Chaos Reading discussion
It's all about you
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What are you reading right now?
The Amber Trail - it's a self published book which I normally avoid like the plague as 99 times out of 100 they are vanity efforts with piss poor spelling and dire characters. This isn't perfect, it smacks of teething problems, but the narrative is swift and i'm enjoying it and if you can work past some creaky dialogue this is a harmless easy read to wipe your brain clean.
Marc wrote: "Richard, I loved your brief review above of Black Hole (which I very much enjoyed--I think it was the first Burns book I read)!Currently enmeshed in White Noise (for our upcoming gro..."
i'm not sure i'd read any more Burns. is he worth it?
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Wow. Loquela looks incredible! I love that the synopsis begins with, "Starts to fuck with your head from the first word.."
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Ruby, Loquela is a bit like reading a moebius strip and every time you complete the cycle something is just slightly different. I've got about 30 or so pages left...
First reading of BNW, Guy, or a reread for you?
Marc wrote: "Richard, Most of the other Burns I've read (The Hive, Sugar Skull, and X'ed Out) are just flat out weird, but there's a bizarreness to his creativity ..."Graphic novels wise From Hell is peerless. I had a wonderful week lost in that.
I got a kick out of Punk Rock Jesus but that was a long time ago
And The Complete Maus is a life changing humbling never been bettered book
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned was gorgeous but I can't remember the plot too well as I binge read it during my daughters surgeries
I love wandering around the comic book store but I never know what to buy
Infinite Jest - just stared this after drunk reading an article in the guardian relating to it following a dull dinner party. 10 pages in, over 1000 to go.
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I am currently reading nothing. I have reader's block.
Greg wrote: "I am currently reading nothing. I have reader's block."Perfect time to read Cannery Row - short funny and just gorgeous!
Greg wrote: "I am currently reading nothing. I have reader's block."I totally understand. I've been suffering from that this year, but I think I've broken out of it after finishing Redshirts in a day.
Right now I'm reading Cruel Justice by William Bernhardt. So far it has been an excellent legal thriller.
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It seems like the legal thriller never really gets old (I usually indulge via TV or movies vs books)... I guess it's that whole guilt/sinner/who-dunnit-will-they-get-away-with-it aspect.
gah, 80- pages of Infinite Jest and it's just not doing it for me. nothing but bloat and banality. I do want to catch the disease that everyone else has with this but obviously not this yearThe Big Rewind - just started it, looks good
also picked up Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
I just started reading The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand's story of an architect. So far I've been enjoying it.
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I haven't posted in this thread for awhile. Sorry I didn't reread White Noise, looks like a lively discussion. The first time I read it was about 30 years ago, soon after it was published. Needless to say I don't remember many details, although I remember quite a bit more than most books I read that long ago, which I think is a testament to the writing.
I'm rereading Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy. Also reading a graphic novel that I am enjoying immensely and definitely recommend: Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy.
I have read the following :White Noise
The Enchanted
They are my favorite reads so far this year.
White is for Witching was meh...the house was a far more interesting character than the characters.
Interview with the Vampire
The Snow Queen
Both re-reads
Dark Days Takes place in Spain and has a cat. yes I am reading book 3.
Currently reading The Girl with the Dragon . Tattoo
Currently I'm reading Crazy Love You by Lisa Unger. So far it's been good--it's about a graphic artist who falls in love with a nanny but can't seem to get away from an old girlfriend who's trouble.
Marc wrote: "Just finishing Open City (quite an engaging read), just starting John Dies at the End."Let me know what you think of John Dies..
Jennifer wrote: "Now reading Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West"Howl at the moon and beware of the Judge!
Jennifer wrote: "Now reading Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West"man that one defeated me. I made it half way and just felt filthy and dismembered
love McCarthy but he beat me with that one.
Richard wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Now reading Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West"man that one defeated me. I made it half way and just felt filthy and dismembered
love McCarthy but ..."
I finished it. I haven't picked up a book for a week now. About half way I questioned my motives. As we went through the desert. One chapter at a time. Suddenly I could not put it down. It was worth it. All of it. But I am looking for some fluff. Utter nonsense. I can't emotionally invest in a story at the moment.
