Brian’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2009)

Brian’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

i'm ok with talking about it anywhere. and i'll take up moderate to heavy responsibility unless something goes wrong in which case i'll deny everything. and mo... i bought valis and a bunch of other books. the desert has books and flies and full body clothing. and are any of you getting spammed by bad authors wanting to befriend you? at myspace the spam was more attractive to look at. these spammers are nerdy. and i know that most of this doesn't even belong in this thread topic but i forgot what thread topic i'm in.

anyway, sorry i haven't been of more use around here. i've been away from computers for a few days. i'll try to be more responsible and come up with better excuses in the future.

and arabic keyboards suck but their coffee is good. and since i'm talking about anything right now... my parents just sold their house. just thought some of you would like to know. if you're one of those that didn't really need or care to know, just ignore this bit of information.

will be back on pluto soon.

Charlaralotte wrote: "I like my literature to teach me something about history and anthropology,and also to be smart."

the buru quartet by pramoedya ananta toer. no need to plan it.

we'll take a field trip to the best used bookstore ever

that more than anything scares the shit out of me... a used bookstore, a bunch of ff's recommendations (in person!), a credit card, and weight restrictions in my transporter.

i'm on the mobile so i'll keep it short: alan parsons project, tales of mystery & imagination = edgar the poe... I got more but my thumb hurts.

pssst.... patty... firefox has spell check.

damn. i thought louisiana was crazy with 'parishes'... do ya'll stone people too?

Abi wrote: "A dungeon keep without mass, no more indeed than a band of orange light from the summit of which the lord and his lady dealt out life and death to their vassals, had given place – right at the end of that Guermantes way along which, on so many summer afternoons, I retraced with my parents the course of the Vivonne – to that land of bubbling streams where the Duchess taught me to fish for trout and to know the names of the flowers whose red and purple clusters adorned the walls of the neighbouring gardens; then it had been the ancient heritage...

i got about halfway through that passage and found myself thinking about lasagna and then the crappy lunch i had earlier and then my phone rang and i answered it then i looked out the window then saw a wadded up piece of paper on the floor... and then i realized i never finished reading that passage. i guess i'm not quite ready for proust.

i guess i should try harder.

amazon sent me an email this morning telling me to buy this book. i think i'll just wait for eddie vedder to give me a copy.

Micha wrote: " My current read is Code of the Wooster's. Anyone want to join me for that?"

damn... i'm in the middle of reading about bengali boogie men, well actually bengali boogie women. and i really need to get back to my buru quartet. can you tell me how it's going? like does it grab you quickly at the beginning because if it does i might let it grab me. it's sitting near my bed right now.

Abi wrote: "Slowrabbit wrote: "Independent People

(but just saw ben's review... so this is probably out)"

Yes! Definitely read this! If anyone does I for one would be delighted to discuss it. Or any othe..."

Let me know when you pick up the joyce. it's been on my shelf untouched for too long.

and i'm up for more laxness... if i can find any around this stupid place i live.

When I find something interesting I upload them here. You'll also find an early Mo short fiction. Please feel free to download (or upload). Thanks to the previous contributors. The David F. Wallace folder is packed with goodies.

Shel... you can use this to store some of your short stories for the group read. I, or you, can create a Group Read Short Story folder. Just let me know...

http://public.me.com/brian_doucet

Enjoy.

Authors write stuff. We read their stuff... and sometimes we like it. This is the place to discuss authors and their work. This is not a list thread. Over the past couple of years I've read books written by people I didn't even know existed thanks in large part to the people here... or simply cool looking covers.

So if you come across a book, and read it, and then feel a need to shout about it, start an author thread (not a book thread) If the author already has a thread, please add to it. I oft times stumble across books that make me want to shout. I'll start screaming soon, I feel it welling up in my gut...

When it was proclaimed that the Library contained all books, the first impression was one of extravagant happiness. All men felt themselves to be the masters of an intact and secret treasure. There was no personal or world problem whose eloquent solution did not exist in some hexagon. The universe was justified, the universe suddenly usurped the unlimited dimensions of hope. At that time a great deal was said about the Vindications: books of apology and prophecy which vindicated for all time the acts of every man in the universe and retained prodigious arcana for his future. Thousands of the greedy abandoned their sweet native hexagons and rushed up the stairways, urged on by the vain intention of finding their Vindication. These pilgrims disputed in the narrow corridors, proferred dark curses, strangled each other on the divine stairways, flung the deceptive books into the air shafts, met their death cast down in a similar fashion by the inhabitants of remote regions. Others went mad ... The Vindications exist (I have seen two which refer to persons of the future, to persons who are perhaps not imaginary) but the searchers did not remember that the possibility of a man's finding his Vindication, or some treacherous variation thereof, can be computed as zero.
Jorge Luis Borges

mm... can you come out here and just read me the damn book? i've already changed my vote. what else can i do? read it?

no problem mm... but me thinks this book may end up with its own thread soon thanks to the likes of you.

welcome abi! I'm more stingy with my exclamation points (mo is reckless) and look forward to hearing more of your voice here in the group. thanks for dropping in. look forward to some laxness discussions.

after reading lara's and michael's and abi's input on this 100 years of solitude, i may have to flip-flop on my thinking and yank that book off of my shelf and into my hands pronto!

I'm most definitely in! And here's some more suggestions...

Sherwood Anderson's The Egg
http://www.online-literature.com/sher...

Shirley Jackson's The Lottery
http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/...

Anton Chekhov's The Huntsman
http://chekhov2.tripod.com/030.htm

M. R. James' The Mezzotint
http://www.fadl12200.pwp.blueyonder.c...

I'm so excited. I like birthdays. I like cake. I like presents. I like Mo. Today is Prophet Mo's birthday and tomorrow is Sweet Mo's birthday. If the Prophet's birthday can be declared a public holiday then I do believe that Sweet Mo's birthday should be a public holiday. I'm going to go to work... but I won't work in your honor.

So Happy Birthday bacon advocate!!!

Ben wrote: "Drood A Novel!"

This book almost followed me home yesterday but it didn't have wheels. Plus, I thought reading Dickens' book first would be a better way to approach it and I couldn't find his book even though I whistled and called all over the store.

I've realized lately that I'm not really choosing what to read... the books are choosing me. This is very unsettling because the books jumping off my shelves and creeping into my hands have been books that mess with my head. I think it started with The Haunting of Hill House. Next thing I know The Tenant and Ubik are leaving bloody trails up my leg as they claw their way into my lap.

I've tried returning to World Literature, an area I considered a safe zone, but was surprised when Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio and Cees Nooteboom made the shadows around me shimmer while all else remained motionless.

Now I find myself reading a book simply called Hell by Yasutaka Tsutsui. Why are these books doing this to me? I went grocery shopping yesterday and when I got home I find The Haunted Dolls' House and Hauntings Bangla Ghost Stories in my bag, the former already finding its way to my bedside where I normally put my glasses.

I envy Ben's categorical approach of reading books this year. My approach of submitting to these nasty little books is indeed despicable and painful. I used to let about four books that I had been eying jump into my hands and then I would choose one. But now I find they're getting sharp-toothed and vicious. I need to find a way to muzzle my books.

Does anyone have this problem? How do you choose what to read? Do you have a method?