what are you reading now?
slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Some lyrics are worth a million novels....Rodgers/Hart...I salute you...
The sleepless nights - the daily fights
The quick toboggan - when you reach the heights
I miss the kisses - and I miss the bites
I wish I were in love again
The broken dates - the endless waits
The lovely loving - and the hateful hates
The conversation - with the flying plates
I wish I were in love again
No more pain - no more strain
Now I'm sane - but I would rather be punch-drunk
The pulled out fur - of cat and cur
The fine mismating - of a him and her
I've learned my lesson - but I wish I were
In love again
The furtive sigh - the blackened eye
The words: "I love you - 'til the day I die"
The self-deception - that believes the lie
I wish I were in love again
When love congeals - it soon reveals
The faint aroma - of performing seals
The double-crossing - of a pair of heels
I wish I were in love again
No, no more care - no, no despair
Now I'm all there (now) - but I'd rather be punch-drunk
Believe me sir - I much prefer
The classic battle - of a him and her
I don't like quiet - and I wish I were
In love again - in love again - in love again
The sleepless nights - the daily fights
The quick toboggan - when you reach the heights
I miss the kisses - and I miss the bites
I wish I were in love again
The broken dates - the endless waits
The lovely loving - and the hateful hates
The conversation - with the flying plates
I wish I were in love again
No more pain - no more strain
Now I'm sane - but I would rather be punch-drunk
The pulled out fur - of cat and cur
The fine mismating - of a him and her
I've learned my lesson - but I wish I were
In love again
The furtive sigh - the blackened eye
The words: "I love you - 'til the day I die"
The self-deception - that believes the lie
I wish I were in love again
When love congeals - it soon reveals
The faint aroma - of performing seals
The double-crossing - of a pair of heels
I wish I were in love again
No, no more care - no, no despair
Now I'm all there (now) - but I'd rather be punch-drunk
Believe me sir - I much prefer
The classic battle - of a him and her
I don't like quiet - and I wish I were
In love again - in love again - in love again
crackerjack
Well-known member
finished Don Winslow's Power Of The Dog on the train last weekend. By coincidence, this ran the following day (it cites PotD, which contains a hefty measure of faction amidst the archetypes (whore with the heart of gold, maverick cop, conflicted priest)).
Cracking read, especially the first half of the book as it lays out the recent history of Mexican drug smuggling, US Cold war policy and the overlap between the two. Second half featured a few too many Bruckheimer-ish shoot-outs for my interest.
Cracking read, especially the first half of the book as it lays out the recent history of Mexican drug smuggling, US Cold war policy and the overlap between the two. Second half featured a few too many Bruckheimer-ish shoot-outs for my interest.
empty mirror
remember the jackalope
over the last couple of evenings i have read some David Foster Wallace short stories that had been published in Esquire:
Adult World (I)
Adult World (II)
Incarnations of Burned Children
The last one was just too fucked up to even recommend. Was it Carver that had that short story about the fighting husband and wife that tugged at their infant child, essentially quartering (halving?) their baby? That came to mind, but it was the reverse of this, the two parents attempting to help their burned child, but the result being Epic Fail. DFW manages to deliver the story in maybe a total of 7 sentences, two or three of which go on for pages, and the other ones just sort of punctuating them.
The AW (I & II) is what we come to expect from Wallace. A (this time marital) situation examined through various lenses, each perspective revealing conflicting realities.
Adult World (I)
Adult World (II)
Incarnations of Burned Children
The last one was just too fucked up to even recommend. Was it Carver that had that short story about the fighting husband and wife that tugged at their infant child, essentially quartering (halving?) their baby? That came to mind, but it was the reverse of this, the two parents attempting to help their burned child, but the result being Epic Fail. DFW manages to deliver the story in maybe a total of 7 sentences, two or three of which go on for pages, and the other ones just sort of punctuating them.
The AW (I & II) is what we come to expect from Wallace. A (this time marital) situation examined through various lenses, each perspective revealing conflicting realities.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Dunno but I think it was King Solomon that asked two mothers who disputed parenthood of a child to have a tug of war against each other with the baby as rope to see who wanted it more. In his wisdom he decided that the child belonged to the mother who didn't pull because she obviously was less willing to harm the child. Presumably the Carver short story references that.
