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Well, I've not read that, but New York Trilogy, Leviathan and The Book of Illusions are well worth reading. I've got a couple more on the "to read" shelf.
Got to say, I didn't really enjoy the New York Trilogy either. Found all three to be a bit sterile, and pushing too hard to be smarter than they actually were.
Really enjoyed the Brooklyn Follies. And the Country of last things was suitably bonkers for me to enjoy it even though it's kind of flawed.
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Currently into Freakonomics in the downstairs bog and a Dick Francis in the upstairs crapper.
Soz for lowering the tone but this is something that has puzzled me in the past - how long does it take people to read actual novels that are left in the toilet? Too much detail here I'm sure but I only go for a shit when I feel like I need one. In and out in a couple of minutes.
Do people take ages to do the actual shit, shit then sit around reading for ages after they're done, or just go sit on the throne when they don't feel the need, read and wait for the BM?
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A couple of years ago I tried to read Murakami's 1Q84 and couldn't quite get past chapter 3.
I recently read that: " ... if you have never read Murakami before, then this is probably not the best place to start, due to its length and surrealism"
Has anybody got any suggestions on something more accessible from him?
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Thanks. Grabbing it now
I'll delve into it once I've finished my current read
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oof, all of 'em?
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Seriously though, at least Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions.
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I'm reading Slaughterhouse 5 at the moment and really enjoying it. Recommendations for what to read next by Vonnegut? (It's the first of his books I've read)
Seriously though, at least Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions.
Difficult to be objective with Vonnegut as there's that unique voice/varied output axis but the two books of his I've read and been most moved by are Breakfast of Champions and The Sirens of Titan. Honourable mention to less-respected later work goes to Timequake.
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He graded his own books.
I have graded my separate works from A to D. The grades I hand out to myself do not place me in literary history. I am comparing myself with myself. Thus can I give myself an A-plus for Cat’s Crade, while knowing that there was a writer named William Shakespeare. The report card is chronological, so you can plot my rise and fall on graph paper, if you like:
Player Piano B
The Sirens of Titan A
Mother Night A
Cat’s Cradle A-plus
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater A
Slaughterhouse-Five A-plus
Welcome to the Monkey House B-minus
Happy Birthday, Wanda June D
Breakfast of Champions C
Wampeters, Foma & Grandfalloons C
Slapstick D
Jailbird A
Palm Sunday C -
Finished A Wild Sheep Chase last night.
Really enjoyed it, but, hmmm, maybe I need to read some more surrealist stuff to develop a taste for it. I found parts of it dragged needlessly, some of the daily descriptions of food were tedious.
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I'm reading Slaughterhouse 5 at the moment and really enjoying it. Recommendations for what to read next by Vonnegut? (It's the first of his books I've read)
This is simple..
EVERYTHING.
but id start with cats cradle and then breakfast of champions is my favourite vonnegut, time quake is good too.
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oh and if you like Vonnegut you will love tom robbins
read this =Still Life with Woodpecker: Tom Robbins: 9780553348972: Amazon.com: Books
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Has anyone read 'S' by Dough Dorst/JJ Abrams?
It's a novel cum alternate reality game that's pretty interesting that works on three different levels of fiction/reality. On the innermost 'universe' you content of the printed novel itself, Ship of Theseus written by fictional author VM Straka, story about a guy with amnesia abducted and taken to sea. Then on the level above that, you have the story of an undergrad and uni academic that are passing this book between themselves discussing the novel, the identity of Straka, a revolutionary and the conspiracy theories surrounding him by writing to each other in the margins and including paper cuttings, coffeeshop napkins with maps drawn on them, postcards and letters. And then in our reality, there are websites, podcasts, and all sorts of cryptic stuff to add to the 'experience'.
It's quite good in that you can go as deeply as you like; just read it as a novel and that's it, delve deeper into the notes and codes and work some stuff out for yourself or go whole hog and spend the rest of your life posting on forums and wikis trying to solve the entire thing, Lost-style.
It was quite hard work, but fun and made a change. Definitely an interesting take on the traditional novel and a showcase for the physical book over an e-book.
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Has anyone read 'S' by Dough Dorst/JJ Abrams?
http://b.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/slideshow_large/slideshow/2013/11/3021011-slide-s-2-novel-ship-of-thesus-book.jpgThese kind of novels drive me crazy.
Maybe I just don't have the smarts or patience, but I'd rather the construct of the book not (in my view) get in the way of a good tale.
Good on you for tackling it. -
Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez 2014) eBook: Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Amazon.co.uk: Books
Finished this last night. Good, but was kind of anxious to get it over and done with in the end.
Now deciding what to start next, The Picture of Dorian Gray or Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
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About
Books - What are you reading?
Posted by
@chris_crash
I fucking love Iain M Banks. Currently about a third of the way through the Hydrogen Sonata. Once I've finished that, Fearsum Endjin and the Player of games will be the only two I haven't read. Presenting something of a dilemma - do I just read them ASAP or do I save them and read them some point down the line because there won't be any new ones once they're done?