what are you reading now?
rubberdingyrapids
Well-known member
i try to read a book a month.
taking it easy this month with a manga book which im quite enjoying, but never mind tv or films (though these are time consuming, and at some point, you just have to ignore all the infinite recommendations journalists insist are amazing, cos, well, they arent), i struggle to read everything i want to, if you include websites, magazines, papers, etc.
i have taken to printing articles i want to read but sometimes dont have the energy for all of those either.
i want to quit my job and dedicate myself to refining rather than slowly numbing my mind.
taking it easy this month with a manga book which im quite enjoying, but never mind tv or films (though these are time consuming, and at some point, you just have to ignore all the infinite recommendations journalists insist are amazing, cos, well, they arent), i struggle to read everything i want to, if you include websites, magazines, papers, etc.
i have taken to printing articles i want to read but sometimes dont have the energy for all of those either.
i want to quit my job and dedicate myself to refining rather than slowly numbing my mind.
rubberdingyrapids
Well-known member
but yeah, i think the no of people who are 'well read' is prob smaller than before (though that could just be specious of course)
makes me think of martin scorcese being amazed at how michael powell thought in terms of novels, while he didnt reference books, but scores of films. or george martin talking about how people used to be more audio inclined, but are now much more visual. i hate social-cultural doomcasting but reading is prob even more of a middle class pursuit than ever before i imagine, and perhaps even smaller within that group. maybe this is the 'well viewed' generation.
makes me think of martin scorcese being amazed at how michael powell thought in terms of novels, while he didnt reference books, but scores of films. or george martin talking about how people used to be more audio inclined, but are now much more visual. i hate social-cultural doomcasting but reading is prob even more of a middle class pursuit than ever before i imagine, and perhaps even smaller within that group. maybe this is the 'well viewed' generation.
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you
Well-known member
Dillo, Zero K: Massive let down. Wafer thin protagonist and author's hand all over the shop without the existential remove of White Noise. Really dissapointing.
Shriver, The Mandibles: Amazing. Really nice near future economy tale. Excellent observations about technology and politics melded with some characters you really root for. Brutally tragic in many ways. Some nice inserts of character's voice within the 3rd person narration.
Hankinson, You Are Raoul Moat: Short and powerful 2nd person schtick detailing Moat's last days. Unfairly judgmental at the end I feel. Certainly worth picking up.
Jelinek, The Piano Teacher: Really enjoyed this. Dialogue devoid poly-voiced genius. I read her and just see her break all 'the rules'. I'd never try it. Literary stuff.
Jelinek, Lust: I prefer this to The Piano Teacher. Much more Jelinekian, more of her punning, winking provocation. Plot slightly slower and less urgent feeling.
Houellebecq, Submission: France becomes an Islamic state. Oddly this near future for France is also detailed in The Mandibles. I really liked this one, draws up the parallels of hard islamism and macho-western values really nicely. Typically Houellebecq, with phallocentric spoilt ageing protagonist (has he ever tried anything else?)
Burn, Alma Cogan: Really good, I prefer this to The News As A Novel. Left me wanting more, with a lot of unsettling questions.
Barrett, Young Kins: Pretty much the best 'young writer' I've read. I can't think of an English equivalent. I tell everyone about this book.
Oates, Daddy Love: Feels a bit rough and bashed out. Some bits are clunky and cliched. But, she bangs them out. I'd like to read her bigger novels.
Been reading loads of Dickens too, but you all know about Dickens.
Shriver, The Mandibles: Amazing. Really nice near future economy tale. Excellent observations about technology and politics melded with some characters you really root for. Brutally tragic in many ways. Some nice inserts of character's voice within the 3rd person narration.
Hankinson, You Are Raoul Moat: Short and powerful 2nd person schtick detailing Moat's last days. Unfairly judgmental at the end I feel. Certainly worth picking up.
Jelinek, The Piano Teacher: Really enjoyed this. Dialogue devoid poly-voiced genius. I read her and just see her break all 'the rules'. I'd never try it. Literary stuff.
Jelinek, Lust: I prefer this to The Piano Teacher. Much more Jelinekian, more of her punning, winking provocation. Plot slightly slower and less urgent feeling.
Houellebecq, Submission: France becomes an Islamic state. Oddly this near future for France is also detailed in The Mandibles. I really liked this one, draws up the parallels of hard islamism and macho-western values really nicely. Typically Houellebecq, with phallocentric spoilt ageing protagonist (has he ever tried anything else?)
Burn, Alma Cogan: Really good, I prefer this to The News As A Novel. Left me wanting more, with a lot of unsettling questions.
Barrett, Young Kins: Pretty much the best 'young writer' I've read. I can't think of an English equivalent. I tell everyone about this book.
