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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Welcome to 2009. Let's read!

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Janean Patience

18:48 / 11.05.09

Yeah, don't bother with the film. It's a little like Watchmen in that some clearly talented people with a great deal of respect for the work have tried their very hardest to make the unfilmable filmable... and they shouldn't have.

19:02 / 18.05.09

A great big read, fuelled mostly by work avoidance.

Read Mart's Dead Babies, shortly followed by the dire film version. A really nasty piece of writing, that - cruel, misanthropic and curiously puritanical. Very much a young man's book. Still, bloody funny in places.
The film...well, I knew it was a stinker going in - 90p from Amazon bodes badly - but CRUMBS. Kris Marshall mangling a Texan twang. Terrible sitcom cinematography. Olivia Williams' boobs. No thank you. It’s the director’s first and, so far, last entry into the cinematic canon. Words fail.

Next, I skipped through The Road for the umpteenth time and still cried at the end. Read The tale of One Bad Rat in a single sitting (dead good, innit) and am making a dent on the first book of Cerebus - I’m about the point where he’s working for a Groucho Marx-alike.

Next up are Inside Mr. Enderby and Evening is the whole day.
The bag, as ever, is mixed.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

03:59 / 04.06.09

the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

a collection of essays, mostly about those universal themes of emotion, socialisation & spirituality, put together in pithy little anecdotes. It was loaned to me by a friend.

I hope to move on to either Beckett or Coelho next.

09:06 / 04.06.09

have recently finished naomi klein's 'the shock doctrine'. highly intriguing read. it's one of those experiences where things you were more or less vaguely aware of are suddenly put into spotlight (from a certain perspective, at least) and every dent, spot and crease becomes harshly visible. plus i think klein excellently manages to bundle scientific data, personal opinion and research into a package that is accessible to every one, not only her academic peers.

also finished bret easton-ellis's 'glamorama'. it is over 10 years old by now, but i've never read any easton-ellis before. will pick up 'american psycho' and 'lunar park', too.

next on the reading schedule:
'freakonomics' by steven d. levitt and stephen j. dubner, because i want to know what the hype is all about. also because their ny times blog isn't half bad.
and then of course richard dawkins's 'the god delusion', because even though dawkins is full of himself beyond any measure (% 'a clear-thinking oasis', richard? yeah? anyone outside that community of yours is not capable of clear thinking? it's a mystery. %) many of his ideas resonate with me.

VonKobra,Scuttling&Slithering

02:21 / 07.06.09

I'm about halfway through The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell, it's a pretty harrowing read really. Very interesting, I've always been fascinated with this period in time, and people's motivations for such horrific acts.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

02:21 / 09.06.09

By the River Piedra, I Sat Down & Wept by Paulo Coelho. Not as memorable as The Alchemist, but I think I'm past the stage in my life where these types of stories really have much to teach me.

A young Spanish lass chases after love, both through rediscovering the Goddess and her childhood sweetheart.

13:27 / 09.06.09

Finished Fletch the other night, it's okay, a bit too much like MacDonald just put quotation marks around a story and then wrote descriptions of Fletch's clothes either side.

I tried Don Quixote again, but could not do it... I just have a block on that book. So I'm reading The Incredible Shrinking Man (I really like Matheson's writing, he just jumps into a story and gets it going) and finished The Forever War just before that, which is excellent.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

01:40 / 12.06.09

almost done "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman. I'd seen the movie but forgotten most of it.

I've vowed never to read/see Harry Potter (long story), but I'm enjoying TGC a great deal more than I feel I ought. Maybe I'm getting overly sentimental.

Story set in an alternative 19th Century - Lyra, the precocious protagonist - journeys out of Oxford to the wider world and all the fantastic peoples, creatures and phenomena this entails. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read this - I find a great deal of enjoyment in the discovery.

14:35 / 13.06.09

What a coincidence.

Having just finished a batch of Schiller's aesthetic letters (very good, very German fun, awesome for the feat alone of offering a ledge for you to climb up to some of Kant's aesthetic theories - the man's own verbiage being more convoluted and impenetrable than a granite octopus*...), I decided starting D. Quixote, of which I recently acquired a nice Portuguese/Spanish version.

I'm liking it a whole lot of a bunch (being a personal, petty satisfaction of mine finding occurrences of so-called "post-modernist tropes" in works that pre-date the discovery of penicilin, but anyway).

It's beeen really fun to read the thing and occasionally mentally swap the target of all the derisive literary references from chivalry novels to comic books - that was what D. Quixote was, a reclusive geek who read one funny book too many.

