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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

What are you currently reading?

  
  

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Whisky Priestess
16:50 / 05.11.02
Hmm, must get round to that one. Given that I like Dick both in SF mode and out, and Scanner Darkly is supposed to be one of his best, I should really make the time.

At the mo I'm reading Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs. It's surprisingly not-very-pervy - I mean there's sex and submissiveness and whipping etc in it, but it's not described in the kind of extreme close-up anatomical detail that would class it as pornography these days.

Reasons for reading are twofold: one, I'm writing something about de Sade and it's always worth checking out the competition, as it were, and two, I needed something to read during a graduation ceremony and was tickled by the idea of reading softcore SM porn in Oxford's high & mighty Sheldonian Theatre.
 
 
Loomis
17:32 / 05.11.02
Was recently reading Omeros by Derek Walcott which is pure fucking class. Consistent quality throughout, but, in need of a change, have put it down in favour of Alasdair Gray's Lanark. It's pretty good, but the Unthank bits are boring me and the Glasgow bits, while good, are a bit, well, I dunno, just ... good but not great I suppose.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
20:56 / 05.11.02
Clive Barker's Coldheart Canyon. It's a pretty long novel, but doesn't feel as epic as most of his work. It's more like The Damnation Game than, say Weaveworld. Trademark Barker style - perv-horror, shockfetish - makes an appearance in much smaller amounts than usual. Much as I'm enjoying it, I'd rather have seen the promised Galilee sequel.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
21:20 / 05.11.02
"Platform" by Michel Houellebecq.

And I can also recommend "A Scanner Darkly"- my personal favourite PKD book. It gets both funnier and more upsetting every time I read it.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
21:33 / 05.11.02
Liber Null And Psychonaut. I grabbed it as I headed out the door. Have put down Malory for the moment, due to brain-fag, and have just completed a brief introduction of selections from The Zohar which was interesting inasmuch as it seemed to come across as metacommentary. Scholem is rock.

Loomis: stick with it. It does get pretty laborious at times, does Lanark...
 
 
bjacques
01:39 / 06.11.02
Melmoth is pretty engaging, even with the preachy longueurs on the part of the title character, who seems to have been afflicted with terminal cynicism. There are lots of stories within stories. You can see where Poe got some of his inspiration. A very socially-conscious novel; Maturin has some corrosive things to say about the world of the 1680s (really meaning the early 1800s) but gets away with it by having Melmoth say it. I recommend it.
 
 
gergsnickle
01:42 / 06.11.02
White Apples - Jonathan Carroll - just started it, idly read a page earlier.

Ancient Sorceries & Other Weird Stories - Algernon Blackwood - I bought this cuzza the H.P. Lovecraft commment on the back ("the one absolute and unquestioned master of the weird atmosphere") and was stunned by the quality of the writing. So fat it's amazing.

After the Quake - Haruki Murakami - Check this out if you're looking for quick flowing short stories.
 
 
Ariadne
08:14 / 06.11.02
Tipping the velvet, Sarah Waters - inspired by Bengali in Plaforms. That is, my reading it was inspired by BiP, not the book itself. Not that I know of, anyway.

It's good, in a rollicking good tale kind of way. Lots of love and passion and pain and happiness and nice clothes and strap-on dildos.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
15:44 / 06.11.02
Also flicking through The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Of which I have heard nothing, but it's proving an intriguing - if not groan-filled - read. I'd heard nothing, as I say, and this is one of the freebie copies from work. It's good fun, if naught else.
 
 
01
18:11 / 06.11.02
Cabal by Clive Barker. It's good but his writing style can get a bit poncy at times.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
10:53 / 07.11.02
Bleak House. STILL. Will it never end?

I have a book about the cultural history of ruins to follow up but at this rate it's going to be about four weeks before I can have a go at it. Very frustrating.
 
 
wembley can change in 28 days
11:10 / 07.11.02
And I'm still fucking reading The Edible Woman, and I've decided that I loathe Margaret Atwood. However, this may have less to do with her prose than with the fact that I FINALLY found The Amber Spyglass at the library and am resentful of anything that is keeping me away from starting it (I cannot multitask books, but must read them one at a time).
 
 
that
11:10 / 07.11.02
The third volume of Tad Williams' Otherland series - 'Mountain of Black Glass'. So far, it seems much better than the previous two...either it just appeals more to me, or it took him like 2000 pages to get into his groove.

