Top Ten Books

[version]

I did as well and had the opposite reaction.

What didn't you like about it?

 

[jenks]

I actually can, but I'm concerned about Jenks showing up and saying, "all the reasons you dislike the novel are precisely what it is about." I would have no riposte for that, because it's true.

Don’t invoke me in all of this. I actually studied DiV for my A level and remember it well but I think Corpsey is right often we have our ready made reasons borne of long gone readings which are merely wisps of memories.

 

[...]

See Corpse, Jenks hates it too!

 

[version]

I was just looking back at Corpse's top ten and it's clearly bullshit. There isn't a single book about a serial killer.

 

[...]

When I read Death in Venice I couldn't believe something so short seemed so long. It was so enervating and precious that it felt like a slog. Then I watched the movie which took all of the defects of the book and turned them into conscious mannerisms.

 

[...]

What didn't you like about it?

The affectations of the prose. It seemed atmospheric when I first read it, but its just seemed like vanity the second time.

 

[version]

The affectations of the prose. It seemed atmospheric when I first read it, but its just seemed like hipster vanity the second time.

Sometimes that bothered me, sometimes it didn't. It's pretty upfront about it, imo. He does keep saying he just wanted to go over there and be a war reporter because it seemed cool and he wanted to get into it.

The 'dexedrine breath...' line near the start stood out to me as one of the more embarrassing bits.

 

[jenks]

When I read Death in Venice I couldn't believe something so short seemed to long. It was so enervating and precious that it felt like a slog. Then I watched the movie which took all of the defects of the book and turned them into conscious mannerisms.

I feel like that about Heart of Darkness - the longest short book I’ve ever read (and then re-read about four times. It never gets easier)

 

[Corpsey]

I was just looking back at Corpse's top ten and it's clearly bullshit. There isn't a single book about a serial killer.

The only book I've read about a serial killer is Killing for Company, which is excellent but also fucking depressing.

Although there is a very funny bit where Dennis Nielsen is watching TV in his living room, making sarcastic comments about whatever's on in the direction of a victim's corpse he's sat next to him on the sofa.

That sentence is a nightmare but you catch my drift. It was the most British Serial Killer thing imaginable.

 

[jenks]

Sometimes that bothered me, sometimes it didn't. It's pretty upfront about it, imo. He does keep saying he just wanted to go over there and be a war reporter because it seemed cool and he wanted to get into it.

The 'dexedrine breath...' line near the start stood out to me as one of the more embarrassing bits.

It was the first famous Vietnam reportage book and probably got a free pass on some its stylistic glitches. In Pharoah’s Army and The Things They Carried are two that stick vaguely in my memory as working better for me.

 

[version]

The only book I've read about a serial killer is Killing for Company, which is excellent but also fucking depressing.

Although there is a very funny bit where Dennis Nielsen is watching TV in his living room, making sarcastic comments about whatever's on in the direction of a victim's corpse he's sat next to him on the sofa.

That sentence is a nightmare but you catch my drift. It was the most British Serial Killer thing imaginable.

I thought you only read books about serial killers?

 

[Corpsey]

If I gave in to my basest instincts I'd be reading nothing but serial killer novels. As it is I've only read that one as well as numerous books about psychopathy.

 

[version]

It was the first famous Vietnam reportage book and probably got a free pass on some it’s stylistic glitches. In Pharoah’s Army and The a Things They Carried are two that stock vaguely in my memory as working better for me.

I've got A Bright Shining Lie, The Best and the Brightest and A Rumor of War on my list.

 

[Corpsey]

Also I'd probably be reading 600 page novels about Orc civilization.

 

[subvert47]

What I'd like is ten books that I've returned to multiple times because I adore them so much. But these don't exist. I don't devote enough time to reading to read anything more than once. (As I did when I was young.)

I've read all of the ones in my list at least twice. Some a lot more than twice.

 

[line b]

I feel like that about Heart of Darkness - the longest short book I’ve ever read (and then re-read about four times. It never gets easier)

I too have re read heart of darkness about four times and like corpse really remember fuck all about it

 

[Corpsey]

I've read all of the ones in my list at least twice. Some a lot more than twice.

Do you want to hurt me?

 

[catalog]

There are a definite seven but it gets cloudy after that. I'll have a think

Ernie Hemingway- Fiesta/Sun Also Rises
Ray Carver- Cathedral
Le Thi Diem Thuy- The Gangster We're All Looking For
Denis Johnson- Name of the World
Richard Ford- Wildlife
Harold Brodkey- Stories In An Almost Classical Mode
Georges Simeone- The Blue Room (only really the first half)

I've only heard of carver and hemingway from this list. I read the old man and the sea and liked it but never went any further with hem. And I got quite into carver, especially the short cuts anthology.

 

[catalog]

from a quick scan of my bookcases...

Dorothy Allison - Skin
Leslie Feinberg - Stone Butch Blues
N.K. Jemisin - The Fifth Season
Norton Juster - The Phantom Tollbooth
Ursula Le Guin - The Dispossessed
China Miéville - Perdido Street Station
Marge Piercy - Woman on the Edge of Time
Minnie Bruce Pratt - S/he
Joan Slonczewski - A Door Into Ocean
J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings

Not read a single one from this list. Only heard of tolkein and le guin. I got a le guin book for my niece last Christmas, she had a go with it.

 

[IdleRich]

Pleased to see The Phantom Tollbooth there....