what are you reading now?

droid

droid

Well-known member
vimothy said:
there is no antimemetics division, very cool so far, kind of like PKD meets u/_9mother9horse9eyes9
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Hes deadly. Antimemetics is his best, bit of a Grant Morrison vibe off it. Ra and Fine structure are both pretty good as well.
 
jenks

jenks

thread death
version said:
My dad's been rereading Vonnegut too. Apparently it's been about 40 years since he last read some of them. I didn't know he'd been to see him lecture somewhere in the 80s. He mentioned it on the phone the other night and said he was really funny in person.
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I started watching a documentary about him - it made me nostalgic for him. He was one of the first writers I really read everything of in my early twenties. To go back 30 years later is an eye opener. I’m reading them in chronological order - it’s interesting to see certain themes there from the very beginning but like others said about Dick and Ballard - the early stuff is quite derivative and cheap.
 
luka

luka

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i love the early ballard novels. maybe there's some ropey short stories. i cant really remember. i think i even like the ropey short stories.
 
version

version

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jenks said:
I started watching a documentary about him - it made me nostalgic for him.
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I think that's what happened with my dad too. Was it on TV recently? He mentioned a documentary that took decades to make because the guy making it was an obsessive superfan or perfectionist or something.
 
jenks

jenks

thread death
version said:
I think that's what happened with my dad too. Was it on TV recently? He mentioned a documentary that took decades to make because the guy making it was an obsessive superfan or perfectionist or something.
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Yep that’s the one.
 
william_kent

william_kent

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I was reminded of Vonnegut when I read all of Jarett Kobek's novels last year... Kobek hates the comparison, but it is so obvious

Vonnegut also reminds me of Hermann Hesse in that he is one of the authors you read in your teens, or, at the latest ,in your early twenties, but it feels a bit weird to return to them later in life

at a "great northern dissensus meet up" i was trying to explain to @catalog the worst rated channel 4 show ever, "directions", and a legendary episode that featured Vonnegut vs Gunter Grass, and how the ashtray could not contain Kurt's stubs...
 
version

version

Well-known member
william_kent said:
Vonnegut also reminds me of Hermann Hesse in that he is one of the authors you read in your teens, or, at the latest ,in your early twenties, but it feels a bit weird to return to them later in life
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Sometimes I agree with this sentiment, sometimes I feel it's snobbish and dismissive. I'm not that into Vonnegut, find him a bit twee and irritating, but he wasn't in his teens and twenties when he wrote the stuff and I don't think he was specifically targeting that age group.
 
william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
version said:
Sometimes I agree with this sentiment, but sometimes I feel it's snobbish and dismissive. I'm not a Vonnegut fan and do find him a bit twee and irritating, but he wasn't in his teens and twenties when he wrote the stuff and I don't think he was specifically targeting that age group either, so I dunno that there's anything really wedding him to that particular age bracket.
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just the age I read both those guys, i sort of hope I've "progressed" since then, and yeah, I'm hammered and I'm being a snob - #projection
 
william_kent

william_kent

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I was thinking about Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game" the other day, and wondering whether I should read it again, but... no...can't be arsed
 
version

version

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Not sure if there are any authors I read around that age I now feel I've outgrown. The only one that comes to mind is Irvine Welsh. I'm not interested in reading Trainspotting again and I never bothered reading anything else of his, but I don't know whether that's down to it being a book for younger readers or simply a shift in taste on my part. I still like Burroughs and I read him around the same time.
 
william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
version said:
I dunno if there are any authors I've read around that age and now feel I've grown out of. The only one that comes to mind is Irvine Welsh. I'm not interested in reading Trainspotting again, but I dunno if that's down to it being for younger readers or just because my tastes have changed. I still like Burroughs and I read him around the same time.
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never read Welsh, but Burroughs has been a life long obsession
 
version

version

Well-known member
Bret Easton Ellis is one I still enjoy that's sometimes considered an author to grow out of. I don't like everything of his though. Just the first three.
 
william_kent

william_kent

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version said:
Bret Easton Ellis is one I still enjoy that's sometimes considered an author to grow out of. I don't like everything of his though. Just the first three.
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I re-read American Psycho a couple of years ago and I would class it as an act of genius... the ones after it are a bit like "chasing the dragon"....he's never going to achieve that high again...
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

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Last exit to Brooklyn - you read it as a teenager cos it's shocking and 'transgressive', and you look at it again when you're older and see it's just ugly and childish, no redeeming qualities.
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Wonder how I'd feel about clockwork orange if I read that again. Maybe it would still stand up, but last time I watched the film I thought it was rubbish.
 
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