Suggest a Book for the dissensus book club!

[Kathy]

Mmmmm, a short storys collections could be ultra accessible, a guy ive been meaning to explore is Craig Davidson, I was pretty engrossed in his short storys in a small picador shorts book.... as well as the publication in the below link he also has a shorts collection called "Rust and Bone"


hey you,
this looks pretty good so ive decided to part with some xmas money in order to purchase if you care to join me? I love his collaboration with the artful dodger so im sure this'll be a winner!

 

[Mr. Tea]

Well I got Gravity's Rainbow for Christmas, so if anyone else wants to read it or has read it and feels like shooting the shit over Pynchon, I'll be up for that in a week or two.

 

[Kathy]

Well I got Gravity's Rainbow for Christmas, so if anyone else wants to read it or has read it and feels like shooting the shit over Pynchon, I'll be up for that in a week or two.

hello mr.tea,
well surprisingly my local library actually has this book, so im game if you are?

 

[Slothrop]

Well I got Gravity's Rainbow for Christmas, so if anyone else wants to read it or has read it and feels like shooting the shit over Pynchon, I'll be up for that in a week or two.

Yeah, I'd be quite up for that too, given that I've already read it once, and had been planning to read it again...

I'll be away for a week messing around on mountains, but I'll give it a bash when I get back.

 

[IdleRich]

"Yates arrived the other day, I quickly read the first few pages but then went to bed, seems pretty readable stuff, hopefully over christmas ill read it and be able to say something about it."

I've been very busy but hopefully I will be able to buy this today and get cracking on it.

 

[Lichen]

I've finished Yates. Looking forward to you lot catching up.


Mr Tea, are you not joining us? Is Gravity's pull causing you to set up a splinter group?


We need a critical mass of critical opinion!

 

[jenks]

Well I got Gravity's Rainbow for Christmas, so if anyone else wants to read it or has read it and feels like shooting the shit over Pynchon, I'll be up for that in a week or two.

Splitters!

 

[Mr. Tea]

Bugger, sorry if I've messed things up - I thought the decision had been reached to tackle another book, but not *which* book. It seems a bit daft to go buying new books when I have gift-books (that I specifically asked for) still unread, so I think I'm going to try GR next (as a few others seem interested) and those that want to read Revolutionary Road can read and discuss that and then mebbe when everyone's finished we can agree on another book for all of us to do. Does this sound OK?

 

[Lichen]

It seems a bit daft to go buying new books when I have gift-books (that I specifically asked for) still unread

If, God forbid, you have only have weeks to live or GR is set to self-destruct, yes it would be daft.


But surely a man with your powers of reasoning could put GR aside, Amazon RR, plough through it and join the discussion?

Go on!

 

[IdleRich]

I bought the Revolutionary Road thing about two hours ago so I'm sticking with the original decision. See you in the other thread.....
...er, although I wouldn't mind borrowing Gravity's Rainbow off you when you've finished it please Ollie.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I bought the Revolutionary Road thing about two hours ago so I'm sticking with the original decision. See you in the other thread.....
...er, although I wouldn't mind borrowing Gravity's Rainbow off you when you've finished it please Ollie.

Sure thing. I'm not sure if I want to buy RR now or wait to borrow your copy.
Ah sod it, I'll wait, you're a quick reader, aren't you?

 

[jenks]

Sorry - it was meant as a joke - a line from Life of Brian

 

[Mr. Tea]

Sorry - it was meant as a joke - a line from Life of Brian

Haha, of course! Obvious, in retrospect (though I didn't really think you were that angry, even, so ).

 

[you]

Another?

Is anyone still reading revolution road? If not then perhaps we could move onto another book?

Perhaps a recent work as I suggested in the RR thread?

I must say ( again ) I really get an awful lot out of the book discussion, the dialogue in the RR thread really helped me think about the work of Yates in a much more textured and contextual manner - even if half the comments made by me were not exactly praise!

So how about Craig Davidson???

Id like to read 1985 by Burgess but its not easily available, and not current ( albeit maybe relevant? )

Or Boris Vian?? I really like "I spit on your graves"

Idlerich, Jenks, Mr Tea??? Anything y'all whud lark tah reed?

 

[jenks]

I don't know either and so can be swayed rather easily.

