ideas to a respectable form.

Which is what I think Kerouac did here. There is some great writing in "Dharma Bums", and even when he rambles, it flows with the ease and beauty of a rolling freight train, or a babbling brook. Finally, you feel like one of Kerouac's characters have gained something useful and spiritual from the life of being a hobo. Ray Smith, the protagonist, embodies the strengths and faults of a lot of guys I know, myself included sometimes. I only wish I could have been around in the days where the happily homeless poets would congregate in San Francisco, and talk about the kind of shit that these guys do. Sadly, the days where stuff like this happens in America are pretty much long gone, I fear.

I think I will take a second look at some more Kerouac after being pretty durn impressed by this. Namely, "Big Sur" is now on the list. After taking in "The Dharma Bums" and the fantastic introduction which was included in the edition I read, I feel a newfound respect for what Jack K did and the legacy he left behind. He was far from perfect, and a lot of the writing and relationships he left behind make this more than evident. But more than anything I think Kerouac was honest (about everything including his own self-demise, which he foreshadows eerily in parts of this novel). If honesty was his main goal as a writer, in that respect he was definitely a success.

One last thing I found cool about "The Dharma Bums" - a lot of American cultural references are derived from this novel. Not only from the hippies and the neo-hippies, but this is a very influential work in terms of modern artistry. The Anticon Records rappers/poets collective (including Dose One, Why?, and others) referenced this book heavily in a lot of their stuff during the late 90's/early 2000's Experimental Hip Hop Rennaissance. Lines like:

"Fresh bus station water...and it all ends up in tears anyway"

were lifted directly from the text, and put onto all these weird hip hop records I've been listening to for the past decade. I had no idea these were quotes from "Dharma Bums", but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Life and art tend to have circular qualities, indeed.
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from KidPolaroid

03/27/2007 02:38PM

You know, at first I thought, "I don't know about this." But it's freakin' addictive--especially trying to remember when you first read a book on a shelf stuffed with books. I'm pretty determined to get 'em all on here. Even the cookbooks.

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