Oates, Daddy Love: Feels a bit rough and bashed out. Some bits are clunky and cliched. But, she bangs them out. I'd like to read her bigger novels.
Been reading loads of Dickens too, but you all know about Dickens.
jenks
thread death
A good list there - I think Young Skins is well worth pressing into the hands of anyone who really cares about the modern short story.
Burn is incredible - if you haven't read Fullalove, you really ought to get hold of a copy.
I have Houllebecq up next on my TBR.
Currently reading Second Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich - fantastic symphony of voices recounting personal experiences of post Soviet Russia.
Like your comment about Dickens - I have just written a personal piece on Great Expectations which I might actually put on my blog one day.
you
Well-known member
OH, Fullalove - keep meaning to get round to that. Thanks for reminding me.
I actually read Great Expectations this year, oddly I'd read lots of Dickens' shorter works and a few novels before this one. I ripped through it, revisited and then wound up doing some close readings of specific scenes for my work. Zizek, the youtube star, often discusses it and mentions it as one of his favourite books/films... but I can never find any lengthy treatment of it by him other than some glib likening to 'ze Hegelian dialectish now den..'
you
Well-known member
Well, it kinda is. But it felt really close to the bone in the same way as Submission (Brexit, Trump going on in the background). Also, I empathized with the characters more than I have with any of the Atwood novels I've read - and many other recent novels actually. So that kinda heightened the brutality of the effects of the near future economic collapse. I've seen it get very 'lukewarm' reviews online and I feel it is better than that. Especially because I never got through Kevin, but this one 'gripped' me.
Droid - I felt at the end of the Moat book the author inserted a level of maliciousness and spite into the few 1st person italicised lines. He also had that 'you did this' refrain. But, as flawed and violent as Moat was, the authorities also dropped the ball big time (eg. 1 - failing to pass on the info that he planned the attack, info they had within hours of his release. 2 - the psychiatrists refusing to co-operate with him and treat his paranoia he recorded conversations (like saying no sneezing in the waiting room!) 3 - use of illegal weapons during stand-off). Yet, Hankinson stayed uber-objective (legal issues perhaps) in his treatment of details regarding the police forces and social services. I really liked the book till that point, then felt Hankinson was unfair. If he wanted to offer a moral position on Moat he should've also pointed the finger at the authorities OR remained coldly objective for both. The 2nd person style, I always took as a strategy to garner empathy with Moat, yet the asymmetric blame at the end kinda jarred with this. This oddity is even more incongruous in light of the 'David Cameron will call you a monster' line at the beginning. I do wonder if Hankinson reigned his voice in after some legal advice. Still an good book.
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
I love Great Expectations, with due allowances made for its protracted, coincidence-crammed plot. It's written with so much imagination and wit. It really changed my idea of what sort of writer Dickens was, having never read a novel by him before. I rather expected him to be solemn, perhaps even a social realist, when in fact he's a sort of cartoonist.
Haven't read a novel by him SINCE, mind you, but that's just me being lazy.
Haven't read a novel by him SINCE, mind you, but that's just me being lazy.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Isn't that kind of given away by the fact that he has characters called things like Mrs. Drinksalot and Mr. Nastybastard?
(confession: I have yet to read a word of Dickens!)
you
Well-known member
Picked up William H. Gass's In The Heart of The Heart of The Country. Read The Pedersen Kid.
Jenks - do you know this piece?
I appreciate the ambiguities Gass employs but, well, I just felt the whole thing to be disappointingly simple and macho. Just Hemmingway with added po-mo-prose gimmicks, for me.
Jenks - do you know this piece?
I appreciate the ambiguities Gass employs but, well, I just felt the whole thing to be disappointingly simple and macho. Just Hemmingway with added po-mo-prose gimmicks, for me.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I had to read that twice
That's the stuff! More, more!
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
LoL good point although I had probably only heard of Scrooge, Bill Sykes, Fagin, Oliver Twist etc. Which didn't seem quite so on the nose as names.
I think the reputation a lot of these canonical authors have can make it seem like their books will be dusty and difficult. When of course Dickens and Austen and others were writing popular entertainment.
you
Well-known member
Very true. Most of them were published in weekly chunks. I think this is why they are still such page turners - because you get a cliffhanger every 10 pages. There is a lot of similarity between 'boxset' viewing and reading the big novels from Dickens, Dostoevsky etc...
jenks
thread death
No I don't but he'll go on the list, despite your lukewarm review! The influence of Hemingway can be pernicious as it's a lot harder to pull off than it looks - people like Yates, Salter, McCarthy all owe a debt to him but keep it from just being 'disappointingly simple and macho.'
Really enjoying The Sellout by Beatty at the moment