Also Iain M. Banks' 'The Wasp Factory'. I've read most of his fiction now, almost by accident, but I still prefer his SF, by far.
 
 
Sax
11:33 / 07.11.02
The Little Friend which, I'm sure we all know, is Donna Tartt's second effort. Only about a hundred pages in, and so far so To Kill A Mockingbird.

Which, of course, is not a bad thing.
 
 
Ariadne
12:24 / 07.11.02
Oooh, I've ordered the new Tartt and am eagerly waiting for it - do let us know what it's like.
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
15:15 / 07.11.02
Treasure Island. I have no idea why. I own it, saw it on the shelf, and thought, "Eh. Why not?". It's not bad for what it is, I suppose.
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
23:13 / 07.11.02
I think the NY Times crossword for today is trying to tell me something...
 
 
Foust is SO authentic
01:34 / 08.11.02
Videodrome made a snide comment about The Ring over in the film forum - he compared a plot point to a book called Flowers In The Attic. I was in a used book store the other day, and as I was walking out, a sign caught my eye. All horror books were only $1. I had a look, and there was Flowers. So I'm reading that now. Strange how things work out.

It's pretty crappy.

I'm also reading Mary Lawson's Crow Lake.
 
 
wembley can change in 28 days
07:07 / 08.11.02
Yaaaaaaay! I'm reading Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass. Get in line for dunking Oreos in milk, baby!
 
 
Goodness Gracious Meme
17:27 / 08.11.02
"Yes, I'm rereading Red Dragon and it fucking sucks"

Doesn't it? Think it's one of the best egs of a good film (whatever anyone says, I really like 'Manhunter', so snoo) from a crap novel.

Tipping the velvet, Sarah Waters - inspired by Bengali in Plaforms. That is, my reading it was inspired by BiP, not the book itself. Not that I know of, anyway.



Read this finally, recently, and Ariadne's pretty much right -
"It's good, in a rollicking good tale kind of way. Lots of love and passion and pain and happiness and nice clothes and strap-on dildos"

Yep. Good fun, takes a couple of hours to race through. I found it surprisingly sexy in parts...

I am *so* jealous of you, Persephone. Sniffle, indeed. Don't read 'Thrones and Dominions' (the half-finished one completed by Jill Paton Walsh) btw, as it's crap.

Just whipped through William Sutcliffe's 'The Love Hexagon' on a train. Okay, not nearly as well-observed as Are You Experienced? but frightenly reminscient of some of my friends atm. Light and throwaway.

Gorging on Jacqueline Susaan again - especially The Love Machine, and Dolores. Both excellent, though Dolores is gloomy and cynical even by Susaan's standards.

Foust - you must let me know what you think of Flowers... Virginia Andrews is one of those things that most of the gothy 'you don't understand me' teenaged girls I knew took *very* seriously, myself included. Tosh, isn't it, as far as i remember! Beautiful doomed ballerina/doctor siblings, burning with 'forbidden' love. I was hooked for years, there are millions of the buggers (she's so big that she's become one of those franchise authors, ie she died years ago but 'New Virginia Andrews TM' books appear regular as clockwork...)
 
 
Spatula Clarke
20:59 / 09.11.02
Cabal by Clive Barker. It's good but his writing style can get a bit poncy at times.

Oh, come on. Put some effort in.
 
 
Strange Machine Vs The Virus with Shoes
01:34 / 10.11.02
I’m currently reading Netocracy, a book I would recommend to all lithers. Also reading Machiavelli, The prince and the discourses.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
05:21 / 10.11.02
Finished "Platform"- now reading "Atomised", also by Michel Houellebecq.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
21:03 / 10.11.02
BiP: I loved Manhunter. I'd just forgotten how amateurish Harris' prose is. Wasn't meant to sound like I was giving the film RD props...
 