What about Idle? and the others?

I remember seeing much praise for White Raven which i never got round to following up. My suggestions have been picked up twice, so i'll take a back seat in the recommendations this time.

 

[IdleRich]

"Is anyone still reading revolution road? If not then perhaps we could move onto another book?"

Suits me, I mean, I'm reading other things but I can juggle.

"I must say ( again ) I really get an awful lot out of the book discussion, the dialogue in the RR thread really helped me think about the work of Yates in a much more textured and contextual manner - even if half the comments made by me were not exactly praise!"

Likewise.

"So how about Craig Davidson???"

Heard him recommended in other places, could be worth a go.

"Id like to read 1985 by Burgess but its not easily available, and not current ( albeit maybe relevant?"

I've read that (albeit fifteen odd years ago), I remember it as being a very slight book.

"Or Boris Vian?? I really like "I spit on your graves"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Foam-Daze-LE...0187299&sr=1-3"

This would get my vote I think. I saw the play of this a few months ago but I thought it was quite badly done and that I missed a lot of what it was getting at. I was thinking about reading it myself to fill those gaps in already.

 

[IdleRich]

How's Gravity's Rainbow coming along Mr Tea?
My only suggestion (slightly selfish 'cause it's sitting on my shelf itching to be read) is The Manuscript Found In Saragossa

"The Manuscript Found in Saragossa collects intertwining stories, all of them set in whole or in part in Spain, with a large and colorful cast of Gypsies, thieves, inquisitors, a cabbalist, a geometer, the cabbalist's beautiful sister, two Moorish princesses (Emina and Zibelda), and others that the brave, perhaps foolhardy, Walloon Guard Alphonse van Worden meets, imagines, or reads about in the Sierra Morena mountains of 18th century Spain, while en route to Madrid. Recounted to the narrator over the course of sixty-six days, the novel's stories quickly overshadow van Worden's frame story, and the bulk of the novel's stories revolve around the gypsy chief Avadoro, whose story becomes a frame story itself; eventually the narrative focus moves again towards van Worden's frame story and a conspiracy involving an underground — or perhaps entirely hallucinated — Muslim society, revealing the connections and correspondences between the hundred or so stories told over the novel's sixty-six days.
The stories cover a wide range of genres and subjects, including the gothic, the picaresque, the erotic, the historical, the moral, and the philosophic; and as a whole the novel reflects Potocki's far-reaching interests, but especially his deep fascination with secret societies, the supernatural, and so-called Oriental cultures. The stories-within-stories of the novel sometimes reach several levels of depth, and characters and themes — a few prominent themes being honor, disguise, metamorphosis, and conspiracy — recur and change shape throughout. Because of this rich interlocking structure, the novel has drawn favorable comparisons to such celebrated works as the Decameron and the Arabian Nights."

Should be good but maybe hard to keep everyone together on as it's a pretty big book.

 

[Mr. Tea]

How's Gravity's Rainbow coming along Mr Tea?

Not started it yet, although I will soon as I've nearly finished the book I'm on at the moment.

 

[jenks]

How's Gravity's Rainbow coming along Mr Tea?
My only suggestion (slightly selfish 'cause it's sitting on my shelf itching to be read) is The Manuscript Found In Saragossa


Should be good but maybe hard to keep everyone together on as it's a pretty big book.

I also now have Manuscript... sitting on my shelf. The reading group might give me the impetus to actually read the thing. However, i do think it might be a bit unwieldy in terms of size. Also You suggested a contemporary piece.

I think the Vian has more appeal for me but, like I said before, the point about doing this is to read stuff i wouldn't necessarily have looked at before and i think we kind of lucked out by choosing Austerlitz first, i wonder of we'll ever have that 'concensus on dissensus' again?

 

[IdleRich]

i think we kind of lucked out by choosing Austerlitz first, i wonder of we'll ever have that 'concensus on dissensus' again?

How do you mean? Choosing one that everyone liked? (Well, almost everyone, I think PeterGunn's first comment was that he was finding it incredibly boring so far and as there weren't any more after that I'm guessing it didn't pick up.) I actually don't think that's the most important thing.
Anyway, looks as though the Vian is the most popular so far.... anyone else got any suggestions, violent objections etc?