Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

2010 - What are you reading?

Page: 1 2(3)4 5

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

15:59 / 27.05.10

Mistoffelees: congratulations! I don't think I could do it a second time.

16:08 / 27.05.10

I just hit the 1/4 point of my reread of Against the Day (page 275). I wasn't sure I was going to reread the whole thing, but I figure if I've made it this far, I might as well.

08:44 / 28.05.10

I don't mean "read IJ a second time", but second attempt to finish it.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

19:06 / 01.06.10

Dusto: I felt the same way about it, but I think I feel that way about all of Pynchon's lengthier works.

Mestisoffoles (sic): good luck getting through it. I remember being left with a sense of tenacity more than a sense of accomplishment when I was done.

King Rat by China Mieville - having just read his most recent novel, I decided to read his first. I enjoyed it quite a bit (although not as much as Perdido Street Station), particularly the drum and bass/jungle references. I had no idea that being immersed in that subculture was ever going to be culturally relevant after the fact. His playfulness definitely permeates the pages, but he hasn't really let himself loose yet.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

21:34 / 03.06.10

Shake Hands with the Devil: the Failure of Humanity in Rwanda (2004) by LGen. Romeo Dallaire with Major Brent Beardsley.

I'd been meaning to read this book for some time, and finally got around to buying a copy. I must admit that my stress level has gone up since I began reading this. Not always the best way to unwind after work, or at the end of the day.

Dallaire was the Canadian in charge of the UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda in 1993-4, originally intended to keep the belligerent parties in obeisance of a newly created peace accord. The writing is surprisingly good, and oscillates smoothly between the larger political events, and the personal interactions.

The frustrations that this seemingly sincere, humanitarian Commander undergoes in his attempts to fulfill his mission on the way to brokering peace are unbelievable.

I found this story particularly poignant, as I work with several people from Rwanda, Burundi and the Dem. Rep. of Congo (formerly Zaire), which have all undergone horrorshows in the past 20 years.

Rwanda has really turned itself around since the writing of this account, and certainly since the genocide and civil war of 1994.

I need something light to counterbalance this book.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

14:42 / 08.06.10

a Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) by Mohammed Hanif

A novel interwoven with the historical events culminating in the death of Pakistan's General Zia in 1988. Although there's a humourous tone to this story, the ironies seem darker than those of Catch-22 (to which it's compared on the cover).

This follows a member of Pakistan's airforce, as he is caught up in the intrigues of politics, public perception, intelligence, and international cozying-up.

It was alright. I picked it off a bookshelf more or less at random.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

15:27 / 10.06.10

fury (2001) by Salman Rushdie.

this was a departure from the works I've read of his. It dealt heavily with the apparent vs the hidden, and all sorts of paradoxes of perception. He had his finger on the pulse of New York just prior to the shift signalled by 9/11.

I can't say that the ending was satisfying, but at 260 pages may be worth re-reading for other features.

09:59 / 12.06.10

with an eight month old to corral, reading time is precious, but a recent work trip allowed me to get back into knut hamsun and his audacious 'mysteries' - loving it again and now i definitely do want a yellow corduroy suit, o yes... also managed coetzee's 'summertime' a couple months back - typically wonderful writing, wrought of a great storyteller.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

17:36 / 14.06.10

Between the Assassinations (2008) by Aravind Adiga

This is a collection of short stories set in the fictional town of Kittur (near Goa) - I found this book to have more life to it than the White Tiger which won him the Booker. Entertaining enough, but I really hope his craft deepens with his next publication.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

10:25 / 16.06.10

2666 is immensely frustrating at times -- so much so that I started an Ask MetaFilter thread to see if it got any better, or if I was just asking for 300+ pages of pain.

But, while it took 1/3 of the book to hook me, hook me it did. Bolano is a wonderful writer, but I had to unchain the idea that this would be a narrative that did things and went places, and just accept the book as more of a ride that I'm in the passenger seat for.

11:33 / 16.06.10

2666 was really uneven. I'm glad I read the whole thing, but I think Part 5 might be the only part that I actually loved. Part 4 was the most tedious couple hundred pages I've ever slogged through. 3 was ok in a thrillers sort of way. 2 felt like a rough draft of something interesting. And 1 was vaguely interesting, hinting at larger mysteries, but nothing great on its own. I feel as if the book didn't live up to the hype, but that the hype was probably what made it possible to publish a rough, unfinished novel like this, and I'm glad it was published.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

01:51 / 18.06.10

Family Matters (2002) by Rohinton Mistry

400 pages of family drama, and it was completely captivating. I think Mistry is the only author I've encountered that really gets me emotionally tied to his characters. Pretty remakable stuff.