I'm only in the beginning, but when I'm done maybe I'll post something about it here.

-----------------------------------------------
* - simile by Yahtzee, a true sage from our age

16:20 / 16.06.09

I am reading The Corrections (halfway through) and as was mentioned in the Corrections thread, it´s like a soap opera, like six feet under, for example. The old mentally troubled guy, the uptight mother with her two sons and one daughter, all the american drama I can´t really relate to. And so far Franzen seems to pack as many topics into the text as he can think of (prejudices, drugs, politics, chldhood experiences, hallucinations, death penalty, relationship drama, depression).

Maybe the second half will reveal to me, why this book got such praise.

Next will be a book I was looking forward to for a while now, but only recently acquired: The restless supermarket by Ivan Vladislavic.

07:23 / 17.06.09

addendum to my previous post:

just finished 'freakonomics'. word of advice? don't buy it. take a peek at their blog, have a laugh here and there, ignore most of it. but the book? glorified statistics jumbling with a few enlightened moments, but definitely not worth the price of admittance.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

20:28 / 18.06.09

Currently reading Derek Raymond's A State Of Denmark. I never realised he'd written a dystopian SF novel... and it's really good.

It's the late 60s, England has been taken over by Fascists (the rest of the UK has seceded), and the narrator, a journalist who made a personal enemy of the guy who's now running the place, has been living in exile on a vineyard in Tuscany for a few years, and gets extradited back there.

It was written in 1970, but it seems a strangely apposite read right now. Jobling (the leader of the New Pace party), is about an eye away from being Griffin, as far as I can tell.

10:22 / 30.06.09

Ken Campbell's Bald Trilogy. It's got everything; cargo cults, trepanning, nudism, voices from above and all - purportedly - autobiographical. I read it in a breeze.
Fantastic stuff.

Then, House on The Borderland which moves swiftly from spooky thrills to all out cosmic derangement. Very readable, if fatally wounded by a conclusion very much in the 'they're coming up stairs..' vein. Ick.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

01:15 / 16.07.09

just reread "the Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell, which segued nicely into "Sexual Personae" by Camille Paglia.

Can't say I agree with all of their observations, but both have educated perspectives on the iconic in our story traditions (particularly in the English Language).

next up: "On Writing Horror" edited by Mort Castle.

13:46 / 22.07.09

I Just finished Cory Doctorow's "Little Brother". Excellent work of teen lit. It's a bit over explaining at times, but is a great story of teens fighting the Dep't of Homeland Security using hacked technology in a not-too-distant somewhat dystopian future. I tend to enjoy children's literature and this is one of the better ones. It speaks in depth about freedom, security, and human rights and how and why they're worth fighting for.

Now I'm on to Tad Williams' first "Otherland" book... Starting interestingly enough... I haven't read all that much sci-fi recently and I was kind of jonesing...

I did also manage to get around to finally reading Iain M. Banks' first, "Consider Phlebas" not too long ago, as well. Loved it, even if the end was such a downer... Should have known: Banks is Banks, after all...

Also on my nightstand is Said's "Orientalism" which I am re-reading, again (after several false starts) a couple of pages at a time.

Once I move, I have all four "Absolute" volumes of Gaiman's Sandman" which I'll sit and read from start to finish for the first time... (I used to collect the issues back in the 90's, and then picked up one or two of the TPB's, and save for a handful of issues, have read pretty much the whole thing, but never consecutively, from cover-to-cover, so to speak) Gotta say: I love these faux-leatherbound slipcase oversized editions... They're gorgeous...

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

11:01 / 24.07.09

Eek! A Freek!:
Once I move, I have all four "Absolute" volumes of Gaiman's Sandman" which I'll sit and read from start to finish for the first time...

I was lucky enough to have read the whole thing cover-to-cover the first time I read it (in TPB). One of my favourites. Enjoy!

Personally I've finally gotten into the Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman, the second book in "His Dark Materials" trilogy. Book I was the Golden Compass.
I find this series to be a bit of a guilty pleasure. I'm enjoying far more than I feel I ought. Credit to Pullman, I suppose.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

17:57 / 07.08.09

finished Philip Pullman's series with "The Amber Spyglass." I found the first book fascinating, and everything that followed couldn't provide the same wonder - I think I enjoyed learning about his fictional world, and once it was established, there was less for me to go on.

read Patricia Cornwell's "Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed", a non-fiction account of evidence she had accumulated pointing to one particular person as the killer. It was an interesting read, but somewhat dry and repetitive. I'm going to reread "From Hell" now that I've got a little more background.

Currently reading "My Life in France" by Julia Child. I've already read "Julie & Julia" by Julie Powell - I think I prefer these to the film.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

15:38 / 16.08.09

Breezed through Thomas King's "The Truth About Stories - a Native Narrative" - a series of lectures sponsored by the CBC - a brilliant little book. I've studied English Literature and some narratology, and I've read a good amount of Joseph Cambpell's work, and this one stands above them all. Not that it is better, or more accomplished. King just understands stories intimately well, and illustrates his knowledge in a manner easy to digest - despite his occasional dipping into academic erudition.

he's one of my favourite authors of all-time, which is saying alot, because I have a number of favourites. "Green Grass, Running Water" is his chef d'oeuvre.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

09:21 / 03.10.09

It may have taken me 3 months, but I finally finished Thomas Pynchon's "Against the Day"

typically Pynchonesque, in the same spirit as Gravity's Rainbow and V, I'm still reeling from the enormity of it all, but much less confused than I was the first time with the others.

I am unable to summarize anything from that novel with any clarity. It's set in the period between 1890-1920, more or less, and relies heavily on the new discoveries in mathematics at the time (Pynchon being an engineer and all). He manages to weave global politics with scientific discovery, the conventions of the western and revenge play, along with his usual humour (something about drowning in mayonnaise).

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

12:38 / 24.10.09

Neal Stephenson's Anathem

Not a bad tale, definitely not as juicy as Cryptonomicon, but still worth the time. Lots of math & theory thrown in with Stephenson's usual play with language and wry sense of humour.

The equivalent of a monk sets out on an adventure as he and his companions debate the meaning of life and the nature of the cosmos.

there's also a good deal of adventure along the way.

04:54 / 27.10.09

A Colossal Failure Of Common Sense - The Incredible Inside Story Of The Collapse Of Lehman Brothers by Larry McDonald.

In Jay McInerney's 'Story Of My Life' one of the characters talks about quitting Wall Street once he's hit his mid-thirties, and writing a memoir. If you've ever wondered what that might be like, look no further.

Unusually, for this sort of stuff, Larry isn't afraid of a narrative flourish. Like a more savvy Kerouac, a financial Saul Bellow, he doesn't just love those, he wants to take them out for cocktails and dinner at Nobu, until the dawn breaks over the Manhattan skyline, in the greatest city on earth. At which point he has to go back to the office, to deal with various ... irregularities that weren't, he'll have you know, anything to do with him, or his friends.

I probably shouldn't be enjoying it, but it does have a certain demented charm.

10:05 / 27.10.09

Been dippin' in a lot of books lately as fancy strikes me.

Ten greek plays in contemporary translations - An assortment of dudes/ettes, each translating one play. am in the beginning of "Philoctetes" now, previous plays were "Prometheus Bound", "Agamemnon", "Antigone" & "Oedipus Rex"

How to Read a Book (Mortimer Adler) - always the latecomer, it is only now, at 32 years of age that I'm reading this one. Aside from the fact that I can't help but finding it chuckleworthy to be holding a book on the bus the cover of which says "how to read a book", it's been most helpful really as an exercise in self-control, to fight the urge to skip large parts which convey stuff you already know instinctively (a practice which the authors are Ok with). But its real treasure for me it's all the books it mentions.

Shakespearean Tragedy (A C Bradley) - This one actually is on hold. I'll read it alongside the tragedies themselves. For the moment, Shakespeare-wise, I'm reading...

Julius Cesar - I'm trying my hand at a tragic play in which there's work for the Erinies, and so naturally I went to the mother of all conspiracy plays for a resounding beating.

Subsequent reading material most likely will be theatre - the greeks, Shakespeare, the french...

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

12:24 / 28.10.09

Just breezed through Chuck Palahniuk's Snuff

bought it for the bus ride and finished it in a day.

It's set in the green room, where a number of "actors" and amateurs sit around waiting for their turn on set with a porn queen.

all in all, it's about as erotic as cleaning the darkest corners of a toilet, but captivating nontheless. He manages to weave enough narrative through each of the four main characters/narrators to keep things both obvious and furtive.

this is the first of his I've read (although I liked the film Fight Club a lot), and I'll definitely be reading more. Hopefully the next one will be longer.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

11:40 / 05.11.09

almost done "the Red Lion" by Maria Orsi.

it's a historical fiction about a man's multiple lifetimes in pursuit of the Philosopher's stone. An interesting approach to discussing the nature of life, the universe and everything.

12:17 / 05.11.09

I'm in the middle of The Island of the Day Before, by Eco. I tried it ten years ago and hated it (only made it a hundred pages), but this time I'm loving it.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

13:04 / 09.11.09

that's encouraging - I started to read "the Island of the day before" a number of years ago, and didn't get too far.

mind you, it took me 3 tries to get into "Catch-22" for some reason. I love that novel.

I may give Eco a try soonish.

01:30 / 15.11.09

Squib, squidy, dirty old squidy: you'd enjoy 'Rant', by Chuck P.

You can call me out, on-line, if not. Like it's wrestling

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

14:10 / 15.11.09

caught me on a roll - just read Survivor and Choke by Chuck Palahniuk...

I've got Lullaby on my bookshelf. I may have to take a break as his stories are starting to bleed together in my head. I was hoping to pick up some China Mieville, but haven't found the one I'm looking for yet.

I'll get back to you once I've got through Chuck P's bibliography. He reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut at times, only with a more cynical spin to his work.

09:14 / 16.11.09

Just got me the 6 volumes of "Literature in Brazil", which covers the period from the 1500's to the mid-80's. It's one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever read.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

02:03 / 20.11.09

deja vroom:

what's the ISBN or editor or publisher for the literature of Brazil?

I don't know how much of the heartbreak I can take, but I've become increasingly interested in the history of the Americas (through fiction). Heartbreak goes with the territory.

11:20 / 21.11.09

squib, here it goes: 85-03-00131-4.

I warn you - it's a thorough history - 6 thick volumes, so if you have in mind some sort of general overview, another book might be more useful (although the collection begins establishing some useful reference data, and ends in vol. 6 with a summation called "Relations & Perspectives", which is very very good in giving you a nice panoramic view of the state of things).

They make a big point in the beginning of dissociating the orientation of the work from the previous historicist efforts which placed more emphasis on the sociological factors at play than in the work itself. it's all about aesthetics baby.

And my comment re: heart breakage stems from realizing both the amazing potential dormant here, and its continuous squandering. It seems to be kind of a theme down here.

Anyway, if you get it, don't forget to tell me your impressions of it ^^

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

19:00 / 24.11.09

cheers for the info - I don't know if I have the means to tackle something that huge, but I may just give it a go.

In the meanwhile, I'm sticking with shorter works.

Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess

I had already seen the film (a Canadian production) which I liked a lot, and having read the book, I discovered that the too have very little in common.

Nevertheless it's a disjointed story in two parts, dealing with a mysterious virus that transmits itself through language, and the ensuing chaos it creates. Uses much of the zombie-story conventions.

I preferred the film's take on it than the novel, as they focused more on the epidemic and less on the lives of the characters (brief as they are).

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

00:14 / 13.12.09

Darcus Howe:

I just finished Palahniuk's Rant and I think it's my favourite of his thus far. I'd still like to call you out tho.

Darcus, you coward, you were too afraid to tell me how much I would love this story, and I challenge you to some kind of transatlantic contest by which I may appropriately humiliate you, and notorialize myself.

I'm currently finishing up Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore which is bloody amazing.

previously read a non-fiction account of the Zoroastrian influence in Persian culture (as well as those they influenced along the way). In Search of Zarathustra by Paul Kriwaczek. Well-written piece, particularly since most of the news I've been hearing about Iran has been limited to nucular nonsense.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

14:16 / 21.12.09

well, my year begins & ends today, so here's the last of what I've read:

Haruki Mirakami Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
I'm glad I discovered this man's works. I have been itching for a new, contemporary, postmodern author, and so far, I have been really pleased with the weirdness and narrative strength of his writing (in translation). This particular story reminds me a little bit of Gormenghast in terms of one of the settings and the mood.

Thomas King's children's stories: A Coyote Columbus Story, Coyote's New Suit and A Coyote Solstice. All quite clever turns on the trickster tale. A clever bit of reworking in these three stories.

09:54 / 26.12.09

I read Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker and wow was that boring.

It's about the history of intelligent life in the milky way and then the whole universe and then all universes and apparently all intelligent life ultimately uses all their resources to get in contact with their creator. There are galaxy spanning wars, whole systems get blown up, planets destroyed by the millions and it's so lacking. The protagonist starts as a man on a lawn, then turns into a mesh of alien consciousnesses and ends up as the spirit of the universe. Sounds interesting but it isn't.

Next: Jonathan Carroll's The Land of Laughs!

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