Jennifer wrote: "Richard wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Now reading Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West"man that one defeated me. I made it half way and just felt filthy and dismembered
lo..."
I'll try it again one day
Fluff wise I'd recommend Easy Riders, Raging Bulls but I guess only if the subject matter interests you
just finished This Census-Taker by China Mieville. my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Marc wrote: "... just starting The Sympathizer"That looks very interesting. And my library has an Overdrive copy (because it just won the Pulitzer—I can't imagine them having a book like this unless it had won a major award.)
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That looks very interesting. And my library has an Overdrive copy (because it just won the Pulitzer—I can't imagine them having a book like this unl..."
I'm always amazed and surprised at what the library does and doesn't have. I did not expect to find a copy of both The Walking Dead, Compendium 3 and Puke Force there yesterday when I returned some books, but there they were calling my name. I'm 60 pages into The Sympathizer and enjoying it so far (it has some delightful lines like: "If looks could emasculate, she would have walked off with my sac in her purse.")
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As I recall, it's kind of like a twisted, bad dream, but maybe you've come up with a new mashup: the Vidrug book... or the Drugeo book
The Body Artist by Don DeLillo, still waiting for that crack of the whip. It's off-kilter, but not yet stupendous.
Just read The Polish Rider by Ben Lerner, a current New Yorker short story available on his GR author page. Loved it. So multi-layered. Ekphrastic. Also fun to read the other reviews. Really really interesting the different reactions, and the vehemence of some of them.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Oh, also reading The Woman Who Borrowed Memories: Selected Stories by Tove Jansson, and Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory. Oddly (or not) complementary, very different in style, but I see so much in terms of theme shared between the two authors.
Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues, this was after Cormac McCarthyre read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and then read
The Gate to Women's Country
Apocalypse the Memoir
The first two are enjoyable. The middle one....not so much, it made me angry. This last one had so much potential and I felt let down in the end.
Beautiful You - i dunno, chuck used to be so vivid and compelling, the more shocking this one gets the more tedious it becomes. it's still interesting but it's flaccid - which i never though a chuck book would be
The wise man's fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Barkskins by Annie Proulx.
Question: This is a book about the past (leading, I gather, to the present). When you're reading something like this, the invasion of Canada by the French, followed by the British, the incursion into what Canadians call the First Nations, their indigenous people, in this case, the Mi'kmac tribe, it's a battle of spiritualities, cultures, technologies, a meeting of aliens. Can you read about the past with the same sense that you read science fiction, set in the future? It is the same premise?
I've never thought about this before, but what do you think? It seems to all be alien to me, and what's the difference between the alien past and the alien future?
Question: This is a book about the past (leading, I gather, to the present). When you're reading something like this, the invasion of Canada by the French, followed by the British, the incursion into what Canadians call the First Nations, their indigenous people, in this case, the Mi'kmac tribe, it's a battle of spiritualities, cultures, technologies, a meeting of aliens. Can you read about the past with the same sense that you read science fiction, set in the future? It is the same premise?
I've never thought about this before, but what do you think? It seems to all be alien to me, and what's the difference between the alien past and the alien future?
AnnLoretta wrote: "Barkskins by Annie Proulx.Can you read about the past with the same sense that you read science fiction, set in the future?"
You certainly can. Many alien-contact stories have similarities to European-American contact stories. I know I've read stories where the author has specifically acknowledged using the history of the Americas as a foundation for his alien-contact.
When Breath Becomes Air - it's been hanging at the periphery of my gaze in the book store and today was the brightest book there so i figured today was the day to buy it
Finished LaRose by Louise Erdrich and wasn't disappointed. I can't say the same for Girl in the Spider's Web.
Chaos Reading
Books mentioned in this topic
Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes (other topics)Infinite Jest (other topics)
Infinite Jest (other topics)
All the Light We Cannot See (other topics)
The Handmaid’s Tale (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Felix Francis (other topics)Ali Smith (other topics)
Sebastian Junger (other topics)
Annie Proulx (other topics)
Elizabeth Gilbert (other topics)
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Currently enmeshed in White Noise (for our upcoming group discussion), Loquela (impressive so far), and One Rainy Day in May (a bit slow going, but when you're setting up 9 different characters for a 27-volume series, I guess that's to be expected... meh).