He manages to evoke so much out of so little. I'm glad he discovered writing by whatever means he has.

09:36 / 18.06.10

Russell Brand's biography My Booky Wook is actually surprisingly good reading. Odd moments of honesty about what a total prick he can be mixed with various attempts at justifying some truly unjustifiable moments of prick-dom.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

00:44 / 24.06.10

Shalimar the Clown (2006) by Salman Rushdie

Written in Rushdie's typical high prose, this story focuses on Kashmir, its people, and its role in international affairs. Compelling enough, yet seems longer than its 400 pages.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

23:52 / 28.06.10

Blood Meridian (1985) by Cormac McCarthy

Not a huge fan of the Western convention, but am I big fan of McCarthy. This is a bloody tale about the wildness of the wild west, which brings characters into a distinctly American heart of darkness.

22:50 / 29.06.10

It's been a while since I checked in here, full updated 2010 reading list here.

Currently I'm reading Free, by Chris Anderson, which talks about the marketing implications of free, and how it's used. It's an interesting book, but I think he's too cavalier about piracy. It's an issue that's been bothering me of late.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

11:06 / 03.07.10

Mao II (1991) by Don Delillo

I've been trying to get back into contemporary(ish) US lit. I like Don Delillo's prose more than I like his stories. I enjoyed the theme of the individual vs the crowd mentality.

19:13 / 03.07.10

Reading Lush Life by Richard Price. The whodunnit is supposed to get solved about halfway through the book and the novel's main concern is supposed to be the description of the neighbourhood (Lower East Side NY) and the dialogue. He also wrote for The Wire and the cops do have that TW air.

14:45 / 06.07.10

Re: Mao II - Delillo doesn't really do plot and most of his characters are really jsut mouthpieces for various offbeat theories. This gets rather silly in White Noise when pre-teens wibble on about the heat death of the unvierse and the architecture of Albert Speer. That said, his prose is sex. He reportedly agonises over the music of each sentence. It shows. Running Dog pays a little more pretense to plot but, yeah, don't go to Don for narrative.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

17:06 / 06.07.10

GogMickGog
I read White Noise yonks ago, and only remember liking it. I've got Underworld on the shelf. I read the opening bit yonks ago, which I liked a lot. Not sure when I'll be ready for such a huge dose of DeLillo. Soon?

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

17:58 / 09.07.10

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami

a collection of 24 short stories. Some of them are germs for later novels. It's a great way to get familiar with Murakami's voice, as the stories tend to cover a lot of his conventions (but nothing exhaustive by any means).

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

15:39 / 13.07.10

Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987) by Rohinton Mistry

Another short story collection, these are interconnected by various residents of a building complex. Mistry light, I'd call this - it doesn't have the depth or emotional impact of his longer works. Nevertheless, it does have his fine touch and the life he breathes into his characters is unmistakable.

22:02 / 13.07.10

Squib - don't get a chap wrong, I love Delillo. He's a real favourite. The obsessions and aphorisms have always chimed. But I think, uh, I don't go to him for realism - especially where children are concerned. I don't think he has any, actually. Perhaps it shows?

As for now: I'm just finishing up All Tomorrow's Parties. Gibson mid period, between the balls-out early cyberpunk stuffs and the newer, more contemporary writing. Not much plot to it - bar a mcguffin - but oodles of atmosphere and dowsed in odd, lyrical flourishes.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

14:54 / 15.07.10

GogMickGog:
no worries - I still like reading DeLillo - I try to take what I read at face value. Each author has their strength -and as I mentioned, I like reading Don. If I want a plot, there's plenty else to choose from.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

21:04 / 18.07.10

American Pastoral (1997) by Philip Roth

(my thanks to Alex's Grandma for the recommendation)

This is the first time I've read anything by Philip Roth, and I must say it was an intense ride from start to finish. I have developed a distinct distaste for a lot of US iconography, but in this novel, Roth uses it to effect.

This is a story of the US, it's ideals, idealism, and where they fall flat, wrapped up in the personal drama of Swede Levov and his family growing up in America's "golden age."

12:36 / 27.07.10

I'm finally reading "Shikasta" by Doris Lessing... I tried in the past, but never got past the 3rd or 4th page... Now I'm approaching the half-point.

The story is a kind of history-of-the-world told through reports filed by a being from the planet Canopus named Johor (as well as others). Earth was known to them as Rohanda then later Shikasta (meaning sick/broken)

Canopus is one of three galactic empires along with Sirius and Puttoria, the former being a tentative ally and the latter an enemy.

