BOOKS. whatcha readin...?

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 10:36 pm

drizzle wrote:siddartha was a huge revelatory spiritual experience for me when i was 19 or so, i wonder if it would still hold up as such now

uh zip zoom · Post by **uh zip zoom** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:36 pm

steppenwolf is a better novel, plus my chakras were aligned for a full 3 weeks after i finished it.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:59 am

Thun wrote:
drizzle wrote:siddartha was a huge revelatory spiritual experience for me when i was 19 or so, i wonder if it would still hold up as such now

i was young and i needed the money

uh zip zoom · Post by **uh zip zoom** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:42 pm

the lazarus project was outstanding. i like hemon's style a lot. overall a good, gritty book.

just started:

GM Dizzy Skillespie · Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:04 am

drizzle wrote:siddartha was a huge revelatory spiritual experience for me when i was 19 or so, i wonder if it would still hold up as such now

ord

I've got Steppenwolf on deck.

dat piff · Post by **dat piff** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:06 pm

uh zip zoom wrote:the lazarus project was outstanding. i like hemon's style a lot. overall a good, gritty book.

just started:

any good? i saw that at the library for 2 bucks the other day..

reading this now.. had it when it first came out but never got around to reading it..

Chuck Earns Cheese · Post by **Chuck Earns Cheese** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:30 pm

just picked this up today.

Radio Raheem · Post by **Radio Raheem** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:00 pm

Malmont's debut thriller reads like pages torn from the pulp magazines to which it pays nostalgic homage. It's 1937, and the nation's two top pulp writersגWilliam Gibson, author of novels featuring caped crime fighter "The Shadow," and Lester Dent, the creator of do-gooder hero Doc Savageגare trying to solve real-life mysteries that each hopes will give him bragging rights as the world's best yarn spinner. Gibson follows rumors that pulp colleague H.P. Lovecraft was murdered to the fog-shrouded Providence, R.I., waterfront. Dent tracks clues to an impossible killing through the bowels of New York's Chinatown. As the two adventures dovetail, they spawn sinuous subplots involving tong wars, secret chemical warfare, pirate mercenaries, kidnappings, revolution in China and weird science run amok. Lovecraft, L. Ron Hubbard, Louis L'Amour and Chester Himes all play prominent supporting roles and offer piquant observations on the penny-a-word writing life that conjure a colorful sense of time and place. Like the pulpsters he reveres, Malmont doesn't let the facts get in the way of his storytelling, and the result is a fun, if wildly improbable, pulp joyride.

ChewbaccaUncircumcised · Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:51 pm

i just re-read this. it is as good as i remember it being the first time through.

it's kind of like a darker, grittier version of the matrix, with the dual benefits of having been created 15 years before that movie was released, and not starring keanu reeves.

highly recommended for any sci-fi fans.

boogie shoes · Post by **boogie shoes** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:38 pm

dat piff wrote:

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Memoir of this chick and her crazy fucked up family.. Father is nuts, family basically lived like gypsys. Recommend..

Amazing and frustrating.

phil connors · Post by **phil connors** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:20 pm

uh zip zoom wrote:

steppenwolf is a better novel, plus my chakras were aligned for a full 3 weeks after i finished it.

I know what I'm going to have to read next now. Thanks

deepfriedjellol · Post by **deepfriedjellol** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:45 pm

master and margarita is unreal so far
great recommendation.

ric · Post by **ric** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:49 am

wow. good glad to hear this. im rereading the full sherlock holmes before i get to it yet

Mercuthio · Post by **Mercuthio** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 6:10 am

Captin Planit · Post by **Captin Planit** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:50 am

Maybe I'm shallow, but the final act of Steppenwolf is painful in a terrible way.

Mercuthio · Post by **Mercuthio** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 12:14 pm

phil connors · Post by **phil connors** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:32 am

blastmaster · Post by **blastmaster** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:09 pm

Great little crime novel.

ric · Post by **ric** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:37 pm

Captin Planit wrote:Maybe I'm shallow, but the final act of Steppenwolf is painful in a terrible way.

i bought steppenwolf. read about 3 pages. closed it. have no idea where it is anymore

phil connors wrote:

have you read Botany Of Desire?
can you give a quick rundown of this one?

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:58 pm

lolololol

didn't know where else to put this, but i figured this thread would enjoy it

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:13 pm

this man is a genius

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:14 pm

GM Dizzy Skillespie · Post by **GM Dizzy Skillespie** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:45 pm

well these reviews have been most helpful

this is better than reading rainbow

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 7:02 am

there is nothing more precious than amazon user reviews! i always check the 1star reviews when i wanna find out if a book/movie is good. if those reviews claim its "prententious, confusing, pointless, boring" i'll usually like it. it's amazing how much some people miss the point:

Hardboiled
"I bought the film 'cos I wanted to see a realistic movie. This is not what I imagined.
This is just violent, that's it. This is like the famous doom game. Very unrealistic.
That lot's of violence doesn't make it better. This movie makes you brutal too. If you
have made the mistake to order it then buy a romantic movie or a comedy to keep the balance.
(Example the Crazy/Beatiful a nice one.)
And this was not that exciting action movie. Sometimes it was boring what changed to blood, and so on. The english dubbed is simple horrible.
If you wanna buy an action movie where you are made to stick in front of the screen
then buy a Schwarzennegger movie. If you like martial arts, buy the Royal
Warriors with Michelle Yeoh. It's one of my favorite and it is better in every aspect than this one of a thousand one movie.
Anyway, next time I'll buy a Robert Williams movie.
At least it is entertaining, makes me excited and makes me think of life. "

The Big Sleep
"I know that the setting of this book was set way back in the 1920s, but why was this book so boring? Even literature back then was even at least somewhat interesting. I know that this book is a classic mystery novel, but there was really no riveting mystery involved. At least there was a little mystery involved, though. To give it some credit, Chandler's uses of similes were great in some areas, but he used them way to often. This book was very boring in my opinion. There is nothing exciting about it. It really was a 'Big Sleep.'"

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
"In my case Portrait managed to take frustration and disappointment to previously unimaginable heights and it undisputedly stands as the most unsatisfying piece of literature I've ever attempted to digest. Initially Portrait simply bored me beyond belief, but then it also seriously enraged me on account of its meandering pointlessness. In order to protect my sanity I found myself compelled to take drastic measures and set aside my objections to the ritual burning of books. However, I could only get the bonfire I erected to eat away a disappointingly small part of my copy of the book. Thus Portrait even refused me the pleasure of seeing it go up in flames... (I will probably get a lot of stick for this, but having survived Portrait I should be able to deal with the worst kind of written abuse anyone can come up with.)"

blastmaster · Post by **blastmaster** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:21 am

I love Motherless Brooklyn, Fortress of Solitude, Gun With Occassional Music, Amnesia Moon and his short story collections (especially Wall of The Sky), but this book is brutally shitty. Just a chore to get through full of superficially interesting hipsters who in the end mean nothing and do nothing. It was like a even faggier, watered down Ellis novel. Chronic City looks it will redeem him though. God, this was terrible.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 11:47 am

kinda like a bsides and rarities of his short stories, including some really really obscure shit. not the best place to start with him, but essential for fans

uh zip zoom · Post by **uh zip zoom** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:48 pm

blastmaster wrote:

I love Motherless Brooklyn, Fortress of Solitude, Gun With Occassional Music, Amnesia Moon and his short story collections (especially Wall of The Sky), but this book is brutally shitty. Just a chore to get through full of superficially interesting hipsters who in the end mean nothing and do nothing. It was like a even faggier, watered down Ellis novel. Chronic City looks it will redeem him though. God, this was terrible.

thanks for the heads up, i liked fortress of solitude a lot and would've given this a chance at some point. best way to get me not to read something is comparing it to ellis.

uh zip zoom · Post by **uh zip zoom** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 1:02 pm

uh zip zoom wrote:the lazarus project was outstanding. i like hemon's style a lot. overall a good, gritty book.

just started:

this one took me a while but was definitely worth it. 600+ pages that make you sit back and reconsider what a novel can be. the book is composed of three parts-- one and three are diary entries, part two is interviews with 40-50 characters that take place over two decades and four continents. all of it revolves around the lives of two legendary characters who we never hear from directly. highly recommended though it seems like a love it or hate it kind of book.

dat piff · Post by **dat piff** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 10:55 am

Reading these two at the moment

uh zip zoom · Post by **uh zip zoom** » Mon Aug 03, 2009 8:21 am

just started:

and: