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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Biblioteca Barbelith

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Kit-Cat Club

14:03 / 23.08.01

Announcing the inaugural virtual meeting of the barbelith book-club...

The Subject: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and someone else whose name I can't remember.

To be had of: the booksellers, the library, the car boot sale, your friend's bookshelf.

Beginning: September 23rd (this is when the thread will be opened.

Come one, come all!

Saint Keggers

17:52 / 23.08.01

Robert Shea.

jUne, a sunshiny month

19:20 / 23.08.01

- vaslav nijinski "exercise books".
(the life and long way to crazy/emptyness of the dancer of this century, a real torture written by nijinski himself (in 1918-1919). u can touch the big empty slowly beginning to take possession of him... awful, how beautiful. -thanks Ed' for this book-

)

- charles Gorham "the gold of their bodies".
(the life... -again- of Gauguin, one of my favorite artists... nice and incredible).

'lithers, u've got to read these books.
it worth it.if you do'nt like it, i'll pay back the time you took for readin it !
ps : invisibles TPB, whatyouthink ?

Jack The Bodiless

22:42 / 26.08.01

One of my favourite comedies of all time, cat. Fucking hilarious, beautifully written, and a perfect example of 'the author in absentia' - the text assumes an importance relative and in proportion to the established prejudices and psychoses of the reader. This time it's the writer of the text that's along for the ride...

Kit-Cat Club

13:19 / 29.08.01

When the thread is running out of steam I'll precis the posts and turn it into an article for the webzine, unless no one says anything...

Kit-Cat Club

12:00 / 20.09.01

Pushing this up to the top, as the Barbelith Biblioteca discussion on Illuminatus! is due to start very shortly (Sunday or Monday, I think) - so gird your critical loins.

I'd like someone to nominate hirself to start the thread with some spiffing insights, please, as I haven't read the book myself. Thanks.

tracypanzer

12:37 / 20.09.01

I started rereading it last Thursday as a way to take my mind off what had happened. In the first 10 pages there's an explosion in an office building and talk of radical sects of Islamic assassins. Plus all the conspiracy stuff. This will be either the best book to read right now or the worst.

Kit-Cat Club

21:20 / 03.10.01

OK, since the first Book Club thingy seems to have gone reasonably well, I think we can start thinking about the next one to read (if, indeed, anyone gives a hoot...).

Seem to remember a suggestion for The Crying of Lot 49 - any more for any more?

rizla mission

12:00 / 04.10.01

I've been itching to read my copy of 'The Crying..' since I got it, and almost every thread in this forum seems to lead to some kind of mention of this Pynthon bugger, so let's get started..

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:22 / 05.10.01

Yup, Pynchon's always a winner... have to read "Lot 49" again though, it's been a while... (going on holiday tomorrow, sounds like the perfect opportunity.)
Hey! This is like that thing they have on Radio 4, isn't it?
Cool! Can we do a virtual "The Archers" next?
See you on-topic.

Ierne

12:34 / 05.10.01

I'll look for The Crying of Lot 49 in my local used book haunts so I can join in the fun too.

I've not read it before.

Kit-Cat Club

15:33 / 09.10.01

OK, The Crying of Lot 49 it is. Thread will start on... the, er, somethingth of November. What about the tenth?

And I don't suppose anyone fancies thinking about writing a piece on Illuminatus! as a follow-up to the thread? Message me if by some weird chance you do.

Kit-Cat Club

11:44 / 13.12.01

OK kiddies, since ephemerat's thread on The Crying of Lot 49 is a raving success with some really interesting discussion, I think we should nominate a book for our holiday reading - thread to start mid-to-end January. Any suggestions?

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

11:46 / 13.12.01

The Iliad. All should read the Iliad.

It's not going over big, I can tell.

Kit-Cat Club

11:50 / 13.12.01

Well, I'm happy to do it, but you should nominate a translation, I think - otherwise things might get a bit messy.

Ethan Hawke

11:50 / 13.12.01

I think there should be a "Theory Bitch" reading group. Maybe not as a replacement for Biblioteca Barbelith but as a supplement? Choose some short, important theory works and hash it out with the big brains here.

Failing that, I just acquired Brion Gysin's "The Process", which sounds interesting, though I can't vouch for quality as of yet.

And I've always wanted to read some of Beckett's novels but can't seem to get through them.

Kit-Cat Club

11:54 / 13.12.01

I like the idea of the theory group, but I think it would belong in the Head Shop - the Books forum is really for fiction stuff (at least that's what it says on the front of the forum, though as with everything there is room for manoeuvre).

rizla mission

11:22 / 14.12.01

I'd suggest we do a really weird SF book, but some of you poor souls have already had to put up with Illuminatus!..

Maybe we could do a really cracking classic detective/noir book? A Chandler maybe?

They're easy to pick up cheap, they provide plenty to talk about and no one can really dislike them..

Ethan Hawke

11:41 / 14.12.01

How about Dashiel Hammett? I wouldn't even be adverse to doing some Sherlock Holmes.

Kit-Cat Club

07:02 / 17.12.01

Actually, Conan Doyle might not be such a bad idea. I have a slight grey area about which books are appropriate for this kind of 'book club' discussion - are we reading 'books we feel we should read but need some kind of impetus to start' or 'books we like'?

My problem is that I have already read Chandler and Hammett, & I'm not sure how much meat for discussion there is in them (but I may be wrong) - they're fast and funny, sure, but IMO they're not particularly open to interpretation.

I think I'd go for the Iliad (if Haus reminds me of the translation he suggested) - but we'll have a sort of vote on it before Christmas anyway. Consensus is all.

BTW - nothing to stop you starting a thread on Chandler/Hammett in the meantime. The Book Club just acts as a focus.

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

07:25 / 17.12.01

Hmm - there's a relatively recent release of a Fitzgerald translation, which I don't know. I'd suggest the Martin Hammond 1987 prose translation, which is pretty simpel and clear without being utterly banal. It can be found on Amazon here, but there's a better than decent chance that it could be found in your local library or second hand bookshop...

Kit-Cat Club

11:27 / 17.12.01

Ah, good old Penguin Classics.

Right. Post any more suggestions quickly, & then we can choose a book to spend Christmas book tokens on.

rizla mission

12:00 / 17.12.01

A Canticle For Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller

Nobody except E.Randy and myself seem to have read it, and it's bloody great.

Just an idea..

Kit-Cat Club

12:03 / 17.12.01

I got it it a charity shop on your recommendation, Riz, but I haven't got round to reading it yet - might take it home for the train journey.

grant

18:33 / 17.12.01

quote:Originally posted by Rizla Year Zero:
A Canticle For Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller

Nobody except E.Randy and myself seem to have read it, and it's bloody great.

Just an idea..

Currently being broadcast on public radio stations in 15 parts on, I think, "Theater of the Ear". Locally, they're up to 12 of 15 parts. It makes good radio.

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

20:45 / 17.12.01

Good sci-fi, without which the last episode of Series 4 of Babylon 5 would have been much impoverished.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

06:13 / 18.12.01

"Canticle for Leibowitz" is fucking AWESOME! (believe it or not, I had to study it at college.)
Methinks I'll have to read it again though... it's been a while (but I was planning to do that anyway, 'cos I picked up a copy of his posthumous "Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman" for a couple of quid a while back, and thought I should do it justice.)
Yay! "Canticle"! Yay!

ephemerat

08:38 / 19.12.01

I would love to do The Iliad, Hammond translation fine. Is this a popular choice? Or would Canticle get more votes? We could do Canticle after The Iliad...

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

08:46 / 19.12.01

Actually, I may be overcomplicating things here, but how about the Iliad - Hammond or Fagles, but we should probably pick one - followed by Pyrrhus, Mark Merlis' queering of the Neoptolemus myth?

Kit-Cat Club

08:55 / 19.12.01

I think the Iliad in the Hammond translation (more accessible in terms of price, & that way we won't get caught up in debates about the poetic merits or otherwise of the Fagles translation).

The Merlis looks really good (well, judging it purely from the Amazon reviews at any rate) - perhaps we can spin this into the Iliad thread when it starts/gathers momentum as an additional book for interested parties.

Canticle - we could then do this afterwards, but if people want to talk about it (and it seems to me that a couple of board members have read it & a couple at least would like to) they can always start a thread for it.

That's my preference, anyway. Anyone else?

ephemerat

08:55 / 19.12.01

Sounds like a good idea to me.

I'd rather do the Hammond trans of The Iliad because I already own a copy though Fagles is probably easier (or more enjoyable) to read. IMO.

Will just check to see if my library carries Merlis (unlikely).

Persephone

12:12 / 19.12.01

That sounds great, the 'Classic Literature' thread seems also to be winding in this direction.

How long do we have to read the books?

Kit-Cat Club

12:17 / 19.12.01

A month or so, usually. Say we start the thread on or around Feb 1 - that should give everyone enough time.

Ethan Hawke

12:22 / 19.12.01

[ 19-12-2001: Message edited by: Todd is my Co-pilot ]

Ethan Hawke

12:24 / 19.12.01

[ 19-12-2001: Message edited by: Todd is my Co-pilot ]

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