Each Empire seeds planets with life and monitors them as they evolve into one day becoming members of the Empire. Canopus placed helpers on Rohanda (the Giants) to help teach the "Natives" along the path to a form of enlightenment.

Some time after the development of Rohanda began, a splinter faction of the Puttorian Empire, Shammat, places spies and beacons on Rohanda, corrupting it and the residents, hence the re-naming of Rohanda to Shikasta by Canopus. Canopus, however, does not give up on Shikasta, and sends envoys (Who sometimes arrive by spaceship, and sometimes enter via "zone 6", which means being born through Shikastan parents and living a Shikastan life - the envoy who does this can potentially become corrupted...)

What is most interesting about "Shikasta" is Lessing's speculation of the formation of religion and the spiritual development of the inhabitants of Shikasta. She has a very unique Alien-beings-as-God which may sound cliché, but she manages to make it not only appropriate, but believable. Her treatment of the history of the time before the ice-age ties in both with mythology and biblical legend but seen through a sci-fi lens...

This book was highly recommended to me many many years ago, and I am really impressed thus far...

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

15:32 / 27.07.10

Underworld (1997) by Don DeLillo

it took me a while to get through it, and having read all 800+ pages, I'm still not entirely sure what it was about, but I enjoyed the themes that he played with:
waste & garbage & plutonium & consumer culture & collectors obsession and "it"ness and so on and so on.

I'm giving my brain a rest and reading some schlock for the moment...

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

13:42 / 29.07.10

World War Z (2006) - An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Written well enough, there's nothing overly new in this apocalyptic tale of the world faced with undead catastrophe. The story is a series of interviews with various people from different parts of the world about their experience dealing with the catastrophe.

Good pulp, but a little tiresome by the end. There are a few interesting insights, and too much american ra ra ra, despite the criticisms.

17:28 / 31.07.10

I think the new military tactics on dealing with the threat were well thought out. Also the chapter dealing with the people who flee to the colder regions is, IMV, quite nasty.

The first book I downloaded to my Ipad was William Gibson's Spook Country and I'm finding it pretty entertaining. It's set in the same "universe" as his previous novel Pattern Recognition. It seems to be by-the-numbers Gibson, but good pub reading nonetheless.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

12:55 / 09.08.10

The Moor's Last Sigh (1995) BY Salman Rushdie

Playful with language, as always. Fractured families, country and identity, this tale is told by the Moor himself, about his unusual family history, and his place in Mumbai/Bombay.

18:26 / 09.08.10

Just wrapping up Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, after having it recommended time and time again. I've enjoyed it although it's seemed kind of slow to develop at times.

I'm not sure what I'll be reading next...the list just keeps growing and growing.

08:18 / 12.08.10

Susanna Clarke, please finish your sequel. Don't George R. R. Martin us, please!

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

18:53 / 12.08.10

Inherent Vice (2009) by Thomas Pynchon

I couldn't help but think of the Big Lebowski when I read this. It's definitely the lighter side of Pynchon, but still as convoluted and decidedly strange as any of his heftier works.

It also reminded me that I really dislike Los Angeles (never having been there) and all that it represents and embodies...

I enjoyed it a great deal, but doubt I will reread it.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

17:42 / 16.08.10

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2008) by Stieg Larsson.

This book finally found its way into my house, so I picked it up (having just finished the Pynchon mystery story, if it can be called that) - the story itself is OK, it's nothing new in terms of the thriller genre, but it is written in a compelling enough way.

there are a couple of instances when I felt that the protagonist had come across some rather convenient piece of information, but nevertheless, it wasn't such a vile offense that I threw the book out in disgust.

I can't really explain how this story managed to gain so much momentum, and why so many people are lining up to read it. It's alright, but it's not anything we'll be talking about in 10 years I don't think.

Personally, I love that most of it is set in Sweden, as I am completely sick of stories set in New York, London and Los Angeles... refreshing to read Swedish names, places, history, etc... with very little reference to North America at all.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

15:18 / 19.08.10

the Girl who Played with Fire (2008) by Stieg Larsson.

the second in the Millennium trilogy (unfortunately, someone else who reads very slowly is about halfway through the third book - not sure what to read in the interim).

Similar to the first, there are some convenient coincidences that move things along, with a few episodes that are more than unlikely, but it's a page-turner that doesn't demand too much from the reader.

Also, people drink an awful lot of coffee in these books - which I find the most comforting thing about them.

Page: 1 2(3)4 5