 
Goodness Gracious Meme
09:50 / 11.11.02
Didn't think you were, hon. I love Manhunter as well, and just enjoy wantonly and gratuitously pointing out what a sterling rescue job Michael Mann does.

Thomas Harris might be one of my candidates for worst writer *ever*
 
 
Anathema
02:29 / 12.11.02
Haven't received it yet, but just placed my order and am excited to check out "Disinformation: The Interviews" by Richard Metzger from Disinfo.com

Interviews with: Robert Anton Wilson, Grant Morrison, Howard Bloom, Genesis P-Orridge, Joe Coleman, Douglas Rushkoff, Kembra Pfahler and others. Sounds sweet!
 
 
Ariadne
10:05 / 12.11.02
The bear comes home by Rafi Zabor, as recommended by Loomis and Rothkoid. A bear. A bear that plays a sax. It's a really dumb idea and ought to be crap - but it's not. Though i must say he's a very human-looking bear in my head and I get thrown a bit when I look at the very beary-looking bear on the cover.
 
 
wembley can change in 28 days
10:35 / 12.11.02
Ariadne: that book kicks 90% ass! I'll be up for a critique of it, but not until you're finished.

I've moved on to a book of plays by Hanif Kureshi (he wrote The Buddha of Suburbia and My beautiful laundrette as well), and actually enjoying a lot of what's going on. He has a habit of keeping four conversations going at a time - between three characters, so that one half of a line is in response to something and the other half asking someone else's opinion on something completely different. And a pretty nice introduction, as well.
 
 
Nietzsch E. Coyote
11:05 / 12.11.02
Reading The Occult by Colin Wilson
Next up is The Outsider by Camus
 
 
deja_vroom
13:31 / 12.11.02
I'm reading a fascinating book, this really funny biography of Miles Davis. That self-centered twat.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
17:49 / 12.11.02
For some reason, I'm having a Barbelith book choice day. Finished "Lux and Alby sign on and Save the Universe" (Martin Millar), and am now polishing off "Apocalypso", by Robert Rankin, I found it in a charity shop and thought, Hell, why not.

I'll tell you why not. It fucking sucks. It is one of the most insulting, crappy, lazy, books I have ever read. It is the equivalent of Robert Rankin wanking into the face of every single person who bought it. How one can care so little and actually still impel one's hands to the keyboard is a matter of mystery to me.
 
 
Goodness Gracious Meme
20:16 / 12.11.02
Hurray for Wembley, not enough people read/see Hanif Kureishi's plays. He's very good at conversation/interaction between different people and their concerns. Is the intro in the version in the book you've got The Rainbow Sign? If so, it's a very good evocation of what it's like to grow up non-white in England, particularly good on how racism is sometimes 'colourblind', not discriminating bewteen the various immigrant communities..

I'm reading Aliens and Alienists: Ethnic Minorities and Psychiatry - Ronald Littlewood and Maurice Lipsedge. It's exactly as it sounds, and is very impressive. Only a little way through but its analysis of the epidemiology and the experience of pyschiatry from both the viewpoint of the patient and that of the practioner already feels vital. It covers perceptions of pyschiatry among various ethnic groups, concentrating on West Indians, Turkish Cyriots and Hasidic Jews but including others... Also how the racist bias that colours psychiatric theory and diagnosis has resulted in poor levels of treatment and methodoligically suspect research. The final chapter looks and transcultural pyschiatry, and I'm really looking forward to it. The tone is an object lession in measured, careful but extremely passionate and angry writing.

Wow.
 
 
The Strobe
09:23 / 13.11.02
My copy of The Bear Comes Home simply has a saxophone on the cover, which is a far better idea. And in my head he was the most beary-looking bear imaginable. He just needs to be for it to work.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
11:16 / 13.11.02
I've just finished reading A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King and I really enjoyed it. Following the adventures of Mary Russell, the young woman who marries a much older Holmes, it's very romanticized but a lot of fun as well. You get to know and love the academic Mary and if you like a bit of silliness with a very still edge I suggest you go and read this.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
21:00 / 13.11.02
Lost In A Good Book. More disposable Fforde with cheesy names and woolly mammoths.
 
  

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