I think in Something Happened by Josef Heller the guy smothers his own son in trying to comfort him after he has been the victim of a minor hit and run and isn't there something similar in one of the Updike books where the drunken mother somehow allows her baby to die? Common theme I guess.
empty mirror
remember the jackalope
yeah, that wise old king solomon story is a good 'un. i always get it a bit wrong when i share it with others...
i like the story of abraham & isaac----and that leonard cohen song (story of isaac) ain't bad either
in infinite jest (this is the last time i bring this book up, i promise), the mystical conceit is that it is always your mother that kills you; or like, the one that kills you is your mother; or rather, the same person that births you, also killed you so that you can be birthed.
i like the story of abraham & isaac----and that leonard cohen song (story of isaac) ain't bad either
in infinite jest (this is the last time i bring this book up, i promise), the mystical conceit is that it is always your mother that kills you; or like, the one that kills you is your mother; or rather, the same person that births you, also killed you so that you can be birthed.
Agent
dgaf ngaf cgaf
The "Incarnations" story (DFW) was pretty interesting actually. That's a hard subject to broach to say the least. Wallace's tone is very minimalist, really not melancholy enough for the subject matter. But it generates a weird kind of pathos and fascination. Then again, I wouldn't recommend it either. The violence is over-sensational and it moves too fast (only 1,100 words apparently). But I like some of the adventurous lines like, "the Daddy kept saying he was here he was here, adrenaline ebbing and an anger at the Mommy for allowing this thing to happen just starting to gather in wisps at his mind's extreme rear still hours from expression." Pynchon went a little too far sometimes too. Like the Hansel and Gretel bit with the kids and the rocket in Gravity's Rainbow. or the orgy montage on the boat 
Currently Reading:
The Monk (Matthew Lewis and Artaud's "re-write")
Deleuze: Key Concepts
also Portrait of the Artist and Intelligence of Evil (Baudrillard)
Currently Reading:
The Monk (Matthew Lewis and Artaud's "re-write")
Deleuze: Key Concepts
also Portrait of the Artist and Intelligence of Evil (Baudrillard)
IdleRich
IdleRich
A "re-write" of it sounds interesting, what's it all about then?
Just about to start Obscene Bird of Night by Donoso, sounds as though it ought to be good. Finished Moscow to The End of The Line by Venedikt Erofeev this morning which was leant to me by a friend - it reminded me trivially of a Russian Bukowski but with a lot more poetry and wit and sadness.
jenks
thread death
I got The Rest is Noise, Paintings In Proust, the last Rebus by Rankin and Zola's The Kill for Christmas and they will be what I am reading for some time to come. The Bolano I asked for didn't arrive and I will ahve to go buy it myself - should I start Savage Detectives before I try to huge one?
I'm seriously going to give Bros K a go in early Jan if anyone else wants to jump on board an unofficial Book Club bandwagon.
Enjoy the Ackroyd T - it really is a work of wonder. I read his Thames book last year, just full of stuff to make you wake your wife up with. ( I'm surprised I am still allowed to read in bed!)
I'm seriously going to give Bros K a go in early Jan if anyone else wants to jump on board an unofficial Book Club bandwagon.
Enjoy the Ackroyd T - it really is a work of wonder. I read his Thames book last year, just full of stuff to make you wake your wife up with. ( I'm surprised I am still allowed to read in bed!)
empty mirror
remember the jackalope
you will enjoy the Bros K no doubt
i just grabbed Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicle from the library
i need something to soothe the brain after cyclonopedia has been punching ( )holes in it
i just grabbed Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicle from the library
i need something to soothe the brain after cyclonopedia has been punching ( )holes in it
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I really enjoyed that one. The bit where the old guy is reminiscing about his experience when he was thrown down the **** by the **** is one of the most beautiful and moving pieces of prose I've ever read, I think. The book as a whole isn't really soothing on any absolute scale but it's a whole less mental than Cyclonopedia, that's for sure.
crackerjack
Well-known member
Just finished re-reading Francis Wheen's How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered The World. Should be compulsory for anyone venturing into Dissensus politics threads.
Agent
dgaf ngaf cgaf
it's somewhere between a re-write and a translation. Not sure if you've read the original Gothic novel, but it is about a monk who develops a sexual obsession with one of his students (a young girl pretending to be an apprentice monk) who torments/seduces him until he finally rapes her. As it turns out, "Matilda" is actually a demon in the form of a young girl (pretty common theme in early gothic/exotic lit), and she continues to seduce him. She convinces him to rape another young girl, Antonia, who he kills in the act of raping. Ambrosio later finds out that Antonia was his half-sister. I think he kills his mother also. Really inspiring stuff, i wanted to read something appropriate for the Christmas holiday
i haven't started Artaud's version (his only novel) but apparently it's darker, more perverted, more violent, and more fragmented/schizophrenic than the original.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Yeah, I've read the original which was why I was interested in Artaud's rewrite. Never knew about it. I'd be interested to hear what it's like - think I'll check it out myself if it's any good (what's the book actually called? Is it just The Monk by Artaud or what? Cheers